Sweat dripped down my face. The salty river of it stinging my eyes and making it hard to see where I was going. I was so out of breath I didn't think I'd ever get enough oxygen back in my body. A shot whizzed over my head. The sharp crack of it made me jerk away in surprise. A moment later, my aching feet made it to the cover I'd been running towards. I threw myself down on the ground, rolling into it. The sharp ping of bullets rained down on it a few moments later.

I sat up with my back pushed up against it. I was running low on ammo. A quick check of my magazine in the P30 revealed it to be empty. I only had another one of me. My sniper rifle had long run out. It was strapped to my back and nothing but a dead weight right now.

A body landed next to me. I looked at Clint who was breathing raggedly.

"How much ammo do you have?" Clint raised his voice over the sound of the bullets pinging off the barricade.

I held up my last magazine as I reloaded. Clint nodded and reached into his ammo pouch to reload as well. A movement to my right made me glance over, gun raised ready to fire. Thankfully it was only Natasha crouched a few feet away in a smaller bit of cover.

"Romanoff." Clint got her attention. He pointed to his magazine and she took a moment to do a quick check. Her holding up one magazine painted a grim picture.

We were on for a hell of a firefight. Any missed shot could mean to difference between life or death.

"I'll go left. You provide cover and Natasha goes right," Clint said in a clipped tone.

I nodded my understanding, taking in a few deep breaths. I could do this. Clint signalled for Natasha to go right and she nodded again in understanding. Clint held up five fingers and began counting down.

When he got to two, everything went quiet in my head. I was focused, calm and ready to go. On one. I stood up, P30 raised and ready to go.

The three people on the otherwise of our barrier were also ready. Unluckily for them, we had quicker trigger fingers. I squeezed the trigger and let off three perfect chest shots. The person in the middle staggered backwards.

"MotherFUCKER."

I couldn't keep a serious face on any longer. I burst out laughing at Rumlow swearing at my perfect shot. The bright green from the chalk rounds made a neat circle on his black body armour. Next, to him, Tex and Rollins hadn't fared much better. Tex was on the ground, clutching at his leg with one hand and chest with the other. Clint had got him one in the chest and one in the leg with chalk rounds. Natasha had dropped Rollins with two perfect shots in the stomach.

We were doing contact drills with our new body armour. SHIELD had finally jumped on the bandwagon and fitted all of the STRIKE teams with the new liquid vests that Stark had developed for me. They were ridiculously comfortable. Five pounds instead of thirty made a huge difference to working in them. This was our fifth and last drill for the day. It had been a match up against all of Alpha team and Delta. There had been some reshuffling of teams yet again and I was surprised to see Rollins was now on Alpha team. I'd already shot him three times today and had a lot of fun doing it.

"How's the armour holding up?" I asked through my laughter as I went to help Rumlow up. He looked very winded but otherwise all in one piece.

"Surprisingly well," Rumlow said begrudgingly. He hadn't been a fan of the armour when he was shown it this morning. "Still hurts like a bitch though."

I offered Rumlow my hand and pulled him up on his feet. He took in a few deep breaths and tapped the armour where he'd been shot. There was a dull hollow sound where the shear thickening liquid had become solid.

"Maybe you should try and avoid getting shot then." I was on a happy high right now. Today had been a lot of fun. There was something very cathartic about shooting people with chalk rounds. Rumlow also owned me drinks for winning this round.

"Yeah, yeah, shut the fuck up," Rumlow said dismissively. There was no malice in his tone. "Where do you want to go for drinks tonight?"

"I'm going to need a rain check." That was another thing that was making me smile. I had my date with Ben tonight. He had been a fun companion over the last week."I have a date."

"Really?" Rumlow looked so surprised it was comical. "When did you start dating?"

"Tonight."

"Do you need a chaperone?" Rumlow teased me.

"Bitch, please. If I needed a chaperone I'd get one who could at least get a shot off before they get nailed," I teased him back. Things were finally going back to normal between us. It was a good feeling. My life felt like it was on track for once in my life.

Rumlow laughed at my teasing, shaking his head. Everyone was waiting for us to start moving so we could pack up and head back to the Triskelion. Once Rumlow took the first step to get off the training field, his entire team moved.

"Where's your date taking you?" Rumlow asked as we walked back.

"Some Japanese restaurant?" I purposely kept my answer vague. If I let him know I'm sure I'd have half of STRIKE Team Alpha there being assholes. We were going to Momiji. A place I'd heard a lot of good things about. "I told him to make it good with lots of food."

"I'm not going to crash your date," Rumlow said with mild exasperation. He gave me a smile and added. "I have a date tonight too. I'm taking her to Red Hen."

"Nice." I was impressed Rumlow got a table there. It was always incredibly packed and usually booked out, even on weeknights. "Is the date really hot or are you desperate to get laid?"

"A bit of both," Rumlow admitted with a laugh. "Work has been so busy lately and I'm having fuck all luck with dating. I'm stepping up my game to see if this works better."

I laughed with Rumlow. At least he was being honest.

"Who's the lucky guy taking you on a date?"

I knew the question was coming. I couldn't fight back the grin on my face.

"He's one of Alexi's friends, Uncle," I explained. "He works as a personal assistant to one of the Senator's."

"No man in uniform this time?" Rumlow went right back to teasing me. "He sounds like he won't be tough enough for you."

Rumlow's choice of words was a surprise. Clint had said the exact same thing when I'd told him about it. Clint had been a bit of a shit about the whole thing actually.

"Sometimes change is good," I said lightly to cover my surprise. "Besides, if I don't get some action soon I'm going to have to buy shares in a vibrator company."

Rumlow laughed hard at that. I felt the bit of tension draining away from me at Rumlow's amusement. I didn't even know why I'd been tense in the first place. I brushed it off and kept up a light conversation with Rumlow as we packed up. We got back to the Triskelion and I was on my way home with Clint and Natasha with plenty of time to spare. I had a shower while Natasha went digging in my wardrobe for something to wear.

I walked back to my room, towel drying my hair when lowered voices caught my attention. I paused a few steps away from my door.

"You need to stop being a shit." Natasha's voice was low and hissed. I could barely hear her. "And drop it."

Drop what? I strained to hear Clint's response but his voice was too low for me to make out the words. Instead of skulking in the shadows, I walked into my room pushing the door open.

Most normal people would have looked up, shocked and worried about a conversation I wasn't meant to hear. Not my favourite assassins. Both of them had neutral expressions on their faces and relaxed postures. Like they were waiting for me this entire time and not having a terse conversation. Clint was sitting on the bed crossed legged and Natasha was standing beside it.

"Which one?" Natasha asked as she reached down and pulled two different shirts off the bed. "With your black skinny jeans and a nice pair of boots."

"Whatever one is going to be warmer." I walked over to my underwear drawer. "Do you think I should have something nice on in case he makes a move?"

"Like you own anything but nice lingerie," Clint said with a snort. He got up off the bed, rolling his shoulders. "I'm going to start dinner and get Jared over here so I don't drown in oestrogen."

It almost sounded like there was a bite in Clint's tone. He hadn't been in the most pleasant of moods lately. The usual parade of women coming into our apartment had been non existent and I'd put it down to him being shitty because he couldn't get laid. After hearing the hushed conversation I obviously wasn't meant to hear, I began to wonder if there was something I was missing.

"Vodka, please," Natasha said as if this was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Whiskey. You know what I like," I added. Maybe I was imagining things. I'd been having some weird dreams lately and I woke up feeling tired every single morning. It was getting annoying. I could never remember the details of the dreams either. Combined with training our asses off this week, I was feeling more drained than usual.

Clint grunted not in a good way and walked out of the room, kicking the door closed behind him. Judging by the look on his face, we wouldn't be getting our drinks. I looked at Natasha who had quirked an eyebrow up in mild surprise.

"We need to find him a girl." Now wasn't the time or place for me to be questioning what I heard. I went for a joke to defuse the situation instead.

Natasha smiled but her stiff posture didn't change. I wasn't fooling anyone. I waited to see if she was going to tell me what was going on.

"Nice lingerie for sure. Make sure you make him work for it though."

Natasha change of subject wasn't subtle at all. I let it slide though and rummaged through my drawer. A black lace thong and bra set were the first things I found that would do. It was nice without being too over the top. I doubted Ben would get too far tonight anyway. He seemed intent on keeping our conversations PG rated.

The first flutter of nerves settled in my stomach as I pulled on my underwear. I hadn't been on a date in a very long time. Despite the easy conversation with Ben over the last few days, this could all still go to shit.

I got dressed while Natasha lounged on my bed. She didn't say anything but her presence was a comfort. Once I was dressed, I twirled in front of her.

"You look hot." Natasha nodded her approval. "What time is Ben getting here?"

A glance at the clock made me realise I had taken longer than I thought.

"In about 15 minutes." I looked at my hair and face in the mirror. I had a shadow of a bruise appearing on my neck. Clint had grabbed me in a choke hold this morning and I had been slow getting out of it. No amount of make-up would cover it up. My hair looked mostly decent and if I kept it down it could cover most of the bruise. "I'm meeting him downstairs so Hawk and Jared don't scare him off."

"Smart move," Natasha said dryly. She tilted her head a second later, listening intently. I could hear muffled voices now both of us were quiet. I couldn't hear words but I knew one of those voices was Jared.

"Speak of the devil and he appears," I said dryly. On my bedside table, my phone buzzed as a text message came through.

I'm early. Traffic was better than expected.

"I'm going." I reached over and gave Natasha a quick hug. "Thanks for making me look hot."

Natasha laughed as she hugged me back.

"Good luck. I'll distract the two idiots while you sneak out."

I snatched up my phone and handbag. Natasha swung open the door as I went invisible.

"Where's my fucking drink, Barton?"

I used the moment of distraction to bolt for the door. I was out and running down the stairs before I could hear Clint's snarky reply back to Natasha. I didn't dare to take the elevator because it would have wasted precious seconds. I made it down to the elevator slightly winded but smug about getting away so quickly. I spotted Ben in his car right away. He was still looking down at his phone. I could resist the temptation to scare him a bit. I went invisible again and walked up to the car. At the last second, I dropped my invisibility and pulled the door open.

"Fuck." Ben jumped in surprise at my sudden appearance. He laughed breathlessly, clutching at his chest. "I didn't see you coming."

"No one ever does," I said smugly as I slid into the car. "How are you?"

"Much better now." Ben's charming smile made the butterflies come back into my stomach. "Today seemed to drag on forever."

"I kept myself busy." I felt a tiny twinge of guilt for the small lie. Today had flown by while we were training. "It was a very long day though."

Ben took it exactly the way I wanted him too. He looked extremely pleased as he shifted the car into gear. We made light conversation about the shitty weather and how our days were as Ben navigated through the busy streets. The mundane conversation was so ordinary. I needed some ordinary in my life.

We parked and made our way into the restaurant. Ben was the perfect gentleman. He opened the doors for me, took my coat and pulled my chair out as we sat down.

"I've never been here before," I said as I settled in the chair. I'd already looked through the menu when Ben suggested this place. "Have you?"

"No, but my boss has and he recommended it," Ben admitted with a wry smile. "He knows the owner so he made sure I could get a table."

"People like that are handy." I returned the smile. "I have a friend who is fairly high up in Stark Industries and she's amazing for bookings and knowing where to eat."

Another small lie. I was going to have to tell a lot of them to begin with. Unlike Gareth, Ben wanted to know a lot of things about my life. He didn't tend to drop the subject when I was obviously skirting around things. I found it easier to talk around the subject with a lot of little misdirections.

"She sounds like a handy friend." Ben glanced down at the menu. "Drinks?"

"Sure." I opened the drinks menu like I hadn't already seen it and picked what I wanted three days ago. "I'll pay for drinks because I have expensive taste in booze."

"I'll pay for food then." Ben's lack of arguing won him a lot of brownie points. "We can split dessert if you're still hungry afterwards."

"Done."

The waiter came over and took our drinks order. Ben's order of white wine threw me off balance a bit. I had him pegged as a beer or bourbon guy. Not a wine drinker. Once the waiter was gone Ben suddenly looked lost for words.

"So, is this the part where we tell each other about our lives?" I broke the silence quickly. "I haven't dated in a long time so I have no idea."

That broke the tension immediately. Ben laughed, his posture changing to something more relaxed.

"Oh really?" Ben asked, his tone teasing. "Is this the part where you tell me you're married to your job?"

"Yep and you'll be my mistress," I teased back, laughing. "I'll treat you good though. I am a kind and benevolent sugar mama."

"It's a good thing I'm a workaholic then," Ben said through his laughter. "Sounds like a match made in heaven. I had the dumb idea of trying to look you up on Facebook to get conversation starters for tonight. Then I realised that I was either spelling your last name wrong or you don't have it."

"Can't have it," I corrected him. I wasn't going to bring up that Natasha had a fake one and used it for stalking people. "We do a lot of covert work and it's one thing SHIELD is incredibly strict on. If it makes you feel better, most people don't spell my last name properly."

The last name thing wasn't an uncommon occurrence. I spelt it out these days to save people mangling it with horrid spelling.

"What is it STRIKE actually does?" Ben asked curiously.

I had been anticipating that question. At least I could give honest answers to this part of it.

"STRIKE is your upper end spec ops type operation," I started and when Ben got a confused look on his face, I quickly dumbed it down. "Special Operations. We aren't too much different than your usual groups such as Delta, SEALS, Rangers and so forth."

Bed nodded in understanding.

"But, we're a bit different in that SHIELD has looser regulations for things in international territory." I paused, trying to think of the right way of putting this. STRIKE had a lot more leniency than military groups. We got the dirty shit done because no one else was allowed to engage. "Basically when the military can't or won't engage it's where we come in. My team is a bit different because it's only the three of us, so we also get covert missions."

"I'm guessing there is a lot you can't tell me?" Ben asked. He didn't look annoyed or disappointed. It was more that he needed an answer.

"Yeah. 90% of my job, I won't be able to tell you about." There was no point beating around the bush with this. This was something I needed to be honest about.

That gave Ben a small pause. He took a sip of his wine as he mulled over my answer.

"Is your job dangerous?" Ben asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yes."

There was no other answer I could give him. Ben looked taken back by my short answer.

"Have you been hurt?"

"Several times." My fingers twitched in an effort to not reach up and rub my jaw. The cold weather made it hurt sometimes. "Badly too."

As much as I didn't want to, I was giving Ben an out to this before things got off the ground. He could walk away tonight and there wouldn't be any hard feelings. This job, well this life really, was hard. Not just on me but to the people around me as well. Gareth never questioned this part of my job. Being a fighter pilot had its own risks and he knew enough about STRIKE and what we dealt with to ever question this.

I watched Ben's face for his reaction. I could tell he wanted to ask me something else. Something that there was no easy way of asking. Or answering. He wanted to know if I'd ever killed someone in my line of work.

"SHIELD deals with the people who are you above average in the scum of the universe stakes," I chose my words carefully. "Sometimes the only way to stop those people are by eliminating those threats completely. It's not…"

I blew out a long breath. This was very hard to explain without making me sound like a sociopath.

"I think the best way to describe it was what one of my work colleagues said after a really rough mission." I changed tactics. I nearly said it wasn't an entirely unpleasant thing to take someone's life because of the people we were dealing with. "He basically said we remember these things for a reason. What we do is rough and messy in ways that make us sleep not so well at night. It's when we stop remembering the faces of those people we've encountered is when you have a big problem. We do what we need to do so the rest of the world is a safer place."

It was such a huge topic for so early on our date. I was expecting this to come up. Just not before the appetisers were even out. Ben sat back in his chair, mulling over my words. I took a quick drink while he did. I had a feeling I might need it for whatever else Ben was going to throw at me.

"Isn't there a quote by Hemingway that fits this discussion?" Ben broke the silence as I put my glass down. "Something about hunting men."

"That quote is the complete opposite of this discussion." I relaxed a fraction. Ben's tone was light and joking. He hadn't run off screaming. Not yet anyway. "There is no hunting like the hunting of a man. And those who've hunted armed men long enough, and like it, never really care for anything else thereafter."

"Yeah, I really misheard that quote." Ben scrunched his nose up. "Though in my defence, I did hear it in a movie. I think."

"Predators," I supplied, giving him an easy smile. "My brother loves that movie because he's a complete weirdo. Now I've told you all the horrible stuff about my work, how about you? Any nasty surprises I might be in for?"

I needed to get the subject off my work. It was an uncomfortable topic to be talking about in public with someone on a first date.

"Oh, yeah. For sure." Ben's look of mock seriousness made me smile wider. "Long nights. Inept baristas. I got stabbed with a paperclip today."

"I hope you put that paperclip in its place," I said seriously, taking a sip of my drink. "Those bastards can be brutal."

That made Ben laugh. His entire posture relaxed at my terrible joke.

"If we're being honest, I really am workaholic." Ben took a sip of his drink as well. Like he needed it for courage. "My boss has taken to making security come around and evict me from the office by 9pm if I'm still there. I love my job."

"I'm not much better." I wasn't going to apologise for it. Especially not when Ben had said the same thing. "I love my job too. I can be gone for weeks on end at a moment's notice."

"How's that been for the love life?" Ben asked.

"What love life?" I said with a laugh. "It's run on batteries but at least it never complains if I'm not home for dinner."

Ben had just gone to take a sip of his drink. He nearly sprayed it over both of us with laughter. He managed to contain it behind his hand. It still made a mess.

"Sorry," Ben apologised through his laughter as he mopped up the mess with a napkin. "That wasn't the answer I was expecting."

"I could ask you the same question," I said casually, flipping it back onto him. "You haven't been in DC that long though."

"It's been completely non existent here in DC," Ben confirmed with a rueful nod. "Back home there was no one serious, so you don't need to worry about any psycho exes."

"Me either, my last fuck buddy moved to Hickam. I may go murder him if he keeps sending me photos of him surfing and laying on the beach when it's snowing here though. He had Christmas on the beach last year."

Thinking of Gareth brought a fond smile to my face. We'd had a good run together and he was making a new life in Hawaii. It was probably the best move he could have possibly made. I still missed him though.

"Lucky guy." Ben looked a little wistful. "I went to UCLA for college and stayed on the West Coast until this job came up. This winter is killing me."

"What did you study?" I was happy with this train of conversation. It was avoiding all possible awkward conversations. Though I thought we'd done well to get rid of some of the big ones so early in the date.

"Political Science," Ben said with a wry smile. "I know, I know. It's not exactly a degree with a career attached to it."

"I never went to college so I'm not going to judge. What was living and studying over there like?"

The appetisers came out as Ben entertained me with his college stories. Over my sashimi platter, the topic switched to travel. Ben was as equally enthralled with my stories when I told him about my travels with both my family and for work. I was in the middle of telling Ben about our trip to Iceland as teenagers when I felt someone come up behind me.

"Wow, look what we have here."

I turned around to see Sam, Nick and Andy standing there looking between me and Ben. Sam had a scowl on his handsome face while Nick and Andy both looked amused.

"When did you get back?" I looked at them suspiciously. I had a nagging feeling this wasn't a chance encounter at all.

"Last night." Nick's smug look did nothing but make them all look guilty. "Are you going to introduce us?"

"No," I said simply. "Fuck off and I'll tell you later. I'm busy."

Out of the corner of my eye, Ben looked surprised by my short reply.

"Don't be like that, Kari." Andy moved forward with a shit eating grin on his face. "Maybe we can pull up…"

Andy got close enough for me to reach forward and grab his hand, I twisted his fingers and pushed his wrist back hard enough that it was going to hurt like hell. Andy instantly stopped talking, wincing as I put more pressure on his hand.

"Barton or Jared?" I asked firmly.

"I don't…." Andy's voice was strained and he trailed off when I pushed even harder. I could feel bones moving under my fingers. "Okay, okay, it was Barton."

I released Andy's hand and he grimaced as the blood rushed back to his fingers. Clutching his hand to his chest he scowled at me. Nick and Sam were both glaring at him, most likely for giving in so easily.

"He offered us $50 each to come and crash your date," Andy said sulkily. "And he was picking up the tab as well."

"Thanks for ruining our free dinner, Andy." Nick gave him a dirty look.

"I will give you $100 each and pay for dinner if you leave us alone." I had to get rid of them quickly. Ben was looking very uncomfortable at our conversation. When the three of them gave me an unbelieving look, I picked up my handbag off the ground. "Seriously."

I had cash on me for once in my life. It was enough to pay them and I handed over my credit card as well. I had no doubt one of them would be able to forge my signature very easily. Right now I didn't care if they went on a stripper and booze bender with my money. I wanted them gone.

Nick eagerly took the cash and my credit card. Without another word, he and Andy turned around. Sam stood his ground, his arms crossed over his chest still scowling.

"Don't be a fucking asshole, Sam," I warned him. "Keep at it and I'll let Bravo team and Rebecca all know about your secret Pinterest…."

Sam leapt forward and clamped his hand over my mouth. I smirked beneath it looking up at him with a challenging eyebrow raised. The other two noticed the commotion and turned around to see what was going on. I hadn't said it loud enough for either of them to hear. It was Sam jumping towards me that got their attention.

"You wouldn't." Sam challenged me.

I nodded, not breaking the eye contact with Sam. I meant it too. I knew why Sam was keeping this very quiet at the moment. It was also kind of sweet.

"Fine." Sam took his hand off my mouth. His reply came out very sulky.

"If you happen to find a jewellery store open along the way, don't be shy about pushing Andy in it," I said with a coy smile. "He can pay me back if he can't afford it."

Ben was looking between me and Sam, not following this conversation at all. He was starting to look mildly annoyed as well. I quickly wrapped up the conversation by giving Sam a light shove.

"Now get out of my hair. I will fill you in later."

Sam looked like he really wanted to argue. He very begrudgingly moved away from the table, shooting Ben a heated glare. Ben squirmed in his seat at the very unfriendly look he was getting. Sam turned on his heel and caught up with the other two idiots. I didn't doubt they would have very sore heads tomorrow. Drinking on my cash was one of Bravo teams favourite pass times.

"I'm sorry. They're assholes," I apologised to Ben as soon as the three of them were out of earshot. "I have 15 overprotective and big asshole brothers with Bravo team. They always forget I can kick all of their asses at once."

"It's fine." Ben's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "What's on the Pinterest board?"

"Engagement rings and wedding ideas." I had nearly squealed at the top of my lungs in excitement when I had seen it. Sam and Rebecca were perfect for each other. She was still working for Dad but was moving to DC in three months. They were moving in with each other and it seemed Sam was ready to take the next big step. "Andy, the shorter of the three, is proposing to his girlfriend when he finds a ring. Sam doesn't want to take any attention away from that because it's been a very long time coming."

Andy and his girlfriend, Cara, had been together for years now. Before I left for Russia, Andy had finally grown some balls and announced he was going to propose. He couldn't find a ring so we'd all been helping him with it.

"Oh." The last bit of annoyance fell away from Ben's expression.

I thought I was bad at hiding my feelings. Ben was a lot worse than me. There was no hiding the flash of jealously crossing his face before I explained the proposals and Pinterest board. It was an odd thing I had, my relationship with Bravo team. From an outsiders perspective, it could be seen as something else if they didn't know the history or team dynamics.

"Anyway, so me and my brother, who really hates horses, decided it would be fun to try riding Icelandic ponies." I picked up where I had left off with my story. "Of course we picked the longest ride we could and conveniently forgot we were hiking up mountains the next day. I could barely walk afterwards and neither of our parents took pity on us."

Ben laughed, the mood between us relaxing again. After I finished telling Ben about the hot springs in Iceland that had eased my poor aching muscles, he told me about going to Coachella over our shared platter for our main dish. The food was amazing and Ben was really good company. I had another drink over dinner and was feeling more relaxed than I had in weeks. When we finished at the restaurant, my sweet tooth really wanted something. We walked to one of my favourite chocolate places, The Chocolate House. I ended up with my usual peanut butter and chocolate truffles. Ben looked extremely amused as I scoffed down half a dozen while we walked back towards his car.

"Cheat day?" Ben asked teasingly as I licked the chocolate off my fingers.

"Every day is cheat day," I laughed. I noticed how Ben couldn't take his eyes off me when I'd sucked on my finger. "Honestly, my diet is calories and in whatever form I can get them."

It was a good thing I wasn't offended at the question. A lot of people assumed I kept a crazy strict diet for my figure.

"I thought you were one of those crazy strict, paleo, no sugar, low carb type of people." Ben cringed as he looked over at me. "Sorry. It's why I chose that restaurant."

"Don't be sorry." I brushed it off. He didn't know so there was no point being shitty about it. A thought popped into my head and it took a lot of self control to not outwardly grin at it. "You can make it up to me though."

"How so?" Ben slowed down to face me.

It worked perfectly. I leant forward and put my lips against his. Ben jumped in surprise at first but quickly responded. It was slow and sweet. A hesitant kiss for something that may blossom into something more. I kept it short, pulling back after a few moments. As I did, Ben was grinning at me.

"You know, I better do it again just to make sure of it," Ben said lowly, leaning forward and kissing me again.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and enjoyed the moment. There weren't fireworks but there was a tiny spark that was being fanned. It was starting to grow. Hopefully into something more.

Authors Note

What's this? Another chapter in a month?

All jokes aside, it is a bit shorter than usual. It's much needed though to set up some things for later. After doing 5 early morning shifts in a row, I was determined to get this out this morning before I went and fed horses and did stables. A drizzly and cold Autumn morning isn't making my motivation to move from my nice warm heater much easier so I finished this off. The next chapter will be a little bit of a longer wait. My new job has me mostly on morning shifts at the 3:40am wake ups are still killing me, plus I'm going away for a wedding. These next few chapters will be intense so I want to do them justice and not rush it out.

Your response from the last chapter was incredible. Thank you SO much, everyone. I still get giddy with excitement whenever the emails hit my mailbox. Looking at the review count I can barely believe it's grown this far. Hell, there are days I can barely believe I've written all of this and come this far. I won't know what to do with my life when it's finished. It will probably take me another five years to finish but it's such a huge part of my life as well.

As always enjoy. I hope I haven't broken the Clint/Kari shippers hearts too much! Just remember, everything is in the chapter for a good reason. Hopefully the anticiation will be well worth it in the end.

Until next time.