Visions Part 1 of ?

Another post 4X10 fantasy world…

Auggie left Barber and Hollman at Allen's and grabbed a cab. It was 8 weeks after Annie "died" and the guys felt it was time for Auggie to get out. Working in the basement had turned him paler and sullen and they knew he went home every night and drank until he fell asleep. Tonight he was going to drink with them.

Auggie was still playing the grieving boyfriend. Barber tried to point out cute girls in the bar and Auggie wanted none of it, firmly advising Eric to send the girls Hollman's way. After a couple of hours of that Auggie made his excuses and headed home.

"Oh man, your street is blocked off," the cab driver sounded dismayed.

"By what?"

"Looks like an electrical crew," the driver described the trucks and harsh orange lights.

"Are the sidewalks clear?" Auggie asked.

"Yeah, looks like it is just the street they are working on."

"Thanks," Auggie shoved $10 that he knew was more than enough through the Plexiglas window and slid out on his side of the street.

It was less than a block to his place and he knew the pace count like the back of his hand, but it had gotten colder and Auggie had not worn his jacket that morning, so he hurried his pace a little trying to keep count while he moved. Perhaps that is why he didn't sense the movement to his right.

The shot was silenced but still sliced through the silent night air. Auggie went down and the "crew" working the road job were packed and gone with no trace in minutes.

***555***

Without fail every day Annie checked the number. It was a random phone number in Maryland that Auggie had set up for emergencies, usually there was nothing, today she heard this.

"Hello, my name is Officer Mike Watkins, DC Police, I found this number in the wallet of an August Anderson. It was the only number to call for emergencies. Mr. Anderson was shot last night, near his home. He sustained a gunshot to the head and is currently in surgery at Georgetown Memorial. If you need to reach me my number is 202-957-8877."

Annie sat frozen, her hands shaking, for close to five minutes before she threw the few possessions she had in a bag and headed to the airport.

***555***

"Dude, you should have stayed last night…." Barber began as he entered the small basement office Auggie was relegated to these days only to find his chair empty.

"Where's Auggie?" he asked the rookie who shared the space.

"I don't know," the kid shrugged.

"He's never out, he was here the day after his girlfriend was killed," Barber explained.

"Don't know," the kid repeated.

***555***

She knew she couldn't walk in there as Annie Walker, emergency contact and dead girlfriend, and it was well after normal visiting hours anyway, so she found a supply closet and grabbed some scrubs and swiped an ID card and made her way to the locker room. A few minutes later her cash and passports locked safely away she moved the halls with her longer darker hair under a cap and never got a second look.

She entered his room and was struck by the stillness. There was a rhythmic beeping sound that comforted her in its steadiness and a cool dry flow of air.

"Auggie," the word slipped out of her mouth as she choked back the tears she had been fighting for 14 hours.

She moved to him, his head was bandaged with clean white gauze and the rest of him looked fine. An IV pierced the top of his hand and she inspected the bags to see what was dripping into him. She so desperately wanted to touch him. She didn't want to hurt him, but needed to know he was warm and alive despite the stillness, so she laid one hand over his heart, could feel the heat of his skin, warm enough to be alive but not warm enough to fear infection. She felt his heart thump under her hand. She let her eyes slip closed and remembered the night their relationship changed.

***555***

"I'm glad we're having his talk" Annie teased when Auggie began their talk with a kiss.

He was kissing her and she couldn't believe it, after all this time of wanting it, wanting him, here he was in her apartment, kissing her. She was torn between the man in front of her and the file full of information Henry had given her earlier. Could Auggie have helped Arthur fund terrorists?

The thought lingered in her brain, but was swiftly being cast out by the feel of his mouth and his hands moving with such purpose against her. It seemed impossible, but he managed to pull her even closer, she could feel the planes of his body through his suit and she had a pretty good idea of what lie beneath the layers of wool and cotton between her and Auggie.

"Mmmmm," she moaned in the back of her throat and had to pull back for air, tilting her head back.

Her hair slipped back to where his hands were and he slid his fingers into it as he redirected his lips from her mouth to the delicate column of her neck and the graceful lines of her collar bone.

***555***

Annie was startled from her memory by the squeak of wheels outside the room. She leaned over and placed a dry kiss against his cheek and slipped into the adjoining bathroom.

She watched as the nurse checked vitals and marked things on his chart. She hummed quietly as she worked and didn't seem alarmed by anything she found. The nurse turned off the lights when she left and Annie hoped that meant a few hours of uninterrupted time for her to sit with him.

She pulled a chair up close and gently took his hand in hers.

***555***

"I really did come here intending to talk," Auggie managed between kisses, they were still upright but Annie was unsure her legs could hold her up much longer.

The question was did she lead him to the couch or tumble down on the bed?

"You made your point, pretty articulately," she replied loosening his tie and losing her resolve for the couch.

He smiled again, the bright wide smile that he seemed to only show her and what little resolve she had to take this slow evaporated. The tie was discarded to the chair behind her and her fingers moved quickly over the buttons of his shirt.

"Annie….." her name pulled from his soul, the emotion etched on his face.

She had seen that emotion on his face before, the circumstances different over the years, but the emotion had been there for a while. In that moment, his eye lashes fluttering, his fingers stroking up and down the sides of her body, his tongue darting out to wet his bottom lip, she knew that he loved her and had for a very long time.

She took his hands, conveniently already on her sides and guided them to the bottom of her shirt, saw as he rubbed the soft cotton between his fingers with such care.

"Please?" she whispered.

***555***

Annie woke with a start, unsure of where she was or why until she saw Auggie lying as still as before at the head of the bed. The machines continued their steady beep and whir and Annie matched her heart rate and breathing to them.

She could see dawn emerging through the room's window blinds and knew she had to depart before the hustle of the day descended on the hospital. She made her way back to the locker room and retrieved her belongings.

She needed a place to lay low and do some work, there was only one place she knew that was safe and secure enough for that. She slipped out a side door and, grateful for the sunny day, donned her sunglasses and Redskins cap, and headed in the direction of Auggie's apartment.

TBC…