IT HAS A NAME AND A PILOT ORDER. If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google search "Marvel's Most Wanted". Seriously. And yes, you owe this chapter to the news, both in a so-excited-right-now and a shout-it-from-the-rooftops kind of way.

Mockingbird

The team was back. Bobbi could hear the low rumblings of the garage being opened if she listened hard enough—these spare quarters were much closer to it than hers—but she made no move to get up, to go greet them at the door as she was sure many of the rest left on the base would. Isabelle had fallen asleep against her as she leaned on the headboard, and—no, she wasn't even going to lie to herself. Not after everything that had happened.

Hunter, in the old days, would have called her current actions sulking. Locking herself away where none would come look for her, just sitting and frowning at the walls and ceiling… But she wasn't sulking. Thinking, yes, but not sulking. She wasn't the toddler, the toddler was asleep draped over her legs and chest.

No, this was—

Bobbi's phone rang, shrill and loud and piercing the silence of the room after hours of nonactivity. She fumbled to get it out of her pocket fast enough, before it woke Isabelle, and was amazed to get it up to her ear without her daughter's eyes opened. She must have been really worn out by the events of the last day. "Morse."

"I know you don't want to talk right now," May said, "so I'll keep this short. Ward escaped. We almost had him, but he made all of us but Hunter at the last second and took off. Hunter tracked him to a HYDRA meet in a bar in Boston, but by the time we were able to move in Ward was gone." Bobbi made a sound of frustration but the senior agent continued as if she hadn't heard anything. "Ward left us a present you might remember from your time in HYDRA: Sunil Bakshi. We have him in custody, and Coulson wants you to head the interrogation in Vault E."

"But…" Bobbi began.

"They're orders, Morse," May told her in a tone leaving no room for dissent. "Skye's already on her way to watch Isabelle."

"Understood," Bobbi said finally. "I'll head down there as soon as she arrives." The line clicked dead and she leaned back, running her hand lightly over Isabelle's golden hair. No more than three seconds later there was a knock at the door, and Skye let herself in.

"Hey," the hacker greeted her, appearing more than a little uncertain. "May and Coulson want you in—"

"I know," Bobbi cut her off, gently moving Isabelle enough so that she could stand up.

"She's sleeping, so I guess that makes my job a little easier," Skye attempted a smile. "I'll take care of her, Bobbi."

"I know," she repeated, forcing herself to smile. At the last minute she turned back and moved Hoppity until he was tucked safely under Isabelle's arm in case she woke up. Though a bit dusty, the rabbit had survived Ward's incursion. Thor the monkey was still back in their room.

Running a hand through her hair as she shut the door behind her, Bobbi mentally tried to prepare herself for the upcoming interrogation, knowing she couldn't be the slightest bit distracted during it. This was the best lead on HYDRA they'd had since she helped extract Simmons from it, and she couldn't afford to blow it. Not by thinking about Isabelle, not by thinking about being a mother… Right now, the Mockingbird was needed again.

"Bob," Hunter's voice stopped her mid-step just outside of the room. "I wanted to talk to you."

"No time, Hunter, I'm on my way to interrogate Bakshi," she said sharply.

"Just a few minutes," he replied. "I know you're not okay, Bob—" He stopped as a shriek emanated from the room Bobbi had just left, and their eyes barely met before they both bolted for the door. Hunter got there first and burst into the room, Bobbi right behind him. Isabelle scrambled off the bed and made a beeline for both of them.

"You left me!" she sobbed, holding onto one of each of their legs for dear life.

"I didn't…" Skye said, looking between the two of them. "She just…"

"I'm sorry, Isabelle," Hunter began, leaning down, but Bobbi interrupted him softly.

"Let me." She gently removed Isabelle's arm from its death grip around her leg and knelt down. "Isabelle...Isabelle… We're not leaving you, okay?"

"I woke up and you were gone!"

"That's because Skye needs you more right now," Bobbi told her.

The tears slowed, and Isabelle just looked at her confusedly. "She needs me?"

"Just like Ward was scary for you, it was scary for her too," she explained in a soft, calming voice. "So she needs someone to hug right now, okay? And you're a really good hugger."

Isabelle's frown let up a bit at the compliment. "But why can't you stay too? Then you can hug too."

"I need to talk to Bobbi for a stretch," Hunter replied. "Is that okay? If you need us, Skye knows where to find us. We'll be right outside the door." Bobbi shot him a questioning look, to which he replied with a trust-me glance. She sighed inwardly but made no argument.

"Okay," Isabelle said. "You'll be right outside?"

"We'll be right there," Hunter promised, pointing to a spot just outside the door.

"Okay," Isabelle said again. She approached Skye, paused, and then wrapped her arms around her legs.

Skye smiled, lifting her up. "Thanks, Isabelle." Hunter ushered Bobbi out the door and then closed it behind them.

"I see what you did there," Bobbi told him crossly. "Now I can't go interrogate Bakshi, because you made me promise to be—"

"Shh," Hunter held one finger in the air. She looked at him confused. A few seconds later, the door opened and Isabelle's head popped out. As soon as she saw them she disappeared again. "There, now you can talk," he said.

"How did you know she was going to do that?" Bobbi questioned.

"I was a kid once," he replied easily. "And don't worry, Bob—as soon as we're done here I'll go inside and keep Isabelle company while you put Bakshi through his paces."

"Good, then we're done here," Bobbi said, turning away.

He spun her straight back around. "Not until I say we are. You're not running from this, Bob. I know you're not okay."

She stared at him a second. "Oh yeah? How do you know that?" she challenged.

"Because the Bobbi Morse that's okay doesn't walk out of a S.H.I.E.L.D. briefing. Because the Bobbi Morse that's okay doesn't lose an argument to me. Because the Bobbi Morse that's okay would know what's been going on around here for the eighteen hours since we left, and you obviously don't."

"What do you mean, I don't?" she demanded.

"So I suppose you know that Coulson's been carving symbols into his desk and walls and that Skye found a match to these symbols from one of her Rising Tide contacts and that they already went out to investigate and came back with a body that Simmons is currently autopsying in the lab?"

"Wait, what?"

"Exactly, Bob. So don't tell me you're fine, because you're obviously not."

"Fine," she said, giving up the pretense. "What do you want to talk about, Hunter?"

"Let's start with the way you completely abandoned me with Isabelle to go after Ward," he said. "And then, even after seeing how traumatized she was after the first time, wanting to go again but this time four states away to do it."

"I was trying to protect her."

"And doing a shitty job of it." He met her gaze evenly, fiercely. "What about her emotional health? What about the fact that she needs you? What about the fact that you're supposed to be her moth—"

"Stop it!" Bobbi shouted, pushing him backwards with both hands, but he came at her again instantly.

"No. I won't stop it, Bob, because someone needs to call you on this. And if that someone has to be me—well, maybe it's fitting, seeing as I am her father."

"Hunter—"

"Bobbi."

Her mouth opened and closed. "I just—"

"Bobbi." He said it again, in that damn tone he used to use during the good times of their marriage.

She bit her lip, hard, the first tear track running down her cheek. "Lance, I hear you." She swallowed. "And you're right, I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I feel like...like two sides of me are warring inside of me, and whenever one of them wins somebody just gets hurt. When I'm a mother, Ward comes and nearly kills her, and when I'm an agent, she needs what I can't give her."

"Bob, that's not true," Hunter said softly.

"Yes, it is," she insisted. "I don't think...I'm scared the Mockingbird can't be a mother." He wrapped his arms around her and she entered his embrace gratefully.

"Of course you can," he whispered in her ear. "You're amazing, Bob. Being a mother and being a hellbeast with metal sticks is possible. You can do it. But you have to let me help you."

"You are," Bobbi told him sincerely. "I promise, you are." She stepped back, wiping her eyes with her sleeve and blinking the rest of the tears away. "Thanks. I needed that."

"I know," he gave her a small smile. Then he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips.

Her eyes opened as he pulled away after just a few heartbeats. All she could do was stare at him for a second. "You just… Why did you…?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. It doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to, Bob." She nodded, still too stunned to say much more. "I'll go relieve Skye of Isabelle now. You should see about Bakshi."

"Yeah," she murmured as he turned away and headed towards the door. "Lance, I might...might want it to." Her forehead creased with the strain of putting her jumbled thoughts into words.

He smiled. "Good." Then he entered the room and shut the door behind him, leaving her alone in the hallway.

Sorry about any typos in this chapter as I haven't had a chance to really go through it with a fine-tooth comb yet. I would love to know what you thought!