A/N This is for those of you who were getting ready to start throwing tomatoes at Auggie if he didn't get his act together soon ;)

Disclaimer: Dreams are free. TV shows are not. I don't own it.

Chapter 15

When she heard her phone ringing the next morning Annie answered it without bothering to look at the caller ID, praying that it would be Auggie. It wasn't. Instead it was the British diplomat she had met at the fund-raising gala the other night. David. 6'3, built like an Abercrombie and Fitch model, with a British accent. He had been sweet and charming the whole evening. Intelligent conversation too, he could keep up with her. If her heart wasn't so shattered there might even be a chance of a future with him. He was calling to ask if he could take her out for dinner.

She didn't have any reason to say no, other than the knowledge that she was less than whole. But maybe he could be healing for her. She'd tried everything else to get over Auggie. At some point she was going to have to start dating again. She just wasn't ready yet.

"David, you're great, but I have to be honest, I had my heart broken recently and I'm really not date material right now. Can we do the whole friends thing?" At least he would know where they stood, he wouldn't be able to blame her if she never got over Auggie. She wasn't lying to anyone. And maybe a date would be fun. His accent was kind of sexy. All British, consonants dropping out all over the place. She loved listening to his voice. She tuned back into the conversation,

"You're definitely worth having as a friend. Lets keep it casual then, drinks tonight?" Drinks. Now he was speaking her language. She smiled with genuine contentment.

"You know what, that actually sounds really great." She wasn't lying, or even trying to convince herself that she would have fun. This guy was someone she was excited about getting to know.

"Cool, I'll pick you up from work? The Smithsonian right?" Yeah. Not quite. But of course he could never know that. Occupational hazard.

"Actually can you just send me the address for the bar and I'll meet you there, I've got a few errands I gotta run first." Close enough to the truth for her conscience to feel okay.

"Done. See you tonight Annie." He hung up. He had taken that better than she expected. Most guys didn't even want to try being just friends. But he had been so sweet about it. It was nice to be able to be direct and honest with someone about something. Even if it was something small like having a broken heart. She turned on dance music and got ready for work looking forward to the day ahead for the first time since the rooftop with Auggie.

That is, until she arrived at work to find Auggie perched on the side of her desk with two large cups of coffee. Suddenly everything good about her day drained out of her and all that was left was utter exhaustion. She didn't have the energy to go another round with Auggie today. She had had enough of fighting with him.

"Auggie...what do you want?" She sat down at her desk ignoring the proffered coffee. He got the message and placed the coffee down on her desk. Relations between them were way past the stage of being solved by him bringing her a cup of coffee.

"I want to apologize." She wasn't sure an apology was going to fix things either but at least this was an improvement on him making her cry.

"For?" There was such a long list of ways he had hurt her recently, she was curious as to what he would choose to apologize for.

"Well, I was thinking I'd start with apologizing for waking you up in the middle of the night." He clearly had no idea of the damage he had caused. Waking her up in the middle of the night was the first thing he had done right in the past few weeks. At least he had finally let her see that he still cared about her. Out loud though, she merely stated facts.

"You are aware that that's the least hurtful thing you've done to me in the past month, right?" He squeezed his eyes shut and ran his hand through his hair.

"Yes. I am very much aware of that, I'm just...slightly nervous right now and I thought I'd start off with the small stuff and work my way up from there?" Okay. Maybe he did know how much he had hurt her. Good.

"I'm listening." Intently, in fact. She was hanging on to his every word. He looked so gorgeous sitting on her desk in his gray sweater which was just fitted enough to outline his muscles in all the right places. She wasn't sure what she actually wanted to hear from him though, or if anything he could have to say would be enough to fix the damage between them. Part of her wished he would kiss her. She shoved that part of her in a box and locked it away.

"Look, Annie, I've been way out of line in the way I've treated you lately. You are a highly capable and intelligent woman and I should have respected you enough to let you make your own decisions about the risks you want to take with your own safety instead of going all cave-man on you and trying to protect you against your will." Maybe he did have one or two brain cells left in that brain of his.

"Yeah. You should have." Oh, there it was, the pent up anger she had been pushing aside. Did he really think he could just apologize and everything could go back to the way it was? No. Too much had happened for that to be an option.

"I was scared. Scared of you getting hurt and it being my fault." His face pleaded with her to understand where he was coming from. It was weird, not being able to read each-other's emotions and thoughts. They had been so close before that they could communicate with the slightest touch or laugh. Now though, there was a distance between them, both of them had put up walls to protect themselves while they healed.

"That's a risk I take every morning when I get up and come to work Aug. I chose this lifestyle. Danger comes with the territory." She didn't know how to make him understand how she felt about him, she would gladly risk her life every day if it meant she got to be with him.

"I know, and I understand that. Look, Annie...I've been having nightmares of your getting killed in the explosion that killed my whole unit the minute I let you get close to me. And I tried to calm myself down but it wasn't until I heard your voice on the phone last night that I realized that the only way my fears were going to go away would be if I let you in and faced the fears head on." Finally, he was getting to the core of his actions. Too little too late, but it was nice to at least know why he had pushed her away.

"So again, Auggie, what do you want?" His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he simply said,

"Your friendship." That was not the answer she had been expecting. She wasn't quite sure what she had thought he would say. Something along the lines of telling her that he still loved her and couldn't live without her. Becuase then she could reject him point blank and they would be even. But friendship - she couldn't say no to that, and her heart actually sank slightly at his answer. The rebellious part of her heart still loved him and wanted him to love her.

"Let me get this straight. You want my friendship back, nothing else? Just wanting to be clear on where exactly we stand." Auggie frowned. He wasn't quite sure what angle her words were coming from. Was she not willing to be friends? Or was she upset that he wasn't asking her to be his girlfriend. He didn't want to try to jump into a dating relationship with her until they had their friendship back on track, they had a lot of things they needed to work through before they would be able to begin a healthy relationship. So yes. For now, he wanted her friendship. He hoped that she would be willing to give it another chance.

"Yes. You're my best friend and I miss you a lot. Can I, please, have your friendship back?" Annie laughed, he sounded like he was going to get down on one knee and beg if she said no. The puppy dog look in his eyes was impossible to resist.

"Fine. Okay. I accept your apology and we are officially back on speaking terms." Relief flooded his face and he broke into a smile.

"Do I get a hug?" His grinned at her, so carefree and delighted that it was like she had her old Auggie back. She wanted a hug desperately, and almost gave in, but she didn't trust herself not to burst into tears if he touched her. It was better to keep her defenses up for now.

"Don't push it. I'll talk to you later Aug." He left her office with a grin on his face. It was a start.