Once she had composed herself, Annie was taken in to see him. His body lay on the bed, still and unmoving. It was such a strange sight to her, because he had always been such an animated person in everything he did. She walked up to the edge of the bed and found herself nearly mesmerized by the oddity of it.
The nurse put a gentle hand on her shoulder. I'll give you a few minutes alone with him." Then she turned and left the room.
As soon as she was alone in the room she reached over softly punched his shoulder.
His frozen facial features twisted into a soft smile and he whispered, "You hit like a girl, Neshama."
The first thing he saw as he forced his eyes open was her smiling ear-to-ear.
"Well, you look like crap."
"I hear it is entirely thanks to you that I am still around to look like crap."
"You did take that bullet saving my life. It was only fair to return the favor." She reached down and took his hand. Making sure not to dislodge the IV line inserted into the back of it, she gave it a gentle squeeze.
He squeezed back with what little strength he had. "And I would do it again. Let's be honest. Look at our history. If I do decide to hang around here in DC with you for any length of time it probably will happen again." He smiled.
Annie smiled back, but he didn't miss the small amount of concern that flashed through her eyes. "So you remember all that?"
"You didn't lie to me just because you thought I was dying, did you?"
She started to stutter out a response, but he interrupted her with a subdued chuckle. "Don't worry. I knew all about you and Anderson before I came here. I won't get in your way."
"You knew and you still came?"
"Of course."
"But why?"
"When I heard that an American woman had accessed a certain safe deposit box in an Athenian bank using the pass code 5-1-0-4-1 I knew that you were in trouble, or would be soon enough."
"That was a clever trick the way you planted the information about that code when we were in that train station."
"I had sincerely hoped you would never have to use it. But since you did, I know what you are working on. This Henry Wilcox was no stranger to Mossad. My previous involvement in any missions, long before we met, that traced back to that man consorting with Israel and Mossad almost always left a trail of bodies and destruction in their wake. This most recent is no exception."
"I'm working it off the books. I can keep everything under control."
"This is big Annie. Bigger than you know. Bigger than you and Auggie will be able to handle on your own."
Annie opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by an unexpected voice from the doorway.
"It will be especially hard to handle on our own when she hasn't told me anything about it." Auggie's voice was hurt and angry.
"How long have you been standing there?" Annie spun to face him and asked, terrified.
"Long enough." Then he turned and disappeared into the hallway.
She looked to Eyal for some sort of help.
"I'm sorry." He supplied earnestly. "With you two being… I assumed you would have read him in."
"I didn't want him involved in this."
"But you had no difficulty involving me?" He asked. The deeper meaning in the question only thinly veiled.
"This isn't the time Eyal."
"That's the problem with timing. In this line of work you so frequently die before that perfect time ever comes around."
She looked at him lying there with IV lines and monitors hooked to him and couldn't quite escape the truth behind what he was saying. "I let you in on this because I trust you. I trust you to do what's right, I trust you to help me, I trust you to watch my back."
"You don't expect me to believe that you don't also have that trust in your boyfriend."
"You know I do. The difference is…" She looked like she felt guilty even saying it. "I know it's not his fault that he can't be there, but every time the bullets are flying, a car is exploding, I'm repelling down an elevator shaft, or dodging a tail down busy streets, you're the one that has always been there beside me, the one that time and experience have shown that I can trust to get us through it and to make the tough calls."
He looked at her, slightly stunned at the admission.
"Don't read too much into it. Just because you make a better work husband…"
He smiled at her. "Go to him. See what damage you can repair."
She smiled back at him. "Thank you. I'll come back later."
"I know you will, Neshama."
She gave him a raised eyebrow.
"It's all about the end game." He smiled knowingly back at her and closed his eyes as he rested his head against the pillow.
She gave his hand one more little squeeze before leaving the room.
A/N: This is only the beginning… Except I'm going to finish Next Tuesday before I take this one any further. My poor little brain just can't handle two different serials at once. The goal for this one is to address that mysterious file and see if there isn't a way to make Annie/Eyal work out after all, while keeping everybody in character and canon. Sounds like fun? Let me know if you think it's worth the effort of continuing. Reviews = Love!