Chapter Text
“Bobbi, you have to get ready,” Lance laughs as she sucks a bruise under his jaw. She hesitates for a brief second before scraping her teeth down his neck.
“No, no I don’t.” She pushes him onto his back and straddles his waist, biting a line down to his collarbone.
“You have a mission,” he groans as he slides his hands up her legs.
“Fuck it.”
“Bobbi!” She pulls back with a forced grin, rolling her hips down. He shakes his head as he splays his fingers over her ribcage. “What’s gotten into you?” She cocks an eyebrow and he taps her side lightly, rolling his eyes.
“Just-. Five more minutes,” she whispers, trying not to let her dread show through. He huffs a laugh through his nose and pulls her back in for a kiss.
“Five more minutes then.”
-
“Alright, what’s wrong?” Bobbi twists her head to look at him, lifting an eyebrow, and he sighs. “You’re acting very different. Like you don’t want to go on your mission.” She swallows around the lump in her throat and zips her bag before turning to loop her arms around his neck. His hands settle on her waist, pulling her tight against his body.
“This one’s a little dangerous. That’s all,” she mutters, looking down at her feet. He hums in response and presses his lips to her forehead.
“You’re going to be fine. You’re going to kick ass and I’ll be here waiting for you. Now, c’mon, you’ll be late.” She leans into his body and closes her eyes, trying to memorize every little detail. One of his hands leaves her waist to tilt her chin up so he can properly kiss her. Tears prick behind her eyelids and she kisses him harder, pouring everything she has into it. Lance pulls back, resting his forehead against hers, and he digs around in his pocket before pulling out the familiar token.
“Don’t die out there,” he whispers, pressing another gentle kiss to her lips as he slips the keychain into her palm. Bobbi forces a smile as she grips it tightly, hefts her bag onto her shoulder, and walks out the door for what would be the last time.
-
She makes it just down the block before she has to pull over, tears blurring her vision. The one time he pushes her to leave for her mission is the one time she desperately wants him to make her stay.
Gasping sobs wrack her body as she pulls her sleeve over her fist and wipes at her cheeks. She covers her face with both hands and the keychain, still clutched tightly between her fingers, digs into her forehead.
It takes her another minute to get her breathing back under control, hands falling into her lap as she sniffles. With her thumb, she traces over the raised letters, thinking how she shouldn’t be the one to have this.
She had strict orders to leave everything behind. No clothes, no jewelry, no nothing. But she couldn’t bring herself to push the keychain back in his hand; he’d surely figure out that something was wrong, thus comprising the mission, she justifies, and that’s why she has to keep this keychain.
Shield can’t take it away from her; it’s not theirs to take. This was her’s and Lance’s thing, and she’d rather die than give it up. She snorts at her word choice before bringing the keychain up closer to her face, her face growing solemn.
This would be the only thing she had left of him, and she’ll be damned if anyone tries to take it from her.
-
It’s just around midnight when Bobbi sneaks back to the park. The mission had gone as planned, Shield took everything she owned, and she was given a room at the base. She’s not even sure if she’s permitted to leave the base now that she’s “dead.”
She doesn’t care anymore. This is something she has to do.
Bobbi scales the tree with ease, just as she had done twelve hours ago, and she feels around for the giant knot in the branch. It was just deep enough to hide a black pouch, which she had been so careful to conceal, covering it up with leaves and sticks.
Her fingers touch smooth fabric and she sobs in relief as she closes her fist around the bag. She feels the outline of two circles against her palm and nearly loses her footing as she climbs back down.
As soon as she’s on the ground, she upends the bag, dumping the contents into her hand, and tears start to well up. The ring clacks noisily against the keychain as she squeezes them tightly in her hand, and she’s sobbing before she can even think twice.
She doesn’t know how much time passes; all she knows is she cries until she’s physically unable to cry anymore. She ends up dry-heaving in the bushes, wishing she could call him up and ask him to bring her home.
-
Bobbi was supposed to come home two days ago, it’s not like he’s panicking.
Except he is. He’s pacing the length of the apartment, gripping his cell phone tightly, praying that the call will come in with good news. He’s been awake for just under 48 hours now, and the world’s starting to vibrate. It’s getting hard to keep his eyelids open and he moves to the couch, almost falling asleep.
It’s then that his phone rings. He jumps off the couch, answers it quicker than he should’ve, but he just wants news.
“Hello?”
“Is this Lance Hunter?”
“Yes, who’s this?”
“Shield Medical.” His heart leaps into his throat and he feels a smile start to spread across his face. “Sir, we regret to inform you…” The smile disappears quickly and he falls back on the couch.
He feels numb. He doesn’t remember what the rest of the phone call was about, doesn’t even remember if he responded. He heard ‘regret’ and the world dropped out from underneath his feet.
Time stretches on indefinitely as he stares at the wall, trying to make sense of everything. It hits him like a freight train and this must be hell.
It’s the worst pain he’s ever felt. It radiates out from his chest, all the way down to his fingers and toes. He feels like he’s on fire and drowning at the same time, and he can’t breathe.
He can’t breathe, the world is too loud, too bright, too close, and he has never been more certain that dying would be better than this.