A/N: This two-parter is inspired by various things, but mostly 1917FarmGirl who used to be my muse over a decade ago, and had been reading my CA fics without knowing it was me. There you go folks: Leave feedback, and you may find a long lost friend!

Auggie sensed Joan standing at his door for at least a full minute before she spoke up. Finally, he pulled his headphones down and looked toward the doorway, expectantly. While he was good, he wasn't 100% sure who was there, or that they hadn't walked away.

His attention received a heavy sigh in response.

Auggie lifted one eyebrow.

"I'm certain I'm going to regret this, but get Annie and come to my office."

Auggie locked his computer and got up. Joan didn't sound like she was angry, or even like she had bad news to deliver. He pondered her words as he walked to Annie's desk.

"We've been summoned." He stated.

The steady rhythm of her typing stopped as she got up and asked "A new mission?"

"Nothing I've been in the loop about." Auggie replied.

They walked into the office and closed the door behind them. "Please, have a seat." Joan directed.

Annie placed Auggie's hand on one of the chairs before moving to the other.

"Arthur has requested that the two of you go on a mission together." Joan started.

The two agents before Joan had matching blank looks, masking their emotions perfectly. She smiled in response. "It involves travel to Europe, and perhaps a few different destinations within Europe, to gather information in regards to an emerging arms dealer."

"Other than the fact that it's me, why are you so worried?" Auggie asked, with Joan's earlier comment about regret on his mind.

"No specific reason. I just want you two to be careful. You are posing as a married couple, which shouldn't be too difficult considering your recent behavior. The initial contact is supposed to be in southern Germany in three days. Neither of you are officially fluent in German, but I'm assuming Annie knows enough."

"I can brush up on the plane." Annie supplied.

"There are a lot of uncertainties, more than normal. It doesn't appear to be a dangerous mission, but it does appear to be complicated. I'm emailing you the mission details. You fly out tomorrow."

Annie stood and led Auggie from the room. When they were back at his office she turned to him. "Did that seem odd to you?" She asked.

"Yep. I'm not complaining, of course. But there is definitely more to this."

...

Auggie quickly realized why Joan was leery of the assignment. Annie and Auggie were to meet with several different contacts in several different cities, all providing pieces of intelligence on the same arms dealer. Each informant was willing to give the small piece of intelligence, because alone they were worthless. With the many different pieces, a full picture should be evident, and provide a large win for the agency without any one contact feeling like they actually defied the other party. It was not a conventional way to gather information, but Auggie was never a fan of normalcy, so he liked the idea.

The other side of the mission was that Auggie would get to travel around Europe with Annie. They could be gone for as long as a month, and there would be lots of downtime. While traveling for work was never a vacation, working alongside your best friend and lover while enjoying the delicacies that Europe has to offer wasn't such a bad gig.

For the trans-Atlantic flight, Annie happily let Auggie have the window seat, and she curled into his side. Quietly, she spoke German phrases and they both worked on their vocabulary. Auggie was no linguistics expert, but he wanted to be able to ask for, and understand, directions, as well as a few other key phrases.

The couple arrived at the safe house mid-afternoon and climbed the three flights of stairs to the small apartment the CIA had arranged. Annie opened the door and Auggie followed her from the narrow hallway into the room.

"Hm. This may be a problem." Annie said in a tone that didn't entirely tell Auggie if whatever it was would actually be a problem.

"What is it?" Auggie asked.

"We are on the top floor, and the ceiling is slanted. You are going to hit your head." Annie explained.

Auggie laughed for a breath. "Great! How very European!" He replied sarcastically. He stood still for a moment, thinking of how to navigate with obstacles both in front and above him. "What do we have in the form of rugs?"

"There are a few around here."

"Perfect. We can arrange them so that the floor changes when I'm about to hit my head."

Annie smiled. Auggie explored the room with his cane, keeping one hand above his head as he went. Annie re-arranged some of the furniture so that it was less cluttered, and did a sweep of the apartment to make sure it was secure. There weren't many windows, and from what they had there was only a view of the roof of the building and the courtyard shared with many other apartments.

After getting settled at the safe house, Annie and Auggie left to explore the neighborhood. They were to be contacted at a bakery a block away, so they headed for a restaurant in that direction for dinner. Auggie walked close to Annie as she described the surroundings.

The small German town wasn't used to having American guests, and Annie and Auggie were almost celebrities. The simple meal was some of the best food either of them had eaten, complimented by a bottle of local wine. By the time they left, their cover as a young couple traveling around Europe on vacation was secured by the fact that it wasn't very far from the truth. When they walked back into the safe house, Auggie had his hands on Annie for more than guidance.

Annie and Auggie had three pleasant days in the small town before a small USB drive was slipped in the paper with their morning pastries. It had been almost like a vacation, but with the nugget of information they packed up and drove to the nearest train station to begin their journey to Austria, where they repeated the process once more, albeit with a less dangerous ceiling in the apartment.

After the first piece of intel was received, Auggie was hard at work with the data. He uploaded the information to Barber, and spent most of their downtime at his laptop with his headphones plugged in. The couple still spent time in town, establishing their cover and fitting in a workout wherever they could. It was, by far, the most pleasant mission either of them had ever experienced.

They had just arrived in the fourth city, Pamplona, when Joan called Annie.

"We need you two to lay low until we find out more information, but we believe your mission has been compromised. There has been some word of an American couple, a blonde woman and a blind man, in the first two towns. Our dealer probably won't think it is a coincidence. I don't know how long it is safe for you in Spain."

"Understood," Annie replied. "What are our instructions?"

"None yet, just be alert. Get to the safe-house and wait there while we assess the situation."

Annie hung up the phone and turned to Auggie. "So?" Auggie asked, not having been in on the conversation.

Annie spoke quietly. "We may be compromised. You need to look less blind."

Without a word, Auggie gave half a nod and started folding up his cane. As he placed it into his bag he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and interlocked his arm with Annie's in a way that looked more like two people in love than a sighted guide. "Lead the way, dear." He stated.

They got to the safe-house and did a level one sweep.

"So what's up?" Auggie asked.

"There's been somebody talking to our first two contacts who is starting to think that a blind American traveling around obscure European cities is a little suspect."

"Oh." Auggie responded.

"Yeah. I can put on a wig and finish the last exchange." Annie suggested.

"And I just need to stay close to your arm and try to make eye contact."

"Auggie, it's too dangerous. You stay here, and I'll make the exchange."

"They are expecting a couple."

Annie sighed.

"Look, I know it's a ridiculous idea, but all we have to do is go to that cafe, make the order, and get through a meal. I can fake that."

"Auggie, we don't even know who is looking for us, or how closely they are watching."

"Which is why it probably doesn't matter, even if I walked directly into a pole."

"Or it could be a matter of life and death that you find the water glass on the first try."

"I can do this." Auggie said with a set jaw and a look of determination.

"Auggie," Annie tried to figure out the right words. "You can't... They might... There's..."

"We are so close, Annie. You can help me look like I can see."

"Not under all circumstances." Annie replied. "It's not worth the risk."

"I'm not going to let this mission fail because I'm blind."

Annie softened up and put her hand on his arm. Auggie shook it off and stepped away. "We aren't failing because you are blind. We are waiting for somebody else to step in because our cover is compromised. Take a deep breath and think objectively. There's no reason to take the risk, other than to prove that you can. Would you put me in jeopardy just to do that?"

Auggie walked toward a wall, where he kicked out in frustration. He turned toward Annie, but leaned against the surface, hitting it a few times with the side of his fist. She could see the emotions play across his face. He knew she was right. He didn't want her to be right.

He took a deep breath and looked forward. "So are we just supposed to go home now?"

"Joan wanted us to stay here until they could assess the threat."

Every feature of his face showed that he was not happy about the situation, but he closed his eyes and sighed in defeat. "Fine."

Annie stepped up to him and placed her hand on his arm again. "At least we're stuck here together for once."

Auggie gave a half grin, but it wasn't completely sincere. "Yeah," He said, as he wrapped his arm around her.

There was no love in the embrace, but she stood there holding him as long as he wanted. Finally he swallowed and let her go. "We should make ourselves comfortable." He stated.

Annie was having a hard time reading his intent. "Do you mean 'comfortable' as in rearranging furniture to stay a while, or that we should take off our clothes and find the bed?"

"As much as I have enjoyed the latter, I was talking more about the former. I want to set up my computer and see if I can assess anything more from the code that we have received already."

"Too bad," Annie replied in a teasing tone. "I had already taken off my shirt."

"Liar."

"I was thinking of taking off my shirt." She replied. "I was at least considering taking off your shirt."

Auggie found the one small table in the tiny apartment and sat his computer case on top. Then he turned toward Annie and slowly took off his jacket, as if he were putting on a strip-tease. "I hope you are watching, because otherwise I'm just entertaining myself."

Annie giggled. "If it makes you feel pretty, keep it up."

Auggie rolled his eyes, put his jacket on the back of the chair and started to unpack his equipment while Annie looked more closely at their accommodations. They were on the second floor of a building that overlooked a narrow roadway from their balcony. Annie was able to keep the blinds shut, yet crack the windows to let in some of the ambience of the location, and fresh air.

She inspected the food supply, and figured that they had about three days worth of food, but no coffee. They might not survive 24 hours with those rations. She didn't tell Auggie, as he appeared to be completely immersed in his computer.

It didn't take long for Annie to be completely bored with their accommodations. She pulled a chair up next to Auggie, who pulled off his headphones.

"What?" He asked.

"Wondering what you are finding." She replied.

"That bored already?"

"Yep."

"I would unplug the headphones and let you listen to the super-sexy computer voice, but..."

"Yeah, no, I'm fine not hearing the robot speed-read. Are you finding anything interesting?"

"Yes. And if you leave me alone for another half-hour I'll get through this one file, and we can entertain each other."

"So, by 'entertain' do you mean we take our clothes off and find the bed, or try a ridiculous round of twenty questions?"

"Wait patiently, and find out."

"Ugh." Annie said as she started to pace the small apartment again.

Auggie finished as the street noise quieted down for siesta. The stillness outside the small window was creepy for the middle of the day. Auggie found himself checking his watch to be sure that it was as early as he thought.

"Evidently finding the bed in the middle of the afternoon is a Spanish tradition." Auggie said.

"I could live with that." Annie replied.

Auggie walked toward Annie, who met him near the bed. Touching her arm, he scowled. "You have on clothes."

"Remember that time you told me you were about ten minutes from finishing up a code break, then you would meet me at Allen's, and you spent the next fourteen hours at your desk?"

"Vaguely."

"Moral of the story is that I'm not going to sit around naked, waiting for you to finish working."

"I'm not working now. Lets..." Auggie stopped, hearing something outside.

"What is it?" Annie asked.

Auggie looked confused. "Canes?"

The sound was getting closer, so Annie opened the blinds enough to look out at the road.

"It's not canes, it's a group of people that look like they've been backpacking. Some of them have two trekking poles, and a couple just have a hiking stick."

Auggie's face lit up.

"Don't look so excited, Anderson."

"People are walking through the streets with sticks! My cane wouldn't..."

"Auggie." Annie's tone told him to stop.

"Annie - I bet they are hiking to Santiago."

"Chile? That's not a hike, that's a swim."

"In northwestern Spain, dear. About 400 miles from here."

"Sounds fun."

"You would think so. The point is, it's not so crazy to see a guy walking around town with a long stick here."

"Your cane is considerably different than what these people are using."

"Then we should pick up some poles. Just in case."

"Auggie." This seemed to be Annie's main argument.

"Annie. We've been here for three hours, and you already have cabin fever."

"Okay. You go back to your dorky computer investigation, and I'll go buy us some gear to look like hikers."

"Nope." Auggie replied with a smile.

"But this was your plan." Annie replied, confused.

"And right now, it's siesta, so all the stores are closed."

"Oh."

Auggie caressed her arm. "So what should we do for the next two hours?"

"We have about 500 square feet here to explore, and I did a lot of that while you were hacking away earlier."

"How's the coffee supply?" Auggie asked.

Annie winced. "Um. About that..."

"You are obviously picking up more than hiking gear while you are out."

"Want to play twenty questions?" Annie asked.

"Not really."

"This place doesn't even have a TV."

"I guess the CIA wanted us to entertain ourselves." Auggie suggested.

"And by 'entertain' you mean..." Annie was interrupted by Auggie climbing on top of her.

After getting a little bit of rest, Annie and Auggie could hear the city waking up outside their window. "Okay, I'm going to go see what I can find."

While Annie was gone, Auggie investigated their safe-house on his own. She wasn't exaggerating, it was really small and poorly stocked. He decided to get online and investigate the hiking trail out of town, instead.

Annie returned a couple of hours later with arms full of supplies.

"Buen Camino peregrina!" Auggie greeted.

"I heard that from at least five other people while I was out, so I'm assuming you have done some research."

"Did you see any yellow arrows painted on the sidewalk while you were out?"

"I assumed they were marking a gas line." Annie replied.

"Nope. They were trail markers."

"So people just follow yellow arrows out of town, and end up in another village? This would be why the guy at the hiking store inspected my footwear, isn't it?"

"Come on, you know it sounds like fun."

"Maybe when we aren't on a mission. For now, we are stuck with this ridiculously small apartment and each other."

"Paradise." Auggie said.

TBC