"Auggie!" Annie exclaimed in surprise, relaxing the hand that unconsciously reached for the gun at her hip. Who else would be opening his door, Annie? Fucking relax.

"Annie?" Auggie's voice was sharp and clear, but still rough. He definitely hadn't slept. Sapphira brushed behind Annie in the hallway to get to her own room, gently squeezing her shoulder in encouragement before closing her bedroom door. Auggie's head tilted at the sound and he knitted his brow in confusion at Annie.

"Walk with me?" Annie touched the back of his hand and he gripped her elbow loosely and moved in step with her. Well, at least they could still do something right. "I couldn't sleep," Annie admitted.

"Me neither," Auggie agreed as they reached the kitchen. "Barstools or couch?"

"I'm afraid I'll pass out on you if I'm on the couch. It's really comfortable." Auggie smiled for Annie's benefit as he took a seat on the barstool at the kitchen island and waited for her to continue. Annie grabbed two water bottles from the refrigerator behind them and sat down next to him. She breathed for a moment, taking in the worry lines on his face that she swore weren't there the last time she saw him. "Auggie—"

"Annie—" They both laughed nervously at how forced their encounters have been so far. "Go ahead, Walker."

"Uh, water at your two." She watched him move effortlessly until the back of his hand tapped the water bottle. Three years later and she was still in awe with him. "Auggie, we need to talk."

"Finally, something we agree on."

"Don't say anything; just listen this time around, okay? I need to get this out all in one go otherwise I won't say it at all. Okay?"

"Okay," Auggie agreed, mentally adding Anything for you.

"Shit, I don't even know where to start," Annie breathed and thought about Sapphira's advice on the way back from the hostel. Crisp, clean operational details first. "Okay. I guess you just want to know everything. Aug, I was going to come back to D.C., I really was. I got off the phone with you, and Joan and Arthur, and all I wanted to do was come home. I didn't know where exactly 'home' was, because I'm still officially dead, I think.

"When the boat from Hong Kong docked in Taiwan, I was waiting on the pier for the next boat to arrive, the one that would take me to the Sasebo Naval Base in Japan, where I would fly cargo on a plane to one of the lesser-used runways in LAX, stay one night in L.A. and fly to D.C. in the morning– See, I really did pay attention." Auggie afforded her a light chuckle and took a sip of his water. Annie tried not to stare.

"But as I was waiting for my next boat, I noticed a man who looked like someone I saw in Lexington pretending not to be watching me. I started walking up the pier, away from the boats and acted lost, even going behind some of the shacks on the dock. He followed. I didn't know how I was going to get away from him, there wasn't really anywhere to go if I wanted to stay in the bay area, but I turned down one of the cargo container holding areas and started sprinting to the other side of the docks. I didn't seem him follow me after that, maybe he spent too much time checking around the cargo.

"I saw one of the captains getting ready to take his transport boat out to sea. I knocked my cheek and nose against one of the metal containers, hard, and started crying. I ran up to him and begged him to take me out of Taiwan. He spoke enough English to figure out that I was running from what I said was an abusive husband. I mean, it wasn't that hard to figure out. My face was torn up and my nose was bloody. I gave him all two hundred U.S. cash that I had in my wallet, desperate and in tears and looking around for the Lexington man that was following me, but the captain assumed I was checking for my husband.

"The man told me 'Bali' and ushered me into the quarters of the boat. And I know what you're thinking: this is a shitty plan and that man could have been a human trafficker or even one of Henry's, but I was out of ideas. The captain gave me a water bottle and left me to my own devices for the entire trip. I passed out from exhaustion at some point and I didn't check the time when I got on the boat. I guess the trip took five, maybe six hours to get to Bali.

"I picked the captain's wallet before I got off the boat while I was hugging him in thanks. Terrible, right? Fira said she wired him a thousand in U.S. dollars after. I walked for awhile but then hitched a ride in the bed of a pick-up truck to what thankfully turned out to be a tourist area. I went into a grocery store to get food and water and to wash off my bloody mess of a face. I made up some story about falling out of a truck and asked for directions to a cheap hostel. I didn't even have to hunt for anyone who spoke English; it seemed like everyone did.

"I found the hostel around the corner, paid in cash for three weeks, the longest they would take in advance, locked the door, and passed the fuck out. I woke up to drink every once in a while and ate less frequently than that. Two days passed before I got out of bed. I showered and decided to do some exploring, make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. Then I went back and slept. I slept most of the time, really.

"And I went to this restaurant, where Fira found me. I know, it goes against all of my training, and it's painful to know that if Sapphira can find me, so can anyone else. But there was something about the restaurant, Auggie. It reminded me of Allen's, except with less alcohol and no best friend." Auggie's eyes crinkled when he smiled for a second before his blank, passive face returned. Annie gulped in air, feeling like her lungs were finally opening again. "They had wifi and I needed to do some digging. I wasn't able to come up with much. Or anything, really, on this guy that I thought I saw one time while I was getting shot at with a sociopath."

Auggie opened his mouth, but then thought better. He promised that he would let her finish speaking before he said anything. He nodded instead. Annie cleared her throat.

"I wasn't sure how I was going to find out that information. I guess at some point I would have had to call you," Annie murmured with a defeated sigh. Now that she had the words out, it sounded like a weak defense to why she didn't call him. She had been chased before. She automatically sought Auggie for help. But she didn't this time. What she didn't mention was that she felt there was no one she could trust, maybe not even Auggie. She had been on her own for so long, she forgot how to lean on another person. She tried to recall the time when trust came easily. She couldn't.

"There. Those are the crisp, clean operational details that have led me from Taiwan to when Sapphira found me."

True to his word, Auggie did not say a thing. His synapses were firing ideas and retorts to everything Annie told him, but he did not utter a syllable until Annie concluded. He tried to categorize his thoughts into mission-oriented objectives. They needed to find out who was chasing Annie. They needed to make sure whoever was chasing her didn't find the boat captain who smuggled her here. They needed to concentrate on making sure Henry didn't posthumously fuck shit up any more than he already did. He needed to focus on keeping them safe. He couldn't afford to address his emotions right now.

"I'm done. You can say something now," Annie whispered after a few electrified seconds.

"I'm so fucking angry at you," Auggie concluded, emphasizing each word grimly. Or he could start by addressing his emotions before the mission.