Annie dropped her report off in Joan's office and made her way to Tech Ops as quickly as her heels could carry her. She had been in Brazil for 5 days and missed Auggie something awful. She stood in the doorway of his office waiting for him to notice her, as he always did, but he continued to work away.

Suddenly he sneezed and Annie 'blessed him' out of habit.

"You're back," he smiled but his voice was thick.

"Are you sick?" she asked concerned.

"Just a cold, very annoying," he turned in her general direction.

She made her way to his side and kissed his forehead under the guise of checking for fever.

"You aren't warm," she tilted his face up and looked at his slightly watery eyes and slightly red nose.

She kissed his temple.

"Can you get out of here soon?" she straightened up when Barber came in with a pile of file folders.

"Take him home please, he needs rest," Barber asked genuinely.

"That audit isn't going to audit itself," Auggie proclaimed.

"I called in Stu and Holman," Joan announced from the doorway, "go home Auggie."

Annie saw the surprise on Auggie's face, not that Joan ordered him home, but that he didn't know she was there. She wasn't going to say anything in front of Barber though.

"Call me for anything," Auggie threatened.

"You know I will, the Appropriations Committee scares me more than you do," Barber saluted Annie who led a sniffling Auggie towards home.

Annie filled Auggie in on the boring end to her mission on the ride home and found his apartment was unusually devoid of food. She ordered some Thai and opened a bottle of wine for herself and a bottle of cold medicine for him.

"So a cold must really suck when you're blind?" Annie dove right in and laughed when Auggie realized she totally got it.

"At first I thought you forgot me after 5 days, but after I realized you were sick I figured you couldn't hear or smell me as acutely as you normally do."

"Everything is foggy," he admitted, "I feel really blind when I'm sick."

"How about you let me take care of you then?"

"I'm not big on being taken care of," he grimaced.

"Too bad, I love you and you are sick. I would do this if you could see by the way," she got up to answer the door and claim their food.

"Now I got you Tom Yum soup, it will feel good on your throat and clear your sinuses simultaneously."

"Annie you must be exhausted, sit and relax," he implored as she puttered around getting him a glass of water and sorting his mail.

She grabbed her spicy noodles and joined him on the couch, her shoes kicked off and her glass of wine refilled.

"I am fine Auggie. I'm kind of loving this," she smiled and sipped her wine.

"You're enjoying my misery?" his eyebrows shot up under his shaggy bangs.

"No, I am enjoying this typical normal couple evening. No one shooting at us, no great declarations of long-concealed love, no frantic up-against-the-wall sex…."

"Give me a few minutes for the cold medicine to work and we can consider that last one," he smirked.

"I'm serious, this is what normal people do. They eat Thai food on the couch and get colds and talk about the Daily Show."

"Last night's was awesome," Auggie added.

"I'll have to watch it On Demand," she smiled at him.

They ate quietly and Auggie agreed the tom yum was the perfect thing for his cold. Annie tossed the empty containers and quickly washed the silverware while Auggie listened to the stereo. Annie turned off the lights, not that it made any difference to Auggie and by the gentle city glow from the windows found her way over to Auggie and snuggled up beside him.

"You'll get sick," he warned.

"I don't care, you can take care of me then," she smiled against his neck and leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"I'll always take care of you," he promised.

"You always have."

The End