I am sorry it took me so long to get this out, Happy Belated Valentine's!
As always nothing belongs to me but the idea for this story, everything else belongs to Covert Affairs. Hope you enjoy. ~Maridee
Into the Night - Chapter 4
"Joan I am at the airport, have you tracked down the Vette?" Auggie had a tracking system installed in the car before giving it to Annie. As always he was trying to keep one step ahead of her to keep her safe, not knowing then that its first use would be not for work, but for him. He had given Joan the information earlier that morning
"Yes Auggie she is at a remote cabin in Colorado and the signal has not moved since it was acquired last night."
"Good, I have to fly from here to Frankfurt then straight to Denver, then it's another 30 minute flight to Colorado Springs, I should touch down about 7:30pm Colorado time, from there I will need a car to take me the rest of the way, can you arrange that Joan?"
"Already done Auggie, but I am going to send the Colorado Springs team out there momentarily just to see if she is alright."
"No Joan, if she sees them she will run and then she will figure out that we tracked her there through the car and disable it. I will get her back Joan, don't worry just give me a little time to get there."
"I'm sure you will Auggie," he could hear the double meaning in Joan's words.
"Thanks Joan"
"Go get our girl Auggie."
Annie sat on the front porch of the cabin starring into the distance, wondering what she was going to do next. She couldn't go back it would be too painful. She couldn't see him every day and not say anything. She couldn't look into those beautiful brown eyes and not want to kiss him. She could no longer slide her hand into the crook of his arm to guide him down the hallway, touching him would just be too much to bear. She knew she would have to go back to reality soon, but for now she wanted to stay hidden, hidden from everything but the pain. The pain consumed her just as she consumed the alcohol in her hand. The alcohol that dulled the pain but never made it disappear completely. She didn't know if she could ever be whole again or if she even wanted to.
She continued starring out into the distance as she tried to forget. Forget the sound and tones of his voice, as he would talk to her to guide her through whatever danger she had gotten into. The desperate sound in his voice when he knew she was in real trouble and couldn't get to her, the relieved tone he would get when he knew she was safely out of any danger, or the calming tone he would get when she was worried and knew she needed reassurance. She especially would miss his sense of humor, no matter what he could always make her laugh. That was the problem she knew he cared, that was what was making this so hard. She knew he cared for her, but she had waited too long to tell him that she cared too. He had moved onto another person which now had taken him away from her to Africa. She knew it was her fault and she didn't know if she could ever forgive herself. She uncorked another bottle of wine, thinking maybe she could find forgiveness at the bottom of this bottle, probably not, but what did she have to lose?
Auggie sat with his head against the hull of the plane, the vibrations from the engines humming through his body like a comforting lullaby. He couldn't sleep but at least this was helping with the nervousness. This was his last leg of the flight and he would be on the ground within the hour. His heart was racing and his palms were sweaty, he felt like a teenager trying to figure out how to ask out his first crush. Why was this happening he was always so confident and knew exactly what to say to women, that was his thing, he was good at it, and he knew it. But right now he felt as if it were a superpower that had been stolen from him by some sort of Kryptonite.
"I am sorry sonny, but I couldn't help but notice you looked a little out of sorts, is everything ok?"
Auggie turned his head toward the voice coming from his right and said, "Yes ma'am, I am just a little confused right now."
"Why don't you make an old woman happy and tell me what you did to upset her."
Auggie tensed up in his chair, "What? How did you…"
"How did I know? Well sonny I have been through a heartbreak or two in my day, and I would know that look anywhere." She patted his hand in reassurance.
"I was an idiot."
"Well aren't all men at one time or another?" she chuckled next to him.
"Yes, but I had love standing there right in front of my face and I was too blind to see it."
"Well sonny"
"My name is Auggie ma'am"
"Well Augustus I did notice you carry a white cane…"
Auggie laughed out loud.
"Now Augustus, with a smile like that how could you not know that any woman in her right mind would not fall had over heels in love with you?"
Still laughing Auggie said, "Thank you, I needed that. I am sorry ma'am, but I didn't catch your name."
"Sophia Petrillo, just think of me as your fairy god-grandmother, minus the wings and the poufy dress."
"Oh so you carry a wand then?" Auggie said still laughing.
"Why yes, it's about three foot tall, made of hand carved wood, and helps me walk. However I have conjured up a few stars with it by bopping complete idiots on the head."
"You are too much Sophia; I guess that means I should steer clear of your cane if I don't want to see stars today."
"Well that's still to be seen, you haven't told me what you have done yet, so I have not decided if you are a complete idiot or just a temporary idiot. So go on tell me what you did, you never know I might actually be able to help."
"Well we work together and we have been friends for a while now. I can't really tell you everything but it's my job to protect her and keep her out of harm's way."
The made in front of them that was obviously listening in smarted off something about the blind leading the blind, but before Auggie could say anything he felt Sophia bolt up and heard the man exclaim "OW!"
"Complete idiot" Sophia mumbled as she sat back down, "Go on Augustus."
Auggie couldn't hold back the smirk spreading across his face; the more he talked to this woman the more he liked her.
"Well as I was saying, looking back I should have seen all the signs, but it took me running halfway around the world to chase the wrong girl, finding out that Annie was missing from my boss, and then Annie's sister tearing me a new one over the phone, pardon the expression, before I figured out that she felt the same way for me as I felt for her."
"You ran halfway around the world chasing the wrong girl?"
"Yeah, when I thought that Annie just wanted to be partners, so I started seeing another woman, Parker, but then Parker went to Africa to chase her dreams."
"Well Augustus let me get this right, Parker was chasing her dreams, you were running away from Annie by chasing Parker, and Annie was left alone knowing that you had no clue that she loved you?"
"Yes ma'am", he dropped his head in shame and waited for her to bop him too, but nothing ever came.
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I am on my way to find Annie as soon as I get off of this plane."
"And what will you do then?"
"I don't know."
BOP!
"Don't be a complete idiot, you know what you need to do, tell that girl how you feel and hope that you haven't screwed it up too much to fix it."
"Yes ma'am, I mean you are right, but first I am going to have to get her to listen to me and Annie can be, well stubborn would be putting it lightly."
"Well then you will just have to make her listen."
"But"
"Don't but me young man, I know what I am talking about, If she won't listen then you just grab her and make her see exactly how much she means to you."
"Well I am still not sure how exactly I am going to do that, but I promise you, I will get it across to her somehow."
"Well I have decided."
"Decided what Sophia?"
"You are not a complete idiot after all Augustus, you just made a mistake, mistakes are correctable, just go and correct it and all will be well." She patted his hand again and gave it a little squeeze.
"Sophia you are one awesome woman did you know that?"
"Yes I did, and don't you forget it."
Auggie laughed out loud again and thought maybe there is light at the end of this tunnel after all.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review, add me to your favorites, and to your notification. You don't know how much it means to me to have other people enjoy this story as much as I have writing it.
Doyle0915: Thank you
Riy: Thank for sticking in there with me.
Pearlofeuphoria: Yeah, I didn't want him to have any excuse to stay, so tearing into him was the only sensible option I had and well it was fun to write too.
Calltowrshp: Here is some more of that sweet ambrosia, with a little more to come soon.
Tiva_and_Auggie_and_Annie_fan: Thanks for the encouragement!
Moongrl088: Don't cry here is another chapter with one more to follow soon.