Chapter 17

"Wake me up"

Auggie woke up at 7:30am the next morning. He couldn't believe he had slept so late. Usually he was up before the sun. He knew Joan would be there soon, but he also knew Annie would be out for at least a couple more hours. He went to the bathroom, got dressed, and checked in on Annie. As he suspected, she was sound asleep. It didn't look like she had moved at all since he bid her good night around midnight.

Auggie grabbed his phone from the nightstand and walked to the kitchen. He was greeted by Silke who started down the hallway toward Annie's room. Auggie knew Silke would wake her up if he allowed the dog to go in there. As much as he didn't want to keep Silke from her master, she also didn't want Annie to be awakened from, what Auggie could tell, one of the best night's sleeps she had had in a very long time. He decided to see if conversing with the dog would help his dilemma.

He sat at the kitchen table and called Silke to him. She came over to him immediately.

"Silke" he began putting his hand on her head and smoothing it over her soft fur, "I know we don't know each other well, but I need you to do something for me. Annie is getting a little extra sleep right now. Can you let her sleep? I know you usually wake her up pretty early and I'm sure she needs that usually, but today, can we just let her sleep in a little?"

Auggie was surprised when Silke put her head on his knee and sat down in front of him. He scratched her ears and said "Good girl. I'll keep a check on her. Don't worry girl."

He was certain that this slumber had very little to do with the sleep aid he had given her and more to do with yesterday's discussion. A burden had been lifted from both of them. Each had been able to talk about things they usually kept hidden from the world. And the relief had allowed both of them to have much better sleep.

He started the coffee and tidied up the kitchen a bit before checking in on Annie again. He went back to the kitchen as he heard the coffee stop dripping into the pot. He briefly wondered if that type of thing was vital for Annie to live as independently as she did. Of course he knew sound was important to her, but just how much auditory feedback did she pick up on. To him it seemed like it would have to be a lot to make up for no visual stimuli. He wasn't sure he could imagine life without his sight.

When she heard a knock at the front door, Annie jolted upward causing a shooting pain in her shoulder where her broken collar bone protested at the sudden movement. This pain, the fact she could feel the sun coming in her room, and that she remained in darkness caused a good bit of disorientation for several minutes. As she took a few deep breathes and collected herself, she leaned against the pillows and awaited someone to come help her.

Back in Annie's living room, Joan politely addressed Auggie as she came into the house, "Good morning Auggie."

"Good morning Joan. Annie isn't up just yet." He admitted right away.

"Auggie, I told you last night I was coming. Why didn't you tell her? I know her well enough to know that if she'd have known, she would not still be asleep."

"Joan, she's been through a lot the past few weeks, I just wanted to let her get a little extra sleep. We can talk business and when she's awake we can proceed with the case. Or if you really don't have time to spare, I can do wake her now."

"No, don't wake her. I can spare one hour. If she isn't up by 9 though, I will have to insist on seeing her. We think we've had a break in the case and I need her language skills."

For the next twenty minutes, Joan caught Auggie up on a few highly classified cases. Auggie went to check on Annie at 8:30 and was surprised to see she was awake.

"Auggie?" She speculated hearing a soft knock at the door and the door creek open.

"Yeah, Annie, it's me." Auggie said coming into the room. He walked over to the bed. "Did you sleep okay? How are you feeling this morning?"

"Yeah, I don't even remember coming to bed last night. What time is it?" She asked, cursing herself for still having her clock on the right side of her bed, making it useless to her until she's healed enough to use it. Perhaps Auggie would move it for her, she thought.

"It's about 8:30." He said calmly hoping she wouldn't have negative feelings about him letting her sleep in this morning.

"What? I slept til 8:30? Well, actually, I slept til someone knocked on the door. Who was it?"

"Oh, that was Joan. She's been here about 20 minutes. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were awake then. Danielle came by at 7:45 to check on you as well. She said she would be back around 11. Something about a fundraiser at the girls' school."

"Well, that's great. Who will help me get dressed?" Annie snapped a bit annoyed. She never slept this long, especially since going blind. Routine was important to her. Now she felt like she'd lost several hours of her day.

"Well, Joan can help you, I'm sure. Or I can." Auggie said.

"No, you won't." Annie said firmly. "If Joan doesn't want to or can't help, then I will just stay in my pajamas until Danielle gets here." Auggie heard something behind her statement. Was it fear? Was she afraid of him?

"Okay Annie." He said not pushing the subject for now. "I'll help you to the bathroom and go talk to Joan for you."

"Thank you." She said trying to hide her relief. She didn't want Auggie seeing her scars. Seeing just exactly what'd she been put through a year ago. She'd never seen the scars herself, but she knew exactly were each puckered ugly blemish was on her body. She knew they made her body undesirable.

Once Joan came in to help her dress, she helped her into the wheelchair. They worked silently, not speaking to one another outside of Joan giving instructions to Annie for what she needed her to do or where things were. Joan didn't question the conversation she had overheard between Auggie and Annie.

Once everyone was back in the living room, Auggie had a cup of coffee waiting for everyone, knowing how both Annie and Joan took their respective beverages.

"So, Joan, what brings you out here today?" Annie asked once she was settled on the couch, coffee in hand. Auggie sat to her right in his usual spot on her chair, Joan sat on the coach to her left.

"We have a recording of Amos and some gunrunners in Africa we need you to try to translate it for us. Part of it is Swahili, but we're not familiar with the other language. We were hoping you might be able to help us. We know your time spent in Africa gives you knowledge of many of the lesser known languages and dialects." Joan told her. "As usual, we can't give you all the details, but well, you know more now about what we do than you did before."

"Of course, I understand. I don't need details. I'll listen to it. When do you need it?" Annie asked.

"As soon as possible. It was recorded over the weekend, it didn't get to us until yesterday. I can come back later tonight if you can have it ready by then."

"Sure, well, maybe. Auggie can you help me?" Annie said turning her head to where she knew he sat.

"Of course, what do you need me to do?" Auggie asked a bit unnerved by her continual ability to make almost eye contact with him.

"Well, I can listen to a recording with no problem, but typing out what it says might be difficult, I could probably manage, but I don't think I'm supposed to use this arm." She said slightly lifting her right arm.

"Just tell me what to type and it will be typed." Auggie said.

"Then yes Joan." She said turning towards here Joan sat to her left. "I don't see why we wouldn't be able to have it to you tonight. I'll work on it as soon as I've had something to eat."

"Great. I'll leave you to it then. Auggie call me if there are any problems." She said knowing Auggie would know she meant to keep an eye out for Amos.

An hour later, Annie and Auggie sat on the couch side by side. Annie had headphones around her neck as she prepared to listen to the recording Joan had left. Auggie brought up the word processing document on her laptop that now sat on his lap.

"Okay, I'll listen and translate what I hear. Type it as I say it, exactly. Then I will listen again and verbalize the translation again, that time, just check that it matches what I previously said, mark anything that is different. Afterwards we will compare.

"Sounds good." Auggie said settling in next to her. "Ready for me to play?"

"Yes" Annie said laying her head back against the couch and pulling the headphones over her ears.

As the recording started Annie began translating immediately.

"Good to see you again." Annie heard a man say that she immediately identified as one of her captors, so she assumed it was Amos.

"Yes, good to see you as well." Another man said. "Did you take care of the American?" He said.

"There were complications." Amos said.

"What kind of complications?" A third man said.

Hearing this voice, Annie stopped. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Her head lifted from the couch swiftly and Auggie looked over at her and saw the color had left her face.

"Annie?" He said as he saw her breathing begin to become rapid.

"What's wrong?" He asked putting his hand on her shoulder. She said nothing as her breathing became more labored and her hands began to shake, Auggie realized immediately that she was having a panic attack.

Author's Note: Sorry for the extended break, I was working on a novel then it took me a bit longer than I expected to get back into writing my fanfiction stories. Please read and review at your leisure.