Disclaimer: I do not own Covert Affairs or anything to do with it and am not getting paid to write this.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

He had been attacked.

She had gone to help him.

She had compromised the mission.

He blamed her, thought she blamed him.

"It's because of me, isn't it? You think I'm some kind of a burden."

"I do not think you're a burden!"

"Then why did you come back up the stairs to help me?"

"Because you were down."

She hadn't really heard what he had said before that, she was just answering quickly while her mind still reeled from the thought of losing him. She knew it would be unbearable. In just that brief moment when she thought it was a possibility her whole world had flipped upside down. She forgot about the mission, Joan, Lena, the whole CIA. All she could think of was Auggie, being thrown against that railing, being slammed from behind, stuck up there alone, in complete darkness. She knew she had to go to him. It wasn't a choice for her. Why didn't he see that? Did he really have to ask her this question? Why did she come back up the stairs to help him? Really? How many times had this man gone days without sleep running on coffee and adrenaline just to make sure she got back home? And he had to ask her this question?

"You should've gone for the package. That was the mission; to get the package home, not to help me."

Sometimes he could be so condescending. Most of the time he was helpful and she looked up to him, but right now he was just so damn condescending. She wasn't a child that needed scolding. She was a woman scared to death that she might lose him. Her best friend, her mentor, her confidant, drinking buddy. The man she loved.

The man who was planning to marry someone else.

She couldn't just spring that all on him though. What was she supposed to say? He hadn't even noticed her half attention. He just kept talking like he knew everything.

He knew nothing.

"I don't want to go back to the way things were. I don't want to get stuck behind my desk. I want to go forward with my life, across the board, but I don't have a Lena in my corner. My only champion is Joan. If I disappoint her—"

That was it. She couldn't just let him keep going like this, he was getting ridiculous.

"You think this about Joan and Lena?" She shot back at him, fiercer than intended.

"I know part of it is! You never liked Joan, never respected her and now you are all about Lena! The other part is that you don't trust me in the field. You think I am a liability!" She couldn't tell if he was angrier or more hurt as he said the last part. He really thought she saw him that way.

"You don't know anything Auggie! You act like you know everything but you don't! God you can be so condescending sometimes. I came back up those stairs to help a friend who I knew was hurt. I didn't know how badly you were hurt or if there were more guys where that one came from. I didn't think about Joan or Lena! All I could think about was you!" She was yelling at him now, but she didn't care. It was kind of therapeutic actually.

"You wouldn't have come back if I was a sighted person!" He pointed a finger in her direction as he said this, stepping closer to her. He was yelling now too.

"You right! But you can't see Auggie! YOU'RE BLIND!"

"Nice Annie. Real nice."

"Yeah well, you needed to hear it."

"At least you thought so right?"

"You are an idiot! You're blind, but still an amazing operative. I look up to you! I don't pity you! I thought you knew me better than that!" She was quieter now but still amazed at the turn of the conversation.

"And I thought I was more to you than 'the blind guy in Tech Ops!'" He yelled defeatedly.

"Damn it Auggie. You are." She reached a hand out and touched his shoulder. He shrugged it off. He never did that. "You're being an asshole! You know that?"

"And you have been being weird ever since we got here! You think I can't tell that you are standoff-ish? That you are uncomfortable?if it is not because you are out in the field with a blind operative then what is it? What am I supposed to think Annie?" He asked as turned away from her.

"I am thrown off by the news of your planned proposal. I think you are moving too quickly. I can't stop thinking about you getting hurt or making the wrong decision. I mean how well can you really know someone in three or four months Auggie?"

"This again? Geeze! Annie this is my choice alright?" She looked pissed. She didn't want to push him but at this point, hell, why not?

"Yeah, maybe; but it is still the wrong one!"

"Oh yeah? And why is that!?" He asked incredulously, now facing her.

"She couldn't possibly love you enough." She said quietly and she turned away now, covering her mouth. She hadn't meant that to come out. Oh well, too late now, the cat was nearly out of the bag.

"How could you possibly know that, huh?"

"Because she doesn't know you like I do. I couldn't know you like I do. If she doesn't love you at least as much as I do then she can't possibly love you enough." Anyone else wouldn't have been able to hear her, but Auggie did.

"Are you jealous or are you just cock blocking me?"

"Both really." He thought she was joking? She didn't hear a reply from him soshe just kept talking."I love you. I wanna the girl who marries you. I would be so good to you Auggie. You know I would. I already am."

She turned around and he was gone, had walked away from her.

"Auggie?"