Daisy Johnson + Peter Quill
Mention of impending death | Complete
Frowning in confusion, Daisy reached down to pick up the strange looking coin so she could get a closer look. It almost seemed to have this glow about it. Maybe picking up strange objects wasn’t always the best plan, but she felt an almost supernatural pull toward it, as if it was calling to her. She couldn’t resist the impulse to pick it up and as she pulled it into her palm, everything changed.
The next moment, Daisy found herself waking up in a bed that was way too familiar as memories came flooding back. By the time the hologram activated to explain where she was, Daisy already knew. Atlantis. She remembered everything from her time here before, including how she’d been working on the intake technology before she’d suddenly found herself back home. “Well, shit,” she muttered as stood up and tried to figure out what to do first. The answer came to her quickly.
“Coulson.” How long had he been dying before he told them? Since ghost rider? That meant he’d known this whole time. It also meant he was dying here in Atlantis, too, and no one else knew about it. She needed to find him and drag his ass to medical. Maybe there were a lot of options he was willing to consider back home, but this was Atlantis. Someone here would be able to fix him.
Daisy strode purposefully out of the apartment and down the hall to the elevator, but as the doors opened, she was greeted by someone who would derail her plans, at least for a moment.
Peter had seen the alert and didn’t even look to see who else had arrived, he had just shut his pad down and headed for Daisy’s apartment. He tried not to think that she might not remember him or anything about Atlantis, that she could very well think he was some kind of weirdo, but he thought that surely fate wouldn’t be that cruel, not after everything that had happened at home.
When he’d realized Daisy was gone, he had taken it hard. In fact it scared him a little bit just how much it hurt but it made sense because he’d just remembered everyone he’d lost at home so naturally losing another friend would hurt. There was nothing more to it than that but that didn’t stop him from grabbing her when the elevator doors opened and he saw her standing there. Without thinking he grabbed her in a bear hug and held on tight. “Daisy, you’re back! Please tell me that you remember me and you’re not going to kick me in the balls when I let you go.”
It wasn’t the best timing when she needed to find Coulson and the rest of her team, but when Peter pulled her into his arms, Daisy’s first instinct was to hug him back. After everything she’d just lived through, it was something she needed, to be honest, and she sank into the embrace. It was comforting to be held by someone and Peter had somehow become one to the people she trusted.
“I don’t know, I might still kick you in the balls,” she teased him, but she pulled back enough to give him a weak smile. “Missed me, huh?” she added.
That was a loaded question but he took his usual route of avoidance and shrugged. “Yeah, maybe a little. I didn’t have anyone to share my nachos with at Lightning Brew and they got soggy.” Truthfully he’d missed her a lot and for some reason he decided not to mention his visit to Trocution and his evening with Georgina even though it wasn’t as if he and Daisy were a thing or whatever. Despite popular opinion, Peter Quill did know when to keep his mouth shut sometimes.
“Sounds like a real tragedy,” she said. She might have teased him more, but she wasn’t in much of a joking mood right at the moment. She offered him a weak smile, but then gestured to the elevator he’d just stepped out of.
“I need to- we can catch up later, okay?” She really was glad to see him and she meant that. There was just someone else she needed to see first.
Something was off and he looked at her, studying her face. She was upset but she just got back so what could have happened. “What’s wrong?” he asked her, genuine concern in his voice. “Talk to me, Daisy.”
“Coulson is dying.” Saying the words out loud made it really hard to deny the inevitability of it. She’d fought for a way to save him and in the end when it had come down to a choice between saving Coulson or saving the world, she’d known his choice had been right, but that didn’t make saying goodbye any easier.
But it was different now. This was Atlantis. Maybe the serum had been their only real option back home, but here they could save him and they could do it without putting him through something crazy. She just had to find him and make sure that happened.
Peter had never met Coulson but he knew who he was, not just from Daisy but things he’d heard from other people. “Shit. I’m sorry,” he said and hugged her again, not letting her squirm away. He didn’t hold her long because he could feel her practically vibrating with energy, the need to go to him. Stepping back, he took her hand and walked over to the elevator, pushing the down button. “I heard there was someone in Medical that was in bad shape but I didn’t know who it was. I’ll walk you over there and don’t tell me no because I’ll do it anyway.” He wouldn’t stay when they got there unless she asked him to though. Coulson and the other members of her team were Daisy’s family and he would be there if she needed him but sometimes family needed each other.
Lacking the mental energy to refuse him, Daisy nodded as she reached her free hand into her pocket and deftly punched in a message to the network, filtering her team. It was maybe seconds before she had confirmation from Clint that Peter was leading her in the right direction.
“He’s in medical,” she said, probably unnecessarily, since they were already heading that way. At least responding to the comments on her network post gave her something to do, a distraction until they got there.
“That’s what I figured,” he replied as they took the elevator down and then headed toward Medical. “I’m glad you’re back, I’m sorry that you came back to bad news though but from what I’ve seen the docs here can work miracles so he’s in good hands.”
Daisy nodded. She knew the technology here was amazing. She’d seen them bring others back from the brink of death, friends she’d made here in Atlantis. “It’s happening at home, too,” she admitted, looking over at him again. “We found a way to save him, but he wouldn’t take it. We- I had to choose between saving the world and saving him.” It felt like she hadn’t really had a choice at all. Selfish as it was, she would have chosen Coulson. She was pretty sure she wasn’t the only one. He’d been right, forcing her to do the right thing and when they’d said goodbye, she had accepted it was the last she’d see him, but now being back here in Atlantis- she couldn’t accept it. Not until the doctors here told her there was no more hope.
Peter remembered the promise Gamora had asked him to make. The promise to kill her, to not let Thanos take her but he couldn’t do it, He couldn’t kill her. “That’s a hard call to make and there’s never a right answer it seems like,” he said. “But you don’t have to make that choice here. They’ll take care of him and he’ll get better.” They had reached the street level and started walking toward the base. “He’s gonna be okay, Daisy. Just keep telling yourself that.”
Daisy nodded. It was something she’d been telling herself silently since she’d found out Coulson was already in medical, but it felt more solid to hear someone else say it out loud.