This chapter's kind of choppy in comparison to everything else, but… well, you'll see why.

$4$

Talkin' bout the dream like the dream is over
Talk like that won't get you nowhere
Everybody's trustin' in your heart like your heart don't lie

- "All I Need," by Matchbox Twenty

After they left Joan's office, Annie headed back to her paperwork. There was enough to keep her busy for the rest of the day. Well, it would have, if it she hadn't been fidgeting.

Auggie left right after the meeting was over. Joan had called him a cab and she assumed he was headed back to Langley. He was, but about an hour before work ended, he was back, and headed straight for Joan's office once more. She didn't say anything—didn't ask him any questions about Ben or the Armenians, even though she was dying to—and halfheartedly attempted to complete her paperwork. It didn't really work.

Right as she was packing up to head home, Auggie exited Joan's office, walking out with just as much calm and confidence as he'd walked in. Before he passed her desk, he asked casually, "Walker, you going to Allen's tonight?"

Annie stopped packing her files and laptop away to eye him suspiciously. "No," she said slowly, narrowing her chocolate colored eyes. How had he known this was her desk? "Why?"

"I was planning on going to Allen's, and I wanted to know if you were going," he explained, a smirk flitting across his handsome face. "What, were you expecting ulterior motives? I promise I'm not going to hand you over to Arthur Campbell on a silver platter."

She frowned a little but it didn't have the proper anger. She was too tired to angry with him, anyway. Closing her bag and standing up, she eyed him curiously. "How did you know this was my desk, anyway?"

"Jo Malone," he answered simply, and for a second she was so busy staring at him like he lost his mind to remember the significance of those two words.

"You recognized… my perfume?" she asked, torn between horrified and weirdly flattered. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Or was it… what?

"The nose," he said, tapping the left side of his nose with his free hand. "Comes with the territory. The only minor upside of everything since the accident. Well, that and the amazing sense of hearing."

"So you're like… a Saint Bernard?" Annie wrinkled her nose as she began walking out of the bullpen. He fell into perfect step with her, and she stayed close to him, her arm brushing his. He took the incentive and took hold over her arm, right above the elbow like before. She didn't remember specifically saying she would go with him to the Tavern, but somehow they were walking together like it was perfectly natural.

"Well, if you mean I'm cute and dependable and ply you with booze, sure, I'm like a Saint Bernard," he quipped, and as much as she wanted to continue resenting him she had to laugh.

"I was thinking more along the lines of Cujo, but if you want to make yourself feel better…" She shrugged, grinning widely.

"You wound me, Annie."

The drive to the Tavern was impressively normal. They talked and joked around like they had been doing it for their entire lives. He even made a few cracks about the FBI and she responded with some remarks of her own about the CIA. Maybe, when everything was over, they could do this more often—hang out, drink, be friends. She didn't have many friends. She still didn't trust him, but that didn't mean there was anything wrong with going out and getting drinks with the man.

When they walked into the bar, Annie was stunned to see several women stop and say hello to Auggie as they passed by. She hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary yesterday, but then she was so preoccupied with Caitlyn and Stu and the CIA to notice his apparent way with the ladies.

In fact, by the time they reached the bar, Annie was laughing to herself, a bemused smile on her face. "What?" Auggie said, grinning way too charmingly. "Ladies love the blind guy."

As she slid into the nearest stool, she glanced back at the crowd. Several of the women in the bar—pretty women—were still checking him out. Had she inadvertently walked into the Twilight Zone or something? "You're a manwhore," she announced with mild amazement.

"What?"

"You heard me. You're a manwhore!" she repeated, laughing to herself. She wasn't exactly talking quietly and she noticed a few women near them were sniggering. She flagged down the bartender. "I can't believe it."

"I—I am not a manwhore," he replied. Considering, he was taking her bluntness fairly well, laughing along with her—well, probably at her, but close enough.

Annie grinned wider. "I think you are," she told him, and asked the bartender for a beer.

Auggie ordered a shot of Patrón. "You're not very nice, Walker," he pointed out after the bartender walked away. "I am not a manwhore. I'm friendly."

"Oh, I'm sure you're just a regular good time guy," Annie drawled, smiling gratefully at the bartender as he set her mug down in front of her. She smirked as she took a sip of her beer. There. That felt a little better.

"You're not very nice," he told her, but there was that infectious grin on his face again as he swallowed the shot of tequila smoothly and ordered a beer of his own from the bartender. "But I admit, I like this side of you. I expected you to spend the whole night grilling me about what I had to say to Joan regarding Ben Mercer."

Annie pursed her lips at the name and carefully considered her response. "I considered asking you about it," she said. "But then I thought it over and realized I had already talked enough about my crappiest ex-boyfriend way too much today. So I figured the best solution would just be to go out and get drinks with you like a normal person."

Auggie smiled back at her. Maybe this really could be a normal friendship. Just, you know, provided neither one of them talked about their jobs.

"He doesn't technically work for the CIA anymore."

She looked at him sharply. "Aug, you don't have to tell me—"

"Jai was his handler," Auggie continued gently. "He didn't know everything, but he had a general idea of what was going on. After what happened with you and the Armenians, Ben Mercer went off the grid. Completely AWOL. No one's heard from him since then, though my guys scrounged up some intel that he was last spotted about a month ago in Caracas."

She cocked her head thoughtfully. Ben dropped off the radar after she found his true identity. Interesting.

Putting her hand over his, she squeezing it gently. "Thanks, Auggie," she said sincerely. Going on pure instinct, she leaned over and kissed him chastely. However, when he responded immediately in kind, she lingered longer than what was acceptable, something familiar and exciting zinging down her spine. She pulled back, wondering what the hell had come over her these past two days.

So much for that whole being just friends with Auggie thing.

$4$

Yeah. :D

I gotta say, one of the funnest (yes, I just said funnest, roll with it) parts about writing this wacky AU fic has to be stealing lines from past episodes and working it into my story, particularly lines like the Saint Bernard thing. Makes me feel like, if this was another universe, maybe it could work out the way my brain sees it. (But remember, your favorite writer is also cuckoo for cocoa puffs…)

The end is nigh, people! There should be about 5 chapters to go after this one. But before we get to the action/adventure, there may be some fun happening in the next chapter… just saying. ;)