So, full disclosure...I hate writing AU things, when I know they're AU. As in, until the ep actually airs, anything is fair game. Once it does, I hate going against canon. Thus here, it's still Auggie POV, but based on the sneak peek for tonight's episode - and separate from my last chapter.

So, Annie has found out on her own about Parker, and he has now seen basically how her judgement has been impaired as of late, since she hasn't fully coped with losing Jai/the explosion.

Let's run away from the chaos, and hide away from all the noise.

Some place we know they won't find us; suddenly it feels like we're alone right now.

Don't hesitate, the world can wait.❤

Click. Click. Click.

He turned at the familiar sound, pictured her, arms folded, as she silently leaned against his door frame as she's done countless times.

He hasn't been around her long enough recently to have really seen it before now.

(That thought doesn't sit right with him at all.)

(He should have known.)

The way she's been thrusting herself forwards into the dark abyss, no fear of consequences as she falls – jumps – into the rabbit hole.

Because she won't, can't, slow down.

Not when it means facing everything she's running from –

It's a feeling he grasps all too well.

"So, I guess I should get used to you waiting up for me again, huh?" she teased, but her voice is quiet. Doesn't carry the usual spark.

"What can I say?" He shrugged, swiveling the chair to face her with a smirk. "It's like a riding a bike."

She hummed her agreement before a short pause and then –

"You think we could move up that drink date of ours?"

He smiled and got up, met her by the door and she immediately snaked her arm around his.

"Look at that. You really can read my mind."

She let out a sharp laugh and he can tell she's rolling her eyes.

Click. Click. Click.

And yeah, he's really missed that sound.

...

He wasn't exactly sure how long they'd been driving, windows down slightly, just enough for the warm night air to blow across his face, all the while listening to Mingus.

Letting out a content sigh, he let his head rest back behind him."So, you planning on telling me what bar we're heading to for drinks?"

"Oh, I said we'd drink," she started, and he doesn't miss the coy inflection in her voice.

"But I never said anything about a bar."

...

"Ladies first," he prodded.

They're parked now, somewhere near the outskirts of the city, sitting perched up on the hood of her car.

True to her promise, she'd offered him a flask.

She took a drink herself, cleared her throat.

"I...thought I had a handle on the situation," she answered, simply. "I just..."

"Annie," he cut in. "I've been where you are, you know. That urge? To just keep running blindly – no pun intended – into whatever comes next, because if you don't – you know that everything else will catch up with you––"

"––But eventually–"

"–It always does."

He searched for her hand, lacing his fingers over hers. "And that is when you have to actually deal."

She inhaled sharply. "It drowned out the ringing for a while. If I kept going. Now, it's just louder than ever."

"You need to give yourself time," he whispered.

Because he has been exactly where she is – the nightmares, the fear––

––the guilt.

"I told you before it wasn't your fault, and it's still not. But it doesn't matter who says it. You'll still wake up everything morning asking yourself the same what-ifs. What if you'd done something differently. What if you hadn't have gone. Most importantly you'll ask yourself–"

He stopped, lifted his head towards the sky. "How you're still here."

She huffed out a strangled laugh, and he knows she's holding back tears. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Now who's the mind reader?"

"Mmm," he hummed. "No mind reading. Just experience."

She lifted her head just enough to prop her chin up to face him, giving his fingers a light squeeze.

"I know," she told him, quietly.

"Which is why," he continued, "that I hope you that you will do something you're not particularly found of."

"And what's that?"

"Listen to me."

She laughed. "Hey, I listen to you all the time."

He settled for shooting a look in her direction.

"Okay. Fine," she conceded, the smile back in her voice. "Let's hear it."

"I know that you are capable. And I know that you have good instincts–"

"Auggie –" (So much for listening.)

"But, I will caution you to slow. It. Down," he finished. "Like I said – give yourself time. To process. To heal."

"And speaking of healing..." She lifted their still linked fingers. "How's the hand?"

So, apparently it was his turn now.

"And she flips the script once again."

"It's what I'm good at," she teased.

"The hand is fine," he came back with. "Thank you for asking."

And he is good at deflecting.

He could almost hear her roll her eyes.

"Auggie."

"She's Billy's sister."

No better place to start then at the beginning, right?

"Billy...as in ––"

He nodded. "That would be the one."

He gave her a moment, let it click, before she released a breathy, "oh," in realization.

"The date from the jazz club that night. It was her."

Shrugging, he offered a half-hearted smirk. "I guess those details are finally need to know, huh?"

"What happened?"

He pressed his hand against his thigh on a sigh. "I had to read her in. After Eritrea – Did I thank you for that whole thing, by the way?"

"Don't have to," she replied. "Continue."

"I, uh," he stopped to take a beat. Not having spoken to anyone about this – not really wanting to (despite his drunken plea for his best friend's company that day), he somehow can't find the words.

"I tried to convince her, that I was still me," he finally voiced. "That I was still the guy that she fell in love with. That we could work out all the details as we went along."

She's patiently waiting for him to collect himself, gather his thoughts. Lightly placed a hand on his knee.

"Spoiler alert––" He took the opportunity for a gulp from the flask. "It didn't work."

"Auggie..." Her voice is so thick with sympathy and if it were anyone else on the planet, he swears that this conversation would be long over.

"She said that we didn't really know each other at all." He stopped, laughed bitterly with a shake of his head. "And I mean, I guess that's mostly true."

He tilted his head, extended out a finger. "She also said that our emotions were 'heightened,' I believe was the word she used, because of Billy."

"Were they?"

It was a fair question, one that had been gnawing at him since the moment she'd walked away from him.

He ran a hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know. Maybe at first. It was good to be around someone who–"

"Understood," she finished for him.

"But it was more than that," he explained. "At least it was for me."

There's a silence now and he assumed she talking the time to figure out what to say.

"I'm sure it was," she whispered.

He rose an eyebrow towards her. "Then why am I sensing a 'but' at the tip of that tongue of yours?"

She laughed silently. "I was just going to say...That I, I also get what you were feeling when you proposed." She exhaled. "Like after...what happened with Jai." She took another beat. "To Jai," she amended. "You suddenly realize how fleeting everything is. And you just want to hold on to something good. Something stable. And never let it go or slip through your fingers."

Too late.

But – "Life is too short to hold back," he reasoned.

Another silence and he heard a quiet lick of her lips as she took a breath.

"Hey there, you still with me?"

She cleared her throat. "Hmm? Yeah. I'm good," she answered, quickly.

He nodded before he shifted back on the car, back flat against it as he angled himself with his elbows propped up slightly.

She followed suit, moved backwards to join him, her shoulder brushing against his.

"I also heard about Arthur sending you to therapy," she said, shifting gears – and maybe he's taught her a little too well.

"Of course you have," he mocked.

"You okay with that?"

"I wasn't," he answered, honestly. "Hated the whole concept. Especially right after the accident. But now..."

"Yeah?"

"I guess I still need a little more time to heal, myself."

She reached for his hand again.

"Together then?"

He smiled, tightened his grip.

As much as he's missed the sound of those heels, he's missed her – them– ten times more.

Maybe he found his something stable after all.

"You got yourself a deal, Walker."

We're falling apart, but falling together now.❤

"Part of what's great about separating these two characters is he really starts to realize how much he's unconsciously begun to rely on Annie." -Christopher Gorham.

Promise to write something that is not a tag really, really soon...But there's still so much to be dealt with. Especially with Annie – Simon, her sister leaving...

With this, I just really wanted to highlight the parallels with his accident and what happened + have him open up about Parker. :)

Reviews = love.