AN: Hi Everyone! Only one more chapter left! I'm really excited to share the final chapters of this story with you all and then get to working on a follow up to Love Me Now. As always, I do not own Covert Affairs or any of the characters. Reviews and constructive criticism always welcome!

Dreaming Through Regret

Chapter 17 - Nothin' Lasts Forever

The sound of footsteps behind her caught Annie's attention. It had been almost too easy, the way Lena Smith had fallen into their plan. Rather than turn around Annie continued to pack items from the last of the kitchen drawers into the box on the counter in front of her.

"Annie Walker." Lena's voice broke the silence in the Brook's kitchen.

Following the established plan, which was built around the assumption that Lena still did not know that Annie knew she was the mole, Annie feigned surprise and turned around at the voice.

"What the fuck?" Annie said as she registered the pistol aimed at her. "Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter, I'm here to put an end to your crusade to find Jai Wilcox's killer. You have no idea what you are digging into." Lena answered.

"It was you, wasn't it? You killed Jai?" Annie continued, "If you're going to kill me too, at least tell me who you are."

"I suppose you deserve at least that before I put a bullet in you. I'm Lena Smith."

"Why? What did Jai have on you that warranted his death?"

"Simon Fischer. He tied me to Simon Fischer, a KGB operative. He found out I was selling CIA information to the Russians, and was getting too close to having incontrovertible evidence of it."

"So you blew him up?"

"Meant to get you too, once we realized he was trying to read you in. But you didn't get in the damn car with him."

"That's why you made a play for me during my reassignment." Annie realized, having been unaware that she was meant to be in that car as well and was not just potentially collateral damage.

"Joan told you about that? Didn't expect that, even though she pushed for your assignment to Anderson and the OSP." Lena said, minorly impressed that Annie knew that much about her reassignment, as most operatives receive no explanation. "I thought you would be off following the planted leads we placed around Vesta, but somehow you found Fischer."

"How did you know that?" Annie asked, continuing her feigned surprise.

"Simon contacted me after you left Morocco. Told me that there was a blonde American that set his instincts off and asked me to try to identify her using my CIA clearance. It took longer than I'd hoped to find a photo of you, since, somehow, he didn't have one and cameras in Morocco are not easy to hack into. But a week later I was able to identify you and schedule a meeting with Fischer in Tallinn."

"He was concerned that I was CIA? He never acted like he thought I was anything more than an American doing her job in Morocco."

"Annie, you scream CIA. Fischer was never convinced otherwise."

"So why come after me now? So long after Morocco?"

"You were surprisingly hard to pin down, Walker. You just recently reentered the States. Then I had to find your information in the CIA files, which is not an easy task."

"Why? Why come after me now?"

"I had considered leaving you alone, but Fischer was convinced that you were getting too close to the answers, too close to blowing my cover."

Annie had had enough at this point and she had seen Eyal enter the back yard behind Lena to provide her back up, "Fischer was right." Annie snapped out.

"Excuse me?"

"Langley knows you are the leak. They've known for weeks now. I identified you in Tallinn."

"You lie. We would have known you were in Tallinn."

"Even experienced operatives miss things, Lena."

"Langley would have never let me walk away if they knew. I was able to make it to Russia with no issues."

"Langley cared more for my safety than about tracking you into Russia, where they knew you would head. They had me follow Fischer to London. We even interacted frequently there. At the Gala, at a fake meeting, and when we shot him in the skull and left him to bleed out in a London Alley."

"Simon is dead? Impossible, we are indestructible, two seasoned agents. There is no way you took him out." Lena demanded.

"I didn't have to, Joan did." Annie stated, as Joan entered the kitchen from the dining room, her gun trained on Lena.

"It's over Lena." Joan stated.

"No, it's never over." Lena retorted, finger closing on the trigger until her arm was suddenly twisted and she found herself face down on the kitchen floor.

"Nothing lasts forever." Eyal whispered as he dug his own weapon into the back of her neck while Annie stepped forward to kick Lena's gun out of reach.


TWO DAYS PRIOR:

Arthur took the paper from his secretary and after a minute placed it on the table for Joan and Annie to see.

"That's Lena Smith." Annie said, more for Auggie's awareness than anything else. "This says it was taken at JFK not two hours ago."

"That's correct, it seems our mole is heading back to Langley."

"She's here to tie up loose ends, you think?" Annie questioned.

"Probably. The likelihood that she is unaware of Annie is infinitesimally small given that she met with Fischer in Tallinn." Joan stated.

"So how do we play this?" Auggie asked.

"We let her come." Annie declared plainly.

"Excuse me?" Arthur retorted, "We aren't just going to let her come for you."

"Who said I'd be alone?" Annie said with a small smirk on her face. "Lena has no idea that we know she is the mole. She doesn't know Fischer is dead, as no one knows he's dead. She doesn't know that Joan is an active participant in this operation. She has no idea about Eyal. We have so many cards to play here."

"She's right Arthur. For once we have intelligence that no one else is aware of and the opportunity to use it to tip the scales in our favor." Joan agreed.

"Okay, walk me through this idea Agent Walker."

"We know that I am, most likely, her target. She'll have to find me first. So Lena will likely come to Langley and try to access my file. She'll find the address of the house I lived at with my sister. What she doesn't know is that my sister has already moved to California and there are just a few final boxes to pack before the house is completely empty. The house is the perfect place to force a confrontation with Lena."

"Wait, why hasn't your address been updated yet if you no longer live there?" Auggie queried, going slightly off topic.

"I haven't had the opportunity to do so for one, but also, I moved in with Eyal, and I didn't want to do anything that could bring scrutiny on our relationship before we had a plan in place for that." Annie replied, before dragging them back on topic. "So you're going to have to let Lena back into Langley as if nothing has happened."

Joan sat up taller in her seat, "You want us to let a known mole back into Langley? Have you considered the repercussions that could come from that?"

"Yes, but I think the risk will be worth it in the end. I don't think she will do anything beyond digging for information on me anyway."

"We can also track everything she does while here, give me half an hour with her computer and we will have every keystroke logged. We will know exactly what information she is looking for as she looks for it." Auggie added to Annie's response to the Campbells.

"Okay, as soon as we are wrapped here I want you on that." Arthur ordered. "What then, Walker?"

"We have to make it seem like I'm on leave for a few days, the official request will state that it's to help my sister with her daughters while she figures out her marriage. It will limit Lena's options to find me to just my sister's house."

"I'll get that entered into the system after I set up the keystroke tracking software on Lena's computer." Auggie interjected.

Annie stood and started pacing in front of the windows the table was placed next to. "I'll set up shop in the kitchen, it's the most opportune location in the house as there is a back door leading to a private driveway protected from the street with high fencing. I'll make it look like I'm packing the last of the boxes, alone in the house." Annie detailed, voice steady. "Joan will be hidden in the dining room, there is only an archway leading to it from the kitchen, it's otherwise entirely separated from the kitchen. Eyal will get set up in the Guest House just across the driveway from the kitchen, all the guest house windows look out onto the kitchen door so Eyal will know when Lena shows up."

Joan broke in to add, "If you can, we should get her to actually state what she's been doing, that'll be the ace in the hole Annie."

"Just to be clear, you want to take her alive?" Annie probed.

"That is preferred, but keeping all of you alive takes absolute priority. You take her down if it is necessary." Arthur directed.

"That's the basic framework I've got for this, Joan. There are too many moving parts that we don't have control of in regard to Lena. There is likely to be quite a bit of waiting on our part if we want to force Lena onto our preferred field."

"Agreed, Annie. This is enough for me to work with. Arthur, is it enough for you?" Joan asked her husband.

"It'll have to be, we don't really have many other options that don't tip our hands too far." Arthur stood from his seat and walked around to his wife, "Stay safe." Then he looked at Annie, "You too, Annie."

Joan nodded as Annie murmured her agreement to his edict. "Auggie, go now. I'll call down to Lena's team and get them out of your way. I can likely buy you an hour tops." Arthur directed at Auggie, who then stood and started to make his way out of the office before he turned and looked at where he thought Annie was. "Don't leave without letting me know Walker."

Annie and Joan then started to make their way out of the office as well. "Annie…" Arthur called out, "read Eyal in on everything you know about Lena. Tell him that he will be covered should force become necessary to keep you both alive."

Annie took a moment to process before replying, "Thank you, sir."

Joan looked at Annie before adding, "I know we didn't get to what we needed to today Annie, but we will make Eyal's transition to the CIA happen one way or another."

Annie just nodded before turning to Arthur one more time, "I'll go help Auggie and then I'll head out. I'll let Joan know when I plan to head to my sister's house before I go."


Auggie had just finished installing, and then hiding, the keystroke tracking software on Lena's computer and was heading up to his office where he hoped to find Annie.

The scent of grapefruit in the air filled him with relief. "Annie?"

"I'm here, Auggie." Annie called from the end of the table in his office.

Auggie made his way over to her and sat in a chair next to hers before asking, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"And ask you to keep that secret? I couldn't ask that of you Auggie."

Auggie sighed in understanding before replying, "So many things make so much more sense now. You became more careful, less reckless, after DC. He made you more cautious, but more determined too. How many times did you help each other under the radar?"

Annie had known this was coming, but was still anxious about how he would respond, "Twice before the Fischer op. Stockholm and after Jai." Annie admitted.

"Stockholm?" Auggie asked, confused, before he realized, "Eyal shot Nils Croft, not you."

Annie hummed her agreement but didn't provide any additional details. Auggie continued to mull over Annie's statement before uttering another realization, "This is why you were so reluctant to play the part we wanted you to with Fischer. You were in a relationship with Eyal. He's the basis of your fiance in your NOC, isn't he?"

Annie again hummed her agreement at Auggie's statement. "What were you going to do if this offer from Joan didn't happen?"

"I don't know Auggie. At most we had only hoped for a fast track approval of a close and continuing. Eyal and I haven't really discussed anything else beyond asserting that our relationship was more important than the job, either of them."

"You love him." Auggie asserted.

"Desperately, Auggie. I won't lose him, even if I have to leave everything else behind."

Auggie's low whistle filled the room, "Alright, Annie. At least tell me I get to meet the guy soon?"

"Let's get Lena taken care of and then I'm sure I can arrange that, I think he should meet all of you soon."

Auggie sat forward at that, "Wait, you're telling me that Joan hasn't met him either?"

"Yep, but she can at least say she's seen him, though it was quite dark in that alley where she put Fischer down."


Rather than dwell on the conversations likely happening at Langley that day, Eyal started his day with a run along the Potomac. The steady rhythm of his footfalls matched the beat of the music playing through his earbuds. It had been quite some time since he'd been able to partake of one of his favorite hobbies and he was pleased to feel the lingering tension in his body fade away.

Not having anywhere to be he covered a 10 mile path before returning to his apartment. A slight smile broke out on his face as he entered, seeing the recently added reminders that Annie now lived with him. Eyal had honestly expected to spend the rest of his life alone, but now he couldn't fathom how he'd resigned himself to that fate. Annie brought such joy and contentment to his life and he knew that she felt the same about him.

After showering Eyal stretched out on the sofa with a book he'd been meaning to read, planning to make the most of his enforced "recovery". The mystery thriller kept his mind busy for the next several hours until Annie made her way home from Langley. Her keys jingled as she unlocked the door and then tossed them onto the entry table next to his.

"Eyal?" Annie called out.

"In here, Neshama." Eyal responded as he placed his book on the coffee table and stood.

"Hey there." Annie said before she reached up to press a kiss to his lips.

"Hello." Eyal returned with a smile. "How'd it go?"

"Um… let's sit." Annie hedged before pulling Eyal back down to the sofa.

"This doesn't bode well." Eyal quipped, breaking the short silence.

"It's not that," Annie placated, "something came up and pulled us away from that topic of discussion."

"Oh?"

"Lena is back in the States."

"Oh, yeah… okay I can see where that might derail any other planned discussions. What is the plan?"

"We are going to give her what we think she wants. Me."

"Absolutely not. Annie, have you all lost your minds?" Eyal spat out.

"Bayit. You know me better than that." Annie soothed, expecting his reaction.

Taking a deep breath, Eyal calmed himself down before replying, "Forgive me, you're right. How are we playing this, and it is WE, you aren't doing this without me."

"We are planning to draw her to my sister's now empty house. Joan will hide in the house, you'll be in the guest house. I'll be in the kitchen, the driveway and kitchen door are visible from your position. Once she's there, I'll try to get her to tell me what she's been doing with Fischer. Joan and Arthur want to try to bring her in, but have given their clearance to take Lena down if it seems that she might take one of us down."

"They gave the all clear for me as well?" Eyal asked.

"Yes, Arthur made it explicitly clear that you would be covered if it came to that." Annie reassured him.

"You'll be armed? Right?" Eyal queried as he wrapped his hands around her shoulders.

"There will be a weapon in a kitchen drawer, but I have to look like I wasn't expecting this. I won't risk tipping Lena off."

Eyal sighed, not thrilled with the response he'd received, but understanding the reasoning, before he pulled Annie fully into his arms. "I don't like it, but I understand." He whispered in her ear.

"I don't either, Bayit." Annie murmured into his neck.


Sheer drapes hid Eyal's form where it sat in the window seat of the empty guest house room that used to be Annie's home. It had been several hours since he'd made his way here under the cloak of darkness in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. It had been difficult to pull himself away from Annie where she still slept, wrapped only in the sheets on their bed. She'd arrived a few hours ago in her little red VW, and while he couldn't see her he knew she was likely anxiously flitting around the kitchen.

The form of a woman clad in black caught his eye as it entered the driveway and slowly approached the kitchen door. Eyal waited until the woman had entered the house before making his way down the stairs to the guest house entrance. The entrance had been propped open slightly, so he would only have to pull it slowly open rather than turn the knob that Annie noted was squeaky. After exiting and pulling the door back into place, he crouched behind Annie's car and inched forward so he could see around the hood into the kitchen.

The scene he saw lit a fire in him. The woman in black, who he knew was Lena Smith not only because Annie had told him, but because he recognized her from Tallinn, had his Neshama pinned with her pistol. He could hear Annie's voice as she verbally bantered with Lena, but could only make out a few words here and there. Her voice tempered his desire to shoot the woman in the head, and he instead stood and slowly stepped closer to the kitchen door. Just as he reached the doorway, he heard Annie's anger filled words and Lena's disbelieving reply.

"Langley cared more for my safety than about tracking you into Russia, where they knew you would head. They had me follow Fischer to London. We even interacted frequently there. At the Gala, at a fake meeting, and when we shot him in the skull and left him to bleed out in a London Alley."

"Simon is dead? Impossible, we are indestructible, two seasoned agents. There is no way you took him out." Lena demanded.

Just as he was about to enter the kitchen, Annie's next words made him pause.

"I didn't have to, Joan did." Then he saw Joan enter the kitchen from the dining room, her gun trained on Lena.

"It's over Lena." Joan stated.

"No, it's never over." Lena spat back at Joan.

Eyal saw her finger begin to tighten on the trigger of her gun and, with the grace of a panther, snapped his arm out to twist her's behind her and dropped her to the floor with his own weapon digging into her neck. His anger spewed forth at her as he growled out the only words he would ever speak to her.

"Nothing lasts forever."