Somewhere Only We Know

Conversations/Realizations

The first thing that the team decided to do after the call was to go out and buy a Christmas tree and decorations in the nearest town, a place called River's End. It was a very small city, though it was big enough and had enough visitors that a crew of four people and a dog went unnoticed. That crew consisted of Fitzsimmons, Mack, Yo-Yo, and Deke, whom they also needed supplies for since they forgot to after the trip to the vet. It was a miracle that they let them in without an address. Daisy sent them on a detour to the university to grab some equipment to make the Lighthouse more homey.

Daisy and Sousa stayed behind, Sousa because HYDRA might kill him still, and Daisy because she was a bit tired and the two communications cadets shouldn't go out in the same crew if unnecessary anyway. And subconsciously, she kind of wanted to hang out with Sousa a little bit.

"What's your major?" she asked him as they stood in the kitchen. Daisy had a small grin on her face. "I know it's a basic question, but..."

Sousa chuckled as he leaned against the counter. "I majored in history and sociology when I was doing my bachelor's," he replied with a smile. "Your dad inspired me with his classes. He was- is- a very good teacher. You're lucky to have him."

"I am." Daisy dipped her head and glanced up at him. "Very."

"And you?" Sousa asked. "What's yours?"

"Child psychology and computer science," Daisy said. "For my master's, I'm doing it on social work. If I'm ever retiring from being an agent, I might be a social worker. Maybe a therapist, depending on how much patience I have."

Sousa nodded. "Why social work?" he asked curiously.

"I'm adopted," Daisy replied. "Coulson and May found me as part of their mission. I was their 084. They took me in, but I had to go into the system because they couldn't take care of me up close. So I spent most of my life drifting from here to there, never really calling anywhere home. And... the older I got, the less likely I was going to be adopted. At least, that's what all the kids my age in foster care told me. And mostly, that was true. Besides, I was already a... powered individual, when I was in the system. I was born with it. But who wants a vibrating baby?" She chuckled bitterly. "I spent years thinking I sucked because no one wanted me. But one day, I picked up a laptop, learned how to hack things, so I went and hacked into SHIELD, which is where I found Coulson, who was listed as my legal father before he put me back into the system, so I went to find him, and he readopted me. And then a bunch of stuff happened, but we don't have to unpack all of that today."

"That sounds like a difficult childhood," Sousa said softly.

Daisy grinned. "It was okay. I had it good. Better, at least, than some other kids. If you weren't abused or neglected, you're lucky. Not homeless? That's awesome!" She sighed, noticing that a few kitchen utensils were floating around her and put them down. "It's a sore subject. I have... too many words."

"I'd love to hear them sometime," he said with a little smile.

Daisy returned his smile with a bigger one before she felt the hangar doors open. "Oh shit, we're supposed to be cleaning, aren't we?"

"Dusting?" Sousa followed her out slowly.

Daisy sighed and closed her eyes. "Do yourself a favour and don't breathe in for about a minute." Once she heard him take a breath, she let out a few choice vibrations and shook all the dust off from every surface in the building before sending them into the vents. She let out the breath she was holding and tapped Sousa on the shoulder to let him know that it was okay for him to breathe as well.

He looked around, amazed. "Wow." Sousa grinned at her. "That was cool."

"Right? It's awesome to use my superhero powers to clean many things at once." Daisy laughed. "I think they're coming in in a few seconds. I hope they brought some cup noodles."