ONE WEEK LATER

Skipping ahead in time, I'll get back to details on how Annie managed to get the psychiatrist to give her a one way ticket to a psychiatric hospital. A

A week has gone by since Annie disappeared while being transported from Walter Reed to a treatment location, a psychiatric hospital in rural Virginia.

7 days.

168 hours.

Ryan has not slept much in that time, he's temporarily stepped down from his role at McQuaid Security with Jim reluctantly filling his shoes while he devoted all his waking hours to figuring how what happened to Annie and where she might have gone. He had Dex and Fitz helping him with all the leads they could gather, but Jim began hinting that it was time to give Dex and Fitz back to McQuaid Security. He felt Annie was in the wind and it was a fool's errand to keep looking. Ryan, on the other hand, was still hopeful, still confident in his ability to track Annie, he needed her, with every fiber of his being he needed to find her and get her the help she needed. It wasn't just because once upon a time she risked everything to help him get out of a bind. It wasn't about tit for tat, it was because he couldn't live with losing another woman he loved.

A phone call from Joan interrupted Ryan and Auggie sharing drinks and rehashing what they knew and possible avenues to go down. They were in the middle of debating whether Annie would make her way to Danielle in California. Ryan wanted to pay Danielle a visit, but Auggie was adamantly against it. Since Annie's "death" he had been in regular touch with Danielle, he already called her in the time Annie disappeared. It was a friendly check-in to see how she was doing, he didn't think from their short conversation that she had heard from Annie, he could still hear the pain and longing in her voice. She missed her sister and told Auggie she'd be out to D.C. for the one year anniversary of Annie's death. Auggie argued that to go to Danielle and shock her with the news that Annie was alive, but had disappeared again, would be cruel and unforgiveable.

Ryan didn't tell Auggie, but he had already dispatched Fitz to California to poke around and see if Danielle had any contact with Annie. Fitz didn't find any evidence of contact with Annie and was on his way back to D.C. Auggie thought Annie would never approach Danielle after all these months. If she wanted to do it, she would have done it already argued Auggie. Ryan told Auggie Annie was working up courage to contact Danielle, she had been drafting letters and speeches on what she would say. He was looking forward to meeting Danielle and the nieces Annie spoke fondly of, sure they would reveal a layer of Annie he didn't know yet. Now that meeting may never happen.

"She was drafting a letter and wanted to take time to meet face to face. I was supposed to meet her. Annie wanted our child to know Danielle, she said everything she knew about being a good mother, she witnessed in her big sister."

"I didn't know that," said Auggie, he had no idea Annie was even thinking of initiating contact, he would have helped her with the approach. Then again, she'd find out that he kept in touch with Danielle while she was "dead" and failed to mention it to her. Danielle was so cut up over losing Annie, she would call Auggie, he started to find it comforting to talk to Danielle and share stories about Annie especially when she didn't return from Hong Kong. He began to see that for the very same reason McQuaid was making him his drinking buddy. Auggie was the closest thing he had to Annie right now. It was a way to maintain a connection to Annie. And truthfully, Auggie needed McQuaid for the same reason so they formed a symbiotic relationship.

Ryan thought Annie would need someone, "She can't possibly cut ties with everyone and not look back. I just don't buy it, no matter how independent she was, deep down, she needed people. She had to have gone to someone for help. Who?"

Auggie remained quiet, just shaking his head. "She didn't have anyone else."

Ryan had suspected that either Auggie or Joan or both of them helped Annie, he couldn't get much from Joan. There were no phone records, Joan had not seen Annie since her arrival at Walter Reed, and she artfully denied helping Annie. She was nowhere near the transport ambulance route because she was at Langley all that day. As for Auggie, Ryan made sure to keep Auggie close since he was Annie's confidante at the agency.

"She's disappeared twice before, once when she took herself off the game board and went dark for a highly classified op,"

Ryan interrupted, "And what was that op? I still haven't gotten anywhere with Joan on that."

"You know I can't divulge that information," said Auggie before taking a long swig of his pale ale.

"Fuck! I'm cleared to know a lot of shit, but that's one of many files of Annie's that's redacted up the wazoo. Don't you think something during the time she was running that op might help us find her?"

Auggie sighs, "If I thought so, I'd have turned over those stones already McQuaid, like I was saying, she went off the reservation a second time, she didn't come back at the end of the op, it took her four months to make her way home."

Refusing to let Auggie take the conversation where he feared it was going, Ryan persisted. Auggie was sure Annie left for another extended break and would be back.

"What else do you know about those four months?"

"For the tenth time, I've told you everything she revealed when she returned. She evaded our spotters in Turkey then made her way to the South Pacific, Fatu Hiva until she had her first signs of health issues, then she went to see Eyal in Jerusalem where she had a battery of tests done and was diagnosed with myocarditis, after that she made her way home and you know probably more than I do from that point on," says Auggie sadly.

"Searches have revealed nothing about Annie ever going to see Eyal Lavin in Jerusalem, there's no medical records, no entry or exit noted for any of her alias. She has to have another alias we don't know about. Would she have stopped off anywhere else besides the South Pacific and Israel?"

"I don't know, what did Eyal say when you talked to him?"

"After he went off in Hebrew for about five minutes? Not much. Just that he hadn't heard from her and even if he did, he wouldn't tell me if that was what Annie wanted. So I got a guy I know to do a little surveillance."

Auggie raises his eyebrows. "You don't want to piss off Mossad and Eyal, you better call off that dog."

"Not a chance, Annie's gone to him for medical help before, I sent Dex over there as soon as I learned that."

"Well?"

"So far nothing, but do you know the name of the doctor who treated Annie?"

"No, she never told me, but I think Annie's not going to Eyal if she really wanted to disappear again. She knows we know she went to him once, she's going to be ahead of us."

"Yeah, you're probably right," says a dejected Ryan taking a sip of his beer.

Ryan's phone rings, he's quiet, listening. Auggie doesn't see it, but the color drains from Ryan's face.

"What is it?"

"That was Joan, they picked up on police scanners that a Caucasian blond Jane Doe was found in a ravine 10 miles from the area Annie disappeared."

"It can't be Annie," said Auggie brows furrowed.

"Nothing about this makes sense Auggie," Ryan slaps down some cash on the bar and says gravely, "I'm going to the morgue."

"I'm coming with you," says Auggie remembering the last time he was at the morgue was with a very much alive and newbie agent Annie Walker. He hadn't been in the field since his accident, he remembers thinking it was an unwise move, but he found himself drawn in by her magnetism, her certainty. He couldn't help but go with her and what an exhilarating adventure it was to sit in that interrogation room being questioned by the FBI. It was a day he would not forget. It was a day when he got a taste of what it might be like to be in the field with his disability. He had managed, his deception skills still in tact, in fact, maybe even easier with his disability.

Although Auggie's instincts told him the Jane Doe couldn't be Annie, doubts begin to creep in messing with his head during the drive over. He thinks about asking Ryan his thoughts, but he's been quiet and judging by the way he slammed his car door shut and the speed at which he was driving and weaving through the D.C. dinnertime traffic tells Auggie to keep quiet.

For Ryan, weaving aggressively through the D.C. traffic brings back memories of Annie chewing him out and insulting his driving while they were chasing after Eyal. He would give anything to hear the disdain in her voice again. He tried to quash the smile that the memory conjured up, there was nothing to smile about, it was a stressful time and she tried to hate him, but he knew only later, that she reacted the way she did because he had hurt her so much. Recalling that she loved him gave him hope.

During the long drive, Auggie barely moved and barely made a sound, Ryan almost forgot he was there, once on the open highway, his mind went back to that day, the day when he spent the morning in meetings at the DPD when he should have been with Annie.

Before that day started, the German Shepherd breeder called. She saw Ryan's e-mail from the night before. She was sympathetic when Ryan explained the situation that Annie had just lost their baby and was feeling melancholy. She was willing to allow Ryan to pick up their puppy later that day if he promised to bring her back in a day or two. At eight weeks the pups were already weaned, but the breeder liked to socialize the pups with their litter for another two weeks. Most of her pups were eventually trained to be military or police dogs, trained to find explosives, firearms, and drugs and she had a strict program for socializing them.

Before they hung up the breeder said with a laugh, "The one you and Annie picked is very independent, she was the first one out of the litter box and the first one to explore a noise or new object. You gotta watch out for her," She sounds just like Annie thought Ryan with a big smile. He remembered Annie's laughter a couple of weeks ago when she picked up the pup and she licked Annie's fingers, he remembers feeling joy at the sound of her laughter, so he was sure surprising Annie with Ruby would stem her downward spiral.

When Ryan arrived at the hospital, he gingerly placed the excited pup in his gym bag, "Stay quiet and don't get us made," whispered Ryan in the elevator. He was happy and feeling giddy, sure Annie would love the surprise. He had already snuck the dog past the front desk, excited to reveal the dog Annie had named Ruby. But when he got close, he noticed no one was standing guard. His brow furrowed, when he entered the room all he saw was house cleaning staff bagging up the sheets in yellow bags labeled "BIOHAZARD" and another mopping up the floor. A mix of the scent of hydrangeas and industrial cleaners hit his nose. He ran to the nurse's desk to find out what the hell happened to Annie. He stood there waiting for answers with the wiggling puppy whimpering to get out of the dark bag.

Auggie interrupts Ryan by breaking the silence. "I can't see the speedometer, but it feels an awful lot like you're pushing 90."

Ryan eases his foot off the accelerator, the air between them remains grim during the rest of the hour it takes to drive to the morgue. A drive that normally takes at least 1.5 hours at normal speeds. Ryan screeches into a spot, he jumps out, goes to Auggie's side of the car, "Auggie, I'm at the back bumper," then extends his arm out to Auggie who finds it. They walk briskly across the parking lot and together into the building.

Auggie tapped his cane on the floor as he waited for Ryan to speak to the attendant. Losing her child was painful for Annie, he believed that, but he couldn't let himself believe it broke her. Auggie was a wreck waiting for McQuaid, relying on him for information. It seemed like an eternity, but he heard Ryan's footsteps approach him, "They're taking us to the Jane Doe now." Auggie hangs on to Ryan's elbow. As soon as Ryan opens the door and lets him in first, he feels the cool air, hears the hum of the cold chamber and smells the distinct odor of the dead. At least I have my shoes thinks Auggie as he crosses the threshold.

Auggie hears the attendant flip through papers on a clipboard, "Let's see, the Jane Doe is right here." Auggie hears him open the chamber and pull out the drawer. He puts his hand on McQuaid's shoulder as he hears the attendant move to lift the sheet. Relying on Ryan to relay the news felt like an eternity, but he didn't need to hear from him, Auggie's hand, the one he had rested on Ryan's shoulder felt the relief. Ryan let out a deep breath, he slapped Auggie on the back and said, "It's not Annie." Ryan realizes the woman before them was someone else's to grieve, for a moment he feels guilty, but hope remains. And so he thanks the attendant and leads Auggie back to his car.

Ryan drives Auggie back to his apartment. During the drive back, Auggie tells Ryan about the last time he was in a morgue. He shares the story of Annie's first day at Langley and how she recovered from crashing and burning. Ryan laughed, incredulous at the things Annie did, the rookie mistakes, leaving the synced device behind, going back for it dressed as a call girl in the middle of a crime scene investigation, getting caught at the morgue, continuing the cover with the FBI, it was out of a movie, and it was totally Annie. "You see when Annie hits bottom, she always finds a way out," says Auggie as he gets out of the car.

"Thanks man, thanks for the support." Ryan drives home without speeding, there's nothing he looks forward to about entering his empty house. It never bothered him before Annie moved in with him. He knew without a doubt that she cared for him, but she had a hard time expressing it sometimes. He tried to keep himself from asking how she could do this to him. He tried to separate himself from the equation. She was doing it to herself. All the evidence pointed to her punishing herself, that was her frame of mind and he shouldn't have left her despite everyone's assurances. Ryan couldn't be angry with Annie. He could only be angry with himself.

Once home, an exhausted Ryan goes to his dining room which now held an evidence board and sat in front of it staring, hoping that it would speak to him and give him a new direction to go on. The longer she was gone without a clue, the more unlikely he would find her. He poured himself some scotch and read his emails as he nursed his drink. Jim wanted him in the office tomorrow morning. He downed the rest of his scotch before crashing, emotionally drained from his trip to the morgue.