Hey everyone! Merry Christmas to anyone who celebrates it, and happy December 25th to those of you who don't ;) This chapter has not been through my editing process yet because it was Christmas Eve, so I apologize in advance for any errors I may have made.
Déjà Vu
"That the last box?" Hunter asked her as she set it down gently in the trunk.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"How the hell'd we get so much stuff?" he grumbled, peering inside the packed rear of the vehicle.
"I seem to remember you joining Isabelle in the many choruses of 'I want it,'" Bobbi smirked.
"We said 'please,'" Hunter defended.
"Only because I made you."
"Touché."
"So we're ready to go?" Bobbi asked.
"I am if you are," Hunter said. He glanced back at the house. "I guess this...this is what we could have had."
"Don't," Bobbi told him.
Hunter shook his head. "Right, sorry. I'll check and make sure we haven't forgotten anything; you get Isabelle."
"Okay," Bobbi agreed, following him back into the house. "Isabelle, time to leave!" She headed to her room, finding her standing in its doorway. She knelt down next to her. "Hey, you ready to go?"
"Do we have to?" the girl asked her, looking at her and then back at her now-bare room.
"Yes," Bobbi said gently. "But all your stuff will be there too. You can decorate the room just like this one."
Isabelle faced her hopefully. "I get my own room?"
She paused, thinking it over. With the right security measures… "Sure," Bobbi promised. "Just like here."
"But there won't be a backyard."
"We'll take you to the park a lot," Bobbi told her.
Isabelle smiled. "I like the park."
"Deal," she said with a smile. "Now, are you sure you don't have to go to the bathroom before we leave?"
The girl bounced a little on her feet. "Yes."
"Why don't you go try anyways," Bobbi laughed, giving her a little push and watching the girl run off towards the bathroom.
Finally they were all strapped in and ready to go. Hunter started the car and began backing out of the driveway. He glanced back at Isabelle through the mirror. "Say, 'Bye-bye, house!'" he prompted.
"Bye-bye, house!" she repeated eagerly, gazing out the window at it. Then Thor and Hoppity proceeded to have a safari adventure in the back while Hunter drove and Bobbi did some work on her tablet. She soon got bored of that and began belting out Tangled songs with no music, a sound that from Hunter's expression would have made him stuff his fists in his ears had he not been using them to drive.
"I'm hungry," Isabelle said just as they were nearing the entrance to the base.
Bobbi checked the time. "You're in luck, it's just about dinner time," she told her. Hunter pulled into the garage and stopped the car, and almost immediately Isabelle began futzing with her seatbelt. "Hold on, hold on, I'm coming," she laughed, unlocking all the doors and putting her hand in the door handle.
Before she or Hunter could do anything, however, the passenger door on Isabelle's side slid open with a bang and a loud, "BOO!"
"Ahh!" Isabelle shrieked, and Bobbi's head hit the ceiling. Hunter was saved from such a fate due to his lack of height.
"Mack!" Bobbi gasped, opening the door and sliding out of the car. "Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Do it again, do it again!" Isabelle cheered, bouncing up and down in her seat.
"I'm with Bob, mate," Hunter said, coming around the back.
Mack grinned. "Fine." He leaned in close to Isabelle. "I'll get you again some other time," he stage whispered. She kicked her feet happily, and Bobbi rolled her eyes.
Mack unbuckled her and lifted her out of the car seat, swinging her around before setting her down on the floor. On mutual consent they decided to leave the stuff in the car until they unloaded it later, and the three of them trooped towards the door. As they approached it, Isabelle released Mack's hand to latch onto Bobbi's leg.
"Are you nervous?" Bobbi asked, stopping just short of it. Isabelle nodded. "But you love Skye and Leo and Jemma."
"Maybe they've forgotten about me," the girl suggested in a small voice, looking up at her with her chin pressed into the meat of her thigh.
"Don't be silly," Bobbi said with a reassuring smile, ruffling her hair. "You just talked to them two days ago, remember?" She took Isabelle's hand in hers and Hunter pushed the door open. The hall was quiet.
"They're all at dinner," Mack told them, pressing forward as if undeterred by the emptiness. That struck Bobbi as odd—why was the rest of the team at dinner but not Mack?
They walked into the kitchen to see a huge banner strung across the ceiling, reading WELCOME HOME, ISABELLE! "Surprise!" a chorus of Skye, Simmons, Fitz, Trip, and Coulson shouted, jumping out into plain view. A huge smile overtook Isabelle's face and she ran forward to give them all a hug.
Skye came over and nearly startled Bobbi by enveloping her in a hug as well afterward, and so did Simmons and—most awkwardly—Fitz. "What, everyone gets hugs but me?" Hunter complained.
Skye wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, no one wants to hug you, Hunter," she teased.
"Food's almost ready!" Coulson announced. Bobbi looked around for Isabelle and spotted her accepting a lollipop from May and then running off again.
"Giving her candy right before dinner?" Bobbi raised an eyebrow as she sidled over. "They'll say you're getting soft, Agent May."
"Oh, shut up, Agent Morse," the woman said, turning away with a hint of a smile. She turned back. "Before I forget, we fixed your room while you were gone, and we set up one next to it of you want for Isabelle. It has an alarm sensor for whenever the door is opened that can go right to your phone."
"That sounds perfect, thank you," Bobbi smiled. "Isabelle was saying she wanted her own room when we moved back here…"
"Dinner!" Coulson called, and everyone gradually began gravitating towards the long table as he carried over dishes of food in oven mitts. Isabelle ended up seated between Skye and Trip as May and FitzSimmons carted over plates, silverware, and serving utensils. Mack cracked open two liter bottles of soda and filled glasses, making Bobbi laugh and shake her head—they were never getting Isabelle to sleep tonight. But as she looked around at all of them, that was okay. They were home.
As it turned out, Bobbi was half right. Isabelle was exhausted after all the celebrating, even with the amount of sugar flooding her system. She just nodded and agreed sleepily as Bobbi explained the rules of having her own room—no leaving at night except for emergencies, and she could still wake Bobbi up if she needed anything, anything at all. After reading her nightly bedtime story, Bobbi and Hunter parted ways to get some sleep as well. It had been an equally stressful if not more stressful day for them than Isabelle, what with the social worker's visit and everything.
It wa some very late hour of night that Bobbi's phone pinged, waking her instantly. She rolled over to see that Isabelle's door had been opened, and before alarm could really spread through her body there was a twisting of her door handle and Isabelle poked her head in. "What's wrong?" Bobbi whispered, sliding her legs out of bed and coming over, blinking sleepily.
"Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom," Isabelle told her earnestly, wiggling a little bit in her pajamas. Ah, the soda.
The mundaneness of it made Bobbi smile. "But there's a bathroom in your room, remember?"
Isabelle shifted again. "It's dark and I can't reach the light switch."
"Oh," Bobbi said. "Yeah, of course. Come on." She led the girl by the hand back into her room and flipped on the light for her. "I'm sure Fitz can rewire this soon so you can reach it."
"Okay," Isabelle agreed. When she was done, Bobbi made to tuck her back in bed again. "I can't go back to sleep."
"Why not?"
"I'm hungry," Isabelle told her.
"Breakfast is in the morning—oh, all right," Bobbi said, letting her scamper out of bed again. "But no more soda with dinner, got it? It fills you up so there's not enough room for real food."
Isabelle just laughed as if what she had just said was funny for some reason. "Toast?" she asked.
"Sure, I'll make you a piece of toast," Bobbi agreed, taking Isabelle's hand in hers and walking out the door. The hallway outside was dimly lit for operational purposes, so there was no need for a flashlight.
A flicker of movement caught in her eye in the otherwise empty corridor. "May?" Bobbi called out uncertainly. The stoic, night-owl-and-early-bird specialist was the only one she could think of who would be roaming around at this ungodly hour of night. There was no answer, and the skin on Bobbi's arms prickled. She slowed Isabelle to a full stop with an hand protectively crossed over her daughter's chest. She wished she hadn't left her staves in her room.
Bobbi waited, listening. Something around the corner clinked, and all doubt left her mind—there was someone out there. "Isabelle," Bobbi said, turning to her daughter and trying to maintain a calm, non-scary voice. Even so, her tone was deathly quiet. "Go back to your room, now."
"But I want toast—"
"Go!" Bobbi commanded. "And lock the door behind you, liked I showed you. Don't let anybody in but me or Hunter. Go!" She shoved her daughter backwards and Isabelle took off down the hallway towards their quarters. Once she was safely out of sight, Bobbi crept forward again. The sounds had stopped—it was likely whoever it was knew she was here. Bobbi peeked out around the small corner, body surging with nervous, anticipatory adrenaline. Nothing.
A blurred red-and-black shape sprang down from the ceiling, knocking her down to the ground, flat on her back across the floor. A sharp hand pressed against her throat. "Natasha?" Bobbi wheezed out. She thrust upwards with her legs against the ground, launching her assailant over her, and ducked out of the way of the crashing limbs. Bobbi struggled to her feet, trying to get air to move normally through to her starved lungs again.
Her attacker did a short, controlled barrel roll before spinning out and leaping back into a fighting position. "Bobbi?"
"What the hell, Natasha?" Bobbi demanded, dropping her guard fully. "What are you doing lurking around like that and attacking me?!"
"I didn't know it was you," the Black Widow said, the closest Bobbi was going to get to an apology. Romanoff shrugged, looking around. "So this is the Playground. I was expecting more slides and swing sets."
Bobbi rolled her eyes. "Is Clint with you?"
"He's raiding the food. Nothing but scentless division C rations for the last two and a half weeks, and you know how much he hates those. I went looking for Coulson."
"He's asleep," Bobbi told her. "They all are; it's three in the morning."
"One PM in Bishkek," Romanoff shrugged again.
"Uzbekistan?"
"Kyrgyzstan," the Black Widow told her. "Thought you said you were top of your class in geography at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy?"
"Been a while," Bobbi smiled ruefully. "Besides, you were always the one they sent into Russia and the Middle East. I got France, Italy, England…" She remembered Isabelle. "Hold on, I'll be right back, and then I'll take you to Coulson," she said.
"I'll drag Clint's ass out of the refrigerator; don't want him eating all your food," Natasha agreed. "But no, I wouldn't want to wake anyone. We'll just...hang out until morning."
"Hang out?" Bobbi questioned.
Natasha grinned. "See you at breakfast."
"But what are you doing here?" Bobbi asked, but Romanoff didn't look back. "And how did you get in without tripping any of the sensors," she muttered to herself, returning to Isabelle's room. She knocked on the door. "Isabelle, it's okay, it's me." It opened, revealing her daughter's worried face. "Nothing to be scared about after all," Bobbi assured her. "Some old friends came to visit, that's all."
"Old friends?" Isabelle asked, as if she didn't quite believe her.
"Yes. Now, do you still want some toast?"
She shook her head. "'M not hungry anymore." Tugging on her hand to pull her further inside, Isabelle asked, "Will you stay with me?"
"They wouldn't hurt you," Bobbi reminded her. "But okay, just for tonight." Isabelle hugged her and then led her to the bed, which was big enough for them both to curl up in comfortably.
She was just about to drift off to sleep with Isabelle tucked into her side when she realized that today, at three in the morning with a full bladder, was the first time Isabelle had ever called her 'Mommy.'
Have a safe and happy holiday! I'm aiming for the next chapter to be posted in the first minute of the New Year (my time), so we'll see how that goes.