I don't own Covert Affairs or its sums and parts. I own the notion that it's not finished.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
They were scared, hungry, bored, and cold. Auggie was trying to create distractions and it was not easy when he had to use two languages and tend to an infant. Annie came over with a bag that had been located with diapers and baby things. There was some food in it that had survived the crash, and Annie had located a bottle and milk from the plane's kitchenette, which was mangled and hard to access, but filled with useable resources.
"How are you making out?" Annie asked Auggie, who was taking the baby back out of the carrier to finally get some food into her. She was crying again, and Auggie was grateful Annie had made it a priority to find things to comfort her.
"I'm not sure. Are they all still here?" He was only half-joking.
"Yes, they are," she informed him. "Hey, you guys, you like hanging out with Auggie?"
"Let me guess. They're nodding?"
"Yup, they are."
"Yeah. That's all I get, too."
"Or so you think."
"Or so I think," he said.
"They're frightened, Auggie," Annie said, turning back to him.
"I know. We're doing our best. What did you find?"
"We're getting any luggage we find together. We're scouring the plane for food and water. We've found several First Aid Kits, too. The radio is dead in the plane, the whole front is pretty much gone. Here, can I help?" Auggie was holding the baby with one arm and feeling in the bag for a diaper with the other, but he couldn't get one out. Annie reached in and took one out, and then put her hand on Auggie's hand which held onto the baby's back.
Auggie sighed. "I'm not sure what I'm doin'," he said, feeling defeated by a child's diaper.
"She needs a good cleaning. Why don't you let me clean her up and then I'll show you how to diaper her? You might need this again, you know. Like, if we get stranded on an unknown land with orphans again."
"I hope it's not that unusual again. I'd rather my diaper changing be under more normal circumstances next time."
He felt Annie stop, just a fraction of a second, and the most minute sigh issued from her lips but she said nothing to that. She just started to undress the baby, mindful that it was still chilly for her. She went through the bag, after using a cloth and some water to carefully clean the baby up. She found an ointment, which had exploded inside the bag, but she was able to get enough of it to cover the baby's rash on her legs and bottom, and carefully placed it inside a pocket so it wouldn't make anymore mess. She took a diaper and bumped it on Auggie's hand, and he snapped back to focus, sliding over closer to Annie, taking the diaper from her, checking it out.
"Winnie-the-Pooh," she informed him, and he smiled. "Okay, watch my hands," Annie said, and Auggie placed his fingers over hers. She let him explore everything as she did it, and explained what it was she was doing. "You've got it easy, Auggie, the old ones didn't have Velcro and all this comfort stuff. They were horrible to try and get right." She turned to him when she'd finished. "Auggie?"
He quickly changed his expression and dropped his head. What was it she had seen on his face? He smiled. "I think I got it," he said.
"You okay?" she asked.
He smiled and nodded at her. "I'm okay. I'm just thinking ahead a bit... maybe." He felt her hand on his arm, and he smiled at her again, shaking his head. "I'm okay."
"You want kids, Auggie." It wasn't a question.
"Yeah," Auggie said. He thought that might change after the accident. But once he'd gotten his life back in control again, he found it hadn't. He wasn't sure how to ask her. He knew her career was so important that she would risk her life for it, and that didn't leave a lot of room for children. He knew it had taken her a long time to take on the notion that she could be Chloe and Katia's Godmother, willing to step in if called upon. He knew she had not ever given him the idea that she wanted to be a mother, even if she loved being a great aunt to the girls.
He heard her putting one of the clean sleepers on the baby, snapping up the closures. She made baby talk for a minute, and it made him grin to hear her.
"There. I'll put the rest out to dry off. That ointment got on some of them. I'm surprised the food bottles didn't explode from the air pressure."
"Vacuum seal," Auggie stated, not really thinking about it. "It's already at different pressure."
She put the baby back into his arms. "I do, too, Auggie," she said. "Some day. I want what Danielle has. What Joan has. A family, and a life outside in playgrounds and parks and camping trips. But I'm not ready."
"Hey, Walker, no-one's asking you to be ready now. I'm just telling you my side of things. And making sure you're okay with it. I want those things, too." He reached up, finding her shoulder, her neck, her ear.
Now that the baby was changed, she began to cry from hunger.
Auggie shrugged, grinning sheepishly at Annie, turning back to the bag beside him, searching for the bottle Annie had placed there.
"Is it okay?" he asked Annie. "I mean, it's safe?"
"It is for now. Then we'll have to switch her to the food. Unless we find a cow..." Her joke trailed off, and then she looked away, her voice not facing him. "It's once of my crew," she said. "He's got a couple of boxes of something." He heard her laugh. "Granola bars!" she said, as the footsteps reached them. "Hey, kids, hungry? Here, take one of these."
The children had jumped up and surrounded Annie as she passed them out something to eat.
"Just sit over there, and eat, okay? Alessia? Come sit here, Honey." She turned back to Auggie and then leaned down and pressed the other box and the last granola bar from the other to his hand.
"There're two for each of you," she whispered. "We're gonna find more. We'll get out of here, and then we can talk about how you've learned about changing a diaper and how we can use this new skill." She stooped and kissed his forehead, her hand in his hair as her lips lingered there for a moment, and then she followed the other man back to their search.
Auggie forced himself to get back to the present, although his future was looking a little enticing to him, as long as they were able to survive long enough to be rescued. He took the bottle, nestling the baby in the crook of his arm, letting nature show him how, and tilted the bottle to get the air out before gently touching the baby's face and finding her tiny mouth, and putting the bottle to it. Immediately he felt the pull of her drinking, and relief came to his heart and his ears. Immediately, he felt someone standing at his right shoulder. He turned to them.
"Hello," he said.
"Hi," said the voice.
"Alannah?"
"Yeah."
"Good. I'm glad you're here. How are your new friends?"
"I dunno. They don't talk."
"They speak Italian, Sweetie," he said.
"I know. But me an' Sam don't know Italian."
"You can have friends that speak other languages. You just have to figure out how to talk to each other. Maybe you can teach them some English."
"They're not very old," the little girl said.
"That doesn't matter. They can say words in Italian. There's no reason why you can't learn some of them, too. Teach each other. You want me to teach you some so you can say hello to them?"
She didn't remember to speak her reply out loud. Auggie turned to her as she moved close to him.
"She's pretty," she said, peering over his shoulder.
"She is a beautiful little girl."
"Can I hold her?"
"You want to feed her?"
"Yeah."
Auggie patted the spot beside him. "Okay, sit down here." As soon as she was there, he told her how to put her arms, and he made sure as he passed the child to her that she was doing as he'd told her. He checked the angle on the bottle as she held it, and then sat back. "Good?" he asked her.
This time, she answered with the affirmative, and then Auggie felt the presence of more little bodies.
"Hi," Auggie said. "Let me guess, everyone wants a turn feeding the baby." He smiled at them. "Alannah is big enough to hold her," he explained to Sam, and then again in Italian to the little ones. And he came up with an idea for them all to use one description to tell him what the baby looked like as he took her back from the little girl.
Gianna and Alessia told him she was small, and that she had tiny fingers. He felt her fingers and told them they were right. Sam told him that she was almost bald, but the hair she did have was fair. Auggie fluffed his fingers along her head and nodded at the boy.
"She has purple eyes," Alannah told him.
"Purple?" Auggie asked her, squinting his eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, they look purple."
"Sam?" Auggie asked, needing a child's second opinion on this observation."
"Yeah, they look like purple, like a bluish purple," the boy replied. "They're big, too."
"Huh," Auggie mused to himself. Then he looked back toward the children. "Did you all eat your snacks?"
"I'm still hungry," wined Sam.
"I know, Sam. We're looking for some food, but until then, we all have to be patient, okay?"
"He's nodding," explained Alannah.
"Thank you, Alannah," Auggie smiled toward the girl. "Thank you for remembering."
Auggie organised his little translation class, having them sit around him. He kept them distracted and gave them the starts to getting to know each other. The two little Italian girls started to open up a little. They were not related, but they had stuck close together, quietly, terrified, lost without their parents, not knowing what was going on. Auggie coaxed them out of their shells, giving them words to use with the other children, giving the siblings words to use back, opening the gates of communication for them. He was patient, he was complimentary, he rewarded them with kind words and smiles when they got it. It wasn't that much different than working with new operatives. It wasn't that much different than how they taught him in rehab training, he thought to himself.
Amy, the nurse, came to check on them after a while, and brought them some little packages of crackers and peanut butter and cheese that had been recovered. Auggie broke them open and carefully spread the peanut butter and cheese with the ridiculously difficult stick that was provided. He let the kids pick what they wanted and let Alannah be in charge of making sure it was even. He'd discovered she quite enjoyed being a little mother to her brother and the other three orphaned children. He used this new information to his advantage. He put her in charge of Watching. He told her to let him know where everybody was, or if they started to wander off. He informed her it was a very important job, being his eyes for him. Sam instantly wanted to do the job, too, but Auggie knew his want was only because his big sister was doing it. He let Sam in on the task, though, figuring any extra eyes on the job were always beneficial.
"Can we go play?" Sam asked him shortly.
"I need you guys to stay close here. There's too much going on to be running around."
"This is boring."
"I know this is hard, Sam, it is hard on everyone. We're all unhappy and scared and hungry, but we have to work together and try our best to keep everyone okay, all right?"
"Why can't we go over with our Mummy?" he asked.
"She needs her rest, Kiddo. Your Daddy, too. They'll feel better and then you can go with them. But they need you to be strong, okay?"
"Okay."
The baby had fallen asleep, and Auggie found her carrier and gently tucked her back into it, covering her with the blanket, touching her head, making sure she was warm and she could breathe. He kept one hand on her blanket, feeling the warm mound under it.
In a minute, he felt someone on his left, just sidling up and sitting, staying quiet.
"Who's beside me?" he asked, and then he asked again in Italian.
"Gianna," said the little voice.
He smiled and lifted his arm, and she snuck under it, seeking warmth and comfort. As soon as she did that, he felt another little body move near his knees, and he pulled little Alessia in close to Gianna. They were no doubt exhausted. He knew he was.
"Can I lay here, too? I'm tired. I wanna go home now," said Alannah. He heard her breaking into tears, and he held his hand out to her.
"Come on, cuddle up here beside us. Just let me keep my hand on the baby, okay? Come on, Sam. I'll tell you a story."
He began a story that involved princesses and dragons and sorcerers and he just kept talking because he didn't know if they were all awake or asleep. He didn't realise he had been dozing himself until he heard Annie's voice close by.
"Looks like you have everything under control here," she said gently, smiling,
"Are they all sleeping?"
"They're worn right out. How are you?"
"Surviving."
"How's your head?"
"Okay. How's everything?"
"We found more food. I just hope they hone in on that black box soon. It's not going to last long."
"They're looking for us, Annie. We'll be found soon."
"There are a few more hours of light. I'm going to keep on with the plane. They've made sure it's safe."
"You said the front is gone... so I'm assuming our pilots...?"
"Didn't survive," Annie finished. "We have no clue where they tried to head when they realised their engine failed. We don't know if we went north, west, or made it to an island."
"They'll find us soon, Annie."
"I love you, Auggie."
He smiled. It would be okay.
"I love you, too, Walker."
