Authors Note
For something different, I thought I'd stick this at the start of the chapter!
First of all, thank you SO much for the response to the last chapter. It blew my mind to see everyone so excited. I just wanted to add that I'm not jumping into the Avengers right away. it's coming VERY soon but not in the next chapter or two. Once we hit the 90's start getting really pumped for it then. There are still a few things that need to happen in the storyline before we get there. So I hope everyone enjoys it.
On another note, I go in for surgery tomorrow. I've been given two weeks of absolute bed rest afterwards so I may get lots of writing done. Or none at all. Everything is going to depend on my recovery. I also have exams at the start of November so there may be a bit of a wait between chapters again. So thanks for your understanding and patience while I struggle to get my health under control, again.
Until next time.
"We're going to be in so much trouble."
"Only if we get caught."
"Seriously."
"Come on, don't be a wuss, Kari, this was your idea."
I closed my eyes and tried not to let the insane laughter that was in my chest bubble over. I really didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the moment. It could go either way. I was happy with the company I was in. I wasn't happy with what we were about to do.
Clint, Natasha, Jared and I were all sitting in Clint's car in a dark parking lot, waiting for a certain person to leave the bar. That person was Libby's boyfriend. The lady I had saved last week from jumping off a bridge. After doing some digging, Natasha and Jared both found out it wasn't his first instance of smacking a woman around. Both Natasha and Jared had stalked him, finding he drank at this bar nearly every night. Clint had been away on a solo mission for a week, something he was tight lipped about when he got back. Which had only been three hours ago. It had been a unanimous decision to wait until he was here so we could rough the guy up a little.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Clint echoed my earlier statement, rubbing his face tiredly. "Coulson is going to kill us."
"We brought you food," Jared said, pointing at the copious amounts of takeaway wrapped on the floor. "And coffee. You won't even tell us where you were."
"Trust me, it was nowhere exciting," Clint said dryly. "I'd rather be in the bar drinking right now it was that boring and easy."
It was odd Clint was being evasive about what he was doing. I knew everyone's relationships were still strained with the whole Natasha and Jared sex fiasco. But it wasn't like Clint to be like this. It was even odder considering Fury had told me about the Avengers Initiative a week earlier and how I wasn't allowed to tell another soul on the planet about it. The World Security Council had discredited the idea but it was something Fury was keeping in his back pocket right now. It was kind of thrilling to have a secret that big. A secret response team for global threats and Fury wanted me to be part of it. It was amazing and terrifying all at the same time.
"That might not be a bad idea actually," Natasha piped up. "How about I go in and lure him out? We could be here all night otherwise."
"Fine by me," I said casually, slurping on the last of my jumbo sized Coke. "There's still time for dinner if we get this over and done with soon."
The idea was to rough Libby's boyfriend up enough to scare him to fuck away from her. I had been keeping in touch with her and despite the restraining order Andrew had convinced her to take out, the boyfriend was still being a dick. Libby and her daughter had moved back in with her parents for the moment.
"You just ate jumbo triple cheeseburger meal and you want more food?" Jared turned around from the driver's seat to stare at me. "What the fuck have you and Natasha been doing today that worked up such an appetite?"
"Shopping." Natasha and I said together. We were both in the backseat of the car and shot each other a grin. Things were slowly getting better between us. With Clint away, it was just us training in the mornings. We were going back to our old habits of breakfast, shopping and lazing around for most of the day. Of an evening we'd been stalking this bar, waiting for Libby's boyfriend to learn his habits. Jared joined us on those evening stalks, which I thought would be awkward. Thankfully, he and Natasha were either good enough actors, or they'd talked things through enough to be polite to each other.
"You're welcome for the new sheets by the way." I poked Clint in the back of the neck. "Yours were gross."
I'd done a massive clean out of my closet over the last week because of how quiet things had been at work. After finding five towels with holes in them, I ended up going through the linens and towels as well. Why we had a dozen bed sheets for a single bed, I would never know. The last time I had to sleep in a single bed was while in the military. The sheets Clint had brought with him looked like they were as old as I was. I'd kept them in case they had some sentimental value but made sure I'd gotten him replacements as well.
"If they aren't diamond encrusted with gold plating, I'm going to be disappointed," Clint joked. "Surely you're a billionaire by now."
"Fuck off." I rolled my eyes at Clint. "Besides, I had to fix this piece of junk again for you. That cost me a few million dollars."
Clint's Chevy Impala was always breaking down lately. It had overheated on the way to the Triskelion for his last mission. Coulson organised for it to be towed to the mechanic and I paid for it when it was apparently fixed. I got a block away from the mechanic and it randomly died at the stop lights. In peak hour traffic. That was a lot of fun for me. Knowing our luck, it would break down while we were trying to make a getaway tonight. It was the only car that could comfortably fit the four of us.
"Hey, you leave my baby alone." Clint reached up and patted the dashboard. "It's not my fault she doesn't like you."
"I'm going in." Natasha got out of the car before we could get completely sidetracked with the conversation. "Get ready."
In an instant, the mood turned serious in the car. Natasha was wearing skin tight jeans and a t-shirt that showed off her chest perfectly. The bar was a bit of a dump, out in the edges of a crappier side Maryland. It was a 50 minute drive back to my place in DC. I really, really hoped Clint's car didn't crap out again.
"Staring at her ass is what got you into trouble in the first place," Clint remarked as we all watched Natasha cross the parking lot.
"She started it," Jared's sulky reply made him sound like a teenager all over again. "I'm just the idiot who keeps going back."
"It would be just as easy not to put your dick in the adorable psycho," Clint said in a sing song voice. "Even I'm not that stupid."
"Barton, we all know you aren't putting your dick in anything right now, so be quiet." The grumble in Jared's voice was very forced this time. Men had such odd ways of working things out between them. I was glad they were at least talking right now. There was a long pause before Jared spoke again. "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"
"Yep," Clint said simply. "But so is she,"
It's funny how everyone else could see what was clear as day between Natasha and Jared. Well, those of us who knew what was going on behind closed doors now. The only people being oblivious to it was Natasha and Jared. Maybe oblivious wasn't the right word. Stubborn was probably better.
Jared let out an audible sigh. He reached up and rubbed his face. By the way Jared set his jaw, I knew this conversation was over. I'd probably die of old age before Jared ever admitted his true feelings for Natasha. At least this was a start of smoothing things over between everyone.
My phone vibrating with a call coming through made all of us jump. I cursed and reached into the pocket of my jeans, ready to send the call to voicemail. It was Gareth. He never called, he always sent a text.
"What's up?" I answered straight away. I glanced back to the front of the building. It wouldn't take Natasha long to work her magic. They should be coming out any moment now.
"Have you got a minute? I'm sorry for ringing," Gareth's voice came out in a rush. He sounded upset about something.
"Yeah, hang on." I quickly put my hand over the phone. "Start without me."
"Sure." Clint glanced back at me. "Everything all right?"
I shrugged as I climbed out of the car. Gareth had said his ex had been causing problems again. I really hoped we weren't going to have to drive down there tonight and rough her up too. There was only so long I trusted Natasha and Jared in the car together. Then again, I was probably going to miss out on the action here.
"Hey." I uncovered the phone as I walked away from the car.
"Hey," Gareth's voice came out breathless. "Am I disturbing something?"
"Not really, I said casually. "Just something mildly illegal. If I don't do it, I can't get into trouble for it."
Gareth laughed a little at that. It came out a lot more forced than it normally would from him.
"What's up?" I asked curiously, shifting the phone to a more comfortable position.
"I have some news and I'm not entirely sure it's good or bad yet," Gareth said tentatively. "But, my promotion came through."
"That's good news?" I said cautiously. Gareth had been due for a promotion for a few months now. It was typical of the Air Force to move at a glacial pace with those things. I was mildly surprised that it hadn't taken longer. If that was the good news, then I was dreading to hear the bad news.
"My posting also came through too," Gareth said, letting out a long sigh. "I'm going to be stationed at Hickam for the next two years."
"Hickam?" I repeated, feeling lost for words. "As in Hawaii?"
"Yeah, as in Hawaii," Gareth sounded upset. "I suppose it's better than Elmendorf."
My own chuckle was forced this time. Elmendorf was in Alaska. It was one of those places where no one wanted to go.
"The weather will be nicer in Hawaii," I forced some enthusiasm into my tone. "Drinking Mai Tai's on the beach for Christmas sounds pretty awesome."
"Yeah." Gareth wasn't trying to sound pleased about this at all.
I closed my eyes and willed the lump in my throat to go away. We knew this might happen. The Air Force could send Gareth where ever they needed people. I could get sent away for an extended mission, or not come back. It's why we kept each other at an emotional arm's distance. It was easier this way. I was going to have to say something right now that was possibly going to hurt Gareth's feelings. I was in an odd spot with him at the moment. After the last visit, it felt like something was different. I didn't want to do it but I went straight to ripping the band aid off.
"We won't be doing this anymore when you go to Hickam." My voice was surprisingly level when I said it. This was never going to blossom into some amazing romance. We were filling in a gap of each other's life. Nothing more.
"I know." Gareth didn't sound surprised, or even upset at the statement. "I still want to see you before I go though."
"I'm going to take you to the fanciest place I can find and we're going to go wild." I smiled, though it was bittersweet. This had been fun while it lasted. Movement at the door of the bar caught my eye. "I'll ring you later? I'm about to go do that mildly illegal thing."
"Call me if you need bail money." Gareth's laugh sounded more like himself. "Bye."
That went easier than I expected. I still felt odd about it all. Should I be more upset than I was feeling about it? Was this going to be one of those things later on where I had major regrets? I really shouldn't be thinking about that now. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and jogged to catch up with Clint and Jared who had just got out of the car.
Natasha was a genius. Libby's boyfriend, Tom, was all over her like a rash in one of the dark corners up against the building. As soon as we got within distance, I saw the flash of a knife glinting in the darkness. Tom's pawing at Natasha stopped quickly.
"I wouldn't keep doing that," Natasha drawled as the knife came up to his neck.
I was there a moment later. With no hesitation, I pushed Tom into the wall, making sure his head connected harder than it really had to.
"Hi," I said, far too brightly for this situation. "We're going to have a little chat. But this is the part where you listen and don't say anything."
Tom was tall and broad. He'd easily have a hundred pounds on me. It's why I brought some extra muscle with me. Plus there was something a little terrifying about having a guy with biceps the size of my head slamming him into the wall. Clint was very handy for looking the part of the muscles guy.
To his credit, Tom didn't say a word. It was too dark to get a good look at any of our faces, but in return, I couldn't see his either. I had twisted my hair up under a beanie so it wouldn't be a dead giveaway. SHIELD had jumped all over the news footage of me. My face as blurred out before it hit the news that night. Unfortunately you could still see my hair during the news footage.
"You're going to leave Libby and her daughter alone," I said, keeping my tone casual. "Otherwise the next chat we have isn't going to be so friendly."
As I spoke, I put my hand on his bare arm. I let the ice wind up his arm. Next to me, Jared did the same thing, only with fire. I shot Jared a brief grin. It wasn't often we got to work together like this.
"I'll make sure you see me coming the next time." My tone took a feral turn. "Then I'm going to put my enhanced interrogation techniques to good use. Am I clear?"
The man underneath me was shaking like a leaf. I could barely make out him nodding in the darkness. I gave him one final shove before stepping away. The ice would melt off his arm eventually, I wasn't going to get rid of it for him. Clint gave him an extra hard shove into the wall before moving off as well.
In and out within a minute. It was a lot of build up for such a short amount of action. The four of us were in the car and speeding down the road. There was silence for about three seconds before we all burst into laughter. This felt good, the four of us here together again. Coulson would probably kill all of us for the little prank we pulled. It was worth it though.
"You made him piss his pants," Jared said through his snorting laughter. "That was amazing. You're a goddess amongst woman, Tasha."
Though it was dark, there was enough light from the streetlight to show off a hint of a smile on Natasha's face. I thought after this was done they may go back to wanting to murder each other. Judging by that smile, I didn't want to think of what it meant. It wasn't going to end in murder though.
The happy moment didn't last long. A second later, the car made a high pitched whirring noise and after every single light on the dashboard lit up, it promptly died. I heaved a long, suffering sigh while glaring at the back of Clint's head. I wasn't the only one.
"Hey, if someone else owned a normal car we wouldn't have this problem," Clint said with a clear grumble as he eased the car off the road. "Can I have someones phone to ring a tow truck? Mine is dead because people dragged me out straight from a mission."
It was midnight before the tow truck finally made it to us. At least Jared had been helpful and gotten us more dinner while we were waiting. Once the car was safely on the back of the tow truck, again, Jared teleported all of us home. He left Natasha for last and my suspicion from earlier was coming back. Jared said nothing and gave me a knowing smirk before leaving the apartment.
Clint was on the couch already, head leaning against the back of it, legs propped up thanks to the new couch. He wasn't snoring yet but he definitely looked exhausted. I took pity on him and went to the fridge and got us both a beer. Clint's face lit up like a kid at Christmas when I tapped him on the shoulder with the cold beer.
"Thank you," Clint said, groaning as he shifted positions. "It's been a long week."
"What were you doing?" I asked, plonking down in the chair next to him.
"Proving to Fury that I could take down the Helicarrier with three arrows." As tired as he looked, Clint still had the energy for a very smug grin. "I did it in two and got…"
Clint caught himself in whatever he was about to say. He cleared his throat and quickly took a swig of beer.
"One day I'm going to be level seven and you won't be able to keep secrets from me," I said, waggling a finger at Clint. Something else was nagging at me though. Clearance levels or not, we'd always share mission details with each other. "Unless this is something else, like some Initiative?"
It was a long shot. I knew that. I also knew I wasn't meant to tell anyone about it. The Avengers Initiative was beyond the usual SHIELD classified information.
"Mmm." Clint's answer was completely non committal as he took a long swig of beer. "If it was, I would a little pissed about being left until last."
"How do you think Jared would feel about being left out?" There was no stopping my grin. Clint deserved a place on the Avengers Initiative just as much as anyone else.
Not that he was going to have to enjoy working with Stark. Or Bruce Banner. The guy who turned into an enormous green rage monster. I'd never heard of him until I put it together the gas explosion in Harlem was actually the Hulk. It was weird. Thor was earmarked for it too if he ever came back to Earth. SHIELD had no way of contacting him but considered him a potential ally. I hadn't exactly been surprised that Jared wasn't included. In a way, it was probably Fury paying him back for causing everyone so much grief in Pripyat.
"Pissed," Clint said with a chuckle. "He doesn't like being the kid left on the sidelines when the teams are picked."
"That used to be me, not Jared." I gave Clint a wry smile. "How times have changed."
"This is where being the well behaved child is advantageous." Clint took the bottle lid in his hand and flicked it on the table. With a bounce, it landed perfectly in the bowl that was sitting in the middle of the table. It was such a perfect shot. I was envious of how Clint could make anything he had in his hands into a projectile. It wasn't a surprise that he worked out how to take down the Helicarrier with two arrows.
I chuckled to that but didn't add anything. There was only so much skirting around a subject that we could do. The Avengers Initiative was still very much an idea of Fury's. It may never get off the ground. The World Security Council had shelved the idea but Fury was keeping it close. There felt like there was a sense of foreboding by doing it. The world hadn't gone to shit for a few months now. I was sure something major was due soon.
"I'm glad to see you and Jared talking." I decided that half a beer down, I was ready to wade into those murky waters. "And you aren't grunting at Natasha anymore."
Clint sighed, reaching up to scrub a hand over his face. He took a long drink of beer, nearly draining the bottle before he spoke.
"Staying angry at them forever isn't going to help anything," Clint said very begrudgingly. I was sure he was quoting Coulson. He huffed out what sounded like a short laugh. "Want to make bets on who admits they're in love first?"
"Jared," I said instantly. "Natasha would rather chew her own arm off than to admit there's anything more than sex there."
It was good to get that out in the open. I'd been cautious about even thinking about the love word. Having someone else say it out loud confirmed every suspicion that I had. But that train of thought also brought the conversation I had with Gareth a few hours ago back to the front of my mind. I'd been doing a really good job at burying it until now.
"What's up?" Clint noticed it immediately.
"Gareth got his promotion and his posting." I kept my voice level, swallowing the last of my beer. "He's going to Hawaii."
"Are you okay?" Clint asked softly, He reached over and gave my knee a squeeze of comfort.
"Yeah, I'm…" I trailed off. Fine was a bit of a bullshit cop out. I wasn't fine. But I wasn't a mess either. "I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's not like it was a huge surprise. Promotions usually come with being moved around when you're not a junior officer anymore. It's not like I have a desk job either."
"Still, you two seemed comfortable together," Clint said with a small smile. "I like Gareth. He takes all the weirdness of our lives in his stride."
"He really does." I returned the smile, though mine was sadder. "Maybe if we had been at different points of our lives, things would be different."
But they weren't. I didn't need to add that to the conversation. There was a part of me that thought I should have been sadder than I was about this. I'd purposely kept Gareth at an arms distance emotionally. Right now I was grateful for that. This could have been a lot messier if I hadn't.
"Nothing in our lives is ever simple." Clint got up, taking my now empty beer bottle with him. "Want something stronger than a beer?"
"Sure." I craned my head back to look at him. "It's a straight up kind of night."
There was also a distinct lack of any ginger ale in the apartment. Along with proper food. With Clint away, I'd fallen into old habits of frozen meals and ordering take out. When he opened the fridge I was going to be in for a lecture about learning to cook. Again. I sunk back down into the chair to get comfortable for the incoming lecture.
"I enjoy our liquor selections much better these days," Clint said with a chuckle as he moved around the kitchen. "Your scotch selection even beats Coulson and that's saying something."
I may have added to Coulson's scotch selection a few times over the last few months. It was so odd having money to buy whatever I wanted. I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to it. I was enjoying being able to buy everyone fun gifts though. I found the last Captain America trading card that Coulson needed for a full set and brought it without looking at the price tag. It hadn't arrived yet but I was really looking forward to giving it to him.
"Coulson doesn't have seven figures in his bank account," I said dryly. "It's burning a hole in my pocket so much that I'm considering buying the Ducati motorbike I saw the other day. It was $225,000."
"Fuck me," Clint said with a small laugh. "And here I was stressing out about asking you to borrow money to fix my car until payday."
I knew Clint sent most of his money to Laura to help pay for everything for the kids and living. There were weeks where he came up short if anything major came in. He didn't like asking for money but I paid for it anyway. I had no responsibilities and far too much money, even before Riley's payout. It was the least I could do.
"Hawk, I am buying you a new car after tonight," I said with a snort. "Even you have to admit your poor Impala is ready to go to car heaven."
I didn't have to look at Clint to know he was pulling a face at me. There was a rustling of papers, most likely Clint sorting through his mail that had accumulated during the week. The silence that followed the rustling was long enough that I turned around to see what Clint was doing. He was reading a letter with a heavy frown.
"What's up?" I asked.
Wordlessly, Clint handed the letter over to me. My stomach dropped at seeing the name of a law firm on the letterhead. This wasn't going to be good. I had signed for this letter, along with one of my packages the other day. It had Clint's name on it so I didn't bother to look at it and had dropped it in his pile of mail.
I quickly skimmed the letter. While I was relieved it wasn't divorce papers, it was a letter about selling their house in DC and splitting the profit between them. I looked up from the letter and back to Clint who was now pouring a very generous amount of scotch into our glasses.
"I knew it might have been coming," Clint admitted with a heavy sigh. "We talked about what to do with it last time I was down there."
"It doesn't make it any easier though, does it?" I asked gently.
Clint shook his head and came back over with the very full glasses of scotch. He handed one over to me and sunk into the chair.
"I know selling the house is completely logical. No one is living in it and we're still paying off the mortgage." Despite his words, Clint looked miserable. He took a big swig of scotch before he continued. "I don't think things are going to get fixed between me and Laura."
As much as I wanted to give Clint some bullshit platitude about how everything will work out in the end, I couldn't do it. It had been ten months now. While things weren't quite as tense as they were, things weren't exactly pointing towards them getting back together any time soon either. It was really hard. Though at least we still got to see him. Laura was getting a lot more relaxed and enjoying our visits.
"Do you wanna go out and get really drunk?" I couldn't fix this. But I could make the situation better with alcohol. Really, really expensive alcohol.
Clint looked at me with a raised eyebrow. It took him three seconds to drain his glass of scotch and get back up.
"I'll go have a shower. Ring Jared and Natasha."
This was probably going to be a very bad idea. But I did as I was told. Jared picked up on the second ring.
"What?" Jared sounded irritated as he answered the phone.
"We're going out drinking. Find something that's open." I ignored Jared's snark. "Is Natasha there with you?"
The longer than normal pause told me all I needed to know. It seems beating up a bad guy together turned that pair on. I really didn't want to dwell on that thought too much.
"Tell her to put her clothes back on," I said smartly. "Barton needs to get drunk. We have a slight problem."
"Coming." Natasha's voice came through faintly. "They weren't off by the way."
"Not yet anyway," I said with a laugh. "Meet you guys here?"
Jared hung up before there was an answer. They both appeared in less than two minutes, just as Clint was switching the shower off. I refrained from commenting on their rumpled appearance and pointed to the contract that was sitting on the coffee table. Natasha picked it up first, Jared settling for reading it over her shoulder. It was quiet in the room as they both read the letter.
"Shit," Natasha spoke up first, screwing her face up. "Are you going to buy it?"
That thought hadn't crossed my mind yet. Now Natasha had said it though, it made perfect sense. There was a hopeful look in Natasha's face. I'd been so mad with her that I'd almost forgotten how hard she took Clint and Laura's break up. That house had a lot of memories for her as well. Happy ones of a family that she never thought she'd have. I was bad at saying no to Natasha at the best of times. Right now there was no way I could deny her. Worst case scenario the house could sit there empty for another year. Best case scenario, Clint could rent it out for some side income.
"And a new car as well," I added. "Because I'm not sitting on the side of the road, eating Chinese while waiting for a tow truck again."
"In that case, we're going somewhere really good for drinks," Jared's face lit up. "It's a celebration, not a commiseration. Paris anyone? Or how about Amsterdam?"
"I've never been drinking in Amsterdam," I said. I regretted uttering those words as they left my mouth. The look Natasha and Jared were giving me meant this was going to turn very wild very quickly.
"Amsterdam it is then." Jared's grin did nothing to ease my suspicion. "Hey Barton, want to get drunk in Amsterdam again?"
"Last time we got drunk in Amsterdam, Coulson had to bail us out of jail," Clint's voice was muffled through the bathroom door. "Of course I want to go drinking in Amsterdam."
Yep. This was going to be a really bad idea.