32

Chapter Text

May marshelled her minions. She'd never had so many before, or such a lovely kitchen, or had so many mouths to feed before. But Thanksgiving was a family event and her family had expanded exponentially. "Out! I don't want to see a single Stark in this kitchen!" She jabbed her finger at Tony. "And go change your shirt, you're a grown man. Your apartment or not you are not wearing a grease stained shirt to dinner."

"It's my apartment. I'll wear what I want." Tony looked far too smug.

She was unimpressed. "If you want pie you will."

"I'll eat his portion of pie!" Peter hollard from the other room, he practically appeared hanging off the wall looking around eagerly. "I will totally eat any available options for more pie."

May saw her option for getting rid of Tony before he did something to try and speed up the cooking process. No tech in the kitchen. Ever. "Peter dear why don't you go make sure your father wears something that is at least clean. And you were wanting to show him your group project you did on the new UN Boarders resolution weren't you?"

She turned back to the kitchen, Peter could handle Tony. "Pietro chop the potatoes and don't think I didn't see you try to stab your sister." May snagged the turkey baster he'd been trying to use as a weapon out of his hand.

"Do you need me to form the rolls? The dough is done rising." Wanda looked over at her from where she'd been prepping the brussel sprouts.

May smiled. "Please, I think Darcy will be skyping her parents longer than planned."

"I've got it." Wanda smiled as she pulled the dish towel off the bowl of dough. "Worst case we can recruit Daisy for help, she's actually getting much better."

She set the fry pan on the oven and grabbed the bacon. "Once the SHIELD group gets here we'll need her to run interference between Tony and them."

"Won't Pepper help with that?" Pietro chimed in.

May almost laughed, oh to still be that in the dark about Stark chaos. "Four SHIELD agents and Tony?"

"Fair." Pietro allowed, clearly having had it click in his head.

Daisy popped her head into the kitchen. "My ears are burning. Are you sure I can't help with anything?"

"You can finish setting the table since Peter's making your father put on a clean shirt. And no powers." May barely kept from giving away how actually adorable it was that Daisy's eyes were very much flicking towards Wanda. Honestly, the two of them orbited eachother far too much to still be 'just' anything.

May turned and spotted Wanda who looked like she'd just been caught stealing from the cookie jar. Empathic mind voodoo powers. Honestly. She rolled her eyes and patted the girl's shoulder and went back to her oyster dressing. "Pietro chop the yams before you go play video games!"

The apartment's doorbell rang. May gave a quick check of the kitchen, nothing that couldn't be left unsupervised for a few minutes. Grabbing a dish towel she whipped her hands and headed for the door. What clearly was the SHIELD team was being welcomed in by a vibrating with excitement Daisy.

They were exactly as they'd been described. Middle aged insurance salesman look alike, had to be Phil Coulson. He was looking at Daisy like a proud father as she excitedly welcomed them in. Just behind his shoulder was who had to be the other May. Which left the two the same age as the brilliant Fitzsimmons she'd heard so much about. The one who had to be Jemma lunged past Phil to hug Daisy.

May smiled as she reached the group. "Come on it, it's good to finally meet you all."

"Aunt May." Daisy grinned as she stepped back from hugging her best friend. "This is my old team, Coulson, May, Jemma, and Fitz. Guys this is Aunt May."

Phil Coulson held out his hand. "It's wonderful to meet someone Daisy's spoken so highly of."

"I feel the same way." May shook the man's hand and then the other May's.

Jemma just laughed. "It's lovely to meet you." Her eyes lit up as she spotted Peter bouncing in. "Peter! I had an idea about preventing the dendrotoxin from turning into a gas."

Peter beamed as he reached them. "Is it a new bonding agent? Cause I was thinking if we experimented with the composition of the web it might let us have more flexibility in what we can introduce."

May sighed and ruffled her nephew's hair. She looked up and realized she was sharing an amused expression with Phil. "So can any of you cook? Because I have a feeling my assistants are about to desert me."

"I've been told I've got a bit of a dab hand in the kitchen." Phil took a box from Fitz. "And we brought wine."

Daisy looked at the box and laughed. "Is that the wine we stole from the human traffickers? How did you get the blood off?"

"I made a new solution for removing dried blood. It's been really useful for…" Jemma trailed off.

All of the agents, including Daisy, had stilled and turned towards May in unison. Well except for ninja May who just grabbed the box and marched into the kitchen with it.

May sighed. "Is the wine at least not contaminated?"

"It's fine, we didn't bring any of the bottles with compromised seals." Jemma assured her.

She barely kept from laughing. "Well thank you for bringing wine." At least Daisy's family wore pants, Erik had lost his for the third time already.

////

Darcy gave a final wave as she hung up her call with the parents. She hopped off the guest bed she'd been stretched out on while closing the laptop. She winced at the time. "Shitnuggets the rolls!" Scrambling off the bed she paused...May or Wanda would have prevented the dough from being ruined. Nodding to herself she moved more sedately.

She was leaving the guest room when she heard the faintest bump from the linen closet. Darcy smirked, oh she would bet money if there was anyone else in the hall she knew who. Instead of leaving well enough alone she just opened the door and leaned against the door jam. "Well hello."

"Fuck, Darcy." Daisy glared at her, the flushed face undercut the attempted indignation.

Darcy smirked. "How about that, sneaking away from kitchen duty to make out with the girlfriend."

Wanda rolled her eyes as she continued to lean against the closet shelves. "Daisy is banned from the kitchen."

"Fair, did you blow something up?" Darcy was living for this.

Daisy made a sound of minor outrage. "I did not."

"Likely story." Her lips somehow quirked up even more. "So ditching the guests?"

Wanda sighed seeming to accept Darcy wasn't going anywhere. "Your scientists, Peter, and Daisy's scientists have taken over the living room."

"Huh, should have seen that coming." Darcy nodded to herself. Well, with May and Pepper there no explosions would probably occur. "You do realize your brother can tell exactly what you two lovebirds are doing though?"

Wanda opened her mouth and then turned bright red. She squeezed Daisy's shoulder before slipping past them both. "I need to go talk to Pietro."

"Have fun." Darcy waved before turning back to Daisy. "Thought you two were keeping things on the DL?"

Daisy ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back. "Really? Do you have to?"

"I really, really do." Darcy waved for Daisy to get out of the closet. "Young love, so sweet." She whipped theatrically at her cheek as if to wipe a tear away.

Daisy groaned, and shoved her slightly as she stepped into the hall. "You are the actual worst."

"It's my duty as older sister. I have years to make up for." Darcy slung her arm over Daisy's shoulders, dragging them close enough she could press their cheeks together. "You're my adorable baby sis. Tis my duty."

Daisy snorted. "You still suck."

"So how's the chaos of the fams being smooshed together?" She asked as they trooped towards the sound and smell of Thanksgiving.

Daisy softened, her prickliness soothing slightly. "Coulson and the Mays are in the kitchen, the rest have taken over the living room."

"Pietro hiding in a corner with the chips?" Darcy snickered.

Shoulders vibrating with humor Daisy laughed. "He's hiding in the corner with chips."

"Excellent. Well team science calls. Have fun, try not to spend too much time making out with our favorite witch." Darcy pressed a sloppy, smacking kiss to Daisy's cheek. Grinning she trotted to the kitchen. "My peeps! What up?"

Daisy called after her. "I thought your team science was calling you?"

"I'm a social butterfly." Darcy waved off while reveling in the resigned misery on May II's face. "Ipod Thief! Mays, need help? Or am I free to go find out what world ending crazy is happening over there?"

Aunt May flicked a dish towel at her. "We're just supervising the oven. Go have fun."

"Gotcha." Darcy winked at Coulson for funsies and then trotted into the living room. She leaned over where Tony was sitting, resting her head on top of his curly hair. "So what are we debating the probability of?"

Jane looked up from where she was scribbling on a Starkpad. "The theoretical implications of time travel."

"Oh! Nice, closed loop, causality, alternate timelines? What are we talking?" Darcy was so here for this.

The curly haired guy who had to be Fitz perked up. "Well that's the thing isn't it, we don't know. I subscribe to the belief that once you've gone back your actions won't change anything. After all, all of time and space is happening at the same time. So what has yet to happen has already happened."

"But if it's all happening at the same time then changing something isn't rewriting...."

Darcy nibbled on a carrot. "Ok why are we watching football? Are any of us sport people? I mean the only people who can run more than a block without wheezing here are ninjas."

"Americans." Fitz scoffed from where he was working on a tiny holo table with Tony on a new prosthetic. To be fair she was messing with their design from her phone.

Pietro nodded in agreement with Fitz from where he was crushed next to Wanda. "We play real football in the rest of the world."

"Boo!" Darcy chucked a throw pillow at his head.

Wanda caught the pillow in mid air. "No fighting." She tossed the pillow lightly to where Peter and Jemma had their heads together, muttering about dendrotoxin.

"Can someone explain why we've been here for so long and there's still so much time on the clock?" Daisy asked.

Tony made a wounded noise, pressing a hand to his chest. "I own a team. How can my own Offspring know so little? That settles it we're going to the Superbowl."

"What?!" Daisy looked slightly alarmed. "No, that is a terrible idea. We're both major targets, and the Superbowl is a giant dish of civilians."

Darcy blinked. "You own a football team? What team do you even own?"

////

Coulson sipped at his glass of wine, while leaning against the counter. "Should we intervene?"

"Oh leave them to it." Pepper replied while topping herself up on wine. "It's their version of bonding, and it's not time travel."

He looked over where the kids had somehow divided into a multi-front war. "I suppose Stark can afford anything they break."

"At least Wanda is guarding the table." May Parker sighed. She looked at him pointedly. "But the balcony might be a bit safer."

He smiled at the woman. "You know I think some fresh air is just what I need before we try and eat all this food." Coulson waved the women goodbye while making his way out to the balcony outside the massive apartment. It was refreshingly quiet out here. And no astrophysicists with manic lights in their eyes commanding their intern to help them whack Tony for some reason. Not that anyone really needed one. Man's smug face was enough of a reason.

"Sup." Daisy looked over her shoulder and raised her own glass of wine in greetings.

Coulson settled next to her elbow, looking out at the city down below them. "They're good people."

"Yeah, they really are." She took a swig of her wine. "Are you guys going to stay longer than just today?"

He sighed. "No, Mace needs us and Mack and Elena can only hold the fort for so long. But any missions this side of the country we'll jump on. You should see at least some of us more often."

"I've missed you." Daisy's gaze stayed on the skyline.

Shifting he bumped their shoulders together. "We've all missed you too. It's not the same without you." He chuckled. "I think Mace would pay you whatever you wanted to bring you and your good press back to SHIELD."

"I miss the work sometimes but it wasn't good for me. I didn't have anything outside of the team. Hunter was right when he said it was a job." She looked at him. "Yes, I willingly got a therapist."

Coulson wrapped an arm around her pulling her into a side hug for a long moment before dropping his arm back to his side. "I shouldn't have pushed you as hard as I did. You never even took a vacation once we recruited you."

"Yeah that was messed up. Don't burn your agents out AC." She smiled, her tone teasing in such a way it took the bite of her words. "But really I wouldn't have let you stick me on down time."

He huffed. "Yeah, we're pretty bad at work/life balances." Coulson looked behind them at the apartment full of people who they both loved. "You're managing that here?"

"I'm trying." Daisy turned, letting her back rest against the balcony railing. "I'm going to be on America Ninja Warrior in a couple weeks. Meeting up with my 'ninja' trainer next week."

Coulson smirked, his kid was going to kick ass. "They won't know what hit them."

"I'll take care of an inhuman intake for you if you get May the weekend off to come down for it?"

"Deal." He sipped at his wine. "So what are you doing out here?"

"It was a lot of people, just needed a breath of fresh air." Daisy finished off her wine. "Think we can hide out here till the turkeys are done?"

He smiled. "I think we could manage that."

"So, do I want to know why Jane keeps clutching her tablet every time you look at her?" Daisy looked at him with a raised brow.

Coulson stared at her. "I know Darcy's told you about the ipod and equipment stealing incident after the hammer."

"Well yeah, but it's Darcy. Half of it could be embellishment. Did she really come for SHIELD with a letter campaign?" Daisy asked.

His shoulders slumped slightly. "Complete with pink paper and glitter pen. Two hundred and thirty seven letters till the intern found her ipod."

"Sounds right." She looked at him. "Why didn't you recruit her again?"

Coulson watched the chaos inside. Darcy had marshelled Erik, Jane and Ian behind one of the couches, returning fire against Tony, Fitz, Jemma and Peter who were behind the other couch. The Maximoffs had fled for the kitchen. "I made the offer, but she's not suited for it."

"And I was?" Daisy looked at him in disbelief.

He didn't let her brush it off. "You are, you're great at it. One of the greats. I was hoping you'd be Director instead of Mace."

"Me?" Daisy pointed at herself in disbelief.

Coulson could see that she looked healthier here after less than a year away from SHIELD. She was clearly getting more sunlight, the dark circles, that certain gauntness and signs of physical stress barely noticeable. Younger really, she looked her age instead of easily passing as several years older at first glance. "Being a superhero suits you."

"Come on." Daisy squeezed his arm before pushing off the balcony, clearly her tolerance for praise had been reached. "I think Pepper is about to call an end to the pillow fight."

////

Peter closed his eyes and hummed in joy as he took his first bite of the turkey. So good. He loved thanksgiving food. "So good."

"Chew with your mouth shut." Aunt May chided gently.

He chewed while grabbing the passing bowl of gravy. "Sorry."

"This looks lovely." Pepper praised while dishing up a slightly concerning amount of brussel sprouts onto her plate.

Jemma politely snagged the gravy from him. "Do you know how enhanced your metabolism is?"

"Uh we're still figuring that out, cause like I'm still growing. But your notations on increasing vitamins and protein were really helpful. But even with that I eat about twice what the average guy my age does." He explained while grabbing the potatoes. "Does that inhuman with gills really have a fully integrated respiratory system?"

Jemma nodded. "Yes, he has to spend time under water or his gills get inflamed. But-"

"No shop talk." Coulson interrupted. He seemed to pout slightly as most of the table looked at him in disbelief. "Nothing graphic over food."

"Fine." All the SHEILD agents replied.

Peter stuck his tongue out at Daisy automatically replying right along with her old team.

It didn't take long for the sounds of various conversations around the table to fill the room. Laughter, some slightly heated debate on AIs between Fitz and Tony, what was probably a slightly traumatizing agent talk based on Aunt May's face, apologies as Ian mopped up the wine he'd just managed to dump on Darcy. It was warm and wonderful. Peter leaned closer to Dr Jemma Simmons and kept his voice pointedly too quiet for May or Coulson to hear over the general din. "So about those gills?"

Peter sighed contentedly as he lay stretched out, post feast. "We're watching a Christmas Story right?"

"Oh classic." Darcy reached up and high fived him from where she was being swallowed up by a beanbag.

Tony frowned. "Which one is that again? Also, isn't it a bit early to be watching christmas movies?"

"It's tradition." Peter explained. "And it's the best."

Ian made a confused sound. "Americans." He then yelped as Daisy flicked some vibrations at him.

"No powers." Aunt May interceded. "I think we've all had quite enough of that for the day."

Daisy didn't look sorry at all from where she was leaning against Wanda's shoulder. "Sorry Aunt May."

Fitz chimed in from the armchair he and Jemma were squished into. "Do you think we could watch a Child's Christmas in Wales afterwards? My Ma and I always watched that one."

Tony waved a hand. "FRIDAY, que up the movies." He sent a glare at Darcy. "My suit better not start playing Mariah Carrie."

"I saw on the news your suit malfunctioned in Afghanistan." Coulson remarked, he seemed far too pleased from his seat. The glint in his eye gave way his amusement.

Daisy grinned, far too triumphant. "It's a self replicating virus and he didn't get it all when he first tried to clean up the suit's systems. So it's spread to all of them now."

"And you haven't helped prevent all of the Ironman suits from singing Baby Shark?" Ian twitched as he stared at Daisy. "You are a very scary lady."

Darcy's chin tipped up in pride. "She makes the cyber weapons, I use them."

"I will make you a weapon of your choice to anyone who can get rid of that infernal song." Tony said while topping off his wine glass.

"But watching you suffer is so much fun." Darcy teased.

Daisy snickered into Wanda's shoulder. The two of them weren't even pretending not to look like a couple. It filled him with a sort of relieved warmth every time he saw them.

Aunt May passed a glass of wine to Pepper with a commiserating look. "Alright, is everyone staying for the movie?"

Jane's head jerked up from where she'd been scribbling into her Starkpad, her back resting against Darcy's knees. "Yes?"

"I think I'll pop off." Dr Erik stood up. "It really has been…..lovely." He grasped May's hand and smiled at her before toddling off.

"Goodbye! Remember pants tomorrow!" Darcy called after the man.

There were a round of goodbyes from everyone.

"Anyone else?" May looked around them and then sat down next to Peter. "Alright FRIDAY."

Peter settled comfortably against his Aunt as the opening of his favorite Christmas movie came up on the large screen, the lights for the room dimming as well. "Best Thanksgiving ever." And the pie hadn't even been sliced up yet!