a/n: Don't freak out when you read this oneshot. Yes, this is an AnniexAuggie story. Trust me! Also, this story is a mind twister...you might not get it the first time through..so make sure to read slowly and perhaps read it a second time just to be clear. It's like a mystery movie..sometimes, you gotta watch it a second time to figure it all out. Hope that helps! So please please enjoy this story and please please please stop by and write a review on your way out. Thanks! You are all so fantastic!
Note: I edited this story because a lot of people didn't get it. I added some italics to help. If you are still confused, feel free to PM me for more details. Thanks!
Disclaimer: I don't own Covert Affairs. Obviously.
Everywhere in the Rain
She felt his strong arms wrap around her waist and she laid her head back against his chest, breathing in his sent.
"What do you think, Annie? Party sound fun?"
His near-overwhelming smell lingered for a moment, and then it was gone.
She glanced back from the rain-pelted window to the dark-haired man sitting on the couch in her living room.
"Sure, Ben," she settled back into her chair by the window and tried to focus on their conversation, "It should be fun."
Her attention wasn't on Ben; it was on the rain outside.
She felt his nimble fingers run through her hair, and then heard his light laughter in her ears.
Annie stared out the window with purpose. She'd see him any second, any second running. She was so sure of it.
"When are you due back at the DPD?" Ben's eyes drifted around the small living room before they returned to watching the quiet television. The news, as always. Ben, to her, always seemed like a man of habits.
Not like him.
"I have a couple days off before I have to get back," Annie murmured.
She reached up and lightly touched her hair where she remembers feeling his touch, but there was no longer the sensation, just the ghost of a memory. Memory of touch. Out of the corner of her eye, white light flickered, her senses screamed in joy, but it was only lightning.
He whispered her name and kissed her temple.
Her head snapped away from the window, but he wasn't there. It was still Ben.
Ben looked over from the television.
"Something wrong, Annie?"
Yes. Very wrong.
"No, just thought I heard someone say my name. I guess it was just the television."
She could smell him again. His soap and cologne and detergent and shampoo.
She tried to hold the sent in her lungs, memorize it, persevere it in her memory. But it slipped away, gone again. Gone.
Suddenly, she couldn't take it anymore.
"I have to go now."
She startled her Ben with that abrupt statement, quickly standing up and running from her apartment. She practically sprinted down the hall and flew down the stairs where, without her coat or shoes, she realized, she burst through the front door and into the pelting rain.
The pain returned; she could feel it in her legs, in her sides, in her heart. Her head pounded. She could feel it pierce her flesh with every raindrop and the memories replayed.
Auggie was going to leave her. After everything, he was going to leave.
He was everywhere in this rain. Everywhere. She could smell him again, mixed in with the smell of the rain. Feel him. Feel him on her skin, hair matted to her face, tears pouring down her cheeks. Hear him, too. Hear him screaming her name. Pleading, begging her to come back and listen, begging her to stop.
Stop what, she wondered. Listen to what?
Her blue tank top stuck to her body, hugging her every curve, soaked to the bone, as were her dark jeans. She closed her eyes, throwing her hands over them as she screamed, throwing her head back. She couldn't stand it. She pulled at her hair, clawed at her skin. She pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes. The feeling wouldn't stop. The voice, his voice, wouldn't stop.
He laughed in her ear and she could feel his breath on her cheek.
The rain wouldn't wash it away. Nothing would wash it away. The memories replayed but she couldnt understand them. Her body ached; she shook in the cold.
"Please," she begged the dark silently. She fell to her knees of the muddy, wet earth. She couldn't get back up. She wrapped her arms around herself, shutting her eyes to the dark night. So much, so much she missed. If she could go back. If she could… but ... she couldn't. The thunder crackled and she screamed again.
"Annie? Annie!" He was running to her. It was Ben. She closed her eyes. Not his smell, it was Ben.
He left.
Ben lifted her up and helped her stand on her shaking bare feet.
"What the hell are you doing?"
She pushed him away, and then quickly fell back down to the earth, and then it was black. No sound. No sight. No smell. Just the rain. Just the cold.
"Wake up, damnit," That was his voice. His demand. She knew the sound anywhere. It was him. It was Auggie.
No more rain, no more cold. Noise filled her senses.
"Wake up, Annie!" The command was louder; her body found itself and responded. Her legs jerked as if she had fallen. She was wet. Her chest felt heavy. Her heart felt shattered.
"You're okay," Strong arms pulled her close, whispering soft words of comfort, "You're okay. Don't worry. You're okay. Everything is going to be okay."
Someone else was wet, someone else was cold. His smell, his arms. She was so tired. She felt as if the ground was holding her. She opened her eyes.
His face.
She coughed and he smiled at a place an inch or so off her left ear. The emotions swirling in his slightless eyes nearly made her cry. They were the portal to his heart, after all.
"You're not real. You can't be real."
She had this nightmare before. This beautiful taunting.
Besides, didn't he leave?
"I'm very real," he laughed.
His laughter.
"Where are we?"
Her eyes closed, oh how she longed for sleep. He pulled her into his lap, she felt something warm and dry wrapped around them.
"In the middle of the street. Do you realize the scare you gave me? Running like that?"
She wasn't running. She was running away. She was trying to protect herself.
He shouted after her, real.
Memories came flooding back to her. Instantly, she remembered everything. The job offer from Europe, real. Joan said he would be gone for years at a time. He called, he told her about it. He came to see her but she ran. Yes, she remembered. She needed to clear her head, that's all. She couldn't survive that long without him anyway.
Crossing the street...She never made it. She never saw any cars.
"Annie that car hit you. You passed out."
He brushed her matted blonde hair from her face.
That wasn't real. Ben wasn't here. It was a hallucionation. He wasn't real. None of that was real.
"The driver said he couldn't see you in the rain."
The rain. So cold.
He held her close as the noise started to filter. People talking, a lot of people talking. Maybe ten or eleven. Danielle and Michael's voices in the background among them. Danielle was the closest. She was screaming for answers at every available person. A siren. Two sirens. Ambulances. Maybe a police car. A few blocks away, a dog was barking. Had the rain stopped? Yes, but the thunder continued.
He even smelled good in the rain. He was solid against her skin, real. Not a memory. Not what lingered. Real. Auggie was here. He was real and he was here. He was everywhere. Like the rain, like the—
She never heard the scene unfold around her. She never saw that car. She never knew what he was screaming at her. She couldn't remember why she was running; and when she woke up later, in his arms, in that hospital bed, she cried.
She couldn't remember the pain. The physical as well as the emotional. Part of her was glad.
"I turned down the job, Annie," His voice seeped into her bones from his perch next to her hospital bed, "That was what I was trying to tell you before. Besides, I could never leave you for that long."
She breathed him in; she didn't let it linger. She drew another breath.
He was real. He was here. He was here to stay.
a/n: A different vibe than my other fluffy oneshots. But I do really love angsty fluff! I hope you all enjoyed reading this oneshot as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please please pop down and write a quick review about what you thought about this oneshot. It would mean so very much to me. Thanks, everyone! Until next time!