Hey all! I find it a bit funny how at the beginning of this story I said I would strive for quick updates of short chapters and we've almost completely reversed that now. But oh well. Thanks for sticking with me!

Departure

When Bobbi awoke, she was completely coverless. Typical. With a sigh, she reached out to tug some of them back, turning onto her side to do so. The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks. Isabelle was tucked protectively into Hunter as they both slept, his chin resting lightly over the top of her golden hair and a small smile gracing her lips. Warmth filled Bobbi, and she slipped quietly out of the bed, careful not to disturb them. Snuggled between them was the longest Isabelle had slept yet in the base.

She scribbled a quick note to Hunter and gently tucked it under his pillow before leaving the room and heading down to the kitchen. The Playground seemed especially quiet this morning, but Bobbi dismissed it as the fact that it was currently 6:57 A.M. and Coulson had kept the team up late last night with his alien-city briefing. When she arrived, Mack was at the stove frying up eggs and May was seated at the table, calmly reading something on her tablet. They each exchanged a quiet greeting before Mack asked, "Do you want some eggs?"

"I'm good," Bobbi replied, heading into the pantry. She emerged with the bag of ground coffee and set it on the counter.

"You sure? You know I make the best eggs," Mack said.

"Yeah, you do," Bobbi smiled. "Sure, I'll have some. Anyone want coffee? I'm making a pot."

"None for me," May replied, not looking up from her tablet.

"Ah, right, you're anti-coffee," she nodded. "Coulson mentioned that. Do you want me to…" She looked around uncertainly. "...make it somewhere else?"

May gave her a ghost of a smile before standing up from the table. "Of course not. I was finished here anyway. Come find me when you're ready to discuss your new living arrangements."

"I will," Bobbi told her, then turned to Mack. "How about you? Coffee?"

"Can't say no to that," the mechanic replied, stirring the eggs. "What's this about living arrangements?"

"Hunter and I are leaving the base for about a week," she revealed, filling the coffee pot with water from the sink. She started the coffee brewing. "It's so we can pass the social worker's inspection."

"You nervous?" Mack asked.

She smiled; he never beat around the bush. "Of course. They're going to be judging Hunter and my parenting...we couldn't even get a marriage between two consenting adults to work," she joked.

"Well, you don't necessarily have to do this with Hunter…" Mack pointed out.

"No," Bobbi said immediately. "Hunter's in this. I'm not keeping him out of this anymore." The words came out harsher than she meant.

"Okay," was all he said in reply for a while. She watched him move the eggs from the pan to two plates with her brow furrowed.

"You're usually Hunter's advocate," Bobbi reminded him as he handed her one. "Something bothering you?"

He sighed. "I guess I'll just miss having her around," Mack replied, both of them taking seats across from each other at the table. "Last time I saw her she was all swaddled up and couldn't do anything. Now she's running around, getting herself into trouble."

"I hope not," Bobbi smiled. "But I know what you mean. We'll be back, I promise."

"That I don't doubt." She raised an eyebrow, lifting a forkful of eggs to her mouth. "I know how you feel about S.H.I.E.L.D., Barbara," Mack told her. "And Isabelle would miss Skye and Trip if you kept her away too long, not to mention Fitz and Simmons."

"And you," Bobbi added.

"Ah, she doesn't really know me yet," he replied. "I haven't had a chance to spend much time with her. But I knew her as a baby; I'll let the others bond with her a bit."

"When you do, she'll love you," Bobbi assured him confidently. "You're her godfather." Mack smiled. "And a big ol' teddy bear."

He gave her a look. "I think I preferred it when I was just 'godfather.'"

"You are a teddy bear; don't try to deny it," she teased. The coffee pot was starting to give off that delicious coffee smell. "Izzy would have loved this place," Bobbi said, breathing in deeply. "Her biggest complaint about our ops was always the lack of coffee. But here…"

"She did like it," Mack replied in a measured voice. "Drove May up a wall, but there was always fresh-brewed coffee in the morning thanks to her."

"I forgot Izzy was here before…" She let the end of that sentence trail off into thin air. "While I was at HYDRA."

Mack set down his fork and looked at her. "You're not going to call Isabelle that, are you?"

"Izzy?" Bobbi asked, understanding what he meant. "No, that's Hartley's nickname, and only hers."

"Good," he nodded.

She frowned slightly, pursing her lips as she looked down at the smattering of eggs still left on the plate. "What do you think of 'Bella'? That's apparently what her adoptive parents called her."

"It's not what you named her," he commented carefully.

"I know, but if she prefers it…"

"You never meant for her to have a nickname," Mack shook his head. "But calling her by it might be good for you, if she wants. It means you've accepted the fact that you didn't have her for four years. That for four years, someone else was her main influence."

"You don't think I know that?" Bobbi asked, standing up from the table. She went over the the coffee pot and unhooked it from the machine. She got two travel mugs down from the cupboard and began filling them without looking at him.

"I honestly don't know, Barbara," he came up behind her. Her shoulders slumped slightly; that was fair. "I am working on something for her though," Mack revealed. "For her birthday. Or Christmas, if I can't finish it in time."

Bobbi smiled, snapping the lids onto the mugs. "That's only an extra four days, you know."

"Just enough time to finish the paint job," he replied.

"Paint, huh? So what is this present?" Bobbi questioned, facing him with both cups in her hands.

Mack laughed. "You'll see."

"Well, I'm going to pretend that doesn't sound suspicious at all," Bobbi nodded. "Thanks for the eggs. I'm going to go deliver this to Hunter and see if he and Isabelle are up yet."

"Okay," the mechanic agreed, and she began to walk out of the kitchen. "Since when does Hunter like coffee?" he called after her.

She returned to Hunter's room with the two coffee mugs, opening the door quietly and finding them still fast asleep on the bed. She set his cup on the side table and slipped gently back into the bed on her side, leaning up against the headboard with her mug clasped in her hands. Upon second glance at the pair of them the urge to snap a picture overcame her, and she pulled out her phone and took a few before sighing contentedly and leaning back against the headboard again.

The smell of coffee—wonderful, Hunter, the word for it was wonderful—must have woken him up, because a few minutes later his eyes blinked open and he sat up to look at her. "You were watching us," he said, removing his hand from where it had been resting on Isabelle's shoulder to rub his eyes.

"You watched me sleep plenty when we were married," she pointed out. "Besides, you two looked cute together."

Hunter gave a low grumble in response and then fished under his pillow. "I found your note," he announced softly, holding it up.

A small smile played across her face. "I hoped you would remember to look for it there."

"Could never forget, Bob," he nodded. He reached for the mug and brought it to his lips. "Ugh, coffee."

"If Izzy was here, she'd smack you upside the head for that insult," Bobbi teased.

"Let's just hope Isabelle doesn't inherit that trait from her namesake," Hunter muttered. At the sound of her name, the girl in question stirred, blinking sleepily up at them.

"Good morning," Bobbi greeted her.

Isabelle's eyes came to rest on the travel mug in her hands. "Can I have some?" Bobbi and Hunter looked at each other, nearly bursting out laughing.

"Sure, you can try some," Bobbi told her.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, shaking his head emphatically. "What are you doing?"

"Just trust me," Bobbi said, barely able to contain her amusement. "Careful, Isabelle, it's hot." She handed her daughter the mug carefully after the girl had pushed herself up into a sitting position on the bed. Hunter watched with indignation as Isabelle raised the cup to her lips. "A small sip," Bobbi advised.

The girl nearly spat it back out onto the bed. "That's yucky!"

"I know," Bobbi grinned, taking the mug back from her.

"Then why do you drink it?" Isabelle questioned.

"It's a grown-up thing," she answered.

Their daughter turned to Hunter. "Do you drink it?"

"He's not a grown-up," Bobbi cut in, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Hey!"

"I never want to be a grown-up if I have to drink that," Isabelle shook her head. "It tastes like...like…"

"Battery acid," Hunter supplied. "I know, love. Not all adults drink it, I promise."

Bobbi stood up from the bed and stretched. "I'm going to go discuss safehouses with May. Make her some breakfast?" she suggested, indicating Isabelle.

"Sure," Hunter agreed before adding in a low voice as Isabelle began to dig through her clothes to find an outfit she wanted to wear, "That was one big stunt you pulled though, Bob. What if she had liked it?"

"My parents did that number on me when I was five, kept me away from coffee all the way through high school," Bobbi said. She gave him a swift, teasing kiss, barely touching her lips to his. "You're welcome."

"What's battery acid?" she heard Isabelle ask as she headed out of the room.

"That's a question for Fitz," Hunter answered distractedly. Bobbi could feel his gaze burning into her back until she fully shut the door.

She met May in the conference room, finding her seated at the large table with stacks of files surrounding her. "We have this many safehouses in the area?" Bobbi questioned, taking a seat in front of the papers.

"These are all the safehouses within fifty miles, plus ones less than one hundred that have a nearby airfield where we could land a Quinjet," May said.

"So either way the furthest we'd be out is an hour," she nodded, pulling the nearest stack towards her and starting to lead through it. "Anything I should know about any of these?"

"Some of them have more amenities than others," May informed her.

"Amenities?"

"For S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. In-home gyms, Division C ration-stocked fridges, weapons cache under the floorboards or in the closet, direct wireless links to the base..." she listed off.

Bobbi smiled. "I definitely don't feel the need for a home gym, and I'd like to see us try getting Isabelle to eat Division C rations. We can rule out the weapons in the closet, but underneath the floor I don't see being a problem either way. A wireless link to the base would be nice though, since I imagine we'll want to keep in touch."

May's eyes swept over the stacks and she quickly and efficiently swept aside all but five, pushing them to one side of the table and out of the way. "Any other parameters?"

She thought a minute. "Smaller would be better, I think. Somewhere homey, because we've got less than a week to make it look like Hunter and I have lived there for years."

"This one," May set it in front of her. "Forty-eight miles away, two baths, three bedroom, kitchen, and dining room. Single story, in a nice suburban neighborhood. It does have a S.H.I.E.L.D. punching bag in one of the side rooms, but you can take it down and make the room into a…" She pursed her lips. "...playroom or something."

"It looks perfect," Bobbi said, looking down at the picture in front of her. The next sheet under that had the floor plan on it, and she took a moment to study the blueprints. "It even has a bathtub." That seemed to require some explanation, so she added, "I've had to introduce Isabelle to the shower the last couple days, and I don't think she likes the feeling of water falling on her head too much. We'll take this one."

"I'll have Skye put it in your name," May nodded, taking the packet back. "You should start packing."

"First we have to tell Isabelle," Bobbi replied with an edge of apprehension.

"Take a knee. Get down to her level. It'll help," May said quietly. The specialist paused for a second, deep in her own thoughts, before reaching beneath her seat and setting a dark gray box on the table, a little bit bigger than the size of an average book and about an inch or two taller. "Take this with you."

Bobbi glanced at her before pulling the object toward her. It seemed to be made of metal. "What is it?"

"A place to store your gun, safely and out of sight," May answered. "Biometric scanner here." She demonstrated with her thumb, and Bobbi watched as a small green light ran underneath it and the box unlocked with a click. It was currently empty. "Put your thumb here," she instructed, gesturing to the underside of the open lid. An identical green light flashed over Bobbi's finger. "Now it'll recognize you. It's able to store five unique prints at a time. Right now, mine, Andrew's, and yours."

Bobbi's head shot up at the name, but the guarded expression on May's face made her stop and choose her next words carefully. "Was this...yours, May?"

"From a long time ago," the specialist said, moving Bobbi's hand out of the way and closing the box.

"But the only reason to have one of these is..."

"I requested one from S.H.I.E.L.D. when Andrew and I first started trying to get pregnant," May revealed in an emotionless voice. "I've had it ever since."

"Thank you," Bobbi said, placing her hand fleetingly over May's. She knew well that Bahrain had changed everything for the woman, and this box was one remnant of her life before that. "I'll get it back to you safely."

May nodded, standing up from the table. She handed the files on the safehouse to Bobbi. "I'll go make the arrangements and inform the team," she said, walking out of the room. "Don't forget to say goodbye."

When Bobbi arrived in the kitchen Hunter and Isabelle was still there, with Hunter washing some dishes and her daughter still seated at the table picking over a dry bowl of Fruit Loops. "We've got to get her eating some healthier cereals," she said conversationally, walking up behind Hunter.

"Agreed," Hunter said, glancing back at Isabelle. He lowered his voice. "But is that really what you want to be talking about right now?"

She tilted her head, confused. "Is there something else? I figured we'd let her finish breakfast before telling her—"

"You kissed me!" Hunter hissed, staring at her expectantly.

"You kissed me first," she replied, hiding her smile.

"But—" He was cut off by a tug at the bottom of his shirt.

"Can we play Mario Kart?" Isabelle asked, looking up at him. He brushed the sugar dust left by her hand off the bottom of his shirt and lifted her up to wash her hands at the sink.

"Actually, love, there's something we need to talk to you about," Hunter told her, setting her down again. Bobbi handed the girl the towel from behind her.

"What?" Isabelle asked curiously before looking down to concentrate on drying her hands.

When she handed the towel back, Bobbi gently told her of their plan. "We're going to go away and live in a house, just the three of us, for about a week. How does that sound?"

"Why?" the girl asked with a frown.

"Because someone from the adoption agency wants to come and meet us," he answered.

Isabelle's eyes immediately grew round and she wrapped her arms around Bobbi's leg tightly. "I don't want to go back there!"

"You aren't," she promised, removing the girl's arms from around her legs and picking her up instead to provide her the security of being held for this. May's advice to take a knee would probably work just as well going the other way around-bringing Isabelle up to her level. "This is just a formality."

The girl shook her head. "I don't like for...formality."

A slight smile appeared on Hunter's face. "A formality is just something we have to do to make things official, Isabelle. It doesn't mean anything, really."

"And it's only for a week," Bobbi told her. "We'll come back. And Lance and I will be with you the whole time."

"Promise?" Isabelle asked.

"Of course," Hunter said. "We're not going to leave you. We love you."

"Okay," Isabelle mumbled into Bobbi's chest.

She gave her daughter small hug before nodding her head in the direction of the door to Hunter. "Let's go pack." She frowned, realizing all of her stuff was still in her old room—the one with the door caved in thanks to Ward. Also known as the one that Isabelle didn't even like walking near. "Take her," she told Hunter, transferring her into his arms. "I have to get my stuff." A knowing nod told her that Hunter understood. "I'll meet you in your quarters; it won't take long."

Bobbi was right that it didn't take her much time to pack. Mostly because packing mostly consisted of throwing a week's worth of clothes into a duffel bag along with her travel bathroom bag. Then she loaded a gun—followed by an ICER on top when she discovered they both fit—into May's biometric lockbox and tucked that into the bag too, nestling it somewhere in the middle so she couldn't damage it accidentally. Right before she left she remembered the keepsakes in the false bottom of her dresser drawer, and lifted it to reveal them nestled safely in their hiding place. She moved aside the cloth-wrapped spare handgun and lifted out a folder from four years ago filled with stuff about Isabelle—everything she had. Bobbi placed it carefully in her duffel. On second thought she also picked up her wedding ring from its place in the shadowed corner and slipped it into the pocket of her jeans. Then she replaced the handgun and the false bottom and headed out of the room, stepping gingerly over the rubble from the broken door as she did so.

Hunter and Isabelle were having a decidedly harder time of it, she discovered. From what Bobbi gathered while standing in the doorway he had agreed to bring along whatever Isabelle picked out, but hadn't anticipated her stubborn refusal to let him pack anything but pairs of pants. And his demonstration of why he couldn't not bring shirts—which consisted of him stuffing a pair of pants over his head and pulling it downwards until the waist was past his collarbone and his head was squeezed into one of the legs along with his arms—had her in peals of laughter.

"Need some help there?" she asked amusedly, stepping into the room and walking towards him.

"Yes, please—I think I'm stuck," Hunter admitted, struggling against the pair of jeans over his head to no avail. She tugged upwards on the pant legs and together they managed to extricate him from them. "All right, enough of that game," he said once he was free, going to select some shirts for himself with a shake of his head.

Bobbi turned back to Isabelle. "You all packed?" she asked. It was almost a pointless question; she hadn't yet been able to get the girl to unpack her backpack. It was still stuffed with everything Isabelle owned from the adoption agency. An outfit went in, another came out. That was all.

"Yeah," the girl nodded happily. "I'm bringing Thor with me in the car. Hoppity stays in my backpack though. He has to guard my stuff."

"Ah," Bobbi said with a smile. "Very smart."

"Bye-bye, Isabelle," Skye squatted down in front of her. "We'll see you again soon. And I'll call if you want me to, I promise." Isabelle nodded, hugging her tightly. After more than a minute it appeared the girl wouldn't let go of her own volition, so Skye gently extracted herself and let the next two have a turn.

"Definitely we'll call you," Simmons promised, looking at Fitz. The two scientists hugged Isabelle as well—more awkwardly than Skye, especially in Fitz's case, but it was still adorable—before joining Skye in stepping back to join the rest of the team who had already said their goodbyes.

Bobbi and Mack embraced, his voice low and quiet in her ear. "You'll be fine, Barbara."

"Thanks," she whispered back. He went to stand next to Trip and FitzSimmons. May didn't let the silence go on too long between the two parties before opening the door to the garage for them, effectively booting them out the door.

"Good luck," she told Bobbi as she passed, handing her a small black plastic rectangle. She looked down at the thing in her hands as soon as the door had shut behind them. An old S.H.I.E.L.D. credit card...basically unlimited, and after the Fall extremely rare with the government closing out all the ones they could. Bobbi hadn't even known any still existed. Though the funds might be unlimited, huge purchases—like those required to run a base—would raise red flags that would get this card canceled too, which was probably why May had given it to her to use. But still...

She nearly tripped over Isabelle as she and Hunter stopped suddenly.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked, voicing their shared concern.

"Do we have to go?" their daughter asked, frowning up at them.

"Yes, but only for a little bit," he replied.

"You really don't want to?" Bobbi asked, kneeling in front of Isabelle. She was overwhelmed with the need to know. "You like this place?"

The girl bit her lip. "It's sometimes scary here, but Skye and Trip and Leo and Jemma..."

"They'll still be here when we get back," Bobbi told her, standing up again and taking her hand. They'd only taken a few more steps forward before Isabelle stopped again, this time with her eyes wide open in shock.

"What's that?" she pointed straight ahead of them at the giant airplane parked in the middle of their garage.

"We call it the Bus," Hunter answered her.

"Does it fly?" the girl questioned, running up ahead of them.

"Isabelle, slow down!" Bobbi called after her, not wanting her to trip in the somewhat dim lighting. The girl reached the side of the bus—standing right under the S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia was painted, in fact—and pressed her hand against the metal. Her parents caught up with her a few seconds later. "Yes, it flies," she informed her. "May is usually the pilot."

"But how?" Isabelle asked. "It's so big!"

"Another question for Fitz," Hunter laughed. "Lots of jet fuel and really big wings, love. That's all I know."

"I'll ask him," Isabelle said solemnly, lowering her hand back to her side. She looked up at Bobbi. "Can I ride in it?"

"I'm sure May will take you up sometime; it's a bit bigger than the Quinjets I was trained in," Bobbi answered. "But for now we're stuck with a regular old car.

Isabelle made a face but agreed to be led over to the car in question, Bobbi's old one from when she was undercover in HYDRA that was now just gathering dust in the corner besides when Mack took it out for a drive just to keep it in working condition. It was less conspicuous than a large black SUV.

After helping her get her backpack off, Hunter opened the trunk and dropped it in along with their duffel bags. Bobbi opened the back seat car door for Isabelle before freezing suddenly.

"Hunter," she said, "do we have a car seat?"

He appeared from behind the car in less than a second, as alarmed as she was. "I didn't think of that."

"Me either."

"I guess that'll be our first stop then," Hunter laughed nervously. "Should be all right if she sits in our laps on the way there, right? A store that sells them can't be that far away."

"I don't know," Bobbi said almost guiltily. "But I think the research that I could do to check would just make me paranoid, so I'm going to say yes. She can sit on my lap for the ride there; I'm sort of the size of a car seat..." She tossed Hunter the keys before climbing into the car and lifting Isabelle in after her. Bobbi settled her on her lap, and after some wriggling her daughter finally settled down enough that Bobbi could strap a seatbelt over them both.

"This is weird," Isabelle informed her.

"You usually have a car seat, I know," Bobbi told her. "But this is just for right now, because we don't have one."

"Okay," she agreed, bouncing on Bobbi's lap once or twice to get situated. Her feet kicked into her shins, and Bobbi silently hoped the store was close by. Luckily once they got started Isabelle seemed more than happy to gaze out the window, especially when the giant doors to the garage opened to let them out and her mouth formed a big 'O' at the sight.

When Hunter parked at the store Isabelle hopped out first, dragging Bobbi by the hand from the car. Hunter locked it, and together the three of them entered the building. After one look at the size of the place, she tracked down a salesperson to help them. "Where would be find car seats?" she asked. He directed them to the back of the store, Isabelle trotting along at Bobbi's side.

Unfortunately, there were three different car seats from which to choose. "Da—rn, I was hoping there would only be one," Hunter said, echoing her thoughts and sending a slightly guilty look her way for almost having introduced their daughter to her first expletive. Or at least, what Bobbi assumed would be her first. They wouldn't really know until she spouted her first bad word that she definitely hadn't learned from them.

"This one's the cheapest," Bobbi pointed out, fingering a dark grey one with straps that crossed in an 'x' over the front.

"Yeah, but do we really want something cheap?" Hunter questioned.

"Or we're just paying for a name brand," she said, meeting his gaze uncertainly. Isabelle's hand slipped out of hers and Bobbi turned to see her run up to the booster seats on the next shelf over.

"I use one of these!" she said, quite proudly. "I'm a big girl."

"Are you sure?" Bobbi asked, coming over to look.

"Yes," Isabelle nodded. "Mommy said it was because I grad...graduated."

"Okay," she agreed after a moment, sharing another glance at Hunter. "I believe you. We'll get one of those."

"And there's only one choice," Hunter joked, pulling it off the shelf. They didn't have a cart, so he carried it to the cash register.

"Can I have this?" Isabelle asked, holding up a Hershey bar.

Bobbi looked down at her and laughed at the puppy-dog gaze before taking the chocolate bar. "I guess, but we're sharing. And saving some for after dinner."

"Okay!" Isabelle agreed happily, bouncing over to Hunter who was trying to fit the booster seat onto the moving conveyor with little success. "We can get this too!"

Bobbi gave him a nod and handed him the black credit card with which to pay. "And you said I would be the one spoiling her," he hissed playfully in her ear.

"It's just one chocolate bar; what's the harm?" Bobbi asked.

They found out the harm less than fifteen minutes later when between the three of them no chocolate was left for after dinner Isabelle began kicking the back of her seat. Bobbi was sitting in the front because her spy instincts mandated it, but was now somewhat regretting that decision. "Remind me again why you're driving," she said with a sigh to Hunter. "It's my car."

"Because you got to drive all the time when we were married," Hunter replied. "I missed it."

"I did not," Bobbi frowned. "That time we went to the beach—you were definitely driving then; I remember because you almost crashed into that telephone pole when I first showed you my bathing suit."

"That was when we're engaged," he told her. "Once we were married, it was always you. So it's my turn now."

She let out a slight humph before letting the matter drop, unable to refute his assertion. Eventually Isabelle got tired of kicking the seat and instead played with Thor the Monkey, for which Bobbi was grateful. Every ten minutes or so she checked the time again, not that they were on a schedule. What if the house didn't look like it had in the pictures? If it needed tons of repairs? A paint job? After all, no S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had set foot there in years as far as she knew...unless Coulson had someone up keeping the old safehouses? All the things that could go wrong were piling up in her head, starting with Hunter forgetting he was driving in the United States instead of England and stretching all the way to losing Isabelle somewhere in this big, wide world. The earth speeding by out the window had never looked so damn large, even when she was a spy and traveling all over it. If they lost track of Isabelle out here... At least on the base there were only three exits, not one of which was unsecured.

If Hunter noticed her unease, he didn't comment on it.

"I'm bored!" Isabelle shouted from the back seat about a half an hour later. Bobbi and Hunter looked at each other.

"Still twenty, twenty-five minutes to go," he told her, glancing down at the GPS on his phone.

"I could put some music on," Bobbi suggested, more to Hunter than Isabelle.

"Do we have any CDs?" he asked.

"No, but there's always the radio," she replied, pressing the button to turn it on. Isabelle kicked her feet happily in the back as the music began to play.

"—nothing comes close
To the golden coast
Once you party with us—"

"Ugh," Hunter said.

"Ugh?" Bobbi raised an eyebrow at him.

"You'll be falling in love..."

"Don't tell me you like this song?" he asked, making a face.

"California girls
We're unforgettable
Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top."

"It's catchy," Bobbi defended.

"It's revolting," Hunter countered.

"Sun-kissed skin so hot
We'll melt your popsi—"

"That's it," Hunter said, reaching over to turn it off. "We have a four-year-old in the back of the car. You really want her listening to this?"

"At least just change the station," she replied in a slight exasperated tone. "It's not like she would have remembered, or even understood what she was singing about anyway." She switched turned it back on and switched it to the next one up that wasn't pure static.

"I know you want it
But you're a good girl
The way you grab me—"

Hunter hung his head. "Oh, this is so much better, Bob."

"Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me
Everybody get up!"

"Yeah, done here," he decided, turning it off completely.

"I want music!" Isabelle pouted from the back.

"Sorry, love, apparently all they play around here is bad stuff," Hunter glanced at her through the rearview mirror.

"It wasn't bad," Isabelle told him earnestly.

Bobbi smiled, pressing the radio button again. "We'll try just one more station." Her ex-husband grumbled his assent.

"'Cause I'm happy...
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof!"

She looked at Hunter. "Nothing wrong with music teaching our daughter the value of happiness, is there, Lance?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"Never knew happiness could be so bloody annoying," Hunter muttered, but he did not move to touch the radio again until they were pulling into their destination, the driveway of the safehouse.

They had arrived.

Thanks for reading! It has been recently brought to my attention that the adoption process would be no different for Bobbi than any other adoptive parent even though she is the birth mother, so I will be changing the story slightly to reflect that. Basically, it's going to take more than one house visit, but I've worked it out with my beta in a way that it won't slow down the progress of the story overmuch. There'll just be more to celebrate when all is said and done.

I'd love to know what you thought!