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Prompt #32: Overload - "Auggie!" Annie shouted, seeing her best friend drop to the ground and clutch his head.
Words: 871
The first thing Auggie registered upon his return to consciousness was the fact that he was lying down on a somewhat comfortable bed. The second thing he registered was the smell of antiseptic, latex, and that prickly-sharp smell that just makes people think Hospital. He groaned in annoyance and stretched his back, blinking to unstick his glued eyelids. "Anyone around?" he called out hopefully.
"Auggie. Good, you're awake."
Thank God, a familiar voice. "Hey Joan. Mind telling me what I'm doing at Walter Reed?"
"What do you remember?"
Never a good reply. But Auggie decided to keep quiet and do what his boss asked. "Uh, let's see...van. I was in the van."
"Good start. What followed?"
"Annie was inside the office and hit a snag. I couldn't talk her through it." She'd been trying to allow him to remote-hack a close-circuit computer system, but the technology was too difficult for him to explain how to detour everything. He'd grabbed his cane and ordered Annie to get her butt downstairs, he'd do it himself. "I headed for the side door and she headed down to come get me."
"All right. Then what?"
"We headed upstairs..." Auggie frowned, scrunching his eyebrows together as he tried to clear the fogginess in his head. "We were on the third floor...Annie was describing the layout when I heard something. It was strange, really high-pitched and whistle-like. I asked Annie about it, but she said she didn't hear it." He could hear scribbling, like she was taking notes. "I kept hearing it, and then I started to get a really bad headache. Annie said something about getting nauseous...wait, where is Annie?" He sat up straight in bed, turning his head from side to side. "Annie? Annie?" he called out.
Joan's hand landed on his shoulder, firm and unyielding. "Auggie, calm down. Annie's fine, she's down the hall getting checked out by the doctors."
"What's wrong with her?" Auggie demanded.
"She has a small forehead wound, three fractured knuckles and two bruised ribs. Nothing too serious."
"How the hell did that happen?" He couldn't recall any fighting.
The hand on his shoulder pushed gently, coaxing him to lie back. "That high-pitched whistling you heard was a form of security feature. Breaking into the office triggered an ultrasonic pulse that results in unconsciousness. You were affected more quickly because of your heightened sense of hearing. Annie sent out an SOS when you collapsed."
Auggie could vaguely recall Annie yelling his name as the migraine had fogged out his hearing. That was probably when I blacked out. "That doesn't explain why she's injured."
"She was engaged."
He could connect the dots from there. With him down for the count, Annie would have defended him tooth and nail regardless of the mission. She'd done it in Barcelona, losing the case to come back and make sure he was still alive. He'd been furious about it then, but he'd also been grateful.
"Obviously she was victorious," Joan finished unnecessarily. "The attackers are being questioned as we speak."
"Can I see her?"
"I figured you'd want that." He could practically hear Joan smiling. "She's just down the hallway."
Auggie reached out and found Joan's elbow, gripping slightly to orient himself as he got to his feet. He had to curb his impatience when Joan seemed to walk slower than usual. Only ignorance of Annie's room number prevented him from striking off on his own.
After five minutes of the slowest progress down a hallway, Joan finally stopped in front of a doorway and said, "Here she is."
He smiled as he made his way inside the room. "Candygram for Miss Walker," he joked.
"Hey Auggie," Annie chuckled. He heard her sit up in bed carefully, hissing in pain from her bruised ribs. "Your head all right?"
"I'm no longer hearing pennywhistles, if that's what you mean." Finding the bedside without any trouble, Auggie's hand crawled over her sheets to tangle with her fingers. "How about you? I hope you played nice with the other boys."
"Shut up," she giggled. Her voice quickly grew serious. "You all right?"
"No," he replied honestly. His free hand reached out to cup her cheek, and he leaned forward until their foreheads touched. Inhaling her scent, he breathed, "But I'll get there soon."
She leaned against him. "I'm fine, Auggie."
"Fractured knuckles, bruised ribs and a head wound don't translate to 'fine' for normal people, Annie."
"Since when have you ever thought of me as normal?" she teased. Her hand tightened around his. "God, you had me worried. When you dropped to the ground, I almost had a heart attack."
He grinned sheepishly. "I guess we've given each other a pretty bad scare."
"Doctor says I can leave in a day."
"Good. You're coming home with me. No arguments."
"Wasn't planning on arguing."
"Good." He took a small breath and whispered, "Is Joan gone?"
Annie's head moved slightly. "Yeah."
"Good," he said again. Then he kissed her.
And YES! FINALLY! THESE TWO FINALLY GOT TOGETHER!
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