Author's Note: I am not a medical professional or a spy; this is all fiction and based on no actual medical information.
Considering the fact that it is always dark when Auggie wakes up, he can generally orient himself pretty quickly. As he surfaced from sleep this time he realized simultaneously that Annie was not in bed with him anymore and that she was getting sick in his bathroom. He checked the time real quick, 3:12 a.m.
"Annie? You OK?" he asked as he made his way across the room grabbing his boxers as he went.
"Auggie?" she was standing at the sink now, her voice very weak.
"Hey, you OK?" he asked and as soon as he touched her he knew she wasn't. Her skin was hot to the touch and damp with sweat.
"Something is not right," she shook her head as her knees gave out.
"Annie? Stay awake Annie," he couldn't see her eyes but he knows he is supporting just about all her weight.
"Walker," he tapped her gently on the cheek, "wake up, that's an order!"
"Oooh pulling rank Captain Anderson," she slurred.
Auggie's mind went in to overdrive. Annie had been in Africa for the past 8 days, this could be anything from the flu to some tropical fever to a bioweapon she encountered on her mission. It certainly wasn't a stomach bug.
He grabbed his phone calling the CIA directly, damned the hour, and getting transport to a secure medical facility. He then tried to dress a nearly unconscious Annie. It was hard enough dressing himself blind, she may never forgive him for the fashion disaster she may end up at his hands.
He was trying to wriggle on a pair of jeans he found in the drawer she used at his place, he could tell by touch they were jeans and figured that was safe.
"You usually take them off…" she mumbled. At least she understood who he was and their surroundings.
"Not tonight, babe, got to get you dressed, transport is on the way."
The tee shirt she had on was soaked with sweat, so he peeled it off and ran a cool wash cloth over her.
"That feels so good," she purred.
He smiled at the ability to give her some comfort.
He grabbed an old soft Army sweatshirt that he was certain was big enough and dark enough to not require a bra underneath and slipped a pair of flip flops on her feet. Luckily his apartment was warm and she used them as slippers around his place.
His phone vibrated indicating the arrival of their ride. He grabbed his clothes from the floor where he and Annie shed them earlier that night. Earlier that night when she was perfectly fine. He knows she was fine because he kissed and caressed every single inch of her body for over an hour before they fell asleep.
Auggie threw Annie over his shoulder like a fireman. It wasn't the most gallant way to carry her, but she couldn't walk and he needed his hands to use his cane. An agent met them on the sidewalk and got Annie into the back of the van, where a medical team immediately started taking her vitals.
Auggie tried to jump in the back seat and nearly landed on….
"Joan?"
"They called me as soon as you called them," she explained.
"Of course," Auggie knew the protocol but it was 3:30 in the morning and he was a little preoccupied.
"Sir we need you in the back as well," Auggie couldn't see the technicians, but he could tell they were talking through masks.
"OK," he let them lead him to the back and climbed in as the van took off.
Vitals were taken and Annie's did not sound good. Aside from elevated heart rate and blood pressure though, Auggie seemed fine. The ride was both incredibly fast and the slowest trip of Auggie's life.
Once at the hospital they were brought to separate glass rooms, if Auggie could see he would be able to see them working on her, but he was truly at a loss as he could barely hear beyond his own room.
A doctor employed an intercom into Auggie's room and began asking questions.
"Mr. Anderson, do you know when the onset of the patient's symptoms began?"
"She was fine at midnight. I woke up to her vomiting at 3:12," he recited clinically.
"No sign of illness prior to that?"
"No sir, she was perfectly fine all evening."
"OK, I have her travel itinerary from Ms. Campbell so I can cross-reference known issues in her locations," the doctor was turning pages, Auggie could hear that.
"I also have a team at Langley working on potential biohazards Auggie, if this is not a known CDC issue, we have a team working," Joan's voice was calm and soft.
"Mr. Anderson, since we have no idea what we are dealing with we have to assume it is contagious. You were obviously in the same apartment, how close was your contact this evening?"
Auggie hated telling Joan like this.
"Intimate," he kept it simple but clear.
"Did she share any information with you that could help? Did she mention a contact being ill or a struggle where she could have been injected with anything?"
"No, she said everything had gone as planned. Without going into too fine a detail I did touch a good deal of her skin last night and while I cannot see it I would have felt anything that seemed like a needle puncture or a bug bite or anything like that," Auggie squirmed a little with embarrassment.
"OK, we know so little here, no idea of when she was exposed vs onset of symptoms, so we have to keep you isolated while we work and monitor you for any changes."
"Of course," Auggie ran a hand over his face and could not believe how this night had changed.
It had to be hours later and Auggie had been poked and prodded more than he ever wanted to be again. No one would tell him how Annie was and he was going nuts in the little room.
"Auggie," Joan's voice filtered through the intercom.
"Joan, please tell me what is going on?"
"Annie is stable, her fever is hovering around 102 and her other vitals are no worse. She is not responding though and the doctors are a little concerned about that."
"Oh god," was all he could say and he sank down on the end of the bed.
"You did everything right. You were so quick to respond and followed protocol perfectly and got yourselves dressed and downstairs in less than 20 minutes according to your time frame. It is really amazing."
"Joan, we had every intention of filling out our paperwork. Annie just got back last night, we even talked about it. I am sorry you found out this way."
"It's OK Auggie. It didn't come as a major shock or anything. I am glad you were there, if she had been home alone who knows what could have happened," Joan shuddered.
Auggie hadn't even thought of that.
"Oh god," he said again.
"You should rest, you only got a couple hours and if this is a flu or something you want to be able to fight it off."
"I want to know how she is and if anything changes…."
"I will wake you up, but if you don't rest I will make them sedate you and I know how much you hate that," Joan grimaced remembering Auggie right after he came back from Iraq.
"Thanks Joan," he smiled gently and lay back against the pillows on the bed.
With no idea how long he was asleep Auggie came to instantly aware of everything that had happened.
"Hello? Anyone out there?"
"Yes Mr. Anderson, is there anything we can get for you?"
"How is Miss Walker?"
"I will get Ms. Campbell for you," the young nurse offered.
Next thing Auggie new the door was opening to the room.
"You're clear Auggie," Joan announced as she approached him and handed him a cup of coffee and placed a bag by the side of the bed.
"Barber got you some things from home."
"How's Annie?"
"Better, her fever is down. The doctor's isolated the cause to a toxin, probably ingested."
"She was poisoned in Africa?"
"Apparently not very well though. The toxin is designed to wreak havoc, but not kill. We think someone was trying to make Annie too sick to make her contact. The fact that she held off the effects until last night is somewhat remarkable, although the doctor thinks the toxin was poorly engineered to begin with."
"Is she awake?"
"Yes, and she wouldn't let us wake you since she was fine."
"She'll be sick and weak for a couple days, but once her fluid levels are back up she can go home. Wherever that is these days," Joan smirked as she led Auggie over to Annie's cubicle.
"Look who decided to make an appearance," Annie grinned weakly.
"I have to head back to Langley, take care of each other," Joan smiled and started out the door.
She turned back just in time to see Auggie find Annie's lips with practiced ease.
"You scared the life out of me Walker," he chuckled.
"Leave it to me to get poisoned by amateurs. Thank you," she stroked his cheek.
"Joan told me you carried me out of the building, I am mortified by that by the way."
"You could barely stand let alone walk and I have carried you before," Auggie smirked.
"You can carry me to bed any time you want, but carrying me unconscious to an agency vehicle is mortifying."
"So Joan knows," Auggie sat in the chair by the bed.
"She told me, said you were fourteen shades of embarrassed to answer the level of contact question," Annie laughed as she threaded her fingers through Auggie's.
"Last night's level of contact was pretty high, so I am really glad your amateur poisoners didn't give you anything contagious," he leaned over and kissed her again.
"I don't remember any of it, the last thing I remember is falling asleep in your arms," Annie admitted.
"Good, it wasn't pretty. Wonder if I can pay Barber to clean the apartment before we get home…you know, since it isn't contagious and all," he shrugged.
"You are so mean to him and he is always so nice to you."
"He's the younger brother I always wanted."
"You are the man I have always wanted. Now see if you can spring me from this place," she smiled and closed her eyes.
The End….maybe….