Angel (A Clint Barton Love Story)

As Shannon led me across the room, I scanned the sea of faces to try and find any Agents I recognised. I couldn't see any, and resignedly followed Shannon outside onto the terrace.

"So," she said, leaning a pillar and looking at me in the darkness, "how did you and your husband meet?"

I froze up. Clint and I had gone over this. We'd sat there, repeating the story to each other, and now I couldn't remember. Was it at a party, or was it at work?

I smiled slowly, stalling for time, "Oh you know, we just just kind of met and clicked."

She nodded, and something flashed in her catlike eyes, "And where did you meet?"

I heard Clint's voice in my head. We met at a party back in Los Angeles, held by your brother, who I went to college with. We spent almost the whole night dancing, and then I asked you out to dinner.

I repeated the information, trying to keep my voice as level and offhanded as possible. Shannon nodded along, before briefly telling me something about how she and Tuscane had met. I tried to sound interested, but at the same time, my eyes flickered along the terrace. It was a natural instinct for even the most basic SHIELD team members who were put out in the field to look for an escape route wherever we went. Currently, I could only see one. And that was to jump off the terrace. Not awesome.

"Shall we go back inside? It's quite cold in here." I suggested, but Shannon shook her head, laughing.

"I won't be able to hear you if we do."

I nodded, and forced a smile, willing Clint to finish his conversation and come find me. Shannon and I were alone on the terrace, and I became fleetingly aware that if anything happened to me out here, no one would know. I was unarmed and unprepared, and without Clint by my side, I felt incredibly naked.

"So, tell me more about Emmett." She said, and I swallowed hard, desperately trying to think back to what Clint and I had been talking about earlier. Nothing came up, and I licked my lips, trying to come up with an excuse.

"Not much to tell, really." I said, and then excused myself, escaping from the chill of the terrace and back into the warmth of the party. I could still feel Shannon's cold eyes on me as I slipped back into the crowd.

After I'd calmed down, I realised I'd wandered right into the middle of the crowd of people. A crowd of people I didn't have any hope of knowing. Suddenly, I felt tiny. The only thoughts that were going through my head were I fucked up, I fucked up. Fury's going to kill me if I blow our cover. Clint's going to be mad at me AGAIN. Oh God, I fucked up. I fucked up.

"Lucy Brown?" I heard a familiar voice call 'my name', and span around. Straight into Robert Mitchel, one of the men I'd been assigned with during my time as a Level Seven operative. I could have cried I was so glad to see him.

"It's me, Quint Clacey," he said loudly, scooping me up into a hug. Where the hell were these fake names even coming from? I dumbly wondered if there was a job at SHIELD solely devoted to making up fake names and aliases for Agents in the field. If there was, I was considering transferring.

As he hugged me he whispered, "You need to calm down, okay? Just relax."

'Just relax' seemed to be everyone's advice this evening, but, nonetheless, I nodded. When he let go of me, he told me that I had to introduce him to my husband. As the two of us made our way through the huge swarming mass of people, I began to ask him questions.

"Why are you here? Are the others here? Since when were you guys put on Level Eight tailing detail? Do you know what's going on here? How do you know about me being Lucy Brown?"

He laughed, but seemed happy to answer my questions as we searched for Clint. After I'd been promoted suddenly to Level Eight, he, Jones and Abbott had been pretty concerned. When Fury had explained that Clint and I were going out into the field under false aliases, and we'd be attending an event that would require backup, the three of them volunteered. They'd been keeping an eye on me all evening.

Mitchel looked strangely at home here at the party. His slightly graying hair and sturdy, middle-aged appearence made him look far more refined than I'd ever seen him, and he fit in well with the bankers and businessmen of New York. When I'd become a Level Seven, he'd taken me under my wing and made me feel like part of a family. it hadn't taken long for Jones and Abbott to warm to me after that. I owed them all, I really did.

"Ah," he murmured, "There's your husband. Shall we go say hello?"

As we approached Clint, who was in conversation with a group of people I'd never seen before in my life, Mitchel called out, "Ah, Mr Brown!"

Clint turned, and looked both a little surprised and a little confused at the unfamiliar face. When he saw me standing beside Mitchel, however, he relaxed a little. He excused himself from the conversation and walked over to the two of us.

"Robert Mitchel." Mitchel murmured quietly, shaking his hand.

"Clint Barton. Who are the others?"

"Cory Jones and Terry Abbott."

"Good." Clint glanced at me. "Having fun?"

I shrugged, giving a non-committal grunt in reply. He raised an eyebrow, but continued talking with Mitchel for a couple of moments, before he said something about going to find the other two, and walked off.

"He's the guy you were on Level Seven with?"

"Yeah. He was kind of the leader of the group, I guess." I scanned the room.

"You don't look too happy." He murmured, and I shrugged again. "Want to leave?"

"No, you're having fun. We should stay."

"Trust me, I'm not having fun. I want to get out of this thing." He tugged a little at his bow tie and frowned.

"Ah, Mr and Mrs Brown." The low, rumbling tone of Tuscane filled my ears, and the two of us turned in unison. "Still having fun?"

"Yes, unfortunately my wife has a very bad headache." Clint said, and I tried to put on a pained expression.

"Ah, well that's too bad. Are you leaving?"

"We were just going to, yes."

"Ah well." Tuscane shook Clint's hand, and kissed mine. I suppressed the urge to jerk away, and forced myself to smile. "It was a pleasure to meet you both. I look forward to doing business with you, Mr Brown."

"Yeah, I'm sure you do, you slimy bastard." Clint muttered as Tuscane weaved his way through the guests. I looked up at him in surprise, but instead of explaining himself, he ushered me out of the hall.

Out in the parking lot, we hunted for Henry and his car. Round the side of the building, we could hear laughter, and as we walked a little further, we saw the drivers, all grouped together, leaning on the hoods of Stretch Limos and Mercades and Aston Martins, and Ferraris, and heaps of others I couldn't place. In the semi darkness, all we could really see was the red of cigarette lights, but I could smell the alcohol.

"Now this is more like my kind of party." I murmured to Clint, who nodded.

"Yeah, we should have just come out here. Henry's lucky."

The laughter died down as we approached, and I saw a couple of guys straighten up and jump off hoods.

"Nah, it's cool guys, don't worry about it. We were just wondering uh... Yo Henry, you out here?" Clint called.

"Yes sir." I heard Henry's voice from somewhere in the darkness.

"Toss me the keys, and we'll wait inside the car for you."

There were a couple of murmurs in the crowd, and then Henry spoke again. "No sir, don't worry, I'm coming."

"No really, it's cool." Clint protested, as Henry came out of the shadows. There was still the ghost of a grin on his face from where he and the other drivers had been having their party.

"No sir, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll see you guys around." He waved back at the group of drivers, who all called goodbye. They even waved at Clint and I, although I got the feeling that for most of them it was more of a nicety than an actual show of fondness.

When we were back in the car, I noticed Henry had thrown an unopened bottle of wine into the shotgun seat. I grinned at him as I kicked off my shoes. "I thought drinking and driving was illegal?"

Notes

Okay, I promise some actual SHIELD Agent stuff in the next Chapter... And at some point the two of them are going to actually fall in love as well...