Toss Up (Danny Rand)

Reunion

My body was floating again. 

I can feel myself moving, and I can hear a bunch of different voices all yelling something to one another, and between flashes of bright white light, I can make out a lot of different faces. Some I've never seen before, but I can remember seeing Fury and Principal Coulson.

I've never seen them look so freaked out.

What happened to me? The last thing I remember was trying to help Simone and then . . . wait . . . Smoker . . . 

He hit me with something, then there was this intense pain in my abdomen, then I was in Danny's arms again, my body getting colder.

I'm okay though, right? He looked so scared. I've never seen him like that before, it was like he just shut down.

"Then you have to go back to him."

I turn my head to the direction of the voice, the sound of it familiar and comforting.

"Mom?" I say, my voice echoing and unsure as I'm suddenly sitting in a field of green. Wildflowers spread out before me as far as the eye can see. In front of me, the image of a woman with short, thick hair and kind eyes looks down at me with a smile, her body clothed in a pretty white sundress.

"Hey there, my little Aria." I stand up, slowly walking over to her.

No way, how can she be . . . ? "Mom . . . ?" I swallow the lump in my throat. "Is it really you?" I ask, tears already threatening to spill and my lip starts to quiver.

"As real as I can be, sweetie." She says, holding out her arms and without any hesitation I wrap my own around her, crying into her shoulder like I was a little kid.

"Mom!" I cry out. "It's-It's really you . . . I've missed you so much!" I blubber as she gently guides us to a sitting position.

"I know . . . I'm so sorry honey. I'm sorry I left you all alone out there." she replies, hugging me tight and letting out a few sniffles of her own. She even smelled the same, like that flowery lotion she always kept in her dresser to keep me out of it. "You've been through so much, and I just up and die!"

"It isn't your fault! How could it?"

"I could have held on a little tighter, so I could make it through! Then I could be worrying about you with everyone else!"

I lift my head from her shoulder, wiping my eyes as I give her a look. "Are we seriously talking about this right now? I haven't seen you for almost three years! Isn't this the part where you're supposed to be all 'wise and helpful'?!"

"I can't help it, you know how I get when people start crying!" she says, teary-eyed.

"You're the one who told me being sad won't do anyone any good!"

"These are different circumstances!" we both enter a glaring contest. As far back as I can remember, we would always get into these arguments whenever something didn't go the way the other wanted. It was so infuriating! She cracks first like she always did, and smiles as we begin to laugh, crying at the same time.

"This isn't the reunion I had in mind, mom," I say as she wipes my eyes. "You haven't changed a bit."

"I know . . . I was planning on going all 'Lion King' on you. I remember how much you love that movie, I can practically rehash the entire thing."

"'Remember who you are.'" I quote in a deeper voice before we burst into giggles. I missed this so much . . . I missed her.  I sigh, my eyes getting all teary again. "So where are we?"