Chapter 16

What happened last:

After Auggie was done in the bathroom he contemplated if he was ready to show Annie his residual limbs or not. He decided he wasn't ready for it so he just turned the light out and then rolled the liners down under the blanket. He hoped someday he could show them to Annie, but not tonight. He thanked God for Annie's patience and that she didn't pressure him into something he wasn't ready for or comfortable with. They settled themselves in the middle of the bed and Annie laid her head on Auggie's chest after a long, hot goodnight kiss. Auggie put his arm around Annie and fell into a peaceful sleep.

Annie lay awake longer thinking about the evening she just had. She couldn't remember experiencing something equally romantic before, not even the night at the beach with Ben could match it. Danielle had talked some sense into her after she'd exploded at Auggie, Annie had confided in her that evening. Danielle hadn't met Auggie, but she knew the man was making her little sister happier than she was in a long time. Annie was aware that Auggie struggled to show her his whole body, but she accepted it. Auggie was so nice and caring around her that it would be worth the wait, even if it was a long one.

After she'd worked through everything in her mind a few times she drifted into a nice dream.

_#_#-'-'-_##-#-_

Monday morning Auggie walked into his office with his cane in hand, but he wasn't really using it. He placed it in the corner and walked to his desk, sat down and started to boot up his systems. He was going trough the interoffice mail when the phone on his desk started ringing.

"Anderson, how may I help you?" He answered the call; he didn't recognize the extension the call came from.

"It`s Conrad. Arthur wants to see you ASAP," Arthur Campbell's secretary commanded.

"Oh, okay. I`ll just leave a note for my co-worker and I'll be right up." He placed the handset back in the cradle and grabbed a post-it pad and a pen. After scribbling a quick note to Annie he stood up and walked out of the office. He placed the note on her computer screen on his way out and headed to the elevators.

"Hey. He's waiting for you, just go straight in," Conrad announced when Auggie walked in to the front office. Auggie knocked on the half open door and walked in after Mr. Campbell looked up from his desk.

"Good morning, August," he greeted Auggie and extended his right hand. Auggie took it and after a quick handshake Arthur gestured for the chairs in front of his desk. "Thanks for coming so quickly, please have a seat."

"I called you up here for three reasons." Straight to the point as always, Auggie thought. "First thing; thank you for attending the black tie event," Arthur said, and then he moved on. "I have a special mission for you. I want you to hack into a database that belongs to the Syrian Intelligence Corps. I want you to search the name in the folder and give me a full rundown of everything you find." He grabbed a folder on his desk and handed it to Auggie; he grabbed it and quickly read through the first couple of pages before he looked up at Arthur again.

"Okay, I`ll do my best to get into their system, but I'll need some time to figure it out."
"That´s okay August. The last thing I need you to do is to replace Joan, starting tomorrow morning. She has been acting weird lately; I think she needs some downtime. We're going on vacation tomorrow, but she doesn't know about it. Please keep it a secret."
"No problem. I'll make sure everything here runs smoothly to the best of my ability." Auggie looked nervous for a second. "I'll need my clearance to be higher while I'm in charge."
"I've taken care of everything August. Please don't be self-conscious. You're the right man for the job; you're already second in command in the division," Arthur said with a stern voice.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, I won't disappoint you."
"That's everything, August. Thank you." Arthur stood up and walked around his desk. He noticed that Auggie didn't have his cane with him. Auggie stood as well and after shaking hands with Arthur he left his office.

-.-.-.-.-.

Annie arrived at the office carrying two to-go cups filled with coffee and she was clearly disappointed when her boyfriend (yes, her boyfriend) wasn't at his desk. She looked around the office and spotted a post-it note on her screen, then she noticed that Auggie's cane, which he mostly used at work these days, was leaning against the wall in the corner where he usually left it, meaning he was there. She placed his coffee in front of his keyboard, hoping he'd be back before it got cold, and then she placed her own coffee on her desk. Her system was booting up when she heard Auggie's familiar hinky gait approaching. She could recognize the sound of his footsteps from miles away. She smiled up at him when he entered their workspace. He closed the door behind him; glad the glass wall was a mirrored one so they had complete privacy. Auggie pulled Annie into an embrace and kissed her lips. She eagerly reciprocated; they hadn't had any time together the previous day and she wanted to make up for it.

"I've got coffee for you handsome. What's with that big smile?" Annie asked, curious about why he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Starting tomorrow morning you have to call me Boss, my dear. Joan is going on vacation, so I'm going to be filling in as division leader." Auggie told her, he was beaming with pride.

"That`s awesome Auggie! How long will I have to call you the great master?" Annie said with a teasing smirk.

"I don't know. Please keep it a secret until it's official tomorrow, Joan knows nothing, Arthur's surprising her. Okay?"

Annie nodded.

"Let's get to work, dear. I have your next assignment in my inbox, I'll send it to you now."

Auggie took a seat and logged into his system. He was already thinking about how he'd do the hack for Arthur.

A few hours later his left leg started to hurt, but Auggie chose to ignore it for as long as he could.

As lunchtime approached Annie walked up to Auggie's desk, she noticed his hunched posture; he normally sat rod straight in his chair.

"Hey handsome! Want to get a bite to eat and maybe get take a stroll around the park after?" she asked.

"Yeah, why not. I think some exercise will be good for me." He winced when he stood up.

"What`s wrong?" Annie asked, worry lacing was lacing her voice and evident on her face.

"My left leg is aching and the pain is getting steadily worse."

"Maybe you should go home? How much longer do you have to work? Are you nearly done with your assignment?"

"Not long. An hour, maybe two. As soon as I'm done I'll go home."

"I make you a deal; you keep working and I'll go get us something to eat. Take a mild painkiller with your meal, finish your assignment and go home. I'll join you at your apartment as soon as I'm done with my assignment. How does it sound?" Annie asked, hoping she was disguising how worried she was. She didn't want Auggie to take it as pity.

"Sounds good, it's a great idea. Thanks."

Twenty minutes later Annie walked back into the office carrying a tray full of food. They ate mostly in silence and Auggie got straight back to work after taking some Ibuprofen.

An hour and a half later he printed everything he'd managed to find. He called up to Arthur's office and informed Conrad that he'd bring everything up within a few minutes. He grabbed the pages from the printer, put everything into an Eyes-Only folder and shut down his computer. He grabbed his bag and cane and walked over to Annie's desk.

"Honey, I'm going up to the headmasters office to drop the documents off and then I'll go home. Just take your time, if you're not ready to leave just come over to my place when you're done. There's a spare key in the flower pot outside my door."

"Okay Auggie, I'll be over as soon as possible."

Auggie left and Annie watched him walk down the hallway toward the elevator. He was limping and it hurt to see the man she loved in pain.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When Auggie got home he walked straight into his walk-in closet. He knew he had to remove his prosthetics to relieve the pressure on his stumps and he wasn't in the mood to hand walk around the condo. He grabbed his wheelchair from where he kept it in the back of the closet and sat down. He quickly removed the prosthetics and changed into a pair of shorts. He left his pants and prosthetics on the floor in the closet.

He wheeled himself to the couch after he'd made a detour to the kitchen to get his pills and something to drink. He transferred to the couch and took downed the painkillers with a swig of water. He passed out almost immediately from the strong painkillers.

An hour later Annie entered the condo. She was worried out of her mind, wondering what state Auggie would be in when she arrived. She took in the sight of the wheelchair by the couch; she had already seen it in his closet, but she hadn't seen him use it. The pain had to be bad since had gotten it out. Annie headed to the kitchen, searching for some icepacks and towels. Before she'd left the office she'd done some research on amputees and pain and she'd found out that ice could relieve the pain. When she got back to the living room she wrapped a large ice pack around each of his legs. She moved cautiously to make sure she didn't wake or startle Auggie. When she finished she walked into the bedroom and changed into her yoga pants and a tank top, then she climbed into bed to take a nap 'til Auggie woke up.

Auggie woke up, feeling a pressure on his stumps he didn't recognize. He opened his eyes and looked down. He saw the towels and began to unwrap them; revealing the icepacks as soon as the towels was gone. He removed them and felt his liners; they were really cold. He sat up and realized his pain had decreased and he became more aware of his surroundings.

"Annie?" he called out. She didn't answer, but he knew she was there; the scent of her perfume was fresh. He transferred to the chair and began the search. He found her curled up on his side of the bed, clutching his pillow. He wheeled around to her side of the bed and climbed into the bed behind Annie.

"Honey wake up," he whispered in her ear.

Annie stirred and turned around to face him. "Hey handsome how are you?"

"I'm better and I'm hungry. What do you want to eat?"

"Anything is fine with me as long as I don't have to cook. Please order in, okay?"

"Your wish is my command," Auggie said with a smile. He transferred back to the wheelchair and wheeled into the living room where he grabbed his landline phone and called for a delivery from Francesco's.

Annie came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Auggie laid his hands over her arms that were wrapped around his chest.

"Thank you for the icepack, how did you know?"

"I've been doing some research. I read a lot. Some aluminum foil could work even better. It could trigger the nerve endings, but the liners have to be removed. I know you're not ready for me to see your stumps uncovered yet, so I decided to go with the ice since it can be wrapped over the liners."

Auggie sported an overwhelmed, but loving smile. He hadn't really let anyone in on all the implications of being an amputee and how to deal with it. His parents only knew the absolute basics about his injuries. He didn't want to burden them with it and he didn`t want to bother them at all. They supported his decisions.

"This is very kind of you, Annie. Because you handled it as good as you did, I may be getting around without using the wheelchair tomorrow. I don't have to worry about the embarrassment of coming to work in the wheelchair."

"Was it phantom pain or what was it? If you don't mind me asking handsome?"

"It was kind of a mix, first just itching and pain in my ankle and then some sort of a pain caused by the pin in the prosthesis," Auggie told her honestly, but he blushed nonetheless.

Annie pulled him into a hug and by laying her hand over the stump nearest to her she showed him that she wasn't bothered at all.

Their embrace lasted for a long time. Sometime later they pulled apart and went on to discuss the following weekend.

They were talking about her plans for Sunday when Annie's phone started ringing.

"Annie speaking." It was her sister, Danielle.

"I'll ask him. Hold on for a moment Danielle." She muted the microphone on her iPhone and turned to Auggie.

"Are you free on Thursday? My sister wants to meet you and she's throwing a barbecue she wants us to come to." Annie looked into his eyes, seeing how insecure and worried he was. "Please for me? We will leave as son as you want, okay?"

"I'm not sure about this, but for you I'll come," he murmured.

"We will be there Dani. Love you."

_-####-##'

Thank you for reading. Please Review.

Thanks to Millemini for her quick work.