6955/The Dollhouse: Sick Bed Workday

The Dollhouse: Sick Bed Workday
Date of Scene:	15 July 2021
Location:	The Lab - Playground
Synopsis:	May comes to visit Peggy after the assassination attempt. She, Daniel, and Peg talk about the future, plans to infiltrate the Triskelion, and children they miss.
Cast of Characters:	Peggy Carter, Daniel Sousa, Melinda May

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Peggy Carter has posed:
Peggy's prognosis isn't good. Whatever HYDRA did, it not only weakened her pulmonary system, but it's entirely destablized the serum keeping her alive. Faint red patches and darker, ugly bruises are already starting to appear across her skin. She's carefully snooded up her hair to keep it from falling out. She's ashen pale with an oxygen line across her nose. They've moved the IV twice because of how it's bruising her skin. Things don't look good.

But she's never one to give in. She got Daniel to bring her favorite robe, the black one with pink flamingos, and several more comfortable pillows helping prop her up. A SHIELD tablet rests in her hands and she's going through work, reports, data analysis, more HYDRA hunting, anything she can do to keep her focused. She's had meetings with several agents already, Jane Foster included. As long as she's conscious, she will be Commander and Chief from bed. The ship must continue to sail.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Of course Daniel is right there beside her, his chair pulled up next to the bed. Lacking actual work to do he reads while Peggy works, commenting now and again if Peggy asks his opnion on something, all the while his phone is plugged in next to them playing jazz from the 40's and 50's, in this case Chet Baker's rendition of Time After Time.

Other than his presence, Peggy's robe and the music, Daniel had fetched a few other comforts from here and there including sending Davis and Piper to get the knit blanket from the Long Island house to make Peggy's stay in medical less like torture.

Melinda May has posed:
All she asked for was one night. She begged out of one lousy ceremony that, really, yes, she should have been there for -- out of respect for the agents who put their lives on the line for her and the others while they were imprisoned. All of whom she will take pains to apologize to and congratulate at some point. Because there were too many people, and too many emotions (both good and bad) in one place.

Melinda May needed to *breathe*. She needed space. She needed some time alone to put her walls back in place and remember what it felt like to be... herself. Just herself. Not some monster from HYDRA. Not some emotional mirror, reflecting everyone's emotions right back at them. Not a commander or an agent or anything else. Just... herself.

So, she took her bike and went for a ride. It was a long ride. It took her deep into the Delaware countryside where there were nothing but trees and asphalt and the occasional rest station. She found her way to a stupid dive bar on the line between two counties, where there was pool and darts and the worst emotional spike all night came from the guys watching the game at the far end of the bar and the waitress who dropped a tray when she slipped in someone's spilled beer.

The wee hours brought her home... To absolute chaos.

Well, that's not really true. This is SHIELD. What seems like chaos to most is actually controlled activity to them. But emotions were higher when she came home than when she left -- and not in a celebratory way. And when she found out why? To say that Melinda May is Not Happy is one of the greatest understatements in the world.

It's been long hours since then. She's had very little sleep, though it doesn't show. She's been catching up on what she missed. While Bobbi has dealt with the medical crisis, May is dealing with the psychological one... the fact that one of their own was compromised. The fact that it could have been any of them at any time.

Nevertheless, she spent enough time in the gym, earlier, to get herself under control. Such that, when she does finally come into medbay to check on the Chief... to check on her friend... she doesn't look like she's had too little sleep and she doesn't look like she's holding fiercely onto fragile telempathic walls in an effort to block the rest of the world out. She looks like everyone expects her to look, aside from the remaining traces of those circuitry patterns on her skin. Straight-backed, serious, and in control.

That doesn't stop the concern from showing on her face as she pauses in the doorway to see whether or not the pair (and she knows damned well it's the pair) is conscious.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The motion in the door is familiar enough, and not medical personell, that Peggy's eyes flicker up to confirm who she thinks it is. Sure enough, she'd know Melinda May's walk and strong, steady shoulders anywhere. She gives a pale lipped, quiet smile beneath that oxygen line, carefully saving the work she was doing before she shifts the pad into her non-monitor clad hand so she can stretch and set it aside on the tray table opposite where Daniel is.

"Looks like we have company, darling." She rasps out to her reading husband. They are close enough that being able to dwell in comfortable silence isn't an issue for either of them. She's happy to simply have him here. "Help me sit a bit more, will you?" She wants to do her best to look strong for May as well. She motions the woman over a bit closer with a nod. The emotions from Peggy are strange -- a touch of fear, but mainly calm. Acceptance.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Spotting May, Daniel smiles glances down at the page number of his book and closes it, putting it next to the tablet. Rising to help Peggy sit up more, he takes care helping her sit, making sure she's comfortable with a glance to her eyes before he stands at the side of the bed turning to May.

Daniel reads, as to be expected anger buried deep under a tightly controlled concern for Peggy that edges on fear.

"Glad to see you back May, come join us," he offers.

Melinda May has posed:
May is only briefly surprised Peggy's emotions -- that strange acceptance -- though it never shows on her face. With everything that's happened recently? That Peggy is willing to just simply sit back and accept death makes a certain amount of sense. They've been so overwhelmed with grief, lately. Fought so hard for so long. There comes a point when it's too much and... it has to stop. A body just can't absorb any more. So, yes. On some level, Melinda gets it.

She hates it. It makes her angry. But anger is comfortable to her. Anger is something familiar. Something she can control. Thus, Daniel's emotions, are more a reflection of her own than an intrusion into them.

She gives them a ghost of a smile, that faint twitch to her lips that is her wont. "How are you feeling?" she asks, her tone carefully devoid of that tentative coddling so many use. More direct, but with a veneer of casualness. There's a beat. Her lips pull slightly to one side. "I mean physically."

She knows damned well what their emotions are, and everyone knows it.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The assistance up into a full sit is a little embarrassing, but of anyone in the world she trusts to do it, it's Daniel. And anyone she trusts to see? That is May. Peggy settles back into the propped up pillows with a little, shallow breath, pulling through her nose at that mind-clearing oxygen for a moment. She knows how to push through even when this strained.

"Functional... all things considered. Angry, embarrassed... but you know all that. Glad I'm stable enough to work?" Peggy admits softly. Which is a whole lot of words to say she feels like death warmed over. Her voice is rasping, breath never quite fully taken in enough to feel like she's gotten enough air. To be two days out from the incident and still this weak? It's the worst Daniel's ever seen her.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel grabs a chair for Melinda and drags it over before sinking back down into his own. The new leg works as well here as it did in the Framework but it's good to sit down.

He keeps quiet as Peggy talk not commenting on how she's doing but there's no question he's noticed she isn't bouncing back like she should, that's plain in the fear he feels. "We caught the person that did the attack, the did the Faustus technique on them, I'd like to be there when we question them." Having gone through it a couple times himself, and that was far easier to talk about than Peggy's condition.

Melinda May has posed:
"I'll be handling the interrogation," May tells Daniel. "You can be there." She gives them both a tight smile. "I'm handling the whole investigation. Morse is handling medical." She gives a mild half-shrug, her expression almost amused, though it doesn't reach her eyes. "We're playing to our strengths." Like that's a surprise.

She's not, however, going to interrogate either of these two. Especially not here. She doesn't comment on Peggy's litany of emotional complaints since, it's true... she knows full well what the woman feels. She's simply trying to give her enough space to pretend that everything's normal. That May's not an Inhuman with a power that could only be more personally invasive if it were coupled with telepathy.

Her eyes stray to that tablet. "They're actually letting you work?" She's mildly surprised by that.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I'd like to be there myself but... I suspect they aren't going to let me do *that* kind of work." Peggy mutters, with some good natured teasing behind her tired voice. She's trying. She has no strength in her abdomen or torso to keep herself fully upright, so she's leaned just a bit backwards against the tower of pillows they've made her. She's still trying to appear as put together and proper as she would sitting behind her desk.

"And that's good. I trust all of you but... Dislike people making all this fuss. We have bigger fish to fry than the attack of a single woman. If we didn't know this was part of HYDRA's over all plan I'd say it's not worth the fuss at all... but as long as we keep our eyes on the bigger picture. That's... what matters. And I have to work. I've been out of commission too long already."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Works for me," Daniel says about being there. "In a time like this I'm not trying to step on any toes," Daniel looks to Peggy then. "Everything has a camera these days, I'm sure we can find a way to let you watch, maybe have a comm link to someone in the room," he suggests but looks to May for approval of the idea.

As for Peggy working? Daniel remarks, "'Let her' implies Peggy gave anyone any choice in the matter," he gives his wife a smile, he definitely wasn't one of those objecting to the idea, that's for damn sure.

"Do we have any more info yet on what HYDRA was planning with the attack? Was the attack their sole objective or is just part one of a bigger scheme?"

Melinda May has posed:
"We'll be in an interrogation room," May says evenly. "We can hook you into a feed through your tablet." If she disapproves, she doesn't show it. Because she fully understands Daniel's comment about Peggy's superhuman ability to get her own way. Even when she's wasn't chief. Thus, that comment is the only one that breaks that businessy facade. The only one that makes her snirk knowingly.

Because she's pretty sure they all got along just fine without Peggy as chief not that long ago. Well before the Framework fiasco. Before the Playground. Sure, the operated more openly, then. But between Morse and her and Coulson... they can manage. Like everyone else, though, she knows there's no point arguing. Peggy will work herself into the grave... probably literally, this time.

She ignores that thought entirely.

Instead, she shakes her head in response to Daniel's final question about what info they have. "We know the name Nathaniel Mallick was the trigger phrase. We know Agent House is a victim of the Faustus protocols. And we know she was a failsafe of some sort. Best guess? No one was supposed to find out Maelstrom is a Mallick. Though, seriously... he named himself Maelstrom. Who really thought that was a good idea?" She's thought that long before now. "Secondary guess... I'd say she was supposed to clean up the evidence to be sure no one found out the truth, so they can continue to play the long game. Now we have the positive confirmation Maelstrom's participation with HYDRA is voluntary and not coerced. We just have no way to prove it to the public."

Given her choice, May would happily don the Blackbird suit and go after him solo again. And drop him from the top of the Empire State. But that's the ghost of the HYDRA version of her rearing its angry head. So, she keeps that impulse firmly under wraps.

Peggy Carter has posed:
While Peggy knows SHIELD operated without her, there is still that worry in her eyes. She can see the slight look they are sharing, the one that confirms she didn't give anyone a choice in letting her work. A small sigh escapes her lips, "If I didn't work...I might as well give up. This gives me a reason to open my eyes. To... sit up. To feel like I'm still fighting. Trust me, it would be worse if I wasn't working." That might be when her body truly gives up. SHIELD being taken away from her would kill her as quickly as that lightning bolt.

Thens he's going quiet, letting the other two brain storm over what happened with HYDRA. She frowns a bit deeper at May's words, "If Maelstrom was being coerced, this might be easier. We could prove it, free him and the country. With him being a part of it... it's like most of the government will think HYDRA the 'good guys'."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Right," Daniel says about there being cameras in the interogation room. "That makes sense."

"We should also find out when house was captured and turned as well as any communications they've made since being brought to the Playground, if they gave up our location we could have Talbot knocking on our door any moment."

There's a nod and a wry 'heh' about Mallick's alias. "Not exactly subtle," he says. "And agreed with him being a willing participant he'll happily spin any action we take as proof we're the bad guys," he frowns. "Really only leaves trying to find some solid proof he is who he is that's going to be believed by the rest of the government."

Melinda May has posed:
May shakes her head at Peggy's words. "Easier, maybe. But fruitless. We know he's not coerced. Gideon Mallick sits on the World Security Council. He's HYDRA. Nathaniel Mallick is his son. Family dynasty. How we prove that... I don't know. Yet. But we will."

She cants her head as Daniel speaks, but then tilts it non-committally for a moment. "The more footage I've watched of Talbot, the less I think he's actually HYDRA. He's taking care to cover up some sort of personal investigation. If he's clued in that HYDRA's running that show, he may actually end up being an asset we can use." Her nose wrinkles. "But I won't swear to that. He could just end up being an idiot." She's willing to believe he's an idiot, certainly. But his career is too by-the-book for him to be crooked. At least, that's what her gut is saying.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I haven't watched Talbot TV recently, but I don't think he knows... He'd be here already, and we'd have heard something about it in the monitors in my office." Peggy admits with a bit more of a smirk, remembering the night she stumbled into Bobbi and Lance taking bets and having a drinking game on the hidden camera in Talbot's office. "So... chances are, she didn't give up that much. Hell, I'd be willing to guess they only programmed that button into her. But she might not be the only one. If they got their hands on other agents before they made it to safe houses, we could have minor, dangerous commands littered all around SHIELD." Peggy's eyes shut at the thought of it, a little groan escaping her lips.

"...but I agree, Meli... May." She's still getting used to the more formal name, "I don't think he's HYDRA. A good puppet, but not one of them."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"I figure Talbot's clean too, I just meant if they were going to take us down better they feed the intel to him than do it themselves. facing off against the US Army our hands are tied unless we want to send a bunch of GI's home in body bags," a beat. "Wait we've got a camera on Talbot?" he hadn't been brought in the loop on that part yet.

"And yeah, still stumped on the how to prove the connection between HYDRA and the Mallicks myself, but I am sure one of us will think of something."

The idea of programmed sleepers littered through SHIELD gets a flinch out of Daniel as he lets that thought sink in. "Christ," he mutters. "Okay guess I'm going to have to stop by the armoury for couple of ICERs for in here, just in case."

Melinda May has posed:
The barest chink in the armor Melinda has errected around herself shows when Peggy corrects her first name to her last. It's nothing more than the fainest stiffening of her back. But it's a good thing neither of them are empath, or they'd feel her heart crack just a little more within. She was 'Melinda' before the Framework, in Long Island. Even back as far as sitting around the table at Quon's in the aftermath of her return from 1949. To lose that now?

Is damning.

That moment of vulnerability passes swiftly, however, and she returns to business. "We're going into the Triskelion," she says now, dropping the bomb on both of them, since it's going to come out eventually. "Bobbi is going to retrieve the blood sample I brought back from 1949. And we're going to collect the machine they used on you after you emerged from cryostasis. We're going in as military. Collingwood will run interference. The goal is to be in and out without anyone the wiser. So, a small team. Infiltration only, no body count, no casualties. If it fails... Plan B is to try to flip Talbot."

Now is when someone should wish them luck... they'll need it.

Peggy Carter has posed:
A smirk crosses Peggy's lips as Daniel admits to not knowing about Talbot TV, "Yeah. He's still using our old TVs from when we had the offices at the Triskelion. He doesn't realize there are cameras in them. Bobbi and Lance managed to turn them back so we can watch everything he's doing when he's by the one in the office. Don't ask me about the drinking game. That's *their* rules. But it's been... Helpful so far. We should catch a few more hours of it the next time he's in his office." Peggy's smile is wry, thinking back to strangely happier times. Even just drinking in her office like bad kids behind the school.

Then she sees the change in Melinda's face when she corrects herself. Maybe there is some projected emotion but, more likely, Peggy is just that good a profiler. Her hand without the IV reaches out, wrapping over top the back of May's hand unless the other woman pulls away. The connection means she'll feel more of those emotions. The absolute respect, but also care -- love -- that Peggy has for her. Some of it's muddled in with things from the Framework, but it's from this world too. "Melinda. Everything's changed but... nothing has either. I trust you with my life. My family," Her eyes flicker to Daniel, he being the only family she has here, "And all I ask is that, if you're going in... You come back to me. I couldn't forgive myself for losing you too... Not after all this."

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel smirks at the idea of watching Talbot through his stolen TV. "Sounds like good television," he says. "Wonder if Bobbi and Hunter will teach us the rules to the drinking game." That last part delivered with a wry smile, he's joking, well at least while Peggy is laid up in medical.

Daniel's expression goes from wry to serious as he nods in support of what Peggy has to say. "You're family Melinda, what happened in the Framework isn't your fault, hell you saved me and the resistance doing what you did." He means killing him. One of the final memories AIDA had pumped into his brain. "And good hunting in there, I'd go with you but my head is a bit of a mess right now. but stay safe and make it back in one piece."

Melinda May has posed:
Melinda's hand is tense under Peggy's, though it gradually relaxes as the pair speak. She can feel the emotions, yes. It's harder to accept them, but still a small relief. Perhaps more than she is able to admit.

She glances between them and gives a small nod. "I'll be back. Don't forget. I know HYDRA better than anyone else, other than Bobbi and Fitz. Even if Talbot does turn out to be dirty, they won't be able to hold me. Hold any of us. We're just hoping to avoid another PR nightmare in the process." One dropped body, even unconscious, and Hale will turn it into a SHIELD strike against democracy, she knows.

She pauses, though, as Daniel mentions that small elephant in the room. She's already spoken briefly to Peggy about it. Speaking to him... she wasn't sure what he knew or didn't know. "AIDA did something to you, too, didn't she?" she says after a moment, perhaps against her better judgement. But she can see the faint burn marks in his hairline -- as much a mark of their ordeal as the faint traceries she and Peg sport. "I know who was 'real' in there and who wasn't. And when. I could feel them. I didn't realize it at the time, but... I realize it now."

Peggy Carter has posed:
Peg relaxes a bit more as Melinda promises she's going to come back, that the caution is more for PR than anything. She believes that, even if she can do nothing but worry from a hospital bed. She gives Mel's hand one more squeeze and then gently pulls back, sinking a bit deeper into her pillows. The exhaustion is starting to creep in, whether she wants to admit it or not.

At the question of what AIDA did to Daniel, Peggy goes more quiet. Her hand reaches for him instead, encouraging. They can trust May, he can tell her. But it wasn't Peggy's story to tell, it was his, so she remains quiet, listening supportively in her exhaustion.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel takes Peggy's hand calming the anger and a bit of shame that comes of remembering what was done to him. "She uploaded all of construct Daniel's memories into my head to try to 'get me back on narrative'," he says with a sneer at those last words. "Anyhow it made a mess of my brain, but I more or less remember everything the construct version of me, thought, felt and did for those 15 years. Best as they can tell me the rig she pumped that through wasn't meant for that kind of data transfer and they're still working out what the long term effects might be. By the sounds of it, they're still just amazed I didn't stroke out in the process."

Melinda May has posed:
Shame is an all too common emotion here, May notes silently. It seems to be a trait among SHIELD agents -- no doubt inpsired by these two during the formative years and passed down through the generations. And she's as guilty of it as any of them.

She nods slowly, nevertheless, to his explanation. "Then, you know," she says simply. "If it means anything," she says after a moment, her voice steadier than it was when she spoke about it to Peggy the other day, "I took no pleasure in it. But you know what HYDRA would have done. It was the only way I could keep you from them." From the Doctor... but she's trying very hard to disassociate her memories of that particular monster from their own Leo Fitz. "I'd do it again, if I had to... You need to know that." She hates that it's true. But she also knows it is, nonetheless.

"I'm sorry..." For that. And for everything that happened... Not that she can put that last sentiment into words. Not even into her tone. It's locked behind that resolve she's started building to protect herself, even now.

Peggy Carter has posed:
"I told you, Melinda, I... *we* don't blame you for it. Not one inch. You made the right call. As hard as that is to accept. Everything's too... Fresh. I know. But it was still the right call." Peggy mutters, her voice a bit slower with the exhaustion that is threatening to overtake her, but it's important she get those words out.

"And while I hate she tortured you, Daniel... I mean, all of us, but... I'm glad you remember? Glad Lily... Melly... they can live on in memory, if nothing." Peggy doesn't want to say she didn't know how she'd handle grieving this alone, she doesn't wish the grief on them both, but she is glad they can share it. Her eyes press shut quietly, head sinking fully back to the pillow. "I still miss them." She whispers.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
Daniel looks over to May, meeting her eyes if she'll let him. "I'm glad you would, and I know what you saved me from but more than just the pain but the chance I'd give up any information about the reistance or anything that might hurt Peggy or the kids. You made the right call."

His eyes turn to Peggy, and he nods. "I don't regret a second of the pain or whatever might happen because of the memory upload, because I remember our kids and all those years we spent together. I'd hate to have not gotten to know them, or to be yet another decade and change you lived and I didn't."

He squeezes her hand tightly then, "I miss them too Peg. I loved them so much."

Melinda May has posed:
May seems to settle a little with Daniel's confidence. But Peggy's slow fading settles like a stone in her gut. Though that may have as much to do with the talk of the children as anything else.

"I do, too..." she says softly looking between them. Hell, their two girls were both named after her in some weird way. There's no doubt she's as caught in the middle of this as either of them.

She just doesn't want to relive all that grief, in this moment. She's not quite ready to let go of it all, yet. She's not yet past the anger.

She may well never be, given her nature.

But she can feel their ache and she knows her walls won't hold forever in the face of it. "You're falling asleep," she says to Peggy, her voice gentler than it's been since she first came in. "Rest. Bobbi and I have everything in hand. We're going to bring back a cure for you. You'll see..." She actually smiles now, an encouragement. She trusts Jemma and Bobbi. If they say they know how to make it work, she believes them.

She glances to Daniel. "Call me, if you need anything. Or if anything changes. I'm going to go see where Bobbi's at."

Peggy Carter has posed:
A little chuff of protest comes from Peggy as she's accused of falling asleep. She doesn't verbally disagree, she knows May is right, she just hates it. "Mm. Yes. I know. Things are in good hands. I... do know that. I could sleep. I just... I hate being like this. I am sorry. Truly..." For everything. Pulling May into this, not being strong enough to fight through, not being able to control her grief. She really was sorry.

But sleep is winning. She leans against Daniel just a bit in a way that says they've gotten used to this dance, she leans into him, he adjust the pillows and the bed, then helps her sink back in. The robe falls open slightly to expose those bandages across the horrible electrical burns over her chest. She settles back and into the pillow, her eyes losing the fight with staying open. "You both be safe. I'll... be here. And fine. Go handle work, as you need..." And with that unneeded permission, Peggy drops into a horribly needed, energy conserving rest.

Daniel Sousa has posed:
"Good luck, Melinda, let me know if there's anything I can do to help move the mission along, you'll know where to find me," Daniel says before helping Peggy get comfortable as she slides into sleep. He takes her hand and holds it to enjoy what closeness he can get before he has to deal with the world beyond the doors of the lab.