THAT FINALE. Cannot wait for season 3! Sorry for the wait on this chapter, but now that testing's over I hope to be able to update a bit more frequently. Thank you for sticking with me!
Commitment
"Can we? Can we, please?" Isabelle asked, looking up at Bobbi eagerly. "You said after dinner. It's after dinner!"
She smiled. "Yes, go ahead. Start the movie without me though; I need to talk to Hunter." She glanced at Skye for confirmation and the younger agent nodded.
"But you'll miss the beginning," Isabelle said with a frown. "The beginning is the part where the sunlight turns into the golden flower!"
"It's okay," Bobbi promised though she was a little unclear on what exactly Isabelle was going on about. She paused. "Didn't Skye say you could have popcorn with the movie?"
"Yeah!" Isabelle remembered, turning to Skye and tugging excitedly on her arm. "Popcorn!" Bobbi took a few steps backward while her daughter was distracted, waiting to see if the girl would be fine staying with Skye. With a stuffed animal tucked under each arm—because of course neither of them could be left out for the movie—Isabelle appeared to be perfectly content to be left in Skye's care. It didn't surprise Bobbi all that much. Skye was a natural with kids, probably because she had an excitable personality herself and exuded friendliness.
Bobbi started up the stairs after her ex-husband, who had conveniently disappeared right after the first plate was placed in the sink. She had three guesses as to where he might be, given that the currently-occupied kitchen was where Coulson mandated all the alcohol be stored: his bunk, sulking; his car, ready to take off again; or the gym, blowing off some steam though exercising feelings out had always been more of her thing. She checked his room first, knocking on the door. "Hunter?" There was no response, but she couldn't really expect one if he was truly trying to ignore her. "Hunter!" she banged on the door again. "If you're in there and not opening this door, I'm going to come back with Mack and an ax!"
"Do you need me?" Mack asked from behind her, watching her with a slightly amused expression.
"Hunter won't open the door," Bobbi explained.
"Because he's not in there," Mack said calmly, gesturing towards the room in question. "You can bend down, look at the crack underneath, and see that the light's not on."
"...Right," Bobbi turned on her heel. "Sorry, I'm not thinking straight when it comes to Hunter."
"You rarely are, the time you married him being a good example," Mack told her dryly. "Sure you want to talk to him, Barbara?"
"Yes, we can't just go tiptoeing around each other for the next week and a half," Bobbi replied. "I'm well aware of Hunter's usual sulk-drink-talk routine, but I'm not standing for his schedule this time. Not with Isabelle here."
"What are you going to say?"
"I want to know his intentions."
Mack raised an eyebrow. "You sound like he's a suitor of Isabelle's, not her father."
"I'm not letting him get close to her if he's not sticking around, Mack." She sighed. "Earlier, in the med lab, he introduced himself properly, and Isabelle...kissed his boo-boo better," Bobbi said in a slightly strangled voice. Those were not words she'd ever thought she'd hear herself saying. "Our marriage ended and it was both our faults, but that doesn't change Hunter's history. Commitment issues are definitely a part of it. And if I'm going to let him bond with Isabelle, it needs to be the biggest commitment of his life."
Mack stopped for a second, as if weighing his next words carefully. "Is this kind of thing what you've asked of the team as well?"
"Of course not," Bobbi shook her head.
"Who's Isabelle with right now?"
"Skye."
"And Skye's allowed to spend time alone with her without signing some sort of contract with you not to leave?" Mack asked, his tone utterly non-confrontational.
"That's different," Bobbi said. "Hunter and Skye are—"
"No, it's not," Mack said. "You haven't told Isabelle who Hunter really is, or who you really are, for that matter. And that's your own prerogative, but you can't expect more from Hunter than you do anyone else if you're treating him the same in regards to Isabelle."
Bobbi faltered. "I was thinking maybe someday..."
"Maybe someday? Barbara, maybe you should let the man make friends with your daughter before you start shoving fatherly responsibilities on him."
"I didn't ask for a lecture, Mack," Bobbi said sharply.
"You want someone to help you through this, I get that," Mack stepped forward. "You want someone to feel as responsible for her well-being and happiness as you do right now; you want someone to help you bear the weight and pressure of it. But you can't put it all on Hunter. The rest of the team is here for you too."
"I still want to know," Bobbi said stubbornly. "Or at least see where he stands. He is different from the rest of them. Someday I will tell Isabelle who I really am, and you know exactly what her next question will be: who's my father? Hunter has more responsibility than the others whether he likes it or wants it or not. Isabelle's only four right now—if he doesn't want this commitment, this is his one and only chance to leave where she likely won't remember ever meeting him. It's a softer blow for me to tell her, when the time comes, that she never met her father. Instead of that she has and he still left."
Mack shifted uneasily. "I see your point. But don't expect Hunter to be receptive to what you have to say." He turned away, beginning to walk back down the hallway. "He's in the garage."
"Couldn't you have led with that?" Bobbi asked, rolling her eyes. "But thanks. He's not...he's not leaving, is he?"
"Didn't ask," Mack called behind him before disappearing into the lab.
Bobbi headed for the garage, pausing to check on Isabelle and Skye in the lounge first. To her surprise, most of the team seemed to be there—Coulson and May in chairs they had pulled from the kitchen table, Trip and Skye on the couch with Isabelle in between them, Fitz and Simmons sharing a large armchair—although only Skye and Isabelle seemed to be singing the song with the movie. "I'll reread the books if I have time to spare...I'll paint the walls some more—I'm sure there's room somewhere! And then I'll brush and brush and brush and brush my hair! Stuck in the same place I've always been..."
Coulson was smiling broadly as he glanced between the girl on screen and Isabelle and Skye and FitzSimmons were laughing quietly. "Come on, you guys, join us!" Skye urged during a break in the song. They stopped laughing immediately.
"We don't know the words," Simmons said a little too innocently.
"Nope, not a clue," Fitz agreed.
May spotted Bobbi as she watched from the doorway and their gazes connected. The Cavalry gave her a short nod—everything was fine here; May would make sure Isabelle stayed safe while she was gone—and Bobbi mouthed thanks before turning away. The resumed sounds of singing trailed after her. "Tomorrow night...the lights will appear...just like they do..." Bobbi was smiling as the last strains of childlike happiness faded out of earshot as she approached the door to the garage. Then she steeled herself for what she might find beyond that door—Hunter's car missing, Hunter playing darts with a picture of her face, Hunter having gone out and bought another stupid 1967 GTO to replace the one she'd torched—and twisted the handle, stepping into the garage.
The main source of light was coming from the interior of the Bus. The ramp was partially lowered and her ex-husband was sitting on the edge of it, with his legs dangling. He was nursing a beer bottle with another two unopened ones next to him. "Hunter," Bobbi said loudly. He jumped.
"Oh, it's you," he said as she moved forward into the light. "Don't surprise people like that; we live on a base with a bunch of lethal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."
"Myself included, I think I'll be fine."
Hunter tipped the beer bottle to her before bringing it to his lips again.
"Where'd you find those?" Bobbi asked, coming to a stop at the base of the ramp and looking up at him. He was only sitting a few feet off the ground, but it was enough that she had to tilt her head to see him properly. There weren't many people to whom she had to look up.
"May's stash," Hunter replied off-handedly. "Apparently she keeps a couple of these behind the scotch."
"May's going to kill you."
"Won't be any different from any other day."
Bobbi gave him the ghost of a smile. "True." She paused. "Hunter, we need to talk."
"Unless it's about alcohol, the merits of which I'm always game to expatiate, I've got nothing to say to you," he said coldly.
"Okay then, pop one open," Bobbi said, gesturing to a bottle and hoisting herself up to sit on the ramp with a few feet of space between them.
"You kidding? If I'm going to get killed over these, I sure as hell am going to be the one drinking them," Hunter said, scooting the bottles to his other side and away from her.
Bobbi rolled her eyes. "You were good today, with her, Hunter." He didn't reply. "I...I liked seeing her with you, the two of you interacting."
"What's your point, Bob?"
"I want to know if you're going to stick around," she told him, watching his facial expression.
"That's rich, coming from you."
"What?" Bobbi asked, confused.
"You're the one who was always leaving," Hunter told her. "For your missions, for S.H.I.E.L.D. I was always the one being left behind, the one who was second-priority."
"You had your own work, first with the SAS and then as a mercenary," Bobbi said. "What I did for S.H.I.E.L.D. was my duty, Hunter. It was my job. And you're really going to bring this up now?"
"Yes!" he exclaimed loudly. "I bring it up because you have no right asking me something like that when you're just as guilty of it yourself. Four years ago, you left me without even telling me about the child we were going to have!"
"We were divorced," Bobbi growled. "And I had every right back then, just like I do now!"
"The right?" Hunter shouted. "What the bloody hell gives you the right?"
"You better get real used to being second, Hunter," Bobbi hissed, eyes flashing. "Because with me, you'll never be first. You never should be first. You know why?" She thrust her hand out to the side, pointing viciously to the blank wall to the left. "She's in there, watching a Disney movie with the rest of the team while I'm out here, talking with you so she won't hear us fight! So I can be sure that you won't run out on her the minute things get hard!"
"What about you?" Hunter growled. "How can I be sure that you won't take off permanently—or even for a mission. I know that as soon as there's an op, you will. You'll leave that little girl in the care of somebody else and take off. Not caring how dangerous it is or what chances there are of you coming back! S.H.I.E.L.D. and your missions will come before Isabelle like they've always eclipsed everything else in your life. She'll be second too."
"You and Isabelle are completely different situations," Bobbi countered in a low voice. "She's my daughter."
"Which makes it even worse! You gave her up because you couldn't be bothered to look after her yourself, with or without me! You chose S.H.I.E.L.D. first then and you will again, it's just a matter of time!" Hunter accused.
"I gave her up because of you and your stupid—-" Bobbi yelled in response.
"So in answer to your question, love," Hunter said tightly, hopping off the edge of the ramp and landing on the floor with a thud. He looked up at her, livid. "Yeah, I'm sticking around. For Isabelle. For Coulson. But not for you."
For those of you hoping for fluff...sorry? Hope you liked it anyway ;) Please leave a review if you have the time; I would love to hear what you all thought!
Responses to Guest reviewers:
AwesomeGirl: How about wanting to slug him now? Maybe both of them?
Guest: Thank you!
Holly: My thoughts too. More bonding to come!
Andy: Glad you liked the science experiment!
Shawn: You'll be seeing more of that in the future :)