Hey everybody, this is just a little something I wrote about a year ago that's been gathering dust on my computer. I haven't published anything in a while, so... voila!
"Hey Auggie! Coffee's at your 10 o'clock," Annie chirped.
"Well good morning to you too, Miss Walker. What's got you so… chipper, this morning?" Auggie asked with a grin.
She was cheerful, almost too cheerful, especially for nine in the morning. Something was up. But she just brushed past him and out of tech ops with nothing but a breezy "Oh, nothing!"
"Uh huh, nothing my ass," Auggie mumbled to himself.
But, worrying about said 'nothing' would have to wait; he had a code to crack. Around lunchtime Stu roused Auggie from his focus to ask what he wanted to eat. Auggie made his request and forked over a few bills before the men were distracted by a sound from the bull pen. It was Annie.
"No, no, really Bea, of course I'll help you translate your bills from the Ukraine op. It's no trouble, this," Annie gestured to the stack of files on her desk, "can wait. I'll do it later tonight."
Auggie grimaced; there she goes again with the false cheerfulness. "'This' is a huge stack of paper work isn't it?" he asked Stu, placing air quotes around the 'this.'
Stu nodded, "Yup, it is. Nice of her, huh? I'll be back in 20 with lunch."
Hours later, the whole DPD was whispering about what a great mood Annie Walker was in that day. Theories as to the cause abounded, the most popular being a new boyfriend. Auggie just scoffed at this. Was he really the only one who realized it was all a front? Sighing, he stretched in his chair and checked the time, "8:52," his watch informed him. Stu and the rest of the tech guys had left around six, and from the sounds of things, the bull pen was empty too; empty except for a certain female agent chipping away at a mountain of files.
"I hear the view from your desk is great this time of night, lots of city lights and such," Auggie deadpanned, coming up behind Annie's chair.
She jumped. "Jesus Aug, you scared me!"
He shrugged, "Sorry. What are you doing here so late?"
Annie sighed, "Paperwork. I helped Bea with some translations earlier and they took longer than I expected. I was glad to do it though," she added weakly.
Auggie saw right through her ruse. "No you weren't, what's up?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing, Joan just wants these on her desk by morning. Besides, it's kind of nice here at night, peaceful, ya know?" she replied, and Auggie could hear the smile in her voice falter.
"Oh really?" he intoned.
Annie practically deflated under his hand. "No," she groaned, "It's been a terrible day."
Auggie felt behind him for Annie's neighbor's desk chair, taking a seat. "The way I've heard it, you've been pretty sunny all day. Sex is suspected."
Annie just groaned again and dropped her head to her desk.
Auggie squeezed her shoulder, "Tell me about it."
And it all came pouring out; her car wouldn't start this morning, she spilled coffee all over her jacket, Joan yelled at her for being late, Jai had renewed his efforts to charm her, one of the assets she had turned died of heart failure last night, she hadn't eaten lunch because she was too busy translating Bea's documents, Danielle was mad at her for missing Thursday night dinner last week…
"And to top it all off, I've got a pounding headache and haven't actually made any progress on these files since, like, eight!" she moaned, voice breaking.
"Hey. Hey, look at me," Auggie commanded, reaching out and turning her chin toward him, "You're gonna be ok. I've got a bottle of Tylenol in my desk, my car service can take you home and I'm sure I can get you some wiggle room with Joan on the files. C'mon."
Without protest Annie stood, locking the files in her desk and immediately going to rummage through his. She was on a mission. "Which drawer?" she called.
"Top left," he replied, amused, reaching around her to open it and hand her the bottle.
Ten minutes later, she had dry swallowed a couple of pills and the two were getting into the car.
"So, Miss Sunshine, what was that all about? The way I hear it, you've been practically oozing cheer and goodwill all day." Auggie asked as they were pulling out of the lot.
Annie sighed, head back on the seat, eyes closed, "I don't know. It was better than being a bitch to everyone. And maybe I thought enough 'positive' energy would somehow turn things around," she put finger quotes around positive, groaning when she realized the futility of the gesture.
"What now?" Auggie asked.
"Nothing, I'm just tired," she deflected.
"Mhm," Auggie didn't believe her, but decided to let it slide.
Looking out the window, Annie was confused, "Where are we going?"
"My place," Auggie replied nonchalantly. "You'll have an automatic ride to work in the morning, a fully stocked kitchen, with someone to remind you to eat breakfast, and, quite simply, you're in no state to be alone tonight."
Annie just stared at him for a second, "Th-thank you," she finally muttered, tears in her voice.
Hesitantly reaching out toward her, Auggie found her shoulder and pulled her closer to him on the seat. She leaned her head on his shoulder and let the movement of the car and the feel of his arm over her shoulders lull her to sleep.
Ten minutes later she was being gently shaken awake, "We're here, time to get up, Sunshine," Auggie said.
Annie turned her head away from him and muttered something about barely getting a cat nap. Auggie laughed, "I know, but it's just for a few minutes, then you can go right back to sleep. If I weren't liable to trip and drop you on the way, I'd carry you up, but, all things considered, it would probably be best for you to walk yourself," he said with a smile.
Wordlessly, Annie climbed out of the car and headed toward his front door with astonishing speed for someone in her state and wearing those heels of hers.
"Whoa there, slow down, I've got the keys," Auggie called after her.
When they made it up to his apartment, Auggie turned on the lights as a courtesy for his guest. Blinking in the light, Annie seemed to be at a loss. She just stopped walking in the middle of his living room and he almost crashed into her.
"Okay, c'mon, this way," Auggie coaxed, taking her hand and leading her down the hall to his bedroom.
Under normal circumstances, he was sure she would protest at sleeping in his bed, but as it were, he heard her kick off her shoes and crawl under the covers fully clothed.
He smiled, "How's the head, you need anything? Water maybe?" But her breathing had already evened out and she was once again sound asleep.
"Sweet dreams, Annie Walker," Auggie whispered before grabbing some sweats and a t-shirt from his dresser and heading out to spend the night on the couch.