Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This is a guide

Melinda May-Coulson - 43
Mel/Lin/Linda

Philip J. Coulson - 45
Phil

Barbra Morse Coulson - 17
Bobbi

Jemma Simmons Coulson - 15
Jem/Simmons

Leopold Fitz Coulson - 15
Fitz

Robin Hinton Coulson - 9

Daisy Johnson - 15

Cal Zabo Johnson - 42

Jiaying Johnson - 40

Natalia Romanoff - 17

Elena Rodriguez - 17
Yo-Yo

Alphonso Mackenzie -17
Mack

Chapter Text

“Hands up! Show them!”

Daisy bolts awake, her hands flying up to shield her eyes as she squints at the harsh lights temporarily blinding her.

“Weapons down,” a woman says, “Are you Daisy Johnson?”

She nods. Her ears finally register all the commotion going on down the hall with her father screaming and the police dragging her parents out of their rooms. The fear is evident on her face as the woman approaches. The woman puts her gun back in her holster and raises her hands slowly to show Daisy she is no threat to her, “Hi, I’m Lieutenant May and this is my partner Officer Hill. I’m sorry if we scared you. Do you know why we’re here?”

There is only nodding; by this time, the other members of her unit left to secure the Johnsons in the police vehicles leaving just Lieutenant May and her partner with Daisy, “Do you need any medical attention?”

Daisy shakes her head.

May nods in confirmation, “I’m glad. Would you be okay getting checked out just to make sure you are okay?”

Daisy debates whether or not to agree. What does getting checked out really mean? Just as Daisy decides to answer, May speaks again slowly, “The check up would be from my paramedic friend. He would take your vitals and make sure you’re not hurt. His name is Lowerly and he is really nice. I can stay with you if you want?”

“Stay?”

“Yes I will stay”

Daisy pulls the sheets off herself before slowly getting up. She stays where she is until Lieutenant May smiles sadly at her, “Here, we can go together”

They make their way outside where all the chaos is. The lights are blinding worse than the flashlights in the dark. The amount of sirens from the police cars and ambulances are piercing as people run around. The press are in the middle of filming, their cameras pointing, waiting for the moment the Chief makes a statement. Daisy can’t remember how many times she’s been outside. There are only a few times she remembers. All of it looks different.

More lights are pointed at Daisy. She can feel the peoples’ eyes on her. The only thing keeping her steady is the woman next to her.

When they get to the ambulance, the man looks up at them, “Lieutenant May, who do we have here?”

“Mike, be nice. This is Miss Johnson and I need her to get a quick check up”

“Sure thing, hop up Miss Johnson”

The man, Mike, pats the edge of the ambulance that is open hoping that Daisy gets the message to sit. Noticing that Daisy doesn’t move from where she stands, May taps her lightly on the shoulder. Daisy tries not to wince from the light touch as she hears May say, “Daisy, he wants you to sit”

“Sorry” she mutters quietly, rushing to sit down.

True to Melinda’s words she doesn’t leave Daisy’s side even once during the checkup. By the time it was almost over Melinda sees another friend of hers approaching.

“Izzy, let me guess you’re here for…” Melinda trails off, nudging towards the girl who is now picking out a sticker from Mike’s sticker collection.

“Yup,” Isabelle nods, “That’s actually why I’m glad to see you here too. You and Phil still have your fostering license right?”

Melinda can see where she’s going with this but nonetheless she answers, “We do, why?”

“We don’t have an emergency placement for Daisy and given the circumstances we need someone to protect Daisy. It wouldn’t be for long, just until some things settle down.”

“...And you think that person is me and my family?”

“Yes”

“What about my family? Daisy seems harmless but she is a serial killer’s daughter. We know nothing about her.”

“-May?”

She turns around to see Daisy standing away from Mike and Mike smiling, “Miss Johnson has a few bruises but is all clear”

“Great,” Melinda smiles. She turns her attention back to Isabelle, “I’ll have to see about Phil and see the Chief. Do you think you could stay with Daisy for a little?”

“Sure, I have to introduce myself anyway.”

Melinda walks over to Daisy, “Daisy, I need to talk to a few people. Do you mind staying with Isabelle?”

Daisy looks Isabelle up and down. She really doesn’t want to stay with the lady.

“I trust Isabelle a lot”

Daisy bites her lip trying to think, “close”

“You want me to stay close?”

Daisy nods.

“Okay,”

So to accommodate, Melinda asks Hill to ask for the Chief to meet her. She stands only a few feet away from Daisy as she calls her husband Phil.

“Mel?”

“Phil, I’m at a-”

“Where are you? I can barely hear you.” he says, his voice more awake.

“I’m sorry it’s so early but we’re at a crime scene. You know the Johnsons? Cal Johnson and his wife Jiaying?”

“Yes”

“Well they’ve been arrested and they have a daughter. Izzy has no emergency placement and she was wondering-”

“Mel, I know where you’re going with this, but we have four kids.”

“I know”

“How do you know she’s not dangerous? She could be just like them”

“I know that she isn’t though. I don’t know. She seems scared and unsure. I wouldn’t even consider it if it was dangerous to the kids.”

There’s a pause on the line.

Knowing his wife’s sense of character, he agrees, “Our house is always open so it’s okay with me.”

“Okay, and if so much as a concern from the kids happens we’ll look into finding her a new home.”

“Okay, love you”

“Love you”

Now it was just time to talk to the boss.

“Liutenent May, you wished to speak with me”

Melinda turns around to see Chief Fury.

“Yes Chief, I was-”

“You’re taking in Miss Johnson aren’t you?”

“Yes…temporarily”

“Good”

“Of course you knew”

“We were going to put her with an officer anyway. You just happened to your license still. Garrett’s taking over the case.”

“I’m off the case?!”

“Just for now. You still have full access to the case but Garrett will be heading it.”

And with that the conversation was over.

A tap on the shoulder spins her around to see Izzy. Behind her is Daisy sitting on the curb.

“So I take it you’re going to take Daisy?”

“Yes”

“Okay great” She smiles.

Melinda walks past her and crouches down to Daisy’s level, “Would you like to come live with me and my family until everything is sorted out?”

Daisy nods.

Melinda gives her a soft smile, “Do you need help collecting some things you want to take?”

Daisy shakes her head.

“Would you like to grab some things and then meet me out here? I’ll stay right here. I need to sign some papers.”

“Okay” Daisy whispers before running back into the house.

Chapter Text

Daisy

I run back in the house, weaving my way through the people working there and making my way to my “room”. It’s oddly quiet.

It’s our display room actually; it’s the one for appearances and the one we use at night. Mine is pretty dull. It’s a simple gray color with a white trim- quite boring, if you ask me. I guess that’s the point.

My bed is a dusty mattress with a quilt laid upon it. It’s blue and it has clouds on it. Apparently it was the cheapest one the store had. My pillow is from there too.

There’s nothing in this room worth saving. I grab my emergency bag; father always told me to grab it if I needed to leave. Once I have everything in hand I decide to head out.

The ride in Lieutenant May’s car is completely silent. I guess we both have too much on our minds. I fiddle with the strap of my bag trying to distract myself from everything. It’s a long car ride.

At 2:10am we finally made it to her house. It’s quite big. The lights are all off as it is still early in the morning but one light is on. It’s the top room light. I see a figure moving- it’s probably her spouse.

The car stops and Lieutenant May turns to me, “It’s pretty early. I’ll introduce you to everyone later but feel free to go back to sleep. We have a guest room that will be yours. You can unpack and rest.”

I nod along. She helps me out and into the house.

It’s even bigger on the inside. The entrance is huge- tall ceilings with fancy lighting and a modern but home-like feel. I see the family room to the right and a living room to the left. The kitchen is connected to both. In the middle is the big staircase. A railing runs from the right all the way to the left and the doors are each engraved with a name.

Going upstairs it starts from Mom and Dad, Bobbi, and Jemma and Leo. Right across is Robin, and the blank room, “This is the guest room. It has its own bathroom with toiletries. You can also take a shower if you’d like. If you need me I’ll be in our room- don’t hesitate to knock.”

She closes the door and I’m finally alone. The room is spacious. There’s a bed with a nightstand and some shelves full of books. Across the bed there is a dresser with a wide television sitting on top. The closet is next to it with the bathroom beside. The room feels nice.

The first thing I’m doing is taking a shower.

Phil

By 7am I am up and making breakfast. The kids are already up and getting ready for the day.

“Dad, where’s my soccer uniform?’ Bobbi asks.

“Check the hamper, I did the wash yesterday”

“Thanks dad”

“-Oh dad” Leo smiles, rushing into the kitchen, “I have a presentation in 3D engineering software. Can I present it to you?”

“Of course bud,”

I flip the pancakes before I see Melinda come walking downstairs. With only a few hours of sleep she looks unsurprisingly well rested. I don’t know how she does it. She grabs her tea before kissing each of the kids on the head, “Guys we need to have a chat”

All kids who are now at the table stop and look up. I put the plates of pancakes down before sitting next to Melinda, “Yesterday, we decided to help someone out. You know the Johnsons?’

“The serial killers the world has been tracking? Yeah”

“Well, they have a daughter who is fifteen and You’re Aunt Izzy asked us yesterday if we could take her in as an emergency placement. She is in the guest room and we would like to give her a home until the trial settles down. We said yes but that’s not set in stone especially if you guys don’t like the idea of it.”

“I’m okay with it,” Bobbi smiles, “She’s just a kid.”

Leo looks down, “Is she dangerous?”

Melinda grabs his hand across the table and looks him in the eye, “Your dad and I would not bring someone in this house if we thought she would threaten us.”

I look to all the kids, “If it seems at any point that it doesn’t work out then we will go from there. Deal?”

“Deal”

Jemma agrees, “It’ll be good to have another girl around”

Robin smiles, “Another sister!”

From there the rest of breakfast goes on until Robin impatiently asks, “Where is she?”

“Honey, she’s probably still sleeping” I reason, “She had a rough night”

“Can I go wake her up?” Robin grins.

Melinda shakes her head, smiling, “No, but how about this, I’ll go check on her and if she’s up, I’ll see if she wants to join us.”

“Yay!”

Melinda

I walk up the flight of stairs to the bedrooms. The guest room is still closed so I knock, “Skye, it’s Melinda, can I come in?”

When I don’t hear anything I gently turn the door knob before slowly opening the door, “Skye, I’m coming in”

Walking in, I see her bag on the floor with the bed and everything untouched. The bathroom door is ajar with the scent of soap still in the air. She must have taken a shower, “Skye?”

The girl appears from the bathroom with damp hair dressed in an old t-shirt and some baggy pants. Her feet are clothed in white thin socks but I can see the holes forming.

“Are you hungry? Phil made pancakes.”

Daisy mouths the word Phil, “I’m sorry, Phil is my husband.”

I can see the gears in her head moving as she thinks about what her answer should be, "There's no pressure.” I assured her.

In a soft voice she asks, “What…what are pancakes?”

I smile, “Pancakes are a sort of fluffy cake food that is eaten usually in the morning. It’s eaten with syrup…you probably don’t know what that is either…it might be better if you try it and see if you like them.”

Daisy smiles sadly, “Okay”

I lead Skye downstairs and all eyes turn to us, “Guys this is Skye, Skye, this is my husband Phil, our oldest Bobbi, our twins Jemma and Leo, and last but not least, our youngest Robin.”

They all wave hello as Phil hands her a plate, “We have regular pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes and blueberry pancakes. You can have as many as you’d like.”

Daisy stands there with the plate looking down at it. I can see how much she’s thinking about it. Bobbi gets up and asks, “May I?”

She gestures to the plate so Daisy nods and hands it to her. Bobbi smiles, “I like the regular pancakes. If you haven’t had them, these are the ones to try first. If you want to get fancy and up your level of pancake then chocolate chips are the way to go.”

Leo jumps up, “Nah uh, blueberry is better.”

He grabs Daisy’s plate and takes the chocolate pancake off before putting the blueberry pancake on.

“No, Bobbi’s right, the chocolate is better” Jemma nods.

“No blueberry,” Robin pouts, grabbing the plate from Leo before placing another blueberry pancake on it.

“Why are you pouting? You love chocolate in everything else. It doesn’t make sense why you don’t like chocolate chip pancakes” Bobbi defends.

Robin thinks hard, “It’s just not the same.”

“Why don’t you kids let Daisy choose?” Phil smirks.

All eyes turn to Daisy as she blushes hard. She shyly takes the plate from Robin before taking the previous pancakes off and placing a single regular pancake.

“Nice choice” Phil smiles.

The rest of the kids sit down and eat.

“So Daisy,” Phil begins, “We need to go over some ground rules and other things you should know since you’ll be staying here. For starters I am a history teacher at Shield Highschool. Robin goes to the Elementary School so she gets dropped off by Melinda before she goes to work. Now I have to be in school by 7:20 so I leave by 6:50 but school doesn’t start until 7:50 am so I can drive you in or if you want to wake up later then the bus comes by around 7:20. Breakfast is up to you guys on weekdays but on weekends I make something special. You will be starting school not this week but next week. You need 8 classes including lunch. You must take ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies. I have course catalogs that you can take a look at over this week. All the kids are asked to have at B or higher in every subject and if you need help, all you have to do is ask.

Curfew is at 9pm on weekdays and on weekends it’s 10pm unless you get special permission from us. You must ask if you leave this house because we care about your safety. If you want friends over that’fine we just need a heads up. Your room is pretty bland but we’ll take you out together with the kids and you can pick out some new things. You can even pick a new room color and we’ll paint it. We are always open to talking about things so if there’s anything that concerns you then we can always have a conversation. If there’s anything else we’ll let you know and the kids know this too so if you ever have questions you can always ask them too. Does that seem fair?”

Daisy nods.

“Dad, can we see a movie?” Leo asks, “There’s this new movie I’ve been dying to see”

“Oh is that the new marvel movie?” Bobbi asks.

“Yeah! Have you seen the trailer?” Leo asks, grabbing his phone from his pocket.

“Well your father and I were planning on going to the outlets to walk and shop as well as show Daisy around.” I suggest.

“Ooo” Jemma squealed, “we can show you all the best stores.”

Robin squeals too, “Shopping!!”

“Is that okay with all of you?” I ask.