Phil swore under his breath as his cellphone rang, interrupting his depressing study of everything Skye-Daisy, dammit-had redesigned and reprogrammed and left wide open to invasion now that she'd been taken over by Hive. He grabbed the phone and tapped the button. "Coulson."

"I had to do it."

Daisy was forgotten. "Where are you? Are you all right?"

The voice on the phone was beautifully clear and as agonized as Phil had ever heard it. "I'm well enough. And I can't tell you."

That hurt. "Clint . . ."

"It's not just me, Phil. There's Wanda, and Lang wasn't supposed to get pulled in this far, and-"

"No, I know." Phil pinched his nose. Clint had been protective of Wanda since Sokovia, both from guilt over Pietro and fascination with her powers and strength. "I understand."

Clint took a shaky breath. "And I'm an international fugitive and you're the Director of SHIELD."

"I don't give a fuck."

"Ross does. And one of us has to."

Phil closed his eyes, hating his work for the first time. It had been bad enough that he'd violated orders and thrown out any idea of staying "dead" to Clint, but now he had a heavy legal duty to track down Clint and the others. He should be triggering the systems that would track this phone call, trying to weasel information out of Clint. He pushed the button that locked his door instead. "Are Rogers and Barnes all right? And everyone else?"

Clint's hesitation made Phil wince. "Are you recording?"

"Yes."

The laugh held something close to tears. "That's my guy."

"I don't know when I'll get to hear your voice again. So yes, I'm recording." He pretended not to hear the noise Clint made.

After a moment, there was a deep, steadying breath. "Everyone's in good shape. Barnes is like Banner, he's almost more afraid of what he could do than anyone else is. He's taking some steps to keep himself from causing trouble."

"Stark is trying-"

"I do not give a fuck what Tony Stark is doing. And I don't want to talk about him."

Phil's door alert pinged, and a message popped up on his tablet screen. Reports and updates and leads and losses and an alien creature wearing the face of a man he'd killed on another planet. "I-I have to go."

"Yeah, it's the middle of the day where you are, you must be busy."

"What time is it where you are?"

Clint nearly laughed. "Not noon. Good try." He hesitated. "I love you."

"I love you, too. I will get you home."

"Which is at your side."

They listened to the silence between them for a moment, and Phil heard Clint cut the connection at the same time he pushed the button to end the call.