Post Series. Auggie had left to travel the word with Natasha, and Annie had dove head first into work. This is how they got back to where they belong. Pure Walkerson. A huge thank you to Cory, for editing it for me.

3 years later...

"Annie?" Auggie asked, entering his apartment. It was close to eleven o'clock and he was tired. He had thought he'd be able to get home earlier today, but the op he was handling was still running, and his operative was no Annie Walker. He was a good operative, but he was not one to think quickly on his feet, and that made him careless sometimes. He was smart, really smart, but when things got out of hand and he needed to improvise, he was slow to take action. That is what is going to kill him. Or get him arrested, which in Venezuela was almost the same thing. So what should have been an easy brush pass had turned into a 3 day nightmare. He was laying low now, and they were waiting for the DCS to authorize his extraction. Which is how Auggie managed to come home, and not be stuck at the office.

"In the kitchen," she answered. "I was going to wait for you, but I got hungry." She said, embarrassed. She turned around, and her smile turned to worry as she saw how tired he was. "I'm reheating yesterday's pizza. There's a beer on your 12. I just opened it." She said, and went to the fridge to retrieve another bottle. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just tired." He said. He wanted to talk to her, tell her about this operation-turned-nightmare, but he didn't know if she was briefed. Since Langley was contracting out his extraction, maybe she did hear about it. He had yet to check with Joan what the DCS had decided. It was still weird, even after 3 years, to not being able to talk freely to Annie about his ops. She was still at McQuaid's Security, much to his exasperation. He loved Annie, and trusted her with his life, but that didn't mean he had to like that she was still working for Ryan. He was not stupid; he knew that Ryan still loved her, even if he never really did anything to get in their way. He was not comfortable knowing that her boss was head over heels over her. He had thought that, after they worked things out, that she would return to the Agency, and they would be Operative and Handler again. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with. But he was wrong. She decided to stay at McQuaid's, and keep their work dynamic as it was. They talked about it, about her relationship with Ryan, and the fact she was still working with him, but they never really talked about why they broke up. Annie never talked about it, and Auggie was afraid to ask.

Those first few months were hell on earth to him. They had said their 'I love yous' and they had been together ever since, but it took them awhile to work through their issues. Truth is, they were still dealing with them. Not on an everyday basis, but sometimes, something would rear its ugly head, and they would deal with it instead of running away or pretending nothing was going on. That first night, Auggie walked back to Annie's apartment, and they promised each other they were going to talk about their demons. But it took time, and some things hurt so much that sometimes Auggie needed a break from talking. Sometimes they would just lie down and hold each other, not talking. But other times, he needed a physical break from her. Like when she told him about the four months she was with Eyal. He liked Eyal, they were somewhat friend ever since he got her out of that Russian prison. He was there for Annie when he couldn't be, like when she faked her death. But it hurt. It hurt a lot that she had come to Eyal instead of him when she discovered her heart condition. He remembered that talk as if it was yesterday.

"So, you told me you sought Eyal's help. This was what: one week, two weeks? To do those tests? What happened then? I mean, you were gone for nearly four months." Auggie asked. He had a feeling he knew the answer to that one, but he still needed to know.

"I stayed." Annie said, not looking up, her voice but a whisper.

"You… stayed?" Auggie said. "Is that all you have to say to me? Come on, Annie. We agreed to talk, didn't we?" He insisted.

"That is it, Auggie. I stayed with him, I needed time to put myself together, and well… He was the one to do that. He helped me. He helped me to regain my strength, my confidence. He helped me with the nightmares after Henry. He helped me with my heart. In some ways, I think he saved me." Annie said. She didn't want to tell him that. She knew it would break Auggie to hear that, but she agreed to be truthful. They agreed to talk about it, so she would honor their agreement. She just hoped that there would be something to salvage them after that.

"You stayed with him." Auggie repeated. He was stuck. He wanted to yell, to break something. He wanted to lash back, because it hurt. Hearing that Annie slept with Eyal, hurt. Knowing that she stayed with him, gave a part of herself to him, hurt. But hearing that he saved her, that he was the one to put her back together? It destroyed him. If there was such a thing as a killing blow, that would be it. So he did the only thing he could, under the circumstances. He walked away. He simply got up, got his things, and walked out the door. He could hear Annie calling him, he knew she called his phone a couple of times, but he just couldn't bring himself to answer it, to talk to her.

He was very ashamed of himself, for walking out on her. But he couldn't bear being near her when she told him they've been together the whole time she was in Israel. He hated Eyal for being the one to put her back together, and he hated Eyal for loving her, almost as much as he did. He got out of her apartment, because he needed to think. He took a walk, stopped at a bar, and had a couple of beers to clear his head.

Deep down, he had always known that something had happened between them. He just didn't know that it was not an once-in-a-lifetime thing. And that hurt a lot. After he finished that second beer, he walked back home, to find Annie exactly where he left her. She told him she was not running away anymore. That's when he first new they were going to be okay.

He forgave her for Eyal, but he had yet to forgive himself for Helen. But since they promised to work through their issues, and she had talked to him about Eyal, he knew that he needed to come clean too, and talk about Helen. So, after he sat down and apologized for walking away, he told her about Helen. He told her that when he received that message, he was sure it came from Annie, that she was the one he was going to meet. He told her that, when he realized it was Helen, he wanted to just go away, go back home. But Helen wanted to talk to him, to show him something. So he came inside her apartment. It was clear that she wanted to make amends, to apologize for what she did in the past. They shared some wine, and she apologized for not being able to find Annie. Just hearing about Annie hurt, so much, that for a moment he wanted to just forget about it, to do something to stop the pain, to distract himself. So he did the only thing he knew to stop the pain. He slept with Helen.

He was already feeling guilty enough about it, even before he asked Annie to help him clean her apartment, before the Agency cleaners got there. He thought it impossible to hurt more until she said something about him knowing his way around Helen's apartment. That conversation weighed heavily in his mind for years...

"You seem to know your way around." Annie said, after taking a look at the apartment: the unmade bed, the glasses of wine. She didn't bother to pretend she didn't know, didn't bother to mask the sadness in her voice.

"Yeah." Auggie said. If regret could kill a person, he would be a dead man now. "Annie, this is not what I wanted. This is not what I want…" He tried. He had to tell her, that he thought it was Annie he was meeting. That he hoped it was Annie showing him around. That it was Annie he was kissing. He tried to apologize, but Annie wouldn't let him. Not now.

That little conversation consumed him, for a long time. Because there was so much he wanted to say to her, to explain, and never got to because someone was trying to break into Helen's apartment, and Annie was still not done with her mission. But for him, this, this was the beginning of their end. He used to feel that they still had a shot, that Annie just needed to come back. To finish with Wilcox and come back, and they would find a way back to each other. But not after Helen. If Annie hadn't been there, if he could have found a way to tell her after everything was over and done with, maybe she could have forgiven him. But Helen happened. Then Hong Kong happened. And then Eyal happened. And there was no way back to each other anymore. But now, now that they have finally found each other, he was afraid of talking about it.

"You don't have to explain". Annie said, without realizing that with that sentence, she managed to send Auggie back to a trip down memory lane.

"You know, you said that exact sentence to me back then, in Helen's apartment. And it's not true Annie. I do need to explain. I do. What I did, it was not right. Not to you, not to Helen, and not to me. But I was so sad that day. I was sure you were the one to send me that text. I was thinking about you the whole bus trip. It was like, I could almost feel you by my side." He said, trying to explain.

"I was, Auggie." Annie said, a little ashamed to admit.

"What?" Auggie's head turned in Annie's direction, surprise emanating from his beautiful eyes.

"I was sitting by your side on that bus. I needed to see you, to be near you. So I went to your apartment, but couldn't make myself knock on your door. I stood there for a while, and I saw you leaving. So I just… went with you. Then I saw you were meeting Helen. I told myself that it didn't mean anything. That you were there to talk, that she had something to show you." Annie confessed. "I was thrown off course when you went to her apartment after that, and it was clear that you slept together."

"How could I not know you were there on that bus with me? How could you not say anything?"

"I didn't know how to talk to you anymore, Auggie. I didn't know how to be that Annie, your Annie. I tried, I opened my mouth to talk to you two or three times. But I guess I chickened out."

"God, Annie. I'm sorry, I really am sorry. But how could you just sit there, by my side, and not say anything?" He said, blinking away the tears.

That must have been the most difficult conversation they've had. To Auggie, he spent so much time blaming himself for having slept with Helen, that knowing Annie had been so close to him was like a slap to the face. Maybe if she had said something, if she had let him know she was there, she was close, he wouldn't have slept with Helen. And just thinking about it made him angry, a lot angry with himself: it was like he was trying to place the blame on Annie for driving him to Helen, and he was better than that. He refused to put the blame on others for his shortcomings. But after that conversation, things got progressively easy.

There were fewer things to talk about. None of them was easy, but they were getting there. They still needed to work through some things, like Hong Kong, for instance, but not today. Today Auggie looked exhausted, and Annie had news of her own to share with him.

He took one slice of yesterday's pizza, a bottle of beer, sat down on his living room, and waited for Annie to sit by his side. He started to talk without even noticing.

"Jason Armstrong is going to be the death of me." He said, before downing at least a third of the contents of this beer bottle.

"So, this is the new operative. Is he still giving you so much trouble?" She asked, thinking back to her first few months on the job.

"Well, he's no Annie Walker, you know." He said, smiling.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment, Anderson?" She asked.

"Well… yeah. I mean, even on your first mission you were quick on your feet. You manage to turn things around and get the intel." He said. "Of course, we ended up dragged from a morgue to the FBI basement, but still…" he left it there.

"Oh, I see what you mean." Annie smiled. "But still, give him some time. He might surprise you."

"If he manages to get back from Venezuela in one piece, he will surprise me!" He quipped.

"About that…" Annie started, testing the waters.

"You're the extraction team…" Auggie blurted out. Damn it, he really hated that Annie was going to put herself in danger, but at least, if she were the extraction team, he was going to be the one handling her. This was his op, after all.

"Yeah, not exactly." Annie said. "I was going to be, but that was before Ryan called me to a meeting."

Auggie groaned. It didn't matter how much they talked about Ryan, he was never going to be comfortable with the fact that they worked closely together. He knew that he had asked her to marry him, before he went away with Natasha, but she never told him what happened after that. He knew she never got married, sure, but still… She was still working for him, under him, and that drove him insane. Three years, they've been together for three freaking years, and he still hated talking about Ryan McQuaid. Sometimes he felt that it was Ryan who was keeping Annie from going back to the agency, and being his operative again. Like he was in the way of their happily ever after. Deep down he knew that Annie was never going back to the Agency, because she felt that it was the Agency that had drove them apart, when she went after Wilcox. She had said it before, but until today, Auggie still had hope she would eventually change her mind and come back to Langley.

Annie noticed Auggie's jealousy rearing its ugly head, and thought that maybe it was time to explain what really happened after Ryan asked her to marry him and she declined. She sighed, and decided to start with the easier part. The present.

"He asked me to be his Director of Operations, starting tomorrow." She said. There, it was out in the open. The big promotion, the game-changer in her carrier. Something that the Agency would never be able to offer her.

"He what?" Auggie almost lost his grip on the beer. He put it down on the table, and turned to Annie. "That is amazing, Annie!" He said, truthfully. He was happy for her. It was a big deal, a promotion like this. And it would mean that she would be less in the field, which would be good for her heart condition. Yeah, he knew it was manageable, and she has been managing it since she came back, but still… She would get to pick the missions she really wanted to take part in, but she would be responsible for all of them. If only she's working for any other security company or the Agency.

"Well, I'm sure Arthur had a big say about it." She said. "He's been filling Caitlyn's shoes for a while now. Without trying to bring the company down, and getting us killed, I mean. He's been great."

"Well, I'm sure this was easier to ask than his last question to you." Auggie said, tired of avoiding this conversation. This Ryan stuff was in his mind for a while now. Especially since last Christmas party, where he caught some of Ryan's operatives talking about them, how they worked so well together, even after they broke up. He had to remind himself sometimes that he actually liked the guy, that he was the one who helped Annie save his life when Belenko abducted him. But after letting Annie go more than once, he couldn't help but projecting some of his own feeling to Ryan.

"Really, you want to go there now, Auggie? I finally get a nice promotion, something that would mean the world to my carrier, and you want to talk about Ryan?"

"Well, since the promotion came from the same guy who asked you to marry what, 5 years ago? Yeah, I think we need to talk about it." He said. Finally. It was there, out in the open. One of the last demons they needed to deal with. They had talked about Henry Wilcox, about Eyal, about Helen. They had talked about not working together, about Annie having another handler who was not Auggie. They even talked about Paris and Barcelona, and his fear that he would never be enough for Annie, or the fact that she didn't trust him enough, and ended up choosing the op instead of him. But they hadn't talked about Ryan's proposal, and the fact that she was still working for him.

"Auggie… It was a long time ago. He asked, I said no. We continued dating for a while then we broke up. We work together, we're a good team. His offer to make me Director of Operations has nothing to do with our past relationship. He's thinking about Joan, and Calder, and the fact that I know Langley inside out…"

"He has Arthur for that. For God's sake, the man was the DCS himself. He wouldn't need you to have a nice layout of Langley's ins and outs…"

"So, you're saying what? That he's offering me the job to get to sleep with me?" Annie asked, angrily.

"He's trying to get closer to you…" Auggie started, but Annie interrupted him.

"He's been my boss for the past 3 years, and my handler for the past 6 months, Auggie. He doesn't need to get any closer to me than he already is.

"He's your… How could you not tell me he's your handler? And what is the CEO of McQuaid's Security doing handling any operative? What the hell, Walker?" He said, getting angrier. As if being anyone's handler was a walk in the park. Didn't he know how much danger he must have put her through, just because he decided to do someone else's job? He's the fucking CEO of his company. He's a soldier, he's not a handler.

"Because I knew you would react like that. He wanted to test me. Test my skills, test my resourcefulness. He's been thinking about this for some time. And for the record, it was Arthur's idea for him to be my handler for some time, so that he could understand how I handle his operations." She said. She couldn't believe what he was implying. "You know what? I'll take a shower. You can finish the pizza, and we'll talk once you calm down."

"Why did you two break up?" He asked when Annie was halfway to the bathroom.

"He asked me to marry him again. I said no. He said that if I didn't intend to marry him someday, I should just let him go. So I did." Annie said. When she was met with Auggie's silence, she went ahead and got into the shower.

Auggie just stood there. He sighed, knowing that he really was an ass. He searched his keys, and let himself out. He went to the nearby store, and bought some champagne, and some chocolates. He called her favorite restaurant on the way home, and ordered some celebratory dinner. He was just finishing setting the table when Annie walked into the living room. She noticed the candles, the champagne, the chocolates, and smiled.

He noticed her presence right away, and smiled. At least things were really getting a little bit normal between them, if he could just sense her presence like that. He turned in her direction, and offered his hand to her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to imply he was trying to make a move. I know you guys are over. But I can't help it, sometimes. I can't ignore that you have a past with him, and that makes me jealous." He apologized. "I can get nasty when I'm jealous, I know that. Forgive me?" He said, looking right into her eyes. He had the uncanny ability to maintain eye contact even being blind.

"I'll always forgive you, Auggie. I love you." She said, and that was the truth. She would forgive him anything, because they were Annie and Auggie. Auggie and Annie. They belong together, like two pieces of the same soul. They fought tooth and nail to be together. Yeah, there were still some things to work out, but they were getting there. They have been working on their issues. She loved him. This was her end game.

"I love you too, Ms. Director of Operations."

A/N: This was it. I hope you liked it! :)