Covert Affairs: "Realizing"

Annie/Auggie later on in one shot

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Covert Affairs, I only had this idea after the Episode on USA last night. Go Annie Go Auggie!

All he could smell was the rank of other men and the strong pungent odor of alcohol and vomit. It made him almost wish that he had lost his sense of smell rather then just his eye sight from his accident in Iraq. His mop top was was sweaty and his brain was fried from the vasts amount of alcohol he himself drank. Usually he boasted on how well he could hold his liquor or beer which ever was the poison of his choosing that night, but not tonight. Not when the supposed love of his life was on a plane to Africa and she was not coming back. Parker had given him his ring back, claiming that she could not marry him, that she did not feel what she felt for him at the beginning. All that mattered was he lost Parker, that he lost his reason for coherency. His self brooding was cut short when a police officer called out to him that he was being sprung, which he thought was odd considering it was only an hour after the incident and he had not yet called anyone to come and get him, mainly because his pride and his ego was severely bruised. As he let the guard lead him out to the open area that was used for visitor and for those that were getting out, he caught the faint smell of grapefruit and gun powder.

'Annie?' he thought to himself as the guard helped him to sign the proper documentation for being released.

"He is all your, but might I suggest keeping him away from the bar scene ma'am." the officer said disapprovingly.

"Officer he can take care of himself, please quit treating him like he is special." Annie retorted, obviously not in the mood for dealing with Washington D.C.'s finest, "And for that matter, where is the guy that started this, after I read the report, it was the other one who instigated it."

"He was bailed out by his wife ma'am." The officer replied as he was about to hand Auggie over, Annie beat him to the punch.

"Auggie I am at twelve o clock, about two feet." Annie said quietly, the guard did not hear her but Auggie did, and for the first time in twenty four hours he cracked a grin.

Auggie caught her elbow, but his arm slid around her shoulders, he was too tired and too emotionally raw to just onto her elbow. She in turn placed her arm around his lithe waist. Bidding good night to the night officer, she walked with him, placing his hand on the passenger side of the corvette. Normally he would be excited about driving in his old treasure, but again he was emotionally raw. Noting was said during the drive, and Auggie's thoughts, while black, also held onto the fact that she was not taking him home. This was more the route to her sister's home, and to Annie's own home right behind her sister's. He was grateful, not really wanting to go home, there were too many memories at his place. Wanting to get his mind off of Parker, if even until Annie brought it up again, he began to think about the girl next to him driving. How did she know where he was? How did she know what had happened? He had told no one of his arrest and it had only happened an hour ago, so unless she was there she should not have known. Then again, she always knew when he was in trouble, whether it be of his own accord or when it was someone else's fault. His brain was on over load, but it began to process just who Annie Walker really was. He had known her for two years, and in that time span they had become great friends, in sync with each other on everything except lately when they had been placed in different departments. Granted Parker had kept him occupied and Annie seemed to be occupied with some operation that Lena Smith had her working on, and they had no time to catch up, but Auggie wanted to make that time. He was still reeling from the whole Parker debacle, it had only happened last night, but he was soon realizing that he had been ignoring his best friend, one that if he remembered her texts and her voicemails as of late needed his help. On one hand he felt like a complete jack ass, but on the other she seemed no worse for ware on her end, but he could still feel the tension in her body as it was assaulting him in waves. Parking the car in the drive way, Annie whispered to go to the main house as Danielle had moved that day and she allowed her to keep the house.

"When did they move out?" Auggie asked, clearly confused as Annie led him up the walk and to the back door.

"She caught her plane this evening before I came to pick you up." Annie said flipping on a switch, "Make your self comfortable, she left me all of her furniture."

Settling at the counter, he heard her rummage through the fridge, "What are you doing?"

"Grabbing some ingredients." she said, her voice only slightly muffled, "I know you haven't ate yet."

"I am fine." Auggie said, "Though I am thinking you are some sort of medium."

"Not medium, just in tuned to my better half." she said jokingly, but Auggie somehow had a physical reaction, and he got up and wrapped his arms around her.

"Augs?" she asked, her breathing had hitched.

"Thank you." he whispered, his hands going to her face, "For just acting you."

"Who the hell else could I be?" she joked, her hands on top of his, "I won't tell you what you want, I can tell you what you need though."

"What is that?" he asked, his forehead touching hers.

"Beer." she said, getting a full out laugh from him, all the while handing him a Sam Adams, "You can drink safely here without some ass hat mouthing off."

"You are an angel." he sighed letting her go and going back to his spot, "what are we cooking?"

"We are not cooking anything." Annie laughed at his expression, "You are going to keep me company while I make us some grub."

"I am not much company Annie." he sighed, bringing the bottle to his lips and taking a swig.

"Yes you are, you don't have to talk about what happened but if you want, you can, it can be surprisingly beneficial." she said, bring out some pots, "Besides I have loads to tell you after dinner, and it was it what I need your help on."

"It all started when I came home a couple hours late." he whispered about thirty minutes later of nothing but silence, "she had her suitcase packed and I ran into it."

Annie stayed silent through the story, only making non committal sounds to let him know she was still there. He poured it all out, not ever crying, but his voice would crack and Annie would stop what she was doing and go over to give him a hug, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, his hands going to her arms holding there. He went through the Somali capture, the suitcase, the cab, the night, and by the end of his tale, for some reason he did feel a little better, like getting it off his chest made him feel better. He was still angry, hurt, and lost, but the anger would go away after a few rounds with the heavy bag and the other two emotions would fade with time. A wonderful scent assaulted his nose as he was asking Annie about what she wanted to talk about.

"What is that delicious smell?" he asked, as a plate was set in front of him, and flatware plus another beer as well.

"Chicken Alfredo." Annie said, placing her own plate down, "I can cook, I just don't do it often, as for what I want to talk about, it can wait till I have my say in what you just told me."

They ate dinner in silence, did the dishes in silence, and then with a bottle of chilled wine, headed for the living room to get more comfortable, after all it would be a long night. Something that Annie was not accustomed to was Auggie laying his head in her lap, and her fingers on their own accord stroking his mop top.

"Parker is a fool." Annie said, feeling Auggie tense, but he did not get up, nor were there any angry words spouted off, "She is a fool for leaving a man like you and she is a coward if she is just going to run away like that. Augs you are amazing, and 99% of the time, I forget you blind because you seem to see me and everything else so perfectly. You are good at your job, you are a terrific trainer, I know I spar with you at least twice a week, if not more, and you have a heart that knows no bounds."

"You are so succeeding in lifting my ego up here." Auggie joked, but when she did not laugh back, he urged her to continue.

"I know you love Parker." she said, her own voice choking slightly that he did notice, but decided not to call her out on, "But consider this, she is not a woman in my eyes because she ran away. Instead of trying to understand you, trying to work through the hard part, she ran away to hide in Africa. A strong woman, would fight if she loved hard enough or if she was in love at all."

Auggie considered her words, considered who Annie was in order to say what she just said and he knew she was right, he just did not want to talk about it right now, so he changed the subject asking her what she wanted to see him about. By the end of that conversation, Annie had unloaded on Auggie about Simon, about Lena, about being transferred back to the DPD. She let him know about Lena wanting her to seduce Simon in which she did, she let him know that Simon was the cause of a break in, and that She had met up with him that night because for some reason he had not blown her cover.

"I feel like I am about to run blind Augs." she said, "No pun intended."

"We can run blind together." he said, shifting his position along with hers, laying her down in front of him on the couch, "When we go back to work, I will check out Simon and what I can find out ok?"

"Thank you." she said.

"Just one favor is all I ask." Auggie said, his arms tightening.

"What?" she said, already knowing it probably.

"Don't sleep with him again, make excuses please." he begged, "Annie if he finds something on your person it could be your life, and I can't live with that."

"We can hash it out tomorrow Augs, I am exhausted." Annie whined, but she gave into his favor with no qualm, after all she did not want to sleep with that slime ball again.