This was the first Covert Affairs one shot that I ever wrote.
It took me a while to post on because I misplaced it.
It's a song fic with, Is anybody out there?
This is my take on Auggie, how he lost his sight and the events following that incident.
Any and all statistics in the story came from my mind.
I have no idea if those are the real ones or not.
I do not own Covert Affairs, USA network, the lyrics to Is anybody out there? or any characters contained within the show.
This fic started as an IPod shuffle challenge. But it expanded from there and became a full fledged story.
Contains Spoilers for the Goliath Mission episode.
I've got no idea what it's called at the moment.
() = flashback
After the successful abortion of the Goliath mission, confession of Senator Jarvis and thwarted attempt on Ashley Brigg's life; Auggie felt that he had earned a nap. He stretched his sore body gingerly, muscles protesting loudly in response to his latest abuse. He didn't normally use his laser cane in the office but with all of the extra hard drives around, he decided that he didn't need the paper work that came with breaking one.
As his achingly clever fingers found it, they slid over his keyboard and gentle music swam out of his headphones. It was a hauntingly beautiful melody that clawed at his heart. It reminded him of the two years it had taken him to adjust and make the best of his new life. The song catalogued his journey almost perfectly.
When the thunder came
Without flag and flames
Everybody changed their color
He had gone from being a decorated Special Ops in Iraq, to a blind civilian in Georgetown. When he woke up and couldn't see his Commanding Officer he was told, "Bad things happen to good people Captain. I hope civilian life treats you well." The man was gone just as quickly. Auggie lay there afterwards, caught up in the memory of his accident.
(He had walked ten careful steps from the Humvee to investigate a dead German Sheppard. He saw a knife in its side and sighed. Auggie had always had a soft spot for dogs. He knelt down to pull the blade out and the dog exploded. He flew backwards into the Humvee and blacked out. The final thing he saw before the blindness was the reddish cloud of dust that followed the blast.) His C.O. never visited him again.
When the night became
So dark with pain
Everyone became their brother.
The nurses doted on him. His physical therapist pushed him. His doctors were always reminding him of how far he had come and how far he could go. He was always told that he was doing great, but that he could still do more. Auggie knew why they did it. It wasn't pity, it was prevention.
He knew that half the soldiers with severe medical injuries committed suicide within the first year and 75 percent of those that committed suicide did it within the first three months. He was fluent in Braille at 2 months and had taken to roaming to rehab facility in his free time to test his knowledge. By month 8 he was back in prime fighting condition, and past the danger zone.
It all happened because the staff refused to let him give up. They pushed him and applauded when he pushed right back. Two months before he was slated to leave the facility, they showed up. His former team had finally come to visit him.
I came across the universe
And I don't know why
I came across the universe
To hear a soldier cry
Is anybody out there?
Is anybody listening to my prayer?
Is anybody out there?
If you can hear me please take me out of here
Auggie was lying on the floor when he heard them troop in. Their heavy footfalls shook the cold tile that he was resting on. He was taking a break from his physical therapy assignment which was to get into his bed without assistance. He could do that easily and had accomplished it everyday without fail for several months. Today, however he had to lower the bed rail first. That was a hard task for someone with working eyes and for a blind person it was a very challenging task.
"Auggie?" Cameron questioned, bending close to see if he was conscious. "I'm fine. I didn't fall. I was working on something and decided to take a break." Auggie answered evenly, as he raised himself up from the floor. "Why not use the bed then?" Cameron asked, gripping his shoulders. His orangey breath was close to Auggie's face.
Auggie knew that Cameron was searching for something in his sightless eyes. Auggie also knew that he wouldn't find it. Auggie was no longer in despair due to his blindness. He was no longer angry at anyone. He had finished grieving the day that Joan Campbell offered him a job at the CIA. His unit came to give him strength that he no longer needed and pity that he had never wanted.
And the morning light makes you wonder why
You were ever born to see it
When your body's cold, it's not the story told
To the brave young souls who believe it
They came back to visit Auggie everyday for a month, slowly coming to understand that he was not an invalid. He was handicapped, but he could still disarm someone, and build a computer from scrap parts by touch. Now that Auggie was blind, he could even identify people by smells and sounds.
The entire process had been agonizing for them all; but his team finally realized that even though he wasn't the soldier he had been. He was still the same Auggie they had been friends with. When Auggie first told them about his new position in the DPD he could tell that they were nervous. But three years later when he was lent to SAD they knew that he was as worried about the team as he had always been. They also knew that he wouldn't let them down. Eyes or no eyes, he was still Auggie Anderson and therefore the best person for the job.
They came across the battlefield
And they don't know why
They came across the universe
To hear a soldier cry
Is anybody out there?
Is anybody listening to my prayer?
Auggie knew that they would have to replace him sometime. He even liked the new guy a little bit. Even though it was years later the separation from his team ate at Auggie. But then he remembered all of the things that his job entailed in the DPD, and it didn't bother him that much anymore.
He thought about Annie with her kitten heels and grape fruit perfume. Auggie realized that if he had never lost his sight that he wouldn't have met her in the first place. Jay moved in and then Conrad followed and he wondered if he could ever measure up to them when he couldn't even see her face.
Is anybody out there?
If you can hear me please take me out of here.
Is anybody listening?
Is anybody out there?
Auggie's first day at the DPD was horrible, up until the moment he was introduced to his laser cane. He remembered how amazed he was that such a tool existed. Then I met the Braille keyboard and my new workspace. As I was getting used to the controls, snippets of conversation flitted through the open door. "Did you see the new guy", "but isn't he blind...", "Why would Joan hire him?" Auggie sighed in frustration and reached for his headphones when a male voice entered his ear.
"Don't listen to those bitches." It quipped. "Yeah. We're the ones who do the real work." Another replied agreeably as the door slid shut. But Auggie was beginning to doubt himself, his heart ached. But his new team mates refused to let him dwell on the comments of the other agents. "I'm Jack and the guy who just placed the coffee cup at your 2 o'clock is Jill…I'm sorry, I mean Michael." Auggie smiled, in spite of the things he had been listening to all day and knew that he was going to love this job.
We're not his friends
Though he fears the end
And he'll die for them if he had to
Auggie wished that he had been there when Cameron's voice rang through the speakers. Then later, when he had found out that the Op had been sabotaged, he understood why he wasn't. His order to drop the drone had saved all of their lives. He smiled when he thought about the fact that he'd saved more lives after he lost his sight than before. So he felt that it was an even trade most days. He didn't normally believe in God but right then he knew that he had lost his sight for a reason.
Rise again, fall again
In the end I will come to the rescue
Oh, is anybody out there?
Is anybody listening to my prayers?
Is anybody out there?
Auggie stopped the song before it ended, and hummed the rest of it while he pulled out his cot. He slept easy for the first night in a while because all was right in the world. And even though he didn't know if it was god or karma, for all he knew it might have been leprechauns; but he did know that someone had been looking out for him that day; and that was all that mattered.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Please read and review.