Harold "Happy" Hogan peered into the Avengers control centre. He was hard to miss, what with the giant Rudolph sweater and a Santa cap angled to one side. "Any sign of the red suit?"

The lone person keeping watch over the monitors glanced up. "Santa or Iron Man?" asked Darcy. Happy just gave her a look and Darcy rolled her eyes in response. "Neither. But as soon as Stark or the rest of the team appear on the radar, I'll let you know so you can start popping the champagne."

With a forlorn nod, Happy withdrew and disappeared down the corridor. Darcy sighed. She didn't like being the bearer of bad news but the Avengers team had been off the grid for the past few hours. While the Earth was quiet this Christmas Eve, Asgard had needed some assistance. A broken up message had come through about ninety minutes ago that the team and Asgardians had been victorious but the Tesseract was being difficult about getting them home. But Stark had said they were to start the party, even in his absence.

There was never a good time for missions. Darcy knew this. But she felt sorry for Happy. Her second anniversary of working for (technically) Tony Stark was fast approaching and she was well familiar with the Christmas Eve party that Happy organised every year. The guy loved Christmas. As in, loved. He'd marry the holiday if he could. So every year, Pepper handed over the company credit card and Happy was let lose to organise a party. Not the official Stark employee extravaganza. It was a smaller, more intimate gathering on Christmas Eve for him and Mr Stark and Miss Potts and anyone close to them. It was Happy's big event and it had to be crushing him with most of the guests being absent.

Leaning back in her chair, Darcy kept an eye on the tracking systems while her thoughts wandered back through some of the previous parties. Which for the years Darcy had attended had primarily been attended by the Avengers and their assorted partners or cohorts. The first party, she'd definitely just been a cohort of Thor. When the Asgardian had learnt that Christmas was a time for family to gather, he'd insisted that Darcy come to Stark's celebration. And for Darcy herself... well, Jane had become family more than any of her actual relatives. So she was happy to celebrate with Jane, Thor and their superhero friends.

Not that Darcy had expected that one party to lead to a job offer. If anyone asked, Darcy liked to say she just dazzled Tony Stark with her sparkling personality. But really, she suspected it was somewhere between helping Happy fix the audio system and explaining why she'd tasered Thor during the New Mexico saga that Stark had realised her potential as an employee in his new project. Smart, observant and intuitive were the words Tony Stark had used to describe what he'd seen in her. And when Darcy had been led into the command centre being constructed in the Avengers tower, she'd seen the display screens and hardware and was 100% sold. She was signing the dotted line before she knew it.

The job title on the Stark payroll records was "System Support Office". Which was accurate overall. It just wasn't in her official job description that she supported an artificial A.I. called JARVIS for all electrical matters relating to the Avengers. During downtimes, Darcy collated and reviewed social media and news data that might be circulating about the team. And she was always on call for when the team went into a mission, when she became the human eyes that worked with JARVIS's processing power to relay information and help guide the team to safety. Not everyone believed that one human and an AI were enough for such a big workload. But after Stark had challenged the Helicarrier team to some war game simulations against his command centre, Darcy and JARVIS pulled off enough wins to reassure the whole team that they were in safe hands.

"Miss Lewis." JARVIS's synthesised voice interrupted Darcy's musings. She bounced to alertness, her eyes focusing on the screens again.

"What is it? Any sign of the team yet?" Darcy was scanning the systems even as she spoke, though nothing was indicating the Avengers had returned from Asgard.

"No Miss Lewis. But your shift ended an hour ago and Mr Stark was quite firm that if we were still at green status, you were to leave your station and attend the party."

"JARVIS..." Darcy's protest was cut short when her screen went black and her terminal powered off. "Really?" She threw up her hands in frustration.

"Enjoy the party Miss Lewis."

Darcy sighed. JARVIS never bossed Stark around the same way. "Fine. But I'm giving you your Christmas present now," she said while slipping a USB drive from her pocket and inserting into an active drive. "The greatest playlist of Christmas songs known to man. Starts with "Christmastime" by Smashing Pumpkins and just gets more awesome from there."

There was the quietest buzz as the USB drive started up. "Thank you Miss Stark. And a Merry Christmas to you." JARVIS sounded pleased with his gift. Or at least, Darcy hoped so. She gave the console an affection pat before leaving the A.I. to continue watching the skies for the teams return.

Darcy had picked up her party dress from the dry cleaners on her lunch break, so it was ready and waiting for her in Clint's wardrobe. With her apartment only a few blocks away, Darcy contemplated running home to change, like she'd planned before the Asgard emergency had kept her at her desk. After all, her makeup and jewellery and shoes were all at her place. But then she glimpsed her good bra on the top of Clint's fresh laundry pile, along with her matching panties. And while they weren't the shoes she had planned on wearing... Darcy lay on her stomach and located her red ballet flats under the bed. She'd been wearing them a couple of weeks ago and recalled Clint tossing them across the room while he'd been stripping off the rest of her clothes.

It was after her second Stark/Avengers Christmas party that Darcy's shoes had first ended up discarded in Clint's room. She'd come in off the high of trouncing the S.H.I.E.L.D. team at a virtual 'capture the flag' game. With her regular pay check, for the first time she'd been able to afford fantastic gifts for everyone, plus the hottest party dress imaginable. The dress, plus her favourite knee high boots, meant Darcy had received compliments all night from all the party guests. Except for one guest, who said nothing. Of course, it was the one person she'd been hoping would notice the most. Clint had said hi, drunk a beer with her, talked shop a little and then drifted off to mingle with the crowd. Which admitted had killed Darcy's buzz a little. They'd been flirting for a few weeks... he would stop by the control centre... she'd stay back after work and share a takeaway with him. And there she'd been in a flirty dress and FM boots and Clint had just wandered off. So Darcy had ignored him for the rest of the party. She'd danced with Steve, shared cocktails with Jane and made Thor pose for photos while wearing a reindeer hat. It had been a great party and Darcy had been one of the last to leave.

Not that Darcy had actually made it home that night. She'd barely reached the elevator before she'd felt warm hands upon her hips that gently stopped her mid-step. And then Clint had told her she was beautiful. So beautiful he'd used up every ounce of self control restraining himself at the party. So beautiful he couldn't stand it. And even if Darcy wouldn't come up to his room, he still wanted her to know just how beautiful she was.

And of course, she went up to his room. Her boots had been one of the last things to come off. But they'd stayed off all through Christmas Day.

It was a red dress this year. And with a bit more rummaging through all the bits and pieces she'd managed to forget or leave in Clint's room, Darcy felt more than a little presentable for Christmas party number three. As she made her way down to the twentieth floor, she did linger to check her phone in the hope JARVIS would have sent her an update. Still nothing. And it was getting late.

Happy wasn't quite living up to his nickname when Darcy entered the party. With the entire Avengers team absent, the gathering was noticeably small. Pepper and Jane were chatting quietly and a few others were milling around. Dr Selvig was explaining the Scandinavian Christmas traditions to Lt. Colonel Rhodes. But the party was definitely in a lull. And the slightly disappointed look on Happy's face... no. Even if Tony Stark was absent, Darcy thought while marching over to the sound system, this party was going to get started.

An hour or so later, Christmas carols were blaring in the background and Happy and Jane were arm-in-arm, harmonising along with the lyrics. The Santa cap had made its way onto Rhodes's head and Darcy had ended up in Happy's reindeer sweater to cover the mulled wine that been spilled over her dress. The party had picked up and everyone was now well into the Christmas spirit. Darcy made her way to the bar and located some mint and strawberry schnapps. She was pouring a round of red and green shots when the music shuddered to a halt, forcing Happy and Jane to stop in the middle of "Jingle Bells". A moment later, "Mistress for Christmas" started blasting mid-chorus and Tony Stark entered the room to his standard AC/DC fanfare. "Sorry we're late," Tony announced. "But some extra party guests have come to join us. So Miss Lewis... you best start pouring some more of those." When Sif and the Warriors Three entered the room, all of whom were clearly excited about their first Christmas celebrations, Darcy reached for the schnapps and started serving.

She'd just handed another tray of shots off to Dr Selvig when a sprig of mistletoe appeared from overhead. "Merry Christmas," said Clint. He was still in battle gear, holding an arrow with the mistletoe dangling from the tip. Darcy smile and leaned over the bar until her lips found his.

The clock had just clicked over to 2a.m. and Darcy was settled with her head against Clint's shoulder and her thighs over his lap. He had an arm around her waist and his calloused fingers stroked light trails down her calves. "Silent Night" played in the background; couples were dancing, friends were laughing and all was right with the world.

Clint pressed a kiss against Darcy's temple. "Can I give you your present now?"

"You don't want to wait until morning?" she asked softly.

"This seems the right time," Clint replied. He withdrew his fingers from their caressing just long enough to draw a small, flat, rectangular gift box from his pocket. "I hope you like it." Darcy snuggled herself against his chest before she began to untie the ribbons.

The box popped open to reveal a shiny white magnetic swipe card. With a slightly confused look, Darcy tilted her head to look up at her boyfriend. "I love it. I have no idea what it is, but it's from you. So I love it."

"Darce..." Clint's fingers stilled and he pulled her a little closer. "It's for a new room. On the twentieth floor. It can be our room."

Darcy pulled the card from its box and looked it over. "Is this you asking if we can move in together?"

Clint nodded. "I'd considered skipping all that stuff and just asking you to marry me..." Darcy knew her eyes had gone wide and Clint grinned. "But I knew that might freak you out a little. So Darcy Lewis... will you co-habit with me first?"

"Yes Clint Barton. Yes I will co-habit with you," Darcy laughed before Clint captured her mouth with a kiss.

Darcy didn't know that Clint had already bought her an engagement ring. It was safely stored in his weapons cache. Clint wasn't big on Christmas gifts or doing his shopping early. But he planned to offer that gift next year. When he could be sure Darcy wouldn't freak out at the 'M' word.

But with the taste of strawberry schnapps on her lips and a baggy Rudolph sweater draping over her chest, Clint pulled Darcy close and began counting down the sleeps until next Christmas.