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Prompt #50: Complete - Agent and handler, best friends, and after some time in denial, the only ones who could ever hope to fill the void in their hearts.

Words: 915

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Gunfire was erupting all around as Annie raced down the cramped alleyway, holding on to Auggie's hand for dear life. The stolen intel was safely tucked in her jacket pocket, her snub-nose revolver was out and providing cover fire.

"Duckng left!" she shouted as she dragged him into a nearby doorway. Auggie swore as he almost tripped on the turn, but he recovered well enough.

BANG!

"Ugh!" Auggie grunted as his hand was torn from hers. Annie whirled around and saw the curly-haired man was down on his knees, one hand clutching the gunshot wound in his abdomen. She shot the attacker in his heart and quickly made her way back to Auggie.

"It's okay, it's okay," she mumbled, applying pressure to Auggie's wound. "You'll be fine, Auggie. I promise, you'll be fine."

He gave a wet, choked chuckle. "You still can't lie for shit, Walker. Oooh..." He leaned into Annie and went rigid. "Ugh, maybe I should lie down..."

"Don't!" Annie clutched him close, as if hoping her grip would keep him from leaving her. "Don't you dare, Auggie. Don't you dare leave me alone here."

She couldn't do this without them. They were Annie and Auggie. They were a pair. She couldn't go without him. She wouldn't.

"Wouldn't...dream...of...it..." But his unseeing eyes were already sliding shut, his chest taking slower and slower breaths. Tense muscles relaxed far too quickly. Under her desperately groping fingers, she could feel his heartbeat slowing down.

"Auggie? Auggie!" Annie cried out his name with increasing panic. "Auggie, don't go! Don't leave me!"

He never responded. She kept screaming his name long after he stopped breathing and went limp in her arms. The pain of her broken heart was so unbearable, she never felt the bullet that tore through her chest.

"ANNIE!"

The sharp cry of her name dragged Annie from her nightmare and sent her flying into a pair of warm, strong, familiar arms. "Annie, sweetheart, breathe. It's okay, you're okay. You're safe."

She buried her face in his chest, pressing her ear against the reassuring pounding of his heartbeat. "You're not dead."

"Nope. Still alive and kickin'." His hand rubbed between her shoulder blades comfortingly. "Bad dream?"

"The worst."

"Care to share?"

She swallowed down the residual horror and concentrated on remaining in the now. "We were out in the field. You were shot and died."

Auggie's arms tightened around her in silent reassurance. "Sucky way to wake up on Christmas."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"...Can you believe it's been ten years?"

"Since when?" Annie glanced at the sleep-softened face of the man beside her.

His chuckle was both a reprimand and a tease. "Don't play coy, Annie. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, I do." She snuggled closer into his side and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "Ten years since my eyes first caught a flash of green laser and the geek attached to it."

"Ten years since I first caught a whiff of subtly-spritzed Jo Malone Grapefruit." He nosed into her hair and took a deep breath. "Ah, still that lovely hint of grapefruit and super secret agent."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Anderson."

"Oh, but I'm just where I need to be." The mattress shifted beside him, alerting Auggie that she was trying to make a break for the door. His arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from escaping. "And you are as well."

"But we need to - "

"Whatever it is, it can wait. I want to give you your Christmas present first, Mrs. Anderson." He nuzzled into her neck and hummed, smiling when she squirmed in his grasp. "Shhhh. Mustn't wake the little darling just yet."

With a frustrated moan, Annie buried her face in his chest again. "Hanna."

"Yeah, Hanna. Any second now, our dear little girl is going to barrel past the door right for her pile of presents under that plastic monstrosity you dare to call a tree..."

"MOMMY! DADDY!" The piercing shriek of an excited kindergartener was enough to make the two CIA agents sit straight up in bed. "SANTA CLAUS WAS HERE! LOOK LOOK, COME LOOK!"

Annie groaned again at her daughter's less-than-perfect timing. "If you gave her that god-awful Frozen sing-along DVD, I will drop-kick your skinny beanpole ass."

"That'd be a feat, drop-kicking your SERE-trained secret agent husband."

With Auggie peppering kisses across her jaw and at the corners of her lips, he was making it very difficult for Annie to keep her argument straight in her head. "I - I'm serious," she gasped breathlessly. "Unless you want our five-year-old daughter singing "Let It Go" all day."

"Personally I like the snowman's song. It's chipper and silly."

"Then I trust you will be Hanna's karaoke partner today?"

"Aren't I always?" The man dared to smirk as he kissed her, full and hard and passionate. "Well, Annie Anderson, shall we begin Operation Christmas?"

"I'm ready when you are," Annie smiled as she kissed him back. "Merry Christmas, Auggie."

"Merry Christmas, Annie."

Hand in hand, the pair ventured out of their room and faced the day. As they always did, and they always would.

Together.

Hurray! The completion of yet another compilation! Merry Christmas to all of you, readers and followers!

Review please, and have a wonderful New Year!