Disclaimer: I don't own Covert Affairs. Wish the new season would hurry up and get here!

Prompt #37: Breakdown - It wasn't often that she could help him, and Annie would be damned if she let him push her away.

Words: 881

It's always hard to hear those words echoing through Langley's halls.

"The op went bad. They lost the ground team."

Usually those words were a tough pill to swallow alone. But when Annie heard them, all the air rushed out of her lungs in one gasp. Because she knew who was working the line for that particular op. Because she knew who the ground team was comprised of.

Auggie. He'd lost more than just an op and a team. A guy from his old unit was leading the ground team. He'd lost his friend.

I have to be there for him, she thought. Dropping everything on her desk, the blonde agent made double-time for Auggie's office, hoping to catch her friend before he disappeared. But when she looked inside, he was already gone. Dammit. Already gone.

"Auggie left an hour ago," came Clara's small voice from behind her.

Glancing at Joan's office and weighing her options, Annie sighed. Hell, it's Auggie. Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. "If anyone asks, I got sick and went home."

"He's hurting, Annie." The amount of worry in her eyes made the analyst look like a scared little girl. "He's in such a bad way - "

"Don't worry," Annie assured her. "I won't let him bully me out of helping him."

There was no answer at his front door. Not that she was really expecting one. Checking to make sure nobody saw, Annie knelt down and started picking the lock on the door. Within seconds she was sliding the door open and stepping inside.

Judging from the mess, he'd swept everything off his coffee table and any flat surface he could find in a fit of rage. She stepped carefully around the scattered items and broken shards of some unidentifiable object, looking through the gloom of the unlit apartment to see where her best friend was currently hiding.

He wasn't hard to find. He huddled on his bed, sheets torn every which way, his face buried in his pillow, and from the small shaking of his shoulders, he hadn't completely cried himself out yet. So Annie turned away and started searching for a broom as quietly as she could.

"Annie?"

"Hey." Annie stepped closer to his bed. "I heard about your friend - "

"Why are you here?" There was almost no hint of her loveable St. Bernard in that angry snarl. "Did Clara send you?"

"No, I wanted to come over anyway. You know, like girlfriends are known to do." Using the G-word seemed appropriate for the current situation.

Until Auggie demanded, "Oh, so this is pity?" sounding like a grizzly bear that'd been roused from the depths of hibernation. "You pitying me now?"

Remembering Clara's words, Annie didn't take his anger to heart. "No, I'm not. I'm just stopping by to make sure you're doing okay." Her voice regained the familiar teasing edge she saved specifically for Auggie. "Love what you've done with the place, by the way."

He burrowed his face deeper into his pillow. "Go away."

"Auggie - "

"I don't want you here right now."

Drawing herself up to her full height, Annie put her hands on her hips. "Well I'm here now, and I can't leave while there's broken glass everywhere. So you can either talk to me while I clean up, or you can ignore me as I clean up." With that declaration Annie turned on one heel and strode back out to the living room to continue cleaning.

After every shard of glass was picked up, all the trash was collected, and the apartment was put back into some semblance of its original pristine order, Annie put away the dustpan and broom back in the closet where she'd found them. She purposely didn't look back into Auggie's bedroom as she gathered her purse and jacket.

It wasn't her place to demand to stay now that her task was completed. He needed time to mourn. He'd call when he was ready, she knew.

"Annie?" he called out as she was opening the door to leave. His voice was heavy with sorrow and apology.

"Yeah?"

"Don't..." He seemed to need a moment more before asking softly, "Don't go. Please."

Annie shut the door and turned to face the man she loved. "Wouldn't dream of it, Auggie." In seconds she was across the room and wrapping her arms around him, guiding his head to rest on her shoulder. "I'm not going anywhere."

Joan was pleasantly surprised to see a cheerful, smiling Auggie back to work next morning. After such a devestating loss, she'd expected him to disappear for a few days, forcing her to make a trip to his home and making sure he was okay. Very few things set Auggie off, and the loss of one of his friends had dealt the tech a heavy blow.

But here he was, still sad but not as broken up as expected, smiling at Annie and -

Oh. Annie.

Of course. Joan smiled and nodded once to herself. He has Annie to help him pick up the pieces now.

Yes, I'm back. Some hurt/comfort here as an apology for taking so long.

Review please!