A/N: I decided to post this in three chapters after all, to not make the second one too long, but the final part will still be up today.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

Chapter 2

Lance Hunter was sitting in the common area of SHIELD's main base, drinking a beer with Mack and playing cards. His mood was finally improving as he looked at the perfect hand he was now holding after the losing streak he had had over the past few games. They weren't talking much, except from the occacional banter, and it would have been completely quiet in the room if it hadn't been for the faint music that was coming down the corridor from the direction of the gym, where his ex-wife had been headed earlier.

She had walked past them on her way to her daily workout session, wearing a skin tight red tank top and equally formfitting yoga pants. In a way Hunter was still angry at himself for staring after her for as long as he had, as it had given Mack more than enough opportunity to mock him about it. Still, even though he knew that Bobbi was obviously the devil herself, he also had to admit that she wasn't anything if not hot as hell. To see her strutting past him in that formfitting outfit wasn't exactly helpful for his resolve to get her out of his head and to keep his distance from her.

When he had decided to stay with SHIELD after their mission in Belgium, he had done so with the firm intention of keeping his relationship with his ex strictly professional – superficially friendly at most – but all their history and especially the strong attraction he still felt for her were making that anything but easy.

Even now as he was trying to keep focused on the game in front of him, his mind kept wandering to Bobbi's amazing figure as she had walked past him, her blond ponytail bobbing with every step and that small grin on her lips, just as she had passed him, and that he was sure he hadn't imagined.

She had seen his reaction all too clearly and knew him well enough of course to understand exactly what effect she could have on him. The fact alone that he was still dwelling on her appearance even though almost an hour had passed since then was more than enough evidence that her spell over him was still unbroken, even after all the time they had been separated.

"You just can't get her out of your head, can you?" Mack suddenly asked, startling the mercenary.

"I thought you're a mechanic, not a mind reader," Hunter replied with a slightly amused expression, not even trying to deny his preoccupied state. "What gave it away, huh, the dark cloud and demonic shadows hanging over me, now that Bobbi has clawed her way back into my life?"

Mack scrutinised his friend for a moment, apparently not sure if he was being serious or not, but then he just shook his head, a grin on his face.

"No, nothing like that. It's just that while it is pretty normal for me to hand you your ass when we're playing cards, you usually don't suck quite this much at this game. So I figured there had to be something else on your mind. The rest wasn't really a very hard guess."

Slightly hurt in his pride, Hunter placed his cards face down on the table for a moment and grabbed his beer, while looking straight at the SHIELD agent in front of him.

"Alright, first of all, just because you happen to be extremely lucky from time to time and actually win against me, doesn't mean you ever handed me my ass, and second, it's not like it's my fault that she just had to come by here in that outfit, when she's headed to the gym of all places."

"That was her training outfit, so where else would she have been headed?" Mack asked in return, slightly confused. "And of course she came through here; it's the direct way from her room, after all. Or do you expect Bobbi to take a detour around half the base just to avoid you?"

"It would have been at least slightly considerate of her, yes," Hunter replied sincerely, prompting an incredulous groan from Mack. "And I know that that was her training outfit; that's the whole point, isn't it? Didn't you see that grin on her face? That woman knows exactly what she's doing to me!"

"Oh, she's clearly driving you crazy, alright, because I didn't see her grinning or anything. She just walked by, that was it," the mechanic replied, clearly beginning to doubt his friend's sanity when it came to his ex-wife.

Hunter rolled his eyes at this and took another sip from his beer, as he reminded himself that Mack couldn't understand the significance of Bobbi's workout sessions. How they had often turned into so much more during their marriage and how just the memory of those times was driving him up the wall and was wreaking havoc with his plan to only think of her as a co-worker and friend from now on.

Just as he was about to set the bottle back down, however, trying to decide whether or not he should explain his predicament to Mack, his hand froze in midair. The music from the gym had suddenly become considerably louder and he realised that Bobbi must have finished her workout.

While they had still been living together, this had been about the time when he had dropped pretty much anything he'd been doing and made his way towards his wife's makeshift gym in their apartment, looking forward to watching her forget the world around her while she danced to the music, as she had always loved to do at the end of her training, even though he had known she hadn't been doing it for him.

The first time he had seen her jumping and spinning around to one of those awful songs she sometimes liked to listen to, he had been honestly surprised, as it had been rare, even for him, to see her so utterly relaxed and carefree. He had thoroughly enjoyed the sight, though, and not just because of the great visual of her stunning figure in motion.

When she had finally noticed him, she had been caught off guard at first, but then she had begun to dance slowly and teasingly directly in front of him until he had ultimately closed the gap between them and pulled her into his arms.

After that he had pretty much made a habit out of watching her dance, which she hadn't seemed to mind, and even despite the occacional intimate moment that had led to, just watching Bobbi move like that in front of him, her motions fluid, had been absolutely mesmerising and one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, even to this day.

To think that she was just down the corridor from him right now, her hips swaying to the music, that blissful smile on her lips that he loved so much about her, made it almost impossible for him to even think straight anymore, let alone focus on anything but Bobbi.

"What, that your song, or something?" Mack suddenly asked with a raised eyebrow as he noticed Hunter's reaction. There was a mocking expression on his face in light of the upbeat pop music they could hear clearly now not exactly being the mercenary's usual taste.

As Hunter was determined not to give in to the impulse to head to the gym straight away, he forced himself to pretend like nothing had happened and took another sip from his beer as he leaned back in his chair, his gaze full of disdain. He was still clinging to the faint hope that he could shake his obsession with his ex-wife if he just managed to remain right here where he was for the next ten minutes, and not give into temptation.

"Yeah, right, like I would listen to garbage like that voluntarily. That's Bobbi's playlist, not mine." He fell silent for a moment as he picked up his cards again, but even though he did his best to focus back on the game, his eyes kept wandering down the corridor towards the gym. In the end he was forced to realise that his attempt at denial was pointless.

He was missing Bobbi terribly and while he was sure that the chances of them getting back together in this lifetime were pretty slim, he at least wanted to get one more glimpse of what they had used to have. So he finally came to a decision and simply dropped the hand he'd been holding, even though it had been a sure victory.

"I just realised I have to go and check up on something, so… you win, mate," Hunter muttered, his thoughts already far ahead of him. As he was about to leave the common area, he turned around to Mack once more, a grin plastered on his lips and his eyes sparkling with confidence.

"But just for the record: I don't have a song. I have a whole album." With that he made his way down the corridor, leaving Mack to roll his eyes at thin air, before taking a another drink, annoyed that his match partner would just walk out on him like that.

"'Course you do."

To be continued…