Hunter shuffled back to his room groggily. Once inside, he collapsed onto the bed, folding his arms behind his head and waiting for sleep to come. After a while, when it didn't come, he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

Thoughts drifted through his mind - mostly thoughts about Skye. He figured he'd better take a moment to sort them out if he wanted to get any more rest tonight.

What a puzzle that girl was. He'd had a feeling there was a soft underbelly beneath that tough-agent exterior of hers; she was good at hiding it, but little things had given it away. But when Hunter went out to the lounge to investigate the noise he'd heard, he hadn't expected to find Skye bawling her eyes out. He'd recognized it for what it was - the stresses of combat, heartache, and loss weighing too heavily on a good soldier with a soft heart. He'd seen it plenty of times before. He'd talked people through it before. Not for a while, now.

...He'd been experiencing a bit of it himself, lately.

His mind swerved away from that train of thought, and he wondered instead what circumstances and emotions could have burdened Skye to the point of sobbing in an overstuffed chair in the middle of the night. She hadn't seemed well earlier that evening, when he'd offered to listen. But he supposed he wasn't exactly her first choice as confidant. (Who else would it be, though? he wondered. Agent May didn't seem the type for deep emotional discussions.)

He knew it had to've been something big. Skye was anything but weak; on the contrary, Hunter had seen that she could be tough as nails. He'd observed her composure on the way back to base after taking out Donnie Gill - she was as cool as ice, no pun intended. Knew what had to be done and did it. She was strong, all right. Strong. Just not soulless.

Hunter knew vaguely that Coulson's people had been through hell. They'd been at the epicenter of the Hydra uprising; their team had been splintered; Fitz had been injured. Hunter didn't know how close Skye and Fitz had been, but he saw how Fitz's current state affected her.

Then there was the asset down in Vault D. Thinking about the fact that Skye had been involved with him, that his betrayal had affected her on a personal level, inexplicably made Hunter's blood begin to boil.

He was feeling awfully defensive of a woman he wasn't supposed to be attached to.

Hunter's thoughts drifted to Skye herself. He was honest enough with himself for a moment to acknowledge that she had gotten under his skin a bit, and that he felt an unusually strong desire to make her notice him. I mean, of course she was beautiful, and the only woman around besides the terrifying Agent May, but it wasn't just that. There was something about Skye that Hunter found magnetic. He had a feeling that it wasn't one-sided. At the same time, he had the distinct impression that she was pushing him away. He wondered whether it had something to do with the jerk in the basement.

Hunter sighed and crossed his ankles, then uncrossed them, trying to get comfortable. His thoughts were turning in a direction that he really didn't want to go, so he made up his mind to redirect them.

After all, Lance Hunter did not get attached. He had learned the lesson a long time ago that caring too much about comrades in arms was a sure recipe for heartbreak, and after his wife had left him, he'd made the deliberate decision to extend that detachment into his personal life as well. No more of that devastation for him, thank you very much. Sure, he might meet a girl now and then, he might fool around. But he didn't let his heart get involved. Too much vulnerability there.

It was lonely as hell sometimes. But at least it didn't hurt like hell.

And it worked pretty well, most of the time. Other times - like with Izzy Hartley and Idaho - you worked with someone long enough that you almost couldn't help but get attached. You met their families...you pulled each other out of tight spots...you witnessed emotional breakdowns. Hard not to care, in such a situation.

Skye was right. This whole "not-getting-attached" thing didn't always work very well for him. Not that he would ever admit it.

Hunter sighed again and squeezed his eyes shut, crinkling up his forehead. It was really much too late at night to be having this conversation with himself. He was pretty sure that soon it would morph into a bizarre dream about electrical-system viruses and pink elephants and he'd wake up totally disoriented. It had to be time to sleep, before that happened.

But there was one more thing buzzing in his mind, one thought he hadn't processed yet, and it wouldn't let him rest. After a few more minutes of trying to sleep, he groaned and sat up, rubbing his face with both hands. All right, fine, brain. Let's go there.

His thoughts flashed back to the look on Skye's face when he'd told her to stop trying to be Agent May - the vulnerable, disarmed way she'd responded to him, the gratefulness in her eyes. He felt a faint ache rise up in his chest.

He hadn't had such an honest, emotionally transparent discussion with anyone in...years, really. He'd missed it.

Ah, hell.

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut again and let himself go there for a minute, to experience the longing for connection, for emotional intimacy. He'd had it before. It had never ended well. But oh, it had been good while it lasted.

A little voice in his brain reminded him that toying with these thoughts was a really stupid and dangerous idea.

Hunter shoved it all out of his mind and turned to bury his face in the pillow. It was way past time to sleep.

Author's Note: Special thanks to some of my reviewers: Tori Hart, I completely agree with what you've said! That's why I wanted to try writing Skyehunter. Your suggestion prompted me to flesh out Hunter more thoroughly and establish a nice arc for him as well as for Skye. :) Silverstream, your reviews make my heart happy! I totally love YOU and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Alierana, websky, The Third MRN, and theAngelintheWings - thank you for your detailed/encouraging feedback. This pair is challenging for me to write, so it's nice to know it's working for people. :)

I have a good idea now of where this is going, but I'd still love to hear your ideas! It was interesting to get into Hunter's head, so leave me a review and let me know how you think it turned out. Thanks for reading!