Title: With Wind at Our Heels
Author: Beth Pryor
Rating: K+
Summary: Following the conclusion of "Eyes That Know Me," Auggie isn't ready to head back home just yet. This explores how he finds his way back. This multi-chapter fic will also feature a meeting with some of our favorites from Engine Co. 51 of Chicago Fire fame.
Disclaimer: Covert Affairs and its characters belong to the USA Network. Chicago Fire belongs to NBC, but they'll probably screw that up somehow.
Universe: Follows the Covert Affairs Season 4 universe of my previous story "Eyes That Know Me" and is very close to canon for Season 2 of Chicago Fire up until the mid season break, with the exception of Jeff Clarke's arrest for suspicion of murder.
A/N: This came as a little idea for a companion piece to the Anderson Trilogy, but the longer I kept Annie and Auggie in Chicago, the more I longed to have them interact with some of my other favorites who live in the city. And really, isn't that why we write fanfic?
With Wind at Our Heels
Souls like the wheels
Turning, taking us with wind at our heels
Burning, making us decide on what we're giving
Change this way of living
One little song
give me strength to the leave the sad and the wrong
buried safely in the past where I've been living
Alive but unforgiving…
"Souls Like the Wheels" by the Avett Brothers
Chapter 1
In the days following Christmas, he felt Annie beginning to fidget. She needed to get back. But she was right – he wasn't ready. At her previous suggestion, he'd been toying with the idea of asking Max to tag along on the trip back west when his brother sought him out two days after Christmas.
Auggie was sitting on his bed, having just finished making it when Max knocked on the door frame. "Got a minute?" he asked.
"Sure. Come in," Auggie offered. "What's on your mind?"
Max took a seat beside him. "If I'm totally off base here, just disregard everything I'm about to say."
"Okay," Auggie apprehensively agreed.
"What would you say if I asked you to come back with me for a while? Sam apparently has a lead on a story and is heading back east and then back into the field. I need to head back to Nevada to finish up a few things and pack up my place. And it seems like maybe you're not ready to go back yet."
Auggie smiled at his brother. "Did Annie put you up to this?"
"No why?"
"She had the same idea. I've been working up the courage to ask you to take me with you for a couple of days now." He revealed.
Max clapped him on the shoulder. "Excellent! I have to warn you that my place is basically a disaster area, and I'm going to deputize you to help with the packing."
"I'm not a great sorter these days," Auggie pointed out, waving a hand in front of his own face.
"You can still tape. And stack, right?"
"I guess so."
"Good enough," decided Max. "We'll figure it out, I'm sure."
"When are you heading out?" Auggie asked, trying to put this all together in his head.
"The third. Will that work for you?"
Auggie nodded. "Sure. Annie's heading back on the second."
"You guys have New Year's plans?"
Auggie shrugged and shook his head all in one motion. "Not really. We were going to see what everyone else was up to. Why?"
"Do you remember a guy named Jeff Clarke who wrestled in our conference? He went to Waukegan and graduated the same year as me."
"That name sounds familiar." But like most of his acquaintances from decades ago, he couldn't call up a memory of this person.
"He was state champion in 1993 and 1994. I think he was a weight class above you each year." Max attempted to give him a frame of reference.
"Wow. Seems like you remember him well," Auggie paused. "You weren't, I mean…" He felt his cheeks warming.
"What? No." Max chuckled. "I'd expect that question to come from Troy."
"Sorry." Auggie winced.
"Don't worry about it, but no. I spent some time with him and some other guys from Waukegan that summer when I worked at the marina. He was from Michigan or Wisconsin and his mom's husband moved them over here the summer before junior year.
He was a great hockey player, too. He played like two years at Minnesota and then kicked around the AHL for a couple more before he joined the Marines."
"Did you keep in touch over the years?" inquired Auggie.
"Not really. I ran into him a few years ago when I was in town and we caught up a little."
"And that prompted all of this?"
"Actually, no. He's a fireman. There was a fire in the building across the street from Troy's office yesterday, and Jeff was one of the guys responding. As they were packing up, he saw Troy on the street and thought he was me. They started talking. Turns out some of his buddies own a bar near their firehouse, and they invited us to their New Year's party. Sam, Troy, Leah and I are going, and we were hoping that you and Annie would come, too."
"I'll ask her, but I'm sure she'll be game." He paused. "What about the others?"
"Rhett and Ruth had another party invitation, and Brendan and Dana are letting the boys have a co-ed sleepover."
Auggie gasped. "What!"
"Separate sleeping areas, but yeah, I know. Scandalous." Max finished with a chuckle as he imagined his brother and sister-in-law patrolling the hallway all night long.
"How is it that you've been here like 3 days and know everything that is going on?" Auggie laughed with another bewildered shake of his head.
"I just have one of those faces that people just open up to, I guess," decided Max.
Auggie's brow crinkled a little. "Has it changed since the last time I saw it?"
Max shoved him. "Very funny."
Auggie laughed again for a second, then stopped and sighed.
"What?"
"Are you sure I'm not going to be more of a hindrance than a help?" His mind was already drifting back to packing up Max's apartment.
"I don't know, Aug. You'll probably break my favorite lamp or something, but I want you there. I'd like to spend some time together, just the two of us." Max placed his hand on his brother's knee as he tried to convey the strength of his feelings.
"You have a favorite lamp?" Auggie quipped.
Max sighed. "You're missing the point."
"He's just being difficult." Annie pointed out from her position in the doorway.
"How long have you been standing there?" Auggie inquired a little more sharply than he'd intended, but she almost never managed to sneak up on him.
"Just a minute or two." She assured before she directed her words toward Max. "Sorry to eavesdrop, but this sounds like a wonderful idea."
Max stood up. "Which part?"
Annie smiled as she moved toward Auggie. "All of it. Leah just called me about the New Year's party, and then I heard the rest on the way up to find you," she explained as she took the seat beside him that Max had just vacated.
"We'll firm up plans later, Auggie," Max decided as he headed toward the door. "I'm gonna see what's going on downstairs."
"Okay," Auggie agreed before he turned to Annie. "What's up?"
"Did Teo say how they're spelling the baby's name? Is it MacKenzie or McKenzie or something else?" The two men had talked by phone a little earlier in the day.
Auggie shook his head. "It didn't really come up. Why?"
"I thought we should send a gift," she revealed as her fingers trailed down his arm to his hand.
"Or you could just stop by when you get back," he suggested with a squeeze of her hand.
She leaned against him. "I'm glad you're going with Max."
"Trying to get rid of me, are you?" he asked playfully, as he pulled back from her with a smile on his face.
She reached forward and kissed him now. "No. I'm not." It took a good bit of willpower to keep her from inching him all the way back onto the bed, but she withstood the temptation. "Anything but that, actually. I want you to take the time you need and come back when you're ready. And we'll go from there."
"Like, if you love someone let them go and if it's meant to be they'll come back to you?"
She kissed him again. "Sort of. But you were supposed to have some time to relax, and a week in the ICU isn't very relaxing for anyone."
"I feel good, though," he protested.
"Take some time, Auggie. You don't have to rush back." Annie rubbed his arm. "What did Teo say?"
"Not much. We made plans to talk when I get back. He's interested for sure, and he thinks Arthur will be too, but everyone's a bit tied up with the baby and all that right now." He smiled at the recollection of his conversation with Teo. "Sounds like that kid has them all wrapped already."
"Doesn't take much for babies to wiggle their way in."
"Do you want one? Soon, I mean," he asked, almost in a whisper.
Annie adjusted her position on the bed. "Oh no. We're not getting into this now, and we're not going to discuss my job."
"I know, and that's not what I want either. I'm just saying that when you're ready, I will be, too."
"Like now?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I'm not getting any younger."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm feeling very mortal these days." He shook his head as he appeared to focus on the floor. "Maybe it doesn't matter how dangerous your day job is."
"But maybe it does." She wasn't dying to let him know that he'd made some valid points in Costa Rica
"I'm not trying to keep you out of the field." He needed her to know this.
"I know you aren't, but maybe I should think about other ways to show my value at the Agency. I'm going to talk to Joan and Calder about some other options when I get back."
He didn't want her to limit herself while they were still making decisions. "You have time."
She rubbed his arm again. "I'd like to get their input. Joan's anyway."
"Maybe do it outside of work and keep everything off-book for now?" He felt this would be a fair compromise.
"Yeah." She kissed his cheek as she stood. "That makes sense."
"Where are you going?"
"Leah's. I'm guessing you can imagine how infrequently one gets out of the house while raising three small children. She is struggling to contain her excitement over this New Year's party."
"Then by all means, let her dress you up again. I very much enjoy removing her finery from your body," he finished with a smirk.
"You're terrible."
He raised his eyebrows. "You have no idea."
She laughed. "I think I'm starting to get the picture." She started toward the door, but he reached toward her, his hand brushing her arm.
"And Annie?" he added, "That perfume of Leah's from the other night, can you wear that?"
She laughed again as she took a step toward the door.
"Wait!" he called after her, standing from the bed. "I might as well come with you. She's unlikely to let me go out the same outfit twice," he realized as he broke into a grin and fell in step beside her.
TBC
