Joan POV

I hung up the phone, a sense of finality and unease settling over me. Of course, as if a rat drawn to cheese, Arthur picks up on it.

"This isn't your fault."

He pegged me with a stare, not a cold one, but loving, his eyes sparkling slightly.

"I know that. I just can't shake the feeling that there was something I should've done but didn't do," I began, flipping through the files stacked up on my desk until I found Annie and Jai's mission. It was simple, most of it blacked out, but from what I could digest, the risk level was extremely high.

"Put it behind you, we both know that Annie won't flat line on the operating table, hell will freeze over when she gives up."

"How do you know her so well?"

He leaned in closer, and whispered in my ear, "Because she is just like you when you first joined the agency. You never gave up, and I would bet my job and my right hand on the fact that Annie won't give up."

I smiled as he pressed his lips against my cheek.

"Don't you have work to do, Ms. Campbell?" He asked, his tone teasing.

I shoved him off my desk with a smile on my face as he walked out the door, tossing me a grin as he walked out.

No matter what he said, I knew that there was a reason this happened, that it wasn't a coincidence that Auggie was targeted. I would find out, after all, Arthur did say that I never gave up easily and he was right. I wouldn't give up until I knew the reason why this happened.

Auggie POV

"How is he doing?"

"They had to sedate him, he wouldn't listen to what any of us said and kept trying to get out of the door."

A wry chuckle, "Sounds like Auggie. Any major injuries?"

"A sprained ankle from all the running and a little bit of dehydration; otherwise the nurses told me that he was fine."

The voices floated into my semi-consciousness, half of my brain still blurred from the sedative they had given me.

Never the less, I tried to piece the voices together; the first one had been Jai, that wasn't too hard, his sarcastic tone and faint scent of Old Spice gave it away. The second one, female, was unmistakably Parker.

Parker? What was she doing here? Shouldn't she be on the helicopters back . . . Before I could finish my thought, the events of what might've been a few hours or even a few days ago flashed across my mind. Annie, bleeding out, her blood slick against my hands, the sharp sound of bullets flying, shells landing, explosions, suffocating heat . . . a fresh new hell.

I forced my sightless eyes open, and opened my mouth, swallowing a few times.

"Annie," it came out as a dry croak, "Where is Annie?"

I heard the scrape of a metal chair against tile, and the scent of adrenaline mixed with Old Spice hit me.

"Auggie, you need to rest. The doctor and nurses said your stress levels are way to high."

"Jai," I cleared my throat, "is she . . . is she alive?"

I waited for an answer, partially sitting up and leaning against my elbows, ready to charge right past him even though I had no clue where the hell the door was.

He didn't answer, and I felt the tension in the room increase, if it were even possible.

"She's not . . . no," I whispered, horrified, "she isn't dead?"

That last part came out below a whisper, almost inaudible.

"Annie isn't out of surgery yet," Jai told me, his hand coming to rest on my forearm, "Damn it, lay back down," with that said, he gently pushed me back down.

"She'll be alright, she has to be," I whispered, trying to convince myself more than Jai.

"She gave her life for us."

I turned my head towards that voice; Parker. I had almost forgotten that she was still here, my emotions were running so high that my thoughts were clouded with Annie.

"She was so brave too . . . she didn't once say that it hurt when it looked like it did . . . a lot . . . "

Her voice trailed off, and I heard her sniffle softly. I mentally sighed, shoving part of my walls back up, she needed me to help her through this. It was obvious that she was going into shock.

"Jai, can I have a minute?"

There was a beat of brief silence, "Yeah sure. I'll be right outside if you need me."

As soon as I heard the door close, I turned towards Parker.

"Listen to me, this was her choice, it wasn't your fault, do you understand that, Parker?" I dredged up my old Spec. Ops confidence, and hoped that I sounded convincing.

"But if we had all moved just a little bit faster she wouldn't be -

"No matter which way you look at it, she would be hurt. Parker this isn't your fault, Annie knew that this was a possibility, and she chose to do this. You have to forgive yourself for something you never meant to happen, it wasn't your fault to begin with."

There was a small measure of silence.

"There was so much blood," she whispered quietly, "it was like straight out of a horror movie, and the sound of bullets ricocheting off of the helicopters it was terrifying."

I slowly slid my hand over the bed and caught hers, squeezing it tightly, "I know. I also know that you'll get through this and Jai probably has a plane ticket waiting for you. The best thing for you to do is go back home and try and live past this. It won't be easy, but it's not impossible either. I'm here if you need me."

I could almost feel her looking me up and down, "Auggie, someone else needs you so much more than me. Don't throw that chance away."

Annie POV

I felt as if I were floating along in the sky, weightless, painless, just sweet freedom encircling me in it's sweet embrace.

There were no more bullets, no more missions, no more stress, and above all, no more heart ache. Everything, for once, was perfectly fine and sweet.

I tried to open my eyes and look around me, but to my dismay, there was nothing there, it was as if I were caught in limbo.

How did I get here? I wondered, trying to turn but ending up staying in one place. I thought hard, making myself try and remember the past, only to come up with horrifying images of blood, and screams of terror.

I winced at the memory, but felt as if those memory weren't mine . . . they were someone else's. I saw myself, running across a desert landscape towards a helicopter, sprinting as if my life depended on it . . . did my life depend on it? I couldn't remember. Suddenly, I saw a bright glimmer of metal sail through the air and my eyes went wide as it entered her, my, body. I heard the muffled scream of agony, I saw her stop for a second and then continue her dead sprint.

I felt bad for the girl, so much pain, so much death was happening all around her. Then,

by some miracle, she managed to get to the helicopter and a man pulled her in; dark skinned, hard brown eyes, his image was blurry, but I could make out the distinct features that were Jai.

I watched as Jai tried to stop the flow of crimson blood but watched with my mouth wide as it poured out of my body in rivers. Then, another man, this one with soft brown eyes, darting back and forth in panic, a lean body, and a light tan, pushed him aside. Those eyes were sightless, I realized, but when they landed on my body, I felt a fire spark within me.

Suddenly, his image cleared and I was able to make out who he was; Auggie. August 'Auggie' Anderson, head of tech ops, my best friend, love, and mentor, all rolled into one. Days of flying around the world with him whispering in my ear, nights of hanging out at the bar, just laughing, filtered through my mind.

Auggie. I looked around, shaking myself out of the war zone, and back into where ever here was . . . I had to get back to where they were, I had to get back to where Auggie was.