A/N: Urgh. I think Joan came out a bit OOC in this chapter, but oh, well. I liked what she did enough to not really want to change it.

One more chapter left. I'm not sure I can crank it out before I start class on Tuesday, but I can try! We'll see how it works out. :)

On with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Covert Affairs. Or Uno. :)

Chapter 19

Most of the school was already evacuated and the president was well on his way out of the bomb's radiation radius (the fact alone that the kids' program picked up the bomb proved that it held the radioactive element that was signature to Bill's bombs) by the time Auggie figured out what had happened to Annie. The sirens wailing through the nearby streets, evacuating the people, attested to how seriously the local police were taking the threat, but Auggie couldn't move from his seat where he'd kissed Annie good-bye.

When he'd kissed her good-bye, he wasn't ready for it to be, well, you know, good-bye.

His heart thudded in his chest at the dull, nauseating sound as someone kicked someone else's body. After he'd practically heard her give up, he had no choice but to believe that it was Annie's body being attacked, and his panic and anger grew when Annie didn't respond. Why wasn't she fighting back?

Someone was walking up to him, though Auggie barely noticed, and then the man stopped short when he saw who it was sitting at the table, as if a dirty-bomb scare wasn't in effect. "Mr. Anderson! Why aren't you evacuating with everyone else?"

Stu. Trying to keep Auggie's cover in tact, and, frankly, Auggie loved him for it. When they got back to tech ops—if they got back to tech ops—he was going to buy them a cake large enough to make them high off of it. Either that, or buy them enough beer to make them sick for a week.

He had a feeling they would prefer the latter.

But Stu had another thing coming to him if he thought for a minute that Auggie would let Annie face this by herself. He may not be her husband in real life, but she was his best friend, the woman he loved, and after this whole mission blew over, he hoped and prayed she would be his girlfriend, too.

Auggie was jerking his arm out of Stu's grasp (what was he, a spoiled five-year-old?) when he heard Joan's voice, shouting instructions to a couple dozen CIA agents over the melee. "… fan out. We have reason to believe the bomb is directly below the gymnasium. If you find something…"

His phone still pressed to his ear for any change in Annie's situation, Auggie turned to where Stu had been last, a pleading look on his face. He knew he most look like a desperate, despondent lover, but really—it was Annie. His Annie. He just couldn't do nothing. "Stu. Take me to Joan. Please."

Stu awkwardly helped Auggie to his feet and began to walk toward Joan, with more than a little trepidation. By now, he had dropped the ruse of trying to protect Auggie's secondary identity. "Aug, are you sure… you know that a dirty bomb has been detected on the school property, right?" He glanced around the room, noticing something for the first time. "And where's Annie?"

"Annie was kidnapped!" Auggie cried, his voice coming out like a terrified, strangled, terrified plea.

The color drained from Stu's face as he took in the pain, worry, and frustration on his boss's and friend's face. He'd always known Auggie was close to Annie, but he'd never reacted this way whenever something had happened to Annie on a mission. What had happened between the two of them in the past four months?

Annie was a field operative, and she always danced with danger. Auggie knew that.

Still, Stu hated to see his friend so distraught, and he picked up his pace, pulling Auggie purposefully toward Joan, who was getting ready to send out her agents to find the bomb.

"Joan!" Stu called out, and he winced instantly. The things he did for Auggie. Hadn't he vowed he'd never let Joan scowl at him like that ever again?

Joan asked her group of operatives to wait for a moment, and she strode over to Auggie and Stu, an intense, curious look in her eyes. "Stu. Auggie. Why haven't you evacuated yet?"

"Felix Williams kidnapped Annie," Auggie said, his phone pressed tight to his ear like a lifeline. He flinched as he heard something come through the phone.

Shock, then recognition flashed across her face. Of course Felix was involved. After all her suspicions, she knew he was involved in something. Her face softened for a moment at the raw look of pain on Auggie's face, that telephone pressed tight to his ear. She'd always had a soft spot for Auggie.

But soon the emotion was gone. She was the one in charge here, and much as she'd like to reassure Auggie that everything would be all right, she couldn't promise him they would. And she had a city to save. "Auggie, who is on the phone?"

"A-annie…"

"Annie? I thought you said she was kidnapped!"

"She was—is! She called me just before it happened. She must have put her phone away, but didn't end the call. I can hear what's happening." He sighed heavily. "Joan, you have to save her! He's going to kill her. He already did something to Jai. I think it was a taser."

Alarm registered on Joan's face. "Jai? Is that where he went?"

Auggie nodded. "I—I made Annie take him with her. I didn't want her going in alone."

Joan sighed. It was a good call, but it hadn't helped them, in the end. Now she had two agents compromised.

"Emerson! Isles! Newman! Keaton!"

The four agents were at Joan's side in an instant, and she quickly briefed them on the situation. "Auggie says that Annie and Jai went down through those doors, by themselves. We have no status on Jai, and Annie's been kidnapped. We'll be going in blind. This is both a rescue mission and a mission to neutralize the bomb. Annie believed the bomb was planted in the basement, below the gymnasium here. We have no back-up, no plan B. We are the mission, gentlemen. Are you ready to serve your country?"

Murmurs of affirmation echoed through the small group, and Joan said, "Okay, let's go. Stu, get Auggie out of here."

"No."

Auggie's voice was steady, even calm, a total transformation of his demeanor only a few moments earlier. He still held his phone tightly against his ear, and Joan glared at him hard. "Excuse me?"

"There is no way I'm going to walk away from Annie. Besides, I have the phone. How in the world are you going to find her?"

Joan held out her hand. "Give me the phone."

He knew he would regret this later. "No."

"Auggie, that wasn't a question. This isn't doing surveillance in the van with Annie. This is Bill. The terrorist who just about took out Arthur, for crying out loud. I'm not letting you be another one of his casualties."

Auggie's eyes flashed back at Joan, as if he knew exactly how she was staring him down, and he promised, "Joan, I'll hang back. I won't make trouble. Send an extra guy along to protect me, if you have to. But there is no way I'm walking away from Annie, not after everything we've been through in these past four months."

Joan sighed. "Baldwin!"

It went against every fiber of her being as both an operative and the boss of many operatives, but if she didn't bring Auggie along, she knew he would find his way to where Annie was on his own, and there was no way she was going to let him get into more mischief than he possibly could get into.

Silas Baldwin came to a stop in front of Joan, and she nodded to Auggie. "You're coming with us. Keep an eye on Auggie. When all this goes down, I need you to keep him out of the action."

He nodded, and as the group began moving forward, Baldwin offered his arm to Auggie. As they were submerged in the darkness, he threw Auggie a dirty look.

How had he gotten stuck babysitting everyone's favorite blind techie?

Felix Williams cursed under his breath. It'd been a stroke of luck when he'd taken a few of his men to go see who was going to find the bomb when he'd discovered Annie and Jai snooping around for the bomb. Capturing them—and Aurélie—had been the easy part, and maybe holding Aurélie Perrot ransom for a couple days would teach Baptiste a lesson for not doing the job he'd been given.

However, it had been just his luck that Annie Walker was such a firecracker. He'd heard things about her—lots of things—but he hadn't expected her skull's impact to give him such a blinding headache.

They didn't have much time, either. If Annie was as resourceful and fast-on-her-feet as the rumors claimed, she already had a plan in motion.

And she was unconscious.

That meant the CIA would be right on his tail—which was something he didn't need—and he needed to find a way to lug a petrified teenager and a dead-weight CIA agent with him outside the radiation radius of the bomb when it exploded. Not to mention the fact that Jai Wilcox could wake at any moment.

Then again, that stun gun would keep him from causing any serious damage for the next hour or two, at least.

Just when they lugged the girls to the back stairway out of the school, Baptiste Perrot blocked their exit. He visibly paled at the sight of his daughter, slung over Niko Petrakis's shoulder. "Bill, what are you doing?"

Felix rolled his eyes. "What I should have done long ago, Perrot. You couldn't get results. Now your daughter will face the consequences."

Annie was just coming to when she felt whoever was carrying her stop. The arms carrying her were strong, and, until his dirty smell registered, and the throbbing in the back of her head threatened to drag her back under, she thought this might be a safe place to be.

Then her eyes fluttered open, and she could see the dimly lit face of Baptiste Perrot. He looked almost as terrified as she felt. "Bill, what are you doing?"

Annie sucked in a shaky breath. Bill. As in, Bill Bill? She managed to glance up at the man who was holding her without his noticing it. Baptiste was talking to him, after all. Sharp, young, aristocratic looks, refined British accent, impeccable suit. And, apparently, very strong.

As Bill and Baptiste hissed their arguments back and forth, Annie studied the features of the man looming over her. He looked… familiar. She'd seen him somewhere. It had been… November?

Oh, it hurt to think. Was it possible for a head to split open on its own accord?

She pushed past the pain, trying to focus on that cocky voice, the impeccable eyebrows, the strong jaw. She had seen him somewhere. She'd seen him at Langley. Then it all clicked together. He was one of Arthur's spooks!

Most of them strutted around like the proud egomaniacs they all were, so they were easy to identify, but he always seemed to keep to himself. Then again, there was really only one who had an accent.

Felix Williams.

Williams? Bill? Was that were the name came from?

How unoriginal.

She hoped Auggie was picking up all of this. When she got out—if she got out—she'd explain it all.

Auggie whispered hints and updates to the other agents as they stumbled along in the dark. He could feel the anger radiating off of Baldwin as they got deeper and deeper into the building. Clearly, the man resented his assignment.

Auggie felt bad, but there was no way he was going to walk away, not after he and Annie had fallen deeper and deeper in love over the past couple of months.

When they reached the last corner, just before the basement, Joan pulled to a stop and hushed the agents behind her. When they listened, they could hear arguing.

Joan peaked her head around the corner. No one was there… except… her light caught the form of Jai's body, lying exposed. She motioned to Emerson, Newman, and Keaton, and Newman kept watch while Emerson and Keaton brought Jai's body around the corner. Joan glared down Baldwin and Auggie, her eyes carrying warning. "From here, we go alone. Baldwin, stay here with Auggie and Jai. If anything happens, get Auggie out of here."

Baldwin bristled at the instruction, but nodded anyway. When Joan and the others disappeared into the night, Baldwin told Auggie to sit, and he stood guard, watching both ways to make sure he knew what was happening.

Auggie tried to ignore Baldwin's anger, and he pressed the phone even closer to his ear, trying to hear even the slightest clue. Apparently, Bill and Baptiste were arguing over something—it sounded like something that had already taken place—and he gasped when he heard Aurélie's name mentioned. Was Aurélie there? Had she followed Annie and Jai?

He blanched at the thought. Aurélie, caught up in this mess? She was pure and good and sweet…

Then he heard a gunshot fire, and icy fear shot through his veins. Was that Annie?

Baldwin shot straight up as the gunshot echoed through the winding pathways in the basement, and he whipped around to face Auggie. "Stay here," he ground out between his teeth.

Auggie was angry enough about being pushed around for the past twenty minutes to fight Baldwin on it, but the man was probably right. He'd probably be safest, here with Jai, while the others went to save the day.

His worry multiplied as the shouting increased through the telephone. Bullets ricocheted off the walls, and Auggie struggled to separate each aspect of the mayhem to understand what was going on. The one thing that echoed through his mind, like an idiotic mantra, was that Annie was there. What had happened to her? Had she been hit? Was she still alive?

In the midst of the chaos going on halfway across the basement, another sound became more distinctive, as if… it was coming toward Auggie. He quickly pocketed the phone, making sure to keep the call connected, and he leaned forward, his head cocked to the side, listening. It sounded like… shoes. Slapping against the hard ground.

Someone was running, toward Auggie. And fast. Before he could really recognize what he was doing, he had already positioned himself. He hoped, for his sake, that the stairway was pitch black. At least he had a chance that way.

The steps were getting closer, closer, then… thud.

The body collapsed, pinning Auggie's leg to the ground. The man easily recovered, lunging for Auggie's throat.

He quickly broke the man's hold, all the strength of his elbow cracking against the man's skull. Before the man could recover, Auggie's fist flew through the air, connecting with the man's nose.

He smirked to himself when he felt a slick, warm liquid coat his fist as he pulled it away. Blood.

The man stumbled down the few remaining stairs, and Auggie scrambled after him, quickly straddling the man before he could react. He ground the man's face into the ground. Bending close to his ear, Auggie spat out, "Who are you?"

"A-Auggie, it's me! Felix! What are you doing? You know me! I'm your pal, remember?"

Disgust and bitter bile rose in Auggie's throat at the realization of who was underneath him. Felix. He snorted. "Yeah, we were never pals. Besides, a pal doesn't kidnap his pal's girl."

Bitter disgust swelled inside of Felix when he realized charming Auggie wouldn't get him out of this. "Oh, you mean Aurélie? I didn't know you liked them so young, Aug."

Auggie shoved the man's face farther in the ground. "Be quiet, pal." He felt along Felix's sides, and, when he discovered a gun, he shoved it into the back of his pants.

Several moments later, he heard a slight groan coming from the area where Baldwin and the others had left Jai. He grinned in his direction. "Hey, there, sleepy head."

He had never thought he'd see the day where he and Jai would get along, but Felix Williams put everything else into perspective. Besides, something had changed between them in the last four months. Auggie wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't actually mind the thought of being Jai's friend anymore.

Jai groaned. "Where am I?"

"Somewhere in the basement of MCA. Apparently, Felix tased you and kidnapped Annie. I caught him trying to escape."

Auggie smirked when he heard Jai scrambling to get to his feet. He collapsed only a moment later. "Yeah. I wouldn't try to get up if I were you. It'll take a while for the effects to wear off."

"Wh-where's Annie?"

Auggie nodded in the direction he thought Joan and the other agents had headed toward. "Joan went to rescue her. Along with Keaton, Emerson, Isles, and Newman."

Jai nodded. At least she was in good hands.

When Felix dropped Annie, she had done everything she could to get out of the way. It wasn't easy, the plastic ties still digging into her wrists and her head throbbing from Felix's gun, but Joan and her agents were shouting, "Drop your weapons! CIA! Drop your weapons now!" and Annie just wanted to have some measure of safety.

Her hands were still bound, but she scooted herself to the corner of the room. Her head felt like it was about to explode, and two of Felix's goons tripped over her in their attempt to escape. One of the bullets even grazed her upper arm. Still, she'd managed to escape the majority of the fight, and she watched while Joan rescued her.

Aurélie was huddling in the corner, shaking from fear, and Annie did her best to reassure her that everything would be okay. But Ari was staring at her like she was an alien and a traitor, and Annie wasn't even sure she could make sure everything would be okay, and she let her voice drift off into silence.

Soon enough, it was all over. Joan's agents were escorting Felix's goons out to police cars waiting in the school parking lot, and, eventually Felix, as well, when Baldwin found his way back to Auggie and Jai.

The bomb ended up being right where Annie thought it would be, and Isles, a bomb expert, diffused it easily. For all the damage Bill's bombs did, their composition was fairly easy to understand. It was the unpredictability and the radiation that did the most damage.

Annie was sitting on a small stack of chairs in the room in the basement, holding an ice pack to the spot on her head where Felix had butted her with the gun. They had tried to wheel her way to the waiting ambulance, but she refused to budge until she saw Auggie. Five minutes ago, Joan had left to go retrieve him and Jai from the other end of the basement. Her strict orders to watch Annie still hung in the air, and Emerson, Isles, and Newman were eying her like she was about to sprout a unicorn horn.

Annie watched the shadows of the hallway, hoping or a sign of Auggie. She still couldn't believe he defied Joan like that for her. When Joan had told her, it had taken everything she had to keep from bursting out laughing. Joan had not been happy about the whole situation.

When Auggie appeared in the doorway, an ugly bruise forming just under his left eye and limping, Annie jumped off the stack of chairs before anyone could stop her and ran to Auggie, throwing her arms around him. "Auggie!" She buried her face in his neck, and Auggie held her to him tightly, lifting her off the ground as he spun her around. He buried his face in the softness of her hair, and, as he lowered her to the ground, he pressed a gentle kiss to the crown of her head. "You're okay… you're okay," he whispered, as much to calm him as it was to calm her.

But she was so perfectly Annie—that sweet grapefruit perfume, the way she clung to his neck when she was so scared, the way she fit so perfectly into his arms, the unbelievably softness of her hair against his cheek—that he started to believe that she was okay.

When his hand ghosted over the spot on her head where Felix's gun had impacted, Annie hissed in pain and clung to Auggie even tighter. He reached his hand up to just above the nape of her neck, cradling her head against him. He stroked her hair gently. "What did he do to you?"

Despite her efforts to stay strong, she still felt her eyes burn as a few of her tears seeped through. "I'm okay, Auggie. Really."

He wanted to sit down, let her curl up in his lap, and hold her until the pain had gone far, far away.

She reached up and gingerly touched the tender spot on her head. She usually wasn't a queasy person, but just touching the wound, the blood caked into her hair, made her a bit woozy. "He rammed the butt of his gun into my head."

Auggie's fiery reaction was immediate. He pulled away, holding her at arm's length, as if he wanted to see what the creep had done. Some habits die hard, she supposed. "He did—he did what?" Auggie growled out.

By the look on his face, Annie wondered if he would try to track down the cop cars and execute Felix himself.

But then he turned that passion on her, capturing her lips in a kiss that took her breath away. He poured all his love, worry, fear, and relief into that kiss, as if he needed to prove to himself that she was okay.

She stared up into his glowing chocolate eyes and cupped his face with her hands, pressing a soft, tender kiss to his lips. When she pulled away, she whispered, "I love you."

A slow, happy grin inched up his face, and he pulled her back into his arms, shielding her protectively from the world. As he held her in his arms, like a lifeline, he whispered fervently, "Baby, don't ever scare me like that again."

She grinned into his shoulder slowly, loving the way it felt to hide in Auggie's arms after a long mission. She loved the musky smell of his cologne and aftershave, and being surrounded by his love and strength made her feel safer than she ever had before.

Until Joan cleared her throat from across the room.

Annie blushed as she pulled away from Auggie a little bit. "I think they know our secret," she whispered.

Auggie just chuckled and pulled her against him, grinning smugly in Joan's direction.

"Annie, that ambulance is still waiting for you," she said with a pointed look.

Auggie turned Annie to face him, one hand caressing her arm gently, the other cupping her cheek. "Ambulance? Why do you need an ambulance, Annie?"

She blushed. Okay, maybe it was dumb to refuse to go to the hospital, but when all the smoke had cleared, the only thing in the world she'd wanted was Auggie. "Umm, a bullet nicked me in the shoot-out."

"A bulle—what? Annie!"

She just slipped into his arms, burying her face in his chest. "Sorry! But all I could think about was seeing you again."

Auggie's heart melted at her words, and he held her tighter in his embrace. "Where?"

She glanced down at her arm, looking at the damage. "My, um, my right arm. It just nicked it, it's not that bad. I've had worse."

Despite his worry for her, he couldn't help snorting in laughter. "Look at you, sounding all cavalier."

She just grinned into his chest as he began to move her closer to where he thought Joan was. "C'mon. Let's get you some help," he whispered, ghosting a light kiss against her temple.

"Where's the ambulance, Joan?"

"East gym entrance." She ushered them both up the stairs, and when they emerged into the night air, the paramedics took over, tending to Annie's wounds.

Auggie stood off to the side, not sure what he should be doing. He flinched every time Annie hissed in pain, and he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, in hopes that that would make him look less like he was at a loss of what to do.

Annie was watching him, the whole time the two paramedics inspected her injuries and tried to patch her up enough for the hospital. He was standing there, so adorably confused, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. Somehow, his suit jacket had been lost in the melee, and he stood there, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, hands shoved in his pockets, his sightless eyes roving the dark horizon. "Auggie," she called out to him, and they all turned to look at her.

She held out the hand of her good arm. "C'mere," she whispered softly. She watched him with a soft smile as he started walking toward her. "It's a straight path. About five more feet."

When he reached her side, she tugged him down onto the stretcher next to her, and she threaded her fingers through his. "Hold my hand," she whispered, and he obliged, settling in next to her. As the paramedics continued to work, Annie leaned into the gentle strength Auggie offered, telling him all about Danielle and the girls, and how much she was looking forward to finally going home, and how she would personally hug every single person in the DPD and Tech Ops when she got back…

Joan came to an abrupt stop at the doorway to Annie's hospital room. It was the morning after the bomb scare, and she'd wanted to stop by and say hi, as well as see how quickly Annie would be returning to work. She stopped short at what she saw in the small hospital room, though.

Annie and Auggie sat across from each other on the bed, Indian-style, talking as they played a game of Uno. When Annie beat him, she grinned victoriously and did a little jig where she was on the bed, and Auggie just smirked back at her. A second later, he reached out, cupping her face with his hands, and kissed her slowly, sweetly. "I love you," he whispered, and Annie grinned up at him.

"Yeah, me, too."

Then she pushed the Uno cards off to the side and climbed into Auggie's lap, relaxing against him as he held her. "You're going to protect me from Dani and the girls when they come to visit, right?"

Auggie snorted, and Annie swatted his arm playfully. He just held her tighter. "Of course, babe," he said softly. "I'll protect you always."

Joan pushed away from the doorjamb and walked down the hallway and back to her car. She could talk to Annie and Auggie later. After all they'd done, they deserved this moment of happiness.

A/N: Tada!

And yes, there will be a little bit more. There's just some loose ends I feel need to be tied up still. :)

Review, please!