"Is that the last of it?"
I nodded, wiping my sweaty face on my shirt as I put the last box in the moving truck. Natasha, Jared and I were at Clint and Laura's house. Well, I suppose it was their old house now, packing up the last of the belongings and seeing it put on the moving truck. Most of it was going down to Kentucky to help Laura furnish her new house. But some of it was going into storage until Clint found his own place. It was a sad little pile we put into Clint's moving truck. That one had already gone, Jared with it to help unload at the other end. Until Clint found somewhere to live, we did some swapping around for living arrangements. Jared was moving into Riley's old apartment and Clint was staying in Jared's room. Coulson didn't want Clint by himself, but he and Natasha only had one bedroom apartments so it was the easiest solution.
Natasha sighed, looking at the now empty house. It was strange to see it so lifeless. This was always a place of laughter and cheer. Now with the December snow falling on the ground and the garden looking dead, it was a sad reminder of what was. This house held so many memories for me. I couldn't even begin to consider how shitty this was for Clint.
It was all happening so fast. It was only 2 weeks ago that Clint appeared at the ranch saying he and Laura had split up. In that time I'd become to go-between for Clint and Laura. They still hadn't spoken, both of them were adamant they had nothing to say to each other anymore. The kids called every night to talk to Clint on my phone. It was the only time I saw him smile. We flew back to DC yesterday just in time for my appointment to get my jaw unwired. I thought I'd be celebrating with a huge piece of steak. Unluckily for me, my bite was all out of shape and I had to suffer through another week of elastics on my back teeth until I saw an orthodontist. The elastics only let me open my mouth a quarter of an inch, but it was better than nothing. Anything wider hurt like a motherfucker. I managed to eat soup with a spoon last night and drink beer out of the bottle without a straw. Using a utensil again made me feel like a normal person.
Natasha and I stood back as the movers closed the back of the truck. In less than a minute it was going down the street and on it's way to Kentucky. It didn't seem real that this was happening, but the emptiness of the house spoke more than words could. I sighed, pulling my phone out of my jeans pocket to let Laura know the truck was on its way. While I typed the text out, I watched Natasha out of the corner of my eye.
She was taking this hard. Laura and the kids were the first real family she had out of the Red Room. They'd given her stability and the chance of seeing what a loving family was. Now it was all gone. After I finished the text, I reached over and gave her a hug. There was a lot of hugging these days. I couldn't find the words to make anything better and there was nothing I could do to fix this. So I hugged instead. Hugging might not fix everything, but it made all of us feel a little better.
"We need to get drunk," Natasha mumbled into my shoulder. "Very, very drunk."
"Let's go out then." I was tired, but not so tired I couldn't make it through a few hours of drinking. Natasha looked stiff and tired so it probably wouldn't be a wild night. Dinner and drinks would do all of us the world of good.
"JoJo's?" Natasha face lit up at my easy acceptance. She pulled out her phone and started to text someone as I nodded in agreement. JoJo's was perfect. We could eat and then get drunk. "Good, let's go."
After stopping at Natasha's apartment, we went to back to mine. Clint and Jared were both there, along with Coulson. To my surprise, everyone was dressed ready to go out. Judging by the stormy look on Clint's face, he wasn't very happy about it. But at least he was getting out of the house. But I also remembered how much I hated it when people tried to make me do things after Riley died and I really didn't want to. Natasha was the worst for it, but I always ended up enjoying myself at the end. I hoped tonight might be the same for Clint.
I didn't need to be told to get my ass into gear. I was showered and dressed within 15 minutes. I was yanking on a pair of ankle high boots as we walked out the door. Jared was talking non-stop, teasing Coulson mercilessly about when he was going to introduce us to Audrey, his girlfriend. There was no stopping Jared once he got on a roll about something, it was even worse when Natasha joined in. Their teasing and outrageous plans even got Clint to smile once or twice in the slow crawl over to JoJo's.
It was packed when we got there. The restaurant looked completely full and the bar only had standing room. Unfortunately for us, someone fucked up the reservation Coulson had phoned in earlier. Our table was double booked and not going to be ready for at least another hour. Not even Jared's charm to the waitress got us anywhere.
"I'm going to the toilet," I grumbled as we were firmly sent to the bar to wait. This wasn't going as planned. The good mood in the cab ride was quickly dissipating from our group. Clint looked pissed off and I wouldn't be surprised to find him gone when I got back from the toilet.
"I'll get us drinks," Natasha offered. She was wearing a low cut top and all the bartenders were male. "At least we can drink the hour away,"
I nodded in agreement before starting to weave my way through the crowd. No one paid any attention to me and I was able to get to the bathroom without anyone hassling me. As usual, there was a line at the ladies so I pulled my phone out. Gareth had been chatty all day, keeping me amused during the long, painful process of packing up Clint's house. I'd felt my phone vibrate on the way here, but I'd been too busy laughing at Jared being an idiot to look.
How did it all go? Moving sucks ass. Buy Barton a drink for me. Been there and done that after a relationship break up.
I smiled as I lent against the wall to reply. I'd told Gareth that Clint had broken up with a long time girlfriend and it was very messy. Gareth had been surprisingly supportive and helpful. Though I didn't know the details behind his own divorce, I was getting the hint that it'd been very messy as well.
It sucked ass. I'm sore as hell from lifting shit. Going out to dinner and our table isn't ready, so going to get drunk at the bar.
The line moved, making me push my aching body off the wall. It was all muscle aches from the lifting and bending. My jaw and ribs had both healed surprisingly well. It'd been more of an annoyance than anything else. Then again, after Pripyat, everything was going to feel easier. Not having radiation poisoning while I was healing was a big bonus this time. My phone was annoyingly silent as the line crept forward. What was it with women taking forever in the bathroom? I could be in, pee and out in less than a minute. Whoever the big group of women were must have known each other. The chatter didn't stop. I tuned it out until a certain sentence caught my interest.
"There are 2 hot blonde guys at the bar." A woman about my age was standing at the sink, applying a fresh coat of lipstick. The woman next to her had a birthday hat on. By the way, they were both swaying in their heels, it was a very safe guess to see they were already drunk.
"Oh the muscles on the shorter one," the birthday hat girl giggled, fanning herself. "I call dibs. You can have the taller really blonde one."
I rolled my eyes. It could have been anyone they were talking about. But big muscles and really blonde could only be Clint and Jared. These two must have been in the group that came in to only use the mirror.
"Done." The other girl giggled with her friend. She gave her boobs a push-up, pulling the neckline of her dress down a little. "Good thing I wore my good lingerie."
The snort of laughter that escaped from me was a lot louder than I anticipated. It was enough to pull both of the women's attention to me. I was getting the judgemental stink eye from both of them as I looked up from my phone. It wasn't unexpected. I was very dressed down tonight in jeans and a plain black t-shirt that had 'Self Rescuing Princess' on the front. Riley had brought it for me as a joke ages ago. I loved the shirt so much I'd nearly worn it out.
"He's an ass man actually." Fuck it, I was already busted for listening in on the conversation. I may as well pour some fuel on the fire. Clint and Jared would either want to strangle me or they'd appreciate two pretty women throwing themselves at them. Well, Clint might strangle me. It wouldn't hurt to give his ego a bit of a stroke with a pretty girl wanting his attention. Jared probably wouldn't care. "The really blonde one, who's my brother, is a boobs man. Both of them like straightforward women, so offer to buy them a drink if you really want to impress them."
Their faces instantly changed from bitchy and suspicious to gleeful. They both quickly shoved their make up back into their purses and left the bathroom as quickly as their heels would allow. The birthday girl gave me a quick hug on her way out.
"I'll buy you a drink too," she slurred through her drunken giggles. "Thanks, gorgeous."
I managed to dodge the drunken kiss she aimed at me. She was too drunk and excited to notice before she stumbled off in the direction of the bar. Thankfully the line had crept forward and I finally got into the toilet. As soon as my pants were down, Gareth chose to reply.
"Typical." I snorted as quickly peed and got out of the toilet. I washed my hands and walked out of the bathroom reading the message.
I'd offer to give you a massage, but I'm shit at them. Does this mean I'll be getting a phone call later?
I laughed under my breath as I started to type out my reply. Gareth had been keeping things PG-rated lately. I barely had any privacy and he seemed to understand better than most that the last few weeks had been stressful.
Probably, it depends on how much I drink. What are your plans for tonight?
As I hit send, I collided into another person. I looked up to apologize and found myself looking at someone I actually knew.
"Hey, it's Kari!" Tex, the Alpha team marksman was grinning at me. "How you doing?"
"Hey. I'm still alive." I found myself grinning back. I didn't know him too well, but he was always nice to me. It was good to see a somewhat familiar face after being away for ages. "What are you doing here?"
"Sister's birthday party," Tex explained, moving to the side so we weren't completely blocking the only thing resembling a walkway. The way he said it sounded like it was as enjoyable as a dentist appointment. "She's already hammered and ran past me about 2 minutes ago saying something about a hot blonde guy at the bar she was buying a drink for."
"Oh shit." I turned to where I'd last seen Jared and Clint. Sure enough, the two girls from the bathroom were with them. Tex followed my line of sight and groaned as soon as he saw the scene in front of us. "I'm guessing that's your sister in the birthday hat?"
"Yep, that's Ada." Tex shook his head. "I feel like I should drag her off Barton before this gets out of hand."
To my surprise, whatever Ada had just said to Clint made him smile as he took a drink. I'd actually expected Clint to turn her down. No matter the reason, it was good to see a smile on Clint's face. He deserved to feel better after the hell he'd been through the last 2 weeks.
"Sorry, that was my bad." I smiled, trying to be apologetic. "I may have made some suggestions in the bathroom."
"Thanks," Tex said dryly, but there wasn't any wiping the smile off his face. "Want a drink? Rumlow and a few of the guys are here too."
"Sure." I couldn't see Coulson or Natasha anywhere. I may as well go and say hello while waiting for our table to be ready. Tex and I walked to the bar, he was taller than me and fairly broad so it was easier for me to stay behind and let him clear the path. Unluckily for us, I didn't have Natasha's cleavage to enable drinks to happen quickly, so it took ages to get served. Tex was very easy to talk to which made the waiting bearable. Once we had our drinks, I followed Tex to where his group was sitting. There were plenty of faces I didn't know, but the ones I did all looked very happy to see me.
"How many lives have you got left now?" Rumlow stood up and gave me a very brief hug. "Hows the jaw? Want me to order you a steak?"
"Jaw is still fucked, so no steak," I said, pulling back my cheek to show off the brightly coloured elastics I was sporting on my back teeth. "I feel like a teenager with braces."
"Ouch." For once in his life, Rumlow sounded sympathetic. It didn't last very long. "You look like a teenager with braces too."
"You're an asshole," I chuckled despite my words. I took a long swig of my scotch, enjoying the burn of it going down. "Move so I can sit down and stare longingly at those wings."
The group had pushed some of the tables together and there was a spread of food over them. The wings were smelling especially good
"If you rip them into tiny little pieces you can eat them." Tex supplied helpfully, offering me the chair he was about to sit in. "Yes, I know from experience. Breaking your jaw sucks."
"Helpful and offering me a chair, I'm glad someone's mother taught him some manners," I teased him as I sat down.
"I'm just a good southern boy," Tex drawled with a mischievous smile. Rumlow balled up a napkin and threw it at his teammate.
"Don't go using that southern accent to charm your way into everything," Rumlow scowled at him playfully. "Where's your drunk ass sister?"
"In Barton's lap." Tex rolled his eyes as he perched on the arm of my chair. "Her friend Lauren looked pretty cozy with Jared too."
"Your fucking brother," Rumlow scowled for real this time. "How the fuck does he do that?"
"Because he's charming, unlike some people I know," I teased Rumlow as I sipped my scotch. "Were you trying to get into Lauren's pants tonight?"
"Yes," Rumlow grumbled, causing a round of laughter to erupt from around the table. Poor Rumlow. I had to give him credit for being honest though. "And I can be charming when I want to be."
"No, you can't." Natasha voice chiming into the conversation caused all the male heads at the table to swivel around to look at her. She was standing behind Rumlow with a glass of vodka and scotch in her hand. I knocked back the half a glass of scotch I still had and reached out for the new drink. "Jared gets the girls because he's pretty. Something you aren't Brock."
Natasha's teasing earned Rumlow another round of laughter from around the table. Rumlow was definitely handsome, but pretty was not a word I'd ever use to describe him. Jared could easily pass himself off as a model and no one would question it.
One of the other Alpha boys stood up and let Natasha have his seat. Unlike Tex, he didn't get any teasing for letting Natasha have his seat. Most of the guys were either well mannered or terrified enough of Natasha to never question when she wanted something. The conversation flowed around the group, from the few I didn't know introducing themselves to me dodging questions about how I really broke my jaw. It wasn't all bad though. There were plenty of funny stories being thrown around, mostly about Tex, from the few family members he had with him. Tex had been right that if I tore the chicken wings into tiny pieces I could manage to eat them. Having meat that wasn't pulverized in a blender made my night. Coulson found us and to my surprise had another drink for Natasha and I. He was looking a little tipsy himself.
"We don't have a table," Coulson explained as he dragged a chair over. "So they gave us free drinks to make up for it."
I tasted the scotch. It was something very smooth and obviously high end. Coulson knew how to pick them. Judging by the pleased look on Natasha's face, her vodka was just as good.
"Where's Jared and Barton?" Coulson asked.
Natasha rolled her eyes and jerked her head in the direction we'd last seen them. My back was to the bar so I didn't have to see the display. I'd only turn around if Natasha looked particularly disgusted about something. Clint was laughing with Ada, actually laughing. Natasha and I were his best friends and we couldn't get him to laugh after everything over the last few weeks. Last time I looked, they'd found a chair and Ada was lounging in Clint's lap. Clint was looking not in the least bit sober either. Tonight wasn't going to end well if things kept going the way they were. I didn't expect things to go like this. I expected Clint to turn her down, or maybe take the offer of a drink and nothing more.
I turned around to look again. They hadn't changed much since I last saw them. Ada was still in his lap and Clint was nuzzling her neck now. As I turned back, Coulson was getting out of his chair looking less than amused. There were a few raised eyebrows at the table as Coulson walked over the Clint.
"What's going on there?" Rumlow was the first to ask what everyone was thinking.
"Barton just had a messy breakup with his girlfriend," Natasha half lied. She was still scowling in Clint's direction. "It was only 2 weeks ago. I am not dealing with the fall out of his bullshit."
"I'll go get my sister." Tex got up quickly. "Same story with her too. This isn't going to end well."
The entire group watched in either of amusement or mild discomfort as the scene folded out in front of all of us. While I couldn't hear the entire conversation, it looked quite heated between Coulson and Clint. Tex was having a hard time dragging his sister away, which probably wasn't helping the situation at all. But she gave up first, walking behind Tex with a serious pout on her face. She threw herself down in the chair next to me with her arms crossed and glaring at her brother. Tex didn't seem perturbed by it at all. He took his place back on the arm of my chair, casually sipping his beer.
"You remember the female STRIKE members I told you about?" Tex asked his sister. She looked up at him, rolling her eyes dramatically like it was the stupidest question he'd ever asked. I knew that look, I'm sure it was the same one I had when Jared said something stupid. I hid my smile in my scotch glass that was getting dangerously low.
"You mean the ones you described as having the most glorious tits in the world and the other having an ass made for grabbing?" Ada asked with a completely innocent look on her face.
Natasha had just taken a sip of vodka and had to hastily cover her mouth to avoid spraying the table with vodka. I coughed to hide my own strangled laughter from coming out. Natasha and I were the only ones to spare his feelings. The rest of the table weren't quiet in their amusement.
"Thank you Ada for giving the 2 most deadly women I know a reason to kill me," Tex sighed, giving his sister a dirty look once the laughter died down. He shot me a pleading look. "I never said that."
"What's wrong Tex, don't you think Kari has nice boobs too?" Natasha spoke up before I could reassure him about horrible siblings telling lies. His face started going bright red as he took a long drink from his beer.
Tex was saved from thinking of a reply with Clint coming over to the table with Coulson at his side. In one very deliberate motion, Clint tapped Ada on the shoulder and motioned for her to stand up. With every single set of eyes on him, he plonked himself down in the chair and patted his knee with a smile in Ada's direction. Coulson looked less than amused at Clint's little display.
"Last chance." Coulson bent down to speak to Clint quietly. I barely heard what he was saying and I only caught it because I was looking straight at them. "Do you really want a repeat of what happened after you and Bobbi broke up?"
Clint's snort was enough to tell me tonight was going to end up in one big fucking mess. He ignored Coulson completely and turned his attention back to Ada. I was really regretting my part on this now. If only I hadn't pointed those girls in that direction, none of this would be happening. Coulson said nothing except to take a seat with his own drink, turning his attention to Rumlow. It seemed even Coulson was done with Clint's behavior tonight. Well, fuck it. He was an adult, he could make his own decision. No matter how bad they were.
"Want another drink?" Tex's question broke me from my guilty thoughts.
"God yes." I handed him my empty glass. At least I could drown my guilt in scotch. Natasha slid her now empty glass over to him as well. For a second, it looked like she was contemplating throwing it at Clint's head. But her face changed as she gave it a final push towards Tex.
"Please." Natasha smile was nothing short of predatory. "Because I have such nice boobs."
"While I'm not disagreeing, I didn't say that," Tex said with a groan, picking up her glass. "Its vodka isn't it?"
"No ice in mine," I said quickly before Natasha could get her order in. I rummaged around in my pockets to find some money for him for both our drinks. I hadn't bothered with a purse tonight, only my ID and some money.
"I've got it." Tex shook his head before I could produce any money. Before I could protest, he took our empty glasses and walked off. I was already feeling a little tipsy as I watched him walk away. Why did I get the feeling I was missing something here? Maybe it was just my tired brain and alcohol making something up. I shook my head slightly, pushing the thought away.
The conversation around the table resumed despite the earlier awkwardness. Not that Clint or Ada were paying any attention to it. The only time Clint moved was to stagger back to the bar for more drinks. At least he brought Natasha and I one while he was there, not that it helped simmer Natasha's temper. She had no problems throwing snarky remarks in his direction at every opportunity she could. I'd About an hour later, Clint surprised the hell out of everyone by speaking up.
"We should go clubbing. Ultrabar is only a block away."
"I'm not going clubbing," I protested immediately. "I'm not dressed for it."
Not to mention I was dead tired. Tex was keeping my scotch glass constantly topped up and I was beginning to feel drunk.
"You look fine," Tex reassured me with a charming smile. "Come on, it'll be fun. I'll buy you some more scotch."
"I'm out." Natasha interrupted, throwing back the last of her vodka. "I have somewhere better to be."
Judging by the amount of texting that was going on, I knew exactly where Natasha was going. Sam was becoming quite the constant in her life. Not that she'd ever admit it. I was dreading the day their little relationship, or lack of, fell apart. It wasn't going to be pretty.
"Traitor," I muttered under my breath. I swirled the last of my scotch around in the glass before downing it. I got up, grabbing onto the chair for balance as a wave of dizziness hit me. Tex had the good manners to quickly grab my arm before I could fall over. "I'm out too."
"Come on Kari." Clint turned to me with a pout. "At least one of you has to come."
"So not in the mood for it." Especially now the scotch was hitting me. I was tired and sore. Gareth had been texting me all night. His own drinking was starting to kick in some dirty messages. Going home with my vibrator and his suggestive texts was sounding a hell of a lot better than clubbing.
"Have you got enough money for a taxi?" Coulson asked, cutting off Clint who had opened his mouth to speak. In the brief conversation with Clint, Natasha had already disappeared. Sam must have been promising her something really good for her to disappear without saying goodbye to at least me.
"Yeah, I'm good." I smiled at Coulson, patting my pocket with the cash in it. "I'll text to let you know I get home safely."
It was like having a third parent. But right now I was glad he was dealing with Clint's shit later on and not me. It was probably going to be bad enough if he brought Ada back for the night. Coulson nodded at my reassurance, giving me a small wave. I said my goodbyes, pointedly ignoring Clint's protests about me not coming clubbing with them.
"I'll walk you out," Tex offered, getting up from the chair he'd finally managed to get only 20 minutes ago.
"Thanks." I gave him a smile as I picked up my coat and scarf. "But I'm scarier than anything else out there. I think I'll be fine."
"I'll walk in this general direction for some fresh air then," Tex said as he picked his own coat up.
"You just want to admire my ass on the way out," I teased him for the 100th time that night. It was fun watching his face go red every single time.
"Am I ever going to hear the end of that?" Tex asked with a small groan. "I swear I didn't say it."
"Hey, I can't fault you for looking. I know its pretty spectacular," I continued my teasing as we started to walk out. Tex said nothing, option to laugh at my smart ass comment instead. The crowd had dwindled away over the last few hours, letting us get out onto the sidewalk without any interruptions. I hunched down in my coat, wrapped my scarf around me a little tighter as the wind blasted me. The snow from earlier was gone but a freezing wind had picked up instead.
"So what are your plans for the rest of the night?" Tex asked as we started to walk down the street, both huddled down in our coats. It would seem Tex felt the cold as badly as I did. There was a taxi rank not far down the road. I wasn't going to stand on the sidewalk freezing my ass off on the off chance one might pass us on the way.
"Go home and go to bed." I snuck a quick look at my phone. Gareth had gone quiet after his last very descriptive text. It was close to midnight so I wouldn't be surprised if he'd gotten sick of waiting for me reply, jerked off and gone to bed without me joining in the fun. "Barton is stayed with me at the moment so I'm hoping if I'm asleep already I won't hear anything."
"Don't worry, Ada doesn't live here and got a motel for the weekend. I think your safe for the night," Tex said with a small chuckle. "How long had Barton and his girlfriend been together?"
"A couple of years." I hated this line of questioning. It wasn't the first time someone had asking innocent enough question about Clint. I had to be evasive without seeming like I was being evasive. "How about Ada and her boyfriend?"
"Only a year, but she thought he was the one." Tex shrugged. "She got a job at Hogarth, Chao and Benowitz law firm in New York and starts in the new year. Her boyfriend didn't want to move, so he decided to call it quits on the relationship. I had a feeling it was more to do with he didn't like that Ada would be earning more than him."
"Ouch." There wasn't much else I could say about that. Getting a job at a prestigious law firm like she had was a big deal. Having something like that on your resume would put someone miles ahead in any job firm. "It sounds like she's better off without him."
"Yeah, but a broken heart is still a broken heart." Tex gave me a crooked smile. "She'll come to her senses eventually. She's the smart one in the family."
"I doubt you're dumb," I said dryly, returning the smile. "Weren't you a Ranger?"
"Yes Ma'am." Tex gave me a mock salute. "Corporal Reeves of the Third Ranger Batallion."
"So what brought you over to SHIELD?" I was enjoying this conversation so I slowed down a little. There was a bit of an unspoken bond between those who were ex military within SHIELD. We all seemed to gravitate towards each other.
"Better pay, less bullshit missions." Tex's answer wasn't a surprise. It was another thing most of the ex-military had in common. SHIELD was double the pay of military. "I did 3 tours of Iraq before SHIELD came knocking. I was almost ready to get out and saw this as a good opportunity to make a change in my life."
"That sounds like a common theme." Despite my less than ideal recruitment, SHIELD had changed my life for the better. Mostly. "Hows it working out for you so far?"
"I didn't die on my first mission, so I think it's a pretty good start," Tex said with a chuckle. "But I'm enjoying it."
"My first mission was boring as fuck." I thought back to the simple mission where I sat on the roof with Clint and not much else. "The second one, not so much."
My mind wandered back to the second mission where we'd been in a car crash as well. I never knew what happened to the doctor we'd escorted out. It seemed like a lifetime ago now.
"I heard that's a requirement for STRIKE Team Delta, everything has to go to shit." Tex's comment brought my attention back to him. It made me smile a little. He certainly wasn't wrong there.
"I've found that out the hard way." I unconsciously rubbed my slightly sore ribs. We'd arrived at the taxi rank. "Thanks for walking with me. You didn't have to come and shiver your ass off with me."
"Just being polite." Tex laid his accent a little harder with a charming smile. It made me smile again as well. He wasn't flirting, as far as I could tell. But damn, if it was any other girl they'd be throwing themselves at the charming guy beside me. As we reached the first taxi, he reached over and opened the door for me. "Have a good night."
"Bye." I slid into the cab with a smile. That was an unexpected interesting little chat. After telling the taxi driver my address, I slid down in the seat with a muffled yawn. I was so damn tired, I could fall asleep right here. I pulled my phone out again and sent a text to Gareth for something to keep me awake.
Did you fall asleep on me?
To my surprise the text came up as read straight away. I had my reply in about 30 seconds.
I am SO sorry Kari. My Mom rang. Talk about an immediate boner killer. You still drinking?
I laughed under my breath at his reply. It felt like way too much effort to type out a reply, so I pressed his name and called him instead. As I was putting the phone to my ear, he picked up.
"I'll take that as a yes?" I could hear the smirk in Gareth's voice.
"No, I finished drinking and now I need someone to help me stay awake on the drive home." I smothered back another yawn. "Sorry to disappoint."
"Hardly a disappointment," Gareth reassured me. "How was your night?"
"Besides wanting to punch Barton in the face, it wasn't too bad." I closed my eyes, letting my head fall against the chair. "One of the Alpha team guys kept buying me drinks so I'm feeling a little tipsy."
"Why did you want to punch Barton in the face?" Gareth asked, his amusement barely concealed. "I'm guessing the guy buying you drinks didn't get you the good stuff, otherwise we might not be having this conversation right now."
"Ew, just no." I caught onto Gareth's teasing right away. "STRIKE guys are arrogant assholes. If they aren't intimidated by me, then they think I look like a boy. Barton decided to hook up with someone. It's going to be a disaster in the morning when he's sober."
"You don't look like a boy," Gareth scoffed through a small laugh. "Your face is far too pretty to be mistaken for a guy."
"From behind with my hair up, I have gotten called 'Sir' a few times. Especially in my flight suit," I countered. "I have no hips to speak off. During my first tour I had one poor mechanic so flustered by the mistake he could barely speak to me after it. He always mumbled and turned bright red any time I went near him."
"Flight suits aren't the most flattering piece of clothing out there," Gareth said with a chuckle. "I'll give you that. Hows your jaw feeling?"
"I ate with a spoon and drunk out of a cup, so I'm happy." I reached up and rubbed my jaw. I had a weird tingling sensation that came and went on the left side of my face. Right now it could have been to scotch causing it. "I still can't open my mouth more than a quarter of an inch and I have to see the orthodontist about correcting my bite next week. My life is so exciting."
"Your life is a lot more exciting than mine," Gareth said dryly. "I go to the gym, go to work and come home. If I'm lucky I have this awesome, hot blonde sending me a few texts which makes my otherwise boring days bearable."
"It can't be that bad." I could feel my face heating in mild embarrassment at his compliment. "I know it can be soul crushingly boring sometimes at work."
"It's so boring I put in a request to head overseas again," Gareth said with a barely audible sigh. "It doesn't help my girl has been grounded since before Thanksgiving. Sharpe has me doing safety audits."
"It sucks to be a Captain and having real responsibilities." I winced on Gareth's behalf. Having your jet grounded was never a fun time. It was a guarantee of being assigned to the most boring jobs in the world that no one else wanted to do. I never got lumped with it too much being a Junior Officer. But being a Captain would give Gareth a lot more responsibility than I ever had. "Good thing I'm coming down next weekend to relieve you of some of this boredom."
The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. I'd still been so undecided about what I was doing and Gareth hadn't pushed the issue. But for once, something actually felt right. I wasn't going to take it back now. Mom had been right. I could go down and enjoy a weekend away with my old workmates. The only pressure to do anything else was what I was putting on myself. Even Gareth hadn't pushed the issue or asked about us actually having sex while I was down there. Like me, he seemed rather content to leave things the way they were right now.
"Yeah?" Gareth asked, sounding very pleased. "I didn't want to push the issue with you being hurt. But that makes me really happy to hear."
"I'm hoping I'll be able to stretch my jaw enough to accomodate eating real food," I said teasingly. The scotch was helping with loosening my tongue. "Though I'm not sure if it's going to stretch for much else more."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. It was long enough to make me feel like I'd said the wrong thing.
"You know I'm not inviting you down here just for sex?" Gareth finally spoke, sounding very cautious. "Not gonna lie on it'd be awesome if it happens. It was fun having you down here for the demonstration."
"It's been so long for me, if anything does happen I hope it's not a crushing disappointment." I couldn't think of anything else to say. If he was being honest, I may as well be too.
"Me too." Gareth sounded relieved as he chuckled. "Some guys I know fucked around after their divorces. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Besides one very messy one night stand, it's been a long dry spell."
"How messy was the one night stand?" I asked, feeling relieved at Gareth's easy answer. The taxi pulled up in front of my building. "Hang on, I've got to pay for my cab."
I pulled the phone away from my ear, fumbling around in my tight pockets for change. I gave the driver a $20, waving him off as he went to get me change. The poor driver had to listen to my tipsy ramblings on the drive over here. A generous tip was the least I could do.
"Okay, I'm back." I put the phone back to my ear as I climbed out. A blast of arctic wind hit me so hard, I nearly fell over. I pulled my jacket around me tighter and walked as fast as I could towards the door.
"I barely remember the one night stand," Gareth admitted, sounding sheepish about it. "I was so fucking drunk and it was a friend of a friend. It got back to me that I may have had some performance issues and then I pushed her off me and puked in the rubbish bin. That last part I unfortunately remember."
"At least you were polite enough to vomit in the bin," I laughed at his story as I stumbled through the door and into the elevator. "If it makes you feel better, I've been in that position too and he missed the bin entirely. How long ago was this?"
In Riley's defence, he wasn't that drunk. It was a combination of him having food poisoning on top of having a few bourbons with dinner. I'd never seen him move so fast in the time I knew him.
"January," Gareth was laughing with me. "That makes me feel a little better. I think. How long has it been for you?"
"9 months." Time was flying by. I'd be glad to see the end of this year. It'd been beyond shitty. The elevator door opened on my floor. It was an effort to pull myself off the wall I was leaning on. "You win."
"If you tell me a good looking person like you can't get laid, I may cry," Gareth joked. "At least I have the excuse of I was overseas for 3 months of that."
"I was in hospital for 2 months of that," I countered with another laugh. "And the one time I tried I got rejected."
Time had taken a little of the sting off Greg's rejection. I still hadn't attempted to make contact with him. I still couldn't bring myself to delete him off my phone. Maybe one day I'd be brave and find out what the fuck actually happened. It wouldn't be any time soon though. I fumbled with my apartment key a few times before I got it in the door. My coordination wasn't working tonight.
"I thought you were only in hospital for 2 weeks in Germany?" Gareth's confused tone made me frown. It took a second before my brain worked out what he was talking about. Fuck, I probably shouldn't have said that.
"This was another time," I said, pushing the door open. I turned the lights on and dropped my keys on the table near the door. "I can't really talk about it."
"How about the idiot who rejected you?" Gareth was smart enough to change the topic very quickly. He knew better than most people about clearance levels and nothing he could say could make me talk about classified information. "Can we bitch about him?"
"Idiot is the nicest word he's been called," I said dryly, kicking off my shoes. "Natasha calls him 'that asshole' now instead of his name."
"As every best friend should." I could hear the smile in Gareth's voice. "My best friend calls my ex wife the demonic hell beast."
"She looked like it too every time she looked in my direction last time I was there." I made it to my room and threw myself down on my bed. "I thought you guys had a kid on the way before I left."
"We did." Gareth's tone was tinged with sadness. It made me regret my question immediately. I hadn't thought it through at all. Before I could apologise, he kept speaking. "Our daughter was stillborn at 22 weeks. It was the last straw in our already failing marriage."
"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I need to stop talking tonight. My mouth is getting me in trouble."
"You didn't know." There was a small rustle on the other end of the phone, sounding like Gareth was changing positions. "There's no need to apologise. What else have you said tonight that has got you in trouble?"
"I made the suggestion to the girl who Barton is hooking up with that he was single and to buy him a drink." Even now I cringed thinking back to my stupid comment. "So it's partly my fault this is all about to go to shit."
"Barton is a grown ass man who can make his own decisions," Gareth said firmly. "You aren't forcing him to sleep with the woman."
"I still feel guilty." I blew out a breath, staring up at my ceiling. "I know I shouldn't, but fuck me the entire thing is one big mess. This is going to make it worse."
"It'll get better eventually," Gareth's tone turned to reassuring. There was a sound on the other end of the phone sounding suspiciously like a muffled yawn. "Believe me, I know all about that. As much as I want to continue our tradition of drunk phone sex, I'm beat."
"Me too." I admitted. My eyes were burning from the effort of staying open. "Sorry to disappoint with lack of phone sex."
"You can call me any time you want, not just for phone sex." Gareth reassured me again, this time he was laughing at me. "Not that I'm saying the phone sex is a bad thing. Let me know how it goes tomorrow with it all. You're welcome to come and hide down here if it gets too much. I promise I'll sleep on the couch and keep my hands to myself unless you say otherwise."
"I may take you up on that," I said with a small laugh. "Thanks Gareth. Sleep well."
"Night Kari."
I barely had the energy to get up and turn my light off after the call ended. I think I was asleep before I made it back to bed.
I woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking. Despite the amount I drank last night, I wasn't feeling too bad. I could do with a gallon of water, but thankfully that was the worst of it. I got changed out of my rumpled clothes and padded out to the kitchen. It wasn't a surprise to see Coulson in the kitchen. Neither was it a surprise to see Clint sitting at the kitchen island, still in last nights clothes and looking very rumpled. He had his head in his hands, massaging his temples.
"Good morning," I said way louder than I needed to. Clint visibly winced at the volume of my voice, but didn't look up.
"Breakfast?" Coulson looked amused as he motioned to the pan on the stove. In a seperate pan there was scrambled eggs cooking. Something soft enough I could hopefully manage. I nodded eagerly as I slid into the chair next to Clint. He had 2 empty Gatorade bottles in front of him, along with a bottle of aspirin and anti-nausea medication. Coulson slid over mug of coffee over to me as I smirked in Clint's direction. He looked terrible and there was a small part of me happy to see him looking like he was regretting his actions from last night.
"I can feel your silent judgement from here," Clint's voice was rough. He didn't look up from massaging his temples. "I hate myself enough right now without you judging me too."
He looked miserable enough that any snark I was about to throw at him died in my throat. I had started this last night, so the least I could do was keep my opinion to myself. No matter how trashy I thought it was that Clint was sleeping with someone else 2 weeks after splitting with his wife. This was partly my fault, so I kept my mouth shut as I sipped my coffee.
The lack of speaking in the kitchen quickly got on my nerves. Neither of them were talking and Clint was actively avoiding looking anywhere in Coulson's direction. He barely mumbled a thank you when Coulson slid his breakfast plate under his nose. I eagerly picked up my fork, tentatively taking a bite of my scrambled eggs. Coulson always did the best scrambled eggs and right now they tasted like the best thing I had ever tasted in my life.
"I need help picking out a dress for the dine in night next weekend." I finally broke the silence halfway through my plate of eggs. Real food in my stomach had put me in a very good mood. "I'll stop the silent judgement if you come hold my purse."
The small snort of laughter was barely audible, but it was there. Clint finally looked up from pushing his food around his plate. He looked like he hadn't slept at all. The look of misery clearly written all over his face wiped out any anger I felt towards him. Stupid decision or not, he was still my friend and he was hurting. I reached over and gave his leg a squeeze. Clint put his hand over mine and gave me a sad attempt of a smile. The corner of his lips barely pulled up, but at least he tried.
"About time you made that decision. I'll make sure you look irresistible."
Shitty life decisions or not, I knew Clint always had my back. It was the least I could do to make his life a bit easier during the shit going on in our lives.
Authors Note.
Sorry for the late update everyone. Life got in the way and I lost my mojo for a little bit there.
So much has gone in the world since I last update. My thoughts go out to anyone affected by the hurricanes. I hope all of my readers are safe and sound. My thoughts also go out to anyone affected by the horrific shooting in Las Vegas. I cant even begin to comprehend the horror of it all.
Thank you so much to my reviewers. I love every single one of them. I know this chapter is quite a filler and feels slow. But it will be important later.
Until next time.