AKA I couldn't pick which of your prompts I wanted to write so I just decided to write it as two chapters to do two! Merry Christmas grossly-sweet!

Chapter 1

They'd all made it out of England alive, but that didn't mean they were unscathed. Everyone was down and so they agreed that for the holidays everyone could go home and take a break. Coulson was staying at the Playground of course, but even May was going to her mom's. Daisy didn't feel like staying there with just Coulson, who'd been acting incredibly odd since he lost his hand, and so she came up with a BS excuse about going to New York City to visit the nuns at her Orphanage, thank them for what they'd done. Everyone suspected it was a lie, but they were too busy with their own plans to really care all that much. If Daisy wanted to wander the city, skate in Rockefeller Center, well they didn't care.

She did actually go skating, but it didn't have the same appeal considering she was wearing a short sleeve shirt. It was 60 degrees Fahrenheit out! In December! Daisy thought that anyone who didn't believe in global warming was insane; she could feel it.

And so she didn't skate for very long and just ended up strolling about the city. It looked incredibly beautiful. Lights glimmered, people chattered, and Daisy felt horribly depressed. She always did this time of year, but it was worse than it had ever been before. In the last year she'd gotten to meet her real family, and lost them again. Her dad didn't even remember her, and her mom… well Daisy didn't like to think about how that one ended. Any hopes of getting to someday be home with her family for Christmas were shattered. The closest thing she had to family were those of Shield, but even that was strained at the moment. May was upset over Andrew. Jemma was upset over Will. Coulson was bothered by killing Ward. They were all messes. And they weren't even at the Playground this year, so there wasn't any home to have.

Daisy couldn't help but think about her first Christmas with Shield. They'd been on the Bus, back in the days before Ward was revealed as Hydra, laughing, chatting, and enjoying life. Skye had even organized a secret Santa thing, which everyone, even May, got into.

Daisy couldn't help but think about how much easier her life had been as Skye. She had to change her name to honor Cal, it was true, but really Daisy just felt like she didn't know how to be Skye anymore. She was so different from how she'd been in the beginning. And it wasn't just her new powers, it was everything. That first year they'd been a team, never worrying about Hydra or the government or monsters who were actually ex-husbands who were actually inhuman killing machines. It had been so easy just to hang out on the Bus in between missions and know everything was going to be alright. Now nothing felt alright, not even her relationship with Lincoln.

Daisy had been shocked when he said that he wasn't staying at the Playground for Christmas. Apparently he had people to see, and was just hoping that the ATCU stuff was far enough back that he wouldn't be in danger. Daisy felt like he would be, but she wasn't going to stop him from doing what he needed to do, even with Lash on the loose again. If he had people to see for Christmas, well then Daisy would just be alone with it.

As night dragged in, Daisy found herself wandering into a café at the base of the Avenger's Tower. The building stood tall over the city, already fixed up from the Ultron fiasco. The Avengers were a touchy subject on the Playground. Everyone could agree that they were heroes, doing their best to save people, but they also worked the opposite way Shield did. The Avengers were in the limelight, taking the heat for their actions, but also taking the praise. Daisy was pretty sure the Avengers didn't even know that Shield existed still, few did.

"It's impressive, isn't it?" The barista spoke up after noticing Daisy staring at the tower. "Can you imagine what it must be like to have superpowers?" Daisy chuckled as she took her drink. Yeah, she could imagine that.

As Daisy sat down in one of the booths, another woman walked in. She was dressed to the nines, her ember hair pinned up fancily, and looked like a model. Perhaps she actually was a model. Daisy had the vague sense of recognition, but couldn't place it exactly. If she was a model that would explain it.

The woman plopped down at the table next to Daisy's and held up her coffee, "You know sometimes I wish these came with something a bit stronger, don't you?"

"I got fired from a Dunkin Donuts once for spiking the drinks of customers who looked like they could use it," Daisy recalled thinking of one of the many stupid things she'd done as a teen. "But I sure as Hell wish someone would do that for me."

The woman nodded, sipping slowly. "I sometimes think the Communists were right to abolish Christmas, it sucks."

Wow. For someone who looked like she'd just come from a Christmas party that was a harsh statement. "Family feud?"

"Coworkers," the woman admitted, pulling her chair so they could talk easier. Daisy was surprised that this woman was talking to her at all, but glad not to be alone. Perhaps that was why this woman had come to talk to her, because she didn't want to be alone either. "It's something stupid, like always, but I should probably go back to make sure they don't end up throwing punches."

Wow. She had a pretty crazy job apparently. "You don't seem to be moving anywhere," Daisy noted with a smile. "And I think you're smart to. Let the boys fight it out, it's not like they're going to destroy the city."

The woman chuckled, "Oh, you'd be surprised." Still, she wasn't moving, so Daisy figured the world wasn't in any real danger. "I'm Natasha."

"Daisy," she replied. She'd never had someone just come up to her and strike up a conversation before, but it was certainly nice. Especially coming from someone like Natasha who reminded Daisy a lot of May- gorgeous and tough as nails. "And let me tell you, I know a thing or two about fighting coworkers. I swear they're going to kill each other one of these days."

Natasha laughed, "It's like living in a civil war!"

Okay, not that was a weird thing to say. Skye would never have thought much on it, but Daisy was getting remarkably paranoid. Something about the way Natasha said 'live' made Daisy think it transcended the work place. "You live with your coworkers? Are you military or something?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at that. "Do I really look that different with makeup?" Wait, so Daisy was supposed to recognize her? Natasha pulled out a mirror, and smirked. "Wow, I really do."

Daisy was so confused, and her face must have shown it because Natasha pointed to the Avengers Tower smiling, "I wasn't kidding about my coworkers having the ability to break the city."

Daisy had never felt so stupid in her life. Of course she'd recognized Natasha; the woman was a legend. She'd been sitting here talking to freaking Black Widow and hadn't even known it because the woman wasn't covered in the dirt and grime of a fight. "You're Agent Romanoff."

"I haven't been part of Shield for years now," Natasha corrected looking at Daisy with a new weariness. "What would make you think to call me that?"

Because that was how they referred to her around the Playground. "I'm sorry. That's just the name I first learned. Honestly, it's an honor, you're a real hero."

Natasha wasn't buying it, and Daisy wasn't surprised. She was, after all, the greatest spy ever. Ward had been second to her, and Ward was scary good. Natasha was even better. "You were Shield, weren't you?"

She so badly wanted to say that she still was, that Shield still existed to fight Hydra, but she couldn't. They were living on the DL for a reason, and you couldn't be on the DL if the Avengers knew about you. "Yes," Daisy admitted with a sigh. She expected Natasha to leave then and there, but the older woman seemed content with the truth. "I'm not Hydra though, if that makes you feel better."

"You must have been pretty young when it fell." When Natasha and Captain America made it fall she meant. "Who was your S.O?"

Daisy didn't want to say Ward, in case Natasha knew he was Hydra, so she went with the safer option. "Melinda May for the most part."

"I didn't realize she ever went back to Field Duty after Bahrain," Natasha smiled, obviously glad that the woman had gotten out of her funk. "May and I worked lots of ops together in the early days. She was a good woman. Do you know what she's up to now?"

"Um," Daisy had no idea how to respond without lying. (Because you can't lie to Black Widow and get away with it.) "I'm not exactly sure. One of the members of my unit turned out to be Hydra and I think she went after him." It wasn't technically a lie. Daisy didn't know what May was doing that exact moment, and they had gone after Ward.

And apparently it held enough true for Natasha to accept it. "What about you? You're so young you must have had plenty of options coming out."

"You'd be surprised how hard it is for a millennial to get a job," Daisy chuckled trying to deflect the subject. "But you… you fall from Shield, tear apart Hydra, fight robots! That's incredible."

Natasha didn't seem to think so. "We create most of our problems. I'm just trying to do my best and fight for whatever good is left in this world."

Weren't they all? "You're fighting those big impossible things Shield never could; I'd say you're doing a pretty good job."

Natasha leaned closer to Daisy, and whispered in her ear. "I hear that Shield isn't all that gone, just underground."

"What makes you think that?" Daisy had been doing a lot of work to keep Shield out of the news and out of sight. How could the Avengers know they weren't really gone?

"Colonel Rhodes had some dealings with the ATCU and they might have mentioned something. We've been looking into the Inhumans for a while, trying to see if maybe that's how Scarlet Witch got her powers." Daisy didn't know much about the newest female Avenger, but if she really was an Inhuman… Daisy had no idea how to feel about that theory. "Anyway the ATCU said they were working with a new Shield that even had some Inhuman agents. We're trying to get in contact with them, see if they're really not Hydra, pool resources. It makes you wonder if you'd ever go back."

Daisy couldn't hold back her laugh at that. "Sorry it's just…"

"Just that you can't go back because you never left, oh no, don't worry, I get it." Daisy would have felt cheated if Natasha wasn't good enough to pick up the clues. "I honestly didn't know when I started talking to you, but, well, I'm trained to pick up clues. Besides you didn't ask about the name Inhuman, and last I checked that wasn't public information."

"Look, I should probably go…" Daisy went to go, but the Avenger grabbed her arm. "Look, I really shouldn't have been talking to you in the first place…"

"Why are you alone on Christmas?"

What? Considering the recent revelations Daisy had no idea why that was Natasha's first question. "Christmas isn't until tomorrow technically…"

"But you will be alone tomorrow?" They'd already established that Daisy couldn't lie to Natasha, so she just nodded. "Good, call Fury or whoever the new Director is and tell them you're debriefing me. We can talk on the plane."

Plane? "Where are we going?"

"To the place where I went when I was a Shield agent who'd been left alone for Christmas."