Jubilee: (n.) Any season or occasion of rejoicing or festivity.
"You know what today is, don't you?" Auggie asked, his fingers moving carefully through the air until he found the corner of the desk and then leaned against it.
"Tuesday?" Annie replied uncertainly, glancing up at her best friend.
A playful smirk crossed his face. "I'm hurt, Annie," he said, although he sounded far from it. "How could you forget?"
"I know for a fact that your birthday was two months ago, so what could I have possibly forgotten that's hurt you so much?" she asked, knowing the easiest way to get an answer out of him was to just play along.
"Two and a half," he corrected offhandedly and laughed when she swatted his leg. "Anyway, it just so happened to be a year ago today that you walked into Langley for the first time and were greeted by a mesmerising tech handler who swiftly became your favourite person in the entire world," he informed her blithely while he twirled his laser cane between his long fingers.
Annie was silent as she marvelled at this fact. She hadn't even noticed, or given the idea much thought at all, but he was right. Trying not to show him how much he'd surprised her, she joked, "I'm not sure what should worry me more: the fact that you've been counting the days since you met me or the size of the ego that makes you think you're my favourite person."
"Harsh," Auggie said in mock offence. "And to think I was going to treat you to a drink tonight to celebrate."
"I was kidding," Annie said quickly, making Auggie's smile resurrect immediately. "Of course you're my favourite person. Buddy," she added cheekily, pushing his shoulder playfully.
"Don't overdo it there, hon," he said in reply, sliding his hand across the edge of the desk until he found hers and patting it lightly. "Alright, I'll see you after work then." He stood up and then added, "Oh, but since I'm buying drinks, you're driving." Grinning at their private joke, he wandered back toward his office and left her to sit there and smile.
The moment work had ended for the day Annie had hunted down her best friend and found him already waiting for her in his tech room. It was hardly a half hour later that they were settled at a little table near the edge of Allen's with their beers, reminiscing on the way that things had changed over the last year.
It had been action and adventure from the very beginning for them. From that very first mission they had worked together, they had realised that they were an exceptional team. Both of them used to being the odd ones out, they had bonded immediately and from there it had been set.
He had been there for her when she had fallen apart in the restroom – all four times it happened. She had returned the favour on the few occasions his calm had slipped.
He had kept her going through the explosion of the Ben Mercer nightmare, when he'd swept in and out of town before dying in her arms. She had brought him back to himself after Tash had swept in and sent his mind spinning out of control.
He'd consoled her when the truth about Jai had come out, and she'd been at his back when the Liza Hearn thing blew up.
He had been a supportive shoulder when a fight with her sister had left her crashing on his couch for three nights until the storm blew over. And she had gone back to Illinois with him to be his moral support at his brother's funeral.
Things hadn't always been milk and honey between them. There had been arguments and fights and accusations and – on one occasion – tears. There had been that dreadful time when they'd gone two days without speaking to each other, that ended with Auggie standing around in the med station and refusing to let go of her hand while they stitched up the bullet hole in her leg and he apologised a half million times for letting her go into the field with anyone but him in her ear. It hadn't always been perfect, but they always ended up leaning on each other again at the end of the day and that's what mattered most to them.
"It's been a crazy year, huh?" Annie said, jerking Auggie out of his memories.
"Yeah, well, you're good at keeping life from getting boring," he replied with a smile and was rewarded with a soft laugh. Letting his tone become more sincere, he finished, "But I wouldn't have it any other way."
There was a brief pause and then he heard the scrape of her chair moving around the table until she was next to him. "To another year of this; Walker and Anderson, the best damn agents in the world back-to-back against all of the evil," she said and he heard the sound of her glass lifting.
Grinning, he lifted his own and said, "To kickin' ass and takin' names with your best friend." She tapped her glass against his, and they both quickly drained them.
And when she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek, lingering just slightly longer than might have been necessary, he couldn't help but think that maybe this new year would prove to be even better than the last.