A/N: Thank you for all of the lovely reviews! They feed my habit quite well. I'm thinking that I will write shorter chapters so that I can update more. Is that alright with everyone? I'm **hoping** to get a chapter or two up a day, depending on how things go.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two.

As a rule, Auggie Anderson had always been pretty self-confident. It had become a self-defense mechanism after Iraq, but he'd always been fairly sure of himself. He had to be with four older brothers ready to pummel him at any given second while growing up.

No matter how self-confident Auggie thought of himself he could keep his mind from wandering to what had possessed him to ask Annie with him on his yearly sojourn to Glencoe. His mother would be thrilled, of course, and Dixon and Hugh would be flirts as soon as they found out they weren't dating…

Auggie sighed as he reached into the closet, feeling the hangers for the shirt he wanted. His fingers slid across the appropriate tab and he pulled it down and packed it away. It was only two and a half days, he reminded himself. They'd return late Sunday and be back at work as usual on Monday.

And she had agreed to come.

A sigh escaped his lips and he clicked the small button on his watch. "Five o'clock PM," the automated voice rang out. He and Annie had scooted out not long after lunch and she was supposed to be by any second.

The doorbell rang and Auggie smiled. Right on time.

He really wished he could have seen her before he lost his sight, but he had a mental image of her. It was the one that appeared in his mind's eye whenever the scent of grapefruit hit his sensitive nose. He had a running movie in his head most of the day, refusing to allow the blindness of his eyes keep him from seeing the world around him. At least he had something to go off of. He knew she was beautiful, and he pictured wide, innocent eyes. He'd think blue, but that would be too cliché and she was anything but cliché. He knew she was blonde and then there was that way that she carried herself in those heels of hers….

Auggie took a deep breath before opening the door. "Right on time."

Annie grinned widely. "You about ready?"

He nodded. "Almost," he said, motioning for her to follow him into the large apartment.

Annie closed the door behind her, wide brown eyes taking in the entire place. She'd dropped him off plenty of times, but usually the hour was late and they were both exhausted, so she'd never been inside. It was larger than it had looked from the outside and even stepped up into a half story up. She watched Auggie move about without the use of any sort of cane. He was comfortable here and knew where everything was placed. She'd wager nothing was ever moved.

"Fridge is to your left if you want anything," Auggie called from the back of the apartment.

"I'm good, thanks," she answered, still browsing. Her eyes came to rest on a rather large bookshelf and she smiled. It was sectioned off into two parts, and the left's books' titles were subbed in Braille. She ran her fingers across them, wondering just how long it had taken her friend to become as quickly proficient as he was then. She moved to the second half of the shelf and realized that the only indents left were from the titles. The books had no Braille in them. With a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach she realized that they were from before Iraq.

"Sorry, was just finishing up," Auggie explained as he reentered the room, bag slung over his shoulder and walking stick in hand. It was almost strange to see him use the old fashioned stick when she was used to seeing the green light go ahead of anywhere that he walked. She supposed it would raise too many questions with his family though.

"That's alright. I was just poking through your library over here."

Auggie grinned broadly. "Does it hold a candle to what you've collected in all your travels?"

"More than, but I saw some foreign books in here."

"I picked up souvenirs when I was abroad in the field. Most of the time it was in the form of books. You're welcomed to any of those on the right side. I can't get any use out of them anymore, anyhow."

Annie let her eyes travel over the works once more. "Why've you kept them so long?"

Auggie shrugged, moving towards the door. "Strange sense of nostalgia, maybe? Grab one and let's head out. Airports are always hell."

Auggie was right, of course, and the airport was packed. It was the latter part of the summer and tourists were heading in every direction. They dodged children and unresponsive parents until finally falling into seats.

"Hurry up and wait."

"I'm sorry?" Auggie laughed, inclining his head so that he appeared to be looking at her.

Annie grinned. "When I was growing up, my dad always hated to come to airports. He said we hurried up to wait. I think that's why we usually drove cross-country."

"Beautiful scenery, at least. I've driven from DC to Glencoe before."

Annie shifted in the stiff-backed chair, watching her friend carefully. There was so much that she didn't know about what had happened. How long ago was it? How did he explain a CIA-related injury to his family? She opted to ask about the latter.

"They thought I was in the military," he explained, stretching his legs out and slouching slightly in his chair. "It explained being gone so much and for so long. It was definitely a cover that made Dad proud, so I had no complaints. They knew I was in the Middle East. so the real story could be told, just not in entirety."

"What do they think you do now?"

"Computer work for some company here in town. Mom's not as interested in that as telling me that she'd rather have me back home. You'll see."

"That bad then?"

"That bad then," he agreed.

"At least she's not trying to marry you off," Annie grumbled. "My sister's decided since Mom's not close by that she needs to take on that roll. I told her that I was going with you this weekend and she's now convinced I've been dating behind her back."

Auggie grinned. "Oh, you'll get a fair bit of interrogation, don't worry."

"You're family's the reason that you can out-lie to polygraph machine?"

Her friend let out a choked laugh. "You heard about that, huh?"

"Heard you gave him a run for his money and he's not looking forward to the next session."

"Good," Auggie murmured, seeming perfectly content with having one of Arthur's henchmen afraid of him.

Before they knew it their numbers were called for the plane and they had boarding and were halfway to Illinois. Annie knew that she should be more troubled about the fact that she was going to meet her friend's family, but it was strangely comforting. It was like for a couple days, at least, she could pretend to be normal. For a couple days she'd spend it with the only person she was really interested spending time with these days outside of her sister's family. For a short weekend, she might just forget Ben. She glanced to where Auggie was leaned up against the window, eyes staring blankly at the clouds that passed as if he were watching them. Yes, she thought with a smile, she might just be able to forget Ben for the weekend.

A/N: Feed the addiction, please.