Disclaimer: I do not own Covert Affairs or any of the associated characters.
August Anderson's nose was assaulted as he stormed through the closed door into Joan Campbell's office. His senses, already heightened due to the loss of his sight, were fueled by an unnatural burst of anger-fueled adrenaline. When Jai Wilcox calmly strode into the technical operations room of the DPD sans field partner Annie Walker, Auggie flew into a fit of rage. The handler lost all communications with Wilcox and Walker in the field after the consulate in which the two were operating took fire from local drug cartels. The drug lords lobbed homemade grenades at the brick building and took aim at those trying to escape. All communication systems went down, including the secure cell phones the agents carried. Auggie was still trying to figure out how small time cartels could knock out encrypted lines; the uncertainty of losing his operatives in the field weighed on him almost as much as the fact that it was Annie Walker that he lost.
The op had gone horribly awry and the agents were lucky to make it across the city to safety without being killed. Auggie suspected the op was compromised in some way, but without proof he was stuck fuming at his desk. That is, until Jai Wilcox arrived to badger the tech team for losing communication. He wasn't sure why he was so livid - that Jai arrived to ream him out for something he himself did not understand, or the fact that Annie wasn't with him. Two agents were left blind in the field, and only one returned. Any handler would be upset with those numbers, but the fact that Annie had not returned made him all the more anxious. It was not in his nature to be prone to fits of anxiety; Auggie was notorious for erupting like an angry volcano when he displayed any strong emotion. Some in the Agency suspected this was because of the accident, but in fact this was a coping mechanism from growing up with four mean older brothers.
The walk to Joan's office served to increase his frustration tenfold. Not only could he not figure out how communications went down, his fear for Annie grew exponentially with every step. She wasn't the type of agent to allow the medical staff to treat her unless she was seriously injured. By the time he reached Joan's door, Auggie was full of a head of steam and ready to let loose on his superior. While perhaps not the most intelligent career move, Joan had weathered Auggie's outbursts and once been on the receiving end of a thrown set of headphones. His aim was surprisingly accurate for a man rendered blind.
The scents stopped Auggie in his racks upon entry. He took a deep breath to let loose on Joan and instead was floored by the layers of scents. Joan's perfume smelled of roses; the important smells were mixed with the innocuous smell. The harsh antiseptic stung his nostrils coupled with the tangy smell of fresh blood and the unique scent of cotton indicated a relatively new wound of moderate damage at a minimum. That was not what stopped the blind handler, though - it was the underlying hint of grapefruit.
Letting out an audible sigh of relief, Auggie crouched uncannily close to Annie's ear. Taking a deep breath, he greeted her almost reverently. "Welcome home," he sighed into her ear. When she did not respond, he wrapped his left hand around the back of her chair and leaned in further, his nose almost touching behind the shell of her ear, breath hot on her neck. "Annie, I missed you," he whispered reverently, momentarily forgetting about the icy blonde superior boring holes in the two.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the drabble. Both Joan and Annie's POV on the exchange are written and there is an idea for a prequel floating around in my head if there is interest in reading it.