Author's Note: Okay so the story has taken a different turn than I originally wanted, so I apologize if it gets a bit wonky for a few chapters from this point on. Originally it was to end at chapter 24 and go into something different, but I decided that the original plan was not going to work at all and went with something different. I'm actually enjoying the new turn more now, so I hope y'all enjoy it.

Anyway, here's chapter 21.

Chapter Twenty-One

A week passed since the first lesson, and Remy begrudgingly continued working with Sally. She managed to only throw up twice during the whole week, though she did burst into tears when she would go back to the apartment. Coulson had been gone, so she was free to cry in peace whenever she wanted. Clint had been staying at his apartment, due to feeding the cats again, so she was alone with her thoughts for most of the time.

So when she let herself into the apartment the following Monday evening, she immediately burst into tears. Clint had been with them at the firing range again, and he was getting back into the swing of things. He had said during lunch that he planned to talk to Fury about letting him go back into the field, since he was getting better at firing the guns with both hands now. Remy felt her heart break, but she nodded all the same, plastering a fake smile on her face and teasing him about it.

"What happened?"

She screamed in surprise, jumping around to see a concerned Coulson standing there. He was in a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, looking like he just woke up from a nap. Remy tried to dry her eyes quickly, not wanting to let him know she had been crying. She didn't want him to worry, but Coulson knew something was wrong. After 12 years of living with her, he was able to pick up when she was lying like that.

"Remy, what's wrong?" He tried again. She shook her head, the tears now flooding her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak. Instead a sob came out and she dropped to her knees, covering her face. With a sigh, Coulson walked over to her and pulled her to her feet, leading her over to the couch and sitting down with her. "I can't help unless you tell me what's wrong, you know."

It took her a few minutes before she could speak. She wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve, sniffling loudly. "I fired a gun today. And this time I hit the target between the eyes."

Coulson sighed. "Is that it?"

"No." She sniffed. "Clint plans to talk to Fury about getting back into the field. He wants to get back to his real work." Her breathing hitched. "I knew this wasn't a permanent thing, and that I had to expect that eventually he would leave, but I don't want it to happen."

"Well, you knew what to expect when you got into this, Remy." Coulson told her, putting his hand on her back comfortingly. "I'm not much of a fan of this office romance business, and you knew the risks going in, as did Barton." She nodded. "Just remember he's not abandoning you. And he will come back to you when he can."

"I know! But... but it's hard. It's really hard." She cried, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. "Even now, he's over at his apartment feeding his neighbor's cats, and I'm here, and it's just hard being away from him. We're not even twenty-five minutes away from each other, and it hurts to be here without him." She sniffled. "We haven't even been dating that long, you know, like what, six weeks?"

"But you two have known each other for a few years." Coulson reminded her as he handed her a tissue. She took it and blew her nose. "You both started out as friends before taking the next step, and since you two started dating, he has been a little more pleasant."

Remy smiled a bit. "Oh, come on, you aren't stuck in the office with him. He's never pleasant." She replied teasingly, grabbing a new tissue to dry her eyes. She let out a shaky breath. "I just... want him with me always. But that's really selfish of me, and I really need to work on that. I can't just think of myself now, especially working with the agency."

"That is true." Coulson said with a nod.

"I gotta take this all in stride, right?" She said. "I mean, he could be reassigned somewhere else tomorrow, or not for another month. I shouldn't worry about things that are out of my control, right?"

Coulson shrugged. "You gotta do what you gotta do. I think if you're this upset, you should talk to him and let him know what's going on." He said as he got up to head to the kitchen. "I'm going to make some spaghetti for dinner. Do you want some, or do you have plans?"

Remy slumped back into the couch and sighed. "I don't have any plans. Can I spend the night crying the entire time at you? I bet there's more things I can cry over." She faked a sob. "My mother never hugged me enough as a child!"

"You told me it was because you didn't want her hugging you." Coulson retorted. "You said it was like hugging a skeleton." He rummaged through the cupboards. "You actually never wanted your family hugging you."

Remy got up and headed to the kitchen to help him out. "That's because they were all evil and I didn't want to somehow absorb their evil." She replied as she filled a pot with water for the noodles. "And did you know that I only had one peanut butter and jelly sandwich when I was growing up in that hell? ONE! That's just unheard of."

"Now you're being dramatic." He teased. "I see you eat them all the time."

"That's because I'm an adult who can make adult decisions." Remy retorted as she waited for the water to boil.

"Says the woman with stuffed animals all over her bed."

"From the man with the Captain America crush."

They stared at each other, both having a silent agreement that they were indeed both adults in their own way. The water began to boil and Remy dumped the box of noodles into it, poking at it with a wooden spoon. Coulson stood next to her as he began to work on the sauce. He always enjoyed having these nights alone with her, because he often reflected back to when she first came under his care. It had shocked him that despite how independent her personality was, she was very much dependent when it came to other things.

One of the biggest shocks was that she didn't know how to operate a microwave. It wasn't as though her house didn't have one, but it was the fact that she spent most of her life in a boarding school of some kind that she never learned to use one. When she was at home, her parents told her to have the cooks prepare things for her, but that was difficult, because the cooks were under a strict order from Remy's mother not to let the girl snack or eat anything that could possibly be considered unhealthy. It was actually quite dangerous, because her mother had it in her head that Remy needed to be kept at a certain weight for her entire life, as well as be in shape, just to land the perfect husband.

When she came to live with Coulson, he managed to convince her to go to the doctor to get checked over, because even he knew it was unhealthy for someone to be as bony as she was. With help from the physician and a few SHIELD agents who loved to cook, Coulson managed to help Remy get back to a healthy weight. It took a lot of time and patience, because she had a fear of asking him for food. It was like dealing with a toddler sometimes, asking if she was hungry and what she wanted to eat. It took nearly a year to get her over that issue, and once she realized she was allowed to eat whenever, she put on a little more weight.

Coulson sighed as he began to make the sauce, glancing over at her again. She had improved a lot over the years, even if he wasn't around as much as he should have been when she needed him. Granted, she still had some issues to deal with, but he was pleased that she wasn't completely screwed up having been under his care. He was grateful for the support he had from some of the agents. Melinda May had stepped in several times to help Remy when he was gone, even if it was to just pick her up from school and make sure she ate dinner. It took the teenager a while to warm up to the other agent, but when she finally did, Melinda May was her hero.

Possibly because she was one the only other person besides Coulson to encourage her with school and her interests. The agent had actually gotten Remy interested in data entry work at SHIELD after spending an afternoon with her. Granted, that was the same afternoon Remy memorized her card number to order her flowers, but it had been eye opening for the teenager.

And now as Coulson watched her stir the pasta rapidly in the pan, he felt proud of what she had accomplished. With a sigh, he put his arm around her and gave her a sideways hug.

"What are you doing?"

"Having a moment."

"Ugh, Phiiiiil."

"Shh, let me have my moment."

Remy rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything else.

Remy let herself into an empty office that Tuesday morning. There was a sinking feeling in her gut when Clint wasn't there to greet her. She tried to shake the feeling of dread off as she unlocked the door, letting herself in. He was probably on his way in right now, and that he would be there any second with coffee and a snack. It would give her a few minutes to herself, which she needed anyways.

She set her things down and went over to her desk, only to pause when she saw the computer screen. Last night it was turned off when she left, and no one had keys to this office except Fury and herself. Not even Clint could go in there without her, so why was the computer screen on? Not to mention the schematics for Phase Two were up on her screen. She didn't access those at all last night, or ever, when she really thought about it; not to mention she had put them out of her mind since looking at the printed files.

Something didn't feel right. Who would have accessed her office like this? Remy glanced around cautiously, almost expecting someone to jump out from behind something. Except the only other object in the office was a potted plant, and no one could fit behind there. With a sigh, she tried to exit the files on the screen. Except, for whatever reason, her computer was frozen. That was weird as well.

Grumbling, Remy hit the three magical keys: CTRL+ALT+DELETE. That would work to reboot the computer. As the screen went black, Remy picked up her phone, dialing Fury's number. She needed to speak to him about this.

He picked up on the first ring. "What is it, Agent Black?"

"Sir, I'm sorry to call this early, but did you go into my office today?" She asked, watching her computer. The screen was still black. That wasn't completely normal.

"No. And no one but you and I have access into there." Fury reminded her. "What happened?"

"I came into my office just now and... the files for Phase Two were up on the screen." She told him. The screen flashed to green, the words 'CORRUPTED DATABASE' flashed on the screen. That could not be good. The next set of words that came up made her heart stop: DELETING DATABASE. "Oh, shit. SHIT."

"Agent Black!"

"Sir, you need to come to my office now because something is wrong. I might have just fucked SHIELD over."

Fury swore and then there was a dial tone. Remy didn't know what to do, staring at her computer with wide eyes. She could not have just destroyed the files on the server. There had to be a back up somewhere if that was the case. There was a protocol for this sort of thing, but she couldn't remember it.

She looked up when both Fury and Clint entered the office. Fury made his way over to the desk, looking at the screen as the last of the files claimed to be deleted. Clint frowned as he took a seat at his desk, wondering what was going on. Remy stayed quiet, watching as the director tried typing different combinations of keys. Nothing seemed to work. The computer screen said 'Database Cleared', whatever the hell that meant.

"Oh my god. I killed it." Remy groaned. "I'm going to die, aren't I? Can I request my execution style?"

"Come to my office, Agent Black." Fury ordered as he walked away from her desk. "You too, Agent Barton."

Remy looked fearfully at Clint. Because if the Director wanted to talk to him as well, that meant a possible reassignment. And for some reason, Remy thought that was a worse thing to happen then her deleting the Phase Two files off of the computer.

Closing Note:

I enjoyed writing the Coulson part. And really, Remy's more concerned about Clint having to go away than maybe fucking everything else over. She has her priorities straight.