ALL THEY COULD DO WAS PREPARE. They were losing precious time, but after going over the note and doing extensive research-or, more accurately, Milo's team doing extensive research-all they could do was prepare for a very intense search. Natasha and Terran both didn't feel right by just sitting and waiting, but Fury had insisted that Constantin wasn't going to act until Terran played his game, so they were best off preparing for what he swung at them.

So, despite everything, Terran agreed to train.

"I hate that they're right, because this sounds like something Constantin would do, he always loved games," he said, grunting as he continued to pummel the punching bag that Natasha held firmly in place.

"I want to go over whatever research they did, but Milo can't find what his team did, he's got his closest guys doing some digging," she said, and the two shared a look; it was all very suspicious, but they didn't know what else to do.

"You think I should give the complex a call, let them know that I'm going to be committing a cardinal sin and all that?" Terran asked, pausing for a moment to look at Natasha full-on, only to find her rolling her eyes.

"I don't think you need to make any of them worry, but you should let them know what's going to happen so they can prepare for the worst," she said, and he sighed, frowning down at her, because what she was saying made sense, but the last thing he wanted to do was cause panic because he might not be coming home.

But he didn't need the complex thinking that he just decided he was better off without them.

"I'll call them tonight," he reasoned, thinking about how he was probably going to need to talk to each person individually, "It's gonna take me a while to talk to them all."

Natasha looked surprised by this. "You're going to talk to each one individually?"

"Well, yeah, I'm not just gonna talk to Janelle and Nicky and have them spread the word. And I could have everyone come in for one big speaker call, but I'm still gonna address them by name, they have specific things they need to hear from me," he explained, and he could feel his mind wandering as he tried to think of all that he had to say, searching around for a pen so he could write it down.

"You need to focus on training right now," she said, reaching out to grab his wrist, shocking him back to reality, "What's most important is trying to stay alive, not preparing to die."

He nodded, forcing himself to push the complex out of his mind for the time being. She had a point, but the both of them knew how thinking two steps ahead often made them miss the step they had to take to start.

"I'm not using a gun," he said simply, "You can't make me, I'm not going to."

She sighed heavily, making her way towards the wall of weapons, Terran following close behind. "Then pick something that'll actually keep you alive, please."

He smiled, grabbing a police baton off the rack, throwing it down and watching it expand. "Here we go. You see, while you're over there with your guns, I'm here taking down people with minimal force."

"If you wanted that just use your hands," she snarked, and he grinned, setting it down, only for her to shout, "Sweets, I swear to God, bring something!"

"Constantin uses only his bare hands, I might as well just bring the bare minimum," he argued, but he held onto the baton regardless, ignoring her motions towards the array of knives and other, more lethal weapons.

"Or you could bring everything and ensure your safety," she countered, and he shrugged, setting the baton down again.

"Spar with me," he said, walking towards the mat, raising his eyebrows when she didn't move, "Come on, spar with me, I might as well get used to fighting like this if he winds up disarming me, you know?"

She sighed, setting aside all her weapons as well, moving to get into position on the mat. "Are you sure you want to start with me? You haven't done this in a while."

He smirked, raising his eyebrow challengingly. "Get ready to have your ass kicked."

º º º

Surprisingly, Terran lasted for all of two minutes and a half before losing. All four times.

"Were you even trying?" Natasha taunted, sitting on his chest as he groaned, lying on the mat and staring up at the ceiling, large hands nearly circling her as she held her in place, "Honestly, Sweets, this was just sad."

"I'm gonna die," he groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes, "Constantin's gonna cut out my guts and make me eat them before I bleed out. Then he'll skin me and make me into a jacket."

"How specific," she drawled, smiling as she leaned forward, propping her elbow on the spot where his shoulder and chest met, pinning him down, her arm crossed over his chest, now draped over him.

He couldn't even laugh, letting his eyes slip closed when she moved to kiss him, nothing more than a quick peck, but it was even to help him relax, Terran wrapping an arm around her, sighing as he stared up towards the ceiling.

"Are you kidding me? At work?"

The two slowly looked up, Terran tilting his head back while Natasha propped her arm up again, the two finding Clint staring at them with a level of disgust, wrinkling his nose and shaking his head as he stepped inside, walking towards the wall and picking up the police baton that was out of place.

"Why don't you use what you did back when we were working together?" he asked, motioning towards the large gun higher up on the wall.

Terran grinned as he sat up and pointed to it, Natasha still in his lap. "I'd rather die."

Clint rolled his eyes, tossing him the police baton which landed perfectly in Terran's outstretched hand, the blond sighing as he turned it over in his hand, hating that he knew he would need to use it.

"I'm gonna need to work with this more, she kicked my ass four times and I barely lasted any of them," he sighed, addressing Clint now, and the man tried not to laugh as he looked at Terran's dejected expression.

"I'm sure there are a lot of trainees who'd like the training time, and I'll help you out," Clint said, reaching out to help the both of them to their feet, crossing his arms out in front of him, "This'll be fine, you know? I mean, what're the odds that you're gonna get super close to him, if he comes at you, Nat has every right to shoot him."

"I don't want him dead, though," Terran sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he watched Clint put out a message to all the agents in the building, "I just want him gone."

"Those might just be synonymous," Natasha said, tapping his leg, "So you need to prepare to get both done."

Terran sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he watched Clint stand by the doorway of the training room, talking to some of the trainees that were tentatively approaching, confused by his request, and Terran could only give them a pursed-lipped smile and a wave when they looked over to him.

Natasha smirked as a few of the trainees made their way inside, getting settled as they listened to Clint who sounded more like an auctioneer than anything else, motioning for some to grab weapons while for ones that seemed more physically fit to just do hand-to-hand combat, and Terran suddenly felt incredibly old looking at all of these trainees.

She wasn't going to show that she was attached to him with all the other agents around, but she did stand close to him, her arms crossed over her chest. "Ready to get your ass kicked by a bunch of kids?"

He scoffed, stepping forward to meet the first one who seemed more than ready to fight. "I'll kick my own ass before I let them kick mine."

º º º

Terran had his ass kicked multiple times. He also kicked his own ass. But he also kicked a few asses himself, and, after a few hours, he began to win more than he lost, going up against both Clint and Milo separately and at the same time, winning both, if not with more than a few bruises to show for.

"I'm not gonna fight you, I feel very proud of myself right now," he said, pointing towards Natasha who had just been watching the entire time, and she smirked around her donut.

To him, that was as close to a smile as she was going to give him most times, save for the self-satisfied one she wore whenever she made a joke or knew she had the upper hand. However, unbeknownst to him, he had made her smile on more than one occasion during the training session alone.

It was always when he couldn't see, when he was too busy keeping the person he was sparring pinned down, grinning brightly when he realized he won, helping them up and either hugging them or clapping them on the shoulder, always making sure they smiled before they left the mat, and she couldn't help it, she smiled as well. Hidden from view, just a small, genuine smile at the golden retriever of a man she had decided to let into her life.

She really didn't want to lose him, not when they were just finally getting somewhere.

"I think we can call it in for the day," Milo said, looking towards the only two people in the room who outranked him, Clint and Natasha both nodding in agreement, and the man nodded to the room, "Hope you learned something. But don't think this makes or breaks anything, you're still qualified even if you need some work."

The trainees and new agents all thanked them as they left, shaking Terran's hand, sometimes even Clint or Natasha's if they were brave enough, scurrying past Milo and out the door, all chatting about who Terran was and what he was doing there, he wasn't an agent, and the blond could only grin after them.

"You're not adopting them too," Natasha called out, and he laughed, walking towards her and taking a bite of the donut still in her hand, much to her displeasure.

"Get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow," Milo called, already heading out the door with his phone pressed up against his ear, which reminded Terran that he had to make a call to the complex.

"You know, I don't get why there are certain areas to make calls in this building, if we're so secure, I don't see what the big deal is making a call anywhere," Terran said as he pulled out the phone to call Janelle to have her put everyone on speaker.

Natasha and Clint watched him go, unable to say their piece before he disappeared. Clint pointed after him in silent question, but Natasha shook her head. The two nodded in agreement; they were much too careful to do anything important out in the open where they were so vulnerable, but there wasn't anything to indicate that a harmless phone call would drastically affect the nature of their lives, especially since Terran wasn't connected to them.

How wrong they were.

Terran sighed as he leaned against the wall, waiting for everyone in the complex to regroup. Nicky and Rhett were going to be rerouting the call later, according to Janelle, as they were too busy studying to leave their loft.

"We're all here, Terran," she said, and he sighed again, trying to sound chipper as he spoke.

"It's end game tomorrow, kids, we're going after him," he explained, and there were resounding shouts and gasps, some people excited, others confused, others horrified.

"I wanna say it'll all be okay, but I can't promise that it will," he sighed, tucking one arm underneath the one that held his phone, pressing against his stomach, "But I'm gonna try my best, because this is really important, so I need you guys to believe in me, okay, 'cause I'm doing this for you."

"We didn't need you to!" a voice cried, and he knew it was Loretta, and he sighed, because he knew why she was so upset, "We don't need you to die for us, Terran, we just need you with us."

"Retta, honey, I'm in too deep here, I'm not trying to die for you, I'm just trying to keep us all safe. You just...you just keep with the studying, okay, and keep doing your meditation, it's been helping, right?" he asked, leaning against the wall, trying not to slide down and sit, though he knew he would wind up doing that eventually.

She sniffed, and he could hear her nodding. "Yeah, it is."

"Good," he sighed, clearing his throat, "So listen, guys, I need you to be strong for me, yeah? I'm gonna try my hardest, but you gotta believe in me, and you gotta be good to Janelle. That means you, George, you gotta stop being so mad all the time, okay, they're gone now, they can't hurt you, it's okay."

George grumbled and griped, but it was clear he understood, so Terran continued, calling on each member of the complex in turn, reminding them of what they needed to do if he didn't make it back, addressing the entire complex after every person, imagining where all of them were sitting in the large room surrounding the phone. He tried to imagine all of them smiling, but he couldn't lie to himself that much.

"Janelle," he called, when he finished down the list, "You know I love you, yeah? And I'm not gonna go down easy, but I need you to know that if I don't make it back...I'm really glad your mom saved me."

Janelle sobbed softly, and he could hear her sniffling and wiping at her eyes. "Don't talk to me like that, you dumbass, just come home. I don't care how long it'll take, just come back sometime."

"Sure thing," he whispered, sighing as he moved to lie down on the floor, smiling to the few agents who passed by, "You don't have to stay with me, kids, I'm just waiting for Nicky and Rhett to spike through so I can talk to them."

"Favorites," someone snorted, and he sat up, on edge.

"Hey," he barked, a little too sharp, "Hey, I don't wanna hear any of that shit, I don't have favorites, okay, I have people who just need my help a little more, you know that. Van, don't pull that on me, come on."

"Sorry, dad," Vanessa mumbled, and he sighed, rubbing his face.

"I'm sorry for yelling, honey, you know I love you," he said, and she hummed, and he knew she was nodding, mumbling a, 'love you too, dad.'

Over time, they all began to disperse, some individually, some in groups, all of them calling out their 'goodbye's and 'I love you's until it was just him and Janelle waiting for Nicky and Rhett.

"How's it going with you and Agent Romanoff?" Janelle asked, and he laughed softly.

"I think it's going good. I really like her, you know?" he said, and he heard Janelle laugh, similar to a squeal she would have when they were younger in her room in the mansion, talking about the dates he had, all of them getting absolutely nowhere, but still exciting all the same.

"I wanna meet her. Officially, you know, bring her home, we'll have dinner, I can interrogate her then become best friends, the whole nine," she said, and he laughed, wanting nothing more than for that to happen.

"But really, Terran, I don't need you home right away, don't leave if you're not ready. Just come home at some point," she said, and he nodded, knowing that she would know.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she sighed, clearing her throat, "Nicky and Rhett are patching in through the call now and I don't think that I can get through while they are. I need to cook dinner, but...I love you."

"I'll call you when it's all over," he said, knowing that she never liked to be called just before something was to happen, how much she hated the goodbyes right before something was to happen; she had been on the comm link with her mother moments before she was killed on a mission, she knew what she needed.

With that, Janelle was gone.

"Hey, Terran," Nicky called, and Terran perked up at the sound of Nicky laughing, "Sorry we didn't make it to the complex, we were studying, and now we're having a movie marathon, but that was 'cause you took forever and a half to finish up talking to everyone, which is fine, you know. What's going on?"

Terran searched for his voice, still too caught up on the fact that Nicky sounded so happy. "Oh, I just, uh...I'm going after the guy tomorrow, and then it'll all be over, so I just wanted to catch you up."

"Oh cool," Nicky said, because he didn't know. He didn't know why this was so dangerous, not really. He didn't know that Terran might not make it back, he didn't know anything about what Constantin was planning, he didn't even know his name.

All he knew was that Terran was away on a dangerous and important mission and, now, he was probably coming back home.

"You guys having fun?" he asked, hearing Rhett falling back down onto the couch.

"Yeah, we're catching up on romcoms and stuff, we picked your favorites," Nicky explained, and Terran felt his stomach turn, because he remembered all the times he had wrangled Nicky into a marathon with him, and now he was wrangling in someone else.

"Is everything okay?" the young man asked, now sounding concerned, "You don't sound too happy, are you okay?"

Terran inwardly cursed himself. There Nicky was, finally enjoying himself, and Terran just had to come in and put a damper on his mood, all because he wanted to check in with someone from the complex. If Terran wasn't around, Nicky could be happy all the time.

"Nah, I'm fine, I just got my ass handed to me a few times during sparring, though, but I'm good. Listen, you get back to your movies, okay, have fun, I'll see you soon," he said, faltering just before he hung up.

"Rhett," he called, and the man in questioned hummed, "You watch over yourself, okay? You and Nicky. I'm glad you're around now."

"Will do, Terran. And thanks," the blond said, "Stay safe, I hope the mission works out. Hey, did you-"

"Yeah, I did," Terran said, thinking back to how confused Steve was when he approached him, telling him that an old friend said hi, unable to explain any more than that.

There was a long silence. Then, "Nicky?"

"Yeah," the young man said, sounding confused.

Terran didn't understand why he was starting to cry, but there he was starting to cry, trying not to sound too choked up. "I love you so much, okay? Remember that, alright?"

"I love you too-Terran, what's going on?" Nicky asked, now sounding scared, and of course he did, because Terran just had to ruin everything.

"I just watched a dog movie last night so I'm really emotional, but I love you a lot and I want you to know that I'm really proud of you and I want you to be so happy, okay? I just want you to be happy," he sobbed, and he didn't understand what was happening to him, but there he was, sobbing on the floor of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to the young man he had ruined.

"I love you too, Terran," Nicky said, and Terran hated how much Nicky meant it, he shouldn't have meant it that much, "You're gonna come visit once you get back, right? You said you would."

"I promise I will," he whispered, letting out a shaky breath, "You remember the first part of the joke, right?"

"Uh-huh," Nicky said, thinking back to when Terran first left to go on the mission.

"Good. You remember that," he sniffed, wiping at his eyes, "Listen, I love you two so much, and you have a good night, okay? I love you."

"We love you too, Terran," the two men said, sounding almost sad, because Terran just couldn't get anything right.

With that, he hung up, crying for something that still had yet to happen.

º º º

When Terran finally calmed down, the trio made their way back to the apartment where Clint promptly passed out for a nap, Natasha retreated to her room to get some rest of her own, and Terran stayed in the living room to watch some TV.

When Natasha came out, she made her way towards the cabinets to grab her favorite granola bars. They weren't anything fancy, but they had chocolate chips and strawberry icing and she couldn't resist.

However, when she opened the cabinets, she found that the box of granola bars were now on the highest shelf, far from her grasp, and the only way she could reach them was if she jumped up onto the counter.

She turned around to find Terran smirking at the TV, glancing back for a moment to give her a too sweet smile and an airy greeting, turning back to his cooking channel like there was absolutely nothing wrong.

He felt very proud of himself, honestly, what with his immense height and her being below the average female height, not even five foot yet, but his smugness was short lived as something soon collided painfully at the back of his head.

Whirling around, he turned to stare at her, finding her happily eating her granola bar, not having jumped up onto the counter at all, another granola bar lying sadly on the ground behind the couch, and he had the sudden hysterical thought that, perhaps, this was what love felt like.

He grinned as he vaulted over the back of the couch, making a few long strides towards her before bending down and capturing her lips in a kiss, crowding her against the counter until he could sit her up and stand between her legs, and there wasn't anything to come out of it except simply being close to her, and he didn't mind that one bit.

"You're so clingy," she scoffed, pushing him back so she could breathe and continue eating the granola bar that he had taken from her and set aside.

"What are we?" he asked, and she froze, not expecting the question this soon, nor at all, and she really wanted to leave all of a sudden.

"You don't have to decide now and we don't have to be anything if you don't want," he quickly added, rushing to make sure she didn't run out on him, "I know you don't get close to people and all that, I get it, and I'm more than fine with that, I am, but it's weird because I just want to be close to you all the time and you make me happy and I would gladly take a bomb for you, in fact I did, and-"

"Terran," she said, stopping him in his tracks.

"I've never done this before, not really, only ever in missions," she sighed, not looking at him, instead just fisting her hands in the front of his shirt, "But, you know, I actually enjoy your company, strangely enough, and I don't want you to just leave and never come back once this is all over."

"Okay," he said, raising his hands to hold hers, and she let him after a moment, "So we're something?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we're something."

He smiled for a moment, but it was short lived, and he sighed, looking at her through his lashes, his head bowed. "I'm really scared. I can't die tomorrow, I have too many loose ends to tie."

She smirked. "Just burn the loose ends, that's what I do."

The two shared a laugh, but it was the kind of laugh shared between people who were both afraid but didn't want to admit it, who were so much more willing to just take it as it was, even if it meant going in afraid.

"We'll be fine," she said, holding his hands.

"You don't believe that," he said, because she was a spy and no spy would ever say things would be fine.

She raised his hands to her lips, kissing them softly, giving him a small smile. "I know. But I know you need to hear me say it."

She was right, he did. Because when they finally headed to bed, her in her own room, him in his, he couldn't help but replay the sound of her words back in his mind, along with all the words said by all the people in the complex, the people who meant the most to him.

Things would be fine.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 11.25.18 )

Ya'll, just one chapter left, are we excited, because I am, I'm so ready to just be done with this, you know, so yay! Because then we can move on to my Sharon fic which will be explained in the afterword and all that, so yeah!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!