The morning's conversation continues and Annie goes home to an interrogation from Danielle. I've been working on heavy stuff for so long that I thought that a bit of lighter fare would be a good change of pace.

Disclaimer: I do not own Annie, Auggie, or Danielle. I do own a 65# Boxer who thinks she's a lapdog.


Auggie mulled Annie's words over in his mind. They were still just friends. Friends with benefits, it seemed. It was not what he wanted with her, but for now it would have to do. He would have to be careful with her, proceed cautiously with his attentions. Come on too strongly with her, become too possessive of her and he might lose her completely. He did not want that. She'd said that if she wanted to settle down, she wanted to do so with him. That caused him great internal joy. For all of the confidence he exuded, his lack of sight did give him cause to wonder, at times, if anyone would consider him as a man that they'd like to settle down with.

"Yes, Annie, that answers my question." He smiled at her across the table. He was a happy man as he took another bite of his omelet.

A leisurely fifteen minutes later later Stella wandered back over. "Everything okay, here? More coffee, Auggie? Ma'am?"

"Two cups is my limit this morning, Stella. How about you Annie?"

"I've had my fill, too, Auggie."

"Just the check it appears."

Stella ripped a page from her order book and slid it across the table until it brushed against the side of Auggie's hand before she went back to her other customer.

"I'm ready to get out of here any time you are, Annie."

Annie slid out of the booth and waited for Auggie to do the same. Then they made their way to the cashier's counter by the door where Auggie placed the ticket on the counter. Moments later the person behind the counter was entering the charges into the register. There was a long pause and the subtle clearing of a throat.

"Annie, help me out here?"

She leaned in and whispered, "The total is $14.52. And the guy's got his hand out for payment."

Auggie dug in his front pocket and pulled out his wallet. He offered out his debit card which was quickly snatched out of his hand.

Shortly Annie asked, "Auggie, how much of a tip do you want to leave?"

"Make the total for $18. And just scribble A. Anderson across the bottom, and let's get out of here," Auggie responded with a touch of frustration.

After Annie had placed the receipt in his hand Auggie tucked it neatly into the bill compartment of his wallet and then shoved it back into his pocket. He took Annie's arm after she brushed her hand against his.

Moments later Auggie and Annie were walking back up the block towards his apartment arm-in-arm chuckling over the rude comment Auggie made about the cafe owner's son's rudeness. Just as they were nearly back to Auggie's door, the phone in Annie's pocket chimed.

"Annie Walker," Annie said once she'd fished it out of the pocket and brought it to her ear. "Yes, Danielle, I do know what time it is ... I got a bit too drunk to drive and spent the night with a friend. I'm on my way back to get my car now. I should be home in about an hour. … Yes, Danielle. Good-bye."

"I take it that was Danielle," Auggie said with amusement. "And wanting to know why you didn't come home last night."

"Yeah," Annie admitted. "She has a very wide maternal streak. She is going to give me the third degree when I get back. Who did I stay with? Did we use protection? Is the relationship going anywhere? All things that I would just as soon not discuss with her right now." She paused for a moment, and then sheepishly asked, "We did use protection didn't we? Things got a bit blurred."

"Yes, Annie. I always use protection," he whispered reassuringly. "And it has been months since I was last with anyone." He hated to admit it, but it was true, he hadn't felt like being with another woman in months. Not since he'd started having feelings for one Anne Catherine Walker.

##########

If Annie thought that she could slip into her house without encountering her sister, she was sadly mistaken. She had barely shut the engine off when Danielle swooped down on her like a vulture on its prey.

Annie opened the car door and made a dash for her door with Danielle following closely behind.

Once inside her apartment, Annie deposited the suit she wore yesterday in the dry cleaning hamper and went to sit on her bed.

"Are you quite through trying to ignore me?" Danielle asked exasperatedly settling herself on the bed beside her sister.

"Not quite. But I know that you'll not go away unless I tell you all about my evening. There's not much to tell. One too many beers at a local bar with a bunch of people from work. One of the guys and I were going to share a cab, then one thing led to another and I went home with him. He's a nice guy, someone I might like to date at some time in the future but not right now. We used protection and we talked this morning and decided that we're good friends, but nothing more. Right now."

"And just who is this nice guy that took advantage of my drunken sister?" Danielle questioned with a tone of reproach.

"That is none of your business," Annie replied quickly. "And he did not take advantage of me. We satisfied a mutual hunger. And it was more than carnal lust, too."

"It's not that boss of yours that showed us around the Smithsonian that time? Oh, what was his name?"

"His name is Auggie, Dani. And what if it was? Not saying that it is, but what if it was?" Annie was beginning to feel a bit defensive of Auggie now.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a wad, Annie. He's the only one of the people that you work with that we've met. He seemed like a nice guy. And he seemed to think very highly of you, too."

"He did?" That tidbit of information surprised Annie.

"Yeah, I could tell by the way he spoke about you."

"That's interesting to know. I never thought of him that way." Annie lied convincingly.

"And why not? He's good-looking, charming, witty, and very smart."

"And blind. You forgot to mention he's blind," Annie added cautiously.

"So what. So he can't see. Is that a problem for you, Annie?" Danielle seemed shocked at the thought that she might think less of Auggie because he couldn't see. That was reassuring to Annie.

"No, it's not. Sometimes I forget that Auggie can't see. He's so comfortable with himself that he puts everyone at ease with his blindness. It's just part of who he is."

"He does seem to have a powerful personality. I know that after a short time with him, his being blind just sort of faded away into the background."

"I'll have to tell him that on Monday. I think that knowledge would please him."

"Hey, since that Jai guy seems to have dropped off your radar, why don't you invite Auggie to dinner this Thursday?"

"Why? He's also a very private person. He might not want to come to dinner with us. I've told him all about the losers you've tried to fix me up with. I don't think that he sees himself as a loser." Now Annie was trying very hard not to strangle her older sister. The last thing she wanted was to seem like one of those clingy women who thought that one evening together constituted the beginning of a relationship. And she felt that asking Auggie to dinner this soon after last night might send him the wrong signal. The last thing she wanted to do was frighten him off by appearing to come on too strongly.