A/N: Hey guys, this is my first Covert Affairs fic, so I hope I've managed to capture the voices of the characters. I'm a huge Auggie/Annie fan, so expect to find lots of it in my work. This is mostly written from Auggie's POV and in present tense which I found a little difficult, so I really hope it works. All compliments and/or constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated if you have time to leave a review (trolls will be ignored), but if you don't, then read and hopefully enjoy! Oh, and bonus points to anyone who can pick up on my little shout out to 'Leverage', another favourite show of mine. REVISED: This fic has been revised slightly in an attempt to make the present tense work better. Hope it worked. :)

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me, any of them. *sobs*

x-x

The thing with being blind is that sometimes you have to depend on other people to be your eyes. After the explosion in Tikrit steals his sight from him, Auggie resists every loss of independence fiercely. He uses a laser cane when he can, because it's quite inconspicuous, and outside the confines of the CIA, he uses his more recognizable fold-up cane, but he rarely allows anyone to guide him. In fact, before Annie shows up at the DPD, the only person he allows to rest a hand at his elbow is Joan, and she wins that privilege by sitting with him when he comes home from Iraq, and then fighting tooth and nail to keep him in the DPD where he belongs.

Annie is different though. He's barely known her a day before he offers her his arm and allows her to guide him through the halls of the CIA, which he knows like the back of his hand. She takes it as the open invitation it was meant as, and from then on, she slips her arm through his almost every time they meet, taking up that position at his side like she's born for it. It gets to the point where he misses her warm presence by his side when she leaves on an op or (rarely) has the day off.

Despite the fact that he allows her to lead him around, jokes with her to ease her fears during missions, goes out with her regularly for a few drinks, hell, even gives her his personal phone number as a get-out-of-jail (with a sandwich) card…he's still blind, and that means that sometimes, he needs other people to be his eyes.

x-x

Ironically, it's Jai that first draws his attention to it. He's been sniffing around Annie ever since he was demoted to the DPD, and given his connections, Auggie suspects him from the minute he sets foot in their base of operations. He tries too hard to get close to Annie, and every time Auggie considers the fact that Jai might be running an op on her, he gets a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that makes him want to punch a certain someone so hard that even people who look like him will bleed.

However, after a little while, Jai seems to back off, and Auggie is confused. If Jai is running an op, then stepping down his charm offensive makes no sense. If Jai's not on an op, then he isn't half the smooth operator that half the women working for the CIA claim. It becomes slightly clearer when Jai stops by his office to drop off a file. Normally he treats these trade-offs of information as a necessary evil that force him to interact with persons beneath his stature. Today, he hangs around as Auggie begins to scan the file with his fingertips, and Auggie can tell from the slight shuffling that he's shifting in place, obviously uncomfortable about something.

He ignores it as best he can, but eventually the audience gets to him and he snaps. "What?"

He can hear the click as Jai forcibly stills his shuffling. The other man clears his throat, and Auggie can hear the calming breath he takes before words tumble out of his mouth. "Look, I…I know you don't think much of me…"

He trails off and Auggie raises his eyebrows with a sardonic smile. "Why Jai, I didn't know you cared."

Jai huffs. "Spare me the sarcasm, Anderson. I don't actually give a crap about what you think."

"So you're here because…?"

"Despite what you may think, I'm not actually a bad guy. I see the way she looks at you, and I know when I'm beat. Consider this my withdrawal from the field."

Auggie is genuinely puzzled. "You lost me. Who're we talking about?"

There's a beat of silence, and Auggie senses incredulity radiating from Jai.

Then…"You cannot be serious. I mean I know you're blind, but come on! You seriously don't have a clue what I'm talking about?"

He shakes his head, even though he's beginning to suspect what Jai's hinting at, and even as his heart does a little happy leap in his chest, his head is already dismissing the possibility, trying to protect him from heartache.

Jai snorts. "I don't believe you. Well, if you're actually that stupid, I'm not going to enlighten you. Enjoy your coffee."

He strides quickly out the door, leaving Auggie even more confused. Coffee?

Thirty seconds later, he hears the distinctive click of Annie's heels, and Jo Malone's Grapefruit drifts into his personal space. "Hey Auggie! Coffee at your…ten o' clock."

He puts out his hand automatically to find a piping-hot cup of coffee, black and strong and sweet, exactly the way he likes it. After taking a sip, he finds himself smiling almost automatically up at Annie, and from the sound of her voice when she says "What?" he can tell that she's smiling too. He still doesn't know what Jai was on about. At least, that's what he tells himself. Too bad he's not fooling anyone.

x-x

After that, it's as though everyone receives some sort of memo that's he's not privy to. Stu tells him what Annie's wearing every morning, and though he protests (vehemently) and claims not to know why on earth Stu would think he wants to know, he soaks up every detail and uses it to add to his mental gallery marked 'Annie'.

He eavesdrops on the baristas at Starbucks out of sheer boredom while standing in line – he does get his own coffee sometimes – only to realize with a shock that he's on the conversation menu. He can't believe his ears as he hears one girl giggle to the other that "…the hot blind guy from the third floor is finally getting it on with his best friend! You know, the smoking blonde?" And while it does boost his ego to be referred to as hot (even if the blind puts a bit of a downer on that), he can't figure out why they think he and Annie would be together. They haven't been acting any different from usual, and they barely ever come to down for coffee together anyway, so he's not sure how the baristas would even gauge that.

Of course, it's Joan that really opens his eyes (metaphorically speaking, of course). Ever direct, she makes him choke on his coffee at the end of a briefing by casually tagging on "So, what's going on between you and Annie?"

He sputters into his coffee cup for a minute. "Nothing! Why do people keep asking that?"

Her glare is so penetrating he can feel it burning holes in his face. "I'm serious Auggie. If something is going on, I need to know about it. Changes in personal relationships can affect the way people work as a team, and as head of this department, I can't afford that happening out of the blue."

He's fairly sure his jaw is somewhere around his shoes. "Joan, while I appreciate the concern, there's nothing going on between Annie and me. I swear."

"Okaaay…" He can feel the air of incredulity around her, similar to Jai standing in his office a month ago. "In that case, what the hell's wrong with you?"

If he had been drinking his coffee again, it would definitely have been the death of him. As it is, he's fairly sure his jaw has departed for Antarctica, never to be seen again. "Ex…excuse me?"

Her voice softens. "Auggie, I've never seen a handler and an agent as close as you and Annie. At least, not since Arthur and me. I know you can't see how she looks at you, but take it from someone who can: it's not all that platonic."

He can hear her walking away, heels clicking towards the door of Tech Ops. "Oh, and don't forget," she continues, her voice slightly farther away, "I can see your face as well." The door swishes once, twice, and he's alone with his own thoughts.

He remembers back to what he not-so-fondly refers to as 'blind guy training', when he spent countless hours with various instructors teaching him how to function as independently as possible with his new disability. The hardest lesson he's had to learn from any of them is that sometimes, independence just isn't possible. Sometimes, you have to rely on other people.

The door to Tech Ops swishes again, and his head turns toward the sound, an automatic reflex that he's never been able to rid himself of. Annie's heels click towards him and he inhales deeply as she comes close, filling his nostrils with the grapefruit scent that follows her around. He's come to associate the scent with warmth, laughter, love…Annie.

Some of his revelation must show on his face, because her footsteps slow as she grows near, becoming uncertain. "Auggie, are you okay?"

He can't help the brilliant smile that feels like it's cracking his face in two. "I'm great! Everything's great."

x-x

Auggie is blind, and that means that sometimes he has to rely on other people to be his eyes. His ears work just fine though, so when Annie breaks their kiss and whispers "I love you," he can see their future laid out before him, as clearly as if he had seen it with other people's eyes.

-Fin-

A/N: Reviews feed the author's soul, so if you have time to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you! CSI.