Charlie Harrison took cover behind a corner and peeked around it, seeing if her enemy was in sight. The hallway was clear and she made her way carefully, her weapon in front of her, ready to fire. Footsteps behind her alerted her to the fact that her enemy was gaining on her position so she started to run. Her mistake was glancing behind her as she ran and she ran into a man. She would have knocked them both to the ground had the man not caught her.
"Are you okay?" He asked as she looked around, picking up the pistol from the carpet.
"I found you!" A small boy ran down the hallway, firing his Nerf gun and pelting his mother with the small foam darts as she stood.
"I would have gotten away if I wasn't so clumsy." Charlie squirted him with her water pistol, causing the boy to squeal. She tucked the toy into her back pocket and introduced herself to the man. "Charlie Harrison. This is Jeremy."
"Clint Barton." He shook her hand and returned her smile. "I hate to tell you but I think you aren't meant to be a secret agent."
"I guess I'll stick to my day job then." Charlie chuckled. "We just moved in and we are procrastinating unpacking everything."
Clint smiled. "I get it. I hate moving. Which apartment did you move into?"
"We're in 115." Jeremy chirped.
"Looks like we're neighbors." Clint said, winking at the seven year old. "It's good to know that such a sharp shooter is keeping watch in the halls."
Jeremy giggled and tugged on his mother's shirt. "I'm hungry."
"That sounds like my cue to get some dinner." Charlie said. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Barton."
"She can't cook." Jeremy whispered conspiratorially, drawing a chuckle from Clint and a playful shove from his mother. "She's going to order something."
"Let's go Jer." Charlie opened the door and Clint could see that she wasn't kidding about needing to unpack. Inside their apartment, the Harrison's debated on what to order but when they finally settled on pizza, Jeremy went to his room to dig through boxes until he found his comic books. Charlie pulled her hair into a ponytail and got to work on unpacking while she waited for their pizza to come. She managed to make a dent in the boxes when the pizza came.
"So, what do you think of our new place?" Charlie asked Jeremy as he picked the pepperoni off his pizza.
"It's not bad." Jeremy said as he shoved his slice in his mouth.
Charlie licked the grease off her fingers and checked the time. "Okay, your grandma will be here in thirty minutes. I'm going to get ready for work."
"Ok." Jeremy said simply, arranging the stray pepperoni in a circle.
Charlie showered and changed into her scrubs then braided her hair to keep it out of the way. She heard her mom being greeted by Jeremy and grabbed her ID badge on the way to say hi.
"Thanks so much, Mom." Charlie kissed her mother on the cheek. "I haven't got a babysitter set up for him yet while I'm working the graveyard shift."
"Not a problem at all, sweetheart." Emma assured her daughter.
"There's pizza left over. Jeremy doesn't have any homework since it's his first day tomorrow." Charlie gave her mother the phone number for the hospital she now worked at. She lowered her voice for her next instructions. "Brian shouldn't stop by but if he does, call me."
"Isn't it Jeremy's weekend to spend with his father?" Emma asked, her tone matching Charlie's.
"Yeah but 'something' came up." Charlie rolled her eyes as she tugged on her jacket. "It's just an excuse for having a date but whatever."
"You're going to be late." Emma chastised Charlie. "Go. We'll be fine."
"Okay." Charlie kissed the top of Jeremy's head before she left. "Be good and I'll see you in the morning. Love you."
"Love you too." Jeremy called before she closed the door behind her.
"How are we feeling tonight, Mr. Ferguson?" Charlie asked the elderly man as she checked his vitals.
"I'm doing just fine, dear." Mr. Ferguson smiled warmly at her and she returned it.
"Wonderful." Charlie made a mark on his chart and made sure he didn't need anything else before she left the man to sleep. The night started calmly but around midnight there was a multiple car pile up and suddenly the emergency room was full of new patients. Charlie moved quickly, assisting where she could, but she also had rounds to do on her own patients so there wasn't much she could do to help. By the time the sun came up, Charlie was ready to have coffee pumped into her with an IV but she powered through and greeted Jeremy with a smile when she got home.
Emma had unpacked a large portion of the living room and kitchen, insisting that it was no trouble and she was happy to help. Jeremy had already gotten dressed and ate breakfast by the time Charlie got home so she poured herself some coffee in a travel mug and the pair got into a cab to go visit Jeremy's school. When bus and class schedules were retrieved, Charlie went home to get some sleep. She ran into Clint in the hallway.
"What happened to you?" Clint asked, referring to her blood stained scrub top. Charlie had kept her jacket zipped while at Jeremy's school but took it off in the cab home.
"Work. I'm a nurse at St. Mark's." Charlie shrugged. "It's all in a night's work."
"I see." Clint replied. "I was just going out to get some coffee. Would you want to join me?"
"Thanks but I'm going to bed." Charlie smiled apologetically. "Maybe some other time."
"Sounds good." Clint smiled back at her.
Charlie disappeared into her apartment and stripped off her dirty scrubs, dropping the clothes by the bed. She changed into some clean pajamas before flopping on the mattress. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.
A/N: I feel like there aren't enough Barton/OC stories out there and while I do kind of ship Clintasha, I like some diversity in the pairings. Please let me know what you think. I know this chapter is kind of boring but it'll pick up. Reviews are welcome.
