Never Let Me Down (Unfinished), a covert affairs fanfic

Disclaimer: No characters belong to me, the thoughts, however are mine alone. No profit made. No harm intended.

Title: Never Let Me Down: Glass Spider

Author: kneipho
Beta: My Man Godfry (Any errors you unearth are mine, not his).
Rating: T
Fandom: Covert Affairs
Characters/Pairing: Annie, Auggie, Barber
Spoiler Alert: Dialogue taken directly from the Annie-Auggie-Barber "gray van" scene, E 3.08, The Glass Spider. Contains spoilers for E1.07, Communication Breakdown.

Author's Notes: I know I'm supposed to be broken up about Lena and Simon (he turned out to be alright), but for some reason I'm just not. I don't know why. This scene, Jai's safehouse, and the others at the DPD, were the ones that had me glued to the Television. I'm odd bird, what else can I say? Again, the dialogue and images for this first section, here, aren't mine. They belong strictly to the creators of Covert Affairs.

"Signal Status?" August Anderson removed his headphones, pulling them down until the U-shaped strap of the headpad curved firmly about the back of his neck. The earpieces rotated with ease, exposing the metallic faces of the speakers and ear-pads as he did so: a silvery pair of sunny- fried eggs, resting against the dusky blue of his shirt in the din of the van.

Barber, smelling of citris and potato chips, lumbered noisily behind, but answered quickly, "Coming in on a beam, thirty seconds or less."

Anderson rolled his chair away from the table, over to his waiting operative. He held a wiry piece of technology up for her to see, felt along the finely cut fabric of her jacket's lapel, and pinned it into the expensive cloth. "I designed this little guy myself. Twice the range, half the weight." The tip of his pinky brushed against the silken end-strands of her hair as he worked to conceal the tiny microphone. Annie Walker was unusually quiet. It wasn't any wonder. She had been sleeping with the target for months. Thinking it would help her focus if he lightened the mood, he teased her dryly," Oh, now you see... Most girls wouldn't trust a blind guy with a safety pin."

"I was told these missions might get dangerous."

Was she nervous? He couldn't tell. She should be. This Fischer character may have very well killed Jai. "Don't worry, Annie. We've got ears on you the entire time."

"Only Audio?"

She was nervous. Good. The situation had the potential to become a serious disaster. He should know, having slept his way through more than a mission or two, himself. He had even fallen love with one of his assets —had activly let her go. Or she had left him... To this day, he couldn't say, for sure, exactly what had happened with Natasha on the train.

"That's why Fischer picked this location." he said, refusing to coddle. He spelled it out. "Three levels, hundreds of access points, even if we had a fifteen member team —there would be no way to secure perimeter."

Annie's breath, inaudible and shallow, puffed out in in gentle increments against his shoulder. "In other words, I'm on my own out there?"

He drove the point home. "Those words exactly. Now, you listen to me, you don't get eyes on him in the first fifteen minutes, you pull the plug." Her hand, small and soft and finely-boned, slid reassuringly down the side of his arm. She wasn't nervous, he realized, just conflicted. He was the one who was getting nervous.

Barber interjected, potato chip bag crinkling loudly as he scored another mouthful. "We are good to go."

"Barber's gonna relay the audio feedback to the DPD."

All chipper and gung-ho, the chomping tech-op, once again, parenthesized within the tenseness of the moment, " A-O!"

"Don't ever do that again." Anderson really liked the man, but it was more than he could take.

"Okay."

"Barber, could you give us a moment alone, please?" Annie's high, little voice punctuated a melodious endcap on the exchange.

Anderson twisted temporarily around, halting any exit. "Sit down. Eat your chips." He refocused sightlessly on Annie. They were friends and he loved her, but she didn't need an empathetic ear right now. What she needed was her handler to help keep her sharp, pinpointed on the mission —so that's what he would be. "I promised myself a long time ago never to have a heart to heart in the back of a grey van." Feeling her distress, he relented, just a little. "Allen's Tavern when this is all done?"

"I'd like that."

"Seems like we both have a few stories to tell."

Barber verbally blundered in one last time, dragging reality with him, "Eleven fifty-eight. It's two minutes till game time."

"Annie—" Her name was out of his mouth before he could stop himself from speaking. Anderson hated how emotional he sounded, afraid she would pick up on the trepidation in his tone.

"Yeah?"

He pulled himself together. " Bring me back a Cinnabon."