Disclaimer and AN: I don't own them – I am just using them to satisfy my muse, who loves to come up with random ways to torture me…so enjoy. And please review! Oh yeah – YAYAYAYAYAYA we hit 100 reviews! I always love hitting the century mark….please keep them coming! If you wanna know more about Clint and Emma's early relationship prior to Avengers, then check out 'Lady Hawk'!


Chapter 18:

Clint inhaled sharply as Emma walked out of the bathroom in her dress for the party that night. She looked absolutely stunning. She was wearing a black sequined lace halter gown with a very low back. It didn't show too much in the front but it damn near showed too much in the back with a long slit up one leg. Her long hair was curled slightly and hung around her shoulders. And to top it off she was wearing high-heeled leather sandals.

He had died and gone to heaven. The last time he had seen her dressed in anything like this was years ago during one of their many undercover ops. He could get used to this again.

"I'm going to be allowed to take that off you tonight right?" he asked, pulling her into his arms.

"Only if you're lucky and behave tonight."

Damn. He knew what that meant. They had to work. It was like old times. She would work the room and he would watch her back along with Natasha's as well since he wasn't really sure how well Steve would do at this undercover work. But that didn't mean he couldn't get in a little feel now?

His hands traveled down her slender body. He already knew that he was going to find it hard to keep his hands off of her tonight. What really sucked about this entire operation was that she wouldn't be wearing her wedding rings. Of course he would wear his, but since she was supposed to "use what her momma gave her" as he liked to think of it, that meant she had to play single. But that didn't mean he didn't. He would just watch and make sure no one got too frisky with his wife along with behaving so he could rip that dress off her later…

"Now where are you hiding your weapons?" he asked, pulling her closer to him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said with a smile before giving him a quick kiss then spinning out of his arms.

"Umm yes!"


"So how does this exactly work?" Steve asked nervously as he looked around at all the help that Pepper had hired to help cater and work at the party that night.

"What do you mean?" Natasha asked as she smoothed the shoulders of the light blazer that he was wearing. She too, was wearing a breath taking dress – hers was a tight fitting tube top dress that was a pearl color with a slit up one leg like Emma's had. She too was wearing high-heeled leather sandals.

"What am I supposed to do tonight?"

"Act like Steve Rogers, not Captain America. Emma and I are doing all the work. That's why we're wearing the killer dresses."

"I really don't know how to do that," he quietly said.

"Welcome to the club. I think that's why we all work so well together," Natasha said sitting down in a chair next to him. "Look at Bruce, if he let's go of his control, he becomes the Hulk. Then we have Thor, who is a god among men. As for Clint and Emma, they are a lot like me – we're all lost. We've all been so messed up in the past that we all need each other to function. Its almost that the strength of one out weights the deficits of another member of our dysfunctional group."

"And Tony?"

"He's Tony. But I actually think that being reunited with Emma will be a good thing. Perhaps some of those insecurities that he has will disappear."

"You know you're good at reading people."

"It's my job."

"Hopefully you'll be able to do it well tonight. Plus you look very nice."

"Thank you," she said. She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before standing back up and heading back into the house to see if Pepper needed any help before the party started.

He sat there and watched Natasha walk back into the house. The red haired agent reminded him so much of Peggy Carter. The more time he spent around her, the more time he was reminded about Peggy.

God he missed her.


Pepper glanced around at the partygoers mingling all around her. So far everything was going off without a hitch.

Thank God.

Of course, Tony had made a huge announcement that he had proposed to her and she had tearfully accepted in front of everyone at the beginning of the night. That had greatly embarrassed her, but she survived. And since then, she had gotten several congratulations and requests to see the ring that Tony had given her.

"You know that Tony broke the hearts of many women tonight, Pepper," James Rhodes said walking up to her and hugging her tightly.

"Oh I know, Rhodey," she responded with a smile.

"So he is really going to do this Avengers thing?"

"He is."

"You're proud of him aren't you?"

"Rhodey you should see how much he's changed in just a few weeks. Yes he still has his moments, but he has definitely changed."

"Yeah flying a nuke into an alien ship will do that to you."

"It wasn't just that."

"What do you mean?"

Pepper pointed at towards a young woman who was standing with Tony and one of the members of the board of directors of Stark Industries. "Her name is Emma Barton, but her maiden name is Emma Stark."

Rhodey did a double take and looked at her again. Same facial structure, hair color and even the same smile. "No way Pepper. Tony doesn't have a sister!"

"Yes he does. Jarvis has shown me the DNA data. But they are so much a like. And the scary thing is that she is an Avenger too."

"Figures with this family."


It was close to 11 p.m. and the party was winding down. Clint, Bruce and Thor all stood at the bar watching the last few guest mingle. Natasha had disappeared for a while with one of the suspected A.I.M. scientists and had yet to return while Pepper had introduced Steve to James Rhodes. The two of them sat swapping war stories down by the pool.

"Where'd Emma and Tony go off to?"

"Probably some stupid thing about the board of directors for Stark Industries wanting to meet the daughter of Howard Stark. Hell they were going to all meet her in another year or so anyways," Clint mumbled. Thor and Bruce looked at him a bit confused. Clint was in a bad mood. All night, Emma had been occupied either by having to meet important people related to Stark Industries or having to interrogate A.I.M. scientists by flirting with them. He hadn't gotten one dance with her, one kiss or even one drink. Some party. In fact he hadn't seen her in well over an hour.

From behind them, someone cleared their throat. The three guys turned around to see Tony standing there with his arm around Pepper. "Gentlemen, your presents have arrived. Sorry they are a bit late. But traffic sucked and weather was bad too. So if you will follow Pepper and myself, we will show you your gifts."

All a bit confused, the three Avengers followed Tony and Pepper to the front of the house where a stretch limo was pulling up. The group waited for the limo to stop and Happy Hogan jumped out from the driver's seat and opened the rear passenger's door. He helped the first passenger out.

"Thank you, Mr. Hogan," came a soft voice.

Thor immediately pushed his way forward and swept Jane Foster into his arms, trying not to crush her to death.

"Talk about intense," Bruce murmured to Clint, who stifled a laugh.

"Here's yours big guy," Tony said as Happy helped out the last person in the limo. Bruce inhaled deeply as he saw Betty Ross standing in front of him. "Hello Bruce," she said with a smile as she held out a hand to him. He slowly took a hold of it and walked away so that he and Betty could catch up.

"As for you," Pepper said, turning to Clint. "Your present arrived earlier. You will find it on the beach with Emma."

Clint looked in the direction that Pepper was pointing and was mildly confused and a bit curious as to what his present could be. After just a few minutes of walking, he spotted a small campfire on the beach and could hear laughter coming from near the fire. He could see Emma's figure sitting on the sand, with a smaller figure sitting on her lap – it had to be Audrey.

"Look there he is," he heard Emma say.

Out of her lap, jumped Audrey, who took off running down the beach towards her father. Clint scooped her up into his arms "Daddy! I got to ride in a helicopter!" she squealed in delight.

"Really?"

"Un hun. Mommy came and surprised me!"

By that time, Emma had walked over to them – thankfully, still in the killer dress. Clint looked at her waiting for an explanation. "Pepper's idea. Happy flew me into Manhattan, I had your mom meet us at a helipad and I picked her up. Didn't take too long."

Clint smiled and kissed her lips then kissed Audrey's cheek. "Now have you meet your Uncle Tony yet?" he asked his daughter.

"Nope!"

"Well then, today is his birthday! What do you think he needs?"

"A birthday hug!"

"Exactly! Now let's go find him and give him one!"

"You two head on up to the house and I'll grab my shoes and put out the fire," Emma said, stealing a kiss from both her husband and daughter.

She doused the fire with sand and grabbed her shoes and blanket from the ground before turning to catch back up with Clint and Audrey who were a good 50 yards in front of her by that time. But something off to the side caught her attention.

Movement.

"Clint! Get down!" she yelled, just as the gunshot erupted.