From the moment Clint was recruited, Phil had regarded him as trouble. He had problems with authority and discipline and generally just seemed to do whatever he wanted. That was far from what Phil expected from a field agent. Then there was the fact that Clint skipped training and seemed to revel in following Phil around and annoying him. Slowly, but surely, the annoying started to become endearing. Clint had grown on him in a way he didn't want to admit. Still, he was dubious about how all of it would translate out in the field.

Clint didn't disappoint. For all his joking and refusals over some things, out in the field he really was the best. He could do things that no other man could come close to and he did them well. Phil almost felt pride in that right away. Dubious as he'd felt, he really had wanted Clint to succeed. Right away, they seemed to work well together and Phil allowed himself to give Clint the positive reinforcement that he'd clearly been lacking for so long. He didn't favor him too much or give him obvious extra treatment. He just told Clint when he was doing well, went a little easy on the regulations that probably shouldn't have mattered anyway. Clint did best without a lot of rules weighing him down. He wouldn't follow half of them, anyway, so why not just focus in on the important ones? Sure, they bickered and sometimes Phil wanted to punch Clint's stupid grin right off of his face, but they worked and Phil was happy with it working.

"I'd feel better if medical took a look at you, but I guess I can do it." He sighed. He really wasn't a medical professional, but he was better than nothing. "Come on. I'll stay with you." He didn't care about the dry-cleaning. It didn't matter. That wasn't what he was worried about right now. Right now, he was worried about Clint and only Clint. Everything else could wait.