Notes: This follows Escape Clause II: One Year Later and picks up about 3 months into Annie's pregnancy.
"I have to…." Annie partially announced before retching into the toilet while Auggie showered.
"Good morning to you too," Auggie laughed.
"Sorry, couldn't wait," Annie apologized as she tried to control her breathing and settle her stomach.
She flushed the toilet and waited a second to make sure she was really done before brushing her teeth.
"Generally vomit is very impatient," Auggie said wisely as he turned off the water and reached for a towel.
"I thought it was tapering off, I'm almost through with the first trimester," Annie inhaled through her nose and exhaled fully.
"Doctor Fuller said it varied," he pointed out.
"Pregnancy is kind of cruel, I am simultaneously hungry, nauseous and horny almost constantly," she added the last upon seeing her husband naked and damp in the reflection of the mirror.
"I have enjoyed the first and third enormously," he smiled.
"Speaking of the first…."
"Get in the shower, I'll make you something," he sidled up behind her, still naked, and kissed her neck, placing his hands securely on her abdomen.
His tongue snuck out to trace the shell of her ear and Annie's knees went weak, her whole body shuddered with desire.
"Breakfast can wait," she decided as she turned to face Auggie pulling her nightgown off over her head as she did.
"Mmmm minty," he smiled as she kissed him with her freshly brushed teeth.
Annie hopped up on the vanity and pulled him to her, her fingers coaxing his body to match her seemingly constant state of arousal.
"I want you all the time," Annie purred in his ear and was rewarded with the most delicious moan.
"You are so sexy," he ground out as he ran his hands along her sides, teasingly close to her breasts.
Annie leaned back to look at his face, felt the faucet at the base of her spine and the cool of the medicine cabinet mirror on her shoulders.
"Wait, I want to watch," She pushed him back enough so she could hop off the counter and turned her back to him.
His hands found her shoulders and traced her spine before grasping her hips Annie watched in the mirror the combination of focus and desire on Auggie's face, her own want visible in her eyes and the set of her jaw.
"So sexy," he repeated and leaned forward to place a kiss between her shoulder blades.
Annie braced her arms on the counter, careful to keep from hitting the edge of the sink over and over.
"More," she urged.
She saw the indecision cross over his face.
"It's ok," she promised.
She saw the exact moment he let go of his apprehension and succumb to his own desire. Annie couldn't control the words falling from her mouth, some of which sounded an awful lot like profanity. Her vocal enthusiasm was more than Auggie could handle. Auggie tried hard to hold out long enough, to give Annie everything she needs and is rewarded for his efforts as his name echoes off the bathroom walls.
"Oh God," he wrapped his arms around her uncertain how steady her knees were.
She turned in his arms, fused her mouth to his. While she enjoyed the view in the mirror she missed kissing him, so she made up for that, her arms winding around his neck. He reached down and lifted her legs up , encouraging them around his waist and walked them back, negotiating the doorframe easily and carrying her back to bed.
"We have to go to work," she protested despite being the one to instigate the distraction.
"I need to kiss you for a few minutes," Auggie explained as he laid her gently on the bed, crawled on next to her and resumed the kissing.
"Did we just have sex in the bathroom?" Annie asked after a couple minutes of kissing.
"Don't you remember? Give me 10 minutes we can refresh your memory," he laughed and moved the kissing to her neck.
"Have we ever had sex in a bathroom before?" Annie was trying to remember but his lips on her skin were very distracting.
"Once in my old apartment and once at the hotel in Paris," he mentioned. "And that's like complete, up against the wall sex, I don't think I can count the number of really pleasant shared bathing experiences."
"Oh God," she rolled him on his back and crawled on top of him. "Do you think I can call in hormonal?"
"You probably could, Joan would understand, but I doubt I could. So then what would you do?" he asked innocently.
"I'd figure something out," she giggled before leaning down to kiss him again.
***555***
"I need to go to Philadelphia," Annie announced as she swept in to Tech Ops later that day.
"I know, I just got the alert," Auggie turned from his monitor.
"Should only be 1 night, maybe 2," she perused the file.
"Do you need anything from the house?"
"No, my go bag in the car will be sufficient. Do you have anything in the car you need?"
"No, I should be fine. I'll arrange for a car or Barber will bring me home. I'll miss you, be careful."
"I'll be fine, it is a simple interrogation," she reached out and brushed his hair from his forehead, placed a soft kiss there and with that she was gone.
The end of the day rapidly appeared and Auggie finished up the report he was working on for Joan and he realized he never arranged the car service.
"Hey boss, you need a ride?" Barber appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
"Funny you should mention that," Auggie smiled.
"I saw Annie leave earlier," Barber shrugged.
"I appreciate it, I got caught up on the DOJ report and now it is….6:30," he felt his watch to confirm.
"I can be ready in 5," Barber noted.
"How about we grab some take out on the way, Annie and I were planning to go grocery shopping tonight, but take out will be much better."
"Great," Barber agreed and began shutting down his station.
With a big bag of Thai food and a fresh six pack Auggie led Barber into the condo as his cell rang announcing Annie.
"I'll stick this in the fridge, want one?" Barber indicated the beer.
"Please. Hey," he answered both Barber and the phone.
"Hey, I'm done for the evening thought I'd call."
"You doing OK?"
"Yeah, waiting on a salad from room service, you?"
"Just got home with Barber and Thai food."
"Oh yeah, I left you with no food," she sounded contrite.
"No worries, there is cereal and milk and coffee. I'll survive," he grinned into the phone.
"OK, enjoy your dinner, tell Barber I said hey."
"Get some rest, call me tomorrow. Love you," he whispered.
"I love you so much," she replied and hung up.
"Annie OK?"
"Yeah, already at the hotel for the night," Auggie said as Barber brushed the beer against his hand.
As Barber turned back to the kitchen to start unpacking the food something caught his eye, on the credenza behind the couch was a well-read, dog-eared post-it-laden copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting, the pregnant woman on the cover evidence that the book was exactly what he thought it was. This was one of the things about being friends with Auggie that was hard to navigate. If Auggie could see he would know Barber had seen the book, but right now he had no idea. Barber wasn't sure what to do, so he decided to have dinner.
After dinner, with enough left-overs packed away to get Auggie through one more night, the guys retired to the living room for another beer and the end of the hockey game. With the confusion of Annie's call upon arrival Auggie had failed to empty his pockets, so he went to the credenza first to put his keys, phone and wallet in the tray he kept there, in the years of living with Annie he sometimes forgot, knowing she would gladly scan the room for his phone if he left it somewhere random.
As he did so he brushed his hands along the surface and found the book. He knew it was the book because he had Annie mark pages that he thought would be useful and the spine had been cracked from her curling up with it in bed reading to him about fetal development. As his fingers made contact with it he heard Barber suck in a breath.
"I saw it, I wasn't going to say anything, none of my business," Barber held his hands up in surrender.
"It's OK Barber, you could have asked, we're pregnant not Scientologists," Auggie smirked.
"So you are? Going to have a baby?" Barber took a seat.
"Well not me personally, but Annie, yes," Auggie continued to tease.
"And that's all good?" Barber hedged.
"Barber which part freaks you out, the blind dad or the spy mom?" Auggie found a spot at the end of the couch.
"Neither," he said instantly, "or both. It's just kids man, they freak me out."
"Trust me, Annie and I are sufficiently freaked out," Auggie assured. "We've only told Joan and our families, it is still a little early."
"Yeah Annie is still skinny," Barber commented in case Auggie was not completely aware of every inch of his wife's body.
"Not for long, there is a definite change in her shape. She goes into the 2nd trimester in a week or so, we will start telling people then."
"I'm not a very good spy," Barber sighed. "She hasn't been shot at or had to jump off a building in months and she totally ran out of that briefing last week like she needed to puke, it is all coming together."
"Don't be too harsh on yourself Barber, you are a great spy, Annie is just better," Auggie smirked.
TBC…