Little Moments
Chapter One: Guiding
Authoress Note: These first two chapters have been on my computer since November. The goal of Little Moments is to capture the little moments in Auggie and Annie's life that make them who they are and that built, and kept, their friendship as strong as it has become.
This will not be updated regularly. I'm using LM as a break from working on my two chapter length fictions I'm writing one is a CA fanfiction while the other is not but it helps to have a "smaller" project that doesn't have an assigned length to it.
Dedication: MarieKing for being so patient with my on Safe and Sound and my writers block.
The little things always seemed to add up at the best of times. It had started after her first mission. She had barely made it out alive and it unnerved Auggie in a way that he couldn't explain. When she finally made it back to the DPD it was only six pm but she was forced through two hours of debriefing before she was finally let go. It was a Thursday and she still had to make it through at least a nine hour day tomorrow. When she put a few files on her desk for in the morning she noticed that Auggie was in Tech Ops, working on his computer sans his usual headphones.
"Walker, that you?" he asked, as he went through the process of shutting down his computer before making his way over to her desk, her distinct smell of Jo Malone Grapefruit told him it was.
"Yep. It's time to get some sleep. I'm heading home." She said, the smile evident in her voice as she turned towards him.
"Doesn't sound half bad; I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in a few days myself." Auggie said, as he slightly stumbled causing Annie to instinctively move to catch Auggie, who gave her a weak smile.
"Would you mind guiding me to the car? I don't think walking by myself is such a good idea." He quipped. It was a light banter but it barely covered the aggravation he felt at his clumsiness.
"Sure thing, Auggie." Annie said, allowing Auggie to place his hand in the crook of her arm as she slowed her step to match his without him having to ask. It was the first time in a long time that he had allowed someone to guide him that wasn't within his family.
When they finally reached the car that was waiting for him he almost didn't want to let her go; it felt nice to have a friend within the DPD for once.
Friday morning rolled around in a hurry, startling Annie from her sleep at an awful early hour. As she stepped out of her shower she rushed towards her phone which sounded like it had been ringing for a minute. She answered it on the last ring.
"Hello?" she asked, breathing heavily at how quickly she had run to reach her phone.
"Morning Walker; when are you heading into work?" Auggie asked, awfully cheerful for someone who probably hadn't been up for a few hours.
"As soon as I finished getting ready; Why?" she asked, it was unusually for Auggie to call her outside of work related things.
"Meet me at Starbucks when you get in. I have to go I'll see you in about forty minutes." And with that Auggie had disconnected the phone call leaving a baffled Annie staring at it before she stepped it into high gear managing to make it to the DPD within thirty five minutes.
Once she got past security she saw Auggie sitting down at a table, two coffees' before him as he listened to her heels clicked across the tile of the lobby before settling down in front of her handler.
"We're swapping it up today. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is back for the fall." Auggie said, taking a sip of his drink, smiling in Annie's direction.
"Good thing I like it." Annie said, smiling at the fact that he knew she liked the specialty drink. They talked about her last mission briefly before it was time to head up to the DPD. When Annie stood she noticed that Auggie had folded up his civilian walking cane, looking in her general direction.
She didn't ask but offered him her arm anyway as they started down the loud hallways of the CIA. It felt natural to both of them with Annie as guide, even if it had half of the DPD in an uproar as she walked him into Tech Ops before excusing herself to her desk with a quick hello to Stu and Barber.
Auggie could feel Barber's eyes on him for ten minutes before he sighed and turned his chair in that direction.
"Anything you want to say Barber? I'm blind; doesn't mean I can't feel when someone is staring at me." He said, he could have sworn they had already had this conversation already.
"Just interesting to see you walking in with Agent Walker; you've never let anyone guide you before not that there haven't been plenty of offers." He said, referring to all the females who had countlessly offered to guide him.
"Key word Barber: offers. Annie didn't ask; I did." The tone in his voice told Barber the subject was closed, as did the look on his bosses face and the headphone's sliding over his ears as he booted up the computer.
When lunch came around that day he noticed that Barber and Stu left but he never heard the click of Annie's heels leaving for lunch. Auggie gave it till one thirty before he gave up and made his way to her desk.
"Do you plan on eating lunch?" Auggie asked, listening to her talking in Russian, swearing if he was correct.
"I want to finish this translation first." She said, trying to wave him off.
"It's one thirty Walker. The translation can wait; its lunch time you're getting away from this desk for at least an hour. Let's go." He said, waiting on her to stand before taking her arm. They stopped by his office to swap out his cane before they exited the building to find some lunch.
It felt almost natural to have Annie on his arm and he never needed anyone. It was odd how natural it felt to a man that had struggled so hard to regain his independence. They found a bistro that was down the street from work, Auggie was surprised at how happy Annie was that they had potato soup, stating it was her all-time favorite soup.
"So you liked the Pumpkin Spice Latté and you love potato soup…what else do you enjoy Annie Walker?" he asked, taking a sip of his coke before turning back into her direction.
"Many things. Languages, movies, music, there's a lot to learn if you're that curious." Annie said smiling at the man that was sitting across from her.
She was woken from her peaceful sleep by her phone going off awfully loudly for it to be a weekend. She glared at the name on the screen: Auggie Anderson.
He knew she had just gotten back to the states that morning and have every intention of sleeping until three that afternoon.
She flipped open her phone anyway and put the best smile on her face that she could.
"I hope I didn't wake you." He started out with, which meant he knew he probably did.
"Too late; what can I help you with at ten am on my day off? I hope it involves coffee." The last part was both hint and barley veiled threat. She was sure Auggie would catch it.
"It will involve coffee. My usual driver is out for the weekend and I thought I could make due for the weekend but I am running out of coffee and a few other things. Would you mind taking me to the grocery store?" The round-about way Auggie had asked her made her think the grocery store was one of his least favorite places to be and she pretty sure she was right on that one.
"Sure, if you'll give me about ten minutes to…" a knock on her door made her look at her phone funny. When she opened the door and found Auggie standing there she raised an eyebrow even if he couldn't see it.
"I asked my driver to drop me off before he left; and before you ask I pulled your sister's address from the database. It's part of my job as your handler to know where your 'permanent' home is." He said, smiling in her general direction as he handed her a cup of freshly brewed coffee.
"Like I said I need ten minutes to finish getting ready then we'll see about getting you some groceries." Annie said as she finished pulling her pants on before finding a shirt to pull over her tank top. Five minutes later she had her shoes on and her keys in her hands as she guided Auggie to her car.
"What's all on your list today?" Annie asked as they started towards the shopping complex that was almost exactly in-between both their apartments.
"A little bit of everything. I haven't been home much in the past two weeks; I've spent more time at work than I have at home. I was hoping to actually cook a decent meal tonight but I'm not sure what." His statement surprised her; Auggie was the type of person who knew what he wanted long before anyone else; she didn't assume cooking would be any different.
When they reached the grocery store Annie was surprised at the number of people that stared at them. It offended her that people would stare at a man that was just trying to do his shopping and she could almost bet that most of them wouldn't even think to stop and ask if he needed help.
When they reached the meat counter however, Auggie called to the man behind it like they were old friends.
"Anthony! I was wondering if you could get us a salmon filet, with scales. I also need three pounds of veal and another three of beef." He said, smiling at the man that started on their order.
"Come on. I need to get some spices, vegetables and a few other things. He'll hold it until we get back." Auggie said, letting her guide him towards the fresh vegetables, smiling when she asked if she could grab anything for him.
"Can you grab some fresh dill and parsley, two stalks should be enough. . I'll grab the lemons, mushrooms and leeks."
Annie just nodded and grabbed the requested seasonings; returning to the cart at the same time Auggie did.
"I need to grab some peppercorns for my pepper grinder, some ice cream, some wine and beer and we're done here." He said, letting her steer him towards the liquor section before she left him to grab the peppercorns. When she returned he had four bottles of wine; two reds and two whites, a twenty-four pack of beer and a margarita mix; which told her he had the tequila back at his apartment.
"You plan on drinking yourself into a coma this weekend?" she asked as they started towards the frozen section, stopping when they reached the ice cream. When she asked him what he wanted he laughed in her direction.
"Who said anything about it being all for me? Grab your Cookies and Cream and let's go get the meat. I want to get that salmon soaking before noon if we plan on eating it tonight." He said as they started back towards the meat counter, picking up the purchases before they steered towards the check-out counter to pay for the purchases.
When Annie tried to pay for the wine and the ice cream Auggie pretended to be wounded before smiling in her direction and waving her off as they headed back to his apartment.
