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Chapter 21

The Personal Discovery

December 23, 2010

DPD

She had been watching him all day. Across the cafeteria, from her desk in the DPD, as he interacted with Barber and Stu, during the briefing in the conference room, even when he had that hush-hush meeting with Joan just after lunch.

She hadn't been able to forget that look on his face from last night. Tender and completely adoring… as if—as if what? She didn't think she'd ever seen anyone flash that kind of look at her, not even when she was madly in love with Ben. What did it mean?

So she had followed him with her eyes, thinking that maybe, just maybe, if she watched him closely enough, she would be able to understand that tender, heart-stopping look.

"Annie?"

His curious, tender voice brought her out of her thoughts. Her words caught in her throat at the sight of him, dressed in black dress pants and a deep navy dress shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair curled deliciously around his ears, and his chocolate eyes were glowing back at her. The mixed scent of his cologne and his aftershave were wafting toward her, and… goodness, she had been attracted to him for weeks now, but what was this? It was like she was seeing him in a completely different light.

She reached out and squeezed his hand. "Hi," she squeaked out.

At the moment, it was about all she could manage. She felt like she was back in high school, with another crazy crush.

"You okay?" he asked gently, turning to lean against the side of her desk.

Swallowing hard, she said, "Yeah. Fine."

He wasn't sure he believed her, but he let the comment slide. He reached up and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Missed you today. You didn't even come and say hi," he teased.

"Joan, ah—Joan had me working on a ton of translations," she said feebly.

"Mmm," he hummed, threading their fingers together as he turned in the direction of her voice. "So what's today's Christmasy activity?" Something low-key? he pled silently. It was two days before Christmas, after all, and he didn't want Christmas to pass them by without telling her his news.

"Well… I didn't really have any plans," she admitted. "But Chloe and Katia made me promise that I'd bring you over tonight, so they can rearrange the Christmas presents with you."

"Rearrange the Christmas presents?" he asked.

"Yeah. Every year they do it multiple times. I am surprised they haven't done it yet. They take all the presents out from under the tree, separate them by who they belong to, and figure out who is getting the most presents, and then they put them back under the tree, spreading them out as far as possible, so it looks like half the room is covered with Christmas presents."

Auggie snorted as he glanced in her direction. "Really?" he asked incredulously.

She laughed as she bumped her shoulder against his. "Yeah, honey," she said with a soft smile, her heart swelling at the idea of being with him the rest of the evening. "You must have been Scrooge when you were a kid."

He laughed. "I probably was. We never did that."

Annie laughed. "Yeah, well, Dani and I didn't, either. The girls thought it up all on their own." She tugged on his hand. "C'mon. You'll love it," she said, grinning at him.

He let her tug him toward tech ops to retrieve his coat and bag, and then they left for Danielle's house.

Merry Christmas * Merry Christmas * Merry Christmas

December 23, 2010

Brooks Home

Annie slowly rounded the corner, nursing her cup of coffee, and she leaned against the doorjamb, watching as the girls interacted with Auggie. Katia handed a present to Chloe, who read the nametag. "Mommy!" she announced, and the package was placed precariously atop the growing "Mommy pile."

Annie watched with interest as the girls laughed and handed out presents and teased Auggie. Sipping her coffee, she watched with a smile as Auggie dished it right back out to them, teasing them about school and homework and how Santa was going to come and steal their presents again for torturing a poor, helpless blind man. "We don't believe in Santa anymore, Mr. Auggie!" they squealed back at him, thoroughly enjoying their time together. "Besides, you can't be helpless."

"Why not?" he had scoffed in return.

"Because you saw the monster of the deep yesterday!" Chloe said, crossing her arms across her chest importantly. "So that must mean you can see!"

"I cannot!" he argued back. "Don't you know, you can only see monsters of the deep in your mind?" He tapped his head to prove his point.

Katia rolled her eyes. "Even Chloe know that can't be true Mr. Auggie."

Then they had all laughed, and Chloe had climbed onto his lap, tugging his arms around her. Katia scowled at the two of them. "Chloe! C'mon, you have to help me separate the presents!"

Groaning, Chloe turned around in Auggie's arms and gave him a childish hug. "I love you, Mr. Auggie!" she said, quickly, as if it was the most natural thing for her to say. "You're going to love Christmas this year!" She paused, slipping off his lap. "You and Aunt Annie are coming over tomorrow night, right? We get to open one present, and we're gonna tell the story about Baby Jesus. And you're gonna love it! We're gonna watch Elf and eat Mommy's cookies and drink hot cocoa… and… and then, we have to go to bed. Because Mommy says she still has lots of presents and stuff to wrap, and we're not allowed to watch." She glanced at Auggie as she dropped the next package in Katia's pile of presents. "Are you excited, Mr. Auggie? Christmas is the very best time of all the year!"

He smirked in her general direction. "Yeah, Chloe, I'm excited." His smile softened as he heard Annie adjusting her position at the door, and he offered her another of his heart-stopping, tender grins. He slowly felt his way around the piles of Christmas presents, until he was standing before Annie. He reached for her waist, pulling her into his arms. "Where have you been?"

"Right here," she said, and he could imagine her easy smile. "Watching you."

He reached up, his hand caressing her cheek, as he leaned in. "And why would you be doing that?" he whispered.

She closed the distance between them, kissing him slowly. Her lips were so soft. She tasted of coffee and mint. Mmm. He could definitely get used to this.

They heard a little "ahem" behind them, before the little voice's owner tapped Auggie's back impatiently. "What did I tell you about kissey-kissey time?" she demanded.

Annie smiled at her niece. "We'll be right back, 'kay?" she asked. "You and Katia keep separating the presents. We'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"

"Where are you going?" she asked, eying them suspiciously.

Annie laughed. "Just into the kitchen. Auggie's gonna need some coffee if he's gonna hang around you hooligans all night."

Chloe grinned at that. After receiving Katia's nod of approval, Chloe said, "Okay. But hurry up. And NO kissey-kissey time!"

Annie grinned before reaching to ruffle Chloe's hair affectionately. "Okay, half-pint."

Chloe scowled at her teasingly. "Don't call me that!"

Annie laughed as she tugged Auggie into the kitchen, kissing him again when she was sure her niece wasn't looking.

Auggie pulled back and asked teasingly, "I thought you promised no kissey-kissey time."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, puh-lease. If we're gonna hang out with the dynamic duo in there all night, I need at least one good kiss to hold me over."

A slow smile slid up his face as his hands came to cup hers. "Just one kiss?"

She smiled against his lips. "We'll start there," she whispered a moment before his lips claimed hers.

As slid her arms up around his neck, he pulled her closer, and she couldn't believe she'd settled for just watching him all day, not when they could have been working together half the day, eating lunch together in the cafeteria. He was strong and funny and kind, and he adored her.

Quite frankly, she adored him, too.

The thought both jolted and thrilled her. She adored him? No, she loved him. With everything in her. He made her laugh. He had healed every broken piece of her heart. He was kind and good and strong, and he understood her—every bit of her. She didn't care that he couldn't see—he didn't need to see her to know her, to be there for her, to give her the perfect dates, to make her feel whole again. Oh, yes—she loved him.

The realization jolted her, and she kissed him back with a passion she didn't know she had in her. I love you. I love you. I love you. Now that she knew, she wanted to say the words over and over again. I love you, Auggie. As he pulled back, pressing a kiss to her brow as he caressed her cheek gently, affectionately, she whispered, "Auggie, I—I need to tell you someth…"

She heard two sets of pitter-patter footsteps in front of her, and she peaked around Auggie to see her two nieces standing there, feet planted firmly in the floor, hands resting on their hips persistently, as they scowled back at her.

She managed a smile for her nieces, willing the fuzzy cobwebs in her mind to go away. "What's up, pipsqueaks?"

Chloe frowned more severely. "You better not have been kissing Mr. Auggie."

Katia nodded her head significantly. "Yeah. We're just gonna stand here, and make sure you and Mr. Auggie don't have any more kissey-kissey time."

"What about the presents?"

"Oh, they're separated already. You make coffee too slowly."

Annie smiled and reached for the coffee pot, grateful the pot was still half-full after she had brewed some for herself. She reached for a mug from the cupboard and poured him some coffee, handing him the mug as she finished.

The two girls eyed them suspiciously. Then Chloe pointed toward the living room, a fiery, don't-question-me-I-mean-business look in her eyes. "Okay. Let's go. We've got presents to count!"

Annie laughed into Auggie's bicep as she slipped her hand into his. "I hope that was enough to tide you over," Auggie whispered to her. "Because I don't think we'll ever be able to kiss in front of them ever again, so long as we both shall live."

Annie laughed as she pressed a quick kiss to his shoulder. "I'm okay for now."

He grinned over at her as they both sank to the ground behind their separate piles of packages. "Good."

As Chloe and Katia paraded around the room, counting presents and determining where each present would fit under the tree, Annie threaded her fingers through Auggie's and resting her head against his shoulder.

She loved him. The thought made her giddy with excitement. She breathed in the smell of Auggie's cologne as she snuggled against him, watching the girls with a soft smile.

She was in love.

A/N: I had planned to write more, after this, but this just seemed perfect, just the way it was. Kinda short, but I think it's a perfect lead-in for the last three chapters. Besides, the next three chapters are probably going to be longer, seeing that there will be a multitude of very awesome Christmasy (and lovey-dovey) things. :)

Soo. Hope it met everyone's expectations! I think a bunch of you thought Annie already realized she was in love, but, well… that's not how I really saw it, haha, and I really wanted to include when both Annie and Auggie realized they loved each other. :) Which is why Auggie's declaration has been prolonged. :*(

Anywhoo. Sooo, review please! I'd love to know what you think!