One thing I'd learnt about Riley very quickly was that if he didn't have to get out of bed he was very happy to sleep in for as long as possible. I envied his ability to sleep in past 0700. My body clock and bladder refused to let me sleep past that time unless I was really tired. He was a pretty heavy sleeper as well. I could get up, shower and dress and he wouldn't stir. I used that to my advantage a few mornings after I'd gotten back from the mission in Germany. Riley didn't have to be at work until the afternoon for because his team were doing a night shoot at the range.
It was 0515 and I snuck around the apartment quietly, dressed in my workout gear. I was already bursting from energy from having five days of doing nothing. Well, it wasn't really nothing. Riley had kept his promise about fucking on every available surface on the apartment when he wasn't at work. I wasn't sure he was going to do it. He was concerned about me being hurt and didn't want to jostle my bruised ribs. But it didn't take much convincing from me that I was more than up to it.
I'd nearly reached the door when I realised I'd forgotten my iPod. I hesitated, not wanting to risk my good luck of nearly making it out of the apartment unnoticed. Pulling a face at my forgetfulness I turned around and walked back through the lounge room. I was sure I'd left it on charge near the TV.
I was right. I did leave it next to the TV. It was sitting on the floor resting on the power board. As I straightened up a motion caught the corner of my eye.
"Are you sneaking off to work out?" Riley's voice made me whirl around back towards the bedroom.
I was so busted.
"Ummm, no?" I smiled sweetly. "I was going to get coffee."
Riley leant against the doorframe crossing his arms. He raised an eyebrow at my lame explanation. Dammit, of all the mornings he had to wake up early, it had to be this morning.
"I distinctly remember Agent Coulson saying that you had to take it easy for the next week," Riley said evenly. "And going for a jog isn't taking it easy."
"Neither is having sex four times a day," I shot back slowly inching my way backwards. "It's only a little jog."
"That will jostle your bruised ribs." Riley pushed himself off the doorframe. He was trying very hard to not smile. His lips kept quirking up. "Which will then take longer to heal up. Believe me, I know all about that."
"They feel great," I said. It was a half truth. As long as I didn't jostle them too much they felt fine. Riley was closing in on me as I kept moving just out of reach. "I won't be long."
"You aren't going for a jog." Riley let out a small laugh. "Come back to bed, a few more days off won't kill you."
"It might." I wasn't far from the door now. "You go back to bed, I'll join you when I'm done."
"I'm going to handcuff you to the bed so you can't leave," Riley threatened playfully. "Keep you there so I know you won't get into mischief while I'm at work."
"I would like to see you try," I challenged him with a grin. I glanced back to see how far I really was from the door. It was only about eight steps to my freedom. In my brief second of hesitation, Riley crossed the room. I shrieked with laughter and bolted trying to outrun him. I only made it six steps before Riley grabbed me around the waist, spinning me around. I was giggling like an idiot which only got louder as Riley threw me up and over his shoulder.
"No fair." I tried to wriggle free from him. I twisted my body around struggling to get from his iron grip.
"I did warn you." Riley gave me a light smack across the ass. "You can wear the consequences now."
I tried to get free from his grip enough to wrap my thighs around his neck. I'd seen Natasha do a move where she'd wrap her thighs around Clint's neck and pull him to the ground. If I could get my thighs around Riley's neck I'm pretty sure I could do the same thing.
Riley walked back to the bedroom and threw me down on the bed. It only made me giggle louder as he was on top of me, grabbing my arms and pinning me down. I wriggled underneath him seeing if I could get loose. He was like trying to move a mountain, solid and unyielding above me.
"You can't handcuff me." I craned my neck trying to sneak a kiss in. Riley moved just out of my reach, looking down with a playful smile.
"And why can't I handcuff you?" Riley dropped a brief kiss on my lips. I tried to wrap my legs around his waist, but his own legs kept me pinned effectively to the bed.
"You don't have any handcuffs."
Riley lent down and reached under the bed. His weight moving was enough to give me a small amount of leverage. I only managed to get one leg around him before he pinned me again.
"Tsk gotta be quicker than that," Riley laughed at me. In one swift movement, he had my left hand snapped in a cuff and the other to his bedhead. He'd done it so quickly it wasn't until I jerked on my free hand I actually realised it was attached to the bed. The cold metal bit into my wrist as I gave it another tug. I pouted realising I'd been bested.
"That's mean." I turned back to Riley with an even bigger pout. "Do I want to know why you have a pair of handcuffs under the bed?"
"They're for work." Riley sat up so he was straddling my waist. "And no you can't use yours on me when you get them."
"Where's the fun in that?" I grinned up at him. My free hand moved to rest on his thigh. If I couldn't wiggle free, then maybe I could just distract him with sex. Riley reached down and laced his fingers through mine, effectively stopping my hand from wandering.
"It's more fun if I have you handcuffed to the bed," Riley said, letting the innuendo hang in those few words. The smug look on his face made me laugh at him. He looked so damn proud of himself.
"I have girls night tonight, you can't keep me handcuffed here forever." I reminded him.
Dinner at Heebeen hadn't happened. Laura had been called into work and Natasha still had a headache so we postponed it. But tonight Clint had promised Cooper and Lila that he'd take them to see Madagascar 2. Coulson was tagging along for moral support. Or so he said. I was sure he just wanted to see it as well. So we planned a girls night instead. It'd just worked out perfectly since Riley was at work tonight.
"It is a pretty tempting offer to keep you handcuffed here." Riley's smirk grew even bigger. "And since you can't cook I don't even have to move you to the kitchen."
"Isn't the expression pregnant, barefoot and in the kitchen?" I joked. I tried to buck him off but his legs just closed around me tighter. He laughed at my feeble attempts to get him off.
"Maybe later." Riley ran his fingers down my side. I snorted and jerked away from his tickling fingers. "As much as I'd love to have kids, I love my job even more right now."
"Well, that's good because I haven't given any thought to the idea of having kids." I mentally smacked myself for what I'd just been joking around with. We'd just started dating, why would I bring something like that up? Even if I was just playing around it was a pretty serious topic. One we hadn't even touched on. I wasn't lying when I said I hadn't given it much thought about having children. I couldn't hold down a boyfriend so I never let myself wander down that track.
"There's plenty of time for that later." Riley didn't seem perturbed. He still had the playful grin on his face. "If I take the cuffs off do you promise not to run away on me?"
"I suppose," I sighed dramatically with a massive eye roll. "Does that mean you'll cook breakfast?"
I relaxed a little at his words. I'm glad he hadn't taken it like I was trying to pin him down already and commit to something that big. I could barely keep track of myself most days, let alone a smaller human depending on me for everything.
"I was thinking eggs benedict with smoked salmon and bagels." Riley leant over and started to fiddle with the handcuffs. The one attached to the bedhead opened first. I looked up again to see how he'd done it. I hadn't seen him reach for a key.
"They pressure lock," Riley explained as he opened the one on my wrist. "See, the little button here out of reach of your fingers."
He showed me the small indent in the middle of the handcuffs. It was invisible unless you really knew what you were looking for. It was out of reach of prying fingers and Riley had to put a bit of force into it to actually get it to pop open.
"That solves the problem of losing keys." I was impressed at the small piece of genius making them keyless. You wouldn't be able to pick the lock to get free either. "So can you teach me to get handcuffs on that quickly? I barely saw you move before I was locked to the bed."
"Am I going to regret this?" Riley lent back so he was straddling my waist again. His hands pushed under my shirt, dragging across my stomach lightly.
"No more than letting me play with your CheyTac," I smiled up at him at what I hoped would be convincing. "Please?"
"Of course I will." Riley smiled back. "You still owe me flying lessons when you get to shoot my CheyTac."
"I will sneak you in when I'm doing one of those boring shipment drops," I said gleefully. It was another thing I had to learn but I was happy Riley agreed to help me with it. I dreaded the thought of Natasha doing it. She'd no doubt have my hand and arm handcuffed together and then leave me there on the gym mats.
"Can we join the mile high club while we're at it?" Riley looked so hopeful it made me laugh.
"Aren't you meant to be the shy and well behaved one?"
"I'm only well behaved because I'm not stupid enough to get caught," Riley laughed with me. "Come on, breakfast and then I need to do something adult things. Like, do the laundry before the pile in the bathroom topples over and kills one of us."
I had to admit he was right. The pile of dirty laundry in the bathroom was getting a bit crazy. Even for my slack housework standards. It was the only real mess in the house. Thankfully we were both too preoccupied with each other to actually make a mess of anything. Neither of us were exactly messy people either. We both picked up after ourselves. We'd mostly been surviving on takeaway leaving the kitchen tidy.
"Would you like me to distract you while you try and be an adult for a few hours?" I asked wriggling my hips underneath him if he didn't already catch my meaning.
"Sure, if you're pinned underneath me I know you aren't getting into trouble."
There was no arguing with that logic. Besides, I think the workout clothes I had on were about the last things clean I had here at Riley's. I might just have to throw them in the wash while I was here.
"Honey I'm home," I called out as I walked through the front door of Clint's house. It was tradition to call that out. Natasha and Coulson both did it. I couldn't let the team down by not doing it.
A loud thump followed by the scuttling of nails on the floorboards, Lucky and Lucy both bounded out to me. A loud squeal had Lila right on their heels. I scooped her up and hugged her tightly while patting the two dogs.
"I missed you, Kari!" Lila wrapped her arms around my neck tightly "I've got ballet recital coming up soon. Are you coming?"
"Of course I am," I said straight away. Lila was Natasha's little ballerina prodigy. From what I heard she was nothing short of amazing for her age. She was going to be a prima ballerina if Natasha had her way.
"Are you coming to the movies tonight?" Lila was so articulate for her age. Some of my cousins at her age weren't nearly as well spoken as her.
"No, I'm staying here with Aunty Nat and your Mom." As the words came out Lila's face fell.
"But." Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "I want you to come."
"I'll be here you when get back," I promised. "I'll even tuck you into bed."
That seemed to mollify her. With another hug, she jumped down from me and scampered off again. Cooper was nowhere to be seen or heard. He was definitely the quieter of the two children.
"Laura?" I called out not sure where to go to from here.
"Lounge room," Laura's voice carried back. "You're late, get your skinny ass in here."
Feel the love coming through those words. I rolled my eyes and found Laura and Natasha on the couch in the lounge room with half a bottle of champagne already gone. I could smell something amazing coming from the kitchen. I hoped whatever it was, that was dinner tonight.
"Late," Natasha scolded me.
"Yeah, I got distracted," I said casually. It was probably very obvious on what I'd been distracted with, considering I had a brand new hickey on my neck. "Give me alcohol."
"One glass of French champagne for the crazy lady mark two." Laura poured a glass of bubbling liquid from the bottle. It was a rose and by the look of the bottle something that was expensive. I picked up one of the unopened bottles and looked at the label.
"Let me guess, Jared dropped it off?" I asked.
Dom Perignon Rose 2003 bottle. Not something you could easily pick up on the corner store in the US. Also insanely expensive. Taking the offered glass I sat down and took a sip. It tasted amazing, like a $500 bottle of champagne should. I tucked my feet up on the overstuffed lounge chair sighing in contentment. There wasn't a lot that could ruin today.
"He stole a few bottles at the last fancy function he was undercover for," Natasha explained seeing the look on my face. "We might be well paid but we're not that well paid."
"I'm glad someone saw him then." I felt a pang of guilt for not keeping in touch with him over this last two weeks. I hadn't heard from him since he told me was off to Europe for work. But he hadn't kept in touch either.
"He was here and gone within 30 seconds," Natasha said with a shrug. "Barely said hello. I asked him to get us something nice to drink."
"At least he's handy for something."
While I was in Iraq a group of Australian SAS soldiers had introduced us to Vegemite. No one else liked it but I got hooked on it pretty quickly. When I mentioned it to Jared, he'd teleport to a store in Australia to buy it for me when I ran out. I used it sparingly but it was very handy to be able to get it so easily. Plus it always gave me an excuse to see Jared, even if it was just for a minute. He never complained about it and always came to my call if the Vegemite ran out.
"So, why is there a handcuff mark on your wrist?" Natasha tone was innocent but the look on her face was a different story. "I didn't pick him for the bondage type."
Laura had just gone to take a sip of champagne as Natasha spoke. She inhaled a little bit and choked out with laughter.
"It wasn't like that!" I protested. My protest only made Natasha give her trademark smug smirk.
"Sure I believe you," Natasha drawled.
"No, I tried to sneak out for a jog this morning," I started to explain. By the roll of Laura's eyes, I could tell I was in for a lecture once I was done. "He caught me and made good of his threat to handcuff me to the bed to stay out of trouble."
"Fury picked well putting you with these two" Laura scolded me straight away. "You know Doctor's give orders for your own well being. It isn't a challenge to see how quickly you can break them."
The lecture was well deserved. Laura was also having a problem keeping a straight face throughout it. Natasha was hiding her own laughter by downing another glass of champagne like it was a vodka shot. I swigged at mine with no class that the fine vintage deserved. Jared really knew how to pick something good.
"I had too much energy." My excuse was very weak. "I needed to work it off."
"Then have more sex," Natasha quipped quickly reaching over for an unopened bottle. Laura stopped her with a slap on the wrist. I admired her courage. I wouldn't be game to smack Natasha, even if it was just jokingly.
"Finish the last bottle and no drinking from it," Laura admonished her. "Honestly you'd think you weren't house trained."
"I have tried," Clint's voice came from the doorway. A second later he walked in with both the dogs trailing at his heels. "At least she doesn't clean her guns on the table anymore. Or drink from the soda bottle in the fridge."
I had a sudden mental image of Natasha and I sitting at the kitchen table. Her cleaning the Glock's she was fond of and me having the AWSM sniper riffle sitting in pieces, chatting over a bottle of vodka. It was gone just as quickly as it popped into my head. But I still couldn't stop the strangled snort of laughter at it. Three heads turned to look at me like I'd just lost my mind.
"Don't mind me," I took another sip of champagne. "I just had this mental image of me and Nat cleaning our guns on the table."
"Add Clint fucking with his bow and you're all one happy little family," Laura teased. Both Clint and Natasha rolled their eyes at the exact same time. I hid my grin behind my own glass.
"Dinner is on the stove for whenever you want it." Clint steered the conversation away from his bad habits. "Coulson just called and he'll be here in 2 minutes."
"Then I suggest you go make sure your son is actually dressed and not upstairs reading." Laura quirked an eyebrow at her husband. "Or pulling something apart and putting it back together again. You also better check that Lila hasn't decided to go play in the mud outside."
The weather this week hadn't been nice at all. Autumn had really set in and graced DC with constant drizzling rain and well below average temperatures. It'd made staying indoors all the more bearable while I was on ordered rest for the week. I'd bundled up in a few layers of clothes just to ride over here. It was ironic me not being a fan of the cold. I'd often complained about it when I was younger that my power should be able to shield me from it. A least a little bit. But no such luck.
"Going," Clint said. He walked over and pressed a brief kiss on Laura's lips. "Behave."
"Bring home ice cream," Laura said. The command in her voice left no room for questions. "You ate my cookie dough ice cream and now I want it after dinner."
"Yes, Boss." Clint smiled playfully before a thoughtful look crossed his face. "You sure you should be drinking that wine?"
"Champagne, and yes you idiot I know how my body works," Laura laughed as she gave him a shove. "Go, have fun at the movies with the kids."
I watched the pair interact with surprise. Even as oblivious as I could be even I couldn't miss the meaning behind those words. Flicking my gaze over to Natasha who was sitting next to Laura on the large sofa, she didn't look surprised. If anything she watched the pair of them intently with a smile on her face. It wasn't until Clint left the room Natasha turned to Laura.
"Third one is mine."
"We aren't having a third one." Laura rolled her eyes taking a long swallow of champagne. "No matter how much both of you harass me about it. Two is more than enough."
Natasha turned to look at me with a hopeful expression.
"Oh, hell fucking no." I shook my head rapidly. "I'm not having a kid for your amusement. Besides we've only just started dating."
"But you're both so smitten." Natasha pouted in an over exaggerated manner. "I bet he'll drop the L word soon. You'll get married, have babies and all that shit."
"Honestly, I'm just happy with the sex four times a day," I said without thinking. I clapped my hand over my mouth realising my slip, muting my girlishly giggle that escaped as well. The words were already out. I wasn't spared the laughter from Natasha or Laura.
"Ugh god it's another Clint," Laura laughed as they both calmed down. "Must be something they feed you STRIKE people. All muscles and insanely high sex drives."
"I'm working on the muscle department." I felt a rush of warmth as the flood of alcohol flooded through my body. That was quick. Only a glass in and I was already feeling the buzz. "I'd like to know where you find time between your job, two kids and our work to even fit that in."
"You'd be amazed at how creative you can get," Laura said dryly. "The kids have a very good Aunt who is quite happy to allow us a dirty weekend away every so often."
Natasha smiled over her glass of champagne. It was a very smug and all knowing smile. Her eyes flicked to mine and I had no doubt I was already being roped into the next time Clint and Laura wanted a weekend away. I could see it being a disaster, but a very fun disaster. Ice cream for breakfast. Disney movies all day long. Living off takeaway all weekend long. It sounded like a lot of fun the more I planned it out in my head. I wondered how Clint felt about taking his kids to the range and teaching them to shoot. Or if Jared was around we could whisk them off to New York. If Cooper really liked pulling things apart and putting them back together I'd imagine he and my Dad would get on famously.
"Right I'm getting food." Natasha suddenly jerked to her feet. "That stir fry smells way too good."
At the mention of food, my stomach agreed with Natasha. I remembered her telling me ages ago about Clint's stir fry. I was now about to find out first hand.
"I'll help." I got to my feet as well.
"Sit," Laura commanded. "Actually, let me have a quick look at your ribs. I need to make sure you aren't overexerting yourself."
The suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows was enough to make me laugh quietly. I hiked my shirt up and turned the offending bruised side towards Laura. The bruises had faded to a mottled green and yellow colour now instead of the angry shade of purple they had been. No wonder it'd hurt like hell at the time.
"Ouch." Laura's face was full of sympathy. "That wouldn't have tickled. It looks where it should be for a few days after though."
"We're going," Clint came back into the doorway of the lounge room before I could reply. Cooper squeezed through the side between his Father and made a dash for me. I quickly dropped my shirt and didn't wince when he barrelled into me. I returned the hug messing up his hair as well.
"Hey, dude." I greeted him. That little piece of information about him liking to tinker gave me all sorts of ideas. I think Cooper had a birthday coming up very soon. Clint did mention something about a kids party and wanting to have both Natasha and me there as a buffer. Under that quiet exterior, I didn't doubt Clint's eldest was as smart as they come. Just like his Dad. They both hid it extremely well.
"Come on we'll be late," Coulson's voice came down the hallway.
It was only at the sound of his voice Lucy and Lucky actually ran down the hallway barking at him. Cooper followed the dogs. Lila wasn't far behind him. Thankfully still clean and not covered in mud.
"Worst guard dogs ever," Clint scolded the dogs. "Sure, let the person in first before you bark at them. Oh, even better, lick his hand."
"You do bring the strays in," Laura said. "Can't expect them all to behave."
She took another sip of champagne looking directly at Natasha and me.
"I behave," I quickly defended myself. "I've gone five days without breaking any rules. That has to be some sort of record for STRIKE Team Delta."
"I went two weeks once," Natasha said with a wrinkle of her nose."That's the record."
"You were unconscious for two weeks," Laura argued back ."You didn't have a choice. That's what happens when you decide to throw yourselves off a building and bounce off the scaffolding with your head."
"I don't remember," Natasha pointed out. "For obvious reasons."
"I need to know this now." I settled back down against the couch.
"Bye!" there was a chorus from the group leaving. We barely acknowledged them leaving before Natasha filled her glass again.
"Well, Barton had this fantastic idea of getting up a half finished building in Abidjan," Natasha started.
I didn't even know where Abidjan was. Natasha had my full attention and by the look of rapt attention on Laura's face, I knew it was going to be a good story.
Authors Note
This is a small filer chapter, hence how short it is. I hope you all thought it was as cute as I did while I wrote it.
I LOVE the fact everyone is thinking about what's going to happen in Captain America. I honestly hope you're all going to be quite shocked with what I've got planned. It is a long way away still with a lot of backstory to establish. Kari's family will be delved into a lot more detail as we go along. Plus there is a lot to happen with Riley.
On another small note. I had a quick look at my story stats before I went to post this and noticed something a bit funny. The smutty chapter with Kari and Riley have the most views and visitors out of everything else on the story. You pervs, I love you all!
Life is getting more and more settled again. I'm planning on keeping a regular schedule again and getting a chapter a week out.
Until next time my lovelies.
Updated and edited 4th of November 2018
