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Disclaimer: Covert Affairs is not mine. If it were, Eyal would appear more.

~~~FORK IN THE ROAD~~~

Eyal sat on the sofa, Annie lounging against him. She'd been rather quiet since his return from South Africa, but also more fatigued. He'd worried at first that perhaps she had suffered another attack and was refusing to tell him out of embarrassment, but when he'd asked she denied any such thing occurring—he had counted her nitrate injections while she was sleeping to verify and found she was telling the truth.

With her heart being perfectly fine, or rather as fine as it could be considering it was slowly failing the blonde American he had grown to love, Eyal could not help but wonder what had so upset Annie. He wanted his Neshama smiling again, and until he reached the bottom of the problem he could not fix it.

He began running his fingers through her hair. It was so incredibly soft, having returned to its pre-Dark health, and he loved the feel of it as his fingers glided through the long locks.

Annie hummed in contentment, pushing herself closer against him and letting out a sigh.

"Rivka came to see me."

Eyal nearly stopped, but caught himself and continued to run his fingers through Annie's hair.

"That is something you should have told me sooner, Neshama. In fact, you should have called me as soon as she left." He would have answered no matter the time. Rivka coming to see Annie meant that she wanted something—she would not have bothered to come in person otherwise.

"I'm still trying to digest everything that she said," Annie said quietly, sounding a bit tired, "She . . . uh, she wants me to work with Mossad. Unofficially."

"Work with Mossad? Why?" Why indeed. Rivka was planning something if she wanted Annie under her command. It may be unofficial as in no paperwork, but in Rivka's eyes Annie would be her employee.

Annie sighed and maneuvered herself so as to be facing Eyal. "For keeping my presence in Tel Aviv a secret from interested parties. Namely Langley, but she hinted at other government agencies as well."

Eyal cursed. "Rivka is not someone you want to go against, Annie."

"No, I know. I'm not happy about the blackmail, but it isn't unexpected; Mossad was only going to cover for me for so long before it became more opportunistic to turn me in."

"Did she say in what capacity you would be working? Field work, as a consultant, desk duty?" Eyal hoped it would either as a consultant. Annie would not be required to leave Tel Aviv or even report to Mossad every day—only when summoned.

"No," Annie sighed, rubbing her eyes. Without make-up she was still beautiful to him, her skin flawless except for a few all but invisible scars, but her eyes were tired today. "However I doubt Rivka would have gone to the trouble of braking in during the middle of the night to give me desk duty; so I'm going to assume its to work in the field, probably as an active, on-site consultant or something."

Of course. "Did she give you anything while she was here? Perhaps a folder?"

"Yes, it's on the desk in the front room. I haven't had the heart to open it yet because that would mean that I have to make a decision."

"Oh, Neshama. Rivka is many things, but wasteful of those she sees as valuable is not one of them. If she wants you in the field she will ensure that whatever work she had you do will ensure at least a modicum of safety."

"I hope you're right." Stretching, Annie removed herself from Eyal and the sofa and began padding back toward the bedroom.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked Eyal as he eyed his Neshama.

"To put on a swimsuit. I think you and I need to go to the beach and soak up some Vitamin D." She sent a flirty smile his way, her eyes crinkling in a way that went straight to his heartstrings.

"I think that can be arranged."

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