Chapter Text
After leaving Fitz in his cryo-freeze chamber, Hunter wondered when he was supposed to reach out to him and the team. He had no idea how or when they were coming back. Deep down he knew he should have questioned if they were coming back but had absolutely no intention of doing it. He focused on his new and unexpected mission instead: taking care of a little girl who can see future and her mother.
The doubt wasn't meant to last anyway. It was quaked and destroyed soon enough by Quake herself. The doubt and general Talbot in a silly black suit apparently.
"Ah, Fitz, you absolute beauty!"
"Never been happier to watch the news", Bobbi completed his thoughts still looking at Daisy's images on the screen.
Suddenly a familiar voice was aired live: "this is S.H.I.E.L.D. We're here to help."
Hunter had already brought beers and a fruit juice for Robin and was ready to celebrate.
Unfortunately Robin's visions didn't stop just yet. She started to vaguely talk about Fitz and Enoch switching present and past tense on some very enigmatic sentences that left Hunter wondering if she was convinced they were dead.
He was used to never push her to explain her visions any further, but this time it was driving him insane.
"Maybe she's just confused by all the futures she has seen." Even Bobbi looked worried but kept trying to reassure him.
He immediately started to write to BallBlaster Hooligans, trying to hide his message between the usual insults to Manchester United.
"Even Robin who's just a little girl is in better shape than ManU's so called top players." Robin is fine.
"I wonder what comes into their fans heads." I want to know about one particular fan, at least.
Two months later
"Any news?"
Polly's question took Hunter's attentions away from the umpteenth number of BallBlaster Hooligans.
"Just a bunch of angry Manchesters fans who are sick of my letters," he answered throwing the magazine on the stack on the side table.
"Robin?"
"Looks like you're about to have a new mission. Nothing on Fitz."
Hunter turned to Bobbi to give her a questioning look. They both looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. That kind of silent conversations was rare between them but Polly had already been able to witness it and, even though she wasn't sure those were better than their bickering, she respected them enough to not interfere.
"I think it's time for you to tell me how to reach out to Mack."
"Hunter..."
"You must have had some secret way of communication when you were with all the Hufflepuff."
Bobbi let go a resigned sigh. "The real shield", she automatically corrected him, even though she had changed her mind on Coulson's leadership a long time before. "We had something, a secure line. I wasn't hiding it from you, it was let unused for a long time."
Hunter smiled. "I'd bet Mack checks on it every night since the spies goodbye."
She looked down. "I thought about it back then, but we were spied on, I couldn't take risks. Then so many things happened."
Five minutes later Mack's smiling face was on Bobbi's laptop.
"Long time no see, Barbara!"
"Oh God, don't start with that name again."
Mack laughed heartly before moving on with a more serious tone. "I didn't expect to see you again. You look good."
"Hello to you too, Mack. I'm here too, remember?"
"Ah, Hunter. You wouldn't believe it but I missed you.."
"Of course I believe you, who wouldn't miss me?"
Mack laughed and rolled his eyes but didn't answer.
"I missed you too. And everyone else... which brings me to the main reason we're calling. I was hoping to hear from Fitz when you came back. I couldn't get in touch with him. so why don't you catch us up?"
Mack whole face changed in no time.
"As a director I should tell you it's classified..." That first information alone caused some pretty shocked reactions. He was glad to be interrupted for a moment but he knew that was about to bring even more questions and difficult topics. He started from Coulson's story and the way he had chosen to sacrifice himself to letr Daisy save the planet. Then he told tell some happy anecdotes May had mentioned from Thaiti, in hope of relieving the pain.
He had thought Fitz situation would've been hard to explain, but Hunter realised very quickly the paradox they had created.
"The cry-freeze chamber worked for 75 years. He's still out there."
"I'm pretty sure Jemma already knows where", added firmly Bobbi.
Mack smiled. "She has already left, with Daisy, Piper and Davis."
After that conversation, Hunter and Bobbi decided to update Polly at least on Enoch and Fitz. It was no easy to process, but it better than not knowing. At least that was what Hunter had thought. But the more he explained the more he admired Mack for saying all of that with a straight and reassuring face. Especially because, knowing Mack, he was pretty sure the notion of someone dying and simultaneously being alive was enough to crash him. Even worse if "someone" was Fitz.
When they went to bed that night, Bobbi moved as close as possible. She ran an hand through his hair and he allowed himself to indulge in her caresses and relax the muscle on his shoulders that had apparently been tense the whole time. He kissed her hand and turned on his side to pull her closer.
"See?" Her voice was just a soft, sad whisper. "It's not enough to leave S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I don't think it's possible to truly leave that team, Bob."
He held her tight and waited a few seconds in silence before adding what he was thinking. "I'm not going to do it so don't get mad, but I'd love to overuse you secure line."
"I was thinking the same thing."
3 months later
When Hunter finally came back to his rented appartment it was way past one am. He was exhausted. He felt like he hadn't sleep in days and the feeling was not really far from the truth. He finally had what he had been sent to take, finishing his mission with just a few scratches and maybe a couple of cracked ribs. He was really hoping Bobbi's part of the job was going smoothly but he had no way to call her at the moment.
Once he was in the room, he realized it was the first time he was alone in a very long time. Before Polly and Robin had entered his life, he was used to be away for extended periods of time. During the last few months, however, he had lived surrounded by the kid's drawings, in places Polly worked really hard to make feel like home. Even Bobbi seemed to love the atmosphere and her grief for Coulson had made her almost clingy. He had to admit to himself he had become unaccustomed to solitude.
He allowed himself a little melancholy, thinking about the time he had an entire base full of people to go back to, after every mission. He couldn't help but think about Jemma and Daisy somewhere in space.
Mack had promissed to give them news as soon as possible, so he and Bobbi knew they were still out there from his silence. At least until he had left for his mission. As far as Hunetr knew, Mack could have talked to Bobbi while he was bussy fooling the idiots he had to steal from. The thought crept so easily into his mind he totally convinced himself it was only fair for him to use the safe line by himself.
Maybe he only needed to hear a friend's voice, but he knew for sure he was alone and unobserved and the safe line was... well, safe. So he could definitely call Mack.
"Dear God, Hunter, what have you done?"
He had not thought much on the way he looked. "Oh, right. That's nothing, you should see the other guy."
"You sure? Is this a call for help?"
Hunter smiled sincerely. "No, I'm fine, I promise. But I've been out of reach for a while so I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything."
"Ah, there's always something happening. Most of them are classified, but I can tell you we had no important news from Jemma."
Hunter let go a long sigh. "Damn, I could've used a good news."
"You sure you're okay?"
"Yes."
"Well, I can tell you they're good and Simmons seems to have learned a huge amount of things about planets we knew nothing about. She even speaks alien languages now."
"Of course she does. It must be tough though."
"Daisy is taking care of her."
"How is she?"
"She seems to handle everything pretty well."
"May?"
"Still affected by Tahiti but you know her."
Hunter nodded. "What about you?"
He looked taken aback for a moment. "I'm good."
"You're a really bad lair for a director of a secret organization."
"Being a director is... tiring."
He replied chuckling: "When I think of how many times you said you wanted to quit... and know you're director."
Mack laughed along. "Life is weird. It makes you change your mind quite often."
Hunter replied with rare seriousness, "Don't let responsibilities crush you, director. And don't think too much."
Mack smiled. "You try and think at least a little bit. And treat those wounds. You're awful to look at."