A/N - I was in a very surreal place far from Boston on the day of the Marathon. I didn't follow the news that closely but I did remember an early report that "Intelligence Officials say there was no chatter about an attack."

So I had to wonder what that day would have been like at the DPD.

I've been sitting on this and constantly tweaking, because it touches an event that closely affected some of you and because I didn't feel I have completely represented the emotions I wanted to represent. But I did want to share before the event was too old.

Pardon any typos and lack of depth. Typing is hard for me these days (graphic proof why is on my Tumblr page).

...

When the news broke, there were exactly three seconds of silence in the DPD. After that, everybody was moving in every direction. The fact that they had missed something like this wasn't going to be taken lightly. An attack on American soil was an attack on the DPD, personally.

Joan's voice came above the crowd. "I want everything that we have heard about, around, and within Boston on my desk in five minutes. Meet in the conference room in ten."

"This is it?" Joan asked when Auggie brought the thin pile of papers to her desk.

"Evidently there wasn't a lot of chatter about Boston." Auggie replied. "But I have the team looking into all information regarding attacks on an undisclosed location."

"Good." Joan replied. "Also, have everybody looking for other similar types of chatter: same type of attack, same type of event, anything."

"Already on it." Auggie replied as he exited the room.

Over 300 members of the CIA watch list were known to be in the area of the bombing, and Annie was sorting through the files of those that were Russian. She skimmed the Russian information and determined one-by-one that specific suspects weren't likely matches for this event.

Annie was amazed at how everybody was able to focus among the chaos. As details were discovered, they were announced in the DPD. Five different news stations were playing on the large screens, showing the footage over and over. Annie knew that somewhere in the building, somebody was taking this footage and analyzing every little detail for clues. Meanwhile, she moved through the files selected for closer look.

Four hours went by in what felt like seconds. Annie had a file of a young Chechnyan man on her desk, and she was reviewing the information. The file seemed different from the rest. As if lifting from a fog, she looked up at her colleagues, not sure what to do. So she went to Auggie.

"Whatcha got?" Auggie greeted her.

"I don't know." Annie responded.

Auggie softened when hearing Annie's voice. He was in warrior mode, and had assumed the visitor was one of the data techs he had been pushing all morning. He wasn't entirely aware that it was afternoon.

"I found somebody interesting. Can you see if we have any more information on him?"

"Absolutely. Give me the name."

Annie gave Auggie the name and updated him on what she found, along with her gut instincts.

"Your gut is pretty reliable." Auggie said. "You may have found something here." A smile spread across his face before he startled Annie by shouting for three of the information specialists in the DPD.

"I need you guys to look into this character. I want all audio, video, and digital surveillance we can find. Send his picture to those in surveillance that are analyzing the scene, in case he is in any of the footage. Report back in twenty minutes." Auggie felt his watch as he directed them and turned to Annie.

"Is it really after one already?" He asked.

"Yeah. There's pizza in the breakroom. Want a slice?"

"Yeah." He got up and they quickly walked to the free food. He took one slice and ate it standing at the counter.

"You doing okay?" He asked Annie between bites. It was probably going to take him less than a minute to finish the slice, the way he was eating.

"Yeah. This is pretty exciting."

Auggie swallowed a bite and gave half a grin. "There are lots of words that people could use to describe a terrorist attack. 'Exciting' may be one of them, but not with the glee I hear in your voice."

"It's nice to be behind the scenes, knowing that while this sneaked through, we really are doing everything we can to make it right." Annie explained.

"I know what you mean." Auggie replied. "And we need to get back to it." He said, throwing away his napkin. He leaned toward Annie and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before walking toward his office.

The suspect Annie flagged was forwarded up the chain of command and late that night was still on the short list of suspects shared with the FBI. Annie and Auggie were ordered to go early the next morning. The investigation had been thorough, and the authorities had more than enough to go with at the moment. Auggie had already moved on to other related research when Joan forced him to stop.

"That information isn't urgent, and won't be valuable if you don't have a clear head." Joan admonished him. "Get some sleep, and I'll have more information when you return."

...

"You did good." Auggie told Annie as he held her in his arms in bed.

"I just had the right name in my stack. One of several suspects."

"Mmmm." Auggie hummed, his nose in her hair and breath against her neck. "I'm glad he was in your stack. I trust your eyes more than any others."

"How do you still have energy to make a pun?"

"I don't think that was a pun."

"How do you have the energy to make a bad joke?"

"It wasn't even a joke. It was just a blindism."

"How do you have the energy to make up new words?" Annie practically mumbled.

"You said it yourself. What happened was exciting."

Annie ran her finger over his hand. "It seems wrong, getting a rush from something like this."

"The rush was from the chase, not the bomb. You did good."

"If you say so," Annie replied. Not totally convinced.

Auggie pulled Annie so that she was facing him. "Today, somebody attacked us. We are preparing our counter attack. There is no shame in being enthusiastic in that situation."

"That makes sense. But why are you still awake now?"

Auggie gave a grin that made Annie feel dirty, and raised his eyebrows. "It's common for men, when battle is over, to be overcome with arousal."

Annie couldn't help but laugh and lean forward to give him a kiss. "But we don't know if we won yet."

"Even more reason to live in the moment." Auggie replied as he pulled Annie on top of him.