Thanks for reading! Some parts of this story are best told from someone else's POV than Bobbi's, and you'll see why in the third segment of the chapter, which comes from Isabelle herself.

Cover-Stealer

When Bobbi looked down again, Isabelle had fallen asleep in her arms. She wasn't really sure how much time had passed, but based on the fact that she had tingles going up her arm where her daughter had cut off part of her blood supply, it had been a while. She gently extricated herself from her daughter's now loose grip, shifting her into a position in which Bobbi could carry her safely to her bed. Laying her down gently, she pulled the covers over Isabelle's small body and tucked her in.

Only then did she stop to wonder where Hunter had gone. She opened her room door to find him sitting against the wall just outside of it. "Hey," she greeted him. "Have you been sitting out here this entire time?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "First I was talking with Isabelle's mom—you don't mind, do you?"

She shook her head. "Of course not." When he didn't appear to be getting up, she sat down next to him. "What did she say?"

"Well, she asked who I was when you handed the phone to me," he answered. "I told her I was the father." Bobbi nodded, assuring him that that was okay as she sensed his uneasiness. "She explained to Isabelle what had happened and why she had to stay here with us."

"Including that her dad died?"

Hunter's brow furrowed. "She didn't mention that." He gave her a moment to process that tidbit of information, or perhaps he was processing it himself. "How's Isabelle?"

"She's asleep," Bobbi answered. "How long was I in there?"

"About twenty-five minutes," he replied, consulting his phone.

"Thanks for waiting," she told him. "And for talking with Cheryl. And for buying the book."

Hunter gave a slight smile, placing a hand on her shoulder. The simple touch set her heart pounding, unexpected as it was, but she didn't flinch away. "You don't have to thank me for any of this. I was serious about wanting to be a proper father for Isabelle. We're in this together now."

She couldn't help the feeling of relief that washed over her again at his words. "I should head back in," Bobbi said. "She told me she woke up the other night and I wasn't there...I don't want that to happen again."

Hunter nodded, understanding. "Yeah, I'm going to hit the gym and then go to bed. See you in the morning?"

"Yeah," Bobbi smiled. "You should make Isabelle some of your weird British pancakes tomorrow. We'll be in the kitchen around seven, if the previous mornings are anything to judge by."

His mouth opened in mock indignation. "Doesn't Isabelle know that you're supposed to sleep in on days that we've got no missions dragging us out of bed?"

She laughed. "No, unfortunately." They got to their feet. "Goodnight, Hunter."

"Night, Bob."

Bobbi awoke to someone tugging on her arm. Three guesses as to who that would be, her mind thought groggily just before her eyes opened. To her surprise, it was still dark in her room. As per her expectation, it was Isabelle standing over her.

"What's wrong, Isabelle?" she whispered.

"I had a nightmare," the girl replied, lower lip trembling. Bobbi immediately sat up to give her a hug. The floor was cold against her toes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

Her daughter shook her head profusely. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Of course," Bobbi assured her, gently scooting backward to make room. Isabelle immediately let go and curled up on the warm portion of the bed that Bobbi had just vacated, and she pulled the covers over them both. "Better?" she asked softly.

Isabelle hesitated, then shifted closer to Bobbi so that her golden hair was tickling her mother's chin. Bobbi laid an arm across her—it felt like the thing to do—and the girl snuggled into her.

When Bobbi awoke again, her arm was still laying across her daughter and her body was curved protectively around her. Of course, all the covers were on Isabelle's side of the bed. Bobbi smiled slightly—both Isabelle and Hunter stole all the covers. It was something they had in common between them, passed down from father to daughter.

As if sensing her mother waking up, Isabelle shifted and opened her eyes as well. For a moment she seemed confused as to where she was.

"Good morning," Bobbi greeted her.

The confusion cleared. "Good morning."

"How did you sleep?"

Isabelle smiled shyly. "Good."

"I'm glad. You can sleep with me whenever you need to, okay? But you are a bit of a cover-stealer, so we'll have to work on that," Bobbi teased.

"Mommy and Daddy said that too," Isabelle told her. "They said I stole all the covers! And that they didn't understand how because I sleep between them."

She laughed. "Yes, well, Lance is a cover-stealer too. You can tell him that you are as well at breakfast."

"I like Lance!" Isabelle said happily. She slid out of the bed and began getting dressed, Bobbi following her to assist. When they both were ready, it was around 7:05 and they headed to the kitchen, Hoppity swinging from Isabelle's grasp.

"Hey, Isabelle!" Hunter greeted her with a smile as they arrived. Skye was already seated at the table, but she was the only one there. "Want some pancakes?"

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed excitedly, running over to peek into the frying pan.

"Whoa," he caught her around the waist when she was only a few steps away. "That's hot; be careful. Do you wanna see?" She nodded and he hoisted her up so that she could look into the pan.

"Those aren't pancakes," she told him, looking up at him with scrunched eyebrows as he set her back down on the floor.

"Of course they are," Hunter replied. He made the mistake of glancing up at Bobbi, who stuck out her tongue. This was a playful argument they'd had plenty of times during their marriage. "They're pancakes from England. Do you know where that is?"

Isabelle shook her head.

"Do you know where we are?"

"America!" She lit up.

Hunter laughed. "Okay, good, yes, that's where we are. And across a big ocean, there's another country called the United Kingdom. England is a part of that."

"Kingdom?" Isabelle asked brightly. "Does it have princesses and unicorns and dragons?"

"It has princesses," Hunter replied. "And a queen. And castles."

"I want to go there!" she decided.

"Then I'll take you some time," he promised with a laugh. With a glance in the pan, he emptied out the contents onto a plate and handed it to her. "Here you are, mi'lady."

"Thanks," Isabelle grinned. She took the plate and scampered over to the table with it so fast Bobbi was afraid she was going to break it.

"Here, let me help you with that," Skye offered, leaning over. Isabelle happily complied, and Bobbi walked over to where Hunter was pouring more liquidy batter into the pan.

"You're late," he teased before she could say anything.

"Yes, well, she had a trying night," Bobbi said in an undertone.

Hunter set the bowl of batter down and looked back at Isabelle. "Something happened after I left?"

"She had a nightmare," Bobbi admitted softly. "Slept in my bed after that. Which was fine."

"Can we draw after breakfast?" Isabelle asked loudly. Bobbi and Hunter both turned to her at the same time.

"Sure," Bobbi replied.

"Can't, sorry, I have an armory to sort," Hunter replied apologetically. Isabelle turned to Skye.

"I guess just for a little while," the hacker gave in with a smile. "But I have to warn you, my computer skills are much better than my drawing skills."

"That's okay," Isabelle chirped. When they were done with breakfast Bobbi cleaned up while Skye and Isabelle drew in the next room over, and Hunter disappeared to do his work before Agent May discovered he hadn't done it when it was assigned half a week ago. Bobbi was just rinsing the pan when Isabelle came running in, holding aloft a drawing in each hand for her to see. "Can we put these up on the walls?"

"In our room? Sure," Bobbi replied, surprised but happy. Yesterday Isabelle had refused to decorate with anything of hers, and now she was asking to.

"Cool!" Isabelle raced back into the other room, presumably to continue drawing.

Skye stepped through the doorway, dusting off her shirt and pants from lying on the rug. "I think I'll be taking off now—the new facial recognition program is a bit glitchy, so if I leave it running too long without me monitoring it it could crash and we'd have to start all over again."

"Any luck so far?" Bobbi asked.

"Nothing," Skye shook her head. "Ward's good. One of the best. One of the very few testing scores anywhere close to yours and Romanoff's."

Bobbi raised an eyebrow. "How do you know what my score was?"

The hacker shrugged sheepishly. "I might have done a little research into you when you first arrived. But hey, you were coming out of HYDRA."

"Fair enough," Bobbi nodded. "Good luck." She and Skye parted ways and Bobbi headed into the main room. It was empty. "Isabelle?" she called.

"I wanna put pictures on the walls!" came the faint reply from somewhere down the hallway. Bobbi just laughed and followed her.

Isabelle's POV

Her feet pattered down the hall. Her drawings flapped in her right hand, while Thor the Monkey was stocked firmly under her left. She raced around the corner, excited. She paused as Bobbi's voice came from behind her. "Isabelle?"

"I wanna put pictures on the walls!" she called back, taking off again. Bobbi was fast; she would catch up. Besides, Isabelle knew where she was going.

She skidded to a halt in front of their door, reaching up to grasp the cool handle. She pulled, but the handle only moved downward slightly before stopping. The door was locked. She let go and looked around, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, waiting for Bobbi.

"Hello," said a voice from behind her. She turned to see a man she didn't recognize coming into the hallway from the opposite direction, looking down at her.

"Hi," she replied uncertainly. Who was he? Maybe he was a friend of Lance's or Bobbi's and had just been busy, which is why she didn't know him. The people here were busy a lot.

"Are you locked out of your room?" he asked kindly. She nodded. "That's too bad. We haven't met, but I'm Scott."

"Hi Scott," she replied, watching him curiously.

"I'm a friend of Skye's. Have you seen her?"

Isabelle's face lit up. "Skye's my friend too! We drew together, but then she had to leave."

"Do you know where she is?" Scott asked.

"No," she shook her head.

"How about which room is hers?" Isabelle hesitated. "I want to surprise her, because I haven't seen her in a while."

"I like surprises," Isabelle smiled. She pointed to the room right next to Bobbi's.

"Thanks," he said, walking over to it. He turned back to her thoughtfully. "What's your name?"

"Isa—"

"ISABELLE!" Bobbi shouted from behind her.

She had barely turned to look why Bobbi was screaming at her in that way before rough hands were on her shoulders, an arm around her neck, and something hard pressed up against her head.

"Bobbi!" she shrieked. Her eyes filled with tears, and immediately the hand shifted from her neck to cover her mouth, pressing hard into the bone of her chin to keep her immobile.

"Make a sound, Agent, and she dies," the man above her promised.

I apologize for the cliffhanger, but it was necessary. I'm guessing all of you understand what happened here, but in case it's not clear the bad guy's name isn't really Scott... A lot happened in this chapter in the characters themselves and the plot, so I would love to know what you think!