Disclaimer: I don't own them…..but Emma is mine! AN is at the bottom!

This chapter is for LVB who made me the kick ass new picture that goes with the story and xPoppyx who always listens to my random ideas and helps me make them work! Enjoy!


Chapter 11:

The next few months flew by in a blur for both Clint and Emma. Every day it was mission, mission, mission. Some were easy and quick, while others were a bit more tedious. Occasionally Emma wound up in compromising situations where she just about ended up in bed with a target, but that was where Clint would take the necessary kill shot if he could. Other times Emma would use the heart attack injection as Clint called it to quickly kill off one of the targets.

By the end of November, they had finished off the list of targets in Europe and parts of Russia. Since they were in the region, they had also taken care of a few of their targets in North Africa as well. Once Thanksgiving had rolled around, they returned to New York City for more than just a day.

"I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for a few days." Clint said, dropping his bag just inside the front door of Emma's apartment. They had just gotten home after a long flight back from London. He collapsed on the couch and lay full out with his feet hanging off the end. He snuggled with one of Emma's throw pillows.

"Well you can't!" Emma said walking by and slapping his ass as she walked into the kitchen area to see if she could scrounge up some tea. Her throat always bugged her a bit after international flights.

"Awww why not Em?" he asked lifting his head up and looking at her.

"Because Thanksgiving is in 3 days!" she happily said putting a pot of water on.

Clint groaned. He really didn't like the holidays. Emma knew that moan – Clint did that when he really didn't want to do something or didn't like an idea.

"Do you not like the holidays?" she asked sitting down on the edge of her coffee table. Clint turned to look at her.

"Not really. All I have are bad memories of the holidays growing up. Dad was always drunk, mom was always upset. Then after dad died, there really wasn't the money to celebrate."

"Well holidays for Aunt Peggy and I were always a big deal! They still are. I typically get from November to just after New Year's Day off from S.H.E.I.L.D. to help in the store unless there is a huge disaster that I absolutely have to go out into the field and take care of. That's maybe happened twice in the last few years."

"So what am I supposed to do until after New Year's Day if you're on vacation so to speak?"

Emma looked away from Clint for a second as she spoke up again. "Umm, well you see, I sorta lied to Sitwell and told him that you wanted to be off when I did," she said mumbling.

"You what?"

She sighed as she turned to look back at him. "See Sitwell called last week in between hits. He wanted to know if you wanted to have the same time off as I did since it was year-end stuff with the agency and everything. And seeing as it was our first major holiday season as a couple, I thought it would be nice if we spent it together or you could go home and see your mom for a few days. So I told him that you did."

Clint leaned up and kissed Emma's lips. That was the best thing that anyone had ever said to him – someone had actually wanted to spend the holidays with him. "Of course I want to spend them with you, Em."

She smiled at him again before stealing another quick kiss as she stood up to go tend to the cup of tea that was waiting for her in the kitchen. This was going to be a great holiday season. She couldn't wait!


"You ok?" Clint asked the next morning as they sat in a corner diner and ate a quick breakfast before heading to HQ for a debrief about the European branch of their assignment. After that was vacation for over a month – well vacation from S.H.E.I.L.D. at least. Clint had a sneaky suspicion that he was going to have to help out in Aunt Peggy's bookshops. He really wouldn't care because he would get to be with Emma and at the moment, that was all that mattered to him. After telling him last night that she wanted to spend the holidays with him, he had been floating on cloud 9. He already could tell that this holiday season would be his best yet.

Emma sat across from him, lost in thought as she pushed her scrambled eggs around on her plate. Clint knew all the signs…not eating, not talking, lost in thought. Something was on Emma's mind.

"Baby, what's on your mind?" he asked, nudging her foot a bit under the table.

"Hun? Oh nothing really," she said taking a small bite of eggs. She swallowed the bite then looked at Clint. "Actually there is something that is bugging me."

"And what's that?" he asked finishing off his stack of pancakes. He reached for his glass of chocolate milk to wash it down.

"Do you want to move in with me?"

Clint choked on his chocolate milk a little bit. Had he heard Emma right? Did she really just ask him to move in with her? He had to make sure he had heard correctly. "Move in together? Like share bills and what not?" he asked.

"Only groceries." Emma replied. "That's all that would really increase. Besides, its not like you aren't over at my place every night that we're not on duty which are few and far between these days. I know that S.H.E.I.L.D. doesn't care where you live as long as you keep quarters at HQ as well. I literally have a change of clothes there. Aren't you tired of living out of a suitcase? Just move all your stuff to my apartment and it will solve everything."

He didn't say anything for a second, while his brain filtered what he had just heard. Emma did have a point. "I really don't have that much to move, but I'll move in. But what about all your stuff?"

"I need to clean out my drawers and closet anyways to give some stuff to charities. So it's a win-win for everyone," she said finishing off her eggs.

Clint shook his head in amazement as they stood up to pay and then leave. Emma kept on surprising him at every turn.


The Thanksgiving holiday came and went without much fanfare. Clint had moved the rest of his stuff from S.H.E.I.L.D. HQ to Emma's apartment in a single trip since he already had some of it over there. Other than their debrief, Fury wished them a good vacation and said if he needed them, he'd call. And that was that.

On Thanksgiving Day, Emma dragged Clint to Aunt Peggy's for a home cooked meal. He swore up and down that if he was threatened with a Smith and Wesson Model 10, then he was gone.

"Don't worry! She won't!" Emma said as they walked down the street towards Aunt Peggy's townhouse. She carried a homemade pumpkin pie that Clint had tried to eat that morning, but Emma smacked his hand with a spoon.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because May Parker and her nephew, Peter, join us Thanksgiving every year. It's always been that way. Aunt Peggy and May are best friends."

"So how old is her nephew?"

"I think in his late teens. He keeps to himself a lot." Emma said heading up to the front door of a nice townhouse and simply walked in the front door. "Aunt Peggy!" she called out as she set her purse down on a chair before hanging up her and Clint's jackets on the hall tree.

"In the kitchen!"

Clint followed Emma into the kitchen. "Here is one pumpkin pie," Emma said with a smile as she set the pie in the refrigerator before turning and kissing her aunt's cheek as she stood at the stove, stirring a sauce of some sort. "Anything I can do?"

"No, I'm almost done," she said pouring the sauce into a bowl. She turned to look at Clint. "I take it that everything is good now?"

"Yes, Aunt Peggy," Emma said as she wrapped her arms around Clint and snuggled against him.

"Good, I don't want to have to go find my gun." Peggy said turning her attention back to preparing the dinner.

Clint gulped a bit, but Emma kissed his cheek before going to help her aunt with the rest of the meal. He went and sat down at the kitchen table and stayed out of the way. He watched Emma interact with her aunt and he realized just how much they were alike. No wonder Emma had followed in her footsteps into S.H.E.I.L.D.

The rest of the day sped by. May Parker and her nephew, Peter arrived a little while after Emma and Clint had, with dinner following shortly there after. After the fabulous dinner with sides that Clint had not eaten in so long – green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, a squash casserole of some kind, along with dressing and stuffing – he was halfway asleep in a turkey coma on the couch when Emma was standing over him, glaring down.

"Dishes lazy bones," she said.

"But Em, the game is on," he whined motioning to the television.

"The longer you whine, the longer it takes before you can watch and before that pie you wanted so bad earlier."

Clint grudging got to his feet and they headed to the kitchen. As they approached, they heard all sorts of racket coming from in there. It was as if there were several people cleaning the kitchen. But that wasn't possible. Aunt Peggy was sitting on the front porch with May, while Peter had been left in the kitchen to start cleaning while she had gone to get Clint. She motioned for Clint to stop as she slipped her shoes off and quietly approached the kitchen. As she looked around the corner, she saw Peter standing at the sink with every single dish, pot and pan that had been dirty was now sparkling clean.

He turned to look at Emma as she walked in the kitchen. "What can I say," he said shrugging his shoulders. "I'm a speedy cleaner."

He stuck his earbuds into his ears as he pulled out his cellphone and began to play music on it was he walked out the kitchen.

"Oh good! So I guess its time for pie!" Clint said walking into the kitchen and seeing Emma standing there dumbfounded.

"Did you not see that?" she asked him.

"See what baby?"

"This kitchen was a wreck five minutes ago. I leave Peter in here to get started to go and get you and when we return it is spotless. That is humanly impossible. It would have taken at least 30 minutes to an hour."

Clint shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know and I don't care. I'm just now in the mood for pie!"


BUZZ!

BUZZ!

BUZZ!

Clint slammed his hand down on the alarm clock. It was way too early to be up and who in their right mind uses an alarm clock on vacation?

Wait, Emma did.

Slowly, Clint opened his eyes and looked at the clock. Now way he was reading the clock right – 3:30 am in the morning? Why the hell had Emma set the alarm for 3:30 am in the morning? He turned over in bed to reach for her warm body, but she wasn't there.

"Emma?" he called out, still half asleep.

"Oh good! You're up! Hurry up and get dressed or we'll miss all the good sales!" she said walking back into the room and turning on the bedroom light. Clint squinted against the sudden bright light. He managed to tell that she was fully dressed and ready to go somewhere. But where?

"Sales?" he asked shading his eyes.

"Yeah," she said pulling her hair back into the neat ponytail. "Remember I told you last night while you were watching the other football game that I was going shopping for Black Friday and I asked if you wanted to go and you so 'yeah sure whatever'."

He groaned. "That was during a football game! You never ask me stuff during a football game or when I am practicing archery!"

She smiled. "Exactly. That is the best time to ask you stuff. Now get dressed. I need those hawkeyes of yours to spot good sales for me today!"

"Hahaha," he said as he got out of bed. "You owe me for this!"

"We'll see about that," she said stealing a kiss. "You might just like it."

"Doubtful, highly doubtful."

This was the craziest thing that Clint had ever experienced. Holiday shoppers were crazy and he knew that, but this was beyond crazy. Emma had dragged him to Bloomingdales first then Saks Fifth Avenue and lastly Macy's.

"So why is it that you go shopping on Black Friday?" he asked as Emma dug through the racks of sweaters at Macy's.

"Sales. I love sales. Plus I can usually get all my shopping for the holidays done at one time," she said as she held up a light purple sweater up to look at. She threw it over her shoulder and continued to look.

Clint simply shook his head in amazement. He just hoped that they could avoid the shoe department at all costs. Emma loved shoes.

As they were walking out of the store, something caught Clint's eye. The lingerie department. He smiled – now it was time for a little payback. "Come on," he said taking hold of her hand and dragging her towards the department. Emma was confused on where they were going.

He stopped in front of a black satin teddy with lace around the edges. He imagined Emma in that for a moment.

"So is this what you want for your Christmas present? Me in this?" she asked.

"It would be nice," he said with a smile. "So what size do you wear?"

Emma shook her head as she found the size that she wore and handed it to Clint as he went to pay for it. She would never really understand why men actually liked satin and lace. But if it made him happy, she'd wear it. Besides she did drag him shopping that morning with her.


Later that night, Clint sought more revenge on Emma and convinced her to go to a sports bar that night for dinner so he could watch several different football games at one time. She gave in because he had been so good while shopping that morning with her and that she had mad him carry so many bags of hers home as well – all without complaining.

"I will never understand why guys like football so much," she said as she nibbled on a fry as they watched a game together. She thought that it was Texas vs. Texas A&M.

"Because you get to hit other people for one!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And you don't get to do that enough in your line of work?"

"True – but this is a different kind of hitting."

Emma couldn't help but laugh. Like she had thought earlier, she would never understand guys and their obsession with football.

After a few hours of watching football, Emma had convinced Clint that they would be much more comfortable at home where she could slip into something a bit more comfortable. And when she had whispered the word 'comfortable' into his ear, Clint immediately get the hint – if they left now, she'd wear that satin and lace teddy he'd bought her that morning.

"You know there is something that I've always wanted to do," he said, making small talk with her on the way home.

"What's that?"

"Get a tattoo."

Emma snickered. "Really? A tattoo?"

"Yeah."

"You know if you did, you'd have to get it in a place that would be covered up most all the time. It's a S.H.E.I.L.D. regulation. In case you get caught in the field or something."

Clint thought about it for a moment before a smile crossed his face. "If I get one will you get one?" he asked.

"Size doesn't matter?"

"Nope, just as long as you get inked!"

"Why the hell not."

"Let's go," he said pulling her towards the street corner. "There's a place across the street."

They headed to the tattoo parlor across the street. Once inside, they had made a deal to each get their tattoos separately then show them to each other when they were done. Emma was helped by a female tattoo artist, while Clint was left with the male artist. About an hour later, Emma emerged from the room that she had been in and went into the room where Clint was still getting his tattoo done. But the sight she saw when she entered was one that she had not been expecting. Clint was laying on his stomach on a table with his pants halfway pulled down, while the burly tattoo artist was working on a tattoo on his ass. He had taken her words about keeping a tattoo covered literally.

"Hey baby," Clint said looking at her. "Whatcha get?"

"I got two small ones," she said as she lifted up her bare right foot and showed him an infinity symbol that was inked just below her big toe along with a small heartagram next to it. She put her foot down and walked over to look at what Clint was getting done. Looking at it upside down she couldn't quite figure the tattoo out, plus it wasn't quite done yet. "What is it supposed to be?" she asked the tattoo artist.

"A hawk's head with a arrow in its beak," he said.

Emma turned and looked at Clint. "Really?" she asked in shock. If she could have face-palmed without embarrassing herself and Clint, she would have.

"Goes with my nickname!"

"I love you, but you are silly," she said kissing his lips softly before sitting down and waiting for him to get his tattoo finished.

"At least you'll be able to know how I got it! Might come in handy in the future; you never know."

"That I will," she said laughing. "And it might."


After Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday season was in full swing and Emma was in the holiday spirit as well. She had decorated her apartment in one afternoon with a small Christmas tree, little knickknacks and even hung up stockings for her, Clint and Aunt Peggy in the apartment. He thought that it was silly, but she claimed tradition. The vast majority of the days were spent working in the bookshops, helping Aunt Peggy and her other workers keep up with the seasonal demand for gifts. They didn't spend every day in the shops helping, but then it did help the days pass.

The other thing that Clint noticed about Emma was, just how sneaky she was about going out and buying gifts. He had no idea how she managed to go out and buy him and Aunt Peggy presents for the holidays and then come home and wrap them; but she did. No wonder she was a spy. Yet he still had no idea what to get her. He didn't want to ask her what she wanted because that might seem insensitive and he was worried about not getting her the right thing. Maybe he'd ask Aunt Peggy.

"Emma isn't very materialistic, she never has been. So whatever you give her make sure that it is something that comes from your heart. Maybe something she'll use or wear every day," was the answer Peggy had given him when he had asked her what he should get Emma.

That really hadn't helped much. He was still stuck. When he was walking home that afternoon from the bookshop in midtown – Emma had said that she needed to finish Christmas shopping on her own – he passed by store and something caught his eye in the window.

It was perfect for Emma.

He had finally found her Christmas present.

"Can you not clean up after yourself?" Emma asked throwing a shirt in Clint's face as he walked into the bedroom one night. He had just gotten out of the shower. "It's not that hard to drop it in the hamper or throw it in the washer."

"Um, Em. I just took that off five minutes ago. I usually do, don't I?" he asked heading over to the dresser and pulling out a pair of pj pants and pulling them on. He dropped the towel on the floor.

"Clint!"

"What?" he asked looking at her.

"Your towel!"

"Jesus! Are you always this anal?" he asked bending over and picking up the towel off the floor. He dropped it on the pile of clothes and towels that Emma had in a laundry basket in her hands. She glared at him. "What baby?" he asked.

"You called me anal."

"What! You are being anal! You have been on a cleaning craze lately. What is going on?"

"And you're being a slob!"

Clint took the basket out of Emma's hands, set it on the floor and pulled her into his arms. "I don't know if it is the holidays that are making you crazy or what, but you do not act this way when we are on missions. I promise to keep my stuff picked up, even if I don't pick it up right away. But I will pick it up. And I even know how to do my own laundry too."

A smile crept across Emma's face. "Is that a smile I see?" Clint said tipping her face up towards him.

"Yeah."

"Good," he said, moving her towards the bed. "You've been running yourself ragged in getting ready to have your aunt over for Christmas dinner – which is in a few days. Now how about taking sometime to relax."

"That sounds good to me," Emma said running her fingers along Clint's bare chest before he picked her up and tossed her onto the bed then pounced on her. He covered her neck and body in kisses as she laughed.

"That's the sounds I like to hear," he said, kissing along her neck. "Now for some other sounds I love to hear even more."


"What's this?" Emma asked as Clint handed her a Christmas bag with red tissue paper sticking out of the top. She was sitting on the couch, flipping through a cookbook deciding on what pie to make.

It was Christmas Eve. The bookshops had closed early so that all the employees could have time to spend with their families to prepare for the holidays the next day or for extra time off if they didn't celebrate Christmas. Since Aunt Peggy had decided that she wanted to make Christmas dinner that year, Emma didn't have to spend the entire night cooking and preparing for the next day. Instead she just had to make a pie, like at Thanksgiving.

"I couldn't wait until tomorrow morning. I want you to open it now. Plus you are all about tradition. And it was a tradition in my family to open one present one Christmas Eve," Clint said sitting down next to her.

She smiled and stood up. She walked over to the Christmas tree and pulled a long package from behind it and brought it back over to Clint. "Then you have to open this one."

Clint took the package and studied it for a second while he waited for Emma to sit back down. "Ok you first," he said.

Emma picked up the bag and pulled out the tissue paper then peered into the bag. She gasped a little before reaching into the bag and pulling out a small teal box with a white ribbon around it – Tiffany's and Co. Slipping off the ribbon, she opening the box and gasped again. Inside were diamond stud earrings. "Clint these are too much!"

"No they aren't," he said kissing her cheek as he reached for the box. He took the earrings out and handed them too her. "Try them on."

Emma took off her silver loops that she had been wearing and put in the diamonds. She stood up and walked over to a mirror that was hanging up next to the front door and looked in it.

"They look absolutely beautiful on you," he said as she sat back down. She smiled and kissed him deeply on the lips.

"Thank you Clint," she said. "Now come on and open yours!"

He smiled as he began to unwrap what looked like a wrapping paper tube, but bigger. "It's inside of it," Emma said.

Clint shook the tube a bit and out of the bottom slipped out a tip of something. He reached down and began to ease whatever was inside of the tube out. What began to emerge was nothing he had ever imagined. Emma had gotten him an antique recurved bow. It was beautiful. There were hand painted white and red flowers along the front that were still gorgeous looking and the bow was still in overall good shape even though he could tell that parts of it had been refurbished.

"I think its Chinese or Tibetan from the 18th or 19th century. That's at least what the salesman told me. I knew that you had been looking at antique bows on the Internet and I saw this one at an antique store when I was shopping for Aunt Peggy. I just couldn't pass it up. It was too pretty."

"I don't know what to say," he said turning to look at her. "It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it," she said with a smile. "Just don't start collecting too many cause there isn't enough room in the apartment..."

Clint silenced her with a kiss. This was already turning into the best Christmas ever. "I love you," he whispered pulling back from her.

"And I love you too."


After packing up all the rest of the presents the next morning and loading them into a cab, Emma and Clint arrived bright and early at Aunt Peggy's. But Clint had no idea that another surprise was waiting for him there. As he and Emma walked up the steps to the front door, the door opened and out stepped Edith Barton.

"Mom! What are you doing here?" Clint said shocked as he dropped the bags of gifts on the steps. He hugged his mom tightly.

"Emma invited me. Thought that it would be a nice surprise," Edith said picking up one of the dropped bags after their hug. Clint turned back to look at Emma who was a few steps behind him. She had a smile on her face beneath her scarf. He stopped her for a kiss before taking both bags from her cold hands. "You keep on amazing me," he whispered as he kissed her a second time.

"Good," she replied before walking into the house.

Once everyone was settled, Emma got to work in the kitchen making sure that her aunt sat down and took a break, while Clint and his mom talked for a while.

"So is this the partner that you were talking nonstop about when you came home back in May?" Edith asked.

"Yeah, we've had our ups and downs. But I love her."

"That is a powerful word."

"Oh I know, mom. You just gotta get to know Emma better. She is the best." Clint said looking towards the kitchen. He could hear Emma and her aunt faintly talking. Emma was telling her about him giving her the earrings last night and her giving him his antique bow.

"I already think so if she makes my son so happy."

Clint turned back and smiled at his mom. "Now how exactly did you get here?"

"I got a phone call last week from your cell phone. But instead of you on the other end, it was this sweet voice. She introduced herself as Emma Carter, your girlfriend and asked if I would like to surprise you in New York City for the holidays as her treat. I was hesitant at first, but gave in because I missed spending the holidays with my sons."

Clint couldn't help but keep on smiling. This day was getting better and better. Why had he been so quick to judge the holiday season to begin with?

The rest of the day was spent cooking, eating, cleaning or opening gifts. Clint even offered to clean the kitchen without being asked. Emma swore it was because he just wanted to have a piece of pumpkin pie that she refused to serve until the kitchen was clean. But he denied it.

After exchanging gifts, Emma and Clint headed home – yet promised to be back early the next day to take Edith out to see a few sights in New York City before she left a few days later.

During the cab ride home, Emma cuddle close to Clint who kissed the top of her head. "Thank you for everything, Em. This by far has been the best Christmas ever."

"You deserved it."


The last week of their vacation flew by. Between spending time showing his mom around New York City and spending time with Emma, Clint had never been happier. Even though Edith Barton didn't spend a lot of time in NYC on her visit, she still was able to see a lot of sights. Clint made sure of it.

"Make sure you treat her right," Edith whispered to her son as she hugged him goodbye before she got in a cab to take her to the airport. "She's a keeper."

"Don't worry mom, I plan on it."

She kissed his cheek before moving to Emma and hugging her tightly and thanking her for everything. "Make srue you thank your aunt as well."

"I will," Emma said hugging her again. "I'm sorry that she couldn't be here, but she had to go to work today."

Edith said her goodbyes one more time before getting in to the taxi and heading to the airport. Clint and Emma stood by and watched her taxi mix in with all the rest in the streets of NYC.


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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Clint dipped Emma over and kissed her deeply in the middle of the large crowd in Times Square on New Year's Eve. He had always watched the ball drop on TV, but this was so much better. And it was so much better to have someone to actually kiss at midnight.

If he thought that the last year had been a good year, then this year was going to be so much better. He kissed Emma again and swept her up into his arms as he made his way through the crowd.

"Let's go home."


AN: Whew! The longest chapter so far! I hope ya'll enjoyed this little bit of Christmas in July! Now bits and pieces were inspired by other things. The entire tattoo on Clint's ass idea was from the New Avengers issue #28 when Spiderwoman tells Clint that she knows how he got that mark on his butt and he cuts her off. It was actually funny in the issue. So I ran with it.

Then the bow that Emma got Clint was based on an actual Tibetan bow I found on the Internet. A few other things, like Peter Parker, will eventually play a role in 'The Things They Carry'. So I made it so that they stories play off each other – if you haven't figured that out already….so leave me some loving please!

Ciao!