Those who reviewed asked for the next chapter this weekend, so thanks to them (and the champagne I drank with my family) here's the next one. A little shorter than normal, but the early will hopefully make up for that =)

Covert Affairs is not mine.


7. In Which We Begin To Dance

Sunlight falling across her face woke Annie the next morning. She had forgotten to set the air before going to sleep the night before, and it was bordering on unpleasantly warm in her bedroom. Annie was torn – on the one hand, she could feel a thin layer of sweat on her skin. On the other...she was still firmly wrapped in Auggie's arms. They had both been so tired that neither had moved in the night. Annie couldn't remember the last time she had woken up in a man's arms feeling so...right.

She sighed, stretching her legs out. Her limbs felt heavy, stiff from a night of such heavy sleep. How long had it been since she had slept so soundly? Venice had been filled with anxiety, and it wasn't like she had been able to get any sleep on the plane carrying valuable intel in her purse.

Auggie's breaths were still coming deep and even. Annie was nearly certain he was still asleep. She hesitantly reached out her fingers across the hard muscle of his chest, tracing idle patterns with her nails. She hadn't expected his skin to be so soft.

"Feeling me up, Walker?" a sleepy voice mumbled. Annie snatched her hand back, blushing deeply. It didn't help that Auggie's voice sounded sexier than ever half-asleep.

"Payback," she told him, trying to roll away to the other side of the bed. It had been one thing to blur the lines with Auggie in the middle of the night, but in the light of day, Annie suddenly felt very foolish. Of course Auggie would be this way with her; she had watched him take home a parade of women over the years. There was no denying the man was a charmer.

"Not so fast." Auggie's arm behind her back tightened, pulling her back toward his chest. "It can't possibly be time to get up already. Go back to sleep."

"It's got to be near noon."

Auggie's free hand felt around for his watch, and Annie watched in fascination as he popped the cover off to feel the time. "It's just after nine. It was after two when I got here. More sleep." He carefully put the watch back down on top of his jeans before pulling Annie closer.

"At least let me get up to turn on the air. It's hot in here."

Auggie's fingers danced down her bare arm and then back across her shoulders, sweeping her hair back as he went. "This is nothing. In the desert, it was so hot in the summer you could practically feel your skin cooking, even in the shade. The dust got into your pores, into your mouth, into your eyes. It was like an oven, perpetually turned to broil. If you were stupid, or unfortunate enough, to have to go outside, the sun bleached everything to the most unforgiving white. This is a gorgeous summer morning. Stay."

Annie hesitated. He never talked about Iraq so casually, and it seemed that in her bed, there was a strange sort of peaceful existence between them. His voice hadn't changed as he spoke about the place that had robbed him of his sight. He just sounded sleepy...and much too sexy for how close their bodies currently were. Auggie coming to her in the middle of the night, and Annie sharing her bed with him, no matter how innocent, had smudged an already hazy line between them. A part of her worried that as soon as they left the comfort of her bedroom, the same old tension would be back. Annie didn't want to be another notch on his bedpost, and Auggie had made no move to show her he wanted anything further...until he had held her in his arms for an entire night without making a move...until he had spoken to her so offhandedly about a time in his life she knew he guarded fiercely.

"I can hear you thinking, Walker. Think later. Sleepy..." His voice was rougher, sleep already starting to reclaim him. Annie sighed, throwing her arm back across his chest and settling against him. With her ear pressed to his chest, Annie swore she heard the tiniest hum of contentment rumbling in his chest. She kicked off the blanket, the cooler air making her shiver momentarily. She was asleep again within minutes.

When she woke for the second time, Auggie was running his fingers lightly through her hair, pulling it away from her face. The sun had moved to the other window, meaning hours had gone by. Annie was certain it was well past noon.

"Been awake long?" she asked as she stretched, yawning loudly. She couldn't remember the last time she had stayed in bed so late in the day.

"Not really."

"You could have woken me up."

"Nah. You needed the sleep as much as I did."

Annie hummed in agreement, forcing herself to reluctantly roll away from him. She wasn't quite sure how to behave now, but it was definitely time for food and coffee. "I know you wanted to cook, but I'm starving. I'm just going to make some eggs and coffee here, and then I'll bring you home, okay?"

"Throwing me out already?"

"Auggie..." Annie didn't know what else to say. She wanted him to stay, of course, but how was she supposed to explain that? And how was she supposed to explain to him that instead of making her feel better, the night in his arms was slowly starting to make her feel worse as she fully woke up? Did he think sex with Annie was an automatic next move? Did he think she was going to be one of those girls he toyed with so carelessly?

Auggie laughed, unaware of her dark thoughts as he sat up. Annie tried to force herself to look away, knowing it wasn't particularly fair of her to stare at him. "Don't worry, Walker, I'll be out of your hair. I could have taken a cab home last night. You really didn't have to keep me." There was a hint of reproach in his voice, and Annie wondered if she had hurt his feelings.

Why couldn't either of them just say what they meant?

"It was the middle of the night, and you looked like you were ready to fall over." Annie walked around the bed, sitting down next to him as he pulled on his shirt. "I was worried."

"I know," he said quietly, sliding one hand over to hers. He squeezed lightly before getting to his feet, donning his watch as he stood. "You're an amazing woman, Annie. You didn't deserve my behavior last night."

"Auggie..."

"I wish I could tell you it would never happen again. But I wasn't kidding when I said I still had bad days. When I woke up in the hospital, it was to a headache I can't even begin to describe to you. It still comes back, every now and then, and usually when I'm stressed or haven't had enough sleep. There's a lot I can push through, but trying to function with pain so bad you wonder how your ears aren't bleeding, it makes it hard to remember there are people around me who are trying to help. Last night..."

"I told you that you don't owe me any explanations."

Auggie sighed, reaching for Annie and pulling her into a light hug. He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and turned away, one hand running along the wall to keep his bearings. It wasn't until she heard the bathroom door open and shut a moment later that Annie let out the breath she had been holding.

Telling herself to pull it together, she quickly got dressed and went to make breakfast. She refused to make more out of her night with Auggie – or that sweet kiss on her forehead – than it was. It was just Auggie being Auggie. She had seen him charm the pants off plenty of women, and it wasn't all that unusual for him to be touchy with her. That was just who he was.

True to her promise, Annie made breakfast, cleaned up, and brought Auggie home. Breakfast had really been more of a brunch, and it was already late afternoon by the time Annie found herself back in the guest house. In an effort to keep herself busy, she went for a run through the neighborhood, and then spent the evening with Danielle and the girls, happily handing out presents to their delight.

After the girls had gone to bed, Annie and Danielle split a bottle of wine and sat up in the kitchen. Annie told her as much as she could about Venice, and Danielle told her younger sister about Michael's latest suspicious behavior. Neither of them mentioned Auggie's late night visit, which Annie was thankful for. She wasn't ready to let Danielle's eagle eye examine that mess just yet.

But it felt undeniably good to talk to her sister about her trip, even having to leave out the details. She wasn't lying about going to Topeka or Spokane, or any other boring-sounding city. She could actually share with her sister the good parts about her job with the agency – the balcony overlooking the lagoon in Venice being just one of them. Annie knew Danielle was done traveling with her for awhile following their experience in Stockholm, but it didn't stop her from hoping that one day she could profit from Annie's vast knowledge of foreign cities.

Annie went to bed that night with her head full of wine and her nose pressed into the pillow Auggie had slept on, but sleep didn't come easy.

The next morning, she woke irritable from her poor night's sleep and annoyed with herself. Nothing had happened. She would go into the office and be her normal self. She wouldn't avoid Auggie, and she wouldn't be awkward around him.

The little pep talk she had given herself didn't stop her heart from pounding as she walked into the DPD and headed for her desk. Auggie was already in, headphones on and face set with concentration. Annie sighed, sliding into her seat and beginning to wade her way through the emails that had piled up in her absence.

Auggie came to get her for lunch, and Annie chattered on like nothing had changed, but she felt ridiculous. It didn't help matters that she could feel the gaze of her coworkers all around her, studying her. Were they ever going to let London go? Venice had gone well. Didn't that count for something with those vultures?

If Auggie could feel her discomfort, he didn't let on. Annie suspected he knew something was up by the look on his face, but for some reason he wasn't pushing her on it. That only made it worse. Auggie wasn't known for mincing words, and now he was obviously holding back on her.

Suddenly, Annie couldn't wait to get back out into the field.

Joan watched them throughout the day, wondering why it was that two highly intelligent people could be so stupid. She knew they had been together – an agency car had dropped Auggie off at Annie's late Tuesday night, but hadn't waited to bring him back to his own apartment. Then Auggie hadn't come into the office on Wednesday. It wasn't that Joan minded; in fact, she had often pestered him to take a day off following a particularly grueling op to recover, but Auggie had always refused. Until now...and on the same day Annie Walker was out of the office.

Curious and curiouser.

But nothing about the way they interacted with each other told Joan that anything had been resolved. Annie moved with hesitance, and Auggie's smiles didn't quite reach his eyes. To anyone who didn't know them so well, they appeared as if all was well, but Joan knew her people. They were highly trained in the art of deception, and she inwardly sighed, knowing that sometimes it became too natural to lie to everyone around you. It had taken her and Arthur so long to finally put aside the games and admit their feelings for each other. It made her sad to watch Annie and Auggie repeat her past mistakes.

In the meantime, the intel Annie had brought back from Venice had been more helpful than Joan had originally thought it would be. Adrian's father had grown up splitting his time between Italy and Greece, and had maintained lifelong friendships with boys from across the Mediterranean, including those in Turkey with ties to arms smuggling in Syria and Lebanon. Joan wanted to send Annie to Istanbul for a surveillance op to make sure the data was good before another team moved in to make the arrests, but the continued tension was making her nervous. She had heard the awkward conversation Annie and Auggie had shared during the initial Venice check in. Venice had been simple – Istanbul left more room for error.

There was a part of Joan that wanted to just pull them both into her office and demand they explain themselves, preferably to each other. Joan knew Auggie had had feelings for Annie from nearly day one, and it had been clear to everyone that Annie at least held him in high esteem. But something had changed between them since Stockholm, and Joan cursed that damned op for perhaps the hundredth time.

Not that she wasn't certain Auggie's ill-timed trip to Africa wasn't to blame, either. Annie hadn't been able to hide the dismay on her face quickly enough from Joan when she had asked about Auggie after the Stockholm debrief. Instead, she had hurried out of the office muttering something about getting her plant back before he left on vacation. Joan hadn't had the heart to tell her that Auggie's time off came with a plane ticket out of the country. Maybe a part of her had hoped Annie would have been able to convince Auggie to stay.

Well, she didn't, he didn't, and they'll work it out, Joan told herself firmly, turning away from the bullpen to return to her office. She couldn't keep Annie in the DPD indefinitely, and they would have to work it out in their own time. Joan counted herself lucky they were both professionals.

Which was why she was so surprised by Auggie's adamant insistence that Annie wasn't ready for a mission like Istanbul. He argued with Joan behind closed doors that he didn't think Annie was ready to get back into things full on – look at how nervous she had been over a simple intel pickup in Venice. Auggie thought sending her to Istanbul was asking for trouble, and for the first time she could remember, Joan wasn't sure if Auggie's protective instincts for Annie were getting in the way of his professional judgment. She told him so.

The comment had shut him up quickly, but all the same, Joan agreed to send Annie elsewhere first, to Copenhagen under her Smithsonian cover to gather intel from a new informant. It would be a simple op in a relatively safe city. But once that op was completed successfully, Annie was going to Istanbul, and that was final.

For her part, Annie took the news that she would be out of the office again so soon with her usual enthusiasm. Joan watched as she either missed or ignored the way Auggie's expression subtly changed while Annie chattered on excitedly about the new trip. In all her travels, Copenhagen had long been on the list but she had never managed to get there. Plus, with the current temperatures in DC pushing the mercury ever higher, Annie was looking forward to heading north. She teased Auggie about all the local beers she would be able to sample for the rest of the afternoon.

He bore her teasing with his usual good humor, but beyond his smile, Auggie was torn. The night with Annie had been a highly unusual one for him. He had slept in her bed, held her in his arms, but not made a move... at least not an overt, obvious one. For the first time, he found he wasn't prepared to do anything too forward, but he knew Annie had been surprised by his insistence they stay in bed...and that damned kiss he hadn't been able to help.

Annie was his best friend, his tether to reality. Auggie had learned early that if he wanted to keep himself out of true darkness, he had to keep his perspective. Yes, Iraq had been a cluster fuck. He had lost his vision. Losing Natasha had been the shove into the sandbox. But there was still a reason to live. He was alive and others from his unit weren't. His mother hadn't had to accept a folded flag in place of her son.

Then there was Annie. Auggie knew he had been attracted to her from day one. The smell of her perfume, her laugh, the way that she had so seamlessly been able to work with him, no "dealing with the blind guy" learning curve. Interoffice dating was encouraged, and it was no secret Auggie had worked his way through a number of the DPD's agents. But with those women, they had seen Auggie as damaged goods. None of them had wanted a relationship with him, and that had worked for Auggie's purposes. He hadn't wanted complicated emotions, and he hadn't gotten them.

But Annie... Annie Walker made Auggie wonder what on earth he was doing with all the random women from the bars. He sighed, remembering the way her body had molded to his so effortlessly. Annie wasn't the kind of woman he could take home for just a night. She was more than that.

The trouble was, Auggie didn't know how to behave around her anymore. He could tell she had started dancing around him since Stockholm, but he chalked that up to his behavior on her return. Annie had needed a friend more than ever, but Auggie had hopped a plane to Africa all the same.

The careful friendship line between them was also problematic. Having a true friend was something Auggie couldn't take for granted. What if it went south? What if he lost Annie all together? Auggie hadn't felt so close to anyone since his unit in Iraq.

Plus there was the matter of not knowing her feelings. He had been trained to read people and their emotions, but Annie had been trained to deceive. Yet as of late, there seemed to be something more. Annie tended to touch him more these days. And there had been that damn comment from her sister about her voice. Auggie had nearly thought it his imagination when he had discovered her wearing his T-shirt, never mind when he had woken to her gentle caress. But she was so guarded all the time, it was impossible to decipher. Auggie didn't have the benefit of her facial expressions. What was she thinking? Or feeling?

He sat back from his screen, frustration mounting. There wasn't a woman out there Auggie hadn't managed to claim for himself when he set his mind to it, but he couldn't chase Annie. She had been with him in too many bars, seen him with other women. Turning up the charm with her would only make her suspicious. Besides, he had already figured out he didn't want to treat her like those other women. Annie wasn't one-night-stand material and he knew it.

But he had to do something. It was becoming more and more difficult to know about the other men in her life. Auggie hadn't been fond of Ben Mercer even before the man had broken Annie's heart. He could hear that snake Jai Wilcox flirt with her every chance he got. Then there had been the doctor, Scott, who he had only found out about after months of Annie dating the guy. He knew logically he had no right to be so jealous; Annie had watched him work his way through a string of women over the last few years without a word.

Of course, if she had said something, Auggie would have dropped any of them. Even Parker...if Annie had just asked him to stay in DC, he knew he would have.

Fine mess you've made for yourself, Anderson, he thought reluctantly, forcing himself to turn his attention back to organizing Annie's Copenhagen meet. He knew he should have made a move that morning in her bedroom. Annie had been soft and gentle, comfortable in his arms. She hadn't pulled away when he had kissed her forehead, and he wondered if he could have easily turned that kiss to something more.

But wouldn't that have defeated the point? Auggie hadn't wanted to seduce her in that particular moment. He had been filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude that such a woman could put up with him and his moods. He knew damn well that he could be a real bastard when the headaches got bad and he was days without sleep. Anyone would have been well within their rights to tell him just what to do with his apology, but not Annie...Annie had simply maintained her concern for him.

The sound of Annie's heels on the tile brought Auggie out of his thoughts. He breathed deeply, savoring the scent of her perfume. Following the direction of her steps, he turned to her with a smile. "Excited to get back out there, Walker?"

"Excited to see Copenhagen!"

"Better pack your sneakers. Lots of cobblestones. It's an old city."

Annie laughed, and he could hear the rustle of fabric as she settled herself on his desk. "Don't you worry about me, Auggie. I'll show those streets who's boss."

"I bet you will." Resisting the urge to make any further comment on Annie's choice of footwear, he turned back to his computer. Running his fingers over the Braille reader, he told her, "Your flight is out of Reagan tomorrow at eleven-hundred. You fly to Amsterdam and then to Copenhagen."

"I guess I better go pack then."

"None of those shorts, Walker. It's supposed to be much cooler there."

"Aw, I thought you liked my shorts," Annie teased back, her heels clicking against the tile as she stood to leave.

Auggie couldn't help himself. He blushed bright red, grateful the Tech Ops office was empty save for the two of them. Annie was definitely flirting with him now, but of course it was right before she was set to leave again. The last thing Auggie wanted was to declare himself with no time to sort out the ramifications of such a move.

"Be safe," he said instead, reaching out to her. His hand connected with her arm, and he traced his fingers down her soft skin to squeeze her hand. "I promise not to be such a dick when you come back this time."

"I'll hold you to it," she said in a light reply, squeezing back before letting his hand go. Auggie swore her steps out of the office weren't half as steady as they had been coming in.