Annie prepares to leave on her mission in Norway and Auggie arranges a way to send her off personally.

I own nothing associated with Covert Affairs except my imagination and the hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Chapter 2 – Saying Goodbye

Monday morning Annie woke alone in her bedroom in the guesthouse. Although she'd spent the greater part of the weekend with Auggie, waking up alone this morning made her ache for him. There was an place in her heart when she was away from him, and she knew it was going to get worse because she had the trip to Norway facing her.

Across town, Auggie was having similar thoughts about how much he missed Annie when she wasn't with him. Loneliness had never been a part of Auggie's personality. He'd been able to entertain himself when he was a child, and in college when most of the students on his floor would go home for the weekend, he enjoyed the solitude and quiet. Even after coming back to the apartment after he'd finished rehab, he wasn't lonely. He was frustrated and a little frightened at the prospect of spending the rest of his life in an unending darkness, but he wasn't lonely.

This morning, though, he felt empty when he woke up and didn't feel Annie in the bed next to him or hear her in the shower. He made a pot of coffee before he showered and got ready for work. He missed an early morning chat with Annie as he ate his bagel and cream cheese alone sitting at the island. Annie was going to be out of the country, so just as he was getting accustomed to spending long stretches of time with Annie he was going to have to get used to spending time alone again. He was beginning to realize how much he was going to hate it.

Annie was leaving at the end of the week and would be spending the better part of the next six weeks or so in Alta, Norway, the country's northern-most city, for a series of meetings with her Russian contact. Ivan Ortoff had passed bits of information to a CIA officer in Moscow about activities in the Russian mafia that appeared to lead to money laundering in the US and the sale of stolen high-tech arms to Somali pirates. Now, Annie was going to be meeting Ivan at various spots around Alta to pick up envelopes of information and transmit the intel back to Langley.

Alta was selected for the brush pass mission because of its proximity to Russia and its Finnmark University with the library that would give Annie the cover she needed to do research on linguistics and her family genealogy as Alta Wilhelmsen.

Annie had packed every warm piece of clothing she owned, and at the suggestion of Auggie had purchased some silk long underwear. She had studied the background information and was ready for the mission. So … physically and mentally she was prepared. Emotionally she was having trouble leaving, knowing she would not be able to share truly private moments with Auggie.

Annie sat at her desk Wednesday afternoon reading about Alta and thinking through her cover when a wave of fatigue came over her. "Three o'clock," she thought to herself, "I need some afternoon caffeine." She opened the door to Auggie's office to ask him if he'd like her to bring him a cup.

"No … I need to stretch," he said reaching for his laser. "I'll walk with you … unless you prefer to go alone," he teased.

She punched him in the shoulder and grabbed his hand. "Come on!"

Walking to the food court, Auggie explained to Annie that he had reviewed her travel plans. "Oh," she said, "I haven't even seen them yet."

"That's because I needed to check them out to be sure we could stay in contact before they are finalized. Everything is looking ok, though. You'll fly from Dulles to Oslo, have a layover of about two hours and then fly up to Alta. You'll be booked into the Thon Hotel, one of the newer hotels in the city. Our communication system should work just fine," Auggie explained.

"Good … I don't want to lose my communication with you." Auggie squeezed her elbow.

"I took a little liberty with your travel plans," Auggie continued. "I ordered a car to take you to the airport so I could go with you to see you off."

"That's not necessary. I can call a cab like I always do for longer trips."

"Nope. I want to spend as much time with you as possible before you take off."

"I won't even try to argue, because I feel the same way," Annie whispered back. "But, don't get us in trouble by packing a bag and coming with me."

Auggie smiled a little too much, which told Annie the thought might have crossed his mind.


Auggie was already in the car when it arrived to pick up Annie, who explained to Danni that the ride to the airport was a special treat from Auggie. "He's so thoughtful," Danni cooed.

"That he is," Annie answered as she dragged her first suitcase down the sidewalk and Danni followed behind with her second large bag.

Danni hugged her sister goodbye and mentioned that she couldn't believe the Smithsonian is sending her to the north of Norway in the winter. "Couldn't they at least wait until spring?"

"Apparently not," Annie sighed.

When her bags were loaded in the trunk, Auggie held the car door for her to get in and closed it. He followed the car around to the driver side back door and climbed in just as Harold, his usual driver, started the car. Annie waved to her sister as they pulled away for the ride to Dulles.

They scooted close together in the back seat and Auggie quizzed her about having everything she needed personally and for the mission. Finally, Auggie draped his right arm over her shoulder and she reached over and laid her hand over his right hand that was resting on his knee. They rode in comfortable silence until the car turned into the airport to Annie's terminal.

"We're almost at the terminal," she whispered. Auggie made a little face of resignation and nodded. When the car stopped, Auggie got out to help her with her bag.

"You pull one bag and carry your tote," Auggie instructed, "and I'll pull the heavier bag and use my cane. You just have to keep talking so I can keep track of you in the foot traffic on the way to the curb side check-in." It took both Harold and Auggie to pull the bags out of the trunk. Harold maneuvered the bags up to the sidewalk so they could get situated to roll them to the check-in stand.

"Auggie, I'll be right here," Harold said as they walked away. Auggie knew that Harold would watch out for him and meet him halfway on his way back to the car if he would happen to get off track.

During the short walk, Annie told Auggie that she'd double checked and had her e-ticket information and her passport handy and she'd even remembered to put money in her coat pocket to tip the man at the bag stand. A few steps away from the curb-side check-in, she reached over and touched his hand to let him know they were there.

"Good morning," the man at the check-in stand said, "are we both traveling today?"

"No, just me," Annie said.

"I'm just trying to get her here with all of her stuff," Auggie offered with a big grin.

Annie gave him her travel information and ID, and she received her baggage claim checks with instructions to finish checking in at the desk inside. They moved a few steps away from the crowd. Annie stood in front of Auggie looking up into his face. She put her tote bag down in between them and reached up to hug him. He wrapped his arms around her and they embraced without saying anything until Annie pulled back a little, reached up to kiss him gently and whispered, "I'll be sure to write."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Auggie said.

"Now, we need to get going," Annie said as she carefully lined Auggie up with Harold and the car. "Harold is standing about at your one o'clock. It's all sidewalk … no funky planters or landscaping are in your way."

Auggie nodded and as he started to walk back to the car, they said in unison, "I'll miss you."

Annie stood and watched as Auggie strode back to the car and only had to make a slight adjustment when Harold must have called out his name. Auggie could feel Annie watching him walk back to the car, so before he got in the front seat, he turned back in her direction and blew her a kiss. Even though she knew he couldn't see her, she caught it and waved to him … she knew he would feel it.

Both let out heavy sighs.


Annie settled into her routine in Alta, doing research at the university library and meeting with some of the professors to visit with them about the Norwegian dialects. The university staff was warm and welcoming, the fjord with the mountains in the distance was beautiful and the Northern Lights were spectacular. However, she had trouble keeping warm and she missed Auggie … and her family … the friends she'd made at the DPD … one night she was so lonesome she thought she even missed the old windbag Henry Wilcox.

On her way out to the university library one day, she stopped at a boutique that sold knitted wear. She was cold and lonesome and was overcome with a need for retail therapy. She bought traditional Norwegian sweaters for herself and Danni and knitted caps with earflaps for the girls. And, after giving it a little thought, she bought an adult hat for herself. She studied the men's sweaters and decided that even though Auggie wore a lot of sweaters, the traditional designs would not be his style. She bought him a pair of heavy wool socks that could double as house socks in the winter.

When she back tracked to the hotel to stash her purchases, her encrypted phone rang … it was Auggie. "Hey, Auggie, what's up?"

"Not too much, Slugger. I wanted to let you know we've had another communication with Ivan and he wants to meet you at the library this afternoon … your time. Is that doable?"

"I may have to cancel my dog sledding lessons, but I think I can make it," she teased. "It's midday here, and the middle of the night there; why are you calling and not someone on the night crew?"

"I was working late on another project when the call came in from Ivan. By the time we had everything verified to contact you, I decided to stay so I could talk to you … make sure everything was going the way you had expected," he explained in his most professional tone.

Annie realized the translation was "I wanted to hear your voice."

"I appreciate that. Thank you," she said professionally. "Auggie? Did you receive my note?"

His professional tone turned much softer, "Yes, I did." An ocean away from each other they sighed and smiled.

"Auggie, this Ivan is so secretive and paranoid," Annie confided. "He only wants to hand off small bits of information at a time. It's so frustrating. I am frustrated and impatient to get my hands on all his intel so I can start translating it for the analysts."

"I understand, Annie," Auggie commiserated with her. "This is one of those missions that will take some patience."

"My god, Auggie, the man is torturing me," Annie complained into her encrypted phone. "I can't believe the small amount of information he's bringing to each meeting. He's just trying to see how cold I can get before this operation is over."

"Just how cold is it?" Auggie asked in a particularly teasing tone.

"It's so cold that in ten steps out the hotel entrance all the heat in my body was sucked out the soles of my boots."

Auggie laughed at her description.

"Don't you mock me, Auggie Anderson, unless you want to come over here and freeze your ass off, too."

"Give me ten minutes and I can have a bag packed and catch a cab to the airport," he said seriously.

"Auggie, that was out of line for me. I know how much you'd love to be back in the field. But I'm bordering on miserable here and I want to come home to warm up. I can't help the whining." She wanted to tell Auggie how much she missed him, but she was half afraid he really would pack a bag and make an unsanctioned trip to Norway.

"I understand. You don't want me going off the grid just to keep you warm." The teasing tone returned to his voice.

After talking to Auggie, she felt better about the mission and her heart was warmed by just hearing his voice. That afternoon, Ivan turned over more intel to Annie than had been expected, and the officers working in Moscow had another breakthrough with their information gathering.

Two days later, Annie returned to DC with the latest installment in the intel that was beginning to link the Russian mafia with a couple of cells of international arms dealers who were dealing high end, more powerful automatic weapons with laser sights to Somalian pirates. Annie's first stop after she landed at Dulles was the DPD, namely the Tech Ops Office. On her way to Auggie's office, Annie took off her down parka and tossed on her desk chair, revealing her wool Norwegian hand knit sweater with a snowflake design, heavy wool slacks and her Ugg boots.

As she approached the glass sliding door to Tech Ops, she saw Auggie wearing his headphones hunched over his keyboard working in deep concentration. Stu's back was to her. She slid the door open quietly as possible. Stu turned and smiled, but Auggie, because of the headphones and his intent concentration, didn't hear her. Annie smiled warmly at Stu and shook her head. Stu smiled broadly and nodded. Would Annie finally be able to sneak up on Auggie?

Walking quietly in her soft-soled boots, Annie slipped in beside Auggie bent down and kissed him on the cheek. Auggie jumped, realized who had sneaked up on him and laughed. "Are you proud of yourself, Annie Walker? You finally startled me."

Stu was smiling as he left the Tech Ops Center to give them a few minutes of privacy. Auggie slipped off his headphones, placed them on the desk beside the keyboard and stood up to give Annie a proper welcoming hug. He'd save the kiss for later when they weren't in a glass office. But, he did lean in close to whisper in his most seductive way, "Joan wants to talk to you before you head home."

"Do I get to see you tonight?" Annie asked.

"If you're not too tired. I thought you might want to spend some time with Danni, Michael and the girls."

"I'll be there when the girls get home from school. I can spend some time with them and then head over to your place. Will that be ok?"

"You know it is, Slugger. How about I order us a pizza? If you've been in Norway for a week, I bet you'll want some food with color."

"What?"

"I've always heard that all Norwegian food is white … fish … potatoes … turnips … bread. So, a colorful pizza might hit the spot. I'll order half and half … veggie for you and sausage and black olives on my side," he said. "Now, go see Joan so you can get out of here at a decent hour."

"Joan, you wanted to see me?" Annie asked knocking on the doorframe to Joan's office.

"Come in, Annie. How was Norway?"

"OK. He's still giving us intel in drabbles, but he gave us more information this last time and Auggie says some of the pieces are starting to fall together. I'll have the translation tomorrow afternoon, if that's soon enough."

"That will be fine. I just wanted to let you know that we'll need you here for a couple of weeks to work on analyzing these translations and also to translate intel from officers who have been meeting with some acquaintances of your asset in Moscow. You probably won't have to go back to Norway until the end of March."

"Great," Annie said with mock enthusiasm. "It may warm up three degrees by then."


Annie is going to get to spend a few weeks in the office rather than out in the field. That also means she and Auggie will have the luxury of spending time together in the next chapter. How do you think they're going to spend a quiet Sunday? Come back for the next chapter to find out.

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