The team were together for Christmas with no impending crisis, a rarity in their line of work. In order to take advantage of the calm and holiday season, they decided to have a Christmas movie marathon on Christmas Eve. First up was National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, followed by Die Hard. (There had been a heated debate as to the legitimacy of Die Hard as a Christmas movie, Hunter claiming, “Greatest Christmas movie of all time; fighting and shooting. What else do you want to do over the holidays?”) As the night wore on, the room was slowly becoming consumed by popcorn, blankets, and pillows, and hot chocolate.
Jemma and Fitz were sitting next to each other in front of the couch, using the couch as a backrest, sharing one large blanket from their bunk. May and Coulson sitting on that couch towards the left side so as to not interfere with Fitzsimmons. Daisy was also on the couch, directly above Jemma and Fitz with her legs tucked under herself with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Bobbi and Hunter were cuddled together on a recliner to the right of the couch with Mack stretched out on the floor in front of the screen.
The next movie to be played was The Polar Express. Most of the agents were starting to nod off as it was almost 1 am. By the time the Hot Chocolate song comes on, the only ones still awake are May and Daisy. Phil was snoring lightly. Over the course of the night, Daisy has slowly made her way closer to May so she was essentially in her lap. May had even begun to slowly stroke the younger girl’s hair. Had anyone looked into the room, they would have witnessed a family scene of complete and utter peace.
That it, until the first bars of “When Christmas Comes to Town” played from the speakers. Daisy immediately tensed up and her eyes darted away from the screen. May felt the movement and turned her wandered attention back to the movie at hand. As she listened to the lyrics understanding dawned on her. The song told the story of a young boy who never really had Christmas noting “Christmas just..doesn’t work out for me.” May glanced at Daisy’s face and her heart broke at the girl in front of her. Tears were slowly and silently making their way down Daisy’s face, soft sniffles gaining in momentum before turning into full out sobs. May wanted to take this girl who had become like a daughter into her arms and never let go. She once again cursed the universe at the unfairness of it all-wishing with all her being that she could erase all the pain from Daisy’s past. May carefully reached out for the remote and paused the movie. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
At the words Daisy fell into May, her head falling onto May’s chest. May immediately pulled the girl closer to her, stroking her hair and mumbling soft reassurances. Eventually, the muffled sobs lessened until eventually there was only deep breathing and Melinda’s soft voice in the quiet room. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked at last.
Daisy took in a shaking breath before responding, “I never had Christmas growing up. The orphanage didn’t have enough money and foster families didn’t ever care enough to buy anything for the screw up they only housed for the money. I learned to make that my normal. But some part of me was always hopeful that I would go downstairs on Christmas day to find a tree, decorations, and presents. But every time the same thing, nothing. Just an empty room, the same as every other day of the year.”
The girl’s words broke Melinda’s heart a little more with each word. She looked down at the incredible young woman in her arms and for the millionth time tried to understand how someone who has seen so much tragedy and disappointment in her short life can still see the good in people.
“When this movie came out I had just run away and snuck into the theater for a place to sleep. I would hide out in one of the movies until the building closed for the night then sleep in the chairs. More comfortable than an alley.” Tears were rolling down Melinda’s face but she didn’t care. “It just so happened that they were showing The Polar Express and I saw myself in Billy. All those Christmas’s spent alone ..” she drifted off, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. She softly shook herself as if to force them out. “Anyway, I eventually forgot about the movie. I didn’t realize it was this movie until it got to that scene. It just brought it all back. I felt so alone.”
“You will never be alone again. You have a family here. Don’t you ever forget that.” May declared, hoping Daisy understood she meant every word with all of her heart. “DNA doesn’t tell you who your family are. We are your family.”
“I know” Daisy whispered and snuggled closer to May. May went back to stroking the young agent’s hair until she fell asleep with her head in May’s lap. When she was sure that Daisy was asleep, May slowly got up from the couch, a plan forming in her mind. She was going to make this the best Christmas for Daisy. The base wasn’t decorated much other than a few random pieces of mistletoe put up by Bobbi and Hunter. May made her way through the base until she came to storage. She started digging through boxes until she found one labeled ‘Christmas’ in the very back of the room, hiding under two other boxes. Taking the box, May went back to the common area and began creating the perfect Christmas living room paradise (while making sure she didn’t wake anyone in the process.)
Two hours later, all that was left to do was put the gifts under the tree. She had already bought gifts for her makeshift family, and she knew where Phil had hid his gifts. So she grabbed all of them and piled them under the tree before taking her place on the couch and promptly falling asleep (I mean come on, it was almost four in the morning.)
The next morning, the team slowly came to life and found themselves in a Christmas wonderland. Most of the team suspected Coulson, he’s the sappy enthusiastic type. However they were proved wrong when Coulson awoke and was dumb-founded with the sight before him. May was already awake, having woken up first despite her late night exploit, and gave nothing away. She simply stood to the side of the room with her mug of tea, softly smiling at the childlike wonder on the faces of the agents who have become family. But the one she really couldn’t wait to see was Daisy, who was still sleeping on the couch, a blanket tucked lovingly around her and a pillow placed gently under her head.
When Daisy woke up, she was the only one in the room except for May as everyone else had gone with Coulson to the kitchen for breakfast. Daisy was immediately overcome by emotion at the sight in front of her. Garland was hung up all around the room, a Christmas tree in the corner fully decked with tinsel, twinkle lights, baubles, and a mountain of presents under the tree. Her eyes filled with tears as she found the woman who had become the closest thing to a mother she has ever had. Melinda stood there with a small smile on her face, suddenly worried this was too much or that she had done something wrong.
“You did all of this...for me?” Daisy asked incredulously.
“Of course. I wanted you to have an all-out, crazy, outrageous Christmas for once. I know it doesn’t make up for all the years you missed out, but-” Before she could finish her sentence, Melinda was cut off by Daisy pulling her into the hardest hug she had ever experienced, tears streaming down her face. With no hesitation her arms wound themselves around her girl’s shaking figure.
“Thank you, Mom” Daisy whispered, the words muffled by the fabric of May’s t-shirt.
“Anytime xiǎo jiāhuo” Melinda whispered.
Daisy didn’t have any experience with christmas, but she knew none other would ever top this, she thought, as she hugged May even tighter.