Here it is, the final chapter. I'm sorry, but the muse could not take this to the place that I think many of you would like to have had it go. But like SeeZee told me, "Your story, your characters ... It can turn out any way YOU want, and the rest of fanficdom will just have to deal with it."

So deal already. LOL!

For those who normally like my stuff, I am working on another story, but I have no idea when it will be ready to be posted here.

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything beyond my plot line.

Annie watched Auggie square his shoulders and walk purposefully down the sidewalk toward his apartment building, cane rhythmically sweeping before him. There was no swagger in his steps; he walked like a man defeated.

She had to follow him partway to her car. He could hear her following him, of this she was certain, but he did not turn around, or pause for her to catch up to him. When she got to her red VW, she simply got in and drove away. She did not look in her rearview mirror.

For the rest of the evening, until she fell into a fitful sleep, Annie was in a daze – a daze born of conflicting emotions, and of guilt. Under any other circumstances she would have been overjoyed to hear Auggie's declaration of love; but, despite her protestation to the contrary, what happened in London seemed to have affected her more than she'd thought.

Until Auggie's profession of love tumbled out of his mouth, Annie had thought that she'd weathered the attack in stride. Apparently she'd been deceiving herself. As his words hit her ears, she began to feel unworthy of them; she'd felt dirty. Another man had violently stripped her naked, had pinned her to the bed with her hands over her head; would have had his way with her had it not been for the two men busting through the door. What, it now appeared, bothered her about her part in all of this was her submission to it all. Despite her training and skills, she had not fought back. Why? That was the second question that she was going to ask the therapist when she saw her.

Annie woke later than usual the next morning. Despite the time crunch, she found herself lathering both her body and hair twice and allowing the hot water to flow over her until it ran lukewarm. After toweling herself dry, she pulled on a loose pair of slacks and oversized shirt from her own closet.

During the day at her desk writing up her mission notes, Annie had quietly observed Auggie. He was not acting normally: he was curt with those who dared to speak to him; and, she'd seen him walk into the edge of his desk several times and could tell that he had cursed loudly each time. Now it was her turn to feel guilty.

Just before her appointed time, Annie locked up her desk and headed off to her talk with the company psychiatrist. No sooner had she sat down before she began to purge her soul to the therapist: about Ben and her mourning for him – twice; about Auggie and her attraction to him, and how she now felt unworthy of his love and affection; about why she had not fought back in London. She'd spent a good twenty minutes sobbing until she could cry no more. Although she felt surprisingly cleansed after her crying jag, she still didn't feel worthy of Auggie, but she knew why she felt that way. And the reason had shocked her, and it had very little to do with the incident in London.

When she finished purging her soul with the therapist, Annie slowly walked back to the DPD office. She was clear in what she wanted. As she walked, she carefully constructed how she was going to tell Auggie.

Once she entered the DPD door Annie looked around for Auggie. Her quick survey of the office found him in his, earphones settled over his ears leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head. Both Stu and Eric were hunched over their keyboards furiously working away. With deliberate steps she crossed the room and entered Tech Ops.

As the door closed behind her, Auggie sat forward and removed the headphones. Stu looked up from his keying and was about to say something when Annie shot him a glare. He quickly turned back to his work.

"Annie?" Auggie said, the faintest glimmer of hope passing over his features.

"Auggie, please come with me. We need to talk," Annie said in a voice still husky from crying.

"Okay, Annie. Where are we going?" Auggie asked as he rose from his seat.

"You'll see," Annie said touching the back of his hand.

Auggie took her arm and replied with uncharacteristic sadness, "No, Annie, I won't see. And that's the problem."

"Auggie, please don't say that. Just come with me. And bring your other cane." She led him from his office to her car without either uttering another word. Even the twenty minute drive to the destination that Annie had chosen was accomplished with only the sound of the soft jazz emanating from Annie's sound system. Annie reached her destination and pulled into one of the vacant parking spots she was surprised to find in front of the café.

As soon as she'd shut the car off, Auggie fumbled for the door handle and opened his door. As he exited the vehicle he stumbled slightly on the curb. Before he closed the door he unfurled his cane and waited expectantly for Annie. "Where are we, Annie?"

"You don't know?"

"No, Annie, I do not. Not for sure anyway."

"We're back where this whole mess started yesterday. I figured if you were going to storm out again the least I could do was put you in familiar territory. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, Annie. It's okay."

A few minutes later, Annie and Auggie were once again seated in the back booth of the café. They received a few greetings from other diners.

Crystal, the waitress, approached the table. "You two aren't going to fight again in here again tonight are you? We don't allow fighting in here," she said seriously.

"No. I hope not anyway," Annie replied quickly.

"Do you want a menu, Auggie?" Crystal asked softly.

"No, Crystal. I wish that Sophia wouldn't go to the expense of having one transcribed just for me. I'd just like a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke."

Crystal looked from Auggie to Annie. "Annie?"

"Hamburger, fries and a Diet Coke, I guess." She gave a quick smile to Crystal.

"I know how Auggie wants his, how do you want your burger?"

"Lettuce, tomato, pickle, and a bit of mustard," Annie replied.

As soon as Crystal had left, Annie said to Auggie, "This one's on me, Auggie. Give me your hand."

"Why? You going to keep me from leaving if you say something I don't like?" Auggie responded with a bit of sarcasm.

"No, Auggie. I'll not stop you if you feel like leaving, but I hope that you'll not want to do that. I just need contact with you right now."

Auggie slowly eased his hand into the middle of the table. Annie curled her hand around it.

"Auggie, I know what I want. I want to be with you, but I'm not worthy of you."

"Annie? Why? Is it because of London? I don't care about London, except for what happened there showed me that I don't want to lose you."

Annie shook her head. "No, Auggie. Even if London hadn't happened I'd feel the same. I don't deserve you. You deserve someone who can give herself to you freely. Right now I'm afraid that I'm not capable of that."

"If anyone doesn't deserve someone it's me. I don't deserve you, Annie." He started to pull his hand away from hers.

Annie did not let his hand go.

"Is it because of Ben? Are you still hung up on Mercer?" Auggie looked puzzled, as if he was trying to put the pieces together, to make sense of Annie's words.

"In a way, but not the way that you mean. Ben was a fling. I understand that now. I was in love with the idea of being in love with him. It was lust, just lust that drove both of us then. That doesn't make for a lasting relationship."

"Annie, what are you saying here?" Auggie looked straight across the table at her. The corners of his mouth had an odd quirk to them and his head was tilted to one side.

"I'm saying that I want to be with you, but I need to know that I'm more than just one of your flings."

"Oh, Annie, you are so much more than a fling to me. I want us to be together for a long, long time."

"I understand that Auggie. I'm still not sure that I'm in love with you. I'm not sure that you'd not just be another fling to me."

"Tell me, Annie, be honest with me. Is it because I'm blind?"

Annie sighed in frustration. "Auggie, please climb down out of that tree. You're being blind has nothing to do with anything. I'm just not sure that I know the difference between love and lust."

"As long as my sight, or more to the point, my lack thereof, isn't a factor in your decisions," Auggie said with the faintest hint of a smile, "I think that I can deal with not being with you the way that I want."

Annie gave his hand a quick squeeze and withdrew her hand from the top of his. "Food's here," she said quietly.

Crystal placed the plates in her hands in front of Annie and Auggie. "I told Sophia what you said about the Braille menu for you. She said that they don't cost her a thing because one of her brother's daughters is a transcriber for the blind students at Georgetown. She does it just for the cost of her supplies which in just paper. Your Braille menu actually costs her less than the laminated menus for the rest of the customers." She patted Auggie on the hand. "Burger's on the right, fries on the left, bowl of mayo in the middle; just like always."

"Thanks, Crystal." Auggie gave her a genuine smile. He seemed to have relaxed a good bit in the last few minutes.

Annie took a bite of her hamburger, before reaching to the end of the table for the ketchup. She made a puddle of ketchup in the middle of her plate then dragged a fry through it. Across the table Auggie was greedily chomping on his cheeseburger. He almost seemed content.

"Annie, how does good old American fare compare to High Tea in London? You really seemed to be enjoying your tea and crumpets."

"That part was sort of okay. The food was out of this world, but I'll take a hamburger and fries with you any day."

"You would?" Auggie asked genuinely surprised. "I thought …"

"You thought that I was trying to gently let you down?"

"Yeah, I did. As long as it wasn't because of my eyes, I was getting used to the idea that I'd lost you, too."

"Too?"

"Like I had to give up Natasha."

"You're comparing me to Natasha? You were ready to give everything up for her, and you went to Iraq because of it."

"Yes, Annie. I'm comparing how I feel about you to how I felt about Natasha. And there is no comparison. I lost my sight because of her; I would lay down my life for you, Annie."

"Auggie, I had no idea that you felt that strongly."

"Like you were with Ben, I've been running from a serious relationship ever since Tash. I'm tired of running, Annie. I want to be a one woman man again for a while. Hopefully for a long time."

"I want to be with you, Auggie. I'm just not sure I can be there the way that you want me to, but I'm so willing to try."

"Fair enough."

The End

Now that I've gotten back into the part that I do best and away from the unrealistic plot parts, I'd like to know what you thought of this final chapter. Comment/review?