AN: I own nothing except for Emily.

Chapter 1

"Hey, Clint, what's up?" I couldn't help but grin as I answered the phone. Talking to one of my favorite people always had that effect on me.

"I'm en route to New Mexico. What are you up to?" I could hear several others talking in the background, so I figured that Clint was on a quinjet, probably flying it.

"I'm just trying to figure out what to make for dinner. My options aren't looking very good so far," I replied, continuing in my search of the fridge. I pushed several unidentifiable objects aside, hoping for something a little fresher behind. Sadly, I had no such luck.

"Why don't you get some Mexican?" Clint's question sounded innocent enough, but I'd known him long enough to hear the mischievous undertones.

"What are you getting at, Clint?"

"Well, there may or may not be a quinjet planning on picking you up in an hour." I could practically hear the grin threatening to break through onto his face.

"Where would this hypothetical quinjet be planning on taking me? And for how long?"

"It would be taking you to New Mexico so you could spend your spring break with your two favorite guys," he quipped.

"I'm in med school, in case you forgot," I sighed. "I can't go gallivanting off to New Mexico, just because you and Dad are going to be there for a while."

"Sure you can. You're already top of your class, and it's not like you actually need to study. And you can bring your books with for when Agent Coulson and I are busy," he logically explained.

"It sounds like you and Dad already have prepared for any argument I could come up with," I replied sardonically.

"Of course. Who knows you better than the two of us?" I knew Clint had just shrugged, without needing to actually see him.

"Okay. I'll see you in an hour," I laughed. "And I had better not lose my valedictorian spot because of this!"

"You won't, Em. You're so much smarter than all the rest, anyway. See you at the Triskelion in an hour."

The next few minutes saw me packing a bag, before climbing into my SHIELD issued, non-descript Ford sedan. The rest of my allotted time was spent navigating D.C. traffic, since it was rush hour. Once I finally got on the Triskelion bridge, though, it only got worse, since Tony Stark's adventures had been just a few days before at his Stark Expo. I was a bit surprised that Dad and Clint weren't still cleaning that up, or the huge mess in Harlem, but apparently something else big was going down. Or they had the situation under control already. Dad was pretty good at that.

After parking in my designated spot (Thank you, Daddy!), I hurried to the front door, swiped my badge, and nodded to Frank before heading straight to the elevators. Normally, Level Five clearance didn't allow you to go where I was heading, but that was the beauty of being the daughter of Agent Phil Coulson. In order to visit him, or even Clint and Tasha, he had had to arrange it with Director Fury to allow me up to his office. Now, the elevator automatically directed me to Omega Team's D.C. offices without any input needed from me.

"Baby Coulson!" greeted me the moment I stepped out of the elevator.

"You know I don't like that, Robin Hood," I replied, curling my nose as Clint pulled me into a hug.

"And I don't like being called Robin Hood, but yet we still do it. Why is that?" he pondered faux-philosophically, walking me into his office.

"Because you both have the mentality of seven-year-olds," a rather familiar voice said to my right.

"Eh, probably right," Clint said, turning us to see this newcomer.

"Hey, Maria! How's Harlem?" I asked.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know about that," she said, shaking her head.

"A huge green thing fighting an even bigger spiky thing, destroying a whole neighborhood? It was on Youtube, silly. And I knew Fury would put his best woman on the job," I replied, giving her a wink.

"You've always been too smart for your own good," she sighed, before adding, "but now, you need to get on that quinjet. You need to be in New Mexico ASAP, and the Director wasn't excited about this little pit stop, even if it meant you could pick up more agents."

"You know he loves me. I mean, who doesn't?" I asked flippantly as we all headed toward the flight deck.

"I'm pretty sure Sitwell hasn't forgiven you for the whole enchilada fiasco," Maria said drily.

"And Stark hates you," Clint added.

"That's only because I can hack JARVIS," I shrugged. "And besides, Pepper loves me, so really, Tony does, too."

"You keep telling yourself that, kid," Clint laughed.

It was only after we got to the jet and I saw Clint stowing my bag that I realized he had taken it from me. "Stupid spy show-off," I muttered, playfully knocking his shoulder.

"I'm just training you to be observant," he protested with a grin.

"There is no need to train her," Maria butted in sternly. "Emily is going straight to Medical Division once she graduates. There will be no spy stuff for her."

"Yeah, but every now and then we need a Med-" Clint started, but Maria's glare cut him off.

"There will be no spy stuff for Emily, Barton," she repeated, in her "I am your superior officer and you will listen to me and not put my friend's daughter in harm's way" voice.

"No spy stuff for Emily. None whatsoever," Clint muttered meekly. "I'm gonna go fly the jet now."

While Clint was doing his pre-flight stuff, a few more agents boarded. One in particular saw me and grinned in a "I know I'm hot stuff" sort of way, but course-corrected when he saw Maria's glare. And then she gave herself a rare, self-satisfied smile, before looking back into the files open on her Starkpad. "And then everyone wonders why I have no friends," I muttered to her.

"Adams didn't want to be your 'friend', Emily. He has gone through an entire floor's worth of women, and apparently thought you would make a good next victim," Maria replied, not even bothering to look up.

"But really, between you, Dad, and Clint, and even Tasha, the chances of me meeting someone you guys don't immediately scare off are miniscule," I continued, trying to make my point.

"Anyone who is that easy to scare off isn't worth your time, Emily. And besides, you are so much smarter than the people your age. Just wait until you join SHIELD. It will be better then," she assured me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. And she still had yet to look up from her reading.

"I'd better get off. I'm not scheduled to go to New Mexico," she finally said, making a rare joke. "Coulson will meet you when you land. Have a good spring break," she added, before walking off the cargo door.

Since Clint was flying the plane, I decided to read for a bit, as I had an hour or so to burn. Pulling out my phone and muttering "I solemnly swear I am up to no good", I started to browse through my ebook selection when the agent next to me interrupted. "Are you Emily Coulson?"

"That is a very good possibility, just depends on who's asking," I replied, not looking up from my phone.

"Agent Coulson was my SO in training. He is so good at what he does," she said in awe.

"Yeah, he is," I replied, pride in every syllable. "I'm actually going to spend some time with him, if that wasn't already obvious from the fact that I'm on this jet." I realized halfway through that sentence that what I was saying was a bit overkill, but somehow couldn't stop the words from coming.

"Yeah, I figured," she grinned. "And no, I'm not some creepy stalker of your dad's. I just happened to see a picture of the two of you in his office. It's really cool that you get to visit him while he's on a mission."

"It helps that Daddy is Fury's pet," a nasty voice said across from us.

Up to that point, I hadn't noticed Agent Collin Anderson sitting practically across from me. I groaned inwardly. I really didn't want to have to deal with him on my spring break, but apparently, I would have to. We can't always have what we want, I supposed.

"Remember what I told you, Anderson," I said sweetly. "Just because I didn't want to date you doesn't mean I'm a stuck up snob."

"No, it just means she's got good taste," the agent next to me piped up.

Anderson flushed and glared at everyone, since we all laughed at that. "I'm Agent Tobin, by the way. Marissa," she added with a slightly self-deprecating grin.

"I'm Emily Coulson," I replied. "But you already knew that."

"So , you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but why do you get to visit your dad if you're not an agent?" she asked, looking torn between wanting to know and not wanting to pry.

"Well, I'm kinda with SHIELD. I mean, they are paying for college in exchange for me going to work for them when I graduate. And Fury kinda had to give me clearance when I hacked my dad's computer at the age of fourteen," I answered, a bit embarrassed, but still slightly proud.

"So you're the kid we all got warned about!" Marissa exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" I had no idea what she was talking about. After all, I wasn't a kid anymore.

"In training, we were all warned to keep any and all SHIELD electronics away from any kids, because an agent's kid had hacked into the secure server and gave everyone Harry Potter wallpaper," she laughed.

"Yeah, those were my rebellious days. That's also how I found out that Clint was an agent , as well. Before that, I just thought he was a friend of my dad's."

Marissa and I had a lovely chat for the rest of the flight, which was something a bit surprising to me as I rarely made friends. Before I knew it, Clint's voice came over the intercom, mirth apparent for everyone to hear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are beginning our final descent into Puente Antiguo. Currently, the weather is clear and a bit chilly. The local time is now four-forty-three, and thank you for flying SHIELD airlines."

"He's an idiot," Anderson mumbled as we all buckled up.

"Yeah, but he's my idiot," I replied, glaring at him.

"I thought he and Agent Romanoff were together," Marissa whispered to me.

I couldn't help it. I laughed out loud. "I just meant that Anderson should keep his stupid mouth shut. Clint is like a brother to me. And sadly, no, he and Natasha are not together. At least, not yet."

Once we landed, Clint came back to us to grab his bag, and mine, since I couldn't reach it. "I got it, Short Stack," he said, when I tried to take it from me.

"Fine, but you promised me Mexican food," I reminded. "And now I'm even more hungry, since it's two hours after I had planned on eating."

"We've already sent out for something," he assured. "It should be here waiting for us."

"Have I told you today how much I love you?" I said, kissing up to him, just a bit.

"No, actually, you haven't. Now would be a good time for a reminder," he said, deadpanning.

"Clint, I love you. You are the best friend/brother in the entire universe," I said. I didn't realize then that our universe had just gotten a whole lot bigger.

AN: Just a little editing to make things canon.