A/N Slightly filler-y but Annie has some things that she needs to work through. And I wanted to show how Auggie's decision to wait for her to come to him is affecting her. Don't worry though, I fully support Augnie so stick with me ;)

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. At all.

Chapter 7

Annie went home and curled up in a ball holding her stomach as if by hugging herself tight enough she could keep her heart from shattering. She finally let the tears she had been holding in fall. She knew she should have been stronger. She may have just destroyed her friendship with Auggie but she couldn't take it anymore. She was in love with him and there was no way she could keep pretending not to be. Why had she kissed him? What was she thinking? Ugh. He had to know how she felt about him now. For a guy who loved a challenge so much that was probably the kiss of death, game over, there was no way he would be interested in her now. She was completely humiliated and disgusted at herself. She had practically thrown himself at him like some drunken co-ed at Allens.

Maybe she could ask for a transfer to a long-term op overseas. At least then she would get some real space from him. Maybe somewhere warm, by a beach. Just not one in Sri Lanka. Running to another country had always been the way her family had dealt with adversity. It really was a fail proof way to avoid awkwardness and embarrassment. Unfortunately the flip side of her rootless upbringing was that she had nowhere that felt like home. She didn't have any close girl friends other than her sister Danielle to turn to when her heart was breaking because all the people she had grown up with were scattered around the world.

He had kissed her back though. It had felt amazing, something she would remember the rest of her life. But it didn't make any sense. He was probably just caught off guard. And really, what red-blooded male is gonna refuse to kiss a girl who's plastered herself on him anyway. Let alone the serial womanizer Auggie Anderson. It was purely a physical response. Any other possibility was just far too confusing to consider.

She got up and wiped off her now panda-esque make-up and took a deep breath in front of the mirror, trying to compose herself. She had promised herself when she moved in with Danielle that she was going to try to start working through her issues instead of running from life when it got hard. She was young, single, and attractive. She had a job people would die for and had guys drooling over her in any of at least ten countries. She should not be sitting at home feeling sorry for herself just because one guy wasn't head over heels for her. She owed it to herself to keep her chin up, walk back into work looking gorgeous, and make Auggie realize what he was missing. Or at least find some way to forget about his existence. Which should be easier since he wouldn't be spending anytime on her floor anymore.

In fact, maybe there was a way to regain her broken pride and assure Auggie she wasn't attached to him. Jai had been asking her to go on a date with him since his first day in the DPD. And him and Auggie had always had some tension. It would definitely get Auggie's attention if she finally agreed to go out with his arch-rival, even if just as friends.

She shook her head at herself in the mirror and laughed slightly. She couldn't do that, she wasn't 14 anymore, using someone to make a guy jealous was childish and immature. Although when Jai had rescued her from the Ukraine on that motorbike she had noticed that his muscles actually felt rock solid. He was good looking and charming. One date couldn't hurt could it? Who was she kidding, she couldn't use Jai as a rebound guy.

No, it was time to focus on herself, learn how to truly be content and settled in one place. Maybe she would invite some of the girls from work to hang out tomorrow. That would be a healthy choice. If anything this experience was making it clear that her life was unbalanced and she definitely had some unresolved grief that she needed to work through before she would be able to be in a healthy relationship with anyone. She needed to to work through her past and she now had the time and opportunity to do that.

As she went back to bed and curled up again the ache in her heart continued throbbing at the edges but she knew she was going to be strong enough to face tomorrow whatever it might bring. There had to be a way through all this pain, and she was going to find it. Even if Auggie never noticed her, she would become a healthier person by working through her past. He had merely been the trigger.

She made it through the next day. And the next week. Apparently the news of a breach between her and Auggie had traveled quickly because Conrad was flirting with her more than normal. Or perhaps Joan had just ordered him to in order to boost her damaged ego. Jai was in fact being suspiciously..nice. Not smarmy, just friendly. In a healthy, boundary-respecting way. That was new. He had been stopping by her desk every once in a while just to bring her coffee or have a few minutes of witty and carefree conversation. She didn't let herself waste any brain space trying to understand the change in the handsome suit-wearing CIA legacy.

Instead she threw herself into translations at work, kept a smile on her face, went out shopping with Bea, and actually enjoyed spending time with the guy Danielle tried to foist on her at Thursday night dinner. But when two weeks went by and she still hadn't heard from Auggie her strength started to fade. Why hadn't he at least called to see if she was okay after the way she had run out on him the other night. She looked him up on google news and was greeted with photo after photo of him with a gorgeous blonde in a purple dress the night before at a congress mixer. Well, that explained why she hadn't heard from him.

She stopped by Jai's desk on her way out that evening.

"This is by no means a date, but I do need a friend right now, so I'm gonna take you up on that invite for drinks – are you free tonight?"

"For you? Anything, anytime." Jai smiled at her. Genuinely smiled, not a smug smirk. Again with the odd behavior. But she still wasn't questioning it. She wasn't lying when she said she needed a friend. Even though her heart was broken, what was hurting the most was the loss of her best friend. She needed someone to talk to. That wasn't selfish was it?