Author's note: Hooray, after long last, the END! I hope you all enjoy. I know some of you might be annoyed at Annie's attitude toward Auggie, but Annie's character is very burnt over love, and I think a love for Auggie would have to grow, not explode into being (at least for her). But the start is here, and if you all enjoyed the story, I'll write another building on their budding romance. Thank you all so much for your reviews; you'll never know how happy it makes me feel that people are reading and enjoying my work (amateur as it is).

Disclaimer: I do not own Covert Affairs or the characters involved.

For the rest of the day, Annie slept curled up on one of the beds. Auggie, whose head was feeling much better, showered and made his way to the airport. Once inside, he went to his locker, where he reclaimed his suitcase full of the leftover money and his clothes. He then went back to the hotel to change into something respectable, and resolved to let Annie go shopping for something else to wear when she woke up (the white sundress she had been sporting was no longer white after all the mud, and it was splattered here and there with blood. Fortunately, the hotel manager had bought the whole fish story Annie had handed him about falling down on a rainforest tour.). Since Annie slept most of the day away, Auggie had had a lot of time to think. He spent most of his afternoon on a bench outside the hotel, letting the warm sunlight hit the sore areas of his back where Marco had booted him. "Women were so confusing," thought Auggie, "I hate the way they can make you feel everything is alright without giving you a definite answer for anything!"

True, Auggie had poured his heart out to Annie. But though Annie had been accepting of his feelings, she still had not said she felt the same back. Auggie knew that Annie had been through the fire with Ben, and with a cold shiver Auggie realized that, if Annie knew that Ben had really shown up, he wouldn't have a chance. But Auggie was finally in the league now; the Annie league. He was competing against Jai the Jerk and Ben the Burner. "The best thing to do," Auggie's common sense told him after a while, "is let her have some time to herself. Just watch over her, talk to her as always, take her out often, and find some special ways to let her know that... she is the sunrise of my world."

oOo

While Auggie was pondering outside the hotel, Annie had finally woken up and had taken a nice, warm shower. She tried to plan her extraction cover, but her head was still fuzzy, and it seemed that all she could think about was her conversation with Auggie. Auggie was a strange one; he was her greatest friend, and her greatest ally at the CIA. Plus, he truly cared for her well being. But so did Jai; Jai had saved her life more times than she could count. But then, there was something peculiar in the way Jai interacted with her; it was almost dangerous, in a way. It was as if Jai was a panther and Annie was the prey. Annie knew she had seen Jai way too many times before she joined the CIA, and as cute as he was, Annie knew he hid some dark secrets. Yet she couldn't help feeling a little drawn to him.

Ben was another odd one. When Annie had first met him, she had fallen hard. She hung on to every word he said, every promise he made, until the day he up and disappeared. Though it had only been two weeks, Annie felt as if a part of her soul had been ripped out. After two years of aimless wandering and a year or so at training, Annie had finally begun to let go. But there was no doubt he cast a shadow over her life still; Annie couldn't help seeing his face from time to time in the people that passed her by. Though all she wanted to do was let him go, she was still tied to him.

And then there was Auggie. Until now, Annie thought of Auggie as just a good friend. After learning of some of Auggie's romances, though, she had not considered him a potential candidate for dating. Therefore, Annie thought it was funny that Natasha could have made her so jealous. At the time, Annie had classified these feelings under the "concerned friend" category, but now... now Annie wasn't so sure. Annie scowled as she paced slowly around the hotel room, stretching out aching muscles. All these men soliciting for her attention made her confused and weary. "Am I the only woman left at the CIA?" she thought despairingly. The solution then came to her- take it slow. If Auggie was the one for her, she would see that in time. If not, then she wouldn't be risking all of her heart. But then, would she be asking Auggie to risk all of his?

oOo

When Auggie returned to the room, it was early evening. Annie was awake, if sounding perpetually tired, but she perked up when Auggie mentioned a "shopping trip." Together, the two made themselves presentable as possible (at least Auggie looked great; Annie looked as if she had been dragged through a swamp) and left for the more tourist parts of Rio Branco. The first mission they set about was to find Annie some new clothes. This mission was fairly easy though; Annie was small and could fit into a fair number of things. And though she liked showing style at work, she was not picky when it came to choosing from what was available. Soon, Annie had replaced her tattered and torn bloodstained sundress with a pair of loose flowing khaki pants, a plain light pink tee, and some new sandals.

Together, Annie and Auggie walked the friendly streets of Rio Branco. The city was a marvel; old buildings surrounded and supported by new ones. Parks opened up around every corner, letting in the surrounding rainforest. There were so many parks and open areas that it gave one the impression that the city was first planned to consist of tree houses. They walked the streets slowly, taking their time and often sitting down to rest on the various park's tuffy grasses. Annie found that she rather enjoyed the evening, and, though she and Auggie said nothing more of importance, she found that it was easy to sit closer to him. It was nice to rest her head against his, and it was peaceful just to be with him. There was none of the excitement she felt around Ben, or the flitting danger she felt around Jai, only silent strength. But Annie smiled inwardly as she snuggled closer; maybe silent strength was what she needed.

Auggie, meanwhile, was feeling weary yet slightly sad. Sometimes, he felt as though his blindness had given him second sight; he could not be fooled by a woman's quick smile and the assurances that everything was "fine." No, he could feel the uncertainty coming off Annie in waves. "She's afraid," Auggie thought sadly. "I made her afraid; she doesn't want to love again, at least not now. How could I have been so stupid to throw all this on her while she was barely managing to survive?"

As Auggie's worries multiplied, though, a strange reassurance seemed to calm his heart. He remembered something his father had said when Auggie had had his first serious girlfriend. "Give it time," his father had instructed. "A tree is not grown in a day, and neither is love. Things that are grown fast die fast, but things that grow slowly live for hundreds of years. That's the difference between a flower and a tree." Auggie nodded inwardly; it was good advice. His father had been a very wise man. And there, just sitting together, Annie and Auggie made a silent agreement to give each other time. For in that moment of clarity, Annie and Auggie had developed a trait that all couples seemed to have; the ability to understand what the other was feeling without the use of words.

oOo

Later that evening, after medicine was taken and food was eaten, Annie and Auggie got down to the serious business of explaining away the cover. He had come down prepared to fly Annie home, but without a passport Annie wouldn't be able to leave the country. Besides, it would be a little odd to have Annie just walk into Langley the next day when she was supposed to be with Marco in Sanchez's house. At first, Annie suggested an extraction team. But something made Auggie weary; maybe it was the fact that Jai would be leading the extraction team. Though Auggie scoffed at the idea that Jai was an Equalizer (that part had to have been made up by Marco), he had made himself rather suspicious; trusting Marco to the letter and sending Annie in without further backup (although a GPS tracker would not have helped much, Auggie realized with chagrin). Then again, Joan was the one who set up the mission in the first place.

Or could it have been Arthur? Pretty coincidental that Joan was required to leave right when everything went down. Auggie remembered Arthur's secret conversation with him a while back; the one where Arthur told Auggie he did not want Joan implicated in anything. "He's shielding her," Auggie thought with a scowl. "Arthur knew that Annie would be in danger, and he didn't want his wife around. Also, the only other person from Arthur's department is Jai, who just happened to be overseeing the mission." Everything fell into place rather nicely, but why and what it meant, Auggie had no idea. He was just sure of one thing; he didn't want to leave Annie's side until she was back safe in her sister's house. "No extraction teams," was Auggie's final word on the matter.

Around midnight, Auggie and Annie hit a nice compromise. It didn't leave Auggie in the clear as much as he wanted to be, but if Auggie wanted to sit next to Annie on the plane ride home, it would have to be done. They rehearsed what they would say, and over and over again how to say it, until there were no flaws in their story. Then, exhausted, both crashed for the night.

oOo

The next morning, a very worn-and-harried sounding Annie called Langley with Auggie's untraceable phone. Thankfully, Bert picked up on her call right away. Overjoyed to hear from her, he patched her through to Joan, who had just made it back from the Pentagon interviews in time to watch her entire "Annie" crew go haywire.

"Marco was bad," Annie said flatly. "He holed me up in Sanchez's house and dosed me with a high level of Thallium. Fortunately, Sanchez's servants rebelled. They set me free, gave me the antidote, and saved my life."

"Why would they do that?" demanded Joan after expelling her relief that Annie was safe.

"They want their families to be safe," Annie replied. "All of them just want to get out of Sanchez's house without being implicated in anything that can tear their families apart."

"Well, that is very brave of them, considering that they are still servants in his house!"

"They have no reason to fear; both Sanchez and Marco are dead." Annie's voice wavered here, and Joan knew not to ask more until Annie had had time to recover.

"And the arms?" Joan asked briskly.

"Sanchez never had them in the first place. Apparently, he just wanted a bartering hostage with our government. If I looked like I bombed my cover, who would blame him for taking me hostage? Just a novice idiot who got herself in trouble. No one would be the wiser."

"They would if you were being sold back to us," Joan added grimly.

"I don't think they ever intended to let me live," Annie replied.

"So, where are you now?"

"Rio Branco, near the airport."

"I'll send in an extraction team..."

"Don't bother," Annie cut in. "If you could just call customs and get them to let me pass; I'll be able to get home. You see, I ran into a friend on vacation down here..."

oOo

Joan sat in her office glaring at Auggie, a major headache threatening to build up. Her two agents had gotten back (thankfully) without any further problems, and Annie had been confined to bed rest and mandatory hospital visits for a couple of weeks. However, the Thallium hadn't permeated her tissues, so she would be able to get back on active duty relatively soon. Joan almost smiled at the thought of Annie; she had done a decent job of getting herself out alive. If that's what really happened; Joan frowned as her doubts came back to her. As Joan looked across the room towards Auggie, she felt her frustration beginning to kindle again.

"You were supposed to be on vacation," Joan growled. "Remember, I told you that if you ever, ever went rogue again I'd have to fire you!"

Auggie smiled innocently. "I didn't disregard what you said; I went on vacation. I even spent a couple of extra days off, like Jai asked."

"Then why, why did you just happen to have two plane tickets for the trip back?" Joan groaned.

"Because, on the way back I wanted to stretch out in two seats. I always have a harder time adjusting to the time on the way back instead of the way there."

Joan sighed and shook her head. "Bert said that he told you where Annie was staying. Jai also said you knew. This isn't hard to put together, Auggie!"

Auggie shrugged. "Well, I've always wanted to visit the rainforest, and Rio Branco had a rubber museum. I thought it would be a cool place to visit. Besides, I got free flyer miles from my credit card company."

Joan rolled her eyes. She didn't believe Auggie for a second, but what could she nail him on? If her suspicions were right, Auggie had not only been around to pick up Annie, but was instrumental in rescuing her as well. Servants for a drug lord and arms dealer didn't just randomly revolt without having someone to pin the blame on- it was a necessary instinct for survival.

"Just go," Joan said finally, and Auggie beamed happily and headed for the door. "Oh, and off the record," Joan added as Auggie flipped on his laser cane, "I... think I would have done the same thing, in your shoes."

Auggie smiled genuinely this time and looked over in Joan's direction. "Joan, do you mind if I take another couple of weeks off. I want to keep Annie company just because... well... you know."

Joan suppressed another sigh. "Go," she said resigned. "You still have at least three weeks, if not more."

Auggie laughed. "I don't think you could keep me away that long," he said.

Joan waited until Auggie was all the way out of the room and heading down the hall before she picked up her phone. "Selena?" she asked after a few moments. Having received a positive confirmation, Joan came right to the point. "Selena, I want you to call down to Bigby and tell him that when he and his boys raid Valmor's house, they are to put all of Valmor's servants in protective custody. Better yet, relocate them to new cities. They saved the lives of some of my people out there, and I'll be hanged if I don't return the favor."

The End