All of the training in the world couldn't have helped Annie in that exact moment when her vision goes black around the edges and for a second she wonders if dying like this is her penance for every evil thing she's ever done, but her self-preservation instincts kick in and she drives her knee into Auggie's ribs.
She catches him off guard just enough that she can roll out from under him and onto the floor. She coughs and stutters and tears blur her eyes as she shuffles back until she slams against the hotel wall. She manages to wheeze out Auggie's name, she thinks, because he pauses right before he charges at her again.
"Annie?" His voice sounds like it hasn't been used in ages, a jumbled croak coated with whiskey. She nods before she realizes he can't see her, but his eyes are still wildly darting around the room.
"Hey there, Auggie," Annie whispers, still desperately trying to catch her breath.
He looks at her with complete disbelief on his face before turning around and slamming his fist through the wall. The noise startles her, but not as much as the fact that Auggie clearly has no regard for his health and safety anymore. He doesn't care if he gets hurt. That terrifies her. Everything about this new Auggie scares her, and after these past few years of being a spy, it takes a lot to truly scare her.
His ribs are starting to turn red by the time Annie blinks her vision clear and can breathe normally again. Auggie drops down to the edge of his bed before running his already-bruised hand through his hair.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Walker?" Auggie lets his lips twist into a sardonic parody of a real grin. "Or is it McQuaid by now?"
Annie knows he isn't actually asking, probably doesn't actually care, but she answers anyway. She injects an attempt at poise into her voice. "It's Walker. I called off the wedding at the last minute."
Auggie stands up and walks to the dresser near his bed and pulls out a pair of rumpled gym shorts. He slips them on and Annie tries not to think about how loose they are on his thinner, paler body. Annie wonders the last time he's been outside.
"Now why would you go and do something that, Annie?" He takes a long pull from the half-empty bottle of whiskey on the nightstand and raises an eyebrow expectantly.
"Why did you and Tash end?" Annie counters, and judging by how terrible Auggie looks, she knows it isn't a fair question. But she suddenly has fire in her veins and rage pulsing through with every heartbeat. She didn't travel halfway around the world for this man; he's nothing like the Auggie she said goodbye to. "Did you give up on her or did she decide to quit you?"
"Tash and I gave it an honest go, you know," Auggie says, words slurring together from the booze. He sounds so small as he says it, as if he needed to convince the world that he did the right thing. She's still infuriated, but her anger can't be directed at Auggie anymore. She feels nothing but pity for him.
"I know," Annie replies instead of asking anything else. She wonders if their own relationship had been an honest go too. If they could say that they honestly tried their hardest to make it work. She thinks she could have tried harder.
Auggie rolls onto his side and curls in on himself on top of the covers as if he were trying to shield himself from his thoughts. He laughs mirthlessly. "It's always complicated."
It sounds almost like a phrase he had rehearsed, something he repeated to himself until he almost believed it. Annie doesn't have to wonder what he means by that. Relationships are complicated.
"Not always," Annie tries to argue, but she must not seem very convincing when Auggie snorts from his place on the bed. "I think for people like us, it's usually complicated–"
"People like us?" Auggie spits out venomously. "Do we really have anything in common anymore?"
"No, I guess not," Annie shrugs and moves to sit on the other side of the bed. She calculates her next words carefully. She doesn't want to push him over the edge, but she needs to see that he still has some hint of the old Auggie in him.
"I'm not some washed-out drunk attempting to drown my demons in a foreign country. Is it working for you, Auggie? Because it looks to me like you failed pretty spectacularly."