"Do we dare to cross that line between your heart and mine
Or would I lose a friend or find a love that would never end
What if I said…"- Anita Cochran, What If I Said

Ding! The computer yelled out as the error message popped up. The woman at the desk across the aisle looked up curiously. Annie frowned, and hunted for the volume control on the speakers.

Henry Wilcox had certainly given her quite a challenge with the matter at hand in the file. So far, of eight major players she'd identified, she only had sufficient clearance to read the agency file on two of them. This was the fourth angry ding she'd gotten in the last two hours. She still needed more info on those four, somehow. She sighed and sat back.

"Trouble, Walker?" Auggie asked, materializing at her side. He reached out, hand landing on her shoulder.

"No trouble," she scowled. He cocked an eyebrow at her. "I'm just bored."

"Bored?"

"I haven't had a case that got me away from this desk in two weeks."

"Welcome to my world."

She clapped her hand over his and squeezed. "Not that I haven't enjoyed the last two weeks," she smirked. They had spent almost every one of those nights together.

He laced his fingers through hers and leaned in to whisper, "Just be careful that your boredom doesn't get you in trouble."

"I can't find the volume knob!" she hissed in exasperation.

"I can't help you with that," he laughed, "but go in that bottom right corner of your screen, click the little speaker, and pull the slider all the way down. You should just leave it there permanently."

"Right." She released his hand so she could grab the mouse. "There." He was still leaning He was still leaning in, so she tipped her head close to his. "All set now," she smiled.

His breath was hot on her ear as he told her, "I don't know what you're looking up in your boredom, but still be careful. The system keeps a log. If you get too many dings, it throws a red flag on your login that gets brought to someone's attention upstairs."

"Ah. How many is too many?" she asked.

He sighed. "I don't know. Those algorithms are above my clearance."

"Annie!" Joan called from the upper level. "My office, please."

Annie spun to look her way as Joan retreated and closed the office door behind her. She turned to Auggie, brow furrowed, and asked, "You don't think…? Not already…?" Things were still weird between her and Joan. They had certainly gotten better after she got back from Amsterdam, but it didn't help that Arthur and possibly Joan were implicated in the mess Henry had recruited her for. Recruited. That was a loaded word in their field. But it was accurate. He recruited her.

"How many dings did you get? I heard two."

"Four."

"Four?!" he asked, incredulously. "That's a lot."

"Mmm…" Annie agreed, as she stood and smoothed her blazer. "She didn't sound mad though."

"I think you're about to become less bored," he grinned.

Annie smiled. "What do you know?"

"Come see me when you're done with Joan."

She gave him a playful pinch in the side as she walked away.

Things were looking up for Annie as she left Joan's office twenty minutes later. She had a case, and wasn't going to be tied to her desk anymore. Better yet, she was headed to the part of the world that was most useful to her off-book task. It would be easy to make a few side trips if she was already in the region.

"Ready for a trip to Turkey?" Auggie asked, looking up from his screen when she click-clacked into his office.

"Ready for a trip that's for sure," she told him. "Turkey's nice." She was a bit more interested in Turkey's neighbor to the south.

"It is," he sighed wistfully.

"I forgot how much you like Turkey," she smiled, nudging his arm with her hip.

"One of my favorite places," he told her. "You're going as a graduate student studying Ottoman antiquities and the Turkish language, which is perfect because-"

"My Turkish sucks."

"I was going to say it needs practice," he chuckled. "You need to read this—" he handed her a file, "and learn all that info for your cover. You'll be meeting with a high level asset in Gaziantep."

"Gaziantep?" she asked. "I thought when Joan said Turkey that I was going to Istanbul. Where is Gaziantep?"

Auggie turned to his keyboard, "Gaziantep is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities. There is a lot of info about it in that folder. Here." A map popped up on the screen.

Annie was sure that all the info about the ancient civilizations in her folder would be an interesting read, but what struck her first, looking at the map, was that Gaziantep was only an hour or two away from Aleppo. "Cool."

"Now," Auggie began, nodding towards the screen, "This is a very dangerous area these days…and I can feel you literally bouncing with excitement."

She chuckled.

"Orders from Joan are to go, meet with the asset-"

"Yeah-"

"And stay in Turkey."

Annie didn't say anything in response to that. It would be easy enough to make a little side trip without drawing attention to the fact beforehand. Forgiveness was always easier than permission.

He caught her hand. "You're awfully quiet."

"Just reading the screen," she lied.

"This source is in Gaziantep. He's got lots of info for us that'll keep you busy. Don't go looking for a dangerous situation," he said. "Please."

She sighed and squeezed his hand. This was the first time the Agency had sent her out of town since their relationship had changed. Of course he was worried. There was no need to worry him more. "I won't." It was unlikely she could keep that promise and pursue the leads in Henry's case, but she could try, right? Well… "I won't go looking for it," she clarified.

He nodded. She was pretty sure he could tell that her promise wasn't the most sincere. This keeping things from him was going to suck. She kissed the top of his head quickly. They were at work, but little shows of affection had never been out of place for them. "Come over tonight?" she asked quietly. Barber was just through the open door, chomping on a bag of salt and vinegar chips. "I'll have to pack, but I'd like to see you…"

He tipped his head in her direction. "Sounds good."

She ran her hand along his shoulders, eliciting a soft sigh, as she headed for the door. "I'll come get you before I head out." She could tell he still had misgivings about sending her so close to a war zone. And he knew her too well to really believe her promise to stay out of trouble. Trouble had a way of finding her like she was magnetic. He always found a way to help her out of whatever trouble she ended up in, whether he liked what she was doing or not. The trick here was going to be how could she seek his help if she couldn't tell him anything about what she was doing?