Thanks for reading! I'm the busiest I've ever been in my life right now, but I tried really hard to get this chapter written ASAP. To any of you who might be about to take finals right now like I am, the best of luck to you!

Phone Calls

Bobbi shifted uncertainly on her feet. "Isabelle...she really loved you. As her parents. And it seems like she loved her life with you. So what—" She frowned, righteous anger on behalf of her daughter boiling up inside her, bolstered by her frustration and doubts about her own situation. "—what gives you the right to rip her away from that? To send her back without so much as an explanation, to just...abandon her?" There was silence on the other end of the phone and for a minute Bobbi thought she had gone too far, that the woman had hung up.

"If there was any way we could have kept Isabelle," Cheryl said tightly in a low voice, "we would have." She drew a sharp breath. "My God, we would have."

"What do you mean?" Bobbi pressed. "What are you talking about? What made it so you couldn't keep her? What was more important than Isabelle?"

"Seven months ago, Luke was diagnosed with cancer," she admitted finally. Immediately Bobbi felt a rush of guilt wash over her. Whatever she had been expecting—nonchalance, evasiveness, just plain neglect—it wasn't this. "We hid it all from Isabelle—the chemotherapy sessions, the radiation treatment. It was hard to take care of her with him in and out of hospital and me working all the time, but for a while we managed. We were lucky in that after preschool there was a friend's house she could go to until I finished work. Isabelle did start to notice something was wrong—Luke stopped having the energy to play with her like he used to, to take her to the park or fix her meals; he was only getting worse—but we were paralyzed with fear and couldn't tell her what was really going on because she wouldn't understand. Money was very tight from all the medical bills, and with summer coming up we couldn't see a workable way to raise her because Luke couldn't manage on his own and I had to work. But even after all of that we couldn't even consider giving her up, she really is our—like our daughter." The woman broke off, sounding as if she was she attempting to hold back a sob. "We were counting on Luke's treatment to work, but last week, he passed away. I don't have any siblings and my parents past away some time ago. I didn't have a choice; I couldn't see a way I could manage… She deserves better." Cheryl's voice trembled on the last sentence.

"I had no idea, I'm sorry," Bobbi said in a hushed tone. "She was asking for her daddy...does she know what happened to him?"

"No," the woman replied softly. "I told her he was away on a business trip...I didn't think it would matter if she knew the truth. Since I was giving her up anyway, it would only hurt her. You said she...she misses us?"

"Yeah, she does," Bobbi told her. "A lot."

There was a choked sob on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, I'm just—hearing that makes me very happy and very sad at the same time, you know?" Cheryl cleared her throat. "Have you told her who you are?"

"No," she replied quickly. "She's too young to understand, and I didn't want her to feel like I was trying to replace you."

"Is there anything I can do?" Cheryl offered. "I still feel so responsible for her…"

"She wants to talk to you," Bobbi told her. "Maybe you could say something that will help her adjust to living with me instead? She doesn't know why she can't live with you anymore, and I'm not suggesting you tell her the truth, but some sort of closure would go a long way."

"Of course," Cheryl said, a hint of uncertainty coloring her voice. "I'll think of something."

"Also...maybe you could read her a story?" Bobbi asked.

"Anything to help," Cheryl repeated. "Tonight?"

"She's asleep now—I had to promise to call you in order to get her to calm down enough to do that," she said. "So tomorrow night? Around five-thirty your time?"

"I'll be awaiting your call," Cheryl promised, sounding happy about the prospect. "And the other thing...do you want me to tell her that at the same time? The whole truth?" The tremble returned.

Bobbi considered it. "No, she'd never fall back to sleep afterwards. It'll have to come some other time, maybe during the day when she starts to miss you a lot."

"Okay," the woman replied. "Barbara, I just want to thank you for this opportunity. I know you're not doing it for me, but I'm not over giving her up either, and… Well, it means a lot."

"You're welcome," she replied. "Thank you for offering to help, and again, I'm so sorry for your loss. We'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Thank you. I've already got her favorite story in mind," Cheryl said. "Wait, could you perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, send me a picture of her?"

"Of course," Bobbi replied automatically. "I'll send one to you. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." The woman hung up. Bobbi moved the phone away from her ear, breathing deeply before beginning to surf through her text messages, looking for the picture Coulson had sent her that he had sneakily snapped while getting up to fetch more popcorn during the movie. She found it easily, smiling at the sight of Isabelle snuggled in between her and Skye. After her shouting match with Hunter—it was supposed to have been a civil conversation but she'd forgotten that was nigh on impossible with him—she had playfully stolen Trip's seat on the couch and watched the rest of the movie with them.

Concentrating, Bobbi deftly cropped Skye out of the picture in the version she would sent on to Cheryl. As cute as the three of them looked together, Bobbi didn't want to have to answer to who the young woman was in the picture. Likely it would strike her as weird to have this sort-of family taking care of Isabelle day-in and day-out instead of something more traditional, despite the old saying 'It takes a village to raise a child.' Then she sent it off and saved a copy of the original to her camera roll, smiling slightly.

"Bobbi," Hunter said from the edge of the hallway, alerting her to his presence. He'd learned long ago it wasn't a good idea to try to sneak up on her. Not that he could.

"What do you want?" she asked flatly, stuffing her phone back in her pocket. "If you're going to yell at me again, I would remind you that she's sleeping just past this thin little door?"

"I'm not going to yell," Hunter told her coldly. "In fact, the only reason I'm talking to you if for her." He jerked his thumb towards the closed door.

"Likewise," Bobbi replied, matching his tone.

"I want to spend time with Isabelle," her ex-husband said. If he was trying for 'polite' or 'nice' he had failed utterly, but at least he was civil. And that meant she had to be too. Somewhat.

"Is this you asking?" Bobbi asked, pursing her lips and crossing her arms. He opened his mouth as if to retort and promptly closed it again, quite obviously resisting a snarky reply. "Fine, what did you want to do with her?"

"Uh—" Hunter replied dumbly. "Talk?" He lost the battle against his usual sarcasm. "Is this by appointment only now?"

Bobbi closed herself off completely, eyes turning from combative and wary to frosty and shut-down. "I'll think of something and text you," she replied evenly. She spun around and had her hand on the door handle to go back inside when a new voice interrupted.

"Hunter, Bobbi—come with me," May said, walking in from the other direction. She knocked on Skye's door and after a moment the analyst appeared in her pajamas, stifling a yawn.

"What's going on?" Bobbi asked.

May met her eyes, gaze as serious as could be. "Ward's escaped his brother's custody. He's on the run."

Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts in a review :)

Responses to Guests:

Andy: This should clear some of that up.

Shawn: A bit of anger in the beginning. Then just sadness.

Holly: Here you are :) What did you think?

Guest: That last line from May was for you. Now S.H.I.E.L.D.'s got some stuff to take care of, and we'll get to see the bit of war between duties and Isabelle in Bobbi's mind (and Hunter *might* have something to say about that as well). Thanks for the suggestion!