Annie wasn't as comfortable as she should be. She and Auggie had a stressful day full of polygraphs and bureaucracy. Rather than talking about it, they had quietly eaten dinner and collapsed into each other's arms.

Her heart wasn't into the love-making, but she could tell that Auggie needed the exertion to relieve himself off the stress of the day. His touch was comforting, but left her with a different level of discontent.

Auggie himself seemed perfectly content lying on his side next to her, ghosting her body with his fingers. His eyes were open, but his unfocused gaze was in a relaxed place that Annie usually associated with the moments when he first woke up in the morning. There was so much about him that made her wonder, and so little information he was really willing to share.

"Sometimes I wish I knew how to get in touch with Natasha." Annie said.

Auggie rose his eyebrows and propped himself up on one elbow. Now his eyes were wide awake. "Are you mad at me?"

Annie laughed and turned toward him, touching the side of his face with her hand. "No reason to be mad. It's just that sometimes I wonder. It would be interesting to compare notes."

Confusion took over Auggie's face. "Compare?" He asked. "Do you think-"

"No. I just..." Annie didn't know where Auggie's thoughts were heading, but he seemed to always misunderstand this need that she had. She needed to know about the history of August Anderson, and she would take whatever information was available at her clearance level at this point.

She ran her fingers down his arm, swirling her fingers around his muscles. "Your work history is all classified. You never talk about your childhood. You haven't introduced me to your brothers, even though one of them lives right here in DC. You have mysterious people all over the world that are willing to stop and help you at a moment's notice, and I accept that I may never know how you have made those connections. Is it too much for me to crave to know such little details of your past that I might want to talk to an ex-girlfriend, if only so I can understand if you always got goosebumps when touched right here?"

Auggie shuddered as Annie's fingers worked at the base of his scalp. "Yes." He said simply.

"Yes it's too much?" The irritation was clear in her voice. Her hand stopped it's gentle touch and placed a flat, tense pressure against the back of his neck.

"No." Auggie corrected. "I've always enjoyed being touched there."

Annie relaxed her hand.

"It's not like I really catalogued these things in my memory, but I think I always enjoyed being touched."

Annie moved her hand again. This time not in the comforting ways of their intimate moments together, but in a way meant to comfort him into saying more.

"I guess the main difference between now and my younger days is how much touching I do."

He punctuated the statement by running his fingers over her body.

He sighed, as if giving in to her request took a physical toll on him. "I used to always love the look in a woman's eyes when I touched her just right. Of course, there were always moments when eye contact wasn't possible, but if you are trying to compare me to the lover I was when I could see, that's probably the biggest difference. In an entirely conceited way, I loved watching the effect that I had in the heat of the moment."

Auggie was silent. If he could see his partner now, he would know she was disappointed at his apparent stopping point.

"Being with you means I'll never get the full story, doesn't it?" Her voice conveyed both frustration and acceptance.

Auggie responded with irritation of his own. "You think this is easy for me?"

Annie was more calm. "I could ask the same thing." She sat up in bed and swallowed down her emotion. "You know everything about me, yet all I know about your past is that you have one. You didn't hatch from an egg the day I joined the agency. Your life history didn't begin the moment we kissed. We've been together for six months, and while I feel like you have let me in on 90% of the here and now, I still have no idea about the man you used to be."

Auggie sat up while Annie was talking and rather than reaching for her, he leaned against the headboard. Her frustrations lingered in the air for a minute, thickly separating their bodies.

"I used to go release my frustration by running." He said quietly, biting his lip. "I would run to think. I ran to relax. I ran to clear my mind. There was nothing as better than putting miles beneath my feet and being completely, totally, alone."

Annie sat in front of him, her legs brushing against his. He swallowed and kept talking.

"I was probably a bit of an ass."

Annie gave a huff of agreement in response.

"Hey!" Auggie responded.

"You are on a roll." Annie responded.

Auggie sighed. Annie could tell that he was shutting down on her. "Back to your original question. I don't know what Natasha would say about the way my lovemaking has changed since the accident. I notice the little things more. I never noticed goosebumps so much, so I've either gotten better at what I do, or it's something I never noticed. I was careless with my hands, I honestly never knew how much women enjoyed being touched."

Auggie swallowed. "That enough?" He asked.

"For tonight." Annie replied. "Thank you." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"It's not that I don't trust you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah." Annie replied.

They laid back down and Auggie pulled her close. She was more fidgety than normal.

Since Annie obviously wasn't falling asleep he spoke up again. "How about we have dinner with Pete and his other half later this week?"

"Pete has another half?" Annie asked.

"Sometimes. I can't keep up. I think he's still in his most recent relationship. If it isn't some guy named Mark, it's a Rick or Steve."

"Is that why you haven't introduced me?" Annie asked.

"No." Auggie nuzzled close to her ear. "I've just been selfish. And my brothers are all jerks. Consider this as my way of protecting you."

"Thanks." Annie replied. She wasn't sure if she was thanking him for sharing, protecting, or for introducing his brother. But she felt like she had cracked a little bit of Auggie's shield.

A/N - This would have been posted a half-hour ago, but I had to study the newest interviews for WillyNilly23. It's my civic duty.

Also, I'm trying to talk Pseudonymitous into taking part of this for her AU series. Annie and Natasha, should she do it?

Finally, there is a classic movie reference buried in the last part. Does anybody get it?