Blurring the Lines

Nobody, not even Auggie and Annie themselves, would have guessed at just how much of a role Joan would have in finally getting the two together. As usual, the director of the DPD did the majority of her meddling behind the scenes, meaning that while she was certainly responsible for the outcome of her mission, nobody could really point any fingers. Still, it was without a doubt thanks to Joan Campbell that Annie and Auggie eventually got together.

It was a well-known fact around the office that Joan had momma-bear tendencies; she may be tough, and everyone with a shred left of his sanity feared her, but the claws came out whenever one of her team was threatened. Matchmaking, however, was not something she counted among her considerable talents. Even Joan herself was surprised by how much she was invested in seeing them as a couple. She didn't consider herself a romantic by any means, yet something about the pair triggered a matchmaker response she didn't know she possessed. Maybe it was the way they played off each other, their increasing giddiness affecting the general mood in the office and lifting everyone's spirits. More likely it was because of the way Annie and Auggie affected each other. Before Annie's arrival, Auggie had been much more sullen and withdrawn. Now he looked at Annie like she was his personal sun, one he could see in spite of his blindness. Suddenly, he was much more willing to do tasks he considered beneath him, enthusiastically yet carefully attending to his "desk job." As for Annie, she quickly grew confident in even the most dangerous assignments, and as long as Auggie acted as the tech op assigned to her case, nobody, least of all Joan, worried about her safety.

And so the matchmaking, though Joan refused to acknowledge it as such, commenced. She assigned them as partners whenever possible, and any time she allowed Auggie to work as a field operative, she had Annie looking out for him. Her personal favorite was the time she assigned them to an undercover op in Switzerland – their story being, predictably, that they were newlyweds on their honeymoon. She was quite pleased with herself for thinking that one up, though she wouldn't have admitted so under torture. Joan began looking forward to work each day so she could spy on her unsuspecting project subjects' progress.

She didn't even reprimand them when she caught them kissing in the elevator when they were supposed to be working.