Thank you again to all of you who are reading along and commenting. I'd love to know what you think of how this is going so far; the story plotline starts to get a bit crazy in the next few chapters. I will be posting another SteveTasha interlude in a couple of hours so stay tuned!

Chapter Twelve – Not Now!

He kissed even better than Jen remembered. He tasted of coffee and spices and something uniquely male, and he was ravaging her mouth as though he was starving to death and she was a feast laid before him.

Jen whimpered in her throat and clutched at his arms, those thick biceps criminally covered up by the leather jacket he was wearing. He almost growled as her fingertips dug in and his mouth left hers and trailed down her throat.

"Hey dude, get a room!" the voice of some passing kid on a bike startled Clint, and he suddenly realised where they were. Reluctantly he lifted his head, though he kept Jen close to him, and looked down at her. Her eyes were closed, her lips swollen and red from his attentions. Her eyelids fluttered up and she gazed up at him with a look of such passion that he nearly dragged her off into the trees then and there.

"Not here," Clint husked out instead, quite unable to get a deep breath and speak normally, and Jen nodded.

"My building – it's not far," she croaked, and he nodded, moved to her side and they started walking, though he kept one massive arm around her, his hand warm at the small of her back.

They walked swiftly though the park, crossed the street and headed for Jen's building. She could no longer think about anything but getting somewhere private so she could start ripping Clint's clothes off, find out what he really looked like beneath, put her hands and her mouth over all those delicious muscles.

"Not far – a couple of blocks that way," she pointed out her building as Clint suddenly slowed his stride.

"Fuck it," he muttered, his eyes trained ahead of them. Jen looked in that direction and there, getting out of a black car parked illegally outside her building, was a stunning redhead with a stern look on her face. Jen recognised her.

"Oh," she said in a very small voice, suddenly feeling cold. "I – I really don't want to get in the middle of a lovers' tiff between you two…"

"She's not my lover," Clint said sharply, and drawing Jen along with him, went over to Natasha. "What are you doing here?" he asked abruptly.

"Sorry, Clint. But I'm here to collect you. You left your phone behind in the Tower," she held out a transparent Starkphone.

"Not mine," he dismissed it with a glance.

"It is now. It's a JARVIS link. We all have them. Clint, we're needed. Hi," Natasha took in the tiny woman clasped close to his side. "You must be Genevieve. I'm Natasha."

"Jen," she very shyly reached out and shook the offered hand.

"Nice to meet you. Clint?" Natasha shot him a sympathetic, but determined look.

"Not now!" he almost growled, and Natasha could only say;

"I'm sorry."

"For fuck's sake!" his whole body was tense, Jen realised, and she turned towards him and pressed her fingers lightly against his clenched jaw to make him look at her.

"Hawk, if you have to go then you have to go. When you get back – well, you can come find me."

Those amazing gold-flecked blue-green eyes searched hers briefly, and then he nodded and let her go. The loss of his warmth left her bereft for a moment, but she made herself smile at him as he got into the car with Natasha.

"Why are you in a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle?" Clint growled at Natasha as she pulled out from the kerb.

"I stole it," she shrugged nonchalantly. "I needed to come pick you up and Stark hasn't sorted out my wheels yet."

Clint sighed. "So what's so fucking urgent?"

"You know I wouldn't have dragged you away without good cause," Natasha said in a slightly hurt tone. "Thor is taking Loki back to Asgard for his judgement. Fury asked us to be witnesses, and I thought you would like to see that he's really gone."

"All right," he muttered a bit ungraciously. He winced as Natasha casually ran a red light. "But I wish I'd insisted on driving!"

She shot him a glance. "You can return the car for me. Drop me off at the Tower first."

"And then where are you going?"

Natasha smiled. And then, perhaps because they knew each other better than anyone, she told him. "Steve and I are going out. I'm going to take him sightseeing."

Clint was glad at that moment he wasn't driving because he would have crashed the car in shock. "Tasha, you hate touristy shit with lots of people even more than I do!"

She smiled wider, and he settled back into his seat shaking his head. "Wonders will never cease. You really like him." The sun was shining in his eyes. He fished in his jacket pocket for his aviator shades and put them on.

They didn't go all that far, along 57th to Madison, then up and back west on 72nd to Terrace Drive through Central Park. They stopped at Bethesda Terrace and Clint saw Stark and Banner getting out of a flashy convertible. Rodgers was there already, leaning on the terrace wall looking at the fountain. He smiled at Natasha as they got out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. car.

Thor came striding over, half-dragging Loki, who had a muzzle over the lower half of his face. Loki looked at Clint, and for a moment he flinched, remembering that cold voice whispering inside his mind.

"Hey," Natasha said softly in his ear, "never mind him. Remember Jen will be waiting for you."

Clint smiled. Since the moment he had kissed Jen, the thought of having her in his arms, of losing himself in her soft, welcoming body, had never been far from his mind. Thinking of her drove even memories of Loki's possession of his mind far, far away.

A/N Soundtrack for this chapter:

Everytime We Touch: Cascada

Black Fingernails, Red Wine: Eskimo Joe

Acoustic #3: Goo Goo Dolls

Sunsets: Powderfinger