Chapter 11.

What could you possibly say when the man who'd made passionate love to you only hours earlier, the man who was widely acknowledged to be one of Earth's Greatest Heroes – when he told you that everything you thought you knew about him was a lie?

And then Jemma looked in his eyes and saw that it wasn't a lie. Clint was still Hawkeye. He was still the only unenhanced human who had stood tall and fought the Chitauri in New York. Fought to save all of humanity, the race he had said he once despised as rotten even though he was one of them. He was still the man Phil Coulson trusted to help rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D., to protect Phil's 'family' on the Bus.

"If this changes things between you and me," Clint said quietly, "so be it. But I'm not going to try to build any kind of relationship with you on a foundation made up of lies and bullshit stories. My truth is fucking ugly, Jemma. It's made me what I am today and it shapes the way I look at the world. I trust very, very few people to have my back."

She nodded, understanding, but so choked with grief for him she couldn't speak. A tear slipped from her eye and rolled down her cheek. More welled.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." He closed his eyes for a moment, looking absolutely devastated, and when he opened them, he let go of her and stood up, that emotionless mask sliding over his features. "Agent Simmons," he said, his voice cold and hard. "Get some rest. We'll be up at dawn to start loading the Bus."

"No!" Jemma shot to her feet. He'd misunderstood her tears. Thought that she felt betrayed by him, instead of understanding how much she grieved for him.

"Agent Simmons, I gave you an order."

She threw herself at him. Flung her arms around his neck, pulled his head down and started kissing him with everything she had. Because her quick brain had processed everything and realised that by telling her the truth, he was telling her that she was one of the few people he trusted. And if he could trust her – she could certainly put her trust in him.

"Jemma," Clint groaned against her lips. He could have fended her off easily enough, indeed his combat reflexes had nearly thrown her across the room, but he could never hurt her. His brain overrode his instinctive action just fast enough to let her throw herself on him, and then he realised what she wanted.

"Shut up and kiss me!"

He was obeying her order with alacrity, kissing her about as thoroughly as she'd ever been kissed, when they were interrupted with a loud wolf-whistle.

"Fuck off, Skye!" Clint turned his head, though he didn't loosen his arms from around Jemma.

"It's not me making with the public displays of affection…" Skye seemed to be considering what nickname to call him. "AB."

Jemma leaned against Clint's chest, tightening her arms around him. "Don't care," she murmured softly, "if the whole world knows."

Clint made a low, hungry sound deep in his throat, and Skye theatrically put her hands over her eyes. "Please don't have sex on that couch. I'll never be able to sit there again. And if you don't want everyone else to know what the two of you are up to, May and Fitz are about a minute behind me."

Fitz. Her best friend's name was the one thing that gave Jemma pause. She looked up at Clint: his eyes questioned her, showing her clearly that it was her decision to make.

"Not yet," she said after a moment, and he sighed and loosened his arms around her.

"Go, then, go to bed."

"Skye…?" Jemma said as she stepped back from Clint.

"Oh, my lips are sealed. And AB can keep them that way for as long as the two of you want with one little promise…" Skye inspected her fingernails and tried to look innocent.

"Oh yeah, what do you want?" Clint raised an eyebrow, shooing Jemma towards the sleeping quarters gently.

"I've always wanted to meet Captain America."

Jemma heard a shout of laughter, and glanced back over her shoulder to see a genuine grin on Clint's face. "That can be arranged!" he told Skye. "He might not be at the Tower tomorrow, though. But I promise I'll make it happen."

"You got a deal, AB." Skye offered her hand, and they shook on it.

"May already knows," Clint told Skye, once Jemma's door had closed behind her. "And I'm not fond of secrets within teams, so Fitz will likely know well before I get the opportunity to introduce you to Steve. I think Jemma will want to tell him herself, though, so keep your mouth shut."

"I wouldn't really tell on you. It would hurt Jemma. She's like the sister I never had." Skye looked up at him earnestly, very much wanting him to believe her. Agent Barton inspired trust, and it was very obvious to her why he was one of the Avengers, quite apart from his phenomenal skills. There was a solidity to him, a feeling that he would see the job done no matter what it cost him. She'd only ever met one other person with the ability to make her believe in them like that. She wondered if Barton had learned it from Coulson, or if it came naturally to both of them.

"I know you wouldn't," He put a hand on her shoulder and, to her surprise, guided her to the command centre. "I can see how close you and Jemma are. But I'll introduce you to Steve anyway, since you asked so nicely."

"Good," she blushed a bit. "He was one of my childhood heroes, you know? I grew up watching that awesome TV series in the late nineties, Captain America and the Howling Commandos. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, they were the two all the other kids in the orphanage wanted to be."

"A tomboy, were you? Why am I not surprised?" Clint laughed quietly to himself. "So did you want to be Steve or Bucky?"

"Usually Bucky, actually. He was never just the sidekick, you know? He took care of Steve when Steve needed him, even after the serum, Bucky was there for him. He was the team leader, and he never resented Steve coming in, just had his back all the way. I cried for about a week after the episode where Bucky fell off the train. It was the saddest thing ever."

"Yeah," Clint gnawed on his lip. Another secret to keep from his team. Well, this one wasn't his to tell. So he put on a smile and handed Skye a USB stick. "Here. This is for you."

"What is it?" she eyed him curiously.

"Something you should have been given access to a long time ago." He smiled, turning to head back out, hearing May and Fitz come in. "Don't stay up all night." He hadn't gone far enough to avoid hearing her squeal of joy after she plugged the stick into her laptop and found out what was on it.

"Clint," May cocked an eyebrow at him when he caught up with them in the lounge. "What was that?"

"Gave Skye the codes."

Fitz was looking around. "Where's Jemma?"

"Gone to bed, Fitz. Get some rest yourself. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

"Yessir. I mean, Clint. Oh, hell." Fitz looked embarrassed again.

"You'll get used to it, Fitz. Come on, you've known me for years."

"Yes, and you've always been my superior officer!"

"He doesn't bite," May said, smiling slightly.

"Yes I do."

"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten that!" May laughed. "The first time we sparred in training together," she told Fitz, who was staring at them with fascination as they bantered together, "I took him down and thought I had him pinned. And he bit me on my ass, so hard I had teethmarks there for three weeks. I still think that contributed to my divorce," she poked Clint in the ribs. He only laughed at her.

"Taught you not to leave any body parts in range of an opponent's teeth though, didn't it? All your fancy martial arts teachers didn't point that out."

"He fights dirty," May pointed at Clint, heading towards the stairs up to her office suite. "I'm warning you now."

"Why would I need warning?" Fitz turned to Clint apprehensively.

"Events of the last few months have clearly demonstrated both you and Jemma need better self-defence training. I'm gonna take care of that."

It was an inarguable statement, even though Fitz didn't like it at all. His shoulders sagged and he nodded glumly, heading for his cubicle. "Good night, sir. Clint! Shit."

"Good night, Fitz."

Clint waited until Fitz had closed his door before heading to Jemma's cubicle. He'd been rock-hard since the moment she threw herself into his arms and kissed him, showed him that she didn't care about his past. He spared a moment to be grateful that he'd thought to wear loose cargo pants tonight or someone might have got the wrong impression. He scratched quietly at Jemma's door.

Question: Would you prefer to see Skye matched with Steve or with Bucky? Please let me know in the comments!