Owner	Pose
Skye Johnson	Despite wanting to get home as quickly as possible to Clint, Skye made a stop at Gino's after her visit to Nelson and Murdock. She bought their usual, along with a six-pack, and carrying her goodies, made her slow way up the stairs in the walkup to Clint's old apartment, smiling to herself the whole while. His lease wouldd be up in just a few days, and she was returning to him. They'd be able to move into their Grenwich home and start their life there. It was, she thought as she stood outside the door to the apartment, putting her key in the lock, almost unbelievable. Not just for what she'd gone through with this mission, but that she actually had all this to come home to. For now, though, all she wanted was to curl up with Clint, eat some pizza, drink some frou-frou beer, and recoup from all she'd been through. Letting herself into the apartment, she carefully closes and locks the door behind her before looking around trying to find Clint.
Clint Barton	Clint is in the bedroom when he hears the key in the lock. He rolls his eyes, Skye was safe now, he didn't need May checking on him anymore, nice as it was. "Hey, Mom, what's up?" he calls out of the bedroom while trying to stuff a bow into a duffle bag with some of his clothes wadded up as padding. Priorities! He was happy to be packing though, happy to be out of this place and closing the book on this part of his life and opening the book on the next one. Or at least that was the plan, he had no idea when Fury was going to spring Skye, but he hoped it would be soon. Bow in bag, he turns from the bed and wanders out of the bedroom, barefoot in jeans and a rumpled t-shirt.
Skye Johnson	Skye has paused at the door, smiling to herself as he calls out to 'Mom'. There's no doubt in her mind who that is, and it amuses her. May really had stepped up into something of that role for all of them. But it isn't May, it's Skye. Skye who stands at the door, pizza in one hand and six-pack in the other, smiling her crooked smile at him as he comes out of the bedroom half dressed. "So, I was wondering how you felt about sharing a meal with a felon." Okay, she's not a felon. At least she's not been convicted of anything. But she still thinks it's amusing, and well, now that she's here, she's not sure what to say. 'Hi' seems so lame, and 'I missed you' wasn't enough. Jokes always were one of their languages.
Clint Barton	Yes, May had absolutely became the team's 'Mom', but as much as Clint had come to enjoy May's company, he had never been happier not to see her when he saw Skye instead, crooked smile and all. He grins, and before he knows what's happened he's across the room and kissing her. Like jokes, that was another of their languages. Though with beer and pizza in the way, it's not the most graceful kiss, but he laughs as he pulls away. "I guess I feel pretty good about it," he answer with a lopsided grin. "And you should have called I'd have come got you," he says, still grinning.
Skye Johnson	The pizza box and six-pack slide to the floor with soft thumps beside her as Skye wraps her arms back around Clint. ""I know you would have," she says softly. "But I wanted to surprise you. And I had a couple errands along the way." "I brought food?"
Clint Barton	Food out of the way Clint wraps Skye in his arms in turn to linger in the kiss a little while longer. Afterwards he pulls back nodding. "Colour me surprised then," he says. "And errands, huh? So how far down under, drop-off the dry cleaning did 'see boyfriend' come in," he teases her lightly with a bit of a hip check. "And all jokes aside I'm happy to see you." He brushes her lips with another kiss before ducking down to collect the food and the beer. "Go, sit," he says. "I'll be right there."
Skye Johnson	"Other than signing my life away in paperwork?" Skye sighs happily once the kiss is over. "I went and apologized to my lawyer for the deception. Then picked up dinner at Gino's. He says I'm still too good for you, by the way." The jibe has become a ritual now. She doesn't need a second urging to go sit down and wait for him. Now that she's here, Skye is suddenly exhausted. Weary beyond explaining. And oh so happy to be home. Finally.
Clint Barton	Clint chuckles, "That bad huh?" he asks about the paperwork as he grabs up the pizza, then tucks his beer under his arm. "And of course he does," Clint says. "I think he's projecting." He makes his way to the table deposits the food and beer and then flops down on the couch beside her. The pizza smelled amazing, Clint had skipped lunch, but he doesn't dive in right away, instead he looks at Skye with smile, "Missed you like hell," he says softly, his features softened. "Glad you're home." He makes room for her to snuggle up against him.
Skye Johnson	"Missed you like hell, too," Skye returns with equal softness. Where they might have met with laughs and awkward brashness at other times, tonight they meet like this, with softness and quietly spoken words. She settles on the couch, tucking her feet underneath him, allowing her to regard his face as they talk - snuggling can come later. Right now she needs to see him. To drink in every bit of his features. "Horrible bad," she agrees. "So much paperwork. And Fury is an asshole. How's Gino projecting? Think he's got the hots for me or something?"
Clint Barton	Smiling as he feet are tucked under his legs, he studies Skye in turn. There had been days and nights, where he'd thought he wouldn't get this opportunity to linger in shared moments like this again. Yet here she was and Clint was determined to enjoy that fact. "Glad I wasn't the only one," he says of missing her before he makes a grab for the pizza box. Hey, he was all for lingering but he was hungry too. "And I can I imagine about the paperwork, kind of goes with being an international cyber-terrorist," he teases lightly before asking "And how is Fury an asshole now? Same old reasons or did he dream up some new ones?"
Skye Johnson	Skye rolls her eyes, reaching over as soon as the box is opened to grab a slice for herself, taking a huge bite and chewing. "Some old reasons with a few new ones thrown in. And hey, pass a beer." Like she couldn't grab one herself. She shakes her head. "Refused to talk to me about my Index File." Not that she wasn't going to go digging herself. And eventually it would occur to her that he'd not wanted to talk where things would be overheard or seen. Right now, though, she was still dwelling on the fact that she was still pissed about what SHIELD had done to her, all without actually considering why she was still staying with them. "And hey," she protests. "I'm.. okay, I am an international cyber-terrorist, but my name was just cleared. That or I signed and filed a fuckton of paperwork for nothing." She looks innordinately pleased about something, though.
Clint Barton	Clint grabs a slice for himself and tosses the box over to the table. Beers come next and when they each have one, he leans enjoys a bite of his pizza before saying, "Shit. No way, so he just ignored you or did he drop the whole, 'it's classified' thing on you?" he asks. "Either way, total asshole move." "And it better be cleared," Clint says. "I read some of the stuff about the charges, that was some scary shit." He notices that pleased vibe off of her, and guesses it wasn't just that she was home again. "What?" he asks, with a smile on his lips.
Skye Johnson	"Hell yeah, it better be cleared. But I have a lawyer if it comoes down to it." She finished another bite of pizza and a long swallow of beer before going on. "Not really sure what he was up to. Just tapped his patch and mumbled a bunch about how he knew what he was doing, and how he appreciated what I'd done. Something about me throwing a temper tantrum" More eye rolling ensues before she carries on. "Then, and he's the kicker," Skye just tosses it out like she were talking about the football score, "tells me he expected more of a Level 4 Field Agent."
Clint Barton	"What lawyer?" Clint asks, curiously. He hadn't heard about the late night meet with Foggy. "Please tell me it's not that Goodman guy with the cheezie commercials on channel 5." Clint joins her in rolling his eyes. "Been there," he remarks. The big news almost slips past him, but he catches it at the last second, "Wait, what?" Clint asks. "He made you level 4?!" The question is given with wide eyes and the beginnings of a grin.
Skye Johnson	"Nah. Matt Murdock of Nelson and Murdock. Turns out he's an old friend of mine, and they owe me a favour." Skye shrugs. When the rest of it all hits Clint, she's ready for his reaction, grinning like a Cheshire cat as she nods at him. "According to the paperwork I signed this afternoon I am. Field Agent, Hotshot. I'm a mother-fucking *Field* Agent."
Clint Barton	Clint frowns, "Haven't heard of them," he says but blinks when she mentions old friends. "Didn't think you had those Keyboard," he says. It wasn't a dig, he just never heard of anyone out of Skye's past except for Genus who she considered a friend. "Oh shit," Clint says with a grin, "Right on Keyboard," his slice of pizza is flung at the box before he leans across the couch to give Skye a kiss. "About time they recognized you, and level 4 too, not too bad."
Skye Johnson	Skye leans into the kiss, returning it before answering. "Well, maybe less a friend than someone I once knew. Who suggested maybe we should try to make a friendship out of things." Her gaze drops and her lips slip into something of a smile. "Maybe it's time. I mean, I'm doing all this other crazy shit. Why not embrace something from my past and try to make better of it, huh?" She doens't sound so much convinced as willing to try. "Yeah, no more IT girl for me. I mean, I figured I deserved a promotion, but that Field Agent thing was a bit of a shock. I mean, me? Out there? Doing what you do?" Her eyes lift to meet his. "Going to need some more training. I mean, I know I succeeded with this Tidepool thing, but not sure if that wasn't just sheer luck, or the fact that it was kinda tailor made for me. Kinda blown away by the whole looking at me like I'm more than just some chick who sits behind a keyboard all day."
Clint Barton	Clint nods, "So, friend from your hacker days or before that?" Clint asks after they'd parted from the kiss and he was seated back at his end of the couch. "And I don't know, that sounds awfully well-adjusted, making something good out of your past?" he teases. "Did the Rising Tide swap out the real Skye for a grown up decoy?" "Seriously, though? I think it's a great idea. It's good to have friends," Clint admits when he's done his teasing. "Yeah, definitely deserved it, and a bit of a shock for me too, but totally down to help you with the training, not sure I can officially train you, what with us sleeping together, but they can't stop me from helping. And you've always been more than the IT girl, just glad people get to see that now."
Skye Johnson	Skye makes a face at him, and minces her fingers into a yapping mouth. "Yeah, yeah. And you just shut up. He's back from my days in St. Agnes. Some stupid podunk orphanage I was in before they shunted me off to the first of the many ggroup homes. Only really remember him because how many blind orphans do you run into?" Her nose crinkles. "You should have seen some of the looks I got after I got sprung. There were a few shocked faces. Just.. holy shit, Hotshot. I mean, I never did this kinda shit before. What the hell is Fury thinking?" More to the point: what was she thinking, thinking she was a real agent? The insecurity of her youth rearing its ugly head to taunt her with what a fluke this operation had been, and that her real place /was/ behind a keyboard. That she might be a world class hacker, but she was still fooling herself about being an Agent.
Clint Barton	Clint laughs at her teasing and recovers his lost slice of pizza. "Hmm, you went to a Catholic orphanage too? Saint Iggy's in Des Moines for me. Well, Saint Ignatius, but you know," Clint says, before he chuckles. "Blind and a lawyer? Bet he's heard all the jokes, huh?" "Heh. I bet all the guys running the detention block on the carrier just about shit themselves," he grins at the thought, before he puts on a more serious face. "Can't read Fury's mind, but what I see in you is potential, you can do what I do Skye, but you'll need training to get there. So, yeah, it's going to seem all sorts of scary and there will be times where it will be all sorts of scary but trust me, get some training under your belt, get the skills you need and it'll seem whole lot more doable."
Skye Johnson	"Well, we didn't compare notes on the jokes, but I'll bet he's heard most. Might have tossed him a new one with telling him we'd validate his parking." There's that trademark smirk from the woman. "Yeah. There was some pant shitting. Especially after the first one tried to detain me and found out not only was I *not* an escapee, but I outranked him. That was a bit of a shocker." She's still wrapping her head around it all. "I.. I know it sucked, Hotshot," she tells him finally, quietly, "I know it sucked a lot. And it was pretty scary at times, but I liked it. I liked doing what I was doing. All that thinking on my feet. Figuring things out. I felt alive. Like I'd just been waiting for all this." Not that she intended on giving up her hacking career, but she'd no doubt there were ways to dovetail that little specialty into things. If they'd learned nothing from this past operation, it was that the world ran on computers, and she was SHIELD's foremost expert with the things.
Clint Barton	Clint smirks. "Good stuff," he says. "Though mostly meant what with justice being blind and all of that," he says of the jokes. Clint laughs, "The guy tried to stop you? Don't tell me you had to shoot another agent?" he teases before once more his face takes on a more sober expression. "Yeah, it really did suck, especially the early stuff, but, we talked about that," Clint says, it's clear, this part of Skye's new job wasn't sitting well with him, but he pushes past that to say, "But I know what you're talking about, that feeling, it's awesome and it means you're doing what you should be doing," he says looking to her with a smile. "I'm proud of you, Keyboard."
Skye Johnson	"Kinda proud of me too," Skye murmurs. "And I know you don't like it, Hotshot. But it's okay, right? I mean, we talked about this. How it might be, you and I and our jobs." Though she's more meant she wouldn't ask him to leave the Avengers, just as he wouldn't ask her to leave SHIELD. Though that had been before she found out SHIELD had fucked her over in her past, or back when they both thought she would be an Analyst for the rest of her career. This promotion had changed so many things.
Clint Barton	"Good," Clint says emphatically. "You should be proud," he says, before shaking his head. "We made a deal, Skye, I wasn't going to ask you to quit, that hasn't changed. I may not like this part of your job, but you've got to deal with me doing it too, so, I guess it all balances out in the end. Plus, we just got done with you gone for six-weeks, I am sure given some space from this last mission, I'll be way more cool with things." He leans over and offers his hand. "I love you, Skye, this job it makes you happy, I don't want to fuck that up for you."
Skye Johnson	Skye takes his hand, her lips twisting over a crooked little smile. "Yeah. This makes me happy. I mean, you make me happy too, but the other is me for me. And it makes me happy." Her fingers squeeze his. "Our jobs suck." She laughs as she says it, because they both know that much as they suck, they also both love what they do. Which is odd for a pair of orphans who grew up on the wrong side of the law - finding themselves saving the world instead. "It was a long six weeks. I'm glad I'm home. Love you too, Hotshot. We're going to be okay."