So, this is the revised version of She Needs Us. It'll have less (and longer) chapters, far fewer mistakes, more fluffy family moments, and less cringe.
The original was prompted by red lighting, so props for the idea go to that amazing human. The last chapter will be posted Saturday.
Disclaimer: I don't own Agents of SHIELD or any Marvel characters.
Chapter One: Many Mistakes May be Mended (This Isn't One Of Them)
Bobbi grips the pen between her thumb and forefinger, tight. She takes a second to gather her thoughts before signing the papers in front of her, filled with reckless abandon.
"Try not to rip the paper, Bobbi. Might void the bloody thing."
Hunter catches the papers as she shoves them across the table, much to Bobbi's chagrin. But then he, too, takes a pen from his council as if it's a knife. Then he proceeds in attempting to cut out her heart as if he hasn't already tried. As if he hasn't already failed.
When she walks out of that room, finally free, Bobbi Morse is no longer married. She is, on the other hand, still pregnant.
She just doesn't know it yet.
*eight months later*
"Bobbi, you can't put it off anymore." Mack's voice carries a kind of frantic willingness to pound his perfectly logical opinion into her skull.
And, even if it makes sense, Bobbi decided months ago that she isn't going to listen. Morse continues looking through the microscope, testing a sample of something-or-other. She can't quite remember what it is, actually.
The science department had kept her on because of the bio degree. Bobbi hates it, but refuses to stop working either way.
"I'll tell him," she says. "Just another couple of weeks."
"In a couple of weeks you're going to have this baby. You don't have the time."
She looks up from the microscope. "Maybe I don't have to tell him at all."
"Bobbi, it's his baby, too," Mack reminds her. "Not telling him… it's not fair to Hunter or the baby."
The anger overtakes her suddenly, and she loses it. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't lie awake at night thinking about—"
Bobbi stops in the middle of her sentence as a wave of pain radiates through her body.
And then another.
And then another.
Blinding, radiating, horrific pain like nothing she has ever felt before is pulsing through her being, with every pump of her heart.
Mack shouts something as she falls down. There are people rushing around, screaming things.
She blinks and then she is on a table or a stretcher.
Another blink and there is Mack, holding her hand. He's saying something, but she doesn't hear it.
She wonders if the baby is okay.
She wonders if she should have told Hunter…
The world goes dark.
She wakes up in a hospital room filled with blinking lights and blurry people standing in doorways. There are two beeping monitors with lines going up and down in a steady pattern. It's incredibly irritating, and a little comforting.
There are two monitors. Her baby is okay.
Bobbi's vision sharpens slowly until she can identify one of the people standing in the doorway as Mack.
After exchanging quiet words with a doctor, he walks in and sits on the chair by her bed. "The baby went into distress. They said it's from the stress, but you'll both be fine."
Morse nods. "Can you pass me the phone?"
Mack mutely puts the receiver into her hand.
Her fingers shake slightly as she dials the number. Hunter picks up on the fifth ring. "Lance Hunter speaking."
So, he still doesn't have caller ID, Bobbi thinks.
"Hunter? It's—"
"The Demonic Hell-Beast. Why are you calling me?"
Suddenly Bobbi loses the ability to talk properly. "Hunter… do you remember… about two weeks before we got divorced…."
"We fucked," Hunter supplies.
"And then… about a month later I—"
"Bobbi…"
"I'm pregnant. Eight months."
The line goes dead.
After a second of shock turns into silent realization, Bobbi is not sure whether to be disappointed or happy. Hunter obviously wanted an out. At least now, she didn't have to feel bad about not telling him. She should feel better, like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
So why was she still so damn guilty?
Mack takes the receiver out of her limp hand, looking sad. Morse tries to smile, but cannot seem to find the expression.
"He hung up," she says simply.
Then the monitors start beeping faster. A nurse comes running in, but Bobbi can feel herself slipping again.
Mack takes her hand in his. "Bobbi, you need to calm down." His voice is calm and insistent, breaking through the haze.
But the beeping just comes more and more rapidly.
They put a mask over her nose and Bobbi breaths in. She fades off into the darkness.
Hunter is on a plane.
He hates planes. The smell and the way it makes his head feel full. The fact that it's a glorified piece of metal hurtling through the air at more than 500 miles per hour. The colors are too bright. Stark. Blinding.
"My… my wife is pregnant," he tells the person next to him. His leg bounces up and down. Lance wonders where they have the booze, and then realizes that part of his life is over. He's having a kid. Oh, god, he's having a child.
"This your first baby?" His neighbor is a woman in her forties with dark, huge hair. She picks up on his nervousness immediately.
"Yeah." Hunter consciously stills his leg.
"Boy or girl?"
Lance is stumped. Even this, the simplest of questions, he cannot answer.
What kind of dad is he?
"We don't know yet," he says, coving his own ass.
"Oh, saving it for the big day. You don't see many people doing that these days." She smiles at him. Lance realizes he must seem like a dutiful husband to her, perhaps coming home from a business trip he took reluctantly. And now he was all nervous, caring about his wife and unborn child.
"No, well, we wanted the surprise," he replies. Lance hopes it's a girl. He would love a boy just as much, but a girl just seems… nice.
The lady pulls out a picture of her grandchildren, four of them, before going on to list all the things Lance should be buying. Doing. Being. At first, it's helpful, but the words soon turn sour.
Lance really didn't know anything.
When the movie starts, they stop talking. It's a quick release, the kind you don't see coming until the relief washes over you. But Hunter does not watch the stupid rom-com, because he is imagining a life with him, Bobbi and their little girl.
Mack's leg is bouncing up and down, too. He tries calling Hunter 52 times in the eight hours Bobbi and the baby are in surgery. The same eight hours that Lance is on a flight. But he does not know that.
"Bastard," he mutters, starting to pace around the small waiting room. "Hope he falls out of the sky, 'cause that's where his brain's at."
(At this exact moment, Lance's plane hits turbulence. He does not, however, fall out of the sky.)
A resident comes out to update him. She's young, with dark hair and tan skin. Her eyes are deep brown, the kind that you can stare at for hours and never grow tired of. Mack barely glances at them, however. He's too busy trying not to throw his phone at the wall.
"The C-section went well, Mr. Mackenzie. Your wife should be out of surgery soon," the doctor drawls. It's not a southern accent, but something is afflicted in her pronunciation. It sounds almost… fake but, again, Mack barely registers it.
"Thanks. And she's not my wife!" Mack calls after her, but the brown-eyed surgeon is already halfway down the crowded corridor. All Mack can see is the back of her flowered scrub cap and even that is soon lost in a sea of ever-shifting bodies.
So, he sits down, only to jump up again almost immediately as the unmistakable figure of Lance Hunter rushes through the hospital doors.
Hunter spots Mack and runs over. "Where's Bobbi?" he blurts.
"In surgery." Mack watches the blood drain from Hunter's face before adding, "But she and the baby are fine. They did a C-section."
Lance swallows hard and nods, taking the seat next to his old acquaintance.
"I'm a father," he realizes aloud.
"Congratulations," Mack replies dryly.
Bobbi wakes up in her hospital room again. But there is only one beeping monitor. She looks around for Mack, finding him in the seat next to her. "Where…."
"The baby is fine. It's a girl. Hunter is with her."
"Hunter?"
Mack shrugs. "He flew in."
Bobbi stores this information away carefully, mind boomeranging back to what really matters.
"Can I see her?"
Mack seems unsure at best. "You had to have major surgery. They had to…"
"I don't care. I want to see my baby."
As the words exit her mouth, Lance enters the room with a pink bundle in his arms. He passes the parcel off to her, smiling.
"She has your eyes," Hunter says. "Lucky girl looks just like her mother."
"I think she has your hair," Bobbi replies. It's a little darker, like his, but still blondish.
She and Hunter just look at their baby for a while after that.
Then, "What should we name her?" Bobbi asks. "I've been thinking about it, but nothing seems right."
"Uh… Barbra Jr?"
Bobbi shakes her head. No way was she subjecting a child to the horror that is the name 'Barbra'.
"Poppy?"
"I like the flower, but it's too…."
"British? She is half English, but I do see what you mean." Hunter thinks about it for another couple of minutes, staring at the perfect face in Bobbi's arms. "Lily," he decides.
"Lily," Bobbi says, testing the world out on her tongue. It's nice. "Perfect. Lily Amelia Morse-Hunter."
I'll be updating every Saturday. There are 12 chapters, so it'll be relatively short (compared with my other fics, that is). Depending on how much response this gets I might update on Wednesdays, too.
In the meantime, please review! If there's something you want to see, don't hesitate to ask. I'll try to work it in the best I can!