"So this morning we're going to be running through cold bore shots," Riley said as we all huddled under the covered area in the brisk pre-dawn light. "This is about as real as it gets in the real world. You don't have the luxury of waiting for the rifle to warm up. Its one shot or you're dead. Marking to pass starts now and this is one pretty big chunk of your marks to pass. Kill zone gets a 10, if you're within the human body you get an 8, miss the silhouette but still hit the target is a 7. And if you don't hit anything you're on a zero."

A lot of people were grumbling around me. But I ignored it. This wasn't going raise my stress levels at all. I was more than comfortable at doing a 400 yard shot with a cold rifle. Even if I didn't really like the M24. I could still manage this in my sleep. I smugly informed Riley last night of it too that I expected to pass with no less than 95 out of 100 for this course. The evil twinkle in his eye made me realise that bragging probably wasn't the best thing to do.

"You've got," Riley paused to look at his watch. "30 minutes to finish your coffee and do whatever you need to do before we step onto the range. We'll do it in groups of 4. Go get yourselves ready. Kari you can come here before you disappear."

The group dispersed quickly. Riley and I were left alone, no one else within earshot. It's amazing how quickly people disappeared when their coffee time was threatened.

"I know I'm not allowed to play favourites," Riley looked a little smug and sheepish at the same time. "But I got this from the armoury for you."

Riley took a step to the side. Behind his legs, hidden in the grey morning light was a weapons case. I could just make out the silver stars and my name I'd drawn all over it one day while I was bored. It was my AWSM.

"I could kiss you right now," I grinned in excitement. "These next few days are going to go so slow."

It was Wednesday morning. We wouldn't be heading back to the Triskelion until Friday afternoon now. It was nearly 3 days of not being able to touch Riley. But having him right there all the time. It was going to be torture. With the long days we'd already done this week, Riley and I had both been too tired to do anything more than fall asleep as soon as we got home. Well, I was always in bed first. Riley would follow me not long afterwards. I don't know what was wrong with me at the moment. I seemed to be needing a lot more sleep than normal. SHIELD had provided us with 4 man tents to camp out in for the next few days. So there wasn't going to be any privacy to even sneak in together. It still left me with the question of who I was going to bunk in with. The other 4 female agents would all be together. It would leave me in a mixed tent. Something I was still having problems wrapping my head around. For an organisation that has strict relationship rules, it certainly didn't care about what its agents actually did together. We could all be out here having a gang bang and SHIELD didn't seem to care. But don't actually let 2 agents work too closely together if there's feelings beyond friendship.

"Maybe we can sneak out behind the targets," Riley gave me a mischievous grin. "There's plenty of trees to hide behind. The shower could be fun too. We'll just say that I'm helping you with your invisibility."

Ok, maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Riley obviously wasn't going to stick with our being professional rule while we were out here. But the promise of sneaking off for some alone time made me very happy.

"Is that my incentive to behave?" I smirked a little. Riley wasn't exactly impressed at my little stunt of shooting Kiley's target. But he let it go pretty quickly when I said it'd been Clint daring me to do it. Part of me wanted to misbehave enough to see if he'd actually carry through with his whispered threat.

"I guess it's going to have to be seeing as I know you'll pass all this with flying colours, so I can't even bribe you with a pass mark to behave yourself," Riley chuckled. "You and Barton would have put some of the guys on my SEAL sniper course to shame. I'm actually looking forward to seeing if I can rattle both of you."

"Bring it on," I taunted. But inwardly I wasn't feeling so confident all of a sudden. I had heard the stories from Riley about what evils his instructors used to do in the Navy. I was sure he was just dying for the day where he could repay the favour to his own students. Who better to see who he could rattle than Clint or I.

Riley quickly looked around before stepping forward. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and gave me a brief kiss before pulling back.

"Just remember I love you," Riley dropped his voice. "And don't take anything personally."

"I won't" I quickly promised him. I'd never hold a grudge for anything Riley did today. However it did deflate my ego even more than it had been. "I love you too, even if Brown Nose is still all over you. I'll make sure I disinfect you thoroughly before we fuck next time."

"There are times where I think you actually want that spanking," Riley laughed while shaking his head. "Come on my little green eyed monster. Time to go and make some grown men cry."

I couldn't wipe the grin off my face at the thought of doing exactly that. Yesterday I'd taken far too much pleasure in showing up Rumlow as we fired shot for shot at 800 yards. My accuracy put my ahead every single shot. I had to give it to Rumlow though. He was a damn good marksmen. I didn't win by much. My ego had swelled and then Clint and I went shot for shot at 1000 yards. It was close but Clint could still beat me. His accuracy, even without a bow, was just incredible. It gave everyone a good show at the end of a long day yesterday.

I picked up the case and happily bounced over to the undercover area. I was met by Clint with a very questioning look on his face as he saw the case.

"Shut up," I didn't let him tease me about it. I'd already heard about the spanking comment far too much. Clint just snickered quietly and handed me a coffee instead of teasing me. I put the case at my feet and gladly accepted the coffee.

"Maybe, just maybe you might come close to beating me," Clint went for another line of teasing. "I doubt it though. If I don't pass with a perfect score then I'l slipping in my old age."

"Riley is going to do whatever he can to rattle us," I informed Clint as I took a sip of coffee. "I'm kind of dreading what he'll come up with."

"Many have tried, and failed," Clint said smugly. "If he can rattle me then he'd be the first."

Riley walked passed both of us just as Clint said that. Judging by the smug look on his face, Riley would be trying very hard to be that first.

"Thanks Barton, now I'm going to get dragged into whatever Riley has planned for you," I grumbled staring after my boyfriend. I never knew he could be so damn creative.

"Like you're going to have any problems passing this," Clint just laughed at me. "Come on, drink your coffee and look forward to it. We're bunking together and I'm guessing no one else is going to want to crash with us."

"Wrong," Rumlow walked up and sat beside me. "I'm crashing your little party."

"By yourself I hope," I wrinkled my nose at Rumlow.

"Please, by yourself," Clint pulled a face at Rumlow as well. "It's going to be bad enough that we both know who's going to join our tent."

"No, that's not happening," I pouted a little at the thought of that. Riley and I had already been through that. As an instructor he couldn't be seen to show any favouritism to anyone. So he got a tent to himself. "He's bunking with Mrs Palmer and the 5 daughters for the next few days."

"Thats not a mental image I need this early in the morning," Rumlow groaned at my terrible joke. "In answer to your demands, yes I will be by myself and remain that way. If I feel the need to, I'll ask for an hour of privacy. I'll even feed the rumours of you two being a couple and give you some alone time."

"That's not even funny," I gave Rumlow a shove. "Don't feed those rumours. Tell them no we aren't fucking. While you're at it, tell your girlfriends friend to stop drooling on my boyfriend."

I dropped my voice so the last part couldn't be heard by anyone else. Friday afternoon really couldn't come quick enough. As soon as Riley had finished grading all of us, I was going to latch onto him and make sure everyone knew he was mine. Well, let Kiley know he's definitely mine.

"Why? Those rumours are hilarious for us who know better," Rumlow just smirked in response. "Besides, Riley fucking hates that rumour so its even more fun to run with it."

We were all as bad as each other for shit stirring. There was a very strange sort of camaraderie within STRIKE. The entire unit kept to itself and protected its own. But all the guys loved to give each other hell whenever they possible could. The locker room was crazy most mornings with the usual macho bullshit that went on in there. After I'd joined, the room fell back into a more PG state anytime I was there. It only lasted for about 5 days before returning to normal. Guys will be guys. STRIKE were not known for their humility and there were some very big egos that came with that.

"You're an asshole," Clint echoed the thought that was about to drop onto my lips. He was smiling while he said it though. Rumlow and Clint seemed to get along fairly well. He was one of the rare few people Clint would actually talk to.

"I hope neither of you snore," Rumlow ignored Clint's jab. He lounged back in his chair looking very casual and pleased with himself. "Kari you better sleep in the middle. I can be a bit of a groper in my sleep."

As if this situation couldn't get any worse, Rumlow had to throw that line out there. I just scowled at him and focused back on my coffee and blueberry muffin. It was way too early for this.

"Lets go people," Riley's voice suddenly cut over the dim noise of everyone talking.

"You said half an hour?" someone questioned loudly, sounding very upset.

"Too bad, my coffee is finished so everyone else can be too," Riley's hard tone left no room for arguments. "Up, lets go."

"You know, I always picked you to be the one in charge in bed. Now I'm pretty sure Riley is," Clint murmured under his breath we he got to his feet. I quickly drained the my barely touched coffee and shoved as much muffin into my mouth as I could manage. It was to stop the snap I planned on having at Clint for his non stop teasing. With my mouth full I couldn't snarl at him and then get baited into more tormenting by him.

There was plenty of bitching and grumbling as everyone did as they were told and got to their feet. As we walked to the range, Riley rattled off the first few people who would do their cold bore shot up first. The plan was to run to the 100 yard mark, take position and shoot at the 500 yard targets. All in less than 2 minutes. Not only did you have to line the shot up, you also had to get the rifle set up and fight the natural instinct to hold your breath because you'd already be breathing heavily from the run and adrenaline. There would also be nerves kicking in for the first shot of your assessment. It was a bit brutal. But it was designed to place you in a combat situation where you didn't have the luxury of always finding the perfect spot. Or you had to run and fire in a very short amount of time. The first shot had to be a kill shot. Otherwise you gave away your own position.

Clint and I weren't in the first group. But Rumlow was. I wanted to watch him first to see how he did. I already knew Rumlow was an excellent shot. But under pressure with an unfamiliar weapon seemed to undo him a bit. His accuracy would drop, but he'd still manage to keep in the acceptable kill shot zones.

We walked to the range, which was only a 2 minute casual stroll on a normal day. But today Riley had his SEAL instructor pants on and we all ended up jogging there in less than a minute. It put the first group at a considerable disadvantage to already have their heart rates slightly raised. Riley didn't seem to care. As soon as we reached the range, M24's already waiting to go, he hit the stopwatch.

"Go."

The first group didn't need to be told twice. The 4 agents grabbed the rifle and sprinted for the position marked out for them already. I cringed seeing one of the agents completely forgetting to grab a magazine in his panicked haste. Starting out on a score of zero was never going to be a good start to anyones day. He angry cry could clearly be heard back at the rest of the group when he went to pull the trigger on his shot. Rumlow seemed to be the only one in the first group to actually get a good shot in.

"Time!" Riley's voice bellowed over the range. He pulled a pair of binoculars from his pants and quickly scanned the targets while the agents walked back.

This went on as Riley cycled through the rest of the group. Half of the agents didn't even hit the target. No one had a perfect shot yet. This went on until it was just Clint and I left. I had a terrible feeling Riley did this on purpose as he looked over to both of us. During the rest of the agents firing I'd gotten my AWSM set up.

"You two are shooting to the 1000 yard targets," Riley informed Clint and I. "From that line, 30 seconds."

I didn't wait for the go. I was already sprinting towards the line Riley pointed to. Muscle memory took over and before I knew it, I was staring down my scope to the required target. I exhaled and squeezed the trigger. Clint's M24 sounded just a second after my AWSM with his own shot. Watching the shot through my scope I could see the neat head shot I'd landed on the far target.

"And that is how it's done Agents," Riley chuckled behind us. "Perfect kill shots for both of you. Edge shots are next. Lets hustle."

I grinned and let myself glance back up at Riley. He caught my eye and gave me a small wink of encouragement. I was very happy to be starting off on a perfect score. It could only get better throughout the day.

Edge shots were sitting there for 20 minutes waiting for a target to pop up in your lane. These were only a 300 yards, but you only had 5 seconds to get your shot off before it hit the ground again. It was nerve wracking to sit there just waiting for that long. Take your eye off the target for a second could easily mean a score of zero. It was a game of patience and mental concentration. Not unlike sitting up in a hide somewhere while waiting for a target. There was no opportunities to look away to scratch your nose, cough or deal with any other bodily functions. You had to be 100% concentrating on your target.

We all moved to the shooting lanes with the targets that pop up. They were the typical human silhouettes we'd been shooting at during the week. Half the agents volunteered to go first, I wasn't one of them. Neither as Clint. I wanted to be last and watch what Riley was going to do as a distraction. As the targets started to pop up as Riley wandered up and down the lanes, nothing was happening. He was simply watching and making notes. Kiley was in this group. I grumbled in disgust as she managed to land a shot on her target. Damn Riley and his thorough teaching. She'd improved out of sight since Monday. The rest of us lounged around doing nothing except watch. I could have easily gone to sleep in the sun. The early February sun was trying its best to break through the miserable cold we'd had all January. If you sat directly in it, it was almost warm.

"Next group," as soon as the last target popped up, Riley called out to the rest of us. "Come on, move it."

There was plenty of grumbling as the rest of us climbed to our feet and went and got settled behind our weapons. I set my AWSM up again quickly, not wanting to even miss a second. I didn't trust Riley not to have my target pop up before I was ready.

"Starting now," Riley's voice rang out over the now silent range. Like the previous group you could hear a pin drop as everyone focused on the job at hand. I stared down the range at my target. I barely trusted myself to blink in case I missed it. The wait was nerve wracking and boring all at the same time. Any time someone else target popped up, it was a distraction that you just wanted to have a look. But I kept my eyes trained on my own target. Willing it to snap up to spare me from the mental anguish of just waiting.

I don't know how much time had passed. Riley and walked past me at least 4 times now. Another distraction that I had to push from my mind. My eyes were getting sore from staring into the space of my target. If I'd counted correctly, everyone had fired except for me. Boots appeared in my peripheral vision and I had to stop myself from glancing to the feet and legs that belonged to Riley.

My target suddenly snapped up. The world around me slowed down as I exhaled and let my fingers gently curl around the trigger at the fall of my chest. I applied enough pressure for the rifle to fire. As I felt the click of the round just about to leave the chamber, Riley kicked my AWSM sending it a few millimetres to the left. I didn't need to follow my shot to know it'd gone off target by a lot. My head snapped away from the scope and I scowled up at Riley.

"What the actual fuck Riley?" I snapped at him. "You just fucked my fucking shot up."

"Did I now?" Riley raised both eyebrows at me. He looked surprised at the way I'd just spoken to him.

"Fucking obviously," my voice turned into a growl. "You didn't fuck with anyone else shot. You just made me miss what would have been a perfect kill shot."

"Kari," Clint tried to get my attention. I ignored him and kept my attention and irritation focused solely on Riley.

"In the real world, we don't always have the luxury of a perfect shot or perfect conditions," Riley crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at me. "Shit happens all the time. Something might fall and knock your rifle out of position. An enemy comes into your nest."

Afghanistan flashed into my mind suddenly. I clenched my jaw and pushed the mental images of that night from my mind.

"This is why we train, so we can deal with the distractions," Riley continued his lecture. "So no matter what happens we're prepared for it in the real world."

"Oh so in the real world it's perfectly fine to single me out?" I couldn't stop my voice from raising in anger. I couldn't keep a lid on the feelings I'd tried to keep tamed down over the last week and a half. Every single frustration and irritated all bubbled over. "If we're going for such a real world experience, why not go along kicking everyones rifles out? Or even better, lets make everyone shoot at the 1000 yard mark. Yeah thats fun."

"Kari," Clint tried again to get my attention. I was too intent on getting pissed off at Riley to pay him any ounce of attention. I hated the fact Riley brought up an enemy finding your position. It was no accident he'd said it either.

"You've been on enough missions to know that an enemy isn't going to care who are you," Riley's handsome face turned into a heavy frown. "If anything they will single you out believing you're the weak link Agent Lyngley."

"And why is that Agent Hunterton?" I said frostily. All reminders of not to take anything personally had long gone out the window. I was angry, frustrated and deep down a little hurt by the stunt Riley had just pulled. He just made me look like an idiot in front of everyone. I could hear a few whispers swelling up from the group as Riley and I faced off.

"Because you look like a weak link," Riley explained still sounding patient even though he was looking very annoyed. "If I was going up against an enemy and found you sitting in a tree somewhere you'd be my first target."

"And you'd be dead," I scoffed. "Because that would be your first mistake, to underestimate me."

"Actually your first mistake is underestimating yourself," Riley tilted his head back towards the targets. "Because you're right. I would be dead with the shot you managed to get off."

With a knot of dread slowly starting to wind itself into my stomach, I dragged my eyes back to my scope and looked down at my target. Even though Riley had knocked my shot off balance, I'd still made a clean kill shot straight through the side of the face. Not the perfect forehead shot I was going for. But still enough to blow half of someone's face off. My anger quickly fizzled out to nothing as I saw the proof staring right back at me. I'd just fucked up in a big way. Riley hadn't made me look like an idiot. I'd just done a grand job of doing that all by myself.

"Confidence in your own ability is one of the most important traits you need as a sniper," Riley's voice raised slightly as he addressed the entire group. I was still too embarrassed to pull my face away from the scope. "The ability to know that no matter what happens, you'll take that shot and it'll hit its mark. The mark may not be perfect but as long as it does the job is all that matters. Not all of us can hit perfect head shots every single time, except for Barton."

A muted and slightly nervous laugh rippled through the crowd of agents. I finally dragged myself away and peeked up at Riley. He'd turned slightly so he could address everyone and wasn't looking down at me anymore.

"But to trust in your training that when fuck ups happen, you can handle them under pressure. If Agent Lyngley had just done that in field she would have given away her and her spotters position and placed them both in danger. So learn from this. Because it might be your rifle, or your boot that I kick. Or I throw something at you while you're about to shoot. It might be you sitting out in a hole in the middle of butt fuck nowhere one day and a spider drops onto your head just as you're about to take out a mark you've been tracking for 6 months. And always, absolutely always keep a track of your shot. Everyone can have a 10 minute break."

Everyone took Riley's firm tone as an instant dismissal. I stayed behind my AWSM, knowing very well that I wasn't going to be dismissed right away. I couldn't even look Clint in the eye as he got up, shaking his head slightly at me. He'd been trying to get my attention to let me know I'd hit the target. I'd just completely brushed him off in favour of losing my temper at my boyfriend. Dumb move. Really, really dumb move on my behalf. I stared down at the ground instead, trying not to fidget with anything I could get my fingers on.

"If you ever speak to me like that again during this training exercise, I will kick your ass off this range quicker than you can blink. And I will staple a nice little explanation of why you got kicked off to your ass for your handler," Riley said firmly while everyone scuttled to safety away from his ire. "Understood?"

"Yes Agent Hunterton," I swallowed heavily. Coulson would kick my ass into next week for me losing my temper like that. I was still very much a junior agent. Not really any better than some of the others here that had just finished at the Academy. Being a senior agent and an instructor on this course, Riley had ever right to do what he'd just threatened.

"I'm sorry," my voice was very small. I just wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. I couldn't bring myself to actually look up just yet. It wasn't until I saw Riley's crouching down to my level I actually dragged my eyes up from the ground. Gone was the irritation and anger, now he just looked concerned. A quick glance behind him showed everyone else well out of earshot.

"Do you feel suitably chastised?" Riley's lips twitched as he tried to keep the smile off his face.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "That was really stupid of me."

"Yeah it was," Riley's gaze dropped down to my hands, which were still wrapped around the AWSM to stop myself from picking at everything on the ground. "Thats a bit scary when you're angry."

I had to look down to see what he was talking about. Ice crystals had formed over the back of my hands and along my fingers. I hadn't noticed myself doing it. I quickly snatched my hands away and shook the small crystals off. Shit, that hadn't happened in a long time.

"That's still a 10 by the way," Riley gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. "Go have your break. Take a deep breath and make sure you wander back looking like I've just torn you apart for having a psycho fit at me."

"Sorry," I apologised yet again. I wasn't going to be able to live this one down in a hurry. "I'll just go hide in the corner and die of shame."

"At least you didn't get up and punch me," Riley chuckled quietly. " Thats happened a few times both in SHIELD and the Navy."

I just smiled weakly and climbed to my feet. Riley pushed himself up from his crouch beside me. We both parted ways immediately. I was a few feet in front of Riley as we both walked back to the undercover area. As soon as I walked in, I could feel every set of eyes turned to me. Most turned away quickly enough, but plenty of people still stared. I plastered a look of complete indifference on my face as I strode over to where Clint was sitting. As soon as I sat next to him, a Hersey Bar dropped into my lap.

"Whats this for?" I looked down at the offered chocolate.

"When Nat is PMSing like that, I generally just throw chocolate at her until she stops growling," Clint hands went over my lap again. He opened it and dropped some bite size Reeces Peeces into my lap as well. "Figured it'd work the same for you."

"You're fucking hilarious Barton," I rolled my eyes. "I'm surprised Nat hasn't shot you for that."

"Where do you think the teeth marks on my arm came from?"

I winced but couldn't stop the smile creeping onto my face. I didn't doubt that at all. It made me feel a little better. Even if I wasn't actually having a hormonal dummy spit. But it was a good cover Clint had just made for me. No one else would give it a second thought now.

The rest of the day was spent on the range with more tests of edge shots at different ranges. Rapid fire starting at 200 yards and working all the way up to the 1000 yard mark. While Clint was doing his rapid fire at 1000 yards at 40 rounds per minute. Riley asked in a very quiet whisper if I could make a small ball of ice for him. Knowing what he was about to do, I gleefully made it and handed it over to Riley. No one else was paying any attention. That was until Riley dropped the ball of ice down the back of Clint's shirt. Clint managed to finish his shoot, while squirming uncomfortably. As soon as the last round left the M24, he shot to his feet. Dancing around to get the rapidly melting piece of ice out of his shirt. He ended up stripping off his shirt to get it out. Much to the amusement and joy of every female on the range. It didn't have the effect on his shooting as Riley had hoped. Clint still had perfect accuracy even under pressure.

But we weren't the only ones that Riley fucked with throughout the day. It was a bit of genius on Riley's behalf. After he did it to Clint, everyone would get tense whenever Riley was close to them. People started making mistakes. Temper would fizzle short. By the end of the day, I wasn't the only one who'd lost my temper. Rumlow had been the surprise one who'd stood there and argued for 10 minutes with Riley. We all stood there watching in surprise as Riley called a very obvious hit on a target as a miss. Rumlow argued back that it wasn't and it rapidly went downhill from there. By the end, Rumlow ended up storming off in a huff and didn't come back for 20 minutes. It made me feel a little better for my own dummy spit.

Riley finished us up for the day with enough daylight left to clean weapons and get our camp set up. Thankfully the tents could be put up in a matter of minutes. As soon as I threw my sleeping bag into our tent, I wanted to stay there. It'd been a very long day. I lay face first down in my pillow, ignoring Rumlow and Clint setting up their own beds. No one else disturbed us so we got extra room. I drifted in and out of sleep, until Clint shook me awake for dinner. I grumbled, dragged myself out, shovelled 2 servings of the spaghetti and meatballs someone had cooked into my mouth and then went straight back to bed. Today had been mentally draining. It was worse than physically draining. Outside I could hear the quiet and muffled sounds of people being sociable and having a good time. I definitely wasn't in the mood for that tonight. I kicked my boots off and pulled my heavy jacket off. It was cold so I didn't worry about taking anything else off. It didn't take long for me to go to sleep, despite the early hour.

When I woke with a start, everything was quiet and dark. I was shivering despite the warm sleeping bag and multiple layers of clothes I still had on. I huddled myself into a ball trying to get warm again. But my body had other ideas. I desperately needed to go to the toilet on top of being freezing cold. I grumbled quietly as I extracted myself from the semi warmth of my sleeping bag. Beside me, Clint stirred and shifted onto his back.

"You ok?" Clint asked sleepily.

"Just need to pee," I said quietly so I didn't wake Rumlow. "Sorry didn't mean to wake you up."

"Eh," Clint grunted and rolled back onto his side. He was asleep by the time I finished lacing up my first boot. Rumlow was still fast asleep, breathing heavily enough that it was almost a snore.

It didn't take me long to run to the toilet. There wasn't a soul awake and every footstep I took sounded very loud in the quiet night air. I went to the toilet and quickly slipped back towards the tent. I paused as I looked over to where Riley had set his tent up. Like every other tent, it was quiet and dark. He would have been asleep for hours by now. We had to behave ourselves so there was no point climbing into bed with him. I sighed quietly. I could really do with a hug from him right now. But I didn't always get what I want. I'd have to go and crawl back into my own sleeping bag and deal with it.

Neither Clint or Rumlow stirred when I got back into the tent. I quickly got undressed out of my heavy coat and crawled back into my sleeping bag. I huddled in a little ball, willing my teeth to not chatter as I very slowly started to warm up. Tiredness made my eyes slid shut and drift off into a light sleep. I woke up again in what felt like seconds later to a body sliding into the sleeping bag with me.

"Its just me," Riley's voice whispered in my ear. He sounded so tired. "Why do you have so many clothes on?"

"Its cold," I whispered back.

"Take them off," Riley chuckled briefly. "The sleeping bags are designed to reflect body heat. You'll be warmer without so many layers on."

I unzipped the bag enough to peel off the few layers I had on. I stripped down until I was just wearing a bra and underwear. The cold air wormed its way into the half open bag making me shiver. I threw my discarded clothes out and quickly zipped it back up. Riley settled in behind me, pulling me in close to him. Instantly I was a lot warmer. It wasn't hard to burrow back into Riley's body as far as I could.

"I couldn't sleep without you," Riley murmured quietly. "Are you feeling ok? I missed you after dinner."

"Just tired," I wound my fingers through Riley's hand which was resting on my hip. "Too much mental strain."

"At least tomorrow will be fun," I could hear the smile in Riley's voice. "Go to sleep."

I was already asleep before Riley finished speaking. I didn't wake up until the next morning when Clint's watch alarm started going off. I was disappointed to find my sleeping bag empty. I hadn't even heard Riley get up and leave. At least I was warm for half the night. I got up, got dressed and groggily made my way out for coffee with Clint. Rumlow had only just started getting up as we'd both finished getting dressed.

I plonked down in a chair while Clint went and made coffee. He was so well trained in that regard. I'd have to thank Laura when we got back for it. Not only did he make coffee, but he also made sure I ate last night. I didn't ask but I'm sure the spaghetti and meatballs would have been his doing as well. It wasn't hard to see why people who didn't know us, would easily assume we were in a relationship.

A pair of freezing hands landed on my cheeks as I sat there pondering about Clint being well trained. I jumped in fright and craned my head back to look at the culprit. Judging by those hands I already knew who it was.

"Are my hands cold?" Riley smirked down at me.

"Are mine?" I quickly shot back. I iced over one hand quickly and stuck it up Riley's shirt. The muffled grunt of discomfort and jump away from me gave me my answer. "I'll take that was a yes."

"I have a favour to ask," Riley gave me a cheeky smile as he came to sit next to me. It was the same smile that he always used to charm his way into something. I always referred to it as his panty dropping grin. Because most of the time that's exactly what that smile made me end up doing.

"What can I do for you Agent Hunterton?" I tried my best seductive voice. Natasha's almost came out like a purr. I sounded more like a sick cat with a hairball when I did it.

"Because I know doing this stalk will take you about 3 minutes to complete," Riley chuckled. "Can you come up into the tower once you're finished and help me?"

Today we'd be putting into practice doing stalking. This mornings stalk would be a mile and you'd have until lunchtime to get within 200 yards of the final target. According to Riley it should be a piece of cake in the terrain we had. Beyond the vast flat range was lightly timbered forest. There were plenty of trees, brushes and natural slightly hilly terrain to hide around. The control tower was set up within the trees smack bang in the middle of the 2 mile radius. The tower had monitors which Riley would keep an eye on. If he spotted you, it was all over. If you got within the 200 yards mark of the control tower you'd shoot a blank round to announce your arrival. Riley would then take his binoculars out and see if he could spot you. If he couldn't you'd be given the all clear to fire off a chalk round at the targets set up all around the outside of the control tower. The points from yesterday were exactly the same for hitting the target.

In the afternoon it was the same thing, except it was a 2 mile stalk. It would take most people all afternoon to come in, basically on their hands and knees and find a firing position. I hadn't been told I couldn't use my powers, so I was going to go invisible, jog in and get it all and done with. It almost felt like cheating until Clint pointed out to me that you used whatever you could to make things count. Plus it would give me a few hours by myself with Riley while everyone else crawled around in the forest.

"Of course," I smiled sweetly. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Kiley sitting across from us. She was watching our interaction with a lot of interest. And quite a sour expression on her face as well. I could read her clearly. She was very jealous of the smile Riley currently had in my direction. I really wanted to lean over and give him a kiss. Just to piss her off even more.

"Am I joining in?" Clint's came back with 3 cups of coffee. He handed one to Riley and then to me.

"No," Riley rolled his eyes at Clint. But eagerly accepted the coffee from him. "Because I can see you up there shooting chalk rounds at people once you find them. Unlike STRIKE Team Delta, no one else seems to think its fine to maim other agents."

I winced thinking back to the time Natasha shot me with a chalk round. It'd taken 2 weeks for the bruise to fade away. For once Riley had been very sympathetic about how much it hurt. He admitted he'd been shot in the chest with one at point blank range once. It'd cracked a rib and left him aching for a month afterwards.

Clint didn't seem to have an answer to Riley's very firm no. Except for a slight pout. The three of us drank our coffee in relative and comfortable silence. More and more agents were coming in and getting breakfast before we all headed on the bus out to the stalking area. Rumlow finally dragged himself over to us, with no more than a grunt while he got some coffee into him. When it was time to leave we all gathered in a group near the bus. Riley stood in front addressing everyone.

"Are there any questions before we do this?" Riley asked as he scanned the crowd.

Kiley's hand instantly shot up. Riley gave her a small nod as permission to speak.

"I don't believe its fair that Agent Lyngley is allowed to teleport during this exercise," Kiley said smoothly. "It should be an even playing field."

Riley frowned. He looked around confused before shrugging his shoulders. Beside me, Clint just looked over at the other agent with a raised eyebrow at her bold statement. She shrunk under Clint's firm gaze and quickly snapped back to face Riley. It wasn't hard to notice she was actively avoiding looking anywhere near me. Even if I was standing right next to Clint.

"Agent Lyngley wheres your pain in the ass twin brother?" Riley asked.

"In Belgium, hopefully stocking up on chocolate to bring home," I said smartly with a small grin. "He's definitely not here to cheat."

"But you can teleport too," Kiley looked frustrated as she swung around to face me. It was obvious her plan wasn't working in her favour. "It's not fair if you do it."

Kiley was still holding a coffee cup in her hand. I gave her a bored look before switching my gaze to the cup. A second later it froze over with little effort from me.

"I don't think freezing things is going to help me here," I plastered a look of indifference on my face. I had to keep myself from laughing as Kiley dropped the cup in obvious shock. She couldn't stop staring at the frozen solid object on the ground. "Just because Jared teleports doesn't mean I do too."

Kiley looked very embarrassed as she mumbled was I assumed was an apology. Her eyes quickly remained fixed at her feet. I almost felt a little bit sorry for her. Almost. If she hadn't of kept flirting with my boyfriend that is. It wasn't something I hadn't heard before. Nearly everyone assumes I can teleport until I show them otherwise. Powers can be such a random thing. Sometimes they get passed down. But in our families case, everyone was different.

"I'm sorry Agent Brown I didn't quite catch that?" Clint surprised me by raising his voice. He glared over at the junior agent. If she looked embarrassed before, it had nothing on how she was now. Kiley looked ready to start digging a shallow grave right there and then at Clint's hard gaze on her. The few agents standing with her scuttled away a few steps away. Far enough from Clint's gaze so they didn't get in trouble as well. Kiley bit her lip and finally pulled her eyes up to both of us. Clint crossed his arms looked at her expectedly.

"My apologises Agent Lyngley," Kiley said softly.

"You'd do best to remember that every Lyngley you're going to meet in SHIELD is Enhanced as well," Clint said firmly. "And perhaps remind yourself of your tone when you're addressing a senior agent."

Calling me a senior agent was a bit of a stretch of the imagination. But technically I was a lot more senior than Kiley. Only by my clearance level.

"Yes Agent Barton," Kiley swallowed heavily. Her cheeks turned pink as she actively tried to look at Clint, but not at me.

"Trying to cause someone else problems out of jealously isn't going to help you here," Clint kept going. Now I was actually starting to feel bad for Kiley. I glanced over to Riley to see if he was going to stop this conversation. He just stood there watching with a little smirk on his face as Clint reamed Kiley out. "Just remember, she trains with Black Widow and next time it might not just be your coffee cup."

I was silently cheering Clint for his little snarl at Kiley. But I kept my face neutral as I gazed over to her, mirroring Clint's position with my arms crossed. Her entire face had now turned bright red and her eyes dropped back to the ground.

"Anyone else?" Riley asked. The entire group was completely silent. All stunned by Clint actually speaking up and chewing out Kiley. "No? Good, lets go."

"Thank you," I said under my breath in Icelandic.

"Pað var ekkert," Clint surprised me yet again this morning by saying you're welcome in flawless Icelandic. I just chuckled quietly and shook my head. I don't think he would ever stop surprising me.

The bus ride was quiet and quick. Everyone seemed to be a little wary of Clint and his temper this morning. The fact Riley didn't stop him made it even more tentative for those who didn't know him. In return it didn't take long for everyone to get organised, armed and start heading out for the stalk as soon as the bus pulled up. Riley quickly got off and disappeared towards the control tower while we all got ready. There were ghille suits for those who wanted to do extra camouflage. But everyone mostly stuck to just wearing plain camouflage clothing. The group started to thin out as everyone took off in opposite directions, all eager to make the most out of this first stalk. Everyone had an earpiece. All tuned into the radio that Riley carried so he could let people know on the ground if he saw them. Or they were right to take their shot.

I waited until everyone except Clint left. He was still procrastinating about wearing a ghille suit or not so I just left him. I went invisible and started to jog in the direction of the control tower. It didn't take me long to have it in sight. I'd stuck to a well worn game path that everyone else had actively avoided in fear of being seen. I could clearly see Riley in the tower. He was already on his binoculars looking out over the area. No doubt waiting to see if I was going to slip up.

Smiling to myself, I simply set up my AWSM with practiced ease. As soon as I was comfortable I fed the blank round into the chamber and let the shot off.

"No Kari I can't see you," Riley's voice instantly came over the radio. "You already know that, so just take the damn shot."

I laughed quietly and pulled out my chalk round. While I was loading it, Riley came to the side where the shot had come from. He wasn't even bothering with the binoculars this time. He just stood there with his arms crossed waiting for me to shoot. I lined up the target closest to him and let off an easy heart shot. The bullet travelled straight and smacked into the target in a large blue smear. I grinned like mad as I let the invisibility go. Riley jumped but then gave me a small wave as I came back into focus.

Riley didn't even have to tell me over the radio that I was done. I quickly packed my AWSM up and headed straight for the control tower. It wasn't much more than a glorified tree house with a heap of targets sitting on the outside. But it was enclosed, running on its own power source and a lot warmer than sitting out here in the cold. I climbed the ladder and Riley greeted me at the door.

"Hi," I grinned.

"You took longer than I expected, maybe I should take some points off you," Riley teased. He grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me inside, into his arms. His lips met mine in a desperate crush. I wrapped my arms around his neck eagerly returning the kiss. When his hands went for my pants, I pulled away.

"You're meant to be working," I tried to scold him. My heart really wasn't into the knocking him back. My body was already eagerly saying yes.

"No one will be in sight for at least 5 minutes," Riley wasn't perturbed. His deft fingers went straight for my pants again, undoing the button and teasing the fly down. He had a carefree grin on his face. "Surely you can give me 5 minutes?"

Fuck it. I couldn't resist Riley at the best of times. Let alone when he was so damn flirty. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled myself back onto his lips. The step forward was enough to make my pants start slipping down over my hips. Riley hands helped their journey all the way down my legs into a puddle on the ground. His tongue was instant against my own, tangling together fiercely. Another step and I was standing there naked from the waist down except for my boots. Riley grabbed me, lifting me up easily into his arms. I giggled against his lips as I wrapped my legs around his waist for balance.

"So you're going to fuck me right here, up against the wall?" I broke away from him for a second.

"Yep," Riley smirked as he pushed me back into the wall. "Any complaints?"

Holding me up with one arm Riley hand slipped between our bodies and between my legs. I felt out a breathy moan, letting my head fall back against the wall at his fingers teasing me. His thumb rubbed my clit and 2 fingers slid straight into me. If Riley wasn't holding me, my legs would have collapsed at the sudden and swift contact.

"I'm guessing you missed me," Riley head dipped as he nipped at my neck. "You're so wet."

"Just shut up and fuck me," I couldn't deny it. 3 days of no sex seemed like an eternity when I'd gotten used to sex nearly every day. I whimpered in disappointment as Riley's fingers left me as swiftly as they'd been on me. He set me down on the ground and I made short work on his own pants and boxers. This was unbelievably naughty and bold of us. It just added to the excitement. Riley wasted no time in picking me up again, sliding into me easily as I wrapped my legs around him for balance. My fingers dug into his shoulders as he began to fuck me. There was no teasing. Riley set a fast pace straight away, knowing our time was limited. The angle of his cock and his body rushing up against my clit with every move didn't take long to drive me over the edge. I bit my lip trying to keep quiet as my body trembled and convulsed around Riley. It only took another few strokes to send him over the edge too. His lips met mine as his body jerked erratically as he came. His own moans of satisfaction were muffled against my lips as we both rode our the after throws of own orgasms. It took a minute before either of us could calm our ragged breathing down.

"You need to get back to work," I mumbled as I dropped my head onto his shoulder. Good thing I knew Riley could easily bench press my weight and then some. He had no problems holding me up like this.

"Work feels so irrelevant now," Riley chuckled as he pressed a kiss onto my temple. "But yes I do."

Riley gently eased me down. It took me a few seconds to make my still shaking legs work enough to fetch my pants. Riley produced a box of tissues to clean both ourselves up. It was disappointing after an amazing quickie to actually get dressed and be back to work. I pulled my pants back on and pulled up the spare chair next to Riley. I stared at the computer monitors feeling bored already. My mind was starting to kick in of all the different ways I could distract him while we waited for everyone else to be finished. A flash of movemnt on one of the screens caught my eye.

"I spy with my little eye, someone beginning with R," I laughed as I recognised the body straight away. Rumlow had gotten himself out of the cover of a few bushes and was desperately trying to crawl as quickly as he could without being noticed. Riley glanced over to where I was looking and let out a short laugh.

"Rumlow you're out," Riley opened the communication channel. "You dumbass."

Rumlow's response was to stick his middle finger up in the general direction of the control tower. He then got to his feet and kicked the nearest tree in frustration. It just made both of us laugh at his childish antics.

The rest of the day was exactly the same. The morning stalk ended up with only Clint and another agent getting their shots off. The afternoon stalk was much better with nearly everyone learning from the morning and managing to do it correctly. I did the exact same thing as I did for the morning stalk. Go invisible, jog in and let me shot off. That night I didn't miss the infuriated looks Kiley kept giving me. She simply couldn't work out how I was doing it. But after Clint's talk to her this morning she wasn't game to say anything to me. Or to Riley. She seemed to realise her flirting was a bit out of control and toned it down considerably over dinner.

I didn't even bother going to my tent when it was time for bed. After saying good night, as soon as I wasn't being watched I went straight for Riley's tent. I stripped down naked and crawled into his sleeping bag. I didn't wake up when Riley came to bed. I did wake up to water dripping on my face at 0320. It was pouring down rain outside with a gusty wind threatening to blow the tent over. It wasn't a hard decision to make to bail. Riley grabbed his bag and I took the sleeping bags and we made a run for it in the freezing rain. We weren't the only ones. As we hastily rain to the undercover area, everyone else was doing the same. Clint had grabbed my bag as well, dropping it at my feet as he found Riley and I. Thankfully no one had noticed us showing up together. Everyone was too busy trying to get dry and warm.

"Well, this fucks things up a bit for tomorrow," Riley chuckled as he shook the water out of his hair. "I guess we're all sleeping under here tonight."

Not much sleeping was done for the rest of the night. Back in my own sleeping bag, I couldn't fall back asleep so I just lay there listening to the rain coming down in sheets. People drifted in and out of sleep around me. Some, like me, who couldn't sleep simply got up and made an early breakfast. By 0630 the rain still hadn't eased. Nearly 2 inches of water was sitting on the ground. Most of the tents had blown over, or now had water running through them. Riley had just woken up and was surveying the mess in the predawn light. I went and stood next to him, huddling as close as I could without it being too obvious to get warm.

"I'm guessing today is a wash out?" I asked looking over to Riley feeling very disappointed. I was really looking forward to our massive paintball match today.

"Yeah," Riley's look of disappointment matched my own. "That sucks, today is the most fun."

"Does this mean the course is officially over?" I asked innocently. I spied Kiley out of the corner of my eye watching the pair of us very intently. I had a feeling if anyone had noticed us leaving the tent together last night, it would have been her. She looked ready to turn green from envy after I got to spend the entire day in the control tower with Riley yesterday. For someone smart enough to make it through the Academy as a Specialist, she certainly wasn't smart enough to realise Riley had zero interest in her.

"It does," Riley gave me a small smile. "And lucky for you, you've passed with a perfect score."

"Good," I grabbed Riley and pulled him in for a kiss. I could feel him smiling against my lips as we kissed. He tangled his hands through my hair and pulled me in even closer.

"Are you marking your territory?" Riley pulled away a fraction after a few seconds.

"Yep."

Just as I reached in to kiss Riley again, I snuck a glance at Kiley. The look on her face more than made up for all the jealousy I felt over her flirting for the last 2 weeks. She looked absolutely dumbstruck and then horror dawned on her face. I had no doubt Clint's warning about me training with Black Widow just echoed in her mind. If only I had a camera to catch that exact moment. Riley's lips hit mine in a brief, but passionate kiss. I pulled away just in time to see Kiley turn on her heel and storm off.

"Lets go home," Riley wasn't letting me go. He just raised his voice to be heard by everyone. "I for one want a dry and warm bed."

There were no complaints. There weren't even any dirty comments being thrown at us for our little PDA. Everyone just shouldered their gear and ran for the bus. Fuck the tents. SHIELD could deal with this mess later.

Authors Note

Wow, you guys blew my mind with the reviews for the last chapter! I've never gotten so many before. I nearly cried reading them all.

kira shadow wolf- I know you always enjoy it. You pester me on Facebook enough for these updates haha!

Lockheart96- Thank you! I honestly never thought this story would go off like this. Originally I didn't think it'd get past 35 chapters…but look at where it is now. It will end up being a crazy long novel. So hopefully you'll love it right to the end.

19irene96- I hope the reaction was worth it! Especially with Clint chewing her out as well.

lilrose88- Clint and Laura are ok. But nothing like a little marriage tension to throw things around a bit. All couples fight. I just figured it was time for Clint and Laura to have a little domestic dummy spit.

BrySt1- I loved writing the chapter. I realised we hadn't seen any of Alexi lately, so I just had to have Riley being adorable with her. He's so perfect he makes my ovaries hurt.

Pikahopp- I'm glad I keep exceeding expectations. I thought I was the only one who did that. I go, oh I love this chapter. No wait this one is better…and that doesn't even take into account everything I have written ahead. Nothing frustrates me more than characters being so perfect that everyone just has to love them. In real life, not everyone is going to like everyone whether it be looks or personality so I wanted to really push that across. Clint and Kari are pretty awesome friends too. You don't need to be romantic with someone to have a good bond with them.

Dont worry, theres plenty of Jared time coming up. They're going to be closer than ever pretty soon.

Sabina Mohammad- Thank you! Hopefully this update got out quick enough.

Jadeamelia- I'm guilty for wasting an afternoon away binge reading as well. I actually did that the other day with this story when I was feeling pretty long on inspiration. Lots more to come!

I hope everyone enjoyed the quick update. Writing is my solace at the moment and its where I'm going for my happy place. This chapter only had a rough edit, so excuse any mistakes in there. It is very past my bedtime as well. But I really wanted to get this chapter out tonight.

Until next time.