Hell Sent

I do not own Covert Affairs, or any of its characters. Happy late birthday Skipperdoodle. Iv lost track of all my favs and alerts, but I will still thank reviewers. Speaking of, heres my new rule. I will only post the next chapter when I get a review. No review, no new chappie. Sorry, but Im paranoid like that.

They sat together on his couch, his arms wrapped around her loosely. They were getting the 'hug' part of her requirements out of the way. She was curled up by his side, her head resting on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat was soothing to her soul. The sound of friendship, of safety. She was about to fall asleep when his voice came through the darkness, breaking through her warm cacoon.

"So, are you going to tell me? Or am I going to have to interrogate you?"

"How would you go about interrogating me?"

"Trust me, it would involve alot of alcohol, and I do mean alot."

She smiled faintly at the thought. "Well, I dont want to go through *that* sort of torture." she teased. Her smile faded as she turned serious again. "So what do you want to know?"

He paused knowing that the following discussion was going to be painful for her. He wondered if he was willing to make her relive that pain just so he could get some answers. After thinking for a moment, he realized that he knew from experience, that it would be painful but beneficial for her.

"Can you tell me who it was ?"

She shifted slightly, but didnt let him go. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes, not wanting to see the look of accusation in his.

"It was while we were at Fort. Riley, in Kansas. I was having a hard time making the transition, so my parents decided that it would be best to send me to a therapist. They hoped that he would help me adjust quickly." She buried her face in his chest. "He heped me alright. Right off a cliff."

Auggie said nothing. His blood was boiling, his heart rate was up,his breathing excellerated, all in all, he was pissed. How could that man do that to a little girl ? He waited till he got a grip on his fury before speaking." What about your sister ? Did she go to the same guy ? Did he hurt her to ?"

"No. She was the normal one. No problems picking up and leaving her friends at the spur of the moment. I was the strange one who kept bonding with people."

He shook his head."Don't talk like that. Your normal too. If anthing, your sister is the strange one. Its normal human practice to make friends and bond with people."

She rolled her eyes. "Nice try."

He smiled in spite of himself. She was always one step ahead of him. "Can you tell me what happened ?" he asked gently.

"I was a ten year old girl, locked in a room with a 30 year old guy. Thats what happened."

"Come on, Annie. Talk to me. I thought you trusted me."

She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. "I do, but are you sure you want to hear this? Its not a pretty story. I don't want you to think that you have to be my sounding board for everything. Its not your problem, its mine."

His eyes softened. That was Annie alright, always worried about other people first. He nodded."Yes. Annie. Im your friend, and its my job to listen to your problems."

She tilted her head, letting her hair fall into her eyes. "OK. It started out as talking. Like it was a real thereapy session. He asked me about boys, and if I had any questions about them. This led to kissing, then touching, then..." Her voice trailed off, too ashamed to continue.

"So, what hapened to him? To you?"

He felt her shrug like it had been no big deal. "He retired. We moved. Im not sure what happened to him."

"You didnt say anything about what happened to your parents? Did you tell them about what happened?"

" No. He warned me not t tell anybody. That people would say it was my fault."

"You do know he ws lying right?"

"I do now, but by the time I realized it, it was to late."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. He eventually slipped his arm around her and pulled her close again. He felt this need to hold her. He was also surprised by the fact that she hadn't started crying yet. Her only signs of distress were her muscles. He could feel that they were tense, like a tightly coiled spring. He thought back to when he lost his eyesight. To what his brother had done for him then.

"Hey Annie. Lets go spar." She sat up and looked at him as though he was nuts. "What?"

He rolled his neck on his shoulders. "Im feeling restless. Fight me. Unless your scared."

"Alright then. Where?"

He was surprised at her response. He had expected much more of an argument. "I have a work out room in back. Lets go."

Half an hour later, they were going at it like mad. She fought like she had the devil after her. "Come on Annie. I tought you better that that." he pushed. "Do you want to die? Because thats whats going to happen. Someone's going to come up behing you in the dark, and kill you. Don't forget, you are fighting for your life."

Annie's paused only slightly at that. Usually, Auggie wasn't this aggressive. Not like this. Suddenly, he took her one moment of hesitation and slapped her full across the face, then backing up a few feet to see what she was going to do.

Annie was shocked. Auggie never hit her. Not on purpose that is. Her mind raced. Maybe it was an was blind after all. Shaking it off, she approached him again. He ducked her swing, came up and slapped her again. WTF? She asked herself. Suddenly, he grabbed both of her wrists with one hand, and continued to slap her, punctuating each word with a slap.

"You *slap* need *slap* to *slap* pay *slap* attention. Watch *slap* what *slap* your *slap* doing!"

He pushed her back roughly and waited. He usually didn't mind being blind, but sometimes it really sucked. Like right now. He just knew that her cheeks were flushed, her hair was mess, and her eyes bright. He was willing to bet everything he owned that she was a sight to see. Pun not intended.

Menewhile, something inside Annie snapped. After telling him what had happened to her, he was treating her like this? With a primal scream she flew at him. He was able to catch both her wrists again before she did him any real damage. Annie fought like a tiger, but his grip was unbreakable. Gentle, but firm. He didn''t want her to hurt herself or him for that matter. She struggled like crazy untill suddenly it happened. She started to cry. Not just crying, but hysterically crying. Then she sagged against him weakly, as though her bones had turned to water. After what felt like forever, she finally started to calm down.

"Its ok Auggie. You can let go of me now. Im fine."

He gently released her. He slid his hands along her arms to her wrists to make sure he didnt bruise them. They were both fine. Maybe a slight friction burn, but other than that fine. She wrapped her arms around him, holding on tightly for support. He rubbed her back soothingly. He had been right. All she needed was to get rid of all her cooped up emotions. Finally, she took a deep shuddering breath and loked up t him. She was surprised at the look of pain on his face. Slapping her had apparently taken alot out of him. He really wasn't used to abusing his best friend that way.

"Im sorry." he whispered. "It was the only way I could think of to get you to release all your emotional pain." He gave her a lopsided smile. "My oldest brother did something very similar to me after my accident."

"It worked." a faint ghost of a smile crossed her face. "Thank you. All I needed was to have a real good cry, but you really didn't have to hit me that hard." He laughed. "Yeah, sorry about that, again." She laughed with him, and he knew he was forgiven. Together they walked back to the living room.

"So what happens now? I mean, what happens with us?"

He smiled at her softly. "We take it a day at a time. Thats all we can do."

This story combined with "Heaven Bound" threatens to become a full fledged story. If I get alot of positive feedback about it, I might post it a a totally seperate story. Next one, Auggie gets scary and Jai gets beaten.