A short but important chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Hands and Hugs

"When's she gonna call?" Isabelle demanded excitedly. "When? When?"

"Soon," Bobbi promised.

"How soon?"

She held out her phone. "See, it's eight fifteen right now. We're going to call her at eight thirty."

"I can't wait...!" Isabelle whined, sliding off the bed onto the floor. She scrambled upwards, causing Bobbi—despite the uneasy twisting of her stomach—to laugh at her antics. She popped back up again. "Wait, can we call her now? Mommy says early is better than late!"

Bobbi laughed at the parroting. "But on time is better than either of those. Plus, if we call her now she won't be ready."

"She has to get the book," Isabelle nodded. "But if it's on the phone, how will I see the pictures?"

"I can help," the door opened before Bobbi could think of a solution. Hunter stepped through, carrying a thin, hardback book under his arm that he promptly presented to Isabelle. "This is it, yeah?"

"Yes!" Isabelle nearly shouted, her face lighting up. Bobbi raised an eyebrow but couldn't help but smile as the girl took the book from him and hugged it to her chest. Hunter had mysteriously vanished just after dinner, during which he'd evidently had a conversation with Isabelle regarding the story time she'd said he could attend later. Now Bobbi knew where he had disappeared to: a bookstore.

Hunter smiled and Bobbi gave him a silent nod of thanks before turning her attention back to her daughter. "What book is it?" she asked, curious.

Isabelle thrust it forward to show it to her, the book's glossy cover ending up two inches from her face. Bobbi gently moved it back to she could see it properly while the girl impatiently replied, "It's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie! It's the best!"

"I've never read it, but I'm sure it is," Bobbi agreed. "Okay, I'm going to call her now..." The girl gave an excited bounce on the bed before crawling underneath the covers with her new book. Hunter leaned against the wall next to her and Bobbi kept her seat on the edge of Isabelle's bed as she dialed.

"Hello?" Cheryl picked up.

"Hey, it's Bobbi," she smiled. "There's someone who really, really wants to talk to you."

"Put her on." The joy and anticipation in the woman's voice was palpable. Bobbi hit the speakerphone button and laid the phone down on the bed face up.

"You're on speak—"

"MOMMY?" Isabelle shouted happily, leaning towards the phone.

"Hey, Bella!" Cheryl exclaimed.

"Mommy!" the girl grinned happily.

"So, I hear you wanted a bedtime story?" the woman asked, barely-contained emotions coloring her voice. "I have your favorite right here."

"If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," Isabelle said immediately.

"Yes, that's the one," Cheryl laughed.

"Lance gave me the book," Isabelle told her proudly. Bobbi glanced at him to see surprise and then delight on his face. "He's my friend! But he's really bad at Mario Kart." This time it was Bobbi's turn to grin.

"Okay, are you ready?" Cheryl asked. "If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him the milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw…" She kept reading, pausing to give Isabelle enough time to look at the pictures. Every so often Bobbi glanced at Hunter to find his eyes firmly fixed on the illustrations, but a few seconds later she would catch him gazing at their daughter instead. On the third time this happened, he looked up quickly to see Bobbi watching him, and he gave her a small smile. "...And chances are, if he asks you for a glass of milk, he's going to want a cookie to go with it," Cheryl finished.

Isabelle gave a wriggle of joy. "Thank you, Mommy!"

"You're welcome, Bella," Cheryl said, again using a nickname that made Bobbi's stomach twist uncomfortably. Her daughter's name was Isabelle. But beyond that, she had never asked Bobbi or any of the team to call her something other than her birth name. Did she prefer Bella? Was she just too shy to tell them so? Or was it something special between mother and daughter—again with the stomach clench—that Bobbi would be encroaching on if she tried to use it?

"Mommy, can you come get me?" Isabelle asked, bringing Bobbi's wandering thoughts forcibly back to the scene in front of her. Hunter shifted on his feet, looking nearly as uneasy and helpless as she felt.

"I'm sorry, Isabelle, you have to stay there," Cheryl said regretfully.

"But I don't want to! I want to go home, with you!"

"Bella…"

"Why not?" Isabelle demanded, nose red and tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.

"Bobbi, can I speak to Isabelle alone for a few minutes?" Cheryl asked, the strain in her voice coming through almost tangibly. "I think...I think it's best if we do this now."

"...yeah, of course," Bobbi agreed, picking up the phone. Isabelle made a grab for it—desperately, as if in the action Bobbi was taking her mother away—but she was already pressing the speakerphone button again and lifting it to her ear. "I'll still be in the room, but you're off speaker now. Here she is."

"Thank you." Bobbi handed the phone to a still-crying Isabelle before retreating to her own bed and sitting on the edge of it. Hunter followed her and took a seat next to her hesitantly, as if unsure whether she would yell at him to get the hell off her bed. She wouldn't.

They looked at each other before looking back at Isabelle, who was hugging the phone tightly to her head and had curled up into a ball against the headboard. Bobbi could barely make out the sound of Cheryl's voice coming through the phone line, but not at all the words she was saying. "Are you okay?" she heard Hunter ask her softly, and she turned to look at him.

Bobbi considered her answer for a second. "No."

"Me neither," he told her, surprising her with his reply. She gave him a tight smile and did not object as his hand covered hers, just for a moment—not long enough to really mean something, but also long enough to mean everything in the gesture. If she were the type, Bobbi might have started crying herself in relief. She wasn't alone.

"But…" Isabelle whimpered, interrupting them from whatever sort of moment—Bobbi didn't even want to try to classify it right now—they had been having. "Yes," the girl whispered softly. "Yes." The faint hum of Cheryl's voice continued for several minutes, with occasional pauses, until finally Isabelle lifted the phone away from her ear, face still streaked with tears. Bobbi immediately stood up to take it from her, only to stop in surprise as the girl threw back the covers and crashed into Bobbi's legs, hugging them tightly. Slightly bewildered, Bobbi took the phone from her grip and handed it back to Hunter before lifting Isabelle and setting her on her hip. Her daughter's arms immediately wrapped around her neck and Bobbi held her close, turning to Hunter to give her some inkling of what to do.

He gave her a half-shrug and ducked out of the room to talk to Isabelle's mother if she was still on the line. Bobbi wrapped her arms around Isabelle securely, sitting down on the edge of the bed with the girl still clinging to her and showing no signs of letting go anytime soon.

But that was okay.

Bobbi didn't want to either.

I would love to hear what you think! Much thanks to my beta-reader VanillaAshes for pushing me through to the end on this chapter!