Beginning of the End

Authour's Note: New story time! A prequel to Second Chances inspired by an Instagram photo Ming-na Wen posted of her and Clark Gregg. These two crack me up!

Being a SHIELD agent had its advantages, especially when one answered directly to the man at the top. Phil Coulson valued his team and when they were between catastrophic, world ending events the Head of SHIELD allowed his agents to have time off and freedom. So when Skylar had mentioned to FitzSimmons that she had a friend who worked at the Smithsonian who was going to let her see the exhibit's new Captain America statue before it was officially unveiled, Skylar had the resources to get the whole team access. The young agent hadn't realized Coulson had been passing in earshot of her conversation with the two young scientists. Phil Coulson was the biggest Captain America fan in the world and he could be charmingly persistent. That was hr downfall; Skylar had a hard time saying "no" to him. She'd had a puppy dog crush on him since her academy days. All he had to do was smile and she was more than willing to do whatever it took to get her friend to give in to her request.

Skylar used every trick and resource being an agent had provided her with. When those proved fruitless, she had coerced her boyfriend the Avenger to help ("You owe me for helping you please your crush, you know," Clint had told his girlfriend with an eyebrow waggle). Clint had to promise her friend a date with the Black Widow before said friend would acquiesce. Skylar had promised Clint she'd owe him twice over if he was the one to break the news to the super spy ("Is your plan to kill me off so you can be with Coulson?" he'd asked jokingly; Skylar'd be lying if she denied the thought had crossed her mind).

And that was how she found herself standing just outside the Captain America exhibit next to a casually dressed Phil Coulson. FitzSimmons, Daisy, Hunter, Bobbi, and even Mack and May had all come along. Coulson looked like a kid in a candy store as the door to the Smithsonian opened for the team, revealing Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton.

"Agents," Coulson greeted them with an arched eyebrow.

"It's been a while, Director," the red haired Russian said, her lips curling into a smile at the sight of him.

"Hey Natasha," Skylar greeted her quietly. She'd seen the bruises she'd left on Clint and suspected she might end up sporting matching ones.

"Barton's on guard duty and I have a date with a Smithsonian employee," she told her fellow agent dryly.

"Eddy's a good guy," Skylar replied as the friend in question appeared from behind Clint.

"Please don't break anything," Eddy said to the group.

"We're all perfectly civil grownups, Eddy," Skylar told her friend. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"You're friends with Black Widow and Hawkeye, lots can go wrong," countered Eddy.

"If they get too rowdy, I'll just shoot them," Clint replied easily.

The young rolled her eyes at Clint as a couple of the others scoffed at him. She even thought she heard May mumble 'You wish, Barton' before she ushered Eddy off with Natasha and then ushered the team inside. Clint fell in step beside his girlfriend, his hands shoved in his pockets. "You planned this," she accused.

"Couldn't miss his reaction to the statue," replied Clint.

"Sure Barton," Skylar chuckled. She watched her teammates go off and do their own thing in little clusters, smiling fondly at them. They had their own little cliques – what work place didn't? – but they were still very much a family. Coulson and May were undoubtedly the parents of the team. Mack, Bobbi, and Hunter were the older siblings. That left Fitz, Simmons, Daisy, and herself as the babies of the family. Watching them, Skylar weren't terribly upset that they had tagged along on her night off. She wasn't even all that annoyed with Clint being there even though she was acting like it. "Too bad Steve couldn't be here. That would have really won me some points with the boss," she mused as she watched on. Coulson was all over the place with May trailing along behind him.

"I don't think Coulson would be able to function if Steve were here," chuckled Clint.

"My boss is adorkable," Skylar giggled before heading off to join her team.

Clint watched his girlfriend, a frown on his face. He hadn't seen Skylar in weeks before she had mentioned Coulson wanted to interlope on her night off. Missions usually kept the two of them busy, but it had never been a problem in the beginning. She'd worked a desk job for SHIELD when Clint had first met her, not part of any team. Back then, it had just been him going off on missions. Then SHIELD fell and Skylar had found herself reclassified as a field agent. Clint had finally understood what his absences had made her feel like. It should have brought the two them closer but it seemed to be driving a wedge between them instead.

"You can't do that! We'll get shot at! Clint warned us already!"

Skylar's voice pulled Clint from his thoughts and he moved in the direction she had gone. The Avenger stopped short, his eyes widening at what he saw before him. Agent Melinda May was standing in front of the bronze statue of Captain America, brandishing a replica of his famous vibranium shield. She had her lips twitched up in a slightly amused smirk.

"C'mon, May! You can't be condoning this!" Clint watched Skylar try to sway the woman.

"The Director can't back down from a challenge," May answered.

"He can if it's from Hunter! He's a troublemaker!"

"You know he doesn't need my encouragement where the country's golden boy is concerned," countered Hunter.

"Look at how happy he is Skylar. Do you really want to destroy his hopes and dreams?" chimed in Daisy.

The young woman sighed in defeat and gave Clint a helpless shrug. She held in a giggle when she saw him raise his cell phone and snap several pictures of Phil Coulson – who had scaled the bronze statue and was snuggling up to it from behind. His hands were splayed over the bronze chest of the statue and for once the Director of SHIELD looked blissful. It made Skylar's heart flutter. Phil Coulson was her ideal man – serious and family oriented (she knew he viewed the team as a family too) but also silly and easy going. All the same traits she had seen in Clint before she became a full-fledged field agent and he started drifting away. Sighing, Skylar turned away from Clint, unsure of where she stood with him. She had hoped both of them being field agents would be a new beginning but it seemed it was the beginning of the end.