A Part of Something Bigger

Truth

The kids were sitting in Yo-Yo's room. She had told them what she saw and even drew the eagle symbol into Daisy's notebook along with writing down some of the names she could remember from that wall.

"And you're sure?" Mack asked, just for precaution.

"I know what I saw. That wall was clearly a memorial and the case file said something about weapons and an extraction plan. Plus you don't put the words 'strategic' and 'enforcement' into your name if you're not some police agency or something." Yo-Yo was quite harsh, but also rightfully worried.

"Well, that would at least explain why Mom and Dad never told us about it. Clearly, they didn't want us to worry." Jemma said, trying to look at the bright side.

"Or they feared we'd leak out secrets," Fitz said, staring at the floor.

"Fitz, they gave us no reason not to trust them," Jemma said.

"They kept this from us." Daisy argued. "Even if they themselves aren't going on these missions, they lied, just to keep their agency's secrets."

"I get that this is a big secret, but Jemma is right," Deke said, taking the side of his favorite cousin.

"I mean, we might be able to keep secrets now..." Jemma started.

"Not Deke," Daisy cut in.

"All I'm saying is: we weren't always able to keep secrets. I can understand why they wouldn't tell us."

Daisy thought for a second. She wanted Jemma to be right so bad. She wanted to trust her parents.

—

"Daisy, where's my mat?!" May shouted from upstairs one morning.

"It's in my room! I used it! Sorry!" Daisy shouted back. It's been several days since Yo-Yo snuck into the SHIELD base. After that, just like in the mission file, May and Coulson announced that they were called for a few days to Puerto Rico for work. They came home two nights later. It was late. All the kids pretended to sleep, but neither of them could. They were worried. They were all relieved when they heard they were coming home. They heard them quietly talking in the corridor. They mentioned nothing new. They were sent to stop a weapons sale between some high-risk threats.

May entered Daisy's room and quickly spotted the gray yoga mat carelessly thrown into the corner. She also spotted that the top drawer on Daisy's nightstand was half open. She went to close it, but then she saw the notebook Daisy kept in there. May stopped for a second. She figured it could've been a diary. If it was, it might have helped her figure out what was up with Daisy lately. She didn't want to reach for such measures, but Daisy had shut off. To both her and Coulson. May felt like she had no options. She took out the notebook and opened it. Her eyes went wide as she realized what was in there. She recognized everything. The names listed, the questions written down in there. There were base names, people, phrases, SHIELD terms, cities that May recognized SHIELD had bases in. There was a rather detailed list of places with dates, which May recognized as missions she, Phil, or both of them were sent on. As she turned the pages she found the most recent notes about the index, Barton, Hill, Raina, her and Coulson's latest mission they just got back from three days ago. They had even written up Bahrain underlined and with a question mark. May felt like her worst nightmare had just come true. As she heard footsteps approaching, she put the notebook back, closed the drawer, and quickly grabbed the mat before putting on a fake smile and leaving Daisy's room. She pretended like everything was fine all morning until she and Phil were in the car. Coulson was driving, and May just sat in the passenger seat silent, staring at the road. Coulson glanced at her before looking back ahead.

"Melinda, talk to me. What's wrong?" he asked eventually.

"Daisy knows," May said. The words came out slow and hard. She never thought she'd ever have to say them. She turned more towards Coulson.