Title: The Blessing

Author: Beth Pryor

Rating: K+

Summary: This conversation between Auggie and Eyal was alluded to in "Eyes That Know Me," and some expressed interest in hearing it firsthand. Well, here it is. Written in the season 4 AU of "Eyes That Know Me" but could almost be a complement to canon. Complete one-shot.

Disclaimer: Covert Affairs and its characters belong to the USA Network.

A/N: I have to thank Epona3 for some much-needed inspiration today (read these stories; they're really great) and pandora576 (watch her Youtube videos; they're great, too) for asking for this. I hope you enjoy and look forward to your reviews. There's also a little shout out to "Wounded" by willynilly23 at the end. And I've fixed the misspelling of Luxembourg. Apparently my computer thinks I speak German.

The Blessing

He wasn't even supposed to be in DC right now. Or ever. The Office had been clear about that. Canada, maybe, but the States were off limits. He was expected in Prague in two days, and he'd be there, but something about going straight from London and just sitting in a safe house for 72 hours hadn't appealed to him. So he changed his flight. Delta was no El Al, but they got him where he needed to be safely enough, if not courteously. He had a hired car waiting for him at Reagan and headed directly toward one of his favorite places in the city before he planned to stop at the apartment. Just like anyone else, he needed to recharge his batteries on his own turf before heading out to be someone else all over again. He just didn't expect to find anyone waiting for him here.

At first, he thought it had to be a trick of the imagination. Annie had been on his mind for the past few days. More specifically, Annie in Russia. But ever since Amsterdam, when he thought about Annie, Auggie appeared right beside her. Even in his dreams. So seeing as they now seemed to exist only as a pair, when he saw Auggie sitting at the bar at The Parchment, a second Old Fashioned glass beside his place, he automatically assumed Annie would be joining him from the powder room in just a matter of moments. This had been her place first, after all. He stood back for a second and watched the bar. No one else was coming.

Eyal walked up to the bar. When he stopped beside Auggie, the younger man turned his head toward him and motioned toward the seat and the drink. "That's for you."

"How did you know I was here, or that I'd be here?"

"I'm a spy."

"So am I." It unnerved him a bit to be out-spied.

"You just finished a mission and had downtime before your next one. I happen to know that you can't stand the city in the summer but enjoy seeing the fall foliage. And thanks to Annie, this is now one of your favorite bars in the city."

"Does she know you're here? Or that I am?" he asked, almost unnecessarily. Of course she didn't know about any of this.

Auggie shook his head. "The Smithsonian needed her in Arkansas this week, I believe it was."

This sounded like the Auggie he'd known before Henry Wilcox had blasted back into their lives, but his face was tired, his eyes darker, his movement a bit slower than Eyal had recalled from Amsterdam.

"How are you holding up? All of you?" He asked the younger man as he took a drink of his still very cold Sazerac. Auggie had timed him down to the minutes. This guy was still on his game, despite his slightly bedraggled appearance.

"It's rough," Auggie admitted quietly. "Arthur is doing okay in Petersburg, I think, but I worry about Joan. And the baby, but her doctors are keeping a close eye on both of them."

"And our friend in Bethesda?" Eyal had been part of Teo's extraction from Germany. Only Auggie and Arthur knew this.

"Getting better every day. And full of helpful information," Auggie confirmed.

Eyal nodded, relieved, before he remembered to speak. "Good, but somehow I don't think you came here to brief me on your current project."

Auggie shook his head. "No. That's not why I'm here, although I did want to thank you for all your help. Just in case I'm not able to say it later, or you're not around here to hear it."

"Well, I hope the conclusion won't be as grim as all that."

"Me, too, but I'm trying to be cautious with my optimism."

Eyal needed to change the subject before Auggie started crying in his drink.

"I saw her last week in Luxembourg, Auggie. She seemed okay. Better than you, at least," he tried to add a little humor to the conversation.

Auggie nodded. "We're getting closer." He turned toward Eyal. "This will end, and when it does, I want things to be different. Better."

"Understandable."

"That's why I needed to see you."

"What can I do?" He'd already gone against the few protocols the Office had in place when he'd agreed to help them in Germany and beyond. He guessed that counted as all-in. He guessed that Rivka would choose other words if she found out what he'd been up to for the past few months.

"You can be honest with me." Auggie sighed. "Can you do that? Will you do that?"

"I'll try," Eyal answered, perplexed by this exchange.

"I want to ask her to marry me, and I've not been super successful with other attempts at that in the past – for different reasons, I think. But still, I'm trying to prepare a little differently this time."

"Okay." Eyal still wasn't sure where he fit in this equation, but he wanted to help if he could.

"Annie's different from us. She's one of us, for sure, but she's more than this job, this life," explained Auggie.

Sadly, Eyal understood what he meant. He'd spent too many afternoons watching Ari's football matches from atop a hill rather than on the touchline with the other parents.

"I know the men she's chosen to be with in the past, Ben Mercer, Simon Fischer, even flirtation with you." Auggie took another sip of his drink before he moved on with his thought. "Six and a half years ago, I fit on that list." He shook his head as he continued. "But I don't anymore. Not in the ways that count, anyway."

"Auggie," Eyal started then stopped. He'd been on both sides of their life, and he knew how difficult, even impossible, maintaining a marriage could be for people like them. His wife had taken Ari and gone when he'd chosen Mossad over a medical career following his sister's death in a terrorist attack around the time Auggie was completing his first tour in Afghanistan. "I've not done well with this, myself, so I'm not sure I can give you any advice."

"I don't know if it's exactly advice or more of how you see our situation." He elaborated. "You know her better than anyone else I know, and I need to know how this is going to go."

"She'll say yes, of course," Eyal confirmed quickly. "She's crazy about you."

"When did you first know?" Auggie pressed, needing to satisfy his curiosity.

"After Sweden with her sister, but you left for Africa to see the Peace Corps girl."

He ignored the part about Parker but wondered how Eyal knew these details of their lives. "How often are you two in touch?"

"Back then? A good bit. Much less now that you've taken your head from your ass." Auggie smiled and Eyal continued. "I'm sorry you can't see the way she looks at you, Auggie. Every man should have a woman look at him like that. If you'd have seen it you'd never have doubted her or her feelings for you."

"I'm not doubting her; I'm doubting me," he clarified.

"I can't imagine your position, Auggie, and I really don't know you so well, but I know your work. You saved her in Russia, and you were there for her in Amsterdam. The entire demeanor of the mission changed when you arrived."

"Not alone. Not without your help."

"You and I are more alike than I thought," Eyal mused. "I don't know how you can manage, not being able to control things around you."

"That's just it; I have to control my surroundings. I need order and patterns and familiarity, and that's not who I always was. Not really. But when that spark of spontaneity rises in me, it feels foreign now. And dangerous." He laughed sadly, just a few notes. "I can't trust myself on this one." He ran his hand through his hair. "Is it selfish of me to ask her to be with me now?"

Eyal placed his hand on Auggie's arm. "I'll be as honest with you as I can. Okay?" Auggie nodded and he continued. "For some women, yes. It might be. There are those who expect a man to take care of them or who would feel the need to try to take care of you, but that's not what I see with you and Annie.

"Her admiration of you and your skill in our profession was evident long before she allowed herself to fall in love with you. And since then, she's only admired you more – not only the way she looks at you, but her body language when you're around, her voice when you're on the other end of the phone, and they way for at least a year that she tried to pretend that she didn't have feelings for you. Her ducking and blushing whenever someone mentioned your name made her even cuter than she already is." Eyal placed his hand back on the bar. "You do know that she's stunningly beautiful, don't you?"

Auggie shrugged. "That's what they tell me, but does it really matter?"

Eyal chuckled. "I guess it doesn't." He glanced at his watch and drained his drink. "And I hate to run out on you, but I'm on a bit of a schedule." They both stood. "I have a car waiting. Can I drop you somewhere?"

"No. I'm all set, but I do have a final question. If you don't mind answering it."

"I'll try."

"The two of you, I mean did you ever…" Auggie trailed off.

Eyal laughed. "I thought we were going to once, in this very hotel. But we only kissed a little before she zip-tied me to the bed to keep me from killing the man who had orchestrated the terrorist attack that took my sister's life." He chuckled again. "Little did she know that some very bad men were on their way to kill me, so things got a bit, um, exciting."

"Oh yeah?" Auggie tried to imagine that scene.

Eyal shook his head and directed Auggie toward the door. "I was shot, but not so bad that time."

"You too?" Auggie's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Eyal's brow furrowed, until he realized what Auggie meant. "She got you shot too?"

Auggie laughed and subconsciously rubbed his left shoulder. "That she did."

Eyal laughed with him as they exited the bar, both prepared to enter their waiting cars. "Well, if you're willing to spend the rest of your life dodging bullets with Annie Oakley, then best of luck to you both. But watch your back!"

"Thanks, Eyal." Auggie said as they shook hands. "And I'll try."

FIN