Two weeks later….

"Annie this is ridiculous. Why can't you just take me home? I promise I'll stay in all weekend."

Annie rolled her eyes, long past caring that her best friend – her IDIOT best friend- couldn't see the facial expression. "Two steps up here." She kept a firm grip under his elbow. "Don't lie to me Auggie. We both know you'd find a way to walk right back into Langely, tomorrow."

"Would not."

Auggie's pout was adorable, but Annie was impervious to his wiles. Well, she thought, sometimes impervious. Sometimes I'm… "Hey Scrabble champ, what's the opposite of impervious?"

His eyebrows made a "v" across his brow at the sudden change in subject. "Again with the not making sense…" Something hard hit him at the back of his knees.

"There's a window seat behind you. Sit." She watched while he sat and then knelt in front of him. She hid her smirk when he tensed. Auggie had a hyper-awareness of the people around him, especially where she was concerned. He jerked and tried to stand when she grabbed hold of his left ankle. "Calm down, prudence. I'm taking your shoe off, not assaulting your virtue." She took both shoes, and his socks for good measure, ensuring that if he escaped he would have to do so barefoot.

As she stood up he reached out and clasped her wrist. His face turned upward, he softly asked, "I thought we'd moved past the initial assault phase?"

And there it was. For the past two weeks they had both tried so hard to pretend everything was the same, hunky-dory, a-ok. But, Annie admitted, it wasn't the same. She still woke up every morning and felt some-how more alone. She still remembered the feel of his lean, hard, body stretched atop her, and the feel of his arms caging her against him. That very, very, bad part of her very, very, much wanted to know what his lips would feel like on her lips – because they had felt like heaven trailing kisses down her neck.

Auggie hadn't been acting normally either. There were no more friendly brush-passes in the hallway, no attempts to intrude into her personal space in the office or on the elevator. Although it was a sad impossibility, she was sure she felt him watching her every move.

"Yeah well now you've taken to assaulting cars with your body. What the hell, Auggie?"

He winced and let go of her wrist to hold his head in both hands. "Shhh. Blind, not deaf."

"Ice, you need ice. I'll be right back. Stay."

If his head hadn't been hosting the national drumline championships, Auggie would have barked like an obedient dog. As it was, he tried to sit very still and think quiet thoughts. Annie was still too tense around him. She was still jumpy and stand-off-ish and far too distant. They really needed to talk, but right now all he could do was moan.

"Cliché as it is, did you happen to get a look at the truck that hit me?"

"Har har. Here." She took his hand away from his temple, placed an ice pack in his palm and moved his arm so that he held the ice against the base of his skull. "It wasn't a truck, just a mid-sized sedan. Explain to me again how no one else managed to see, and thus stop, a hit and run in the parking lot of a secure government facility?"

Auggie grimaced. "Insert blind joke here." He rolled his shoulders experimentally. "If I didn't know better I'd say someone out there doesn't like me."

Annie's hands, of their own volition, reached out to tangle in his brown curls. "Silly Auggie. There are LOTS of people who don't like you."

He didn't want to speak, afraid she'd stop the impromptu scalp massage.

"Of course, they are all vapid sluts who cannot remember the last book they read…" She smiled when he chuckled. "That scared the crap out of me Auggie. Your head bounced off the pavement. I…" She swallowed audibly and blinked away sudden tears.

He dropped the ice pack to reach up and take her hands in his. "Hey. I'm ok. You heard the EMTs, just a mild concussion and a few bruises. I should watch where I'm going, blah blah.. How many times have I told you that you cannot get rid of me that easily?" He waited. She was silent. For the billionth time he cursed his inability to see her face. "I'm right here Annie. I'm not leaving you."

He felt as much as heard her soft sob. It took only the slightest downward pressure to bring her down onto his lap. Auggie leaned back, pulling her head against his shoulder. One hand cupped her nape while the other rested lightly on her legs. She was sitting sideways across him. It felt perfectly natural and easy. He'd been missing this, these past two weeks: the easy comfort of touching, and being touched by, Annie. He kissed her forehead. Relief flooded through him when she didn't pull away.

"Annie we need to talk. We've never discussed…"

Whatever he was going to say was undoubtedly sweet and heartfelt. Annie, though, wasn't in the mood for words. The let-down of the adrenaline high she'd been riding for the past hour left her shaking and vulnerable. She lifted her head off the muscled shoulder beneath her while her hand rose to stroke his cheek. With just the slightest of tugs she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him.

A/N: Yes it was supposed to be a one shot. Then y'all seduced me with the glory of your reviews and this thing has morphed into a writhing demon that won't leave me alone! There will be more, I promise.