Over the next few days Clint constantly watched over Jade from above, looking for any potential danger. He met her every morning at the café for coffee before she went to work. Clint was hitting the two week mark of his mission and there was still no sign of anyone tracking Jade.
"Morning!" Jade smiled down at Clint as she held out a coffee for him. He gladly took it as he had spent most of the night on the roof watching over the city streets for any unusual activity. "So Clint I know we kind of just met and this might sound a little forward but there is this mixer tomorrow night, and everyone usually brings a date and I get stuck listening to how the Jefferson's are going to be spending their Christmas in the Bahamas, and how the Michael's will be going to Paris this year."
"So you want me to endure this torture with you?"
"Oh please god yes. I'll shoot myself if I have to go through all of this again." Jade's smile faded from her face. "I guess spending every Christmas alone without anyone and hearing how great everyone's families are makes me a little bitter."
"You don't have anyone to spend the holidays with?" Clint questioned, there was nothing in her file about any other family besides her mother who had passed away just two years prior.
"No, it was always just mom and I. My dad died just before I was born and my mom said her family disowned her once they found out she was pregnant. She came from a very Christian home and once they discovered she was pregnant out of wed lock they cut all ties."
"Your mom did a great job of raising you then, you've accomplished so much in such a small amount of time." Clint didn't realize she had it this bad, if only she knew she still had family, if only she knew who her father really was.
"Thankfully, I had the brain and my father had the money, when he passed away he left my mom a small fortune, enough that we wouldn't have to worry for a very long time." Jade shook her head and put her smile back on. "So is that a yes! I would owe you forever."
"It would be an honour to accompany you, besides it beats sitting around in my hotel room on a Saturday night." Clint smiled back at Jade.
"Great, so I'll meet you up at your room say about six, dress sharp pretty boy." Jade smirked as she stood up grabbing her bag from the floor. "I'm going to be late again." Then she was gone, out the door rushing towards the university.
The rest of the day went by quite quickly for Clint as he spent most of it speaking with Director Fury regarding the status of his mission, or at least the lack of status. Fury had told him Stark has been starting to snoop around knowing that the information he had given him on Clint's whereabouts was false. Agent Barton had been given seventy two hours if by then there was still no new information regarding the terrorist group then he was to place a tracking device on her and report back to headquarters.
A knock sounded on the door of his room, while doing up the last few buttons of his shirt has swiftly walked over to the door and opened, and what he saw took his breath away. He knew at that moment he was about to compromise his mission, he was getting attached. She was just a mission, and at that Tony Starks daughter.
She stood there in a white flowing off the shoulder knee length dress, with a giant black sash around the waist. Her hair was styled bone straight and she had her winter dress jacket draped over her arm.
Jade smiled brightly at him taking him in, he wore black dress pants and a black button down shirt, the cuffs of which were rolled up slightly allowing her to see the muscle that lied right above his wrists. His hair was slightly messed and he had a blue tooth in his ear.
"You look very stunning tonight Jade." Clint smiled as he motioned for her to come in. She stepped in her black heals making no noise on the carpeted floor. "You look not to bad yourself." Jade spoke as she surveyed his room. Clint shut the door and proceeded to take the piece out of his ear and set in on the counter by the door, watching as Jade's eyes darted around the room in an inquisitive manner. He noticed her eyes land on the S.H.I.E.L.D. issue tablet that lay on the coffee table.
"So what is it that you do exactly?" Jade recognized that tablet to anyone else it would just look like any other piece of machinery, but to her she knew it exact dimensions, what information it was linked to and who they were issued by. She had held one in her hands only a few weeks ago.
"I trade stocks." Clint said plainly, watching as Jade's hand shakily reached toward the device.
"You work for S.H.I.E.L.D. don't you?" Clint was taken by surprise; she turned to look at him as she picked up the tablet and turned it on seeing her own face looking back at her. "Are you here to kill me because I didn't except your bosses offer? I know what S.H.I.E.L.D. does to people who are deemed important to the cause. They either get them or no one does."
"I'm here to protect you." Clint said sternly walking towards Jade and taking the tablet out of her hands, turning it off and setting it back on the table.
"Why? I told Director Fury I didn't want to work for them, that I liked my job, I liked my life and I wasn't about to give it all up to help him make his super soldiers."
"We have reason to believe your life is in danger. Whatever Director Fury wanted you for so does a Russian terrorist group." Jade sighed and plopped down on the couch.
"Why all of this then, why not just come to me and tell me," Clint walked around the couch to stand behind her, watching her as her shoulders slumped forward. "Unless you were using me as bait."
"You were never going to be in any danger. Once they showed themselves I was to take them in and bring you with." He heard Jade sigh again and then she stood up.
"We are going to be late." She said with a smile heading towards the door. She threw her jacket on and opened the door turning back to smile as Clint. "Let me just have one more normal night, even if I have to spend in with those crack pots." Giggling her smile widened. Clint grabbed his jacket from a chair by the door and followed Jade out of the room.
They arrived at the party to find everyone chatting and dancing. We placed our coats in coat check and proceed further into the party.