May 2028
Mother's Day.
A day in which Melinda May never saw herself celebrating. Well, she always celebrated it as a kid with her mother, but after Bahrain, she never thought she would be the one being celebrated. When she first realized how much she cared about the members of her team the way a mother would care about their kids, she almost wanted to run away from it. Thankfully, as time went on, she fully embraced it.
May remembers the days of her prime and when she was touring the Academy, looking at the new recruits at the time and seeking out those who would become the next best of the best. That's when she first spotted Bobbi Morse. At the time, May believed her to be the strongest recruit she had ever seen. The blonde-haired girl was fierce and never seemed to back down from a challenge. Melinda had even asked Fury himself to keep her updated on her progress. The two ended up working a few missions here and there, and it was clear the young agent looked up to May.
She and Bobbi became a little distant after she transferred to desk duty after Bahrain, but when she returned to the field under Coulson, she was pretty excited when he told her that he recruited Agent Morse for the team. She hadn't realized how much she actually cared and feared for this agent's life until she was almost killed by Grant Ward. She continuously thinks about that day and thanks God that Bobbi made it out alive. Even if she won't admit it, she did give Hunter a shovel talk of sorts when she found out the two of them were starting their relationship again.
And maybe she does care about Hunter too. She certainly would be upset if he got extremely hurt somehow, but that was another thing she will never say out loud. The only person who knew this was probably Hunter himself since she had made him some tea and gave him a smile when he was sick one day.
Thinking back to the days on the Bus, she couldn't imagine the amount of love she would have for the two scientists that were recruited for Coulson's field team. Or at least Coulson believed he was the one to recruit them. Fury instructed May with evaluating files for the team. She needed someone to repair his body and reprogram his brain if it had to be done. She saw a name: Fitzsimmons. They specialized in biochem and engineering and were at the top of their class at the Sci-Tech division at the Academy. She was even more fascinated by the fact that they had graduated three years early, making them the youngest in their class. She made sure to keep an extra eye on them since it didn't look like they had any type of field training.
She was even more shocked to find out that Fitzsimmons wasn't a single scientist but rather two, young, extremely smart scientists: Leopold Fitz from Scotland and Jemma Simmons from England. They seemed to constantly finish each others' sentences. It was even clear to May that the two complimented each other almost perfectly. She wondered if the two had feelings for one another. That appeared to be true as Fitz and Jemma became a couple a little over two years later. They had their ups and downs and were separated more often than not, but they always found their way back to each other.
Their wedding was the first time Melinda allowed herself to cry with joy. She wanted the best for these two scientists that have grown so much together and individually. She would do whatever it took to make sure the two of them got the happy ending they wanted. She definitely cried again when she met their beautiful, four-year-old daughter after they all saved the world (again). Alya Fitzsimmons was perfect in every way, and when the little girl called her 'Nana May', her heart swelled.
May never saw herself getting that close with Mack when he had first joined Coulson's unit. He was just the mechanic; he did most of his work in the garage and wasn't too interested in the field where she worked. They didn't have anything in common. What would they even talk about or bond over? Eventually, Coulson did convince him to join fieldwork. When May was looking through his files just to see what his training and qualifications in the field were, she saw that the two of them weren't as different as they thought.
He had gone through a divorce as she had. She read some more and found that he and his ex, which she found out was named Nicole, were still friends despite no longer being together. That was nice to her. She and Andrew weren't exactly on terrible terms by any means, but they didn't talk often either. She had been meaning to call him, to tell him that she was alive after the whole Hydra thing, but she never could find the right timing.
May read more into his file to find something that made her heart drop. The reasoning for the divorce. Mack and Nicole had a daughter together, but she, unfortunately, didn't survive more than four days. Hope, May learned was her name, was Mack's defining moment. He wanted to protect those he cared about. Suddenly, she took it upon herself to get to know the mechanic a little better.
Years later, Mack became the Director of SHIELD. May was by his side that first year and watched him struggle, but she did whatever she could to convince him that he was a good leader and assisted with whatever he needed. She'll never forget the smile and hug the tall man, who the team often referred to as a giant teddy bear, gave her the first time she had told him that she was proud of him.
It also wasn't a surprise to Melinda that Mack had fell hard for Elena Rodriguez, the inhuman they found and recruited in Colombia, or Yoyo as he often called her. May knew exactly what Yoyo was talking about when she wanted to use her powers for good. She would do really well in SHIELD, but she did need training. Over a year or two after she joined, May became her trainer. Elena made quite the improvement, and her spy skills improved as well. May also helped her work with her new robotic arms and made sure her strength was where it needed to be.
It also felt nice to May that Elena had the confidence to get emotional sometimes. May would sit and listen when she needed to vent a little. Elena seemed to be holding herself back a lot, and May knew she had so much potential. Whenever she was feeling down, Melinda knew Yoyo would always bounce back. Yoyo didn't have a lot of family left in her life, and May was glad that the team was able to provide that for her.
Robin Hinton was an interesting case for Melinda. The little girl could see the future, and the future she had once seen was a horrific one where the Earth was torn apart. However, that part that just seemed so surreal for May was that she would be the one to raise Robin after her mother died.
They saved the world, making the future Robin once seen no longer existent, so May thought that would be the end of the relationship she had with the little girl. However, Robin still had memories of that future. She wanted to see May. Polly Hinton, her mother, was more than happy to have visits with May. It honestly made her happy that her daughter had someone else looking out for her. Every time Robin called May 'mom', it felt like her heart would beat out of her chest. She never imagined that word being associated with her, and she loved it.
However, the most special one in May's life would definitely have to be Daisy Johnson. They picked her up out of a van in an alley. May was definitely wary of Daisy, then Skye, at the time. She was a hacker who intended to exploit secrets after all, but she trusted Coulson, and Coulson trusted her. While looking into Skye's past, she found just how much hurt the girl has been through. She hadn't spent more than two years anywhere, and the Bus was the first true home she had in a long, long time.
Someway, somehow, Skye was wiggled her way into Melinda's heart. It wasn't until she was on the verge of death when May let her love for the young hacker show. She pounded Ian Quinn with everything she had. What made him think he that the right to hurt Skye? Thank god they found the drug that healed Coulson because May couldn't imagine her life without this girl.
After the Hydra uprising and finding out Ward was Hydra, May took it upon herself to become Skye's new S.O. She knew Skye wanted it by the way she trained. Training Skye gave May the chance to learn more about her, but that only made her want to protect Skye from harm more.
Soon, Skye had found her biological mother. May was happy for her, but she couldn't help but feel like she might be losing her too. It was in these moments at Afterlife that May realized the love she felt for Skye was the one a mother would have for her daughter.
That is why when Jiaying turned out to be manipulating Skye, she was the first one to go and comfort her. It was during this time that she told her that she was changing her name to Daisy, the name her parents intended for her. She held Daisy close as she cried as May assured her that she would always have her and that there was so much more for Daisy.
Daniel Sousa was pretty good too. May would be lying if she said her heart didn't clench when he had volunteered to stay behind in 1983. She had grown fond of the man, but she knew exactly what he meant to Daisy, even Daisy wasn't too sure of her feelings just yet. May was glad to have Sousa as part of their team and even happier to see that Daisy was happy with him.
They had their ups and downs, but Daisy always seemed to find her way back home to May. When Daisy first called her 'mom' after she returned from the past, May had cried, feeling Daisy's love and emotions towards her. Using her newly-found empathic powers, May pushed her love onto Daisy, wanting to show just how much she loved her girl.
May was what Daisy always wanted her mother to be.
Today, May got to celebrate Mother's Day, not just as a mom, but as a grandmother as well.
She had received several gifts, calls, and texts from her family, and every single one melted her heart. Robin, now seventeen years old, and Polly had sent her a card, and May absolutely loved it, seeing Robin's drawing on the inside, which looked to be four adults and three kids sitting at a table eating a meal.
Mack and Elena had given her a phone call that morning. Their two kids, five-year-old Francisco and two-year-old Penelope, practically cheered "Happy Mother's Day!" from the other side of the line. She couldn't help but laugh at the two kids' enthusiasm.
Bobbi sent May a text later in the morning. In the photo was her and Hunter's kids: Isabelle and Damien, who were holding up pieces of paper that had 'Happy Mother's Day' written on them. May smiled at the eight and four-year-old in the photo. They just seemed to be growing up so fast.
As she got ready for lunch, Melinda had just gotten off of FaceTime with the Fitzsimmons family. Alya, now almost thirteen years old, had grown so much since the last time May had seen her. Christopher, who was four, and James, who was a little over eighteen months old, could be seen running around in the background while Fitz ran after them, trying to round up the two rowdy kids. They all wished her one last "Happy Mother's Day" before hanging up.
A few minutes later, Coulson had come out of the bedroom, a bouquet of flowers in his hands. "Happy Mother's Day, Melinda," he said, placing a kiss on her cheek. "You ready to go?" May nodded as they both headed out the door and drove off in Lola.
They arrived at the diner for lunch. Waiting there, was Daisy and Daniel. Daisy had the biggest smile on her face upon seeing her parents. In front of them, Michael and Lillianne, their seven-year-old twins, came running towards May.
"Lao Lao!" they both shouted as they ran to their grandmother. May embraced both of the twins. "Happy Mother's Day!"
"Thank you, sweeties," May said to the twins. After letting go of the embrace and allowing the twins to greet their grandfather, May went over to greet Daisy and Daniel. "Happy Mother's Day, Daisy."
Daisy smiled once again. "Happy Mother's Day to you too, mom," she said. It had been years, but every single time Daisy called her mom, May just wanted to cry like that first day.
Suddenly, one-year-old Eleanor began to reach for her grandmother, no longer wanting to be in her father's arms. She said a "hello" to Daniel before turning her attention to Eleanor. "Hi, Ellie baby," May said, taking the baby into her arms. "My, have you grown so much since I saw you last! Soon, you'll be just as big as Mikey and Lilly!" Ellie gave May a bright smile that was sure to light up anybody's world.
"Come on," Daisy said, leading May into the diner. "Let's get seated, and you can continue to gush over my adorable, little daughter." May nodded as the seven of them headed inside for their meal.
Being the one to be celebrated on Mother's Day was not the life Melinda May had imagined for herself, but it's the one she wouldn't trade for the entire world.