A/N: SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE! The ending sent me into freak-out mode. Not going to lie. In all honesty, we don't know if Ben's dead or not. He was still alive at the end of the ep, but the previews for next season indicate that he's dead. And, what the crap? We don't get a new episode until next summer? O.o
Sometimes Life's not Fair
Something that Auggie Anderson had learned over his life was that life was sometimes not fair. One could work hard their whole life and still fall short of his goals, or they could be lazy and make it big. That didn't mean that hard work wouldn't take you somewhere or that laziness wouldn't hold you back, but who would have thought he'd see half the things he saw?– figuratively speaking, of course.
Take that kiss, for example. In the whirl of his mind trying to find the best way to keep her safe while he was stuck at Langley behind a desk, she'd reached up and kissed his cheek. He'd paused, caught in the moment – no matter how brief it had been – and she'd told him that she would be okay. He hadn't expected the kiss.
Annie hadn't expected Ben to get shot and killed. She'd come back, her face sticky with salty tears and barely spoken a word. Jai had filled him in on the details and the fact that Ben had died in Annie's arms as she cried over him for hours.
Auggie hadn't expected her to cling to him when he'd gone to check on her, nor beg to go back to his apartment. He'd accepted, unsure what he could really do for her, but certainly he couldn't turn her down. He'd held her as she cried against him, tried to ignore the tug of guilt as her lips brushed the side of his face. She had become more desperate as her mouth covered his and it was everything he could do to set her back, whispering calming words. This wasn't the way. She would regret it in the morning.
There were times that Auggie realized, more than others, that life simply wasn't fair. It was one of those moments as he tucked her into his bed and she murmured tiredly in words that he could not distinguish. Then she moaned his name. While in his bed, with him caring over her, she murmured Ben Mercer's name.
With quiet, soothing words Auggie leaned and placed a careful kiss on her forehead and pulled the bed sheets around her shoulders. As he left her to her dreams of her dead love, he sadly admitted to himself that life often wasn't fair. Even so, he would be there waiting for her. He would help her through and give her a helping hand should she need it.
He sighed as he heard her whimpers turn to cries. It was going to be a long night.
