Author's Note: I know I was meant to post and update for Dreaming Through Regret, but my muse abandoned me and this plot bunny took over. This is a one shot set at the end on 4x10 and will likely have a multi chapter sequel for the back half of season 4. Two big things for this one shot. First, Annie and Auggie never get together at the end of Season 3. Second, Eyal never went back to Mossad and is essentially a spy for hire. Story starts in the back of the morgue van after Eyal has injected Annie with adrenaline.
Love Me Now
"You look terrible." Eyal stated matter of factly.
"I feel terrible." Annie muttered as she grimaced.
"Here. Drink this." Eyal said as he passed Annie a water bottle
"We're here alone." Annie observed after taking a small sip. "It worked?"
"After all the times we've had, how could you have any doubt?"
"I never had any doubt. I trust you with my life."
"Clearly." Eyal declared.
"It worked." Annie muttered to herself.
Eyal opened the door to the van and stepped out before helping Annie out. He then grabbed a small crossbody bag and handed it to her. "So you got a change of clothes, money, a temp I.D. until you cement the new one, and a Pesek Zman."
"A what?" Annie questioned as dizziness overtook her.
"It's Israeli chocolate." Eyal replied from where he was reaching into the passenger seat.
"Oh!" Annie exclaimed as the dizziness became too much and she reached out to steady herself on the van, forgetting that the van door was still open.
Eyal turned back to Annie after hearing her surprised voice just in time to see her start to collapse into the rear of the van.
"Shit. Annie, are you okay?" he said as he took most of her weight.
"Really dizzy…" Annie whispered.
"Okay, we're going to sit down here for a few minutes. See if we can get your head on straight."
Annie guided her head down between her knees and focused on steady breathing with her eyes shut. Despite praying for the dizziness to abate, it was actually getting worse, she was now seeing auras behind her eyelids and nausea was creeping in.
"Eyal, what is going on? Why do I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck?" Annie moaned quietly.
"It's actually quite common, Neshama." Eyal spoke soothingly. "You just forcibly stopped your body functions and then jump started them again."
"Damn it. How long does this last?"
"It varies, Annie. Some people don't experience it at all, others can be knocked off their feet for days."
"I don't have days, I have to get to Zurich and Sana Wilson."
"Well, that's not going to be an option."
"Shit, shit, shit. I can't stay here, Eyal. Calder and I agreed that I'd be out of the city TONIGHT."
"Annie, listen to me. If you try to go on your own tonight, who knows where you end up. What if you lose consciousness on the train? What if you get confused and get lost?"
"Eyal. What else am I supposed to do? I just elaborately faked my death, I don't have many options for support anymore."
Eyal sighed and then offered "You have me, Neshama."
Annie startled and then looked at him, "You have already done so much for me, Eyal. I cannot ask you to do this too."
"You aren't asking, I'm offering. I meant all the things I said in Amsterdam. One day, you and I will be sitting somewhere, looking at a sunset, thinking of nothing at all. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we get that sunset."
"Eyal… I want that sunset too. I think about Amsterdam a lot, I was too scared to leave it all behind, especially after Ben Mercer. I wish I had gone with you then, we wouldn't be here now."
"Let's get you out of here. Back into the van with you, it'll have to be in the back so no cameras catch you, but once we are outside the city you can slip up front. Just lay down for a bit." Eyal said as he stood to help Annie into the van. Just before getting out to close the doors he dropped a kiss on her forehead.
Annie laid quietly on the stretcher in the back of the van, thinking about that day in Amsterdam. She vividly remembered Auggie asking her 'You once told me you didn't have feelings for him. Is that not true?' and that she dodged the question rather than answering. She wasn't ready then to admit that she was falling in love with the Israeli agent because she wasn't ready to deal with the implications. Now, however, there were no more agencies, no more red tape, no more protocols to follow. They were rogue agents now. Eyal had been used and discarded by Mossad, and she had been set up by Henry Wilcox and burned by the CIA.
Eyal drove for the next thirty minutes, wading through the thoughts in his head. Annie leaving him in Amsterdam was one of the worst moments in his life. Having the woman he had fallen in love with decide not to jump into the unknown with him was heartbreaking. To then get a call from her months later asking him to help her fake her death with absolutely no context was even worse. Finally, to find out that it was because that bastard Henry Wilcox was using her to force Joan and Arthur Campbell out of the CIA was infuriating. He swore to himself at that moment that he would not let Annie do this on her own.
The rearview mirror was pointed right at the stretcher behind Eyal, and was the solitary adjustment he had made when he got back into the driver's seat. Being able to see Annie's steady breathing kept him focused. Focused on getting them to Mainz, focused on getting her well again, focused on convincing her that she did not have to do this alone. First hand experience taught him that going dark and operating as a rogue agent changed a person intrinsically. That was something he refused to let happen to Annie, he would not allow her light to be dampened by anything.
At the thirty minute mark Eyal reached back and lightly tapped Annie on her shoulder. "You can come up front now if you feel up for it. We are far enough outside Frankfurt to avoid cameras seeing you."
Annie sat up slowly, testing to see if the dizziness came back before turning to slip into the passenger seat. "Where are we headed?" she asked quietly as she buckled her seatbelt.
"My place in Mainz. I thought it would be better to base myself there instead of in Frankfurt, to minimize my presence as much as possible." Eyal said as he reached for her hand where it rested on her thigh.
The remainder of the drive was made in silence, Eyal's and Annie's hands entwined together and resting on Annie's thigh. The gentle weight of their clasped hands gave Annie something to focus on to keep her thoughts from drifting back to the elevator at Commerzbank tower. Ten minutes later Eyal had parked the van and turned to look at Annie.
"We have to leave the van here. The apartment I'm staying at is about a 5 minute walk from here. Think you can make it?" Eyal asked, concern coloring his words.
"Yes. I'll make it, especially if you are there for me to lean on."
"Of course Annie, I'll never leave you." Eyal said, echoing his words to Auggie in Amsterdam.
Eyal led Annie to a bench on the street just outside the van and wiped down the van to remove any trace of either of them. After locking the doors and throwing the keys into a bush nearby, Eyal helped Annie stand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side.
The pair then started slowly walking towards the small apartment Eyal was using.
Annie's head rested in the crook of Eyal's neck where his neck and shoulder met, and she lifted her right hand to thread into Eyal's left hand resting on her shoulder. It was the first time since she had started this whole debacle with Henry Wilcox that she felt safe. It told her everything she needed to know. No one else in her life had made her feel that way. This man, the one who came back for her in Paris, the one who came to get her in Russia, the one who left Mossad when they asked him to betray her trust, the one she was in love with, was the one that she would leave it all behind for. Once this thing with Henry Wilcox was resolved, she was done. Done with the CIA, done with playing by the rules. She was already dead, there was nothing for her to go back to now. Auggie likely believed the false proof against her despite everything they'd been through. He certainly hadn't been willing to help her when she'd read him in on the file Henry Wilcox had given her. The Campbell's had left her to hang, whether they could have done anything to help or not was not important. Danielle would be told that she was a traitor, and even if she came back from this, the CIA would not make it easy to explain the situation to Danielle.
Eyal focused on the world around them just as much as Annie was focused on the thoughts in her head. They were moving slower than he'd like them to be, but knew that Annie wouldn't do well if he pushed the pace any harder. What would have taken him 5 minutes took them 15 minutes. He led them into the converted castle where his apartment was located on the second floor. The stairs proved to be the most difficult part of the trip, Annie's dizziness had progressed to vertigo. After she missed the first two steps, Eyal swept her up into his arms and carried her the remaining steps. Rather than be embarrassed Annie just looped her arms around his neck and let her head fall against his chest. Once they were in front of the apartment door, he set Annie down and proceeded to unlock the door.
"Here we are." Eyal stated as he led her inside. "It's not much, but I wasn't expecting to be here long or with anyone."
"It's great Eyal." Annie responded.
"Let's get you settled, sleep will help you the most." Eyal stated, going into protective mode.
"Yeah, okay." Annie murmured as she headed towards what she believed was the bedroom.
She slipped out of her jacket, half boots and black jeans then crawled into bed in just her gray tshirt and panties. Eyal followed a few steps behind her, making sure she was able to get to the bedroom on her own. Once she was settled on the bed, he sat down next to her and brushed her hair off her face.
"Sleep, Neshama. We will figure out what to do next in the morning."
"Stay?" Annie whispered, eyes closed.
"Let me get the lights turned off and I'll be right there."
Eyal stood and proceeded to turn off the lights in the living area of the apartment after verifying that the door was locked and secure. He shrugged out of his motorcycle jacket and draped it on the sofa before returning to the bedroom. After taking off his own shoes and slipping out of his jeans he joined Annie in the bed. Half asleep Annie turned to curl into his side, head resting on his chest, directly above his heart. Eyal pulled her close, allowing his relief that the drugs had done what they were supposed to and he had not lost her that night to flood his senses.
Just as he was starting to drift off he heard Annie whisper sleepily, "I love you, Eyal." Hearing it for the first time from her lips was something he reveled in, having expected to never hear it.
"I love you too, Annie." Eyal returned quietly before letting his eyes drift shut and allowing sleep to claim them both.
