A/N: Okay, this one just sort of took off. So there will be another chapter. At least. I'm thinking an epilogue, too. And I just finally got to watch this week's episode and am finding myself at a loss for words regarding this season. More reason to write!


Chapter 12

"You'll stay with us tonight, won't you?" Dana laced her arm through his as they descended the bleachers at the twins' hockey game. It was Friday night two weeks after Thanksgiving. "The boys are going to a birthday sleepover."

Auggie hadn't really planned to go to the game when Dana showed up at the apartment to collect him about two hours earlier. Since his visit with Joan, he'd thrown himself headlong into work, and they'd barely seen or heard from him in the past three weeks. He definitely hadn't planned a sleepover of his own, yet he knew Dan would insist. She'd used her "I'm not worried about you" worried voice. He needed to try to throw her off the trail.

"I don't have clothes or anything." A poor play, he realized.

"Brendan's only a little bit bigger than you, and I'm sure we have extras of everything. Do you have a phone charger?" Twenty-first century problems.

Auggie grinned at her understanding of how his world worked – both then and now. "I do."

"Great! Then it's settled."

He couldn't and wouldn't attempt to fight her. "You sure you and Brendan don't want some time to yourselves?" He threw this up as a last, pitiful resort.

"I doubt you'll be coming in our bedroom with a tummy ache in the middle of the night."

"You'd be surprised where I can end up without even trying," he said, attempting to stifle a laugh.

She smacked his chest playfully. "We'll tie a jingle bell around your ankle or something, so I can hear you coming."

"That'd probably work."

She gave him the front seat and climbed in over the boys' mess in the back. "You'd likely need a tetanus shot if you sat back here without knowing where all their crap is, Aug," she explained as she implored him to take her place beside Brendan.

They arrived at the house and headed straight for the kitchen. Brendan grabbed beer for him and Auggie and opened a bottle of red wine for Dana. Dana started the conversation as their drinks arrived at the table and Brendan took his seat.

"What have you been up to? We've barely heard a peep from you in almost a month."

"I've been busy," he tried. "It's actually been nice to have a full agenda of things to do every day."

Brendan cleared his throat and he and Dana exchanged silent glances. "Doing what, Auggie? What are you doing in your apartment all day with the computers?"

He'd run through this conversation with them in his head about a million times, at least half of those times since coming home. He took a long drink of his beer and started peeling the label from the bottle. "I've thought about this for a long time, and I think it's time for you to know a little bit more about me." He could only imagine the looks on their faces. "I can tell you some things, but I may not be able to answer a lot of the questions you may have." He sighed again. "And you can't tell anyone about this conversation." He turned to Brendan. "Not even Mom and Dad." He stopped and waited for them to take this in.

Brendan looked over at Dana. She nodded her head. "Okay, Auggie," agreed Brendan. "We can live with that."

"Dana?" Auggie asked. She needed to say it, too.

"Agreed."

He wasn't exactly sure where to start, so maybe with the beginning? "When I was in my final year at MIT, I was recruited by the CIA to become an analyst. During my training period, it was decided that I would be better used in Clandestine Services." He waited for them to digest this for a second before he said the actual words. "I'm a spy."

Dana gasped. "But after September 11th," Brendan started.

Auggie nodded. "I joined the Army in 2001 to become an Agency embed. We had no idea what we'd actually be dealing with in Afghanistan, so we wanted our people in the mix." He took another drink to slow his racing mind. "A little later, I was asked to train for Special Forces to be able to be sent even more in the middle of the action."

"And this time?" Dana asked.

Auggie nodded again. "I volunteered to go, but it was with a unit I'd been with before. It was ultimately an Agency assignment, though." He balled up the freed label. "I really can't say any more about it."

"So Max was right." Brendan realized.

"About some things," conceded Auggie. "Not everything, though, and I couldn't and still can't explain things that would give him the answers he needs."

"Okay." Brendan stood and began pacing the kitchen floor. "So now?" He stopped after two passes when Auggie didn't speak. "Oh my God. You're going back."

Auggie held his head in his hand, his elbows on the table. Dana reached for his forearm, placing her hand lightly on it. "Auggie?" she asked gently.

He turned toward her and nodded one more time.

"Why?" cried Brendan, as he dropped into the chair beside his brother.

"It will be a desk job, Brendan. They can't send me out in the field like this," Auggie rationalized. "It's what I know, and I'm good at it. Even now."

Dana reached across the table for Brendan's hand. "I think what Brendan means is DC is so far away, and we've loved having you close by." Her eyes pleaded with her husband. "But obviously we're happy that you're going to be able to go back to a career that you clearly love."

"Yeah," Brendan managed. "That."

Auggie chuckled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bren."

"I'm glad you can go back, Auggie. I'll miss you, though. I always do." Brendan fought the emotion in his voice.

Auggie's own voice felt suddenly thick as tears welled in his own eyes, "Well, it should be a lot easier for me to visit and vice versa. I'm finally going to be working something like regular hours."

Brendan touched Auggie's arm and they leaned together for another long embrace. When they disengaged, Dana hugged Auggie quickly before walking behind Brendan and draped her arms over his shoulders.

"You're the only ones who know about this," he clarified. "I'm not planning on telling anyone else at this point."

"We understand," Dana assured. "Thank you for trusting us with this information, Auggie."

"Thank you for understanding why I have to go and why I have to keep working." He sighed again. "There's still so much more to be done, and I can still be a big part of it."

Brendan cautiously broached another subject. "What about medical clearance from Dr. Rosen?"

Auggie nodded. "We've been working toward it for some time, and conditions from him and other physicians and psychologists will be part of my re-integration. My superiors are willing to go through this process with me."

"Sounds like you work with some good people," mused Brendan.

"I really do," he nodded. "That's even more of a reason for wanting to get back to work. These people believe in me. And even with the obvious limitations, they are willing to take a chance that I'll still be a productive member of the team."

"Then we're happy for you. Right, Bren?" Dana pushed.

"Yes. We really are." He wiped his face with his hand. "When are you going?"

"After the holidays. Probably the second week of January. That's when my lease is up, and I'll need some time back in my own place to learn the layout and things."

"When will you tell Mom that you're leaving?"

"Not until after Christmas." He'd decided to try to have as stress free of a holiday as was possible for everyone involved. His mom did not need to worry about him moving halfway across the country for four or five weeks. Two would be more than sufficient.

Dana kissed Brendan on his cheek and squeezed Auggie's hand. "It's getting late, guys, and I'm going to grab a shower. I'm probably incubating some sort of fungus from the hockey gear."

They both wished her a good night, and Brendan noted he'd be in soon, but they both knew she'd gone to give them some time to talk.

"Do you think less of me, Brendan?" Auggie asked. He really needed to know a little of what was going on in his brother's head, especially after the comment regarding Max.

"Are you kidding me!" Brendan placed his hand on Auggie's upper arm. "If anything, I'm even more in awe of you than I was previously."

"Brendan."

"No, seriously. You've lived this amazing, exciting and dangerous life for the past 10 years, and I've helped build mini malls. Kind of puts things in perspective."

"Shut up. Seriously. You have Dana and Emmett and Eamon and a beautiful and fulfilling life here." He swallowed hard. "I would have never had those things before, and now, well, who knows."

"I guess when you put it like that, we both have done okay," Brendan decided. "Are you sure about all this, Auggie? It's not just to prove that you can, is it?"

Auggie thought about his answer for a few seconds. "Maybe at first it was, but the more I've worked with the adaptive computer technology and have really started to do some of the type of work I used to do, I realized that I could. It became more of a question of if they would let me, and maybe that's what I need to find out."

"But you said your bosses were on board."

"Do you remember the movie Office Space and how the guy talks about his seven bosses? Well, take that and multiply it by about 50. And my bosses have bosses, too. There's a lot of bureaucratic red tape." He laughed. "That's probably the understatement of the century."

"And you love it?"

"Well, not that part, and field agents usually get a little more leeway, so it will be a big transition all around, but yeah. I do love it."

"Well, then there's nothing else to say," decided Brendan. "We'll come with you to help set up the apartment. I don't think Eamon would forgive us if you labeled a new apartment without him."

"God forbid!" exclaimed Auggie. "But thanks, Brendan. That would be a lot of help."

Brendan stood. "I'll grab you some blankets, a pair of shorts and a toothbrush. Are you sure the couch is okay?"

"It will be fine. Believe me; I've slept in worse places."

"I'm sure you have," Brendan laughed as he went to retrieve some things for Auggie from his bedroom. He arrived back in the living room a few minutes later, a perplexed look on his face. He handed Auggie a small metallic object.

"Dana said you'd know what to do with this."

Augggie rolled it around in his fingers before he burst into laughter. Auggie slipped the elastic with four jingle bells onto his wrist and shook it as Brendan directed him down the hall to the spare bathroom. Dana joined them outside the door, collapsing into fits of her own giggles.

"What's so funny?" Brendan asked, looking from his wife to his brother and back, but they were both laughing so hard and gasping for breath that he never got an answer.

TBC