"Hey." Annie said with a tired grin. Despite the late hour she found herself happy to see Auggie. He was her only real friend and seeing him there, she realized she'd missed him. "What's in the bag?"
"What's a Saint Bernard without booze?" Auggie said with a grin holding out a well used backpack.
"Still cute and dependable." Annie laughed. Annie got him settled safely on the sofa before quickly tossing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and slipping downstairs to snag a couple of wine glasses and a corkscrew.
"I'm surprised you aren't passed out cold." Annie laughed, carefully handing Auggie his glass. "72 hours of near non stop work and I'd be dead to the world"
"So would I, but 72 hours of energy drinks and Starbucks and sleep wasn't happening." Auggie tipped the glass in a mock toast. "Not for lack of trying. After an hour of basically laying there I gave up. Figured I needed something to counteract all that caffeine but wasn't in the mood for the Tavern."
"Despite the fact that you could have found more than one thing to wear you out." Annie teased.
"Despite the fact." Auggie elbowed her.
"I'm not even going to ask how you found my address." Annie laughed.
They sat in a comfortable silence for several minutes. Lack of space on the tiny loveseat meant Annie was close enough to feel the tension in her friend's lanky frame. Tension that didn't seem to be dissolving with the wine. It didn't take CIA training to know that something was up. Something that might be the real reason for the late night interruption.
"Auggie?" Annie said softly. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"The op you were working on? Those guys, they were friends weren't they? From before -"
"My accident? Yeah, they were." Auggie nodded.
"You wanna talk about it?"
"You really wanna know?"
"Only if you want to tell me."
"I don't really like to talk about it." Auggie said hesitantly.
"Then you don't have to."
"I think I need to," Once started, and perhaps fueled by the glass of wine, the words flooded out. "I haven't been able to get them out of my head, even after the op was done. My brain wouldn't stop. I think that's really what was keeping me awake. Just keep thinking about the op, the accident. I've never really talked about it. Most folks don't seem to want to know, makes them uncomfortable I guess. Which makes me uncomfortable. Catholic guilt I guess. Plus knowing that kind of stuff about someone, in our business it's power. So you can't tell just anyone anything. But I've been needing to get it out for a while. I just never felt like I could trust anyone. Not with the whole story."
It took a moment for Annie to digest the rambling mess of thoughts, but one stuck out very clearly. "You trust me?"
"We are friends aren't we?"
"Yeah." Annie set her glass on the coffee table and tucked her feet up so she could face him. "We're friends."
Auggie grinned softly. "Good. It's a bit of a long story." His voice sounded relived and Annie thought she felt him relaxing just a little.
"I've got all night."