Scene: Jumping ahead to almost two years after Season 5.

Friday morning at the McQuaid home.

Annie and Ryan have been married for about a year and a half.

Annie continued to work with Joan Campbell for the CIA after agreeing to marry Ryan.

Upon waking in their large Master Suite Annie and Ryan kissed each other proceeded to start their day, Annie headed straight for the Master Bathroom while Ryan headed for the closet to retrieve his duffle bag.

Annie let out a long exhale when she discovered signs of the start of her cycle. Ryan walked into the master bath to collect items to fill his toiletry bag for his trip. He had plans to leave for a guys' weekend right after lunch to beat the traffic. A three-day weekend was ahead and this hunting and fishing trip had become an annual tradition for Ryan and his closest guy friends.

Ryan watched Annie as she came out of the toilet, a separate space from the vanity, sink and tub and shower area. He watched her head to the cabinet under her sink to pull out a tampon. In an instant he read her mood as she gave Ryan a weak smile before heading back into the toilet. She was upset, but trying not to be. He felt a little twinge of disappointment himself, but he set it aside.

Ryan waited for Annie at his sink as he ostensibly packed his toiletries. He wasn't worried about her not getting pregnant right away. He was always positive, but her disappointment affected him as it mirrored his own disappointment. He was a couple of years older than Annie and he had watched many of his friends become fathers and speak tenderly about their experiences. He also witness for himself how becoming fathers had changed his friends. Some of them were disciplined hard core veterans like Ryan, they were snipers, pilots, spec ops men who had seen bloody combat and killed in the name of freedom, yet fatherhood softened them all a touch.

Annie was back in the water closet, trying to put a finger what she was feeling. She wasn't familiar with what was going on in the pit of her stomach. Her head was telling her not to be sad. Getting pregnant was taking longer than she expected and it hit her this particular month when she realized it had been six months since she stopped taking her birth control pills. She remembered tossing them on the eve of her first wedding anniversary. She didn't pack them for their weekend in Paris.

When Annie emerged from the toilet, Ryan said with a huge smile, "I'm glad we got in a fantastic romp last night." The previous night they were intimate, it was something they always did the night before one of them left town.

Annie tried to act normal. "Last night was fun, we need to start out in the kitchen more often," she quipped remembering they went to bed without getting to the dishes. Ugh, a sink full of dishes in the morning, not her favorite thing to deal with once she went downstairs.

"I'll cancel my fishing trip and we can spend the weekend together. We could go anywhere. You name it, we can go to the Metropolitan and see the latest exhibit and take in a Broadway or show? Or if you want some sun, we can head south to the Gulf or West to San Diego? You name it, I'll make it happen," said the doting husband who wanted nothing more in the world than to ease the sadness he sensed from Annie.

Annie smiled, "That's incredibly generous of you, comes in handy to have a husband with his own fleet of planes, but I wouldn't hear the end of it from the guys and I know you've been looking forward to this long weekend with them."

"Oh the guys will understand, family first," said Ryan.

"Go, go, go, I need my time alone too. I have that yoga and gong meditation on Saturday morning and it's been awhile since I strolled around Georgetown. Remember, I'm also having brunch with Joan and Mac on Sunday. We're taking him to the zoo. Monday, I planned on the National Gallery and a facial. I filled my weekend up, so don't worry about me," rambled Annie as she put toothpaste on her toothbrush.

He didn't seem convinced as he looked at her tenderly.

Annie knew what he was thinking, she blurted out with a mouthful of toothpaste and trying her best to appear unflappable, "I'm fine." She spit out her toothpaste and wiped her mouth with her towel. "I didn't expect it to take this long, but I guess I didn't know what to expect. We said we wouldn't stress about it so. . . let's not okay?"

Annie headed for the closet to put on her work out clothes, but before she could, Ryan went to her and took her hand. It was a delicate subject. How long does it "normally" take, they were both older. How long more do we try thought Ryan before seeking help from a fertility specialist? How badly did they want a child? He didn't want to put any pressure on her by suggesting anything.

"I'm not stressed, I know it will happen. I don't know why, but it's my gut feeling," said Ryan with a wink as he tucked her hair behind her ears. He smiled lovingly at her as she looked down.

"It just seems like you're sad."

Annie hadn't experienced these feelings before. All her adult life she worked to avoid getting pregnant and here she was trying to get pregnant and not succeeding. Annie, always an overachiever was used to things coming easily. She didn't know what to do with this monthly disappointment again. She had never felt what she felt that morning when she saw the twinges of brown on the toilet paper. The first couple of months she wasn't expecting anything and had no feelings of being let down. She felt hopeful just yesterday that this was their month. But now she started to wonder how long it was going to take and whether something was wrong.

When she saw babies and moms, there was a twinge of envy she never felt.

"Would it be a full life if it was just the two of us?" Annie asked.

"It would be more than full, over flowing! Look, I never expected to be married again and here we are, I'm good," said McQuaid cheerfully.

"I guess this means we have more time for just the two of us," said Annie.

He wrapped his arms around her and they held each other extra long that morning since they wouldn't see each other until Monday evening. Annie changed into her running outfit and washed the dishes in the sink while Ryan showered. She started a pot of coffee for him to drink before going to work and left out his clean coffee mug. She left him a note before heading out for a morning run:

Looking forward to having barbequed trout when you return. Love, Annie.

Ryan left town thinking of Annie and feeling closer to her than ever and Annie felt the same, both confident that they would weather this uncertain period where they were trying to have a family. Ryan didn't seem too worried, his positive nature rubbed off on her. Since taking the leap and marrying Ryan, Annie put aside the darkness, guilt and loneliness of her past and made room for him and happiness again. In her heart, she too knew that they would be parents one day.