A/N: I'm sorry it took me so long to upload this. Please forgive me. Now, if you want to see character profiles of these characters, and maybe a bigger version of the cover art, anything about this story, like maybe a behind-the-scenes sort of thing, please just go to my writing tumblr, the link is on my profile. If you follow, I follow back.

"Piano Strings"

Piano strings in a piano are tensed. Stretched thin and tough and strong. You put the tiniest pressure on a key, and the string vibrates to make a sound. The string can't break or it'll make a sound never wanted. A bad sound that no one wants. There's a lot of dependency and stress put on piano keys, and the thing is, unless you have an open grand piano, they go unseen. You can't see the piano strings hard at work. You can only hear the beautiful sound they make. You can't see the strain they feel. Until you learn that they're responsible for the sounds, until you know, they basically go without credit.

Eee! Eee! Eee!

'Wake up,' he dreamily thought to himself. The sound of the bell ringing by his door blasted and thumped in his head. His brain started slow commands to move. He reached out to slap the button on his nightstand to make the blaring sounds stop.

"Roof!" His girlfriend's dog, Ginger, a red King Charles Spaniel jumped as far up as she could beside his bed. He was careful to not step on the dog as he got out of bed.

"Ugh," he groaned pathetically. The dog yapped at him again. He looked down at her, staring blankly. The dog stared right back.

"What?" he asked, almost too loudly. Ginger barked just as loudly back at him. One word, one syllable: food. He had to feed the dog food just like he needed to feed himself.

It was going to be a slow morning.

"Let's go girly," he sighed, walking to the door. Ginger's tail wagged excitedly, and she lifted her front paws one by one, again and again, ready to be fed, and also looking like she needed to use the bathroom. He sighed again.

"You know what? Let's avoid an accident," he mumbled, picking the sweet dog up before leaving the room. He grunted when the door hit his foot.

"Well good morning, sunshine," Fiona greeted him when he got down to the breakfast. She was feigning cheerfulness, but she was at least trying. He just grunted and sat at the table. He let Ginger down and she quickly went to Fiona.

"Hey there, girly! Is Clint being grumpy today?" Fiona got in her face, squeezing it. Clint rolled his eyes- as if she weren't upset too.

"Whatever, you faker. Neither of us are fine," he grumbled, stretching out and letting his head fall back. He heard Fiona sigh.

"We all get hurt Clint. Rose especially- she's constantly in the field. This time isn't even her worst mission, injury wise," Fiona tried to explain to him. His eyes widened and he lifted his head up to stare at her.

"You mean she's come back worse than how she came in last night?" he exclaimed. Fiona nodded like it was obvious.

"Given that she was conscious and not on a stretcher- yeah, this wasn't the worst. Believe me, I was there when the worst happened." They got quiet. Ginger happily munched on her food. Fiona started to turn back to the stove, but Clint decided to speak up.

"What was the worst?" he asked, his voice just above a whisper. Fiona contemplated answering him, wondering what he would do if she did. Then she sighed again.

"We've had to revive her before. She had been shot in the chest, and she had a concussion. Not a great combination considering she would need to get the bullet out in surgery. That was rather scary." Of course it was! They almost lost an incredible agent!

"What's wrong with her this time?" he sighed. Fiona gave a closed-mouthed "ha!" as if she were amused. Only because she was used to Rose being injured would she find this topic even remotely funny.

"Broken ankle, bad concussion, dislocated shoulder, and she broke something else too, however she refused to tell me exactly what. I'll take a look at the clipboard later," she informed him. He nodded.

"Is she awake now?"

"I guess I'll see when I check on her after breakfast." Clint felt a bit weird that Fiona said "I".

"I'm allowed to come too, right?" Clint pushed. She sighed once again.

"Sorry, as a rule to remain productive in-training- recruits are not allowed to go in the physical repairs room unless that room's services are required." Physical repairs was what they called their hospital wing.

"What? That's insane! I have to see her, I have to." Fiona shook her head.

"You're not in that unit of training. You'll be able to eventually, but not this time," Fiona took a breath to pause. "In fact, regarding this rule Rose has requested that you work on running, and other elements of fieldwork. Naturally you'll be outside in the field." Otherwise known as their backyard.

Clint couldn't believe this- how absolutely stupid was this! Even Rose was making him go along with it. She was hurt, and he wasn't allowed to see her? How the hell could they possibly think that he would even be able to focus on training with this going on? This idea was complete and utter madness to him.

"Come on Fi- can't you make an exception for me? I'm dating Rose for crying out loud! I'm taking care of her dog! Please!" Fiona looked like she wanted to let him, but something was keeping her.

"I'm sorry! Really! If it's any consolation, Declan actually broke his arm on purpose to see her. Bless his heart he was so desperate to just sneak a peek at her. When he did he was near tears, and she was laughing her ass off." Somehow that did help him feel a bit better.

"Fine. Can I just request that for my final set of training today, I go to the punching bag?" It was a good relief of stress for him. She nodded.

"Of course." She gave him a plate of food, and she took her own as she left the room.

It was going to be a long day.

"Alright Xander, tell me what to do," Clint called out as he reached the field.

"Start off with…Rose said 10 laps. Then take a water. I have to explain your day to you after that. Last night she gave specific orders all regarding your training. Go on, get started."

Xander was Rose's "adoptive 2-year older brother" but they're both just recruits that got close. Of all the recruits Rose was in charge. Fiona and Xander helped her, and were practically her partners, but she took overall responsibility.

Clint took to the trail of the field- the inner sides of the large fence, and began jogging. For the first couple of laps, he focused on the tricks and turns of the trail. He measured how long it would take him to do one side, the turning points. After he finished his third lap, he closed his eyes. (Running was always easier with his eyes closed.) Letting the in-the-back-of-his-head knowledge of the trail take over, he let himself dive into his thoughts.

He wanted to see his girlfriend. He was the only one in the handful of new recruits that grew up to be tough and couldn't be bothered with tenderness and warm love. Naturally he wasn't close to the others, so he needed Rose to keep him company. He really- for some reason he wasn't even sure of yet- liked her company. He felt the need to at least talk to her for just a brief minute today.

The past couple of months were difficult, being away from home and being the dancing monkey that they demanded. He knew they were only conditioning him to be the best agent he could be, but it was exhausting. Being the oldest in his group and the most "interesting" because of his scars from his past (knife fights often gave him scars) and his mysterious "leave me alone" demeanor, he felt like there was no room for mistakes. It was like he had somebody to impress, which was something he never felt before. There were no comforts from his home in Arizona, and he felt rather alone.

Rose always asked how his training was going, but he gave her tight-lipped answers. She never pressed on those answers, she always seemed to know. He figured that she got Xander to tell her how he was doing, and Fiona to analyze how she was coping. Rose spent a large time on missions, and couldn't do these things herself. Really, Rose could analyze his answers when he gave them to her, and she'd already made up her mind to keep things going the way things were- contrary to his thoughts he was coping well.

"Ay, Clint! Slow down buddy, or I'll give you another lap!" He heard Xander's voice call out to him, snapping him out of his anger and knocked off his concentration. He stopped mid-step, and realized he had been sprinting the past lap, and he really was hardly winded. He jogged the last lap in, not letting himself close his eyes for more than a brief second.

"Okay, we've got outside training set up for you, Elena, and Sam today. Serena's in the nursing unit with Fiona-" 'Lucky.' "-and Rose wrote in bold that for your last 45 minutes of training today you go to the weight-lifting area, and use that time for the punching bag.

"Rose briefly wrote down why she wanted you to do your work in this way today, and I must say, your girlfriend never ceases to amaze me with her skills of observation. Apparently when you run you close your eyes to think, and end up doing more than needed. The longer you go the faster too. She'll explain why she wants you to do this when you see her. She also wants you to go to the punching bag for the last forty-five minutes today. Alright. Let's get going. Run another mile and then we'll stop and set up obstacles. March out." Clint went back to the trail.

Clint went about doing the mile quickly, and ran back to the center of the backyard. Xander was setting up mats for different running and landing tactics. Elena and Sam were there and sitting down, watching Xander move. Clint rolled his eyes and helped the other guy, begrudgingly smiling in amusement at their reluctance to do anything. Of the group, those two girls were definitely the closest to him.

"Hey now, those mats don't line up! Move the second one over there a couple of inches to the left," Elena called out. Clint and Xander laughed but Clint complied. Elena and Sam giggled behind them.

Elena was only 2 years younger than Rose, and had been a recruit since Rose was 15. She broke her leg a while back and was redoing training, focusing more on running and agility than anything else. She got along fantastically with Rose, Fiona, and Xander, and even had the generic title of "Junior Lieutenant".

Sam could very much pass as Rose's little sister. She had the same moods as Rose, being able to be serious one minute but laughing the next, and unfortunately she shared quite a bit of the crazy. However she was more business-oriented than Rose and didn't stray too far from the rules. In physical appearance, they both shared flaming auburn hair with hazel eyes. Sam was about an inch shorter than Rose. She was Elena's partner in missions, and felt out of place not going through training with her.

The three of them, Elena, Sam and Clint, were all good with running a long time- running came naturally to them, having long trails to go on as kids. The others in their group didn't and were spending more time on the trail to build up their stamina. So aforementioned three were already working on front flip landings by the time the rest of them finished their warm ups.

As time passed on Clint became busy and thought of Rose less, but she was most definitely there in his head somewhere at all times. At a specific part shortly after he began doing the routines Xander had shown them and right before lunch, he briefly contemplated what would happen if he landed improperly, and broke something. Rose probably wouldn't like that, because despite their good relationship, she still was making sure he didn't weasel out of his duties.

When the last part of training started, Clint ran from the field back to the house, ready to go practice his punches. It may not have been the same, but the punching bag here was similar to the one the gym back in Arizona had. Again, if he just closed his eyes, he could think and be transported back to his hometown. People questioned if it was his need for violence that made this his favorite activity, but it was just for the memory of home.

Clint was wearing himself down. As he worked, his eyes were constantly squeezed shut, and his eyelids were growing tired. The muscles in his arms worked, flexing and relaxing over and over again very quickly. Even his arms were getting tired but damn if he wasn't going to finish what he needed to do. He needed to eat and he needed to sleep but he felt like this was more important. His arms were beginning to weigh more, and his eyelids were beginning to hurt. He hardly took notice.

There were bells in every room except the physical repairs room, that sounded every twelve hours, at seven sharp. It was instilled in the agents to wake up at seven in the morning, no matter what. The newer recruits hated the noise with a passion, but loved it at the end of the day, when they could finally relax and eat dinner. On this particular day, Clint didn't feel anything towards it, he didn't mind waking up and he didn't love that it was time to eat. He was more tired than hungry anyway, he still wouldn't skip dinner- that was just stupid.

True to his word, it had been a long day.

Clint didn't say anything during dinner, and promptly ignored the high-pitched voices of the younger recruits that chatted merrily. The older recruits discussed different fighting tactics and missions that could be done versus missions that should be done. He began to pick at his food towards the middle of dinner, but due to his ignoring what was going on around him was one of the last ones at the table. It was only when Fiona subtly slid her finger across his shoulders as she passed did he look up to see that he could go. He nodded in her direction as he left, and she inconspicuously nodded back.

There was a piano in a spare room that nobody ever went into, and it was meant to unwind and spend time there thinking. Seldom did people ever use it, so the older recruits mainly used it to send the younger ones to be punished there. It was a time out corner the size of a room, and Clint loved it. Plus, since no one wanted to be there, no one would hear him playing the piano.

Once he got there, he sat at the seat before the piano, and gently touched his fingers to the keys. He pressed down a number of times and played a few chords. He repeated this action, before he slid one finger down the row and sat in a slumped position. He thought of an old song that his mother taught him before she went AWOL. He began to play it, and repeat it, until he was lost in the song.

Finally finishing the song one last time, he sat back and sighed contentedly. He didn't feel as bad about not seeing Rose anymore, but the feeling of want didn't go away. Neither did the feeling of loneliness, or the new stressed feeling that he was still not that used to. He still was able to be okay with it enough to not go crazy tonight, and if he was lucky, until he saw Rose again.

"You've played that song before," a feminine voice softly sailed to him from behind. Shocked that someone was there, he turned around before he fully recognized who had spoken. He froze where he was when he saw Rose, and he slowly took in the bandages around her forehead, ankle, shoulder, and wrist. Her shoulder should have been in a sling, but Rose typically kept any broken limbs stretched out or in a right angle depending on what it was.

Clint stood up and stumbled to get away from the piano bench, and finally walked over to her, while she simultaneously limped over to him. Wrapping his left arm around her waist and crushing her close, he kissed her, and it was full of some emotion she couldn't quite name. She moved her arms so the one connected to her hurt shoulder was by her side, and her wrist was around his neck.

He stopped kissing her, but instead of pulling back he just hugged her, happy that she was okay.

"I thought you'd be in there forever, what are you doing out?" he whispered to her. She laughed lightly.

"Why would you think that? I absolutely detest staying in one of those beds for too long, one day is enough. Besides, these injuries aren't too bad. I'll probably be off the field for a while, which is another thing I hate." He laughed at her constant "I-must-move-around" attitude. He slowly pulled back to look at her.

"I guess that's true for you. You love running and going through the obstacles. You even like them enough to make me do them for several hours of the day," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes.

"Don't act like you hated it. I know that when you run, once you get used to what you're running on, you close your eyes and think of what's bothering you. When you finish, half the load is taken off. You also rely on the punching bag upstairs to remind you of Arizona, and you rely on me so you won't be lonely. I know you Clint, everything that I had planned for you today was to help you through not being able to see me. I'm very flattered by the way, I didn't think beforehand that you would be so effected," she explained to him. He took a half a step back to stare at her.

"How do you know about all of this? You're never there during my training unless it's to relay information to Xander or Elena, or Sam."

"At the end of the day they tell me how everyone's doing. I compare what they tell me about you to things that I saw you do when you were in Arizona. It's not hard to pick up on these things, Clint," she told him softly. He smiled a little.

"Especially not when you're a genius," he whispered. She kissed his forehead.

"Come on, you have to go to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast. Everything will be alright," she told him. He nodded. She kissed him one more time, and then they started heading for the stairs.

When they reached the stairs however, a problem was made evident. Rose's broken ankle, despite how she could still make herself use it, would probably make her fall down the stairs.

"You were fine coming down the stairs weren't you?" Clint asked, picking her up fireman style. She sighed. Clint began walking up the stairs.

"Yeah, but I was already coming down, if I fell down it wouldn't be so bad, I could even catch myself and slide the rest of the way down on the rails. I can't do that if I'm going up the stairs." Clint laughed at her when she said that, and resisted laughing at her impatient expression because she wanted to hurry up the stairs. Of all things to do fast, going up stairs was at the top of the list.

"You try so hard Clint, and I appreciate it, I really do. I know it isn't easy for you being here sometimes, and with the holidays coming up, it will get harder-" well that was news, "but you'll get through it, and we'll all help you. Can you just relax for now?" They were at Clint's door and Rose eased herself out of his arms.

"I'll try, Rose," he whispered as she sauntered off. She probably had to go find Fiona so Fiona wouldn't freak out about Rose being missing.

He could really relax a lot more now.

A/N: Well bless his heart. I mean really, don't you just love him? His only care, person wise, is Rose. Maybe Fiona, but he really focuses on Rose. Not sure why, maybe in a future fic we'll be able to get that said, or maybe I'll post it on my writing tumblr, (again the link to that is on my profile).

Please review, favorite, do anything. If you catch any mistakes, please tell me.

~RosesAndWriting