Oh, Covert Affairs, how I've missed you. Last night's episode was as good as ever, even if I can't really understand the charm and charisma that is Eyal… is that just me? Everything that came out of his mouth seemed like a line, and certainly nothing worthy of swooning. Granted, he'll forever be known to me as "that ninja guy from The Mummy" so that might have colored my opinion of him a tad.

But I am a total sucker for an episode that highlights Joan. Her in jury duty sounds like it would just end in tragedy, particularly because I'm pretty sure she would murder her fellow jurors by the end of the second week. But her misfortune did make me chuckle, because it reminded me of the other show she guest stars in, Leverage (for the four of you that also watch it). One of my favorite episodes is when Parker has to go into jury duty and deals with some trouble of her own.

Ironically, that episode also starred Lauren Holly, who appeared on Covert Affairs last season (and had a long-running spot on NCIS, too).

Okay, that's enough of me playing Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

And next week's episode seems like the best-worst idea ever. Annie's investigating someone at the Farm, and Auggie's being brought undercover… and loses his shirt. Yeahhh, I see nothing going wrong with that plan.

Spoilers for Good Advices (ep 2.02).

$4$

Crotchet: (n.) an odd fancy or whimsical notion.

After Paris, Annie had decided to distress a little before her next eventual mission, which meant pestering Auggie in Tech Ops afterhours. "You bought me a cake," she reminded him with an obnoxious grin, stretching out in her chair and propping up her feet on the table.

"Yes, I bought you cake," he replied, a tad belligerently, as he leaned over, grabbed her ankles, and set her feet on the ground and she pointedly ignored the way his hands felt against her skin. "Legs off the table, Walker."

"Stick in the mud," she shot back, giggling a little. "And I wasn't really expecting a cake. You don't like celebrating birthdays."

"No, I specifically said I don't like celebrating my birthday," he corrected, bringing up some last-minute work on his computer and running his fingers over the Braille strip. "I said nothing about celebrating your birthday."

Annie narrowed her eyes at him a little, silently marveling at his craftiness. "You realize that this means I'm going to have to throw a surprise party for you, right?"

"Under no circumstances does it mean that."

"Ohh, no," she hastened to inform him, sitting up in her chari. "That is exactly what it means. I am throwing you an awesome surprise party and there is nothing you can do to stop it. It's happening."

"I've had enough 'surprise' birthday parties to last a while, thanks to my mother and insane brothers," he said derisively, actually using air quotes. "I'll pass."

Annie grinned at him, suddenly stricken with the sweetest thought of Auggie as a little kid. "I bet you were the cutest little kid," she replied, poking his shoulder. "All awkward and nerdy."

Auggie just scowled in response, his cheeks coloring. He grumbled and muttered something about his brothers and Poindexter and she laughed some more.

"Oh, yeah. I'm definitely throwing you a surprise birthday party."

"Why are you so mean to me?"

$4$

I basically just used today WotD as an excuse to use more dialogue. As a writer, I'm by nature a dialogue-heavy person, because it's the simplest shortcut to revealing the most without having to write it all out. You know, show but not tell and all that jazz.

I'm fairly certain at least half my male friends only tolerate my presence because I keep them entertained with my extremely blunt and dry (oh, and frequently sick) sense of humor. I think that same humor tends to translate pretty well when writing Auggie and Annie's dialogue.