AN : I do not own any of the characters

Chapter 1

You could feel the bitterness in the air. That icy feeling in your toes that makes you want to stay curled up in bed. The figure on the bed groaned as he heard his alarm go off, hating the fact that he now had to leave his warm cocoon. Yet he knew he must. There was work to be done after all.

Life had been interesting the last few days for him, ever since he had spent the night out with his "friend". What a wonderful night – plenty of fireworks. After realising the time the figure jumped to their feet, swearing in annoyance. He was late. Never, in all of his career, had he ever been late. It was worth it he felt.

After being stuck for a terrifying amount of time in traffic he was finally able to make it into HQ. Langley. A place where secrets were kept and liars were born. As he made his way through the crowded halls he wondered what on earth was going on – it was never this busy.

People were pushing and pulling. Trying desperately to get quickly to where they needed to go. Not for the first time did he wonder what the possible commotion could be about. There must have been some large international event to cause this much panic between everyone. He was starting to get worried, all around him all he could hear were the higher ups frantically shouting orders and their underlings trying in vain to keep up with the demands. Everyone seemed to be extremely frazzled and on edge, yet he still could not gather enough evidence to figure out what was going on.

He could feel people giving him slight looks out of the the corner of their eyes – feel their pity. However, he was in the dark with no knowledge to try and garner the truth from. He heard the light footsteps of stilettos heading towards him, immediately knowing it was not her that he had been hoping and wishing to meet. What puzzled him though was their gait. It was not the usual assured and authoritative stride he had come to know from her. Rather her footsteps were quiet, timid and gentle, almost as if she were afraid. Of what? Of him? Of his reaction? He grew even more confused.

He could feel her gathering her breath, preparing herself to speak … but the ringing of his phone cut her off. Yanking his hand into the bag he always carried, he fished around in it for his phone. Not paying attention to who was calling him, he flipped opened his phone, ready to tell whoever was calling him that he would get back to him later. What he heard next chilled him to the core.

"AUGGIE!" came the petrified voice of his Annie through the speaker.