Disclaimer: I don't own Covert Affairs or the line used from aforementioned show.
Prompt #27: Techs - Stu, Greg, and Barber could all tell that something was brewing with Auggie.
Words: 630
Techs and analysts sometimes made the best agents when it came to the interior of Langley's halls.
The techs working in the DPD were no exception. In fact, they were slightly better. The whole sneaking-around-behind-the-boss's-back deal was a whole lot tougher when your blind boss has four other overdeveloped senses.
Stu, Greg, and Barber thought they were pretty clever guys. Clever enough to find out little gossip tidbits that cycled through Langley's rumor mill that pertained to their boss and a certain blonde agent. Once those tidbits are found, they do their damndest to prove or disprove them.
Between the three of them, the relationship of Annie and Auggie was reliably monitored.
Stu first noticed when the two friends got a tad bit closer. Annie's grip on Auggie's arm went from "just friendly" to "somewhat possessive" over the course of a week. Annie stuck to him like white on rice, shooting cute one-liners that had him grinning like a schoolboy. For some reason, it didn't feel as routine as it once had been. No, it felt...intimate.
Stu could only assume that they were getting closer than best friends. But he had no proof.
Barber realized that there was a shift in the relationship while on stakeout in the van with them. The conversation was light and playful, but not in a best friends type of way. No, it sounded like they were having their own covert conversation under all the small talk. Which made no sense, unless...unless they had become more than friends. Much more.
But again, Barber could only assume. There was no proof.
Greg noticed the change in how they spoke while over comms. Everything seemed more intense, especially when Annie was trying to find her way out of a sticky situation. The tone of Auggie's voice was different as well, with an edge that seemed more pronounced than before. He'd cared about Annie before, but this was something different, something stronger.
Once more, just an assumption. No proof.
Three years of guessing, and with no idea how to go about proving it, the three techs could only sit and watch while thier boss and his best friend continued to do this covert song-and-dance routine. So when Clara joined their midst, she was quickly how to sift through the gossip and find the choicest pieces of intel.
They could have never imagined that she would make the biggest discovery of all.
When she walked into Langley the next morning, Clara was surprised to see Auggie walking just ahead of her. He was usually in long before any of the other DPD techs arrived. A huge smile firmly planted itself on her face when she realized that he was wearing the exact same thing he'd had on the day before.
Picking up her pace, Clara hurried to his side and playfully touched his elbow. "Hey boss."
"Clara, how are you today?" he asked, his hand reaching up to latch onto her elbow for guidance.
"Good." The smile was still going strong as they entered the DPD. Her eyes landed on Annie - and glittered with mirth as she saw that the blonde agent was also recycling yesterday's look.
Her smile grew wicked as well as gleeful. I guess this proves the "assumptions" the guys said they were having.
She waited until the doors of Auggie's office were closed before her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "I gotta ask."
"No you don't," he said in a hushed tone.
Barely able to suppress her giggles, Clara playfully asked, "When you two picked up yesterday's outfits off the floor this morning, did you really think no one would notice?"
Clara's final line is a throwback to season 1, episode 6 "Houses of the Holy" from that first conversation between Annie and Auggie.
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