A/N: I am exceptionally exhausted while editing this. Wednesdays are killer. I leave my apartment around 8:45AM and don't get back until sometime after 8PM with very little break in between. And today my science lab felt like we should have a flashback to elementary school and go to the zoo. That would be fun, if it weren't Texas heat mixed with long days and being 15-20 minutes late to work. Oi. Stupid lab. Sorry for the rant. All that to say that if I don't catch a blaring mistake in this, I'm terribly sorry. Gabrielle Day and I write these co-written stories on yahoo chat so sometimes our fingers don't always hit the right keys and I don't always catch the mistakes. ^^;

Tonight is unwind night with wine and relaxation. Sorry, homework, you're not cool enough to get done, but this fic is! =D

Jai and Alyssa walked quickly down the corridor, Jai keeping the young girl in front of him to block a good look at who was with him for anyone coming up from behind. Most of the students and faculty were still in classes or in the cafeteria, so the dorm area was clear. They made it to Annie's room without getting caught and Jai did a quick sweep to make sure no one had been there since Annie showered. "It looks clear. Stay here, keep the door locked. Don't make a sound. Don't let anybody in, and I mean anybody until we come back for you."

Alyssa nodded. "Okay."

Jai left her there and waited for the sound of the clicking lock before heading back to the office. He entered a deserted hallway and froze when the lights went out. Without windows the place was drenched in darkness. Jai felt unnerved and thought briefly that must have been what Auggie lived with day in and day out. It was a wonder the man wasn't more paranoid than he was.

The sound of tapping shoes against linoleum could be heard menacingly from the other end of the hall.

In the tech room Auggie sat straight, his computer suddenly reading error. "I've lost signal. What happened?"

"The lights are out too," Annie whispered, her voice small in the great nothingness to her own ears. She groped around until she found Auggie's shoulder and clamped down on it. She heard him unfold his cane and stand. "Should we leave your computer here?"

"I've got it on the highest security setting. Don't worry, no one's getting into it."

Jai crept forward, moving closer to the wall. He wasn't alone, not anymore. He could them breathing, whoever they were. It was behind him before he realized it and a hand clamped down on his shoulder seconds before the fist hit him in the face. He grunted and fell, kicking out his left leg as he went. It connected with his assailants shin, but they were steady and landed another punch as he moved to stand up.

Jai hit the floor hard, the breath rushing from his lungs. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness just enough that he could see the shape of his attacker. He was large and well built. Certainly not Jenkins, but he wouldn't doubt that the thin man had sent the larger one his way. He rolled when a foot came crashing down, aimed at his ribs. He felt another foot slam hard into his back, sending him rolling and coughing. Pain raced through him and he realized that there had been no real follow-through in the kick and the man was all but standing on him now, crushing him down to the cold floor.

He blinked, tried to breathe and couldn't. He couldn't reach behind him to dislodge the leg pinning him down, and a sweep with his own legs gained him nothing. Jai shut his eyes and told himself not think about how much this was going to hurt. In one swift movement, he put his hands under himself and pushed with every ounce of strength he possessed. The muscles in his back pulled in protest, but it was enough to throw the man off balance.

Jai launched himself to one side, driving his elbow into the side of the man's kneecap, which gave way with a satisfying pop. A sharp blow to the base of the skull took the man down the rest of the way.

He leaned heavily on the wall and gave a satisfied look in his large assailant's direction before limping his way towards his original destination. He flinched when he heard a shuffling movement, but realized that part of the clicking was Auggie's cane against the hard flooring.

"Jai?" Annie called out and patted Auggie's shoulder to let him know that she was temporarily leaving his side.

"What happened to you?" Auggie's voice sounded in the darkness.

"Got jumped," Jai managed, waving Annie's worry off with an unseen and therefore somewhat worthless charming smile.

"I take it you lost," Auggie chuckled.

"You should see the other guy." Jai offered.

Annie reached and gingerly touched the quickly swelling spot on his face where he'd been struck. She sucked in air through her teeth. "Hope you gave at least half as good as what you got." She said.

"I'm the one that walked way," the other replied. "You two okay?"

"Yeah, but I think our welcome in the building may have run out," Auggie said lowly. "I have to go back for my laptop before we go see what's going on."

"You think they know?"

"Whoever it is won't come out after this. They'll be more careful than that."

Jai shot him an irritated look, not really caring if he could see it or not. "You don't have to sound so excited about it."

"If you were benched most of the time, you'd take what you could get too." Auggie paused, grinning. "But I guess I didn't just get my ass whooped, so…"

"Again, I happen to be the one standing." Jai pointed out, sounding grouchy. "And I like to see you do better in an ambush." He added under his breath.

Annie stepped forward into the hall, pulling out a pen light. "We should at least take a look at who it is." She said. She walked forward, scanning the light along the ground. "Uh, Jai? There's no body here."

Auggie groped for Annie's hand. "If you've got that light on, shut it off," he hissed, listening carefully to the eerie silence that accompanied them in the seemingly empty hallway.

It stretched on endlessly into the dark both ways and the inky blackness rushed to meet in the middle as the pen was extinguished. "Round two? I think three against one might be a bit better odds," Auggie murmured lightly, placing one hand solidly on the wall behind him.

"He should have been out for a good hour at least," Jai breathed, his voice giving away the uneasiness he felt. "And he shouldn't have been able to just prance away, I took out his knee." he added, moving closer to Auggie and Annie.

"I don't suppose it occurred to you that he had friends?" Auggie said through gritted teeth. He moved himself further around Annie, listening carefully for movement on either side.

Finally his keen ears picked up on a very quiet sound that might have been soft-soled shoes on the hard floor. They'd come prepared.

"I thought you said that they wouldn't come back, Auggie," Annie muttered, steeling herself for the potential battle ahead.

"I have known to be wrong in my clairvoyant tendencies," the other replied. He froze suddenly. "Hear that?" he whispered, his voice barely audible against the suffocating quiet.

"Auggie, duck!" Annie said sharply.

Instead, he half turned and landed a fist against his unseen assailant's solar plexus. They heard the gasp as the person stumbled back, and the thud as they landed against the wall.

Jai moved forward, rushing to take them down only to find the space empty when he got there. He squinted, trying to get some sort of outline, but came up empty. He felt a fist come down on his already sore back and he cursed lowly as he tumbled off balance.

A second came up behind Auggie and the blind agent didn't move quite fast enough. He hit the wall hard and felt all the breath leave his lungs and his head hit with a sickening thud. He sank down against it, his knees buckling and he felt the room swim. He tried to gain his baring, and expected another blow.

A cracking sound echoed through the hall and it grew very silent. "Annie?" he called shakily.

The two men could hear the sound of their blonde companion breathing heavily and Annie gave a half laugh as the lights flickered on. The sound of their assailants' retreat could be heard around the corner. She smirked and tossed her head back, surveying Jai and Auggie. "And you two were worried about me."

Auggie felt himself relax some when Annie's fingers slid into his and she helped pull him to his feet. "Chalk it up to ancient protective instincts."

"Yeah, well you Tarzans got one upped by Jane." Annie said.

Jai rubbed his shoulder, and pushed a deep breath through his nose. "Let me guess...the lack of cameras in the tech office means there won't be cameras anywhere else."

Auggie shook his head. "No. Not inside the buildings, just on the perimeter."

"We should get back to your laptop and check on the...package in my room." Annie said. "Do either of you need a first aid kit?"

Auggie reached a hand to the back of his head. "Maybe some aspirin," he grumbled.

"Yeah, you got the easy end of it," Jai responded. They continued on even through grabbing the laptop - which appeared to have been tampered with, but no one had been able to break through it - and when they stepped out into the open air again.

By the time that Tanner Sullivan approached them they had bickered themselves into a huffy silence. "Are you guys... okay...?" Sullivan asked skeptically, eyeing Jai especially.

"I'm told the lights went off," Auggie piped up. "Jai gets awful clumsy, you know." He heard an exaggerated groan from the man in question.

Sullivan gave a very slow nod, as if he were almost afraid to claim disbelief to the obvious lie. "Officer Jenkins says some really funny things have been going on around here. He asked that the three of you wrap up for the evening, grab dinner in the mess hall, and go to your rooms."

"Yes Mom."

Annie looped her arm through Auggie's and gave him a warning swat. "It's been a long day," she said apologetically to Tanner.

He nodded, his cheeks coloring slightly. "Rain check on dinner then, I guess."

"It'll have to be," she agreed, easily ignoring the shocked look that crossed Auggie and Jai's faces.

"Maybe coffee in the morning?" She asked, eyes wide.

Sullivan couldn't stop a small smile. "Sure. I'll meet you in the cafeteria." Sullivan agreed. "I've got to check on some things regarding Ms. Larson. If you see or hear from her, let me know." He disappeared into the hallway.

"He seemed awfully calm about the whole lights going out incident." Annie murmured.

"Everybody does. No alarms, no red alerts, nothing." Auggie said. "Let's grab dinner before the place gets blown to hell or something." he muttered.

By the time they'd shoved the half-edible substance down their throats Annie assured them that she'd drop by their room later. Right then, she'd check on Alyssa and take a much-needed shower. "And you two... look like you could use some shut eye." She looked at Auggie and the much darker circles under his eyes before patting him affectionately on the shoulder. "Call if you need anything."

Auggie Anderson all but fell on the small bed at the furthest side of the room, his face buried in a musky-smelling pillow. He hadn't even bothered to pull his messenger bag from his shoulder when he flopped. He heard Jai let out a sigh and shuffle... somewhere. He didn't care. He just wanted to sleep.

Jai hissed softly as he took off his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. He could see the skin on his back in the mirror behind him already darkening from the fight. "Do you want me to bring you some aspirin?" he asked Auggie, unsure if he was already asleep or not. He toed off his shoes and pulled his bag open.

The tech officer gave what Jai thought was an affirmative grunt and he began digging through his bag for said painkillers. "So... your near panic attack earlier that Annie covered for you..."

Auggie shifted slightly at this. "What near panic attack?"

"Listen," Jai said as his fingers finally closed around the bottle. "I'm not insulting your intelligence, so don't insult mine. You school your features better than most agents I've run across, so the fact that you reacted the way you did meant that it was beyond someone finding out you were in their systems." He popped two pills into his mouth and dry swallowed them. "That and the fact that we're back here and not on our way back to Langley. If he'd known, you wouldn't have us stick around." When Auggie didn't respond Jai tossed the pill bottle at him irritably, hitting him in the back of the head with it.

Jai froze as the bottle hit the comforter, horrified. He opened his mouth, apology on his lips. Auggie was quicker. He growled low in his throat, quickly felt around the comforter, closed his fingers around the bottle and launched it back at the other agent with frightening accuracy. Jai barely had time to lift his hand to deflect it. "Auggie..." he said, half way between reasoning and warning.

"No, Wilcox, you listen to me," Auggie growled out, his shoulders set squarely and he looked dangerous where he sat. "I am damn good at my job, whatever that entails. If it requires computers, I can out-hack any hacker in the States and quite a few of the top ones around the world. If it requires hand-to-hand then I can do that too. Losing my sight did not make me an invalid."

"Auggie, I know-"

"And if you patronize me I'm going to finally forget my self-restraint that I've been using since you got in the car this morning and add to the bruises you've already got."

"You're kidding right? I'm just as trained as you are, Anderson, and have spent more time in the field. I respect what you can do despite your disability, but I'm always going to be the field agent, and you're always going to be the tech guy." Jai snapped. He threw the pill bottle back to Auggie's bed and it grazed his leg. "Take your damn aspirin."

Auggie let out a frustrated snort as he reached for the pills. "Least I earned everything I have. I didn't ride Daddy's coattails into and through the Agency."

"What makes you think I had it so easy? You just make assumptions like everybody else. You don't like people pitying you, but you sure are willing to use the high and mighty act, aren't you? You've overcome so damn much and it makes you so much more noble when the truth is you're just a working schmuck like the rest of us. You just try to use it to get what you want, including women in to bed." Jai said. He paused and his lip curled, not quite a smile. "Is that what you're trying with Annie?"

Jai had moved closer while speaking. Auggie could tell by his voice. He knew that he was baiting him, trying to hit him where it hurt. It worked. Auggie didn't suppose he even knew that he'd thrown the first punch until after he felt his knuckles collide solidly with Jai's already bruised face and heard the surprised agent fall back against the bed across from his. If anything, he hadn't expected the accuracy. Funny, Auggie hadn't either.

Jai briefly considered the moral consequences of punching a blind man, and then he didn't. He pushed himself forward off the bed and curved his hand into a fist, his closed fingers striking Auggie across the jaw and sending the agent stumbling back. "You're going to get careless, you know." Jai said, rubbing his jaw, eyeing Auggie warily for another attack.

"Like you?" Auggie demanded. He looked as if he were battling within himself if he should take an other swing or not. They were in very close quarters, which gave Jai less of an advantage. He'd heard Annie explain before how Auggie had taught her to fight at close range. It was knowledge that had saved her life more than once since then. Finally, after several very long, very tense moments, Auggie's muscles relaxed slightly. "I know you're running an op on Annie."

"Please be less dramatic, Auggie. I'm not running an op on her any more than you are." Jai said, sitting back down on the bed. He watched Auggie's face carefully. No one could have known about his assignment from Arthur'; it certainly hadn't been discussed by any electronic channels Auggie could have come across. Not that Auggie didn't have a point. He was going to get careless if he let his growing care for Annie get in the way of finding out what he could about Mercer.

"Liar," the tech op hissed.

"Prove it," the other answered easily.

Auggie stood from where he'd fallen on the bed. "Everyone in on the Mercer case now knows that Annie must have been brought in for her connection to him. That much is obvious, but what isn't obvious is the fact that you were called in from England to play a minor role in the DPD at Arthur Campbell's personal request and without Joan's consent. It's not a stretch, knowing your history with Mercer, to think that you were brought in for that knowledge and told to get close to Annie." He paused, listening hard. "Am I getting close yet, Wilcox?"

Jai's smile never wavered, even though Auggie couldn't see it. "So how long have you been in on the Mercer case, August? And how has that discussion with Annie gone? Wait, let me guess, despite the fact that your her best friend and her super secret agent advisor, you haven't told her that you know more about her than she realizes. So which one of us is really stringing her along, Auggie? Or is Liza just not enough for you to handle?"

Auggie froze, his sleep-deprived brain finally betraying him. Why had Liza's name just come from Jai's mouth? Finally it hit him: Jai worked for Arthur, and he let a breath out that he hadn't realized that he was holding in. Of course Jai knew. Arthur had probably not been happy when this mission had come up, but had no good reason to keep Joan from keeping him in DC. They were still awaiting Liza's response to the story that he'd given her, and now he wasn't there to receive it. Arthur had probably manipulated the situation so that Jai was keeping his eye on him as well. No wonder Joan didn't trust her husband. "Annie knows about Liza," he said at last. "And she knows most of what I do about Mercer. Except for you. That's yours to tell her."

"Keep yourself in check and try not to get her killed. Besides, what could you offer her in the long run?" Jai asked. He went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, before he lost any more cards to this hand. He knew he hadn't acknowledged anything, but Auggie always did have a way of knowing too much. Or knowing just enough to be dangerous. Jai started the water running and braced his hands on the edge of the sink while he waited for the water to warm. They were running out of time, he knew that much.

Auggie sat outside listening to the water run behind the closed door. Any strength that he might have had left was quickly leaving him and he slowly peeled his vest off and tossed it in the general direction of where his bag was set on the floor. He would find it in the morning and put it up properly. For tonight it was everything he could manage to do to change into shorts to sleep in and swallow the almost-forgotten aspirin that had originally been offered in a kind manner. Finally he found the edge of the sheets and pulled them back, unlatching his watch from his wrist and running his fingers along the settings on it until it read out an alarm time for the morning. He'd take a shower in the morning, but as for tonight his goal was to be sound asleep by the time that Jai returned from his shower. His head was throbbing and his jaw was as well now as he pulled the sheets up around his shoulders.

He squeezed his eyes shut, pretending for just a second that if he opened them again the world would be alive with color and shapes and that the scent of Jo Malone Grapefruit would have a face to match and a place next to him, always

A/N: Poor Auggie... Reviews will make the day better. Please review =D