A/N: Had a lovely little snow day today. :) So I was able to write a little more. I'm guessing following posts will be more like a week apart, though. :)

Disclaimer: Still not mine!

Chapter 2

Annie blinked at the unfamiliar surroundings of her room in the guesthouse. The guesthouse? Hadn't she just been in the DPD? Listening to Auggie's proclamations of love?

Her heart sang within her chest. Auggie. That kiss had been magical. And he—he had seen her. Auggie could see.

She rubbed her eyes as she looked around the room, only lighted by the glow of the full moon outside her window.

No, he couldn't see. It was just a dream.

The weight of the truth crashed upon her. It couldn't be true. Auggie couldn't still be blind.

She tugged her blankets up around her as she propped herself up against the head of the bed. Crossing her arms around her middle, she hugged herself as she shook her head. No. It couldn't be true.

When she had woken up, she had expected to see Auggie flung across his side of the bed, snoring softly, love billowing in her heart at just the sight of him.

She wanted to slap herself. His side of the bed? Where was her head? Auggie didn't have a side of her bed! Auggie was her best friend. Nothing else. She'd had a couple dreams that were doozies… but this, by far, took the cake.

She slipped out from underneath the covers of her bed, slipped one of her father's old hoodies over her head, and padded into the kitchen for a glass of water. Running the glass under the faucet, she commanded herself blearily, "Get it together, Annie."

After draining the glass of water, she returned to her bed, slipping under the covers, as she crawled into a ball. As her eyes drooped shut, images of Auggie and his heartbreaker smile filled her vision, and she couldn't help but smile. She knew it had just been a dream, but wasn't it okay to treasure a dream?

Dreams were like unlived exciting adventures. And no one had to know.

The next time Annie woke, it was 7:30 the next morning. As she climbed out of bed and padded to the bathroom, she groaned, and the instinct to slap herself resurfaced.

That little bit of non-logic that proclaimed dreaming about falling in love with her best friend was definitely not sound advice. Since the moment she had woken up to the sound of her alarm clock, she had not been able to get the images from the first, and many following, dreams from her mind.

She felt like a lovesick schoolgirl. She didn't think it was possible to fall in love with a man after one dream, but she couldn't help it.

She just wanted to be with Auggie, and she didn't want to face the reality of what life would be like to know he didn't love her, when she arrived at the DPD in less than an hour.

She turned the water as cold as it would go, enduring the frigid temperature as she showered, hoping that it would wake her from her stupid fantasy. No such luck there.

As she dressed, dried her hair and curled it in soft ringlets that hung around her face, and applied her make-up, images from her dreams followed her. Their first kiss, their first date, stolen moments between missions.

She groaned.

Somehow, she had to fall out of being hopelessly in love with her best friend.

And she had to do it fast.

Annie sucked in a deep breath as she stepped into the entryway of Langley. This was it. The moment of truth.

After making it through security, she crossed her arms over her chest and walked with a much less confident pace through the halls of Langley on her way to the DPD. Acquaintances she passed on the way offered cheerful greetings, and she lifted a hand in greeting and mumbled a halfhearted "hello."

Annie stilled as she saw Auggie emerge from the double doors that led into the DPD, his laser cane sweeping back and forth, as if he were coming to greet her. Tears misted in her eyes as she watched him, so confident, so determined to overcome every obstacle.

"Annie?" he called out hesitantly, sniffing the air.

That adorable little sniff did her in. How was it possible that he couldn't see, that despite his take-on-the-world mentality, his sight had still been taken from him?

It wasn't fair.

She wanted to launch herself into his arms, bury her face in his chest, and cry at the injustice of it all. She couldn't help but hate the crazy events of the past few hours, and yet, she couldn't hate them, because it was these few hours that had brought her to Auggie.

And she didn't want to stop loving him.

Emitting a strangled sob, she dove for the nearest ladies' room. She heard Auggie's worried cries calling after her, but she ignored them. She locked herself in a stall and curled up in a ball, sniffing quietly. How in the world was she supposed to do this?

The door creaked open slowly, and Annie called out, "Auggie… can you please… just… leave me alone?"

An awkward pause followed. "Um… Annie, I'm not Auggie."

Annie's cheeks flamed as she buried her head in her hands. "Oh." She paused. "Sorry, Bea."

Another pause. "Annie, are you okay?"

Annie swiped her hand across her eyes, trying to get rid of the evidence. She sniffed quietly. "Yeah. I think so," she lied. "After that, though, I figured Auggie would try and follow me in here."

Bea quirked a smile outside the bathroom stall. "He tried. But when I reached for the handle, I think he thought better of it."

Annie slowly unlocked the door, and peaked out.

Bea sent her a sympathetic look. "Aw, honey, what'd Anderson do this time?"

She shook her head, drying the last of his tears. "It—it wasn't him. I just... I had a really long night last night."

Bea smiled and patted Annie's arm sympathetically. "Well, Auggie isn't the easiest one to get along with, not always. Let me know if you need to talk, okay, sweetie?"

Annie nodded, even though she had no intention of taking the woman up on her offer. "Yeah, thanks."

She dried her eyes one final time, and touched up her make-up, hoping it would cover the effects of her tears, before she stepped out of the bathroom and made her way to her desk.

"Auggie," Annie called as she peaked into her best friend's office. "Auggie, Joan wants us in the conference room for a briefing."

Auggie's head popped up at the sound of his best friend's voice. "Annie?" he returned, hesitantly, hopefully. He reached for his laser cane and followed the sound of her voice, nearly tripping over his own feet in attempt to reach her before she left.

She smiled sadly, taking in his worried chocolate eyes and the lines of his handsome face. "Right here, Aug." She brushed her hand against the back of his, and he trailed his hand up to her elbow.

When she would have continued guiding him toward the conference room, he hung onto her arm, tugging her back. "Annie… are you… okay?" He had heard her strangled sob, and hadn't known what had precipitated it. He would have followed her into the bathroom, but Bea was quick on Annie's heels. That was nearly an hour ago. What had happened?

She slid her arm around his waist, hoping he wouldn't protest at the extra show of affection. Despite their physical relationship, they didn't hug often, and she hoped that he wouldn't mind.

Instead, he pulled her into a complete hug, dropping his chin onto the top of her head and rubbing her back soothingly. She tried to block out the images of her first dream, the way he had hugged her, similar to this, after declaring his big news. She couldn't help it, though, and her eyes fluttered closed as she breathed in the smell of his cologne and as she felt his strong arms wrap around her protectively.

She pushed away from him gently, after a moment. This was not helping her push away her love for him.

Huh-uh.

She reached for his arm, hooking her arm through his, and she tugged him toward the direction of the conference room. "C'mon, Auggie. We're gonna be late."

As he let her guide him through the maze of desks, he whispered again, "Annie… I'm worried. What's the matter?"

She shook her head no, but hugged his arm tighter, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "Not now, Auggie. Besides, I'll be fine."

He sighed, frustrated that she wasn't opening up to him. Did she really trust him that little? What was going on?

He focused his attention on the situation in front of him as he heard Annie push the door to the conference room open. Someone was handing out files, and Annie was guiding him to an empty seat when she noticed a couple standing at the front of the room, talking to Joan.

Annie's eyes widened with surprise and she placed Auggie's hand on the back of the chair. "I can't believe it," she whispered.

Auggie turned to look at her. "Annie? What is it?"

She stared at the woman, a strange mix between glowing and trepidation covering her face. "It can't be."

Auggie was getting slightly annoyed. Usually Annie was more helpful than this. "Annie."

She turned to look at him, and her cheeks burned in apology. "Oh, ah, sorry. It's Vivian Long!"

He sent her a confused look. "Vivian Long?"

"Yeah. Remember that mission, just before Ben and I went back to Sri Lanka? Jai and I went to London, and my mission was to get Vivian to recruit me?"

He nodded in remembrance. "She's here?"

Annie was still staring across the room. "Yeah. She's here. With some guy."

Vivian turned and noticed them. "Annie!" she called, excited.

Annie plastered on a smile, hoping it appeared genuine. "Viv!"

All she needed, on this, of all days, was for someone to call her on her crap, right in front of the love of her life.

A/N: See? Definitely not an "Auggie can see again" plotline! Never was supposed to be. It was just fun to trick you all for a little while. :) And I know the premise behind it is kinda out-there… falling in love because of a dream… but, lol, I always wanted to do a story heavily inspired by dreams, and worse things have happened to me because of my dreams. lol. I loved the premise of Annie falling in love with Auggie because of a dream, and struggling to deal with Seeing Auggie and Blind Auggie.

And adding the case will just make it more interesting, I think. :) My sister proclaims that I'm an awesome mystery writer, and when I told her about this little story, she insisted that I add some mystery to the story, hehe. So I obliged. Hopefully we all like this outcome better. :)

Please let me know what you think! This story seems so different from anything I've seen, so I'm not sure how it'll be received.