SHIELD Agent Eleanor Flint

Chapter 11

"See, Nell, you keep letting me get behind you, you gotta watch your back."

I turned to face Henry again on the mat. He twirled his batons in each hand as I glanced at the other agents practicing their combat, most of them were STRIKE team or specialists. I turned back to Henry, blew hair out of my face and held up my fists.

"Sorry, I'm just used to having one of the Commandos behind me," I said.

I thrust my fist forward and Henry leaned to one side to dodge the punch. I ducked as he swung his baton at me and I swung other fist to hit his torso. Henry spun around so that he stood behind me.

"Yeah, but if you're on a solo mission, the only thing behind you is an enemy," he said.

I felt one of his batons tap my butt and I spun around. I grabbed one of his batons and tapped his bicep.

"Henry!" I scolded.

Henry cowered away from the baton as I moved to hit him again and he laughed.

"Hey, hey, hey! Watch where you swing that!" Henry grabbed the other end of the baton and pulled me to him.

Henry wrapped his arms around me as I met with his chest and I looked up at him. My eyes narrowed to hide my smile and Henry grinned again.

"I would say the same to you," I said.

"It's what you get for not watching your back." He winked and I glanced away.

By glancing away I caught a few stares in our direction and I stepped out of Henry's grasp. He caught on and I handed him back his baton. Henry took a step back and raised his batons, I stood back as well and held up my fists.

Interrelationships at SHIELD were rare and no one could name a work relationship if asked. Henry and I didn't know how people would react. If they'd be okay with it, or if top Agents or even the Director wanted us to cease the relationship in case it got in the way of work. Until we knew, we kept our relationship on the down low. The only people who knew about it were Clint, Natasha, and maybe Rumlow. But I wasn't sure how much Henry told his SO about his personal life. In the month that Henry and I started dating, nothing at work was different from the regular. We carried on throughout the work day as normal, except we were closer.

Henry made another swing with his baton and I ducked. As I kneeled, I swung my leg out and took Henry's feet out from under him. He fell on his back with a thud and let out a small wheeze. I stood and offered my hand which he waved away and stood up on his own.

"That was a good one." Henry pointed with his baton.

"Thank you," I replied. "When did you start using batons?"

"My battle staves?" Henry held them up.

"Oh, they have a fancy name," I mused.

"Dancers use batons. I use staves," he said.

"Okay, sure," I laughed.

Henry smiled and spun the staves around his hands again. "During one of my early missions with Rumlow I was disarmed of my weapons. I picked up two metal pipes from the ground and used those as a last resort."

"Very adaptive," I commented.

"I used them once and couldn't put them down. It grew on me," Henry finished. "Rumlow saw how well I could work with them and requested that the weapons division craft me a formidable pair."

"Is that what you're holding?" I asked.

Henry looked down at the staves in his hands with a fond smile. "Good ol' reliables."