"We're getting closer to the bed," Auggie laughed as he tried to untangle their limbs and half-removed clothes.

Annie just tilted her head back and tried to catch her breath.

"Come on, let's get you into bed," Auggie tugged on her hand and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you," she kissed his cheek and found enough energy to move them and their ruined clothes into the bedroom.

Settled in bed Annie turned towards Auggie as he started to drift off to sleep.

"Do you remember when Reva and I were grabbed by the Belarusians?" she asked quietly.

"Of course, I was so worried," he combed his fingers through her hair.

"You told me you weren't," she teased.

"Oh Annie, hadn't you caught on to my denial back then?"

"It was mutual denial. Anyway, that was when Danielle found my civilian passport and Branch intervened and you got the passport stamped and texted her and all that, remember that?"

"Sure, running interference for your cover with Danielle was a big part of my job back then," he laughed.

"When I got home that night she was so proud of herself for figuring it out and 'getting me home' she really thought I would be stuck in Scotland, had no idea I was in so much more trouble than that. She had no idea that you were the one who got me home."

"Jai got you home, I just told him where to look."

"But that is just it, whether it was Jai or Eyal or some random extraction team, they're able to bring me home because of you. I was so overwhelmed that night, I felt so safe and secure that between you and Danielle I would always get home and I would always have a home to come back to and now I think, well, I mean…" she started to hesitate.

"What?" he prompted really curious about where she was going with this.

"I feel like this is home now, you and me. I don't just come home to DC, I come home to you. Home was such a fluctuating state when I was a kid, a year here and a year there. Sometimes four of us but often just Danielle and Mom and me and the past few years just Dani and me. I'm not sure what I am supposed to be feeling here Auggie, but I feel so much more than I ever have and I am going to stop talking before I terrify you," she laughed and ducked her head against his chest in embarrassment.

"Wow Annie, I don't know what to say, that's a lot to process, I thought we were just having some fun…." he trailed off as he felt her body go completely rigid.

Then he laughed, "I'm kidding Walker, look at me," he trailed his fingers up her arm noting the goose bumps that he created until he reached her chin and tilted her face towards his.

"I love you, I have for a very long time and I want nothing more than to hold you like this every night and when that is not possible due to the demands of the job then I want to know that you are fighting as hard as you can to come home to me, to us, to this apartment or some new apartment we find that has even more places we can have sex that aren't the bed," he ended his little declaration with a kiss.

"So if Danielle tells me Saturday that she is putting the house on the market," Annie voiced the concern that she had since Danielle moved last fall.

"You will not be homeless and I won't make you sleep on the futon at your safe house," he assured her.

"Thank you," she kissed him once more.

"We can go get your stuff right now, you clearly don't feel like sleeping," he offered half serious.

"I'm too tired for that, but I probably have enough energy to make out with you for a little while," she crawled up to capture his lips.

***555***

Annie met Danielle at the Spa on Saturday ready to be pampered, read trashy magazines and catch up on all things girlie with her sister.

"Annie, I don't want to ruin today, but I have to tell you now, we are selling the house. I was hoping to see you again before today so we could talk about it before now, but…."

"Work was crazy, I'm sorry Danielle, but it's OK, I have been preparing for this for a while and Auggie and I talked the other night, after we saw you," Annie admitted.

"So you won't hate me forever if I kick you out…again," Danielle amended.

"No, honestly I am hardly ever there anymore. It is lonely without you and the girls and I have a hard time being alone there since everything happened," her hands went instinctively to her scars.

"It is a big old place for one person," Danielle agreed.

"Auggie and I are in a good place, we want to live together, this is just the impetus I needed to make it official, so no I won't hate you ever," Annie hugged her.

"Yeah, I guess forcing you to move in with your hot soldier boyfriend is not the worst punishment in the world," Danielle rolled her eyes.

***555***

"Hey roomie," Annie greeted when she got home later that night having spent the entire day being massaged, manicured, pedicured, hair saloned and well-fed.

"Hey," he smirked, "have a good day?"

"I had a great day, I feel like a new woman," she deposited herself in his lap on the couch.

"Not sure how I feel about that, I really liked the old one," he pouted.

She kissed him and his hands found their way under her tee shirt.

"Mmmm, soft….and you smell really good," he commented as he stroked his hands along her sides.

"I bought the oil she used for my massage," Annie hinted.

"Fantastic," Auggie murmured his hands and lips roaming her body.

"Auggie?" Annie asked her tongue darting out to capture his ear lobe.

"Mmmmm?"

"Take me to bed," she purred.

He stopped mid-seduction and looked at her, an eyebrow quirked.

"Bed Miss Walker? How novel, I thought you'd never ask," he laughed that warm low laugh that made her stomach flutter from the beginning.

She stood up and walked slowly from him, her hand trailing over his shoulder before leaving him entirely. It was hard to walk away seductively from a blind man, but she was trying.

"Hey Walker," he called to her and she turned.

"Yeah?"

"Welcome home."

The end