Disclaimer: I don't own Covert Affairs, else those new episodes would be on right now. Seriously.
Prompt #1: Greeting - Their morning exchanges were always light and playful.
Words: 778
A few people see the sexy blonde CIA agent walk across the seal in the marble floor with her confident, kitten-heel-enhanced stride eating up the distance between the front doors and the elevator like fire. Another few people see the hunky blind head of Tech Ops walking along the hallway heading straight for the same elevator, his green laser cane mapping out his path. When they get close enough to see or, in his case, hear the other, identical smiles light up their faces.
"Hey there, Auggie."
"Annie Walker, as I live and breathe. Back so soon from vacation?"
"You know how it is. You can't keep a good girl down."
"I hear that."
The exchange makes the tougher, grizzled agents of the DPD smile to themselves as the newest rookie agent and her handler head towards Tech Ops, her arm looped through his in a way that was purely casual and utterly adorable in its familiarity.
Ever since they first met, Annie and Auggie have started arriving at Langely very close to the same time as each other. They meet up in the lobby, exchange the pleasantries of good friends, then head down to the DPD arm-in-arm. In a job field of lies and unpredictability, their ritual is a very stable part of their turbulent lives.
Some days there is more of a teasing edge to their banter. She pokes fun at his "walk of shame" and he purposely brings up Thursday night dinner-dates with Danielle and the Shmuck of the Week. Sometimes it's more serious; she walks in tired and sore from a previous mission, while he walks in morose from a thought that he'll never share with anybody.
A lot of deep and heavy stuff went on between them, but you wouldn't think that from hearing the way they greet each other in the mornings. They make sure to keep it bright and cheerful even when their moods are nowhere near those realms.
It's rare that they don't greet each other with a smile. The only time it's happened was when Auggie was performing his short-lived assignment in the Office of Congressional Affairs. They passed each other and made small talk, but the customary banter was gone. Annie was visibly upset by the loss, and those who still saw Auggie could tell that the geek wasn't as chipper as usual. When Auggie returned, everyone could tell that the world was righted again by the brilliant smile on Annie's face the next day.
A few of the cynics - agents who had seen it all, seen better cadets and techs crash and burn over and over, seen betrayal and lies and deception the world over - believed that it wouldn't last. That sooner or later, one or the other would say or do something to drive a wedge between them. Agents and their handlers, while expected to be close, never lasted too long if they were too close.
But no matter what had happened to them so far - old loves, surprise ops, or a simple thing like being blindsided by one's sudden promotion - this particular pair of agent and handler seemed to keep coming out on top.
She's a maverick and he's a hellion. Humor and sarcasm were their bread and butter, their sword and shield. It's worked for them, so far.
As has this morning ritual that now, many believe, has evolved into some sort of good-luck charm for the pair.
Some people pause when Annie Walker strolls into the DPD bullpen wearing that sexy power suit and those damn fine kitten heels, bearing two cups of piping hot coffee. They covertly watch her walk across the bullpen and head straight for the glass-walled Tech Ops where Auggie Anderson is hard at work, his headphones over his ears as his fingers fly over his Braille keyboard.
"Knock, knock," Annie says teasingly as she hip-checks her handler.
His smile is bright as sunshine as he removes his headphones. "Annie? And is that coffee I smell with you?"
"That it is. Your nine o'clock."
"You're an angel of mercy."
She laughs. "I bet you say that to all the Starbucks baristas."
His reply comes with a chuckle. "Only the ones who deliver."
Their back-and-forth gives the rest of the agents a reason to smile as they returned to work. Just another morning in the DPD.
Yay! Let's get going!
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