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He’s spent most of his first day in the twenty-first century asleep. Being thrown head first into a mission wasn’t new to him, but add in the time travel and alternate timelines and a very thorough medical check by Dr Simmons and he was exhausted. He took the longest nap he’d had in years. This meant that when he awoke it was the early hours of the morning, as the digital alarm clock on the nightstand told him.
It was disorientating to wake up in a bare bunk, but not unfamiliar. More than once he’d gone to sleep in places he’d never set foot in before, a consequence of his job.
Post-physical he’d collapsed into the first bunk Mack had said was available, having just discarded his shirt over the back of the chair and detached the new prosthetic. Simmons and Fitz had explained to him that he could technically leave it on in most situations now, but left it up to him to decide what he was comfortable with. And in a manner of keeping one thing in his life consistent, he’d hurriedly followed the routine he’d been doing for over a decade now.
He found a package of clothes outside his door after he’d gotten ready, along with a few toiletries in a small pouch on top. Deciding a shower and shave would probably make him feel a hell of a lot more human in that instance, he retreated back into the bunk and got to work in the small en-suite bathroom.
Half an hour later, he was feeling a little more himself. Shrugging on the soft grey sweatpants and white t-shirt, Daniel left and headed out to find the kitchen, his stomach grumbling as he tried to remember the last time he’d eaten. The corridors were deathly quiet, agents all no doubt tucked up in the well-earned sleep after saving the world.
So it surprised Daniel to see a single light on in the common room area, one lamp on by the corner of the couch, under which there was a mound of cushions and blankets nestled around a focussed Daisy who was tapping away on her tiny computer.
He had half a mind to back away from the door and not distract her but she caught sight of him in the door frame and the corners of her mouth ticked up.
“Hey Sousa.”
“Hey, what are you doing up?” She chuckled at his question which puzzled him.
“Couldn’t sleep anymore, spent the past 12 hours in the healing pod. Jemma thinks I’m still there, don’t tattle on me.”
He crossed his heart with his index finger. “Secret’s safe with me Agent. Want some company? Or do you want me to leave you to your computing malarkey?” She laughed again and shut the laptop, sliding it onto the couch beside her.
“Stay. The screen’s not doing wonders for my head anyway. Should probably eat something too.” Her gaze flickered to the kitchen and she shucked her blankets off one at a time. Rising slowly, she put her hands out to balance herself as her vision went a little fuzzy. Sousa was by her side immediately, his hand offered to steady her but not reaching for her.
“I’m good, I think.” She said, slowly lowering her hands to her side.
“Why don’t you sit on one of the stools and I’ll make something for us to eat?” Sousa said, leading her towards the kitchen and making sure she was settled on one of the tall chairs by the island.
“Did you cook a lot in the 50’s?”
“A little. Long nights and early mornings the last few years meant I often didn’t have the time.” He started weighing up what was in the fridge. Someone needed to do a grocery run. “How do we feel about sandwiches?”
“Sounds good.” Daisy started fiddling with the coaster someone had left on the work surface. She took the time to study Sousa while his attention wasn’t on her. His hair was hanging in unruly curls, a shift from the slicked back style that she’d gotten used to. The slacks and button ups being replaced by standard issue shield sweats was also a surprise considering how uncomfortable he’d been in the 70’s but she had to admit it was working for him. The muscle t-shirt pulled tight over biceps she’d not had time to notice until now. He was also barefoot, and without thinking too hard about it she evaluated the difference between the prosthetic and his foot.
“I know I can barely tell the difference either.” His voice shocked her. In her curiosity, she’d completely blanked out and not realised he’s turned round to speak to her.
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t mean-”
“Daisy, you're fine. A little curiosity is not an issue for me. I’m still getting used to seeing two feet on the floor again.” He tried to joke and she offered him a small sheepish smile.
“Is it working okay for you? Fitz has mainly built arms.” Daniel tilted his head in question. “Yo-yo has prosthetic arms. Coulson had one before he… became an LMD.”
“Ah, yeah it works great. Fitz said he wants to run a few performance and durability tests but gave me a couple of days to get more used to it. It’s worlds away from what I had before so it’ll take a beat.” He pulled out a board and knife, beginning to chop tomatoes and vegetables. “Is chicken good for you?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” There was a pause in conversation, there was so much to say but neither of them knew how to start. Daisy refused to let that get in the way. “Hey, you play 21 questions in the olden days?”
“I don’t think I’m familiar. Tell me what it’s about.”
“The simplest game in the world. You each have 21 questions you can ask the other. You answer honestly, as much as you can, back and forth.” She pointed to the cupboard that held the plates when he started looking around.
“Sounds simple enough. Do you want to start?” Daniel said, now stacking the sandwiches, before cutting them in half.
“Sure. Where’d you grow up?” Daniel fixed her with a soft stare as if asking if that was really what she wanted to know about him.
“Twin Falls, Idaho. We moved to New York when I was 7. But you know that. You read my file.” He returned his excess ingredients to the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water, passing her one before picking up both sandwiches and carrying them back to the couch. Following him and settling back into her spot and dragging one of her blankets back onto her.
“I did read your file but that feels like cheating instead of getting to know you properly.”
“Fair enough.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “What about you? Where’d you grow up?”
“New York, St Agnes’ Orphanage.” He stalled in his movements at that. “Yeah Jaying, I explained all that didn’t I?”
“You did. I just kind of expected…never mind. When did you meet everyone?” He gestured to the base around them and her family down the hall.
“About 8 years ago. Coulson and his newly formed team were looking for a leak of covert information. A hacker of the ‘Rising Tide’. And that was me.” She sipped her water. “That’s when I met May and Fitzsimmons, the other’s came later. We’ve gained and lost a few on the way.”
He hummed in acknowledgement around a mouthful of food. Daniel knew all too well the people you could lose and gain in just a short space of time.
“Do you have a family? Siblings and stuff?” There was that curiosity again.
“Yup, one brother, three younger sisters. David, Ines, Maria and Bella.”
“When we were speaking on the Zephyr when we rescued you, you said there were some goodbyes you wish you could have had. Who would you have said goodbye to?”
“Them. All of them. My nieces and nephew. My mother. Some old friends from work.”
“I’m sorry you didn’t get that. I wish we could have let you.”
“Yeah, me too.” He said wistfully. A beat passed, he was lost in thought. “Answer me this Johnson.” He grabbed her attention again.
“I think that is the point of this game.”
“Obviously your powers are genetic, Kora with her lights and your mother with her abilities. How does that work?” He asked, looking directly at her.
“Well, there’s a genetic strain that is activated by what we call terrigen crystals…”
“No!”
“I swear it, both of them were absolutely clueless. Fitz confessed his feelings when they were at the bottom of the ocean, giving Jemma the last breath of oxygen. He was in a coma for 9 days, had a traumatic brain injury afterwards. Jemma went undercover at Hydra…”
“Sorry, she what?” Daniel couldn’t hide the shock on his face.
“They came out of the shadows for a few years before we took them down again. Jemma went in as an ex-shield scientist after the collapse of the organisation. You read about that right?” He nodded, recalling the lightning speed round-up of Shield history 1955-2019 yesterday in a spare moment. “Anyway she gets back and Fitz is struggling and they don’t talk despite them both pining something chronic and then by the time they sort it out and Fitz asked her out, Jemma then gets swept off to the other side of the universe in a rock that melts into a portal. He works for 6 months to get her back, dives through a portal to save her. Honestly there’s so much that those two have been through to be with each other. I could write a book.”
Daniel couldn’t help but admire her as she spoke so passionately about her friends, the way she was now sat up with buzzing energy as she told him a shortened version of their story.
“Can I ask you a question?” She said plainly.
“Is that not what we’ve been doing?” Daniel teased. “Sure, ask me anything.” He took a sip of the beer she’d handed him after she took their plates to the kitchen.
“Back at the bar in the 70’s, you got me away from Malick by introducing yourself as my fiance.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I thought it was quick thinking on my part, I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.” He said, leaning forward a little.
“No… that’s not what I was asking here. Ever had an actual fiance Sousa?” She smirked at him, sipping her own beer, watching as the blush rose in his cheeks. He seemed to hesitate.
“Once, for a little while. It didn’t last, clearly.” He played absentmindedly with the label on the bottle he held in one hand.
“Was it Peggy Carter?” He almost spat his beer out at her bluntness. “Shit, sorry. Did I overstep?”
Once he regained his composure, clearing his throat. “No, it wasn’t Peggy. It was before we dated. Kind of directly before.” Daisy hummed in thought waiting for him to expand, but he knew how to play his game. “Johnson, you have ten questions left. If you want to ask about her you can.” He challenged her.
“How long did you date?”
“Just over a year.”
“Did you love her?”
“Yes, I did. She loved me too, I think.”
“Oh she did, I’ve read the eulogy she wrote.” That stopped Daniel in his tracks.
“Peggy wrote my eulogy?” It was a thought that hadn’t even occurred to him. What would have been said after his death, publically or within the agency, but especially given the nature of his supposed death he supposed there would have had to have been a statement made.
“I can always show you, if you wanted to see it.”
“See it?”
“She made it as a speech at your funeral. There’s a video in the SHIELD archive for some reason.” She hadn’t watched it, hadn’t had a moment to. It would have been one thing when she’d been researching him after their initial meeting, but now she knew him better and he was with them permanently it would have been strange.
“I suppose it would be a bit morbid to watch your own funeral, wouldn’t it?” He joked, even though that had fazed him.
“A bit, but if you ever want to see or read it, just let me know okay?” He felt her hand settle on his, his gaze drifting back to her as she squeezed his hand. The completely serious, sincere look on her face, the care and compassion in her eyes made his chest warm.
“Yeah, thank you. I… appreciate it” He squeezed her hand back. They sat like that for another moment, the comfortable silence stretching between them.
“Sousa, ask me what happened in the time loops.” Daisy said, scooting down the couch to the cushion next to him.
“Why? What happened in the time loops?” She giggled at his confusion.
“I just need to tell you about it, otherwise this is going to get weird.”
“Okay…”
“In each loop I would wake up in the healing chamber and you were asleep, watching out for me. Making sure I was okay. Every time. I tried to fix it so many damn times, that I got to a point where I just snapped at you. I asked you why you cared whether I was okay or not.”
“What did I say?” He was genuinely curious as to what he had said, but couldn’t remember, that clearly had been the right thing to say, because she was smiling at him.
“You said you cared, because I didn’t. I took a loop and we had this big heart-to-heart. I asked why you were willing to help me with anything or make sure I rest. You’re literally doing it now. Why? Be honest.” She was testing him, and he could tell but he didn’t let that get to him. He was just going to tell her what his heart and head had been screaming at him since they met.
“I know your type. People like you.” She was holding back a grin now, he was on the right lines. “Some of my favourite people…”
“Are people like me?” She finished, quietly, seemingly in some kind of disbelief. But he pressed on. “Focused on the greater good, even at cost to yourself, like I don’t know freezing to near death in the depths of space to save the world?” She rolled her eyes at him. “You like people to think you like being alone, but you always end up surrounded by people. You hate losing.”
“Everyone hates losing.”
“Yeah, but you’ll keep running at a problem full-tilt till you solve it or run head first into a brick wall or y’know into the depth of space.” She was leaning forwards now.
“But why does that mean…”
“Because when people like you run into those walls, you should have someone to be there to pick you up.”
“And you like to be that someone?”
“Not for everyone. It helps if they’re fun to be around, say what they mean, apparently steal all the blankets from the entire base…” he teased, playing with the hem of the blanket that was across her lap, with it having fallen close to him. “And y’know have Quake powers.” The emphasis on her pseudonym made her giggle and his stomach flipped at the sound.
“That’s awfully specific.” He ran his hand through his curls somewhat nervously.
“Yeah well… Did I get it right? What else happened in the time loop?” He asked.
“You said pretty much the same thing. Then we went to try and stop Enoch and failed.”
“Oh.” He felt a little dejected at that, until she continued.
“But… in the next time loop, you were there again when I woke up. I asked for your help and you jumped up to help and I…” She forced herself to look him in the eyes as she said it. “I kissed you?” She felt like she was in high school talking to her crush and it was wholly embarrassing, until his face lit up with the biggest grin.
“Of course you did. Heaven forfend, I make the first move for once in my life, jeez.” His shoulders shook as he laughed.
“I dunno Sousa, I thought it was charming.”
“So it was… good? God I sound like I’m in high school.” He pinched his brow.
“It was. Almost as good as when you kissed me on the Zephyr.” Resting back in his seat, he realised how close she was now. His eyes flickered down to her lips and then back up to her eyes.
“Oh yeah? Well Mack was impressed…” Sousa rambled, a hint of smugness coming through his tone.
“Sousa?”
“Yeah?”
And then she closed the distance, their lips crashing together. His hand cupped her face, guiding her closer. She could taste the beer on his lips, warmth blossoming in her chest as one hand moved to cup the back of her head, fingers tangled lightly in her hair.
He longed to touch her, to pull her closer and feel her body against his but she was still recovering. She seemed to have none of these concerns as she drew even closer to him, briefly pulling away to resituate herself, throwing her legs over his lap, before leaning back in to recapture his lips, tugging him closer by fisting his shirt.
Minutes later they broke apart, her forehead resting against his as she giggled quietly, leading him to chuckle and press a kiss to her forehead.
“I’ve got a question.” He said.
“I think you’ve maxed out your quota. I’ve definitely answered more than 21.” She smiled up at him.
“You know? I’m gonna ask anyway.” He lifted his hand and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Will you let me do this properly?” She looked up at him, confusion across his face. “You’ve told me about how everyone got together, your family. Jemma and Fitz. Mack and Yo-yo. I have no idea if that’s how regular dating works in this century, but in my day and age, we went out. Dinner and dancing and movies. Will you let me take you out, Daisy?”
She should have been taken aback by his forthrightness but she wasn’t. This was the side of him that was asking for what he wanted, in the most respectful way. This was him.
“You know, I think we can work that out, Sousa.” She pressed her lips to his once more, before settling her head against his shoulder.
“You should be getting some sleep.” Daniel said, looping his arms around her loosely, resting his head against hers. He felt her breaths, steady and even against his collarbone.
“Yeah. Just give me a minute, I’ll get up in a minute.” She mumbled and he knew what was about to happen. Gently reaching for one of her discarded blankets, he covered them both, shifting his position until he was comfy enough to both relax and support her at the same time. She nestled closer to him after this movement and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting his eyes drift shut.
Tag scene -
Fitz staggered out of the bunk with Alya’s cup in hand. The girl’s been on earth for less than 3 days and she’d settled right back into her routine of waking him with every rogue thought she had. So when she’d turned up at his side of bed talking about how monkey’s balance in trees, swiftly followed by a request for some juice, he’d been helpless but to explain how they use their tails before schlepping to the common room to fill her cup, leaving her tucked into his spot in their bed besides Jemma who was now being peppered with endless questions too. Not that he’d want it any different.
Rounding the corner to the common room, he was surprised to see Mack and Coulson standing at the door, whispering to each other.
“I thought we were all ordered to have a lie in post-saving the world. I’ve got a 4-year-old, what’s your excuse?” He quipped to see them turn around to shush him. “What?” He whisper-yelled back.
They moved to let him take in the sight that had stopped them in their tracks. Cuddled up on the couch was their Daisy with Daniel Sousa, her lightly snoring into his chest as his arms were tightly wrapped around her.
“Turbo, when you saw all the possibilities and outcomes… was this… this?” Mack asked in a hushed tone as he gesticulated to the sleeping pair.
“Yeah… in every outcome that they both survived, eventually, they found each other.” The three men stood surveying the scene for another beat. “I’m glad she’s finally got someone. Someone good. It’s what she deserves.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Coulson agreed, squeezing Fitz’s shoulder. “We should probably stop standing here like a bunch of creeps though.
“Too late AC.” A sleepy voice came from the couch. They all whirled round to see a now awake Daisy looking over at them, still resting on Sousa’s chest. “Are you all good or..?”
“All good Tremors, just here to get some water. Ran into Coulson on the way down here.”
“And Alya wants juice.” Fitz said, raising the pink plastic cup in justification.
“I was thinking I could get started on breakfast, if most of us are awake anyway?” Coulson added, as the three of them finally actually entered the common room.
As if the magic words had been spoken, Sousa began to stir. The four of them watched as he sleepily pressed a kiss to Daisy’s forehead, his hand squeezing her hip where it had fallen. “Morning.” He mumbled against her hair, causing her to giggle.
“Morning Chief.” Mack called from the fridge and Daniel’s eyes snapped open, finally taking in his surroundings. He immediately blushed red, causing Daisy to descend into a fit of laughter. At the sweet sound, one they’d not heard enough as of late, all the men in the room smiled.
Finally, maybe Daisy could find a little more of the happiness she deserved.