Notes: The song that the title comes from and that is playing in the background is Lady Antebellum's Need You Now. I'm not a big country fan, but my mom loves this song and had me listen to it and this little scene popped into my mind, and while I don't think Auggie would download the song himself, apparently sixty-some-odd dollars worth of iTunes music was downloaded somewhere over in Iraq from a couple of old Army buddies =P Just fluff. Gotta love the fluff. Please read and review, thanks

Need You Now

It had been late when Auggie had caught a cab home, deciding that he was quickly hitting his limit on number of conscious hours without someone's life being at stake. Annie, Jai, Stu, and a few others from the DPD were still at Allen's Tavern, celebrating a case that had gone exceptionally well. Even Joan had dropped by, briefly, to offer another congratulations to the gang. Beer and liquor had been passed around and in hopes of the late Friday night to lead into a Saturday that would allow them to sleep off their hangovers, they had celebrated.

It had been late when he left, and that was why Auggie Anderson was surprised when his cell phone rang. The sound caused him to jerk up out of bed, eyes searching the darkness until he remembered that there was no reprieve from it. Finally he fumbled for the offending machine and flipped it open.

"Auggie!" Annie Walker's voice flowed through the earpiece. "You still awake?"

"I wasn't, no," he yawned. "What's up? You guys sound like you're still having a blast."

"No, I left," she answered, voice somewhat slurred.

"Please tell me you didn't drive," Auggie murmured, massaging the bridge of his nose as he spoke.

"No. Jai offered me a ride."

A loud knock came at the front door and Auggie startled. His bedside alarm read out Two A.M. as his fingers slid over the buttons and he sighed heavily. Who the hell would be knocking on his door at two in the morning? "Did he?" he asked distantly, making his way through the hall.

"To his place."

This caught Auggie's attention and he felt his heart stop as he gripped the phone tighter. Annie and Jai had been playing that game for a while now, but he'd about convinced himself nothing would come of it. Annie was too smart for Jai's shallow charm and Jai didn't have the patience it would take to win someone like Annie. He didn't deserve her. "What did you tell him?" he asked at last, forcing his voice to even out.

"Open the door."

"What?"

"Open the door."

Auggie sighed and did as she asked. Joe Malone Grapefruit wafted into his living room, mixed to the point of almost being subdued by whisky and coke on her breath. She'd had several more rounds after he had left. "I told him that I didn't want to go to his place," she murmured, stumbling into his apartment. "I told him that I wanted to go to yours."

"Annie?"

"Hmm?" He could tell she was leaning against the wall from where her voice was coming from and he frowned. He reached over and pulled the door closed, locking it.

"Did Jai drop you off here?"

"No, he said he wouldn't bring me here. He said you'd be sleeping or…" She sniffed loudly. "He said you might have someone over. You don't, do you, Auggie?" Her light brown eyes moved from his face, where she'd managed to have them trained since she entered, down to his bare chest and sleeping pants. His hair was a mess, but he looked as if he'd been sleeping.

"No, Annie. I'm alone," he promised softly. "How'd you get here?"

"Cab," she said offhandedly. "Jai called a cab for me."

Auggie nodded in the darkness and sighed after a moment. He had always been good at thinking on his feet. Give him a problem and he'd work through it, one way or another. It'd kept him and other countless agents that he'd worked with after his accident alive for years. He was the best.

But here stood Annie Walker. In his living room at two in the morning and drunk beyond belief. She probably wouldn't even remember this in the morning and he was drawing a blank on just how to handle the situation. It would have been so much easier if he didn't respect her quite as much as he did.

She was moving again, he realized, as those tall heels of hers tapped his wooden floor. Tap tap tap all the way to his laptop. That was the last thin he needed. It wasn't nearly as high-tech (expensive) as the one he used at work, but Braille computers did not come cheap and she was awful drunk. "Annie?"

"Have you ever heard that song?" she asked from what sounded like his couch. His laptop was set up on the coffee table, wasn't it? Damn.

"What song?" he asked tentatively, inching his way toward her.

"What's your password, Aug?"

"And what do you need my password for?" he asked gently, taking a seat next to her.

"ITunes," she murmured, leaning up next to him.

Auggie's breath caught and he laced one arm around her, supporting her, as he reached for a pair of headsets that sat next to the laptop. "Switch on," he murmured into the microphone and the laptop read back that it recognized his voice command. He sat in silence as Annie leaned forward.

"I promise I won't mess anything up," she murmured as he heard her fingers moving swiftly across the keys. "Here it is."

"Here what is?" he laughed and felt her fall back against the cushions. Music that he only vaguely recognized came from his speakers and he pulled the headset so that it would play strictly through the main line. Slowly, he recognized it as one of the songs that his army buddies had downloaded on his account. He listened quietly and a smile tugged at his lips as he heard Annie's off key, drunken voice next to him.

"And I wonder if I ever cross your mind? For me it happens all the time. It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now. Said I wouldn't call, but I lost all control and I need you now. "

Auggie laughed quietly to himself and pulled her close to him. She snuggled closer to him, the words still falling from her lips as her hair tickled his nose. They faded out into mumbles and finally into simple breathing that ended in a content sigh.

He'd meant to get up and let her sleep. He really had. Perhaps even take her to his room and let her sleep in his bed with him taking the couch if she'd allow it, but they just never got that far. The song looped again and again, sending him into a peaceful sleep filled with the scents of grapefruit and whisky mixed all together. Even if she wouldn't remember anything in the morning he could hold onto that very moment in his memory and savor it.