A/N Yes, this is angsty, I know...but I think when two people who have been broken start experiencing deep feelings it's always going to bring up old scars and things they have to work through. Only people who have had perfect lives find it easy to get together. Thoughts? Arguments? Love you all :D

Disclaimer: Wish they were mine. But nope.

Chapter 6

Auggie sat behind his perfectly replicated desk in his new office and smiled. At least his set up was still the same. One less new thing to learn. Free food was included with his job - but if it was all going to be fancy French cucumber sandwiches like they had tonight, he was going to have to assign one of his team members to constantly go on real food runs. In the meantime he had picked up some pizza.

He was happy that Annie had answered his call and was willing to come see him. He knew his acceptance of this position had hurt her and as stubborn as she was, her refusal to discuss her feelings was an instant red flag that all was not well between them.

He heard Annie's heels approaching his office and stood up nervously. Apparently though, the anxiety was unnecessary. She came bouncing into his office happily and threw her arms around his neck, taking him completely off guard. This was slightly more affection than she usually showed around him. He hugged her back cautiously, unsure what had caused this exuberant display of emotion from the usually restrained Annie. He sniffed slightly and noticed the faint smell of vodka underneath her usual grapefruit scent. Ah. They had been partying downstairs too. That explained the hug.

"You were great tonight!" She gushed. Auggie just wondered how much she had already had to drink. Although, even coming from a tipsy Annie, the compliment still made his heart skip a beat. The way he could clearly tell she was wearing a dress with a scandalously low back when he hugged her wasn't helping matters either. Was she trying to kill him?

All he said out loud though was a quiet,

"Thanks Annie." She pulled out of his embrace.

"Yus! Pizza!" He could imagine the way her eyes lit up when she saw the pizza. Or at least if her excited exclamation was any indication of her facial expression, she was smiling happily at the discovery of the food.

They sat on the couch in the corner of his office munching in companionable silence for a while. Annie found her eyes glancing over at Auggie every few seconds without her permission. He had taken off his suit jacket and taken off the tie. His top two buttons were undone on his shirt and he had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. There was a hint of a 5o'clock shadow on his chiseled face and his relaxed grin was different from the practiced, charming smile he had given to the press earlier. Stretched out comfortably on the couch grinning while he ate his pizza he looked so far removed from the untouchable Auggie Anderson she had seen on TV earlier.

This was her best friend Auggie, the one guy who would never let her down no matter what. That she was still his first phone call even now that he had a new job erased many of her fears about the impact this promotion would have on their friendship. It would be unconventional but they would find a way to make it work. She would just have to squash those 'other' feelings she had towards him. The ones she wouldn't even let herself name in her thoughts. As she sipped on her wine she sighed, it was going to take longer than she would like to get over him. Especially if he kept looking so disheveled and perfect.

Her carefully trained smile trembled slightly. She had had more than a few drinks already tonight. She didn't want to be the girl who couldn't be happy for her friend when he had good things happening in his life. She had come here intending to be the fun one. The girl he could always turn to when he wanted to enjoy life. She wanted to be stronger, it was her number one rule in life not to let herself need a guy. It had never ended up well for her in the past and needing a guy who was now responsible for the safety of the entire government of her country was clearly expecting the impossible. He wasn't superman. She needed to prepare herself for the way he would inevitably have progressively less time to spend with her as he adapted to his new world.

It was like this anytime someone went through a major life changing event. She knew how it worked, all the stages. It reminded her of the time when she had been pulled out of boarding school after a year. All her friends had promised her they would stay in touch. They had written letters for her to read on the plane and exchanged contact details. She had been excited about moving back to the states with her family. Life had been full of possibilities and new experiences which she wanted to tell all her friends about. That had lasted a few weeks. Then came the slow drop off in communication as all the friends slowly forgot about her and moved on with their lives. She was no longer part of their immediate circle so she was irrelevant.

She had seen it happen over and over, and she knew it would eventually happen between her and Auggie. It would hurt less if she was the one who left first. At least then she wouldn't have to deal with waiting for him to lose interest in her as made friends in his new social circle. She couldn't handle slowly becoming less important to him.

"Annie, you're staring, I can feel the hair on the back of my neck standing on end." She wasn't sure how Auggie always seemed to know when she was staring at him but she knew what she needed to do as he continued speaking to her in a low, husky tone that gave her goosebumps.

"What's going on Annie?" His face turned towards her and his unseeing eyes seemed be focused straight into her soul. She closed her own eyes and took a deep breath. He would forget about her anyway, just like everyone else she had ever let close to her in her life. She let her breath out as broken words fell out of her mouth of their own volition.

"I can't do this Aug." she took a quick, sobbing breath, "I thought I could be strong enough, but I'm not." She stood up to leave, walked to his desk to pick up her handbag only to turn around and find him standing in her way. He looked bewildered, unsure why she was running away again, but unwilling to let her get away so easily this time. Without thinking she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to kiss him gently and sweetly. If one kiss was all she would get before she lost him she would take the pain it would cause her later. To her surprise after a second of shock he wrapped his arms around her back and kissed her back, hard, with an almost painful edge like he somehow knew that this was goodbye and she was breaking his heart by walking away.

She pulled back and pushed him out of her way, taking advantage of his temporary paralysis from shock and surprise to run out of the room for the second time in a week. What was it about this guy that scared her so much she couldn't be in the same room as him.

This time Auggie didn't try to come after her. He was stuck standing frozen in place, his long suppressed emotions in turmoil from one brief kiss. His heart was aching and torn from her words. Words he incidentally still could not make any sense of. What couldn't she do? Why didn't she think she was strong enough? She was the strongest person he knew. All he knew was that she was pushing him away and he had no idea why. He would respect her decision and let her have space since he seemed to be doing nothing but hurting her every time they were near each other. And if he was honest with himself the emotional roller coaster she was putting him through was enough to drive a stronger man than him crazy. Maybe space wouldn't be such a bad thing.

He swallowed hard. That kiss had sent feelings coursing through him that he hadn't felt since before he went blind. A thrill of adrenaline, fireworks, heat. Whatever you wanted to call the feelings they were there, and he could no longer ignore them. He just had no idea what he was going to do about them. Apparently he had time to figure it out though, Annie couldn't stand to be near him at the moment and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Did she care about him as more than a friend too? Her unthinking kiss would suggest the answer was yes. But she had been drinking, maybe she was just using him as her rebound guy from Ben. He couldn't get his hopes up. Besides, she was pushing him away as hard as she could and there was nothing he could do to force her to admit how she felt one way or another if she wouldn't even talk to him. This time she would have to come to him when she was ready.