The closer we flew to Chicago the more my excitement increased and my nerves started to dwindle. Clint would be there the entire time with me. Just like he was now, sitting in the co-pilot chair keeping me occupied. Natasha would slip in first to take out Andro Musil, the leader of the group, to cause panic and make people scatter. From there the STRIKE team would converge from all four sides of the building and take the rest of his crew out. There was estimated to be between 12 to 20 other men to be in the building with him. When we were only ten minutes out everyone stood up and started to get weapons out.

"So Riley." One of the guys from Bravo team asked. "What did Agent Coulson want with you?"

"Nothing exciting." Riley shrugged as he put his sniper rifle together. The CheyTac M200 was huge and I was envious looking at it. That weapon had one of the best accuracies over crazy distances. Maybe if I asked nicely he might let me have a play of it one day at the range.

"Nothing exciting?" The STRIKE guy teased. "Come on you're the golden boy, you never get in trouble. Spill."

"No," Riley laughed with a stubborn shake of his head. "I wasn't in trouble either."

"Agent Lyngley." Another guy called from the back. I glanced over my shoulder and raised an eyebrow in question. He was the same person who'd been sitting with Riley during the mission briefing. "You were there as well, what did he get in trouble for?"

"I'm so not telling," I snorted and turned back to the controls again. I didn't have a lot to do until we were ready to land but I didn't want to get dragged into this conversation. Clint was watching me carefully with a small smirk on his face. He knew exactly what Coulson wanted but wasn't saying anything.

"You both suck," the second guy grumbled. "Lyngley, you're related to Jared?"

"Yep, he's my brother," I said simply. I glanced at the windscreen and was watching through the reflection. The guy who was speaking was seriously hot. He was Riley's height, muscly and dark haired with what looked to be a permanent 5 o'clock shadow. He looked to be about Riley's age.

"Older or younger?"

"Older, 25 minutes we're twins," I explained, wondering why the sudden interest in me.

"Cool, can you teleport too?"

"Why does everyone assume I can teleport?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I got asked that a lot. "No, I can't teleport."

"So, are you our new beer cooler at keg parties?"

"My god, you're nosy." I ignored the question. Everyone would know by now what I could do. It was no secret.

"Well, you aren't exactly being open about it," the guy grumbled. He wasn't being an asshole and I could hear the definite tease in his tone. Riley wasn't jumping to stop it either so I'm guessing he got on well with this guy. "Come on, tell me exactly what you can do? Or are the rumours all true?"

"My powers make me a nymphomaniac," I said calmly chewing on the inside of my cheek so I didn't burst out laughing. Clint made a gurgling sound in his throat and chewed on his nails to cover his own amusement. Natasha who had been sitting in the chair just behind me coughed quietly. There was silence in the back of the Quinjet for a good long moment.

"Well, that's pretty cool, got a boyfriend?" He paused for a second. "And are you being serious?"

"Yes, and no," I finally let myself laugh. "Yes, I can make things freeze and I really do have a boyfriend."

At the mention of me saying I had a boyfriend, Riley couldn't wipe his own smug smile off his face. He was sitting there quietly fiddling with a few parts on his sniper rifle. Clint shot me an amusement look at the casual mention of now having a boyfriend. Natasha kicked the back of my chair.

"Well, that sucks, on both accounts." He sighed dramatically. "What's his name?"

"None of your fucking business is what his name is," I said smartly. "What's your name? Since you're being too rude to introduce yourself."

"Sam, I'm the awesome one," the STRIKE guy said promptly.

"All right children, let's put a stop to this here before someone gets hurt and starts crying," Clint broke in before I could start being snide. "Kari, try not to make STRIKE guys cry. It hurts their egos too much."

Laughter broke out in the back. I shot Riley a quick grin before turning back to concentrating on landing. I'd been given exact coordinates to land on and there wasn't a lot of room to manoeuvre in the tight space. It was on top of a relatively flat building and I'd have to be very careful putting it down. Hitting the cloaking I started to descend. The night was starting to fall so I put the night vision the cameras I could use to guide me.

"Ready?" Clint asked me unbuckling his harness.

"As I'll ever be," I said with a tight smile. "Just let me concentrate until I get this on the roof if that's ok?"

"You're the pilot," Clint said with a nod. "I'm not going to argue if you tell me to do anything with flying. I'm going to get my weapons ready."

Natasha gave me a brief squeeze on the shoulder as she got up and followed Clint. She had been the quietest I've ever seen as soon as she walked into the Quinjet.

The landing was smooth and easy. Even though it was a tight squeeze on the room I had just enough room to manoeuvre it down. As soon as we landed I unbuckled myself and jumped up from my seat. My earlier nerves were back as I reached up to grab my case off Clint. He handed me an earpiece first which I fumbled with actually getting in my ear. The chatter of everyone around me instantly came in my ear. It was crystal clear, not like the usual fuzzy radios.

"This is yours," Clint handed me the earlier promised P30 in a thigh holster. I strapped it on tightly, not sure I even had it on correctly. I was just copying where Clint wore his. I opened the case which held my sniper rifle and quickly started putting it together. I didn't miss the looks being thrown my way from the STRIKE team. Most of them were looking amused at my choice of weapon. A few looked impressed. Riley was in the latter group.

"All right everyone, you know the plan," Agent Evans spoke up. "Be safe. Keep radio chatter to a minimum while you get into position."

"Let's go," Clint said to me. "Load it when we get into position."

"Okay." My nerves kicked in again. They were worse than before. My stomach was churning enough that it started to make me feel nauseous. I quickly swallowed back the excess spit that seemed to accumulate in my mouth.

"See you after." Natasha shot us both a quick smile before disappearing into the growing twilight. She was like a ghost the way she melted into the shadows. One minute she was there and next she was gone. Clint tapped me and motioned towards the ladder on the rooftop. We both took off at a steady jog. I didn't miss Riley behind us, jogging the opposite way. I wish I'd found a discreet moment to say something to him. For my reassurance more than anything else. He'd done this a few thousand times and looked calm and confident. I was the only person who was nervous.

"STRIKE rollout," Evan's voice came over the radio.

"Yeah, I'm not listening to that." Clint yanked his earpiece out as soon as we were out of eyesight. "If it gets too annoying, you can take it out until we're in position. They're waiting for my mark, so the chatter isn't important to us."

I complied pulling mine out as well. I could hear a lot of whispers and heavy breathing as STRIKE Team Bravo moved into position. I slung the rifle over my shoulder as Clint scaled the ladder first. I was close to him, hoping my sweaty palms wouldn't make me slip and send us both crashing six stories down. The building we'd landed on was a huge warehouse. Looking around as I scaled the ladder the area was quiet. The old industrial area looking to be falling apart, ready to crumble into the river lapping at the docks. There were no cars around. No light. The area looked completely devoid of any kind of human life. There were plenty of rats and other scavengers. You could hear them scampering around the empty buildings. The scratching of claws in the air was like hearing gunshots it was that quiet.

My breathing was heavy by the time I made it to the bottom of the ladder. Clint grabbed me by the waist so I could jump the last few rungs.

"Let's go," Clint said quietly pointing towards another warehouse about 200 feet away. "Keep to the buildings, stay on my heels."

I was very glad I was fit enough to sprint after Clint and keep up. He wasn't messing around to get to where we needed to go. Every footstep sounded loud in my head, but that could have also been the pounding of my heart. We made it to the building and Clint stopped, putting his fist in the air signalling me to do the same. I stopped dead in my tracks, Three steps behind him. Clint turned to me and put his fingers to his lips, motioning his hand towards our 3 o'clock.

I nodded, pushing myself as far as I could up against the building. Nothing happened for 30 seconds. It was the longest 30 seconds of my life so far. If I didn't know any better I would have tapped Clint on the shoulder and asked him what was going on. I got my answer as I heard the cars pull down the deserted road. They were going to drive straight past us. Clint was poised ready to sprint away.

I don't know how I reacted the way I did. But I grabbed Clint's arm, yanking us both back closer to the building. Clint clamped his hand over my mouth stopping any sound at all. I concentrated harder than I ever had in my life and went invisible making Clint invisible with me. I felt him shift and then jump slightly. But other than that he was rock still. The cars drove past us without anyone being wiser that we were both pressed up against the wall. As soon as the last of the taillights disappeared around the warehouse, Clint removed his hand from my mouth. I let out a quiet but very shaky breath and went visible again. I could feel myself shaking from the effort it took to stay invisible for that long, not to mention the adrenaline now pumping through my body.

"Good job." Clint's face was grim in the weak light. "That was close. I knew I brought you along for a good reason."

"Here's hoping," I said taking in a few deeper breaths to get my bearings back

"Let's keep going, we need to get into position." Clint kept to the edge of the building until we came to a smaller outbuilding.

"Need a boost?" Clint asked motioning towards the roof of the outbuilding. It was attached to the larger warehouse. Probably an old storage shed.

He had to be kidding. I thought we were getting on the roof with a ladder. Not climbing up like a cat on steroids. Thank god I wasn't scared of heights or climbing. I had no idea how we were actually getting up on the roof of the warehouse. It was at least 15 feet up.

"Up?" I said holding my arms up like a kid would ask for a boost. Clint grinned at me briefly, before getting down on one knee and offering his hand. Shit, he really was serious about this. I took a deep breath, stuck my foot in his hand and focused on the roof. The storage shed roof wasn't that high, but if I missed it was going to hurt. There was a gutter that looked sturdy enough to grab onto and I could pull myself up from there.

Clint's boost was a lot more than I expected. It nearly overshot me from the gutter and I had a terrible moment of being suspended in the air with nothing to grab onto. My fingertips scrambled briefly until they connected with the cold metal. I sighed in relief, dangling off the gutter for a second before swinging myself up. Once I was safely on the roof I reached down, offering Clint a hand. He just shook his head and motioned for me to get back.

Taking a few steps back Clint took a running leap and managed to snag the gutter first go. His arm muscles buldged in his tight shirt as he pulled himself up beside me. He sighed in relief as he crouched next to me.

"That would have been bad if I missed," Clint said quietly with a small chuckle of amusement. "Next part is going to suck a bit, so just hang on."

I didn't really have the breath to speak. My heart was still pounding from the brief scare of feeling like I wasn't going to grab the gutter. Clint pulled his bow off his back and pressed a few buttons, making an arrow be pushed around in his quiver. He took the arrow out and fired up into the night air. I couldn't even see what he was shooting at, but whatever he aimed for he hit. A rope fell from the top of the roof.

"Grab me" Clint ordered opening one arm. I didn't hesitate. I threw my arms around his neck and let him grab me hard in a strange version of a one armed hug. Pushing another button on his bow, the rope started to retract quickly, sending both of us shooting up the building in a hurry. My stomach dropped at the sudden jolt, but it was over before I could panic about it. We were both safely on the roof.

While Clint fiddled getting the grappling arrow back. I quickly sat down and started to set my sniper rifle up. I glanced through the scope and then recoiled in surprise at what I saw.

"What's up?" Clint asked seeing my reaction. He looked like he was trying not to laugh at me.

"I have night vision on my scope?" I looked back through the scope to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I definitely wasn't. Along with night vision, I had a few other handy tools as well. "Plus windspeed, elevation, a compass and I'm not quite sure what else."

"Welcome to SHIELD," Clint said smugly. "We have all the cool toys. Yes, your scope automatically feeds back information to you that you need for a shot. Pretty neat huh?"

"Very." I smiled in glee before looking through it again. After the initial shock of seeing it, the scope was actually very awesome. It had all the information needed for an accurate shot. All I had to do now was do the math in my head before actually taking the shot. If it was needed.

"Building on your 2 o'clock." Clint fitted his earpiece back in and touched his ear. "Hawkeye in position. Stand by."

"Copy that," I murmured falling back into old habits. Riley was right, this was just like flying a mission. "Building 2 o'clock in sight."

There was motion in the upper levels. It wasn't hard to pick it, the building had the only lights on for miles. Through my scope, I could make out people moving around on the top floor. The building they had picked had huge windows right to the roof giving us a clear view of the mezzanine floor. They were closed in the cool night air. Another thing to take into account if I had to make a shot. The resistance from a glass pane would put the shot out ever so slightly.

"Tell me what you see?" Clint asked pulling a pair of binoculars from his pocket. He frowned and then smacked them against his hand a few times. "Work you touchy piece of shit. Oh, there we go. Put your earpiece in if you want."

A dull light came up from the binoculars before disappearing again. Clint put them to his face and scanned the building. I took the opportunity to quickly shove my earpiece back in. It was quiet now, unlike the earlier chatter.

"Four men." I scanned the room again. "None our main target. All grouped around a table. One woman standing at 4 o'clock about five feet away from the table. The men are all armed with AK-47's. A woman armed with a sidearm."

"More men below," Clint added "Estimate around 15."

I glanced over at him wondering how he could pick that. Below the mezzanine, I couldn't make out too much.

"IR," Clint explained catching my gaze. "Counted the body heat signatures below. Tap the button on the left hand side of the scope to change the view."

"Right hand side" Riley corrected over the radio. I jumped hearing his voice. I didn't expect it at all. Clint frowned looking down at my sniper rifle. I searched for the button he spoke about and found it where Riley had said. On the right hand side. I looked at Clint with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't like him to miss those small details.

"I'm left handed." Clint pointed out, a fact I well knew. "So mine are on the left hand side."

It made perfect sense to me. I didn't miss the barely covered snort of amusement over the radio from Riley. I looked through the scope again and blinked a few times to adjust my eyes to the bright red light. Clint was right, 15 people below in the building. I could see the bodies of the STRIKE force waiting in the shadows. A lone figure was crouching on the roof, right up in the right hand corner. It must have been Natasha. She was making her way along the roof to where ever her position was going to be.

"Car," Clint murmured quietly swivelling around 45 degrees to get a better look. "It's Andro Musil, three bodyguards with him. All wearing body armour. Heading right for the warehouse."

I switched the view back to the night vision so I could keep an eye on the building. My mouth had gone dry at hearing that the target was approaching. I scratched under my chin trying to get some moisture happening but it didn't help.

There was silence over the radio as Clint and I watched the car pull up. Andro pulled up and was instantly surrounded by his bodyguards. The only way to hit him would have been a very lucky shot through one of the guards. He was smart enough to make sure he was covered all the way into the building.

"Heading your way Romanoff," Clint said. "Get ready."

Clint then reached up and tapped his earpiece again. He motioned for me to do the same. I tapped mine, closing off the communication channel but I could still hear what was happening.

"Don't shoot unless it's absolutely necessary," Clint said firm voice leaving no room for argument. "If I need you to shoot something, don't hesitate, take the shot. Even if it sounds like something really stupid, just do it."

"Don't shoot anyone and do as I'm told. Got it." I tried to smile at Clint was it only half came onto my face. He gave me a reassuring smile.

"You'll be fine, this will all be over in a few minutes."

I hoped so. I didn't trust my voice anymore so I just nodded before turning to look back through the scope. Andro had made it to the mezzanine floor with his guards and was sitting at the table. I was almost disappointed I wasn't allowed to take a shot unless told. I had a perfect view of them right here. Through the powerful scope, I could make out every detail on his face. The scar was even uglier in person. It looked like someone had done a very messy job of sewing half his face back together. He was bald with heavy black eyebrows. His hard grey eyes were fixed on the person who he was talking to.

"On my mark." Clint reached up and opened his communication channel again. He was tense, one hand had gone down to finger his bow.

I held my breath. Nerves tingling with adrenaline now. Everything had gone very quiet. Even the thumping of my heart had quietened down.

Andro suddenly slumped forward. Not before I got a good eyeful of the bullet that ripped through his head. The female dropped to the floor instantly. I only caught the briefest glance of Natasha and she repelled down from the roof, rope attached to her waist. Both guns out and shooting as she went.

"Mark," Clint said.

Clint dropped the binoculars, kicking the bow up into his hands. Before I could blink he'd notched an arrow and fired it. A second later, one of the bodyguards staggered forward before collapsing. A black fletched arrow sticking through his neck. It was such a flawless shot. Especially for how quick Clint would have sighted the target. Seeing him in practice and now seeing him in action was two totally different things. He'd fired and killed all three bodyguards before I would have even been able to chamber a round and fire.

"Barton you've got a straggler headed right for your position, heading right in front of you," Riley's voice came over the radio, along with the unmistakable sound of a .50 calibre being fired.

I swung my rifle down so I could see who Riley was talking about. He'd been right. There was someone who was definitely not STRIKE running right towards the building we were perched on.

"Yeah, no you don't." Clint's bow followed the man before he let off the shot. The unmistakable thump of a body hitting the ground sounded loud to me. The gunshots from the building only sounded like distant pops. There were less and less shots as the seconds dragged on. Clint hadn't let any more arrows off as he scanned the building.

"Targets neutralised," a voice came over the radio. "All threats down. Status report?"

It was very anticlimactic. We were in and done in less than three minutes. I hadn't even got to put my finger anywhere near the trigger. The most excitement I'd had was going invisible against the building with Clint.

"Let's go," Clint said turning to me. He hadn't even raised a sweat up. "See told you it was nothing to worry about."

"I feel like I've just cheated," I admitted feeling a bit deflated. "I sat here and did nothing."

"You flew here which is a hell of a lot more than most people get to do on their first missions," Clint chuckled offering me a hand to get up. I grabbed it and let him pull me to my feet. "And you saved us from being seen. How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty." It was the first thing that came to mind. My mouth was still dry as hell. My tongue felt like it was covered in sand.

"At least you aren't throwing up, that's always a bonus." Clint pointed out. "Right, now we need to get down. Are you happy just to climb down?"

"Climb down where?"

"The asshole in me wants to say jump down from window ledge to the window ledge, but I have a feeling you'd push me off one if I did that," Clint laughed. "But I'll just use the grappling hook again, we'll just kind of slide down."

By the time we'd made it off the roof, the ground was swarming with even more SHIELD agents. The cleanup crew were already well into the swing of things. Coulson here with the cleanup crew and was talking on the phone. He hung up as soon as Clint and I walked over.

"Good job." Coulson produced two bottles of water for both of us. "No problems?"

"Minor issue before we got on the roof." Clint shrugged taking a sip of water. "Kari dealt with it quickly though."

"Explain." Coulson didn't look very impressed with Clint saying that.

"We were up against the building and a few cars came past," Clint explained not looking the least bit concerned. "Kari grabbed me and went invisible, so neither of us could be spotted. It was quick thinking on her part."

Coulson relaxed at Clint's casual explanation.

"Good." Coulson nodded looking pleased. "Kari, do you want to bring the Quinjet down here? We've cleared an area for you to land. It will save everyone climbing back on the roof. I'll get someone to pop some flare markers for you."

"Sure." I looked to see if Clint was going to follow me. But he was already wrapped up in talking to Coulson. Agent Evans made his way over to them both. Natasha was no where to be seen and I suddenly felt lost without anyone here holding my hand. I'd been guided with everything for the last month and a bit. Now I had to do something by myself it was a weird feeling. I shouldered my rifle and started the walk towards the building where the cloaked Quinjet was still sitting. The earpiece had gone quiet so I pulled the uncomfortable thing out of my ear. That was something that was going to get hard to get used to.

"You look completely lost." Riley fell into step beside me. I hadn't seen him approach in the darkness around me.

"All of a sudden I'm doing something unsupervised and I feel weird," I admitted with a small smile. It was good to see him, especially unscathed. "I'm bringing the Quinjet down. Want to come with me?"

"Sure." Riley shouldered his own weapon a little higher. "I can get rid of this thing too."

"It's a very sexy sniper rifle." I grinned eyeing off the CheyTac. "Can I play with it?"

"I would love to see you shooting it." Riley grinned backed. "That would be very hot. Why do you have the AWSM?"

Riley pointed to my own sniper rifle on my back. I'd barely noticed I still had it. It was a lot lighter than I thought it would be. I didn't really feel it on my back as I carried it.

"Hawk thought it'd be a good idea to give me something light," I explained feeling self conscious all of a sudden about the choice of weapon. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing at all," Riley said straight away. "Just no one else seems to use it. That's the only one in the armoury. Same as my CheyTac. Most guys use the M24's instead. The AWSM is an awesome weapon though. I've used it a few times."

"Guess its mine now," I had no problem claiming the weapon as mine. The lightweight sniper rifle was probably the best choice for me. There's no way I could lug around a 35 pound weapon along with all the ammo to go with it. "I should put my name on it so no one touches it."

"I'm not sure if that's really hot or really scary," Riley laughed at me. "I'm going with the former."

"So, did you get to shoot yours?" I asked slowing down, enjoying the easy conversation. As cheesy as it sounded, I'd missed him in the small time we'd been apart.

"Yeah, I got one guy." Riley looked mildly disappointed. "Every time I had someone lined up Barton would get them. My manhood feels very compromised."

"Poor baby," I teased lightly. "Do you need your ego stroked a bit to make you feel better?"

"Please." Riley pouted sticking his bottom lip out. "Then again, at least it wasn't you kicking my ass out there. Then I'd feel like I should just cut my balls off and hand them over."

"I'll put them in my purse nice and safe," I laughed at the silly pout he had on his face.

"The fact you own a purse is amusing," Riley teased back. "Do you have matching shoes for it?"

"I have matching shoes for everything," I sad seriously. I wasn't joking either. "I love shoes and nice clothes. Sorry to disappoint but I am a girl and there are some girly things that I like."

"I should have known from the nice outfit the other night." Riley grinned. "Not that I'm complaining. Do you have nice shoes to go with those short shorts you were wearing today?"

"No, but I do have nice shoes that match the new lingerie set I just brought," I teased him again. "You might even get to see it one day."

"Tease."

"You have no idea," I laughed. We'd come up to the building the Quinjet was parked on. I sighed and started to climb the ladder up to it. Riley was right behind me. I was beginning to feel tired now. Every rung on the ladder seemed to get harder and I was sweating heavily by the time I reached the roof. It was a relief to walk back into the Quinjet, it took me a moment of fumbling to actually find it. The Quinjet had a control panel on the outside which deactivated the cloaking while on the ground. Ian had made me go around blindfolded one day until I got it every single time. My shins and knees had hated him that day.

Uncloaked and ramp open, I sighed in relief as I walked up relieving myself of my weapons. I went to start disassembling the AWSM but Riley took it off me.

"I've got it, you just get back on the ground." He smiled, his hand lingering on mine. "The sooner we get in the air, the sooner we can go home. I don't know about you but I'm starving."

My stomach agreed with him, very loudly. I hadn't realised I was hungry until Riley mentioned food.

"Apparently I am too," I chuckled and relinquished my weapon to him. "All right, just give me a minute."

I powered the Quinjet up, running over it quickly to make sure everything was working correctly. Putting us back in the air, I did a careful 180 scanning the area for new my landing spot. It was just to the left of the building that had been stormed. Riley had both of our weapons packed up quickly and he came up to the cockpit, leaning on the co-pilot seat.

"Is it hard?" Riley asked as he watched me handle the controls. "Flying the Quinjet I mean."

"No, it's a piece of cake." I smiled taking my turn deliberately wide to give me just another minute in the air. "It's a lot of fun actually."

"So if I let you fire my CheyTac will you teach me how to fly?"

"Done." I didn't have to think about that at all.

"Sweet." Riley looked extremely happy at my easy acceptance. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Food?" I supplied unhelpfully. "My place or yours?"

"I was kind of thinking we could go out somewhere?" Riley asked suddenly looked a little unsure of himself. "If you aren't too tired by the time we get back."

"As long as I'm with you, I don't really care where we go," I said to Riley, feeling a little bit shy at my bold statement. It was worth it. I don't think Riley's grin could have gotten any wider.

"I am craving steak, like a massive steak," Riley said. "How about you?"

"Oh baby, you're talking my language." I'd always be up for a steak. "I'm a carnivore at heart."

I looked down to where my landing area was marked out. I was right over the top of it so I started to descend to the ground. I wasn't flying far off the ground and I could see a small group already waiting.

"So you can fly jets, shoot good enough for Hawkeye himself to trust you with a sniper rifle, love steak and beer. Can I just let you know I think you're the most awesome girl in the world right now?"

"I know." I grinned up at Riley to cover my embarrassment at the praise. "I'm too awesome to resist."

"That you are." Riley laughed at my cocky statement. He glanced out of the window and I didn't miss the brief look of disappointment coming across his face. "How long will it take us to get home?"

"About an hour." The Quinjet landed with a soft thump on the ground. I hit the control to open the ramp from the cockpit. "Do you have plans when you get home Agent Hunterton?"

"I was kind of hoping after dinner, do you want to stay the night again?" Riley asked quickly, glancing back to make sure we were still by ourselves. He smiled at my cheek, but didn't play the game.

"I'll grab clothes for work tomorrow on the way back to your place."

Riley didn't need to ask twice. Falling asleep with him was going to become one of my favourite things. I loved cuddling up to him, and waking up to him wrapped around me.

"Umm?" It was Sam's voice that interrupted us as he walked up the ramp. "Seriously Riley, what the fuck?"

"Snooze you lose, man," Riley said smoothy, pushing himself off the co-pilot chair.

I laughed as I turned my chair around to look in the back. Clint and Natasha were both walking up the ramp, Coulson behind them with the female I saw in the building. That must have been Melinda May.

"You said you had a boyfriend," Sam looked between me and Riley with his mouth hanging open slightly. Shock couldn't begin to describe the look on Sam's face right now.

"I do. I also told you his name was none of your business," I said simply.

"How the fuck did you manage that?" Sam turned to gawk at Riley, looking genuine flabbergasted about this. I had to stop myself laughing at Sam. He really looked like he had no idea how Riley had managed to talk to me, let alone date me.

"I've been on medical leave, working in the office with Jared." Riley shrugged with his explanation. "Kari needed a lift home a few times. This is who's text message I was waiting for that you assholes all teased me about."

"So while we were slogging our asses around Baghdad in the middle of summer you're banging…" Sam got cut off by Natasha.

"Hey." Natasha looked mildly pissed off. "If it was me you were talking about, would you finish that sentence?"

"No Agent Romanoff," Sam said quickly looking away from Natasha's glare.

"Then why do you think it's acceptable to say it about Agent Lyngley?" Natasha pressed, crossing her arms as she came to stand in front of Sam.

"It's not." Sam had the good sense to look down at his feet. "My big mouth got carried away with me."

That answer wasn't good enough. Natasha stood there tapping her foot impatient waiting for Sam to finish.

"My apologises Agent Lyngley," Sam said looking over towards me. "What I was about to say was rude and uncalled for. Its none of my business what or who you do in your spare time."

"That's better." Natasha turned around and came to sit behind me again. I mouthed a quiet thanks to her which she just shrugged. Whatever Sam was about to say wouldn't have bothered me that much. I've heard much worse in my time in the Air Force. Riley didn't look pissed off either. He had a tiny smirk on his face the entire time as he settled into his seat.

"May, this is Kari." Clint walked up with Agent May, plonking himself down in the co-pilot seat. "Kari this is Cookies."

May was standing right behind Clint. At the sound of him calling her Cookies, she punched him hard in the shoulder. It was enough to make Clint flinch, so there had to be some force behind it.

"It's still not funny even five years down the track Barton," May said sharply, before turning back to me. Her tone changed instantly to friendly. "Nice to meet the smart twin. Shame you got put with this loser. Thankfully you have Natasha to keep you in line."

I burst out laughing at how deadpanned May said that about Clint. She was the first person I'd met in SHIELD to not fawn over him. His reputation really did follow him around. And he did everything in his power to live up to that reputation too. Natasha didn't have to say or do anything with her reputation. Her walking into a room was enough to scare most people who didn't know her.

"Can we stop bantering and get home please?" Coulson came to stand behind my pilot's seat "Some of us still have plans for tonight."

"Hot date, Sir?" I asked casually powering the Quinjet getting ready to take off. Everyone was in, still fiddling around with actually being strapped in, but at least loaded.

"You could say that." Coulson gave nothing away. He and Agent May went and took seats in the back.

"The way you're trying to get us into the air I'd say you have plans for tonight as well," Clint teased me. "Where are you going?"

"Somewhere that will satisfy my carnivore cravings." I really had no idea where Riley and I would be going. Beyond the few takeaway places close to home, I didn't know anywhere else in DC.

"Joe's is pretty awesome," Clint said helpfully. "And if you go there, I'm tagging along."

"Sure, Hawk just invite yourself to dinner, no problems," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah didn't think there would be a problem," Clint answered smartly. "Nat, you coming?"

"You're so fucking rude Barton," Natasha own smart reply came. "What if Kari had plans to go with Riley? You know alone like some people like to do?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Clint pulled his phone out flicking through his contacts. "I'll book a table for six then."

There was no arguing with Clint once he had his mind set to it. I looked back to Riley who'd been listening to the conversation looking like he was trying hard not to laugh. If things like this didn't make him run off scared then I wasn't sure what would. I felt my own smile tug at my lips.

"Sure, who's ringing Jared?" I asked. "He never says no to steak."

Authors Note

Well, 2 hours is better than 24 hours. Enjoy!

Edited 3rd June 2018