Getting called into Hill's office was never a good thing. Especially when the email came on a Sunday night.

Being told to be there at 0800 on the dot on a Monday morning meant I was in trouble.

Very, very, very big trouble.

Despite reassurances from both Natasha and Clint that Hill was all bark and no bite, I still wasn't thrilled about it. Considering Evans was still shitty with me, I was pretty sure this was an official reprimand coming that would see me flying to Antarctica for the next six months.

Raising my hand to knock at precisely 0759, I tried to squash down my nervous butterflies. As predicted, I had two wicked looking black eyes from Clint's accidental lash out on the weekend. After Sam and Rebecca's housing warming, turned engagement celebration, he had spent the rest of the weekend making it up to me in sex.

Not that I was ever going to complain about him worshipping my body as he did, I was also walking a little bit funny. I had tweaked my back while we were fucking against the door this morning. Jared and Natasha had left before us and I wasn't going to say no to a quickie before work. I'd already gotten a few snickers in the gym this morning and a lot of double takes.

Pushing it all aside, I tentatively knocked. In the seconds following, I prayed that Hill had come down with something nasty that would keep her off work for a few more days.

"Come in."

No such luck for me.

Twisting the doorknob, I opened the door to find Hill already behind her desk, furiously typing at her computer. Her steaming cup of coffee reminded me that I hadn't had enough coffee to deal with anything today. The morning quickie had made it too late for us to stop for coffee. I needed at least four to deal with this morning.

"Sit."

Hill sounded like she hadn't had enough coffee to deal with me either. Being the well behaved one, I did as I was told.

"Two things," Hill started, pulling herself away from the computer. "Would you have done to Coulson what you did to Evans?"

She didn't need to clarify that she was talking about the mission I'd snuck off on. The guilt about that was still a slap in the face. I hated that I'd made Evans upset with me. I hated myself for getting suckered into this bullshit. Why did I ever take this mission from Fury? It was going to cause nothing but pain.

"No," I said in a very small voice.

"Then don't do it to Evans," Hill's tone sounded extremely exasperated. "You have no idea how much shit he is deflecting for you guys at the moment."

I nodded while swallowing hard. I owed Evans a huge apology. It was so overdue that it was probably not going to help in the slightest.

"Two," Hill continued. "Would you trust Barton on a mission with you?"

That was not where I was expecting this conversation to go.

"Right now?" I tried to stall while scrambling for an answer. "Or in SHIELD's timeframe of how long it takes missions to come together?"

"Right now," Hill clarified. "As in, I would send you both to the armoury and straight on a Quinjet."

My brain couldn't come up with an appropriate answer. What the fuck was I supposed to say to that?

And was it bad that my first answer was a yes?

"I have passed this mission around to all of the other STRIKE leaders and marksmen." Hill didn't wait for my answer. She produced a folder from underneath the stacks on her desk. "Every single one of them said the same thing to me that I'm expecting you to say as well."

I really should turn this down straight away. The fact Hill was coming to me for this meant it was something major. As usual, curiosity got the better of me. I opened up the file and started to read through it.

George Burns was the most boring sounding bad guy I had ever come across. Most of the men I had faced had weird names. This guy even looked boring. Wide rimmed glasses and a receding hairline were the first things I noticed in the grainy surveillance photo. Overweight and in his late 50's, he did not look like the type of threat SHIELD would care about.

His crime against humanity wasn't boring at all. Starting off as a small time smuggler with drugs, he'd then progressed onto human trafficking. His latest endeavours had become very specific and niche. He was kidnapping any children with a hint of powers to sell for experiments and sex trafficking.

My stomach turned for a whole other reason. I'd happily put a bullet in this guy for the atrocities he was committing. George was smart enough to base his operations in Bhutan. A tiny country situated on the eastern ridges of the Himalayas. His main operations were based high in one of the mountain ranges which was inaccessible except by air.

I looked up enough to raise an eyebrow at Hill.

"Our intel has it that George has to take phone calls outside," Hill explained, turning her computer monitor around so I could see. She had a map of the area up. "Here's his base."

I squinted at the screen as Hill tapped her pen against the dot. His base was really, really fucking high up in the mountains.

"And this ridge on this mountain is exactly 1.9254 miles away but provides a clear line of sight when George is taking his phone calls."

It suddenly dawned on me where this was going.

"That's a Barton shot," I filled in the blanks. "I wouldn't be confident making it."

Hill nodded. For a moment there was a pleased expression crossed her face. It was gone as quickly as it came on.

"That's what everyone else said, but it was 'Barton or Kari' shot."

That gave me a small surge of pride. I didn't have long to ponder it, as Hill continued filling me in.

"You'd need to HALO in about 10 miles out. George has the area heavily guarded anywhere within a mile. But he can't cover that mountain ridge because of the terrain. So you need to approach it from the west, and climb so you won't be detected. Then skirt around the mountain to the other side for the shot."

This was sounding less fun with every passing moment. Despite it still being summer, it was going to be shitty weather that high up.

"Why can't we just cloak a Quinjet and Barton shoots off that?" I suggested. "Or get Jared to drop us in."

"I already asked Jared. He said he'd never been there so he'd be going in blind."

Of all the places Jared hadn't been, it had to be this one. I swear he'd been to every other country out there.

"And George has anti-aircraft missiles with heat detectors surrounding the place." Hill quickly dashed all hopes of my other idea. "It'll see the Quinjet coming from miles away. Another reason we have to HALO drop you so far away. So, would you trust Barton in his current state of mind?"

I huffed out a small sigh. Part of me wanted to shield Clint from all of this. Despite fucking me near senseless, I'm sure he had barely slept last night. The haunted look of guilt on his face this morning when I woke up told me more than words could.

But I also knew he needed some normality. As much as I hated the mission I'd done for Rumlow, it had felt good to get back out there.

I trusted Clint with my life. If I said yes to this, I knew he would do everything in his power to make this work.

"As long as I go with Clint," I finally said after a few long moments of contemplation. "Andrew will probably kill me for saying this, but I think it'll be the best thing for him right now."

Hill didn't look surprised by my answer. If anything I'm sure I was confirming her line of thought.

I really hoped I got this right. Clint was going to be fucking pissed at me if I didn't. This mission was going to be shit even before aliens dropped from the sky and Loki fucked with his head. He might just shoot me and leave me on a mountain in the middle of butt fuck nowhere for saying he could do this.

"Is Barton on base?" Hill asked, turning her computer monitor back around.

"Yeah he's having a session with Andrew," I sat back, fighting off a bigger sigh. I'd gone and done it now. "I'm heading to the physiotherapist because I twinged my back this morning, then to Andrew after that."

I didn't add that I was also supposed to be helping Steve pick out some things for his apartment so it felt more homely. He'd asked before we had left Sam and Rebecca's place. Natasha was meant to be going with me. Where she and Jared had gone this morning I had no idea. Neither of them was in the gym this morning. I'd have to text her later to go without me if this was really happening.

"Do I want to know how you twinged your back?" Hill asked with a raised eyebrow. "And is it going to impact you going on this mission?

"Not really," I admitted. I could feel the start of an embarrassing flush starting to crawl up my neck. "And definitely not going to impact the mission. My back is no more fucked than usual."

"You're a bit young and fresh to have a fucked back."

For the first time, I saw something else under Hill's annoyed expression.

"I'm coming up on my three year anniversary," I pointed out. "And I fucked my back carrying Barton on that mission with Aldon."

Three years. How had it been three years of my life already?

"Then go to your physio session," Hill interrupted my train of thought. "I'll have Barton meet you in Evans office. I'll let Andrew know you won't be making it today."

Andrew was going to be pissed I'd missed yet another session. Mine kept getting interrupted by interviews that couldn't be rescheduled. Or meetings with other people. He'd already voiced his frustration about it in our last session. I was proud of that fact I was able to turn some bullshit into how I was coping fine that week and everything was moving well.

Doing as I was told, I got up and left Hill without any word. Guilt was already starting to eat at me about agreeing to this. If I wasn't mistaken it was monsoon season in Bhutan. We were going to be wet and miserable, probably freezing our asses off as well once we hit the altitude. It was going to suck on a whole new level.

So why was I feeling excited as well as guilty? This was not a mission anyone should be excited about.

Maybe I did need to see Andrew. I was really fucked in the head if I was finding this exciting.

Thankfully the physiotherapist, Adam, was already waiting for me. I really liked him and his no bullshit manner. After a few stretches and a massage that felt a little bit more like torture than a massage, I was ready to go again.

Heading to Evans office, I grabbed a coffee for all three of us. I knew Clint would need one after his session with Andrew. Plus a little ass kissing wasn't going to hurt with Evans.

As I was rounding the corner to Evans office, Clint was coming from the opposite direction. He looked annoyed. His jaw was set and I could see the muscle twitching in his cheek. As he saw me, his face instantly softened.

"Coffee?" I offered, pushing the cup towards him.

As I did, I caught a glance of the time on my watch. Clint had finished his session with Andrew early. Something that was never a good sign.

"You're the best."

The tension drained out of every bit of Clint's posture as he took the offered cup. His fingers brushed against mine and a small thrill ran through my body.

Hearing the rumours of Clint being amazing in bed and finding out for myself were two very different things. Even such a chaste and gentle brush was bringing back the happy memories of yesterday.

"I know." I pushed it all away. Getting horny again right before this mission wasn't going to help anything. "Let's go see what Evans wants."

"Probably going to put us on cleaning duty in the armoury or some other bullshit," Clint grumbled.

It was hard not to react to that. I took a big gulp of coffee to try and hide my expression as we walked into Evans office. The man himself was sitting at his desk looking tired and drawn.

Hill's words from earlier made a fresh wave of guilt slam into me. Evans had said when I first came back that he didn't want this responsibility. On top of us, he was still technically STRIKE Team Bravo's leader. No replacement had come forward for that as of yet. Nick was running the day to day operations of the team. Evans was still dealing with all of the major behind the scenes work for them. Unlike us, they were busy.

"I come bearing coffee," I said brightly.

Evans managed a smile that softened his irritated expression as I handed the cup over.

"What do you want?" Evans tone was joking as he took the cup. "Sit, both of you. Barton read this."

I could see Clint looking at me out of the corner of my eye as we sat down. The offered file had been slid across the desk while we got comfortable. Clint's coffee was quickly forgotten as he picked up the file and began to read.

The silence in the room quickly became far too loud. Clint's face gave nothing away as he read what was in front of him. Evans sipped on his coffee, looking between the pair of us. I had to find a spot over his shoulder to focus on. I knew I was an open book. I didn't want to give anything away until Clint came to his own conclusions.

"This will be a shit mission, like arctic survival course shit," Clint finally broke the silence. His face gave nothing away. "Is this a punishment?"

"If it was a punishment, there'd be some much more creative bullshit in there," Evans said with a snort. "Do you want it or not?"

Part of me wanted Clint to say no. He was right. It was going to be a really shitty mission. I truly believed he needed this though.

"Of course I want it," Clint said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "When do we leave?"

My twisted nerves settled at those easy words from Clint's mouth. I had to force myself not to sag in relief. So I'd done the right thing for what felt like the first time in ages.

"As soon as you're both finished in the armoury. I've already got bags packed for you."

Even though Hill had said the same thing, I was still surprised that this was happening so quickly.

"So, go." Evans made a shooing motion with his hands. "Get armed and then I'll meet you in the hanger."

It was so strange to be getting up barely five sips into my coffee and now I was on another mission. People wanting my opinion about Clint's mental health and being able to do this was the most surprising thing of the morning. It also made me wonder if Hill knew what Fury was playing at. Or was Clint going to be drawn into this bullshit? If he was, I was done. I was doing this to protect him. Not let him get dragged into such a huge mess.

"Going," Clint's voice broke me from my thoughts. "Did you pack my comfy underwear? They're the bright pink ones."

Evans rolled his eyes. Wadding up a ball of paper, he threw it at Clint. Who of course ducked right out of the way. I hated how quick Clint's reflexes were sometimes. He could dodge and hit anything.

We did as we were told and left Evans office. We were barely two steps away when Clint grabbed my wrist stopping me in my tracks.

"Is this your doing?"

Clint suddenly had me caged up against the wall. His face was only a inch from me. A flush started to creep up my neck at our proximity. This was a well used hall. Anyone could come by at any moment. In a way, it also made our very inappropriate closeness more thrilling.

"Don't hold it against me when we're soaking wet and freezing our asses off on the side of a mountain," I said dryly.

The barest hint of a smile was starting to creep onto Clint's lips. He looked like was trying hard to fight it off.

"I should have kicked your ass harder this morning," Clint said lowly, bending forward until we were a hair width apart. "Might have kicked some sense into you."

"I'd like to see you try." Now I was trying not to smile. "I remember putting you down hard a few times this morning."

"That's not the only thing you made hard this morning."

Clint wiggling his eyebrows suggestively made me crack. I started to laugh, ducking away from his gaze.

"You're terrible," I said through my laughter. "And I was asked. Don't hate me."

"Never."

The emotion beyond that one word made me swallow hard. Clint looked so serious and for a moment I thought he was going to close the gap and kiss me. Instead, his hand that blocked me in reached behind and got my braid. The end of it tickled my nose a second later.

Pulling an annoyed face, I shoved Clint hard. All it did was make him laugh. He didn't move an inch despite the force I put into the shove.

"Let's get down to the armoury and get going."

Clint closed the small gap between us, pressing his lips against mine.

It was so brief that I barely had time to realise what he'd done before he pulled away.

My head was spinning from the kiss. The hall was empty but the thrill of anyone catching us at any moment was doing far more for me than I ever expected. This was so incredibly stupid of us.

Why did that make it even hotter? I had to shake that thought away. I doubted there'd be any fun times during this mission.

At least Clint was smiling. Some days were harder than others to try and get a genuine smile on his face. Despite him saying he was not a well trained monkey, he was very clever at being able to smile in the right places. Laugh when he was needed to. I saw it at Sam's party over the weekend.

It made me stupidly happy that I was the reason behind those rare genuine smiles.

Shaking my head, I pushed myself off the wall with my own ridiculous smile. This time Clint let me up.

The armoury was busy. As it usually was most weekday mornings. Alpha and Charlie team were both heading to the range. Echo team was heading out on their own mission. I had to squeeze between a mass of bodies to get to our gear.

Although it felt odd, it was like every other time we'd done a mission. Hell, like every other time we'd come to the armoury. Guys were joking. People greeted Clint and I like nothing had ever happened. Unlike the rest of SHIELD, STRIKE seemed to be keeping their side eye to an absolute minimum.

It wasn't a secret what happened to Clint. Just like I knew it probably wasn't a secret where my fresh black eyes had come from. STRIKE were the worst gossips in the world. The silent show of support was much appreciated though.

Walking to the hanger, I pulled out my phone and hit Steve's number. Unlike his usual answering his call halfway through the first ring, this time it took until the fifth ring for him to pick up.

"Sorry," Steve's voice sounded cloudy with sleep. "What's up?"

I raised an eyebrow at his tone. Steve was a ridiculously early riser. It was nearly 0930. A time I thought would be impossible for him to still be in bed.

"Are you dying?" I asked.

"No," Steve cleared his throat. "I had a late night."

Considering how cute he and his girlfriend had been at Sam's party, I suddenly knew what was going on. Beside me, Clint snorted with barely contained laughter.

"I thought you were meant to have super stamina," I joked.

The joke was also to cover my own guilt of not getting to know either of them a bit better. Steve seemed to be fitting in extremely well with STRIKE Team Bravo though. All of them had gotten over their awe of the real life Captain America hanging with them. Now he was just Steve, enjoying a beer and Clint's macaroni salad. His girlfriend, Ellie, seemed lovely too from the brief interaction I'd had with her.

"Fuck off, Kari," Steve sounded more awake now. "What's up? We aren't meeting until 12."

No matter how many times I'd heard Steve curse now, it still sounded odd. Grams was right that he was not the choir boy the media made him out to be.

"I've got a mission. I'm heading to the hanger now," I explained. "Nat and Jared are still there though. She loves spending other people's money."

"Okay, I'll text her," Steve said through a yawn. "What about Barton?"

"He's coming with."

The silence on the other end of the line said more than words could. I'd just stunned Steve into silence.

"Be safe." Steve quickly broke the silence. "Let me know when you're both back."

"Yes, dad," I couldn't help my sarcastic quip. "Have fun with Nat and Jared."

Steve responded with his own grunt but hung up before I could say anything else. Steve normally wasn't a big talker on the phone. But that was abrupt even for him.

"Is it me or do you think Steve was being distracted while you were on the phone?" Clint asked as soon the call ended.

It would have explained the long pause. It was also something I really didn't want to think about. It was like thinking about your grandparents having sex.

"That is not a mental image I needed to have," I said dryly. "It's still so weird that he's actually here and not just some historical figure."

"Our whole lives are weird," Clint said with an amused snort. "And it just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

Clint wasn't wrong. I thought my life was complicated when I first sat down in Fury's office after losing control over my powers. Now I'd not only lived through but fought in an alien invasion.

"At least I've got good company with the weird fuckery that is our lives."

It came out without me really thinking about it. I really had to watch my mouth with dumb shit like that. It was going to get both of us into trouble. Probably sooner rather than later.

The resulting smile I got from Clint was worth my dumb mouth running away from me.

It wasn't the first time I was aware of how fucking dangerous these waters I was wading into were. Everything that had happened between me and Clint had felt so natural. Fucking had changed nothing between us.

Except I had a really bad feeling it had. No matter how much I tried to tell myself it hadn't.

Author Notes

Holy shit everyone. Look a chapter! I can't really believe it myself.

Okay, that's a lie. I had everything written up until the conversation with Steve and then I haven't had time to finish writing it. So I'm so sorry.

I'd love to say the next chapter is halfway there, but in all honesty, I'm struggling with time to write at the moment. This chapter also highlights how much of Steve's story that I want to get written. But also haven't had time to do so. We got quite badly flooded in Febuary. Hubby quit his job interstate, then got another one, which resulted in a lot of back and forth with packing and other things. Competition season is here and I'm now riding my in-laws stallions, adding to the already crazy days I have.

But I wouldn't change any of it. I used to write before going to bed and I think I'm going to start doing that again. I miss this story. I've had so much time to focus on where I'm going with it that I really need to time to keep going with it.

Thank from from the bottom of my heart for everyone's continued support. I know I'm a terrible author for updating and you're all amazing for sticking with me through the long stretches.

Until next time.