This chapter is just a general introduction to the story that will follow. Please don't give up on it until you have read a couple of chapters because I promise that it gets less depressing It should become less confusing by the end of this chapter, if not, then definitely the next. There will be tears, joy, despair, and times where you will want to kill me but bear with me because it will be great. I think.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Season 2 would have started already!

'Annie, come on. You can't just sit here and waste away. You were doing so well!'

Annie stays listlessly where she is, her toes curled up beneath her. Her hair could do with a wash but she can't be bothered so it's just scraped back into a severe bun at the nape of her neck. She's wearing a simple black suit with black pumps and a grey blouse. Her face is devoid of make-up, but puffy and tear stained.

'Auggie wouldn't want this Annie' Danielle whispers softly

Ding Dong

Danielle sighs and goes to answer the door. A tall blonde woman with a commanding presence is standing there. Judging by her black outfit, Danielle assumes that she must be there for the memorial service, but she has no idea who the stranger is.

'Hello Mrs Brookes. Is Annie here?'

'Umm yeah she is. She's through here' and she leads the stranger through to the living room where Annie is sitting, a victim to her own thoughts.

She's become used to random strangers turning up at the house, asking for her sister; after all, it's been her job to screen out the nut jobs. And she could hardly say she wasn't expecting one today.

Joan Campbell sits down in front of one of her youngest employees. She doesn't even bother with small talk. She knows there's no point and there is nothing she can say that Annie hasn't heard already.

'Annie, it's been over two years now. We can't... it needs to be done. We've had no proof of life. No ransom demands. Nothing. He's gone. It's time Annie'.

Annie doesn't react and Joan looks at Danielle questioningly who shrugs. Annie has been catatonic for four days, ever since she had to have her husband declared officially dead.

Joan reaches out and puts her hands underneath Annie's elbows, effectively levering her off the sofa and into a standing position.

'I'm too young to be a widow Joan' she whispers, her voice catching in her throat.

'I know than Annie, and I'm so sorry.'

She just nods. She's heard it all before.

Joan steers Annie out to the car. Not the usual chauffer driven one that collects her and brings her to the CIA, but regular silver one, of which, she gets into the driver's seat.

The drive to the small chapel is silent. There won't be that many people there. Annie, Joan and Arthur, Danielle and Michael, Jai, Stu, Mr and Mrs Anderson and Auggie's four brothers and their spouses. Despite officially being an Anderson for more than six years, Annie has only met her in-laws a couple of times. Once before the wedding, then again at the wedding and then the Christmas after that. She doubts she will ever see them again now.

Sitting in the front row, with Joan beside her to prop her up, Annie somehow manages to make it through the simple service and the stream of well wishers who come to offer their condolences after wards.

It is Danielle who manages to rescue her before she breaks down again and takes her home.

They had lived in happily married bliss for six years 9 months, two weeks and 4 days. Then he didn't come home one night. A full scale alert went out, looking for him but he had disappeared without a trace. At first, Annie had thrown herself into looking for him, but now, he was officially dead.

The car stopped and Annie got out and made her way towards the guest house where she promptly curled up into a ball and began to cry. Again.

Now he was dead, she had nothing more to worry about, well, except...

The door to the guest house opened and a little voice said

'Why are you crying again Mummy? Are you sad about Daddy again?'

Annie didn't trust her voice, but she held out her arms, allowing five year old Jessica to tumble into them. For her sake, Annie tried to make life as normal as possible for her little girl, and never to cry in front of her, but she knew Jessica had seen her cry.

Jessica didn't really remember her father, being only three when he disappeared, but she had seen the framed photo that sat on Annie's bedside table. But when she asked questions, it was Danielle she went to. Even at five, Jessica could see the pain in her mother's prematurely aged face when she asked questions about her daddy.

Jessica contentedly settled into her mother's arms, sucking her thumb noisily. As the sucking slowed and the breathing deepened, Annie's thoughts once again turned to Auggie, and she twisted her wedding ring on her finger absentmindedly, as she always did when she was upset or stressed.

At first she had been optimistic. For the first couple of hours, she just hoped that he had managed to get himself lost on the way home from the supermarket that was just a couple of streets away. It had happened once before when he wasn't paying attention. Thinking of that day brought a rare smile to Annie's face.

Annie's phone began to ring.

'Walker'

'Annie it's me.'

'Did you forget the list again?', her tone was teasing and playful, which made Auggie smile on the other end of the line

'Umm no. But I seem to have got a little lost on the way home. I wasn't paying enough attention and now...'. His voice had trailed away to embarrassed nothingness.

Sensing her husband's unease, Annie quickly reassured him that she would come and find him. She had gone on foot, and it had taken nearly 40 minutes to locate him, sitting calmly on a bench with Mingus blasting out of his head phones.

He had noticed her presence almost instantly and tugged the headphones off, smiling at her sheepishly.

'Lets go home Auggie' and she brushed the back of her hand against his so he could take her arm and they walked comfortably together.'

Annie smiled at the memory. She had walked with him to the supermarket and back three times the next day, counting steps and noting immovable landmarks so it wouldn't happen again. It hadn't.

When morning had dawned and there was still no Auggie, she had started to panic. The city was not a blind man's friend. By this stage Joan and the police had been swarming around hers and Auggie's apartment for hours. When hours began to stretch into days and days into weeks, the flickering candle of hope had begun to extinguish itself.

Every time she was called to the morgue to identify a body, everyone waited with baited breath both willing it not to be him, but also hoping that they would have a body to bury. When a year was up, even Annie had lost all hope. But it was not until he had been gone for two years and four months that she had him registered as officially dead. Which brought her back to the present.

During the whole ordeal, she had not seen or heard from Auggie's parents apart from a brief phone call, two days after he went missing and another just a few days previously to inform them about the memorial service.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, Annie couldn't bring herself to truly hate Mr and Mrs Anderson, for their apparent indifference. In their lives, their son had died the day the IED had exploded in Iraq. He hadn't allowed them to visit in the hospital or rehab, and when he had got out, they hadn't known how to act around each other. In all honesty, Auggie had pushed them away, not wanting to be seen at his most vulnerable. When he had got over it, he hadn't known how to get them back into his life.

Everything between the family had just ended up awkward. It was nobody's fault really; she knew firsthand the little things that had to be done to make a blind person's life just a little bit easier. Most people wouldn't even think of them. His parents and brothers would certainly never have learnt the art of doing those things subtly which led to embarrassment, tension and awkwardness all round.

When the lease had run out on the apartment eight months after he had disappeared, she hadn't bothered to renew it, instead choosing to move back into the Brookes guest house with four year old Jessica. By this stage, the little girl had accepted that daddy wouldn't be reading her any more of his special bumpy books; and thought that being so close to her cousins was quite an adventure.

Kataya was now 14 and Chloe 16, so Annie always had a babysitter if she needed one. They had been great when Auggie had first gone missing. They always seemed to know when and how to distract Jessica to give their Aunt and Mother some privacy.

Annie knew though, that Danielle's support was the biggest thing that had got her through. She always seemed to know how to help. When she was at work or away on a mission, Jessica fell to Danielle and she would stay in the 'big house' for as long as was needed.

Her family was what had got her through the darkest moments of her life and now; she was ready to take on the world again. She had promised Joan she would be back at work on Monday as she had not been in Langley since she had had Auggie declared dead.

She counted her lucky stars that she had such an understanding boss who allowed her an hour off to watch a nativity play, and as much time as was needed to grieve, yet also knew when to pile on the work to keep her distracted and knew her limitations better than she did herself.

But even Joan or Danielle of her nieces or her daughter were there when Annie cried herself to sleep at night. The only person who could do that was gone, and he was never coming back.

Please Read and Review. This is my first ever story so criticism, comments and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.