Spirits in the Material World Act 4
"Dinner was good," Annie mentioned as they strolled down to the waterline.
"It was," Auggie agreed quietly.
"You OK?" she placed a hand on his chest to stop him.
"I am, just relaxed," he smiled.
"OK," she left her hand there a beat longer then returned to walking.
"We're close," he meant to the water, but she smiled as if he meant them personally.
"We are, might want to abandon our shoes soon," Annie said as they hit the hard packed sand closer to the tide.
Shoes were toed off, Auggie deposited his cane inside his shoe and Annie looped her small purse across her body. Auggie was wearing shorts and Annie's sundress was short enough to pose no risk of getting wet. She brushed his hand to offer him her elbow again and instead he laced their fingers together.
"How crowded is it?" he asked before taking a step.
"Not very, we have a good open stretch," she assured him and he just nodded.
They walked hand in hand and Auggie felt the sand cool as they approached the surf. Annie noticed his toes curl in anticipation and a slightly pensive look on his face.
"Ready?" she asked as the froth of a fresh wave approached.
"For anything," he smiled.
***555****
"Mele Kalikimaka," Annie said as Auggie opened his eyes Christmas morning.
"Merry Christmas," he smiled as he rolled towards her warm soft body.
"Can I interest you in breakfast?" she giggled as he nibbled at her hip.
"In a few minutes," he murmured as he used his nose to push her pajama top out of his way.
"Why are you wearing clothes?" he asked with fake annoyance.
"I didn't think greeting the room service guy naked was a good idea," she shrugged.
"Yeah," Auggie agreed and returned to burrowing under said clothes.
"So I had an idea," Annie began.
"I will promise you it is not as good as my idea," his hand found the waistband of her pajama bottoms.
"It is diffffffffferent than your idea," she stuttered as his teeth found a particularly delectable spot.
"I'm all ears," he said although his attention was elsewhere.
"Your ears are quite prominent," she laughed as she used said ears to direct his attention to her face.
"Hey," he feigned offense at the ear dig.
"They work on you," she promised.
"What's this idea before you begin chronicling all of my lesser attributes," he frowned.
"I didn't get you anything for Christmas."
"You helped get me out of a torture chamber," he shrugged.
"You managed that just fine on your own, but I am serious, I haven't snuck off to buy you the perfect gift."
"Neither of us has snuck off anywhere, so I too have nothing for you except my body which I am willing and able to give you right now," he started back to where he had left off.
"And while that is an extraordinary gift that I will cherish over and over today and every day, I have, as I started to say, an idea."
"OK, I'm officially intrigued."
"Let's give each other the truth for Christmas. We can start small, little things like stocking gifts that we have omitted and move up into the bigger presents as the day goes on. We've talked a lot these past few days and it is getting easier, you know," she raked her fingers through his hair.
"Like, I was going to ask you out and then Danielle told me about Dr. Scott and I didn't because I thought you deserved to be with a normal guy with all his senses and a decent job? That kind of truth?" he said as he shimmied up and kissed her softly.
"Mmmm, like that. I was going to ask you out after you told me about your unit, but I didn't because I was afraid you would think it was pity even though it totally wasn't," Annie moved her legs to cradle him there, his head on her chest.
"The night you came to my apartment, after you worked with Helen, and we broke up. I was panicked that I couldn't see your face, really unsure if the words you were saying matched what you really felt. I had never felt so blind," Annie took a deep breath under his cheek.
"You've missed the mark a few times, but I let it happen. I take advantage of the fact that you can't see my face and it makes me sick sometimes that I let you walk away misinformed. I did it when you gave me the car."
"Huh?"
"The day you gave me the Corvette and said you could practically hear me smiling? I was on the verge of tears that you were going after Parker and leaving me with a car. A great car, but a car," Annie admitted.
"I'm so glad you said something this time Annie. I'm so glad you fought for us and didn't let me walk away again. I really thought I had lost you forever, to McQuaid or to your belief that we couldn't work together and have love. Everything I was getting from you was final, I am glad you spoke up," Auggie looked up his eyes bright with tears.
"I will tell you how I feel every day, for the rest of our lives Auggie," Annie promised as she kissed him, wrapping her legs around him declaring the conversation on pause for a bit.
***555***
"What was your favorite Christmas gift when you were a kid?" Auggie asked later over a late breakfast.
"When I was 9 I got a pink bicycle with tassels on the handlebars and a basket with a big plastic daisy on the front. It was a big deal because I never had a bike, we lived pretty light so we could pick up and move, but my dad had a good post and I knew the bike meant we would be sticking around for a while. I loved that bike," Annie said wistfully as she speared another piece of fruit.
"Wow that is so much more profound than mine," Auggie chuckled.
"What's yours?"
"My aunt gave me a fireman's helmet when I was about 6, it had a siren built into it and it was loud."
"Did your mother ever speak to this aunt again?" Annie asked genuinely curious.
"It was definitely a topic of discussion, to this day actually. Which I guess is part of why it is so memorable, when you're the youngest of 5 very few of the stories are just about you."
"Is that why you followed the path you did? To set yourself apart?" Annie asked with a hand over his hand on the table.
"Probably, to some extent. I was recruited so it wasn't all my big rebellion, but yeah, I wanted something that was just mine," Auggie shrugged.
"You got that to the extreme."
"I sure did," Auggie smiled sadly, "Seeing Brady reminded me how isolated I am really."
"We can change that. I'm not saying read in everybody, but we can present a more public persona."
"Are you saying you want to meet the rest of my family?"
"Eventually, yes. I want to meet everyone you care about," she kissed his cheek.
"Oh good, then we can skip my brother Joe," Auggie joked.
***555***
"We go home tomorrow," Annie mentioned a couple of days later as the pair lounged in their very large hotel bathtub.
"Yep," Auggie agreed and wrung cool water out of a wash cloth over her slightly sunburned shoulders sending delightful shivers down her spine.
"I think Joan already has a case for us."
"Oh?"
"She called me in San Francisco and asked me about Ksenia Korlova, if I knew her."
"Do you?" Auggie asked curiously.
"No. She said she may have known Simon, so I assume she is FSB or former. Joan didn't say any more, but I don't think we'll spend our first day back filling out tax forms and getting a sexual harassment seminar," Annie snorted.
"I might need that," Auggie teased his fingers over her body.
"I'm serious Auggie, we are going to be thrown right back in. Are we ready for that?"
"We won't know until we know. I'd love to stay here forever and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist, but we can't. I do know that I feel closer to you than I ever have before, that these past days have shown me why it is that I love you so much, added depth to what I always felt was incredibly strong attraction," Auggie had his chin on her shoulder, was speaking right into her ear.
"I feel the same way. I feel like we were instantly connected all those years ago and took it for granted, assumed the attraction was enough, assumed the trust was solid and would carry us through anything. We lost sight of that. No offense," she giggled at her own blind joke to break the tension.
"I had never been with you and Danielle together. I used to listen to your side and a couple times I listened to her side, but I never saw you interact," he pointed out.
"I thought your brothers were fictional," Annie snorted.
"I know we aren't normal people, but that doesn't mean we have to abandon all normal social constructs. Home. Family. We need these things. Even Joan has that now with Mackenzie and Arthur, we can have that Annie."
"I hope so."
"You have to believe it Annie, you have to believe in us," Auggie continued to speak right into her ear.
Annie turned then, in the tub and in his arms to look him in the eye, to brush the wet bangs from his forehead. She kissed his temple, the middle of his brow his nose working her way down to his lips.
"I believe in us," she promised before capturing those lips.
TBC…
