Escape Clause Part 4

Annie was nearly comatose when they arrived at a small, but lovely, hotel in Niue. Auggie sweet talked the front desk clerk and pre-paid for 2 weeks with little question or suspicion. He also appeared to ask about some food, but Annie was too physically and emotionally drained to understand what he was saying.

The journey was comfortable but long and stressful. Every time Annie would fall asleep she saw her nieces or Joan and her tiny baby bump behind her eyes, heard her sister's voice in her ear and she would startle awake.

"Come on honey," Auggie encouraged her as he might a small child.

A bellman wheeled their luggage ahead and Annie guided Auggie behind the cart.

The room was bright and airy with a view of the private beach and a lazy ceiling fan thwacking against the fresh sea air.

"This is beautiful," Annie said sincerely as she tipped the man who stacked the luggage conscientiously out of Auggie's way.

"Thank you Ma'am, your dinner will be delivered soon," he smiled and left.

"Dinner?"

"I ordered some provisions, not sure when we last ate a meal. Those airplane snacks were good, but not a meal," he grinned and unfolded his cane to explore the room.

"I need a shower," she said softly.

Auggie was at a disadvantage in reading Annie, especially when she was withdrawn or tired as her voice didn't help as much. The vibe he was picking up right now was he was not invited to the shower, which was ok with him, he understood Annie had to mourn her life before they could move on with the new one. Having already mourned a lost life after Iraq he truly understood.

He sat at the foot of the bed, exhausted himself, and listened to the slide of zippers and the rummage of clothes as Annie decided on something to wear. He heard the soft tapping of plastic bottles as she gathered shampoo and body wash.

Although Auggie was not invited, Annie didn't close the bathroom door and soon after the water started Auggie could feel the damp warmth and smell the familiar scents of Annie. His stomach constricted in hunger, and not just for the food.

When Annie emerged 15 minutes later there was food arranged on the balcony table and Auggie was sipping a glass of wine. She scuffed her feet to signal her arrival, having startled Auggie enough during their brief cohabitation.

"Hey," he said over his shoulder as she leaned down and kissed his neck.

"This looks delicious, I am really hungry," she admitted.

"Then let's eat," he smiled.

The table was set as normal for 2 people with Annie's place at the other end, opposite Auggie's, but she pulled the place mat over to the side next to Auggie and tucked her chair under as close to him as she could, her bare leg brushed against his knee.

He just smiled and began eating.

"What do we do now?" Annie asked tiredly, her body starting to wind down, but her mind still racing.

"We lay low for the next few days, no attempt to contact the outside world. Let Rossabi and Joan do their job. We are, as far as the hotel knows, on our honeymoon. I arranged for food for the next three days and there should be a good stash of water, ice and liquor in the room now, he indicated back through the door where Annie saw the desk littered with beverages.

"So your plan is we get drunk and have sex for a few days?"

"Unless you wanted to get started on that knitting?" he smirked.

"If that smirk weren't so sexy I might try to argue your presumption, but I really want you right now," she leaned over to kiss him.

"Plenty of time for that," he kissed her back, "eat this delicious food and then let me shower and we can regroup in bed."

The plan may have been free form, but it was still a plan and Annie smiled at her partner's dedication to following it.

***555***

Three days later Annie lay naked and relaxed, Auggie's hands rubbing lotion into her back as she listened to the sea crash below their balcony. As his hands moved over her skin the ceiling fan cooled the heat of his touch raising goose bumps and sending shivers Annie could not believe she still got after 3 solid days of lounging in this bed.

"Maybe we can do this for a whole year?" Annie slurred in her slightly drunk sleepy voice.

"Huh?" Auggie asked his mind wandering as his hands slipped well below Annie's back.

"I have never spent 3 days in the same room with one person before, didn't know how I would react, but my God it has been fun," she turned over and looked up at the man who saved her life more times than she could count.

Auggie slid his hands underneath her and scooped her up into his lap as effortlessly as he would grab a pillow. She contoured her body to his perfectly, her head finding the spot against his neck where she could both hear and feel his pulse against her ear.

"We would be naïve to think every day will be as easy as the past few, but we have to be strong Annie, not just physically, but emotionally. That is what this time is for, to make our bond even stronger than it has always been. So when those bad days come and we are bitter and angry with what has happened we will know, deep in our hearts, that we are in this together," he spoke against the crown of her head and Annie felt his words all the way down to her toes.

"I couldn't do this without you," she whispered.

"You don't have to," he assured.

"Danielle used to love me like this, like I was the most important person in her world," Annie shook her head.

"Used to?" Auggie questioned.

"Then she had kids, she would never leave Chloe and Katia for me and I would never want her to. No one else I ever 'loved' would have done this Auggie, no one else would be here right now."

"That's not true, I am pretty sure Ben, Simon and even Eyal would be here right now," Auggie laughed.

"Maybe, for these fun days, but none of them could hold on when things got really tough. They would be in the wind as soon as they got bored."

"I'm not going anywhere," he stroked her hair.

"I know," she nodded.

"Besides, I really want to learn how to knit," he smiled.

TBC…

NOTE: The next chapter is going to jump ahead in time a bit. Trust me, I could write these two having sex in a tropical paradise every day, but in order to realistically get to some plot, we need a little time jump.