A/N: Old readers of Dreamer, rejoice! (New readers, too.) New content! :))))) I'm pretty stoked. I hope you are, too. :)

And… and, there's another reason to rejoice, too. :) I finished my internship today! (You know what that means, right? More Dreamer!)

Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Covert Affairs no es mio!

Chapter 8

Baptiste Perrot was standing in the middle of the literature section of Barnes & Noble, like any semi-good father would around Christmastime, as he held Aurélie's meager Christmas list in his hand. She never asked for much, but he always felt she deserved what she wanted. Aurélie was a good kid, and it wasn't fair for her to have to live without her mother. It also wasn't fair that she had to live with all the danger and intrigue that came with being Baptiste Perrot's daughter, either.

Sometimes, he wished Aurélie was easier to shop for. She always gave him detailed lists of what she wanted, but, on a regular basis, those few items were incredibly difficult to find.

He thought he spotted the title of the third book on her list when a vice grip yanked hard on his left arm. Baptiste was a strong man and skilled in several types of martial arts, but he couldn't break free from the man's grasp. When he turned to see who it was, he stopped cold.

Bill.

The internationally known terrorist, mainly known for his work in Europe and Northern Africa. Baptiste remembered the last time he'd dealt with him—it hadn't been pleasant.

Bill was still yanking, and Baptiste stumbled after him. They traipsed through the bookstore, finally stopping when Bill was satisfied that the corner he'd found was sequestered enough.

"I thought I told you to handle it!"

Baptiste sent him a steely look. "I am handling it. You have to give me more time."

"There's not that much more time! I've seen reports that it's in its final stages."

"I still have time. There's still months until it'll be ready," Baptiste said.

Bill shoved Baptiste into a display of books. Baptiste endured the abuse because he didn't want to find out what Bill was like when he was challenged. "Just get the information. Soon. You're not my only resource, you know."

Baptiste watched as Bill sauntered away into the mall's crowd, and Baptiste wondered just how hard it would be to get out of this mess that he'd created for himself.

"Hi, Mr. Anderson," Aurélie called cheerfully as she skipped into the library. It was relatively empty, and Auggie had been taking the time to try and learn a little bit more about library science. He hated not being fully prepared for a role he had to play, and he still didn't truly understand the way library science worked.

He was only trying to learn and not just learning because, at the moment, his mind was focused on anything but library science. This morning, Annie had woken up with a splitting headache. She had all but dissolved into tears that morning after breakfast, and during lunch, she'd barely touched any of the leftover spaghetti and meatballs she'd brought. Auggie could still remember the way she hid at his side, clinging to him almost, as if her life depended on it. It worried him. His mother used to get headaches, too, and they had incapacitated her just as much as this one seemed to be doing to Annie. Annie had taken something at lunch, but it didn't seem to be helping her.

He'd done the best he could to help Annie through the pain, to make things easier for her, but she was in the middle of one of her French 2 sections, and he wouldn't be of any help to her there. Besides, he had a library to run.

Aurélie was a welcome distraction from beating himself up over worrying too much. "Hi, Ari." She sounded really happy, too, which reassured him some. He still remembered her transformation from two days ago, when she'd become so formal and somber. What did Perrot do to her?

She slipped into the chair across from him at the table he was sitting at. "Mr. Anderson, can you help me?"

He pushed his laptop aside and leaned forward on the table with his forearms. "Help you with what?" he asked, his eyes twinkling. Ari was already his favorite student on campus—he knew it was probably unteacherly and unlibrarianly and all around a bad idea for a faculty member of a school to have favorites, but he couldn't help it. She was smart and sweet and kind and demure and generally, happy and fun, too. He didn't understand how she wasn't the most popular girl in school.

Aurélie sighed overdramatically. "History."

He laughed. "What's so bad about history?"

She opened her book while she explained. "I don't know. I love reading historical fiction, but I just can't remember all the dates and names and stuff, and that's what I need for the test." He couldn't tell, but he imagined she was scowling at the moment. It made him grin.

"What are you studying?"

"The Civil War."

Auggie wagged his eyebrows knowingly. "I see."

Aurélie giggled. "Mr. Anderson, you're weird."

Auggie felt the inkling to laugh in return, but he let her comment go. He reached for his laptop again, ready to search whatever she brought up. He obviously couldn't read her book, so he liked to be able to search for something on his laptop. At least he was doing something to help. "What specifically do you need to know?"

She shrugged. "Uh, I'm not sure. Hold on." She dug in her backpack for the study guide, and rattled off the first question to him.

They worked together for the next hour companionably, Ari reading sections from her textbook, Auggie offering ideas when he came across them. When there was a lull in their studying for a small break, Ari took a sip from her water bottle and glanced over at Auggie. "Mr. Anderson? Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

Aurélie smiled at the nonchalant, easy way he had with people. "What made you first notice Mrs. Anderson?"

Auggie choked on his coffee. "Sorry, what?"

She laughed. "What was the first thing you noticed about Mrs. Anderson? You know, like when you first met her? My dad says…" Her eyes glimmered at this. "My dad says that my mom had eyes that looked like shimmering sapphires, and on their first date, he couldn't stop looking at them. What did you first notice about Mrs. Anderson?"

Auggie tried not to visibly blanch. He and Annie had never discussed that part of their cover, and it wasn't a part of the files they'd received. All he had to go off of was the fact that he and Annie were supposed to have met in the sixth grade, and been sweethearts ever since. Annie was much better at coming up with those types of stories than he was. "It was her voice," he said, making it up as he went.

"Her voice?"

Auggie remembered the first time he'd actually met Annie and realized how true it was. After all this time knowing her, it was still her voice he remembered. Soft, melodic, expressive. "Yeah," he said, smiling a little. "For a blind person, you can't stare deeply into someone's eyes or see what their figure looks like. Yeah, later on, you can get an idea of what they look like, from other people's descriptions and when you touch their arm or whatever, but feeling their whole body to figure it out when you first meet them is kinda frowned upon."

Auggie threw her a teasing wink, and she giggled.

"But her voice—it was light, and sweet, and feminine, and you can still hear a bit of her French accent, right? We met in sixth grade, and she tried to teach me French. It sounded so beautiful coming out of her lips. When we were seniors in high school, and I finally had the guts to ask her out, I just listened to her talk during the whole date. I think I was mesmerized," he admitted.

"Awww," Aurélie cooed, grinning at him. "You're such a softy, Mr. Anderson."

Auggie blushed and took another sip of his coffee. "Okay. C'mon. Back to work."

Aurélie groaned for good measure, but she was grinning. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were the cutest couple she'd ever seen.

Jai was nearly chomping at the bit.

Joan could tell that he was miserable, waiting to see what would happen, waiting for something he could do to protect his family. Joan knew what it felt like, and really, she did feel bad for him, but there was nothing she (or he) could do. Annie and Auggie, from all indications, were doing well in their first two weeks undercover, and even Joan was impressed at how easily Aurélie Perrot had taken a shining to the couple. But everyone, most of all Jai, knew that there wouldn't be results from a deep cover mission in two weeks.

Even Annie and Auggie weren't that good.

But Jai was just sitting there, bouncing nervously in his seat, trying to concentrate enough to finish the report for the drop pass he'd done in Italy last Thursday.

Joan glanced from Jai to the disc sitting on top of all her paperwork on her desk back to Jai again. It was a job for an analyst—not even a very exciting job at that—but seeing Jai's current mood, she figured he would appreciate the task.

She strolled to her door, and pulled it open enough to stick her head through. "Jai!"

He glanced up at her like a deer caught in the headlights. "Yeah?"

"C'mere!"

He slowly pushed his chair away from his desk, and he ambled over to her. He dragged his feet, and his eyes looked like they were about to droop shut for good. She pulled him into her office and closed the door behind them. Handing him the disc, she said, "Here. Take a look at this. Let me know if anything pops out at you."

He studied it with interest. "What is it?"

"Surveillance Auggie sent. I think it's of the Perrot house. Give it a look at let me know if you see anything."

Jai nodded. He was somber, but his mood seemed to have brightened considerably.

He turned to go, but Joan stopped him. "Jai?"

"Yeah?"

"You know I'm not trying to keep you away from this mission, right?"

He sighed. "Yeah. I know."

"Whenever I can, I'll use you."

He nodded. "Thanks."

Joan watched as he walked back to his desk and sat down. Though the worry about his family strained him, somehow Joan knew Jai would be okay.

Auggie shuffled into the smaller room, feeling along the walls. Where was he? He had a general idea, but he couldn't be sure. MCA's campus was large, and he hadn't had time enough to discover the whole building. He'd made his way to Annie's classroom after the majority of the children had left for the day, but she wasn't there. He'd gotten shuffled around, from person to person, asking if they'd seen Annie, but they either hadn't or couldn't tell him the right place to look.

The last person—a science teacher, Auggie thought—had directed him to this small room. "Annie?" he called.

As he felt his way farther into the room, he heard a few sniffles coming from the area of the floor several feet in front of him. "Annie?"

That time, a sob met his query, and he rushed to her side, hoping there was nothing in the way. He found her, crumpled on the floor, curled up into herself. His hands found her shoulders, and he pulled her into a hug, tucking her head against his chest. "Annie, are you okay?"

Her hands clung to the fabric of his stripped dress shirt, and he stroked her hair softly, tucking it behind her ear and out of her face. Somehow, it seemed to soothe her, so he rubbed her back absentmindedly, listening with relief as her sniffles subsided and she relaxed in his arms.

He had always appreciated Annie for who she was, how she could rescue him from his demons, how she made him laugh daily. She was his best friend. He hadn't really appreciated that until this mission started, though. Annie was good in the field—better than he had ever given her credit for—and she brought Anaïs Anderson to life effortlessly. From all reports, she was an excellent French teacher, and she had immediately connected with her students. What got him the most, though, was the fact that Annie made this mission as much his mission as it was hers. Despite it all, they'd still shared those conversations he'd grown to love so much—hearing stories about Chloe and Katia, teasing her about whatever was happening in her life, listening to her little pep talks.

Seeing Annie here, in pain, made him realize this all the more. He treasured her friendship and trust more than anything else in the world. He didn't need to love her like a man loved a woman, like he had once loved Tash. She was his best friend, and it was okay for his heart to break a little bit over her misery. He'd never seen Annie in so much pain—she always seemed to suck up whatever was going on, always putting her best foot forward—and he found himself just wanting to make it better.

As her tears subsided for good, he lifted her away from him, a little, tucking some errant strands of hair behind her ear. "Annie, are you okay?"

She stared into his worried chocolate eyes, and she felt the overwhelming urge to lean a few inches closer and kiss him. He had been so sweet, holding her like that through her pain. She knew she should feel awkward about that, embarrassed, but all she could think about was how perfect they were together, and how much they were meant to be a couple. It took all her restraint, not to kiss him there. She didn't need the mess that would come with kissing him like that, when no one was watching. She didn't have the strength or the courage to deal with his million questions and the fall-out that was sure to come when he didn't reciprocate her feelings, not to mention the fact that surely the mission would be blown to pieces. Annie didn't know if she could take it, knowing that her emotions had gotten in the way of rescuing the (potentially hundreds of) people who would suffer from Perrot's decisions, not to mention poor, sweet, innocent, lonely Aurélie.

She nodded and pushed herself to her feet. "Yeah, Aug. I'm okay." She reached down and helped him to his feet, too, and, as they walked back to her classroom to retrieve her stuff, she guided him through the building as he held his arm.

Friends.

She could do this. She really didn't have a choice. If she could get them across town to their apartment and if she could make it to her bed, then just maybe, things would be all right, for today. She'd deal with tomorrow later.

A/N: Review, please? I have loved the idea of this last scene, but it turned out differently than I had planned. I think it addresses some issues that need to be focused on in the next few chapters, though, so I'm leaving it, in hopes that it will grow on me. :) With this being such an angsty story, it's not like it can be all pure fluff. :(

I already had this mostly written when I posted the last episode, so that's why this update is so early. The next update probably won't be so soon. Just FYI. Sorry. :(