The next day was all about the getting answers. We didn't know what we would find, or what we would do with it after, but we were going to get something- and that something was a hell of a lot more than we had then.

Of course there was still the party that we had to get through, and with Clint in a tux that was a harder mission than I had originally thought. As I changed in the large bathroom into the dress that Phil had picked out for me last night I could hear Clint complaining from the next room. It took all my training not to burst out laughing.

"Clint," Phil sighed exasperated, "get off the computer."

"No." He retorted; the sound of fingers hitting keys furiously made it through the door. "Not until I find the bastard who did this."

I can still imagine the face palm that Phil must have been doing in that moment. "Clint, you can't kill the person who created the tuxedo. I'm pretty sure whoever they are, they're dead."

"Then I'll go after him family." Clint growled. "Someone needs to pay."

"Don't you think you're being slightly over dramatic about this?"

There was a moment of silence as the typing stopped before a defiant, "no." The typing resumed and I could hear Phil smacking Clint on the head before a small struggle, which I believe was the result of Phil taking the laptop away from Clint. "Traitor." Clint muttered.

"Child." Phil said in the same tone.

I swear, how they got through the three years before I came around without killing each other is a miracle.

"Idiots." I probably muttered, before leaving the bathroom. "I can't leave you two alone for three minutes."

They froze when I entered the room, the laptop in the middle of them as Clint had been fighting to get it back. I grabbed it from both of them and went to the small safe we were given, put it in, and changed the code. It wouldn't keep either of them out of it, but I was hoping that it would just be seen as too much trouble. When I turned back to them I saw that Clint was staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," his tone went from childish to serious in a matter of seconds. "Nothing, just you look good." He motioned to the long black dress, with a slit up the leg- which would make running in the form fitting dress much easier. A small smile formed on his face, that thankfully went unnoticed by Phil.

It's not technically against the rules for agents to be in relationships with each other. I've been told of a few romances that started on missions, and the people still work for S.H.I.E.L.D. and all, but their partnership had been eliminated. I would never give up our partnership for anything, Clint and I are a team, so if that means we keep it a secret from Phil then so be it.

So I acted as normal as possible. "You can thank Phil for that." I gave Clint a look that told him more than I said, Clint and I are very good at speaking without words, it's necessary for our line of work.

Phil cleared his throat and checked his watch. Did he sense something different between Clint and I? I've been rethinking every moment around Phil ever since that night doing recon in the freezing rain trying to determine if he knows something, anything, about us. So far I'm indecisive about it, and it's not like I can ask him if he knows that Clint and I are more now than we were before Budapest. I might be paranoid, but I've learned to trust paranoia.

"We better get going." Phil grabbed his gun and hid it in his waistband. "Unless you'd rather go after the family of a person who has been dead for a decent amount of time than the person who is trying to kill both of you."

Clint grabbed a handgun as well, checked the sighting on it before hiding it in his waistband as well.

Mine was smaller than I normally carried, and hidden in the small handbag I was carrying. Knives were in many different holsters hidden all over my body, formal clothes always make things difficult.

But that didn't matter to me at the time, because we were finally on our way to getting answers.

We snuck in through a hole in the halls security, we also made sure to leave a bag of equipment hidden in a trash bin near the exit just in case we needed it later, but other than that we made our way to the main hall easily.

People were walking around chatting and admiring the art on display, some danced to the music the small ensemble was making. Anyone in there could have been S.H.I.E.L.D. meaning anyone in there could be trying to kill us, or arrest us depending on what side of things they were on.

Clint whispered something to Phil, who walked off immediately, then came to my side and offered me his hand. "Care to dance?" He asked in an overly snooty accent. He even bowed slightly as he asked.

"I would love to." I grabbed his hand and he led me to the dance floor were we started to waltz. Waltzing was a spies best friend when it came to gatherings like this, were enemies were everywhere and doing their damndest to fit in. It gives you an excuse to move through the entirety of the space and look at the room from every angle, all while your partner does the same.

But when we got the dance floor and began the usual routine it was clear that something, like everything between us for the last week, had changed. It's so strange how something that had been so comfortable once was now foreign to me, replaced with something newer, bolder. When we were dancing it wasn't like it had been, no, our moves were smoother, our actions became one like they never had before. It was like we had morphed into one person. That prospect terrified me.

"What are we going to do Clint?" I asked as we spun around the dance floor, by then I had already spotted three agents- with everyone I tapped my finger on Clint's shoulder. Four taps on my waist told me that there were at least seven in the immediate area.

"I'm not going to forget what happened last night, Nat, you can't ask me to move on like it never happened. I refuse to go backwards from where we are now." Clint's voice was a whisper in my ear but filled with passion.

"I'm not asking you too Clint. I don't want to go backwards either, but at the same time we're compromised Clint. We compromise each other, and what if the next bad guy we go after finds us out?"

"They won't." Two taps on my waist. "We won't let them. And as for compromising each other- I don't see any issue in it. I've been compromised by you for a long time Tasha, longer than you, or I know. I just don't think I could trust any other agent enough to watch your back to do anything about it."

I nodded. Clint is a wild card, there is no way to know what crazy scheme he has planned, I don't trust any other agent to be able to handle that. Then again I didn't do a very good job at protecting him either, but at that time I thought only I was capable of keeping him safe. But that's the thing about playing cards, for every wild card we play there's a chance that they could throw one straight back at us.

Anyways, back to the story. We kept dancing until we had a dozen agents found, before meeting up with Phil who had found a few on his own.

"Is the distraction in place?" I asked when we all regrouped.

"It's in place." I smirked, out of all of our distractions this one was by far the best. "I still don't know how you guys set this up?"

Clint shrugged keeping an eye on his watch. "The right amount of money can get you anything. Any second now."

We all watched the front door, and when we heard the shout of guards we knew it was was one of those things that you don't ever forget, and can't explain to those who didn't see it. It's one of those crazy, wild, impossible, things that you catch yourself laughing about at random times when it pops into your mind.

Because low and behold a man ran inside wearing nothing but his boxers and a horse head mask. He jumped past guards and into the banquet hall. There was a bottle of what I assume was some sort of liquor in his hand.

It's a very long story on how we got that to happen.

It was also very effective in drawing everyone's attention to the front as the party crasher was tackled down by a few guards. Without any attention to us we slipped out of the hall and into what seemed like a maze of corridors. The floor plans for this building had been hard to find, but that didn't stop us, soon enough we figured out were we were and on our way to our prize.

After a few minutes of navigating we found the large metal vault that held the information we needed. Seeing such a secure vault was something that would deter most thieves, but these were S.H.I.E.L.D. standard issue vaults. I have tested every one of them to find out if they have any weakness and reported that information back to S.H.I.E.L.D., well almost all of it. For occasions such as this I made sure that there was one way in that was only accessible to me. A spy always has a back up plan.

So as I got to work opening the vault Clint and Phil kept watch- making sure that we didn't get any unexpected visitors. It didn't take long for me to have our way into the vault opened.

And that's when everything went to hell.

(A/N) We are drawing very close to an end, but don't fret there will be a sequel.