AN: Happy Friday! As always, I do not own Covert Affairs or any of the characters. London is one of my absolute favorite places to visit! Reviews and constructive criticism always welcome!

Dreaming Through Regret

Interlude - London Boy (Taylor Swift)

Annie and Eyal walked quickly up the steps of the Royal Opera House, Eyal holding an umbrella over both of them on their fourth night in London. They'd located Fischer's Mayfair home by the end of their first full day in the city and had been covertly watching his movements around the city while also playing up their engaged couple cover story. Their intel led them to the Annual Gala performance by the Royal Ballet Theater that evening and hopefully their first run in with Fischer.

Eyal had called in a favor to get the tickets on such short notice, but Annie was thoroughly enjoying the figure he cut in his tailored black tux. She'd had to do some last minute shopping at Harrods earlier that day as she didn't have an appropriate dress for the occasion. She'd found a beautiful dress and jacket that she wore out of the store and had just made it back to Eyal's apartment in time to step from her cab straight into his Jaguar F-Type.

They were greeted kindly as they entered the Opera Hall and directed to the coat check to leave both the umbrella Eyal had been carrying and Annie's long black trench coat. After handing over the umbrella Eyal turned to help Annie take off her coat which revealed a stunning long sleeve metallic gold dress. Her hair was elaborately done up in a side chignon which left her upper back bare. Annie turned to thank him and he was even more blown away by the plunging v neckline and thigh high slit revealing toned legs ending in gold detailed Louboutin heels.

Eyal wrapped Annie's arm around his and led her up the grand staircase while leaning in to whisper in her ear, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Me? Why would I do that?" Annie teased in return. "Besides, when you look like that in your tux I knew I had to step up my game."

"Well, you look stunning, Neshama." Eyal stated as they approached the bar on the mezzanine to get a glass of wine each.

"Thank you, Bayit." Annie replied simply, before taking the glass of chilled white wine from the bartender.

They walked to the balcony that overlooked the main entrance to the Opera House where Eyal leaned against the railing while Annie stood in front of him with an eye on the entrance. Discussion of their plans for the next few days filled the space between them as they sipped slowly on their wine until Annie went quiet mid sentence.

"Annie? What is it?"

"He just walked in, Eyal." Annie said, before turning her back to the entrance and leaning on the railing next to Eyal.

Eyal stood up from where he was on the railing and turned to look down on the entrance.

"He was just getting to the coat check, Eyal." Annie muttered under her breath, despite knowing there was no way Fischer would be able to hear her from where he was.

"I see him, Neshama." Eyal calmed her with a hand on her arm and looking into her eyes. "Breathe, Annie."

Annie nodded after a deep breath and stood up herself, relinking her arm through Eyal's before smiling up at him. She knew that they would get through this together. Both finished their wine before depositing the glasses on a nearby table and starting to walk to their private box. Their timing was perfect and just as they were walking passed the main staircase Fischer was taking the last step up them.

"Annie Walker?" Fischer's voice cut through the space between them.

Annie's head snapped up and turned to look for where her name had originated, feigning slight confusion, before she turned to her right and saw Fischer at the landing.

"Simon? What are you doing here?" Annie asked with as much kindness in her voice as she could manage?

"I could ask the same of you! I'm here for a few weeks to talk to my land investment manager. I thought you were headed back to DC?"

"I've been and returned already. I'm working with my boss here in London to determine which of the properties in Northern Africa the ILCN will go forward with."

"Has your boss made any decision about partnering with me on those purchases?"

"Not yet Simon. She wanted to determine which properties first before potentially reaching out to you. I imagine we will have narrowed the list down by the end of week, so if you are still in town, we can arrange a meeting then?"

"Splendid! Now, is this your elusive fiancé?"

"I wouldn't call him elusive! But yes, this is my fiancé. Eyal meet Simon, Simon meet Eyal."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Simon, Annie has spoken highly of you. Thank you for aiding her in Morocco." Eyal said as he shook Fischer's hand.

"The pleasure is mine, Eyal. Annie lit up whenever she spoke of you while we were in Morocco."

Annie placed her left hand on Eyal's arm above where her right arm was currently looped through his. "Someday we will have to travel there together, Eyal. Especially the property Simon and I looked at in Agadir, the view out to the ocean was unparalleled."

"That is quite the ring, Annie. I understand why you would not wear that while traveling." Fischer commented as the light glinted off the 4 carat diamond set in a gold band engraved with vines.

Eyal cut in to reply before Annie had a chance. "She deserves the best, but I admire her caution in regard to not traveling with it."

Fischer glanced between the two, fascinated at the interplay. He had not been entirely convinced by Annie's claim of being engaged, but the couple in front of him were clearly in love with each other. The way they maintained easy contact with the other and sent small smiles to the other as they had conversation with him attested to their bond.

Overhead the warning bell alerted them that it was 5 minutes to curtain up for the Gala show. Fischer nodded his farewell to the two lovers before walking to the far right side of the theater to enter his box. Eyal gave Annie's hand a quick squeeze and after he saw her visibility relax, he led them to their own box to enjoy the performance. Their box was quite small, with only 3 seats in it, but they were lucky that the third seat was never filled. Annie's head found a perch on Eyal's shoulder for the duration of the performance, enjoying the casual intimacy of the position.

The performance was beautiful, a selection of scenes from Swan Lake, Diamonds, and Romeo and Juliet. Annie spoke excitedly to Eyal as they departed their box and headed to mix and mingle with the other attendees and dancers in the massive foyer of the theater. The two spent almost three hours enjoying the gala and Eyal could feel Annie relax more and more when they did not run into Fischer again that night. Her innate enthusiasm was contagious and he found himself drawn to engage in discussions that he would have normally avoided and actually enjoyed himself.

Just after midnight Eyal led Annie down the steps from the Opera Hall and helped her into the passenger seat of his F-Type before driving home. The pair spent the drive in silence, Annie's eyes were shut and a smile played on her lips while Eyal's hand rested on her thigh as he focused on the road. After parking his car in the underground garage they headed to the second floor flat, Eyal's hand resting on the small of Annie's back.

Annie draped her long trench over the back of the sofa before kicking off her shoes, letting them fall under the sofa. Eyal worked the knot out of his bow tie, then dropped it and his cufflinks on the small dining room table. The single overhead light glinted off Annie's dress as she walked towards the bedroom, catching Eyal's attention and drawing him to follow her.

Annie looked over her shoulder and asked "Unzip me?"

Rather than respond verbally Eyal stepped up behind her and slowly drew the zipper down to reveal even more of her toned back. His fingers trailed behind the zipper lightly grazing her spine, sending small shivers through her body. Eyal's left arm wrapped around her middle and pulled her back flush with his body while his left hand threaded into her hair to find all the pins holding it in its intricate updo. He gently pulled each one free letting her hair tumble freely down her back. He reached behind him to drop the pins on the small dresser before using both hands to push her dress off her shoulders to pool at her feet, leaving her in just black lacy panties.

"You are stunning, Neshama. Having you by my side tonight was equal parts pleasure and torture. I wanted to drag you home the minute I saw you in that dress."

"I chose it with you in mind, Bayit. You look so handsome in your tux and I wanted to match that energy with my dress." Annie said as she turned around in his arms and caught his lips with hers in a fiery kiss. She dragged his tux jacket down his arms and tossed it behind him before slowly unbuttoning the pressed white shirt underneath it. She pulled back from their kiss to drink in the image of Eyal in front of her, white dress shirt hanging open exposing his fit torso above impeccably tailored black tuxedo pants that showed off his trim hips and strong legs.

Eyal's impatience won at the moment, his arms winding around her again, pulling her flush to his chest, her warm skin pressed against his as he backed them up to bed. Annie's head fell to the pillows at the top of the bed and her blonde hair spread across the black sheets creating a halo effect. Eyal swiftly divested her of the small black panties she still wore before coming to kneel between her legs. The vision he painted hovering above her naked form, while still almost completely dressed, was a powerful one, one that swept her away to give into his every whim.

Open mouth kisses trailed down the side of her neck ignited passion within her and her hands came to tangle in his dark hair. The whisper soft caress of his lips on her sensitive skin paired with the feather light touch of his fingertips on her belly pulled a low moan from her. She felt the satisfied grin break out on Eyal's lips against the hollow of her neck moments before his hand drifted to cup her center. Annie's neck arched with the first brush of his fingers against her clit, electricity radiating from her core. She gasped out his name as he not only continued his ministrations on her clit but also slowly thrust two fingers into her. Driven to near incoherency Annie had no idea if it was seconds or hours until her back bowed up pressing her breasts against his solid form above her as she imploded.

As Annie came down from her high Eyal pulled off the rest of his tux and rejoined her on the bed. He traced his hands up and down her arm as her breathing settled into something resembling a normal pattern.

"The way you fall apart in my arms is breathtaking, Neshama."

"Your hands are practically magic, you make it so easy to let go, Bayit. Ani ohevet ot'h'a." Annie replied breathlessly before turning back into his embrace.

"Ani ohev otach." Eyal stated as he thrust forward into her welcoming heat.


The pair woke up entwined in each other to the sound of rain still falling against the window. It was much later in the morning than they typically started their day, but neither was particularly inclined to extract themselves from the warmth of the covers. They had accomplished what they needed to regarding the mission the night before, Fischer was aware that Annie was in town and that a decision was imminently expected about whether to partner with Fischer on the land purchases or not.

Annie knew that in the next couple of days she would need to start figuring out how to execute on that meeting, though it was a problem she was willing to defer at least one day. There was something different about being able to spend time in a place one of them owned rather than in a hotel, an ease about their movements that spoke to how comfortable they were in each other's company. Annie wasn't of the mind to let work interfere with that today, so she determinedly settled into the warmth of Eyal's arms planning to ignore the world instead.

Eyal had slightly different plans for the day, plans that involved leaving the apartment to explore the city. He loved London. It was his second favorite city, losing out only to Tel Aviv, and he wanted to explore it with Annie much in the same way they had explored Tel Aviv almost two months prior. So, despite protests from the woman next to him, he pulled them out of bed to shower and prepare for the rest of the day.

They spent the afternoon at the British Museum bantering back and forth about the pieces that interested them. The museum was larger than the Art museum in Tel Aviv with a much more diverse collection of artifacts, which kept them engaged in playful debate the whole afternoon. Both Annie and Eyal were drawn to the large collection of African and Egyptian artifacts, and Annie kept remarking on what she had seen and done while in Egypt as well as her desire to visit the country with Eyal at some point.

Despite not originally wanting to leave the bed earlier, Annie found herself matching Eyal's excitement. A boyish smile stayed firmly planted on his face for the entirety of the afternoon, even when they departed the museum to find the ever present rain had not let up. He produced a large black umbrella and Annie wrapped both her arms around the arm supporting it. They stopped at a local pub that was a favorite of Eyal's and had fish and chips while watching a football match. Every day that he spent with Annie he realized more and more that she just fit into his life and brought a brightness to it that had been missing for a long time.


Knowing that she couldn't really defer planning the next steps of their op, Annie pulled out her laptop the next morning and started brainstorming ideas with Eyal in the living room.

"Fischer will be expecting a call from me by the end of the week regarding the land purchases. But I don't actually have any connections in the ILCN that I can leverage to make a meeting happen." Annie spoke aloud.

"Who says it has to be an ACTUAL meeting with ILCN?"

"You mean set up a fake meeting? That's not a bad idea, we'd need another person to make that possible." Annie said as she sat up straighter in front of her computer.

Eyal could see the cogs turning in her head, and let her run with the idea. He knew she would have gotten there eventually, but he also knew that she would have been displeased if he'd held back just to let her come up with the idea first. She had the skills to start with a grain of an idea and build it into a fully fledged plan.

"I need Joan." Annie muttered under her breath.

"Care to elaborate? As much as I'd like to say I can read your mind, I'm not quite that good yet." Eyal asked playfully.

"Okay, here's what I have so far. I'll send the details of all the properties I looked at with Fischer to Joan so she can be completely up to speed about them, then, since Fischer believes my boss is a woman, we can set up a meeting with him where Joan plays my boss."

"That all makes sense, but really any woman at the agency could play that part for you. Why does it need to be Joan?" Eyal asked, to get a better understanding of Annie's thought process.

"If this was just about getting Fischer out of the picture, I'd agree with you. The fact that we are still trying to lure Lena out of Russia as well as identify Jai's killer, there are extra aspects of this case that only Joan is read in on." Annie elaborated.

"Okay, so how are you going to get her over here to help you without exposing our relationship to her?"

"I'm not, if Auggie knows, then she likely does too. I'm not actively going to hide this from her. Not telling her about it, when it wasn't impacting any of my ops, was one thing, but now that Fischer knows about you, I won't risk you in the crosshairs of this mission."

"Is that smart Annie? You could be putting your career in jeopardy." Eyal asked, playing a bit of devil's advocate.

"We have passed that point Eyal. I've got no intention of staying at the agency if it means we can't be together. Besides, if it was going to be a problem, they would have already tried to pull me back to Langley. They didn't do that when we were in Tallinn when Auggie first figured it out, I can't imagine that changing now." Annie declared as she stepped away from the table and sat in Eyal's lap.

"Neshama, you have to know that I feel the same way. That ring you are wearing may be for a fake engagement between the two of us, but someday I'll actually put a ring that suits you on that finger instead." Eyal agreed as he fiddled with the ring she currently wore before kissing her. "Now go call Joan."