Chapter 18: The Visitor

A/N: Thank you for the wonderful reviews! There have been some newcomers in the last few chapters, I hope you're enjoying my story! Keep those reviews coming! :D

Here she was, again, coming back to work. Only this time was so much more embarrassing because of what she and Auggie had done. She knew Joan wouldn't have told anyone but things have a way of making their way around this building so she was pretty sure that atleast some of her colleagues knew. Turning her head to face the man on her arm, Annie smiled.

Auggie couldn't have been more supportive or caring this last week. He was even overly so. He had insisted on doing practically everything for her, and to her surprise she had let him. It had felt nice to have someone take care of her for once. Plus, she did want to heal properly, if not for herself, then for her babies.

Babies. Was she ever going to get used that? They were having twins. She couldn't believe it. She almost hadn't until they had showed her the sonogram pictures in the hospital to prove it. Danielle had been ecstatic to find out that Annie was not only giving her one niece or nephew, but two. She'd had a lot of free time in the hospital whilst recovering, so she had made it a point to call her once a day and keep her informed.

Auggie had kept Annie informed as well. He had told her about the Alexei Belenko sighting. She had instantly became protective and wanted to know every update, every detail as it came in. Joan had given her snippets, just to placate her, but Annie knew she was holding back to keep her from worrying. The information they had managed to gather indicated that Belenko Jr. did indeed know about Auggie's escape and he was less than pleased. The working theory was he had come to D.C. to finish what he had started. This was all she currently knew.

"I can feel you staring, you know," Auggie said as he cocked his head in her direction.

"I can't help it."

Giving her that cocky grin of his, he replied, "I know. I'm just so damned sexy..."

Annie playfully slapped his shoulder. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered in his ear, "I love you, Auggie Anderson."

"I love you, too, Annie Walker. Ready for your third first day back at work?"

She giggled. "As ready as I'll ever be." Arm in arm, they strolled through the JCD to their shared office with confidence.

Annie was only assigned two operatives for the time being, until she could get the hang of the way handling worked. She had never known that Auggie handled so many at once. He had anywhere from 10-15 at one time. Yet, he had always managed to make her feel like she was his only priority when she was in the field and needed him. She wondered if that was just his talent or if had been because it was her.

They were several hours into their workday when she saw Auggie's head perk up. She looked up where he was focusing and saw Joan coming their way. Stopping what she was doing, Annie greeted her as she walked into the office.

"Afternoon, Joan."

"Hello, Annie, Auggie. How are you two doing?"

Auggie answered, "Well, you know Annie..." Annie pinched his leg. "Ow!" he yipped.

Joan allowed the barest of grins to touch her lips. "Listen, we've been getting some chatter on Belenko..." Both Auggie and Annie perked up and intently listened. "It sounds like he might be planning something to force you out of the woodwork, Auggie. We still don't know if he knows anything about you, Annie. Seems as if he's so furious that Auggie managed to escape death twice that he's making rash decisions. Otherwise, I'm not sure we ever would've known he was here. We still can't pinpoint exactly what it is he's planning, but whatever it is has his associates scared."

"Well, that can't be good." Auggie stated, simply.

"I'm going to double your tails just to be safe. Don't want another situation like Columbia again." Joan said.

Auggie nodded. Then, something caught his attention on his computer. "This can't be right..." he whispered.

Annie looked over his shoulder at his screen and saw something there she never would have expected. Staring up at a camera on the street, as if looking directly at her, was Eyal Lavin. That same moment, the phone on the desk rang. She picked it up.

"Walker."

"Good to hear your voice, Neshama." It was the sultry voice of Eyal.

"Eyal..."

"We need to talk. Meet me at the Jefferson Memorial. One hour." Click.

Annie looked up at Joan and Auggie's curious faces. "He says we need to talk."

"Annie..." Auggie began to protest.

She turned to him. "Auggie, he's a friend. If he's reaching out like this, it has to be serious. He's always been there for me. I have to go." She turned to Joan, imploring her to agree.

Joan sighed. "She's right, Auggie."

"Fine. I'm going with you." he said, flatly.

"No, Auggie. I need to do this alone."

"Why, Annie? Why do you have to do this alone?" His voice held a tinge of anger.

"Because I just do, ok?" She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "I'll be fine. I'm sure Joan will have atleast 6 people trailing me." Joan huffed her acknowledgement.

Auggie put his forehead against hers. "Just, stay safe, ok? Come back to me."

"I always will."

Just under an hour later, Annie was huddled in her winter coat sitting on the steps of the memorial. Eyal could see her sitting there, shivering. The last time he had seen her had been so... complicated. They had slept together. He had to admit to himself, he hadn't been completely surprised when he had awoke the next morning to find her gone. He had hoped that she would stay with him but he knew that he was not the one she really wanted, needed. He walked up behind her.

"Neshama."

She whipped her head around and looked at him. "Eyal..." she said as she stood.

"You look... good."

"Thanks...So do you." she said, awkwardly.

After a long silence, Eyal finally spoke. "Annie, I... I came here for business, but I also wanted to see you. The way things went down... they way it all happened, was all wrong. If I had known you would have ran off like you did, I never would have allowed us to... do what we did."

"It's ok, Eyal. It's done now."

He took several steps towards her. "No, it's not ok. You trusted me when you had no one else and I betrayed that trust. I never wanted to hurt you, Neshama. I... I love you." With those words he reached out, pulled her to him and pressed his lips against hers.

Across town, with his headphones on, Auggie heard every word Eyal had spoken. The voice in his ear told him every sickening detail right up to another man kissing the woman he loved. The woman who was carrying his children. He pulled the headphones off of his head and threw them across the room.