"He is sooo not interested I tell you. I need an alternative." A brunette, who Lilly did not know, complained.
"Alright, alright. Has he matched up with someone yet?" Rita enquired.
"No. But I think he eyed Amanda."
All eyes shifted to a short strawberry blonde, who was refreshing her lipstick. "Me?"
"I think so. He definitely checked you out when you got punch."
"So? You take him?" Rita asked.
The strawberry blonde considered. "Hmm. Yeah, that's fine with me. Then Allan is free to have. But be aware that he is in a 'complain about his ex-wife' phase."
"So, Allan Fletcher anyone?" Rita announced, making a mental note of the newly scheduled pair.
No one spoke up.
Letting her eye wander around the crowded room, Rita noticed Lilly off to the side at the sinks. "Lilly! Welcome! You want to join?" she directed at her.
Lilly swallowed hard. She had made up her mind outside and she would not draw back now. "Uhm, yes. But not Agent Fletcher." She did not want to sound picky but he was far too old for her and honestly? He was kind of creepy. She had seen pictures and he always had that creepy 'if I get you alone' smile on.
"Fine. And no worries. Fletcher is not the most demanded one among all of us. Let's see. Caroline? You said Richard W. is straying?"
Caroline shrugged. "I think so. He might not stay with me until the evening is over and the night begins. But that is fine with me. I share with Lizzy."
Share? What? How?
Rita nodded with an understanding smirk. "Agent Reese, hu? Have fun, girl!" Lizzy gave a thumbs-up and left.
Lilly would rather not think about what sharing meant in this context but her cheeks turned a little pink nonetheless. She was probably going to hear it next Monday anyway. In great (graphic) detail.
"So Richard is back on the market, ladies." Rita declared.
"I might …" the brunette from the beginning of the trade spoke up again.
Just at that mention, a totally exhausted blonde barged into the slightly overcrowded bathroom. She was fanning herself with her hand and was gasping for air.
"Mindy, honey! What happened?"
"You … woulnd't *pant* believe *gasp* it. They are here."
"Who?" Lilly enquired.
Rita's eyes widened . "No. Really? Ladies! Emergency plan A into action. List number two is valid from now on. All of them?" Rita directed at the still gasping Mindy.
She only nodded her head, still unable to speak.
Lilly was absolutely clueless what was going on.
"Hmm, I secured Derek for myself already. So Barton is back on market." Rita declared.
The brunette from earlier held up her hands in defense, when Rita looked her way. "Not for me. That man is quite a handful. I stick with Richard."
Barton? Lilly had heard that name before. A first name would help to sort that out.
"I go for the captain." Mindy interjected, still panting but hurrying to make a claim.
"Good luck with that, romantic fool." Rita shook her head.
The captain? What captain?
"Lilly?" Rita looked at her.
"She is the newcomer. Why should she choose first?" a woman with caramel streaks in her fake blonde mane spoke up.
Rita silenced her with a stare. "She is a SHIELD sister as we all are. Same right for everyone."
Her steely gaze softened and turned back to Lilly.
"So? Interested? Maybe not Clint. That would be quite too much for you I guess." Rita contemplated.
"Clint? Clint Barton? HAWKEYE CLINT BARTON!?"
"Pst!"
"Shush!"
"Not so loud!"
Lilly shrank a bit by the chastising from all the women. "The Avengers are here?" she whispered.
Rita nodded with gleaming eyes. "Yeah, honey. The Avengers are here. The shy doctor Banner maybe? But you have to know, he wouldn't go home with you. He never does. He is nice company for the evening though."
Lilly couldn't quite comprehend her luck. To see the Avengers. Wow. That was just wow. Then reality hit her. To be paired off with one of them? No way. Well, the Captain was really sweet from what she had heard and seen on TV. But he was so … so …. iconic. No way she would even find words to speak to him. Well, after the comments from moments ago she was really afraid what Agent Barton would demand and he was so out of her league. He was right second to the master-spy-boss-man himself when it came to intimidation and deadliness. Doctor Banner sounded nice although she couldn't connect a face with the name. Wait. Wasn't he … the HULK?! Oh god. What when she said the wrong things to him? Or stepped on his toe when dancing?
"I … I think I pass." She stammered. "I changed my mind." A little whiter in the face than when she had entered the bathroom, she left it and walked down the stairs. Excited office ladies were making their way upstairs, no doubt intending to make their dibs and change their 'assignment'.
When Lilly went finally back outside, a crowd of ladies had gathered close to the barbeque and in the middle she saw the back of a blonde head. Off to the side she saw two men she hadn't noticed before. They leaned casually on a table and smirked at the surrounded man, clearly gloating.
Lilly recognized the one with the dirty blonde spiky hair from some files she had seen at the SHIELD office. (Illegally. Again.) It was agent Barton. He looked a bit different though, a Jeans and a faded T-shirt was not a SHIELD uniform and it made him much less intimidating than the pictures with him in blood splattered black kevlar gear.
Lilly's head snapped back to the gathered crowd of skirts and the blonde man in the middle. Would that then be the Captain? Captain America? She rose a bit up but her feet were rooted to the spot. She wouldn't dare to get any closer. The likelihood of embarrassing herself (by showering someone with punch, by tripping over her own feet, by smiling at someone with green bits of salad between her teeth, there were so many possibilities …) was far too high. So the plan for the evening was set and it was a quite entertaining one. Lilly would watch the Avengers. Live. It was sooo exciting! Would they mingle with the other SHIELD personnel? Would the ladies get lucky with one of them?
Lilly sauntered around the lush meadow round after round. The flock of women around the captain had thinned out and she had glimpsed his face and a polite smile once and again. He really looked like taken straight from a 50ies romance novel. If only this kind of guy was real. Well, you know what I mean. He was real but he was one of a kind, probably.
Lilly had stared a bit too long, because when her dreamy eyes got focused again, they met the eyes of the Captain. He was looking at her. Damn, she had gotten too close. There still were two animatedly talking women, hanging branches from a willow tree and a stone bench between them and she had thought to be sneaky. But, yeah, he was Captain America for a reason. And it took her only the blink of an eye to flush bright red under his stare. When the urge to flee finally got the upper hand and her shock wore off, she turned on her heel and went in a wide ark back to the mansion.
He had caught her staring. From the distance. Like a creepy stalker. Gods, she was acting like a silly fangirl. And now she was fleeing the scene like she had been caught doing something improper. Could the ground please open up and swallow her whole? She needed to hide. Definitely. Her feet had carried her to the mansion and into the kitchen which opened with large double doors directly to the garden.
She stepped into the kitchen and immediately two steps to the side to get out of sight from the garden. Breathe, Lilly. Breathe. In. Out. In. Out.
"Hey there. You looking for somethin'?" a deep voice sounded from behind her.
Her eyes snapped open and her pulse sped up again. "No!" her answer came a little too fast.
"Whoa. You running from something?" Lilly heard a snickering sound from the other corner of the kitchen.
She finally turned to the source of the deep voice who had spoken first, fumbling for words. "I, uh, I was ..." but she lost it when she recognized Agent Barton. And he was looking at her. Expecting her to finish her sentence. His piercing crystal clear eyes set on her. Once again, she suffered from the deer in the headlights phenomenon. Her eyes searching frantically for some excuse. They finally fell to his hands and the bottle of beer in them.
"I was looking for something to drink?" It came out more as a question than an answer.
"Help yourself!" He made a gesture towards the double door fridge but Lilly didn't move. That was becoming awkward really fast.
"I think you need something stronger." Came the second voice from the corner and as if to underline the statement, the man swirled the golden liquid and the ice cubes in his tumbler around.
Lilly nodded mutely.
He came over to the counter and opened a bottle, poured some of the golden liquid into a clean glass and added two ice cubes from the cooler on the counter. He handed it to her. Lilly stared at him. She knew him. She knew him from somewhere. That dark wavy hair and the carefully groomed beard should give her a clue but she was never good with faces and tonight she was totally out of it.
"Here. Drink up, little lady." he offered the glass to her.
She took it with a shaking hand and rose it to her mouth. The liquid in it smelled awful, like turpentine. Her eyes stayed glued to the dark blue sleeves with the silver cuff links of the man, who had handed her the glass. Man up, Lilly! Drink it! The liqueur was stinging her tongue and scratching her throat but as soon as it warmed her belly, she felt a lot calmer.
"Whoa there. Not so fast!" The man in the blue shirt warned but Lilly had already downed the whole glass of whiskey. She held it out again.
If this was calming her that good, she needed more. Definitely.
The man smirked and refilled her glass, while the second one, Agent Barton, eyed her from the side.
Lilly rose the glass to her lips again and took big gulps to refill the calming stream of lava in her belly, while her eyes met warm chocolate ones over the rim of the glass.
"This might get interesting." he stated with a smirk.
"Keep it together, Stark." Agent Barton warned.
Lilly coughed on her whiskey. Stark? As in Tony Stark? As in IRON MAN a.k.a. TONY STARK?! She set the tumbler down on the counter and bend over, coughing more violently to get the burning liquid out of her trachea. A warm hand was clapping on her back slightly to help her coughing.
"I told you." Lilly could hear the smile in Tony Stark's voice.
God, she had made an ass out of herself in front of half of the Avengers.
Tony's hand had stopped clapping her back and instead had drifted a bit lower, where it rested warm against the small of her back. Lilly looked up again, with watery eyes from the violent coughing.
"You okay?" Tony Stark was standing closer to her than she had realized and she was on the edge of another deer-in-headlight-trance. And the thumb that was rubbing small circles on her back was not helping.
His other hand reached out to set a strand of hair back behind her ear and oh so softly grazed her cheek. Heat rose up and blushed her face in a beautiful shade of pink.
"Oh come on, Stark." Agent Barton complained from behind the counter.
Tony directed his attention to his fellow Avenger and send him a 'don't interrupt this' stare, but it was too late. Lilly had snapped out of her trance and used the chance to escape. Fast steps took her out into the garden and over the small bridge into the copse of willow trees.
"See what you did?!" Tony complained to Clint. "Only because you are getting none doesn't mean I have to be celibate."
"She was half your age, Stark. And you were filling her up with Glenfiddich."
"I appreciate youth, when I can get it." Tony justified.
"Well, you won't get this one." Clint smirked.
"We will see." And with that, Tony strode out into the garden like a man with a purpose.
