A/N: First of all… you guys are gonna love meeee! :) hahaha. You'll see. Kay. That's all I'll say now. :))))))

Disclaimer: Covert Affairs no es mio.

Chapter 10

"I got it!" Auggie shot out of his chair, tipping it back in his haste. He ran back to the bedroom, his hand skimming the wall for reference. "Annie! Annie!"

Annie glanced up from the grading she was doing on the bed, startled. "What, Aug?"

"I found it!"

Annie couldn't help smiling a little at the exuberance in Auggie's eyes. In the past few days since she'd woken up in his arms, she'd done her best to keep her distance, hoping it would do her heart good. Much as she loved Auggie, pining after him, day after day, did nothing for her. She was tired of wallowing away into sappy, spineless nothingness. At least she still had Auggie as a best friend. For now, that would be enough.

Lately, he'd been pensive and mellow. She had no doubt it had everything to do with the cold shoulder she'd given him last week.

But now he was gleaming and breathless, and she only wanted to share in his joy. Letting a rare true smile light her features, she asked, "What did you find, Auggie?"

Reaching for the edge of the bed, he skirted around it until his knee connected with Annie's. Ghosting his hand across the top of the bed, he connected with her hand and tugged her off the bed. "C'mon. I have to show you!"

Annie wasn't sure she'd seen Auggie this excited about anything since she'd seen his face the day he'd gone into DataTech. Grinning, she stumbled after him back to the kitchen table, where a security video feed was paused on his laptop screen. Rewinding the video several frames, he slipped into his seat and tugged her down next to him. "Watch this."

She leaned in, next to him, to see the computer at a better angle. What she saw before her eyes shocked her. "Is that—is that Baptiste Perrot?"

"It sounds like him, doesn't it?" Auggie paused the video. "I matched a still photo from this video of him with the latest photo on file on several databases, too." He pushed play again, and Annie watched as he unlocked the filing cabinet and searched his way through the files. With mounting dread, she watched as Perrot made his way through the first three drawers, and then moved onto the final drawer, where all the research and information about the case were kept. Had he taken it?

She sighed with relief when he dropped the file back into the cabinet, peaking through the window of the door and then escaped through the open window. One thing she knew for sure—they would have to be a lot more careful with where they hid the research.

A new thought filled her mind, and she looked at Auggie with dread. Her heart sank. "What about Aurélie?"

Would Perrot do something to his own daughter? After nearly a month of undercover work, they still didn't have a handle on him very well.

"We'll have to keep an eye on her," Auggie said, squeezing her hand. He knew Annie cared about Ari just as much as he did. True, Aurélie was an asset, but she had become so much more. They couldn't, wouldn't, let anything happen to her.

Annie stared at the screen with a frown. What would Baptiste Perrot want with the sort of technology Aurélie was helping to create? It wasn't a weapon he could sell. Technology like this only mattered to two groups of people—the good guys and the guys the technology would be used against. Perrot was neither.

Still, Annie couldn't deny what was in front of her. Perrot was obviously after the technology his daughter was creating.

Annie fished her cell phone out of her back pocket. Hitting the fourth speed dial, she waited while the phone rang three times. Just when she wasn't sure anyone would pick up, Jai's frustrated voice barked out, "Hannah!" before he turned his attention to the telephone. "Wilcox residence."

"Jai?" The idea of her friend, the frustrated father, made her smile. "We got it."

Jai frowned. "Got what?"

"We know why. You know."

Jai didn't even let a moment's beat pass. "Come over for coffee. Now."

Annie smiled at the urgency in his voice. He had even more invested in this than she and Auggie did. "We're on our way."

When Annie and Auggie arrived at Jai's and Vivian's apartment, before they could knock, the door swung open wide and Jai pulled them inside.

Vivian was standing in the entryway to the kitchen, nursing a steaming cup of tea. "Hey, Annie, Auggie."

Annie grinned in greeting to her friend. "Hey, Viv."

"Would you like some tea? I just made some—it's still hot."

Annie and Auggie accepted her offer, and Jai guided them to the couch in the family room. Auggie began powering up his laptop while they waited for their tea, and Jai watched with anxious interest. After Vivian brought them their tea and retreated to her bedroom, Auggie turned the computer screen to face Jai, just to the left of Auggie, and he pushed play.

Annie studied Jai, on the other side of Auggie, as he took in the video footage. When Auggie stopped the video, Jai said, "What's in the cabinet?"

"All the backed up research and files form a computer program some of the National Honor Society kids are working on. They present it to the president next month. If all goes according to plan, the technology will be able to locate Bill's bombs in time to diffuse them."

That was huge. No one had been able to diffuse Bill's bombs because no one could get to them on time.

Jai studied them in disbelief and shock. "What's Perrot doing with that technology?"

Annie and Auggie shrugged. "We don't know yet. Aurélie is in charge of the project, but we don't know why Perrot is trying to steal it from her, or why he wants the information in the first place. We still have a lot of questions."

"Is he capable of doing something, to his daughter, I mean, if he can't get the information?"

Annie flashed him a bleak look. "I don't know. We just don't know that much about him, still. All we have to go off of is the look Ari gets in her eyes when she sees her dad, or she thinks about him. She completely changes. I think she's scared of him."

For the following few hours, Annie, Auggie, and Jai talked about possible scenarios and planned what would happen if they needed back-up for any reason. Jai relayed to them the messages Joan had given him, and by the time Annie and Auggie left, late that night, Annie couldn't help feeling that things might actually go their way by the end of this mission.

It had been over four months since Annie and Auggie had moved into their Manassas apartment. After their discovery just before Christmas break, activity had slowed immensely. Annie and Auggie made sure to keep on top of their surveillance and everything going on with the physics program, but after cautioning the kids to keep their discoveries secret—even from their families—activity nearly came to a standstill. Bill was getting extremely paranoid, and his occasional threats came on a regular basis, but Annie and Auggie didn't know about any of that.

Meanwhile, Annie and Auggie's relationship continued on unsteady footing. Auggie continued, unknowing, in oblivion, while Annie tried to bury her feelings for him. For the most part, she succeeded, but every so often, she would have a particularly breathtaking dream, out of the blue, or he would do something so incredibly sweet that she couldn't help but remember why she'd fallen for him in the first place, those four long months ago.

She had considered broaching the subject with him, but the fear that it would ruin the relationship, the chemistry, they already had kept her in silence. With so much at stake, she couldn't afford to botch up the mission, so she said nothing.

One day in mid-March, everything, once again, changed.

It was nearly five o'clock, and Auggie was on his way to find Annie to leave for the night when he heard angry shouting coming from farther down the hallway.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you really think you can just waltz in here, out of nowhere, everyone's new favorite little Frenchie, captivating all the students and wrapping everyone around your finger, and then con everybody out of plans that have been set in place for months? No, no you can't. If you thought so, you have something coming to you, let me tell you…"

Auggie's anger burned when he immediately recognized the man as the hot-headed chemistry teacher, Simon Henzel, who loved to pick fights with just about anyone. Who was he, to think he could get away with ripping Annie apart like that? He had another thing coming to him if he thought he could pick a fight with Annie and get away with it.

Auggie was about to step up behind her, pull her against his side, and sock Henzel in the jaw, as if he really did adore Annie the way everyone thought he did, when he heard that adorable little French accent pipe up from nowhere. "You have no right to say that about me! I never wanted to hurt anybody! I didn't know your class was going on the field trip the same time my class was going to. There was a mix-up in the office, and you can't blame me for that… And, and you know what, Mr. Henzel? You are a bully! You are rude and angry and cross, and I don't know how you could call yourself a Christian educator, for the way you treat both your students and your coworkers. You think you're so self-righteous and perfect, but you know why nobody ever sits with you at lunch? You know why you're no one's favorite teacher? You don't even know the meaning of kindness! …"

And right then, the strangest thing happened. Auggie stopped in his tracks, listening to what Annie was saying, and then he realized it. He loved Annie.

In that moment, she was as much Annie as she was Anaïs, full of sass, beauty, and demureness.

The thought broadsided him. How could he have missed it? He was completely, utterly, undeniably in love with her. The thought of her, standing up to Henzel, fists balled adorably, her doe-brown eyes blazing in righteous indignation, made his heart ache. How had he known her for nearly three years without seeing this?

The thought made him weak at the knees. Annie. Perfect, sweet, adorable, happy, make-my-heart-sing Annie. Being undercover with her had been a gift, and he had almost let it pass him by.

His thoughts fleetingly returned to earlier that day, when Annie had dropped by the library on a surprise visit. She'd waited while he finished talking to one of the students, and then she'd slipped into the seat the student had occupied. Leaning in quietly, she pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, near the corner of his mouth. "Hi," she said. "I brought you something." She placed it in his hands, and he instantly recognized it as a styrofoam coffee cup.

"Um, Annie, I hate to break it to you, but I still have my coffee from earlier this morning…" he said, gesturing to his coffee cup, sitting in his office. She just nudged the cup closer to his lips as she turned to face him, her knee bumping against his.

Opening the plastic flap, he took a sip. "Annie, where did you…" He stopped short. Where had she gotten that? He'd been complaining—quite selfishly, he thought—the past couple months on how he was missing his winter fix of peppermint lattes. True, he could find them at coffee shops around the Manassas area, but none quite compared to Violet's peppermint lattes. Violet worked at the Starbucks in Langley, and she always managed to have a peppermint latte ready for him. Usually, he didn't indulge in those fancy-shmancy, girly sort of drinks—when he wanted coffee, he wanted it strong and with as much kick as possible—but peppermint lattes were his one guilty pleasure, especially Violet's peppermint lattes.

Somehow, Annie had managed to find Violet's peppermint latte. He took another long swig. "Annie, where—"

She just laughed. "That's not important. Just remember who had your back in Manassas if anything ever, well, you know."

How could he have missed this? Annie had always gone out of her way to do things like that for him—not for favors, just because that's who she was. But she was sweet, and perfect, and selfless, and her laughter lit up his world, and, now that he thought of it, she fit perfectly in his arms… and the thought of spending several more weeks here, with her, was like a dream come true. Oh, man.

He was a goner.

He was still a bit dazed by that realization when she finished her adorable little righteous tirade, and Henzel stood there, shocked, just staring back at Annie. Snapping out of his daze, Auggie ambled over to her side, tugging her into his arms. "Hey, are you okay?" he whispered, reaching up and stroking her hair gently, tucking it behind her ear.

She nodded demurely, snuggling deeper into his arms. He crooked a finger under her chin and tilting her face up towards his. He leaned in, kissing her slowly, sweetly.

Out of the probably hundreds of times he'd kissed Annie in the past four months, this was the one that took his breath away. The kiss wasn't even that long, or passionate—just a gentle kiss between two lovers, but her lips were soft and fit perfectly against his own. And she tasted like chocolate and oranges and sweet love. The first touch of their lips had been magical, addicting, and his eyes had fluttered shut at the contact.

Kissing Annie was officially his new favorite thing.

When she began to pull away, he had to remind himself (several times) that he did not have the liberty of kissing Annie senseless, especially not in front of Simon Henzel. He schooled his disappointed look into a tender smile, and he wrapped her in his arm, caressing her shoulder with his thumb as he leaned in a few inches. "Ready to leave?"

She nodded into his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist. "Yeah. Let's go." As they passed Simon, she called to him in that adorable half-French accent of hers, "Think about what I said, Simon!"

Auggie smirked. That was all Annie, perfectly, adorably, hilariously Annie.

It was when Auggie got settled in the passenger seat next to Annie that he realized it. He couldn't be in love with Annie. Couldn't.

Of all people, he was the one that knew how relationships borne from a deep cover mission worked out. More often than not, they fell flat on their faces just as soon as the op was over, a bitter and vitriolic end to a surreal happily-ever-after.

He wouldn't do that to Annie, even if she did, per chance, reciprocate his feelings.

Annie reached over and patted his hand, resting on his lap. "Hey, Aug, you okay?"

A little startled, he glanced up at her quickly and schooled his face into a relaxed, nonchalant smile. "What? No, Annie, I'm fine."

As Annie turned her attention back to the road and Auggie returned to his thoughts, he admitted to himself that no, no, he wasn't fine. How was it possible to love Annie, to play the role of her husband, but to not truly have her?

"Felix, my man!" Bowman called from across the hallway. "How gowzit, bruthah?"

Across the hall, Felix Williams groaned. "Bowman, have you been having another Hawaii Five-0 marathon again?"

Bowman shrugged sheepishly. "What can I say, bruthah? It's a good show!"

Felix rolled his eyes and came to a stop in front of the techie. "So how's it going in the DPD?"

Bowman shrugged, refusing to give up his horrid Hawaiian accent. "Same old, same old, bruthah. But her highness is not happy today, so I'll catch you on the sail winds!"

Felix sent Bowman's retreating form a befuddled look. That didn't even make sense.

Shaking his head, Felix continued on his way to Arthur's office and put Bowman's antics out of his mind.

A/N: Can you tell I'm going into Hawaii Five-0 withdrawal? :*( I loved Bowman in the season premiere, and I figured he deserved a bit of love, especially after Stu became such a superstar around here. :)

And dawwwww… who's happy about Auggie's little revelation? It only occurred to me, a week or so ago, how genius of an idea it was to do this, too. And don't freak out about his little latter revelation—I really didn't want to include it, but I just think it's something Auggie would have noticed, so I figured it'd kinda be OOC not to use that plot point. We'll move past it as soon as possible. :) Promise. :)

Oh, and Kristin, I know you didn't leave a signed review, so I can't thank you in a PM… but seriously, thank you for your review! It really touched me. Good luck with your novel!

Please review!