TW for minor swearing


Bobbi lingered outside the stadium once practice was over and she'd collected all her things from the bench, waiting for Hunter to emerge from his own practice. It was just after eight now, the sun fully risen and the heat already starting to tick upwards, although standing on the edge of a parking lot after running around for two hours probably had more to do with Bobbi feeling hot than the early morning sun did.

It didn't take long for the boys to spill out of the gate, all just as sweaty and shiny as Bobbi felt. As much as she couldn't wait to hop in a cold shower and rinse off the evidence of her hard work that morning, though, Bobbi had to admit there was something about the post-practice feeling that she relished. The satisfyingly tired muscles, the extra adrenaline still flowing through her veins, the expansion of her lungs as she slowly returned her breathing to normal and the sweaty proof that her body was doing its job of keeping her cool… all of it gave her a feeling of accomplishment and a job well-done.

Hunter was one of the last ones out, his sweaty hair sticking up in eleven wrong directions and the front of his shirt dark with perspiration. He looked beat, but he was laughing at something Mack had said, and he lit up when he saw Bobbi waiting for them.

"Hey Bob," he grinned. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

"You've already seen me today," Bobbi said with a playful roll of her eyes. "And all afternoon yesterday."

"I'm not allowed to miss you?" Hunter teased.

"Pretty sure it has to be at least a few hours before it counts as 'missing' someone," ribbed Mack. Hunter gave him a lighthearted shove.

"Says the guy who was lamenting the fact that he didn't get to have his pre-practice phone call with Elena this morning."

"You and Elena talk on the phone every morning?" Bobbi asked. She was surprised, not by the fact that Mack and Elena talked often, but by the fact that she hadn't known it was a part of their morning routine. Mack gave a bashful smile and shrugged.

"Not every morning. But we do it a lot. Phone, or video chat… It's a nice way to start the day."

"He likes for Elena to be the first thing he hears in the morning," Hunter said in a little sing-song-y voice. He was still grinning, but Bobbi could tell by the shape of his smile and the gentleness in his eyes that he wasn't actually making fun of Mack.

"That's really sweet, Mack," she said.

"It is," Hunter agreed, speaking more seriously this time. "It sounds like something a couple of senior citizens would do, but it's honestly a nice thing you two have, so good on you, mate."

"How come you didn't get to talk to her this morning?" Bobbi wanted to know.

"Timing," Mack shrugged. "My dad wanted to show me some new parts he got for the bike we're working on before he left for work, and Elena's mom needed help with breakfast this morning, so we both were a little busy, and then it was time to get ready to come here."

"Yet another reason to hate crack of dawn football practices," Hunter joked. "Bloody early and an obstacle to young love."

"But just think," Mack said, "now we're all up and wide awake. We've got the whole day ahead of us, at least until afternoon practice. There're so many things we can get done between now and then."

"Speak for yourself," grimaced Hunter. "I'm going back to bed once I get home." He paused then, and flashed a mischievous wink. "Maybe if I'm feeling productive after that I'll play a few video games before I have to drag my broken-down body back here for another round of wind sprints and tackling drills."

"Well, let me know if you do," Mack laughed. "I'll hop online and play with you. Just because I'm using my day to get things done doesn't mean 'zombie crushing' isn't included in that list of things."

They parted ways then, Mack wanting to catch up with Elena, and Bobbi and Hunter ready to head for home.

"Can I still catch a ride with you?" she asked.

"Like you have to ask."

They waved goodbye to Mack and crossed the parking lot over to Hunter's claptrap car. He jimmied the passenger side door open for her, and after a couple failed starts, they were rumbling out of the parking lot and down the road.

"Fancy taking the scenic route?"

Bobbi smiled. 'The scenic route' had become somewhat of an inside joke between them, an excuse to take the long way home so they could spend a few extra minutes in the car together. She hadn't understood that's what Hunter was getting at the first few times he'd asked, until she finally just asked him what was supposed to be scenic about the longer way home. When he'd answered that she was supposed to be the scenic thing… well, she was glad no one else had been around to see how red her face got. Still, it was fun to laugh about with him now, and she certainly enjoyed the extra time with him.

"How was your practice?" Hunter asked, once they'd been driving for a bit.

"Good," Bobbi mused. "We have a new player. Transfer. She's a striker, really good, so Coach had us trying a new formation to work her in better."

Hunter let out a low whistle. "Restructuring the game strategy for one player? She must be bloody brilliant."

"She's definitely one of the best I've seen," Bobbi admitted. "She hasn't exactly fit in with the rest of the team yet, though."

"How do you mean?"

"Just some of the things she said," Bobbi trailed off. "We were trying to talk to her after practice and she… I don't know, she's just confident, I guess."

"Confident, or arrogant?" Hunter asked sagely.

"To be determined, maybe. It was only her first day."

They were both quiet for a little bit after that, until Hunter started fiddling with the tape deck on his car. Soon the plucks of tinny, driving guitar chords and thrumming bass notes filled the car air. The music sounded like the kind of thing that people recorded in their garages, which, based on what Bobbi knew about Hunter's recent taste in music, might have actually been true.

"Which one is this?"

"Emily's Sassy Lime," Hunter said. "One of Izzy's recommendations from her younger days. I've only just started checking them out, but I like them so far. Izzy dropped off the tape before she went over to your place last night."

Bobbi laughed a little and shook her head. "I still don't know how I feel about you being friends with my social worker's wife. It seems like it should be weird, but it's strangely not."

After meeting properly at Bobbi's birthday party last spring (since no one considered a brief run-in outside of Cal's creepy warehouse of doom a proper meeting), Hunter and Izzy had hit it off almost right away. Bobbi wasn't sure if it was their shared love of Hawaiian pizza or their shared dislike of Manchester United that had really sealed the deal between them, but whatever it was, the two were clearly kindred spirits.

"Izzy's awesome," Hunter sighed. "She's like… the cool queer aunt I never had. Which I desperately need since my actual aunts are a sweet-but-shy, divorced single mum and an obsessed-with-her work federal agent dating the most milquetoast man I've ever met. Did I tell you we had dinner with him one of the nights we were visiting Aunt Sharon in Chicago?"

"No, I didn't know that."

"He was nice," Hunter shrugged. "Very polite. Kind of bland. He does something with finance, selling bonds or something."

"Sounds riveting."

"So you can see why I need somebody like Izzy as a mentor," Hunter continued, only half teasing. "Who else is going to properly debate me on Premier League opinions and teach me about random, old school rock bands I'd otherwise never've heard of?"

"She's definitely got a unique skill set," laughed Bobbi.

"Did you know she used to be in a rock band?" Hunter asked. "Back in college, down south. Apparently she and Victoria were both into 'the scene,' whatever that means. That's how they met."

"No way."

"Honest to god," he insisted. "She was telling me all about it when we were all at that barbeque Mr. Coulson hosted in your backyard over Fourth of July weekend." He flashed her a sly smile. "Don't tell me you're surprised that the social worker with bright red streaks in her hair used to have some edge to her."

"I guess I just never thought about it," Bobbi admitted. "She's just… Miss Hand. She's usually all business."

"I'm telling you Bob, you've got to ask her about The Iliad-iots sometime. Or just mention Franny's Saloon. You'll get a right laugh from seeing her try to downplay all the stuff she and Izzy got up to."

"I'll have to remember that," said Bobbi, still somewhat incredulous at this new piece of information about the straightlaced and formal Miss Hand. "If I ever need a quick change of subject with her or something."

"So, speaking of Miss Hand and subject changes," Hunter said delicately, "you never said how the meeting went last night. I thought you might text me after it was over…"

"Sorry. I meant to, but it was late, and… I didn't really know what to say, I guess."

"You don't have to apologize," he assured her. "It's fine you didn't want to talk last night. It's fine if you don't want to talk now. I was just curious is all, but you know you can always tell me to take my curiosity and shove it. You don't have to tell me anything." He cut his eyes over to her and flashed her a quick grin to put her at ease.

"You hate it when people don't tell you things."

"I hate it when people keep secrets from me," he amended. "Mostly because I don't like being lied to. But there's a difference between secrets and things that you'd just rather not talk about, as I've learned. So if the meeting's off-limits—"

"No, it's not off-limits," Bobbi decided. "There's not much to say, but we can talk about it."

"All right. So, what happened? Are you closer on the adoption, then?"

Bobbi frowned. "Not really. I mean, Miss Hand was trying to make it seem like we're closer, but all she really had to update us on was everything that's still holding the process up. Skye's paperwork, Jemma's immigration status—"

"Damn, I hadn't thought about that. That whole process can be a bloody nightmare."

"Apparently there's a plan in place, but it's just one more thing, you know?"

"Your paperwork must be all sorted by now, though, right?" Hunter cocked his head in her direction. "You don't have shoddy orphanage files or citizenship issues to work through, so…"

Bobbi was quite for a minute, and she found herself staring hard out the window instead of looking at Hunter. She didn't mean to shut him out, but it was hard to make herself look at him as the confusing swirl of feelings from the night before came rushing back up into her throat. Eventually she managed to spit something out. "There's a holdup on mine, too."

"Oh." Hunter's voice was softer now, a delicate voice, a pacifying one. "What's… what's the holdup?"

"My mom."

"Your…" Hunter trailed off. "Shit."

"Yeah."

"What's the problem?"

Bobbi gave a harsh noise of disdain. "We'd need a longer car ride for me to tell you what all's the problem with my mom."

"What about just with the paperwork, then?"

"The problem with the paperwork is that I can't get adopted until she signs away her rights, and apparently she hasn't done it yet."

"How does she still even have rights to sign away?" Hunter's brow creased low over his narrowed eyes and his mouth turned down. More like an agitated or frustrated face than a truly angry one, but the underlying sentiment was all the same. "You haven't seen her in eight and a half years."

"I don't know. Something about her still technically having custody because of the way my parents handled their divorce. 'Bifurcation' or something. Miss Hand explained it, but…"

"Not easy to pay attention in that scenario," nodded Hunter. He had softened again. "I get it."

"Miss Hand sent her the paperwork a while ago, but so far nothing. She apparently tried calling my mom last year, too. Back when I was first in the hospital and Miss Hand was trying to find someone to take care of me after I got taken away from my dad." Bobbi turned away again, her eyes locking onto the slowly passing scenery as she blinked them hard to clear the emotion that was brimming up. "I guess she didn't think me being in the hospital was a good enough reason to pick up the phone."

"Shit, Bob. I'm… I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Bobbi said quickly. A little sharper than she really meant to. "She doesn't matter."

"It matters," Hunter murmured. "It's about you, your life. It's impacting you. So it matters." He paused for a little while before asking a new question. "So, what's the best-case scenario here? What are we looking for?"

"I want to get adopted," Bobbi told him without a moment's hesitation. "That's best-case. And May and Phil and Miss Hand know that."

"That's good."

"But it's… complicated," she faltered. "I want to get adopted, because being a part of Phil and May's family is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. And for me to get adopted, my mom has to sign the papers. So I want her to sign the papers. If she cares about me at all – which is a big 'if' at this point – she'll sign the papers so I can get what I want."

"But?" Hunter prompted, sensing her hesitancy and knowing that there was a part she wasn't saying.

"But, but, but it still feels weird," Bobbi finished softly. She ducked her head, staring now at her hands in her lap, which had bunched into fists. She wished she had her batons to help loosen the taut muscles that were locking her hands and arms up. They were veering into unknown territory, into the mysterious waters that had kept her awake last night as she tried to make sense of how mixed-up hearing about her mom last night had made her.

"It makes me feel weird. It's like… her signing away her rights would be her caring about me, because it would mean I could get adopted. So she'd be giving me what I want, which means she cares. But it would also mean she doesn't care about me. Not at all, not anymore. Because she doesn't want anything to do with me ever again. She doesn't want to be attached to me in any way. Which I knew already. I mean, she left me eight years ago and never looked back. She didn't pick up the phone when my dad put me in the hospital. I know she doesn't care about me. But it's still… it's just weird. Weird to want her to get rid of me for good. Make it official, I guess."

"And it's not like I want her to try and get me back," she continued, frustration prickling up in her throat. "I don't want her to decide to be a parent again all of the sudden. I don't want some horrible custody battle, and I don't want her to be interested in me again just because somebody else wants me. That's not what I'm saying. I want her to sign the papers and to be done with me. But I… it still doesn't feel… good."

Hunter was quiet for a minute. Bobbi still wasn't looking at him, so she couldn't tell by his face if he understood what she was trying to say, or if she had lost him completely. She hoped it was the former, even with her inability to accurately identify exactly how she was feeling about the whole thing, but she couldn't make herself turn to check.

"This whole situation is shit," Hunter finally said. "And, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I really hate your parents for putting you in this damn mess."

Bobbi let out a surprised laugh, a little weak, but mostly overwhelmed with gratitude at the fact that Hunter was with her. She glanced over at him. His eyes were on the road, which made it easier for her to study his face. His mouth was pulled tight in a grimace, but it seemed more like remorse than anything else.

"It seems to me," he continued, "that no matter what happens, you're probably going to get hurt. And that's rubbish and I wish I could stop it from happening, because I don't want you to get hurt."

"Always my knight in shining armor," Bobbi said with a faint smile.

"But it also seems like, as much as it's going to hurt to have your mum cut ties for good, at least you know it's going to create a lot more good in the long run. Doesn't really make it suck less, but…"

"Makes it feel like it might be worth it," finished Bobbi quietly. "Yeah, I know. You're right."

Hunter shrugged. "It's not about being right. You said it yourself; you want her to sign the papers. That'll be good. It just won't feel good in the moment, and that's okay to be upset about that."

"Have I told you how glad I am to have somebody like you?"

Hunter smiled and removed his right hand from the steering wheel, laying it down, palm up, on the center console between their two seats. "Feeling's mutual, Bob." She rested her hand in his, feeling her muscles shift to fit into the shape of his hand, holding on, gentle and tight all at the same time. Some of the tension she'd been carrying in her hands melted into Hunter's skin. It wasn't quite the same as holding her baton, but the effect was awfully similar.

After a few minutes more, they pulled up outside Bobbi's house, and Hunter turned to look at her once he'd put the car in park. "Have you talked to your foster parents about any of this? All the stuff you're feeling about your mom?"

"Not yet," she admitted. "They both offered to talk, but I… I didn't really know what to say. I'll talk to them, eventually. Now that I've had some time to figure stuff out." She flashed him a side smile and gave his hand a squeeze, a silent thank-you for being such a good sounding board.

"Happy to help," he said softly, returning the smile and squeeze. "I'm here for you. We all are. And I'm glad you're still trying to get adopted. I'd be bloody miserable if you had to move away to wherever it is that your mum's been hiding out."

"California, apparently."

"See? That's too damn far. You can't leave me for California," he grinned.

"I'll do my best."

"I'll pick you up for afternoon practice, yeah?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "See you then. Thanks, Hunter."

"Anytime, Bob."


A little shorter this time, but hopefully still a good chapter :) I'm hoping to get the next one up sometime this week, but I'll be traveling for a funeral this week, so there might be some delays. Either way, thank you all for sticking with me!