Because I'm keeping a mental journal of how long it's taking me to write everything, today is June 21st. I've got 5 chapters officially written, which tends to be (for whatever unknown reason) the number where my inspiration dies and I no longer want to write anything more about the fic. Hopefully, that won't happen. I'm really hopeful about this story.

So far, I have avoided posting this on , which I'll be holding off on doing about as long as humanly possible until this is finished/basically finished. Hopefully then I can finish this without anyone getting discouraged by my inability to complete anything. :D

$4$

I'm a loner, I'm loser
I'm a winner—in my mind
I'm a bad one, I'm a good one
I'm a sick one—with a smile

- "Stupid Girl," by Cold

When Joan stepped out of the nondescript black SUV along with Rossabi, Schwimmer, and two other agents, Annie's worst fears were confirmed. She knew all along her attackers couldn't just be after her wallet, but she refused to admit that suspicion until proven otherwise. No use making a mountain out of a molehill and all that.

It took four hours to sort out everything. The two jackasses were immediately hauled in by the agents Annie didn't recognize, and after that was questioning. And questioning. And some more questioning.

Her voice was hoarse by the time she repeated the events of the attack for the seventh time. All the while, Caitlyn, Stu, and Auggie had been giving their own story of events. When they weren't doing that, they were standing by her side.

Stu and Auggie were exceptionally quiet when they weren't being questioned, and on some level she understood why. Their chat, while brief, had not been a particularly enjoyable.

"I think that's enough," Joan interjected just as yet another Fed—more had arrived after they apprehended her assailants—began to question her once more. "Walker needs a good night's sleep. So does McGuire for that matter. We have all the information we need for the night, and you two can write up your reports tomorrow morning."

Looking away from the agent, she turned her piercing blue eyes on the two women. "Got it?" Joan repeated, arching her eyebrows slightly.

Both Annie and Caitlyn nodded on cue, causing Joan to smile slightly. Joan always appreciated it when her agents listened to what she had to say and followed orders.

But once the dust settled, she didn't mind it so much when Annie went off the rails that one time—

Annie put the brakes on that thought, her heart constricting painfully in her chest at the memory. No, she was past that. No more childish rebellions—she did press releases. There was no wiggle room in the realm of press releases.

"Do you mind if I take Caitlyn home?" Stu asked Joan politely. Annie smiled a little wider—he may have been CIA, but he was still genuinely respectful. She couldn't knock that.

Caitlyn looked up at him happily, then back at Joan, waiting for the older woman's blessing. At Joan's slight nod, Caitlyn grinned and quickly pulled Annie into a tight hug. "Try not to nearly get killed again," the bottle blonde instructed seriously. "I'll see you tomorrow for lunch."

Annie grinned. "Have a good night," she replied, glancing back at Stu in amusement.

Caitlyn's face colored in response but she didn't say anything else—just grabbed Stu's arm and pulled him away from the dwindling crowd and into the night.

As they walked away, she watched with a certain amount of detachment as Auggie began to walk away as well—where to, she had no idea, it wasn't like he could drive, right?—but before he could get more than a foot away, Joan's thin arm shot out and caught him by the shoulder. "Where the hell do you think you're going, Anderson?" she asked coldly.

Annie felt her jaw drop of its own accord. Joan knew Auggie's last name? Did Joan know Auggie?

For his part, he managed a pretty dirty glare considering he couldn't actually see Joan. "What, you think I don't know your name?" Joan added, and if Annie didn't know any better, she would say the tone was almost mocking. "I know your boss. Did he really think you two idiots would be able to sneak onto my active crime scene without any of my people noticing?"

Annie blinked, frozen in a stupor. Whoa. Joan knew the Director of Clandestine Services? When she thought about it, it wasn't that shocking—even though Joan chose to stay very active and run her team personally as opposed to delegating it to someone else, she was still a high ranking member of the FBI. Even still, it never occurred to Annie that that rank would allow Joan to become personal with a member of the CIA.

"Director Campbell," Auggie said, inclining his head, his smile tight and tense. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Joan said easily, sounding comically bored and never bothering to loosen her grip on his shoulder. "Just like Arthur has no idea what he's talking about either. But you know what, it's late and I frankly don't care about departmental pissing contests at the moment. I understand that Stuart Heatherton is dating Caitlyn McGuire and seems to genuinely care about her. And I'll go out on a limb and say you only went out to Allen's tonight to join him and his girlfriend for beers, and not to scope out my damned talented agent for any weaknesses."

For a moment, Annie felt her chest fill with pride—Joan thought she was a damned talented agent. That was the best compliment to ever fall from her boss' lips, and it felt like winning a Nobel Peace prize and an Olympic medal in the same day.

Auggie's face contorted into contempt and more than a little rage but before he could reply, Joan continued on. "But you listen to me right now—if I find out later on the line that any of you are in any way investigating, harassing, or intimidating any of my people—especially Walker—I will kick your ass from here to next Thursday before you can whistle Dixie. Got it, Anderson?"

For one long, terrifying second, Annie was positive he was going to argue with Joan—in which case she was jumping over the car and ducking behind those bushes. But then he seemed to reconsider his decision, set his jaw, and nodded curtly. "I understand," he replied. "But I'd like to remind you that I'm only in charge of a handful of people—and I can't be held responsible for something someone like Jai might do."

Jay? Annie thought, keeping her features blank even as her mind started working. Who was Jay? Was he another CIA agent? Did Joan know him, too?

Joan let out a soft huff of air and smirked like he had said something funny. Maybe she did know that guy. "Have a good night, Anderson," she said, letting go of his shoulder and patting it once. "Tell Arthur I said hello."

Auggie's mouth quirked into one of those cocky smirks Annie was starting to learn was his signature or something. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that."

As he started to leave, he unfolded his cane and tilted his head towards her for the first time since the Feds arrived and their conversation ended. "'Night, Annie," he said, his smile almost genuine.

"'Night," she replied quietly, her mind spinning in too many places at once. Wine and Feds did not mix well at this hour.

It took another hour for Annie to finally get back home. There were three messages on her answering machine—all from Danielle, no doubt—and she was too tired to check any of them. She pulled her hair out of the sloppy ponytail it had been in for the last six hours and poured herself a glass of water. She would shower and then sleep for as long as her body would allow her before her alarm went off. Hopefully she wouldn't have any nightmares tonight.

As she sipped her water over her kitchen sink and stared out at the inky black sky through her window, her thoughts drifted, returning back to her earlier conversation.

"I know you're both CIA. And if you're smart I wouldn't say anything once the FBI comes around, unless you want to be brought in for questioning."

They both stared at her in shock for what had to be at least thirty seconds. Impressively, Stu was the first one to recover. "Annie," he began slowly, like he didn't want to scare her. "We're not—neither of us are CIA a—"

He didn't get out the rest of what he was planning on saying, because Auggie straightened, standing somehow even taller than before, and snapped, "So? What does that matter? I believe we just helped you."

Annie's wide brown eyes hardened as she stood up shakily, toeing off her stilettos and ignoring the way the gravel on the asphalt bit into the soles of her feet. "Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't matter. But the fact is, one of you is dating my friend and I'm not all that keen to see her date a spook."

Stu winced. "I'm sorry," he apologized, and sounded actually remorseful. "I didn't know she worked for you guys until our first date, but by then—"

"Caitlyn's a big girl. She can make her own decisions," Auggie pointed out, cutting off his friend again. He stepped towards her, somehow managing to avoid the unconscious assailant by his feet. "If she wants to get involved with Stu she has every right to."

Annie let out a snort and walked up to him. "Oh, she can get involved alright—in a relationship that with a man she barely knows anything about. Stu is a sweetheart, I'm not arguing that. But when she finds out he's not who he says he is—and she will, because she didn't get into the Federal Bureau of Investigation for being a dumbass—it's not going to matter if he's fucking Mother Theresa. He lied to her, and that's all she's going to see."

"You sound a little too bitter for this not be personal," he replied, his voice low.

She let out a laugh at his very obvious deflection, cold, hard, and callous. She was bitter, but she wasn't going to let him know that. She wasn't going to let anyone know that. "Oh, you want a change in subject? Alright, CIA boy, how 'bout you?"

He frowned even heavier than before, crossing strong arms over his chest. "What about me what?"

"What about you," she repeated, purposely goading him. "You're a CIA agent. You must have had a girlfriend at some point, right?"

She was standing too close to him, but she was so blinded by her own anger to even bother being uncomfortable. She studied his face intently, marveling at his absolutely perfect poker face. And then she saw it. A twitch, right by the right side of his mouth. If she hadn't been standing so close, watching him so attentively, she would've missed it.

"Ah," she said knowingly, smirking slightly with the knowledge that she caught him. "So you did have a girlfriend. Tell the class, how did it end when she found out you were CIA? She refuse to speak to you? Or wait, did you never tell her in the first place—just disappear, because that's what your superiors told you—"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he cut her off, too fast for it not to have gotten under his skin.

Annie's eyebrows arched. She should've known he was just like Ben. Weren't they all? "Leaving her for the job," she said with a nod. "Classy stuff."

Heavy silence settled between the two of them.

"Look, honestly, we understand why you're so angry," Stu finally replied, rushing to fill in the tension. "But tonight, this wasn't about CIA stuff. Honest. You were being attacked, and Auggie stopped him. He was only here because I dragged him along. I'm not doing any of this to hurt you or Caitlyn. Especially not Caitlyn."

Annie's face was barely two inches from Auggie's. She was pretty sure if she exhaled their chests would touch. But she didn't focus on him. She looked over his broad shoulder, at Stu standing there, genuinely remorseful. Even if Auggie turned into another Ben, she liked Stu. He was a good guy.

"I do believe you," she responded directly to Stu, and for the first time all night she both sounded and felt tired. Glancing back at Auggie, she added, "But the jury's still out on you."

$4$

Whew! This chapter kind of got away from me, in case you can't tell. But I really needed to do the flashback to their conversation (I know, I normally hate reading/writing anything in italics, but this was my best solution at the moment) and I absolutely wasn't pushing it off to the next chapter, mostly because something else needs to happen first thing that I'm not telling you guys about. ;)

I know I've written Annie and Auggie butting heads way more than you would expect the two of them to react, but I swear this is done with a purpose. Mostly because this way they're hashing out all their problems right from the beginning (essentially, a polar opposite from the show—being besties and then learning about/meeting each other's respective demons), plus it allows me to take some more time with introducing the Ben Thing into the picture.

In fact, as a couple spoilers for you guys, next chapter will actually be (mostly) about the Ben Thing. This was mainly the proper build-up I needed to address Annie's issues with going out on the field, as well as dealing with her new CIA buddies. Expect lots more angst, something I hardly ever write but can't seem to get rid of in this story.

And yes, I purposely spelled Jai wrong in Annie's thoughts. No one automatically assumes that's how you spell Jai—I didn't until I Wikipedia'd the show when it first came out. ;)

Hope you guys liked it!