Permanent Images

The scenes described in this chapter are horrific in nature. Reader discretion is advised.

Dis: Covert Affairs belong to whoever owns it. And the USA network.

AN: I wasn't there when the Towers went down. I don't really know anyone who witnessed the dust cloud or anything other than what I've seen on tv and read in books. I tried to get this out in a way that I hope didn't take away from the effect of it. If you were there or know of someone who was, or lost someone, please don't think I'm glossing over any of the details. I'm not quite happy with how this chapter was written, but I was kind of pressed for time.

There is one more little chapter and that'll be that. I am thinking of rewriting this at a later date, if you agree…

My thanks to all the armed forces and first responders, especially those at Ground Zero ten years ago. My heart goes out to all victims from the overall attacks.

Hyper 9-11

It had been three days since she had heard from him.

Annie Walker leaned against the wall across from her best friend's apartment.

She was worried about him. When they last spoke, she was in Tripoli and he was the voice in her ear from his office in Tech Ops. He didn't sound very much like the August "Auggie" Anderson she knew and loved. Yes, loved. Granted, she was still getting used to the idea that Auggie was the sole person she wanted to be close to. It also didn't hurt that she was still reeling from the novelty of being in love with someone that had always been there for her. Unlike some other person who shall remain nameless…

Auggie really did need to know she was in love with him. Annie decided that she would tell him as soon as she figured out what was wrong with him.

It had been a busy few weeks since she had had some time to herself and it didn't help that she had the nagging impression that she was forgetting something. The first time this feeling had appeared was in the middle of August ( the month, not the hermit currently shut up in his apartment who seemed to have a sudden aversion to telephones - but I digress) and it was before she was sent to Spain. Something her sister, Danielle, had commented about planes and she would rather drive than fly.

Three other instances came to mind, all eavesdropped conversations that ended before she could get to the good stuff, but she shook it all off as she continued her vigil.

Auggie hadn't answered her calls. He hadn't answered any of her e-mails. Now, he was being childish.

If Annie had done something to piss him off, she was doing a pretty good job. She just didn't know what she'd done. Adding to that, she knew that some of the Tech Ops guys had backed off after some of the older 'veterans' had taken them aside. It was all starting to piss her off.

Her best friend was blocking her every attempt to connect; everyone seemed to know what was wrong with him; the feeling of forgetting something was getting even stronger; and, if any of that wasn't bad enough, she was hopelessly in love with him and if she didn't get answers soon she had the overwhelming urge to either shoot Auggie out of pure frustration when he finally let her in, or slam him against the wall and -

The door opened, jolting her out of her (purely inappropriate (read: X-rated)) thoughts, to let her see the darkness of Auggie's apartment. She immediately straightened and let her arms fall to her sides. "Auggie?"

"You won't leave until you come in."

She walked in a few steps. The light from the television drew her attention to the figure of her friend as he expertly plopped down in front of it.

From what she could see, beer bottles and cans littered the coffee table. Empty bags from all sorts of snack foods were included in the mess. "Auggie, what's going on?"

He gave a sardonic smile. "You have no idea. No… You wouldn't, would you? You weren't there. You don't know what it's like."

She closed the door to the apartment and carefully navigated her way to him on the couch. "Maybe you can explain it to me so that I can understand."

She sat next to him on the couch and took a good look at him. His hair was damp and it seemed like he had taken a recent shower. Clean-shaven, too. 'Well if he's taking care of himself…' "Auggie?"

He laid his head back and closed his sightless brown eyes. "What's the most famous question within the last decade?"

"I don't understand."

He quirked a smile, eyes still closed. "Tell me something, Annie Walker."

"Anything. Within reason."

His head came up and troubled brown eyes opened to face the television that he had dug out of storage for this one purpose. "Where were you?"

"Auggie, what is this abou -"

"Ten years ago today. Where were you when the Towers fell?"

Annie stared. Suddenly, the light came on. "So that's what I was missing!"

"What?"

"I've been so busy lately that I haven't been listening to anything news related and I feel so stupid now," she sank back, screwing her eyes shut.

"Annie?"

"What kind of person am I that I forget something this important? I mean, I remember where I was when I heard. Danielle was at home and I was doing a part-time job as a waitress and I was taking some classes online… So, I was at the restaurant and my sister calls. And my boss at the time tells me to go to the break room and talk to my sister and call my parents. She said that the World Trade Center was being attacked. Some of the others that I worked with had the television on and they were, I don't know. They just… They were all speechless and just quiet. They were in shock. I was in shock. Then they started calling people. The Pentagon was hit, the fourth plane was somewhere in Pennsylvania… It was just, you know, a living nightmare."

They sat in silence for a bit, her eyes still shut.

"I was visiting a friend," Auggie stated. Suddenly, the lightning struck so hard that Annie saw stars. Her eyes shot open.

"Auggie… where were you?"

"Visiting a friend," Auggie bowed his head. "He worked two floors below where the plane hit the North Tower. I was on my way up the stairs and was on the fifty- eighth floor when I got the feeling that I was forgetting something and turned around. I was on the thirty- sixth floor when the Tower got hit."

Annie curled into him. She kept quiet as he obviously needed to get this out.

"It was horrific. As cliché as it sounds, it really did seem like an explosion. Luckily, I was using the stairs. People started to evacuate the building and I just went along with it. Riley was honestly the last thing on my mind when I saw people out on the street and they were looking up. It was actually sort of eerie at the silence as everyone kept watching. No one was really moving or anything and I got this terrible feeling when I looked up, myself. Annie, you saw it on television. I was actually there and I can tell you right now, seeing it live on television and seeing it as it was happening are nothing alike. It was the first time, I think, that I fully realized that something was going to change. And I didn't know if it was going to be for good or bad.

"I was still trying to come to terms with this when I saw the second plane hit. I knew that whatever would happen next would be dissected and studied for a long time to come. Did you know that people above, and below for that matter, the point of impact were jumping? I am a seasoned soldier and I have never seen anything like it before since. Nor do I want to… well, relatively speaking." Auggie leaned against her more heavily. "Watching those people jump… I wish I had looked somewhere else. You know, I think that I would have liked to have been blind at that moment. But then I remember what those poor people sounded like and I really don't know what would have been worse."

He let his eyes close as Annie snuck her arms around him and held tighter.

"Riley's cousin, Harley, was staying with him and I remember thinking I should tell him about Riley. If you can believe it, I'd suddenly remembered what it was that I'd forgot: I told Harley that I would come get him before we went to see Riley." Auggie let out a short laugh. "My phone was ringing and I wasn't paying attention as I watched people fly from the building. The fires were burning really hot and debris was coming down. Me and a lot of others started to leave as the First Responders were herding people away. I then remembered to answer my phone." He smiled slightly. "And wouldn't you know that as soon as I answered the phone, the South Tower went down."

"Even now, I remember running as fast as I could as the dust cloud spread. I was overtaken and everything just went dark. You couldn't see anything, you couldn't breathe, you couldn't hear anything. I… I don't think there are words in any language to describe the… the sheer, overwhelming, heartbreak so many of us were experiencing. It was like a dream. A nightmare. Whatever you want to call it, that is what it was. The dust was like a snowfall, but it was like nothing I've ever seen. I really think that was the calm before the storm before everything started sinking in."

Over the next hour, Annie was told how he had taken refuge in a nearby store until the second tower went down. He told her of how he had gotten out of the area and how Joan had wanted him out of there immediately.

What seemed like an eternity later, he quieted and covered his eyes. "I can still see it, Annie. I can't get rid of them. Every year, the sequence starts repeating again. The images are permanent. I realized that when I was blinded that I could recall everything. No matter what I do, Annie, I still remember. I still remember and I can't do anything to change it. Tell me, what I haven't thought of, Annie. Because I'm blind. I will be haunted by these memories for the rest of my life. There's nothing I can do."

He sounded so lost that Annie pulled them back so that he was lying on her, face in her neck. "You'll be fine, Auggie. We'll do something next year, okay? I may not be able to do anything, but I will try my best to make you forget. At least for a little while."

As he started shaking even more noticeably, she realized that the tv screen was paused. It was of a dust covered man, staring at the camera - at her - with blank brown eyes, pleading with the watcher to figure out what in the world happened and somehow fix it.

Annie was startled to realize that the man she was staring at was a younger version of the man in her arms.