I'm impressed they've introduced Arthur's ex-wife so early into the season. I read something about her early on, but I thought they would hold back at least until halfway through.

And they made a pretty good decision. I don't know much about the actress, I just know she's played the future/ex-girlfriend to a whole bunch of "older" men on various TV shows (NCIS, Bones, Blue Blood, etc.) and this is the first time I don't want to smack her for it. Probably because the concept of Arthur not telling Joan his ex-wife is visiting is too terrifying to think about Gina properly.

(But I will readily admit I love that during the divorce she only referred to Joan as "the blonde.")

Spoilers for Bang and Blame (ep 1.03).

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Xenogenic: (adj.) in biology, originating outside the organism or from a foreign substance introduced into the organism.

He didn't find out until three weeks later.

For the record, he knew something was wrong right from the beginning, but he couldn't figure it out. Or maybe he didn't want to figure it out. If he looked past his own problems and recognized that whatever was going on was affecting him, affecting the both of them, then that would mean he would have to recognize what was going on between them.

And truthfully, he wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. He didn't think she was, either, but it wasn't like he was going to ask her to double-check.

It damn near killed him to have to learn about all of this through somebody else. Granted, it was Barber, who could on occasion be kind of an ass, but he was a good guy. When he heard Annie talking to Bea about it, his first reaction had been to double back and immediately tell Auggie what the fuck was going on.

And, apparently, there was a lot fucking going on.

She was dating a doctor. He didn't know for how long precisely, but if he was going to stop pretending he hadn't noticed it from the beginning he was almost positive it started sometime around when she went back to the Farm. She had been acting weird and almost-not-quite distant towards the latter half of the mission, but he had ignored the warning signs. He assumed she was tired or off from all the work and stress, and in the grand tradition of the cliché he had made one hell of an ass out of himself.

He didn't know where she met this doctor, either. Probably a hospital (because that was logical, dumbass) or maybe through her nieces or sister, but he didn't know anything remotely close to specifics. All he did know was that this doctor had appeared out of nowhere and was spectacularly screwing up the delicate order that was Auggie's life.

It was grating, because no matter how pissed he wanted to be—a doctor? Really? Did it really have to be a doctor?—every time he felt that familiar, welcome burble of rage creep up his spine, his brain checked it at the door. He had no right to be pissed she was dating Dr. McDreamy or whatever the fuck they went by these days.

Especially considering he was no stranger to relationships. In about as many weeks as she had been dating the doctor, he had had three women in his bed. Annie probably knew about at least two of them.

And if he was going to continue on this honesty vein, him sleeping his way through Allen's Tavern pissed her off on some level, too. She didn't admit as much (except for the few odd times when she'd make the offhanded comment about a Walk of Shame or "Where'd that redhead you were with last go? She can't read either?"), but he knew her almost as well as he knew himself. She didn't approve of his repertoire, and the wounds from Liza were still fresh.

That never stopped him, though. He was comfortable with the way things were, the way they had been since before she was pulled off the Farm. It hadn't even occurred to him that anything needed to change just because he was now best friends with the CIA's favorite hot blonde agent (he liked to pretend Joan wasn't hot because he felt like somehow she would know… and then cut his balls off).

But then this doctors-without-borders type (yes, he may have abused his head-of-the-CIA's-Tech –Ops-division powers to do a full background check on the guy… but no one was going to find out about that) appeared. Auggie didn't particularly like change, especially if it affected him negatively. And this doctor definitely counted as a negative change.

He wanted to talk to her about it. They were best friends, which meant he should be able to have a conversation with her about her boyfriend without him putting his fist through anything. But the problem was, he knew the second they started talking about it, he would say something assholish, like dating someone outside of the CIA was always a dangerous situation, and what if he found out about her real job or she had to break up with him on CIA orders.

Yeahhh… Bringing up Tash would not be a good idea.

So Auggie kept his mouth shut and silently fumed. Because one day, they would break up, and the doctor would go back to Tanzania or whatever and Annie would go back to being his Annie.

Yeah. One day.

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For the record, I actually don't hate the doctor. Ben? Sure. Jai? I'm actually getting pretty used to (he's growing on me, in a smarmy, I-just-can't-help-myself kind of way).

And that doctor (I had to IMDB it to learn that his name is actually Dr. Weiss—I was too distracted and slap-happy last night to pay attention to something as trivial as his last name) was totally adorable. Yes, I know Annie/Auggie whoo!, but dammit, he's a little bit of a manwhore right now and the doctor's a sweetheart. Also, not an unattractive lunatic incapable of giving her a straight answer (*coughBencough*).

God, I hope USA doesn't screw this up. I mean, they will, eventually. Because he's a doctor without borders or whatever and she's a CIA agent. The relationship can only last so long before he either sees her blow something up or she has to lie and break his heart.

In which case I'll go back to rooting for A/A.

This was actually a really long WotD for once (yes, I know they're usually abysmally short). I rather enjoy writing about Auggie ranting to himself. Especially when it's jealous ranting.