A/N: Canon or not canon, I'm giving them 24 hours before the news reaches them about Ward's escape. Just because there are some conversations that have to happen. The show's pace is nonstop right now, and there's no time for developing relationships! I have to cram it in somewhere. :)

A heavy feeling of awkwardness dogged Skye the next day, following her through her morning routine. She definitely didn't want to be in the middle of anything with Hunter and his ex-wife. It bothered her to think that Bobbi might be under the impression that Skye and Hunter had something going on. Or that Skye wanted there to be something going on.

Skye was having a hard time admitting to herself that she had kind of hoped there was something going on. The pace had been just right for her - nice and slow, just friends, building trust and connection. Just real. No blinding, larger-than-life superhero moments. No naïveté. No impulsivity.

She shook off those thoughts. It wasn't going to do her any good to think them. She had to figure out how to clear the air, so she could stop feeling like a horrible person.

There was only one solution. She was going to have to talk to Bobbi.

Skye didn't know for sure whether Bobbi had overheard what Hunter had been saying the other night, so it took her a while to figure out how to approach the conversation subtly. After some deliberation, she decided to try the "chatty, overly nosy" approach.

"Good morning!" she began, sliding in next to Bobbi at the table where she was sipping coffee and looking through a SHIELD folder.

Bobbi looked up from her reading and smiled. "Good morning," she replied with a hint of surprise. "How are you?"

They chatted for a little while, about the weather, the coffee, the attack on the UN. After a few minutes, Skye asked, "How was it working with Hunter again?"

Bobbi rolled her eyes, and they both laughed. "He's a good guy to have on your team in the field," she said dryly, "but it was definitely interesting."

Skye carefully adopted a curious, gossipy expression. "Is there still something going on between you two?" she asked in a confidential tone.

Bobbi's eyebrows shot up. "Not on my part," she said emphatically. She looked Skye over carefully.

Skye didn't notice the scrutiny; she was too relieved. She could walk away right now and be done with this conversation. Burden of guilt: lifted. That simple.

But she didn't.

"Do you think he's still interested in you?" she asked, as casually as she could manage, trying to convince herself there was no ulterior motive behind the question. "He talks about you a lot."

Bobbi laughed. "Yeah, not always very complimentary things, from what I hear." She paused to think, a skeptical expression on her face. "I don't think he's really still interested," she said deliberately. "We tried that road. It wasn't a fun one." She sighed. "Hunter just has a hard time moving on. He knows nothing would really work out between us. I think sometimes he just wishes the world were a different place where maybe it could."

Bobbi looked at Skye keenly. "Why do you ask?"

Skye reddened. It was too obvious that she'd been fishing for information. "I, just, uh..." Her brain scrambled to put together a coherent explanation. "Hunter was just making a stupid joke when you walked in the other night, and it probably sounded like he was hitting on me. I didn't know whether you had heard it. But it wasn't anything. And I wanted to make sure you knew that it wasn't anything, in case..." She waved her hand vaguely. Bobbi nodded.

"A stupid joke, huh?" Bobbi paused for a moment before grinning slyly at Skye. "That sounds like Hunter. Terrible jokes are something he's good at."

Skye smiled uncomfortably. "Well, I'm glad to know I didn't upset anything." Bobbi returned the smile with a genuine one, and Skye got up to leave.

"No," Bobbi said softly to herself as Skye walked out the room. "No, Skye; you didn't upset anything."

So, Skye thought as she was leaving, maybe he wasn't still in love with her. Though it had certainly sounded like it, and Skye wasn't sure how good a judge of Hunter's affections Bobbi was. Not that it really mattered, anyway; she and Hunter were just friends.

It wasn't her business.

Skye felt a twinge of regret for running out on him last night, just when he'd been starting to open up. She realized she didn't remember a time when that had actually happened. She hated that she had chosen to bolt, just because it was hard to hear what he was saying. She would do better next time.

A/N: Support insecure authors! Leave a review! ;)