After their fiftieth year together, Tommy had four kids, Jamie had one. One was in college, two in high school, one in the middle, and the youngest in the 3th grade. Tommy retired early, technically, and Jamie was not in the running for head of the inexistent department of the CIA, also technically. Annie and Auggie moved to the beach where Auggie could smell the fresh air, taste the saltwater, hear the seagulls and feel the sand between he and his wife.


The past ten years had been calm, peaceful, and in all definition of the word, wonderful. After Auggie's aneurism, not much changed physically in him, and luckily not much damage was sustained. Psychologically however, he changed. Auggie was once the optimist that pulled Annie out of the ladies room that first day they met, and he was the optimist that convinced her to marry him, the best decision of her life. He was the optimist that reassured her that a baby was going to be wonderful, and he was the optimist that had always been there ready to smile when everything around them came crashing in. After the aneurysm however, it was like he saw the world through rose-colored glasses. He wasn't just optimistic anymore, he was elated with life and everything in it. For the longest time, Annie never understood what changed in him. The night before their fiftieth anniversary however, as they lay in bed for the night with the window open and the salty air coming in, she asked him, and to her surprise, he answered.

"Do you remember when we started trying for Tommy?" His weak voice asked out in response to her question. They were facing each other in bed, close enough for her to hear his raspy breath. After years of physical trauma to her body including a nasty gunshot wound to her leg when she was in her thirties, Annie didn't walk well anymore and her hearing could be better. One would assume that would pose a problem when her only companion was her 84-year-old blind husband.

But Auggie never accepted anyone's help beside Annie when they were younger, she'd be damned if she did differently when the cards changed to her hand. So the two of them took care of each other, and even though their lives now were limited to just each other's company in their tiny beach apartment, it made them happy.

She smiled a weak smile and slowly raised her hand until she could rest it against her cheek, at which he immediately tilted his face and closed eyes into it.

"How could I forget?" she fanned her thumb back and forth over the wrinkly skin of his cheek, but she didn't even notice the lines and creases that age spread on his skin. In her eyes, he was still, and always would be, the young and handsome tech she met that first day at work, almost 53 years ago.

"You told me," he had to pause for a hard breath. "...that whenever I had a life-changing experience, I tried to change my life….and would make a big decision."

She remembered that, she remembered all of it. The day he told her he was going to propose to Parker, the day he proposed to her, the second time he proposed to her, the day he told her he wanted to have kids, the day he told her they should resign, the day they bought the house, they took a family vacation, he let Jaime go on her first date...she always thought about it. "I remember."

He smiled again, and his breath came out like a wheeze for a moment before quieting.

"Well," he started again. "When I had that aneurysm and I was sitting there on the floor, feeling like my skull was exploding while my daughter held me in her arms, I thought I was dieing."

Annie closed her eyes in the pain of the memory. She'd watched him get shot, hit by a motorcycle, fall down a flight of stairs, and run a 105 degree temperature, but that moment, that moment when she had heard Jamie scream and she turned the corner to find her daughter clutching at her father with his eyes rolling into the back of his head and his fingernails cutting into his scalp….that day was the scariest day of her life.

"I just remember sitting there with Jamie and thinking 'this is the end; I'm going to die.'"

She felt the hot sting of a tear sliding over her skin, but didn't interrupt him, knowing well that he wasn't yet finished.

"But then it all went really peaceful, and I remember this...these colors, or what I remember of colors just swirling like a fog, and then those colors that appeared faded into grey, then faded into black, and then all the pain just faded away with it…" he swallowed with another heavy breath. "And I realized that every time I almost died, I remembered something I still needed to do, or something I wanted to change." He went silent for a moment, and then opened his eyes. They were frozen, focused on her, and for a second she almost forgot he couldn't see her. "But that day, instead, I just felt….peaceful. I realized I didn't need anything anymore. All I ever really wanted, you, the kids, this family we created, Tommy and Jamie to find someone like I did...I had it all, and if I died then and there, I would be ok with it because I was happy and even if I only realized it then, it was enough."

He stopped talking finally, and managed to find his wife's hand into his weak one, smiling as he let his eyelid droop closed once more with sleepiness settling into his frail body.

From the opposite side of the room, a tiny bell went off, piercing the silence that filled their bedroom and Annie felt a swell of warmth, happiness, love and adoration swell inside of her. Midnight.

"Auggie?"

He simply breathed deeply as a response.

"Happy fiftieth anniversary."


The funeral was beautiful, the dinner was lovely, and the Jazz was his favorite. She spent the day mingling with family, reminiscing the life she had with her husband, and enjoying all his favorite things. She kissed her children goodbye and hugged her grandchildren as strongly as she could before they all drove away.

Finally, she went to bed that night with a smile on her face, and his love in her heart. As she lay there alone, in the bed she shared with him for so many years, she let her mind travel back down that timeline of her life with Auggie. She thought about the day they'd met, and how if they hadn't she never would have stayed at Langley, traveled like she did, experienced the adventures that she had or fell in love with him. She remembered the day he tried to tell her he loved her but instead just ended up kissing her and ended up in her bed. She thought about their' first few fights, how too many of them were over his protectiveness of her, or hers of him, and how in retrospect of things it really was pointless to sabotage their own relationship all those times they had. She reminisced over when they finally got engaged, how it had taken two proposals and a motorcycle to bring it about, but how she was thankful everyday that she had. She smiled remembering their wedding, the cozy ceremony, the dress she'd specifically picked out for its feel and texture, their first dance as a married couple, and how little she actually knew about what she was getting herself into. She remembered their first deep cover mission together as Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair and how for the longest time afterward she still wanted to call him August Sinclair. She smiled at the memory of telling him she was pregnant the first time, and the second. A tear made a presence at the memories of Tommy's toys tripping her husband, Jaime's games of hide-and-seak, and that time Auggie stepped on her playdough masterpiece. She cringed at all the experiences they shared as their children hit their teens, Tommy much too smart for his own good, Jamie laughing at her blind father's attempt to convince her that she really was as beautiful as her mother made her out to be, and a distracting female that lead her son to lose his dad during campus orientation. She laughed silently at the thought of when she first met Allison, Tommy's wife, and cringed at the name Ben when Jaime introduced her new boyfriend, and when their first granddaughter was born. And even though she'd always regarded the memory as one of the worst, she smiled this time when she remembered when Auggie had his aneurysm because of what he told her the last conversation they'd shared.

She turned to her side still smiling from all the memories she'd not only had, but shared with the tech ops from Langley, DC office of the CIA. Her eyes closed with the picture of his young, bright face, welcoming brown eyes, sweet sincere smile, and wavy head of hair.

She died happy and with a hand to her heart, and after fifty years together, Annie Walker and August Anderson lay to rest together for the final time.

After all this time, Annie loved Auggie, and Auggie loved Annie as much that day as the day they met.

It was raining.

- - - -[ - END - ] - - - -


Author's note:

Okay, I need myself a tissue.

So there you have it kids, the ending to my Auggie & Annie timeline. I wanted to create this life for them that wasn't perfect and blissful, but in the end had everything they really needed in life.

It was great writing and posting and reading your reviews and if you have any comments, ideas or suggestions for perhaps another story [or spin-off one-shots for the collection I'll be doing] let me know. I haven't come up with any title for the stories yet, but it'll probably be something related to time like "Moments" or something, and I'll make sure to put in the title or summary what it is, but if you absolutely do not want to miss it, I recommend you just follow me until I post it. (Maybe be a few days to weeks.) I'm already thinking of doing two called "The Wedding Dress," which involves Auggie and Annie's wedding, and "Photos"which is a sentimental story I thought about involving Annie and her daughter really (but pretty much about about Auggie.) I've gotten requests for more stories of early in Auggie and Annie's relationship, their kids, and the Campbell's kid possibly being brought in at one point, which may need to wait until we learn more information about him or her before I promise anything. If you want to request anything, you can do it through a review, PM, or through my tumblr at DiggyLiz.

Thanks again all of you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did creating this little world for Auggie and Annie. You know I always love to hear your thoughts, opinions, and ideas.

Lots of Love,

-Liz

P.S.

Brownie points if you caught the reason behind the rain.