Annie POV

I expected the awkward pause after my question; what I didn't expect was for it to hurt this much. Just knowing that he had to think a little bit longer whether or not he should still stay here even when his life was jeopardized instead of coming home was a reality check I never wanted to face.

Because the sad truth was what if he really loved her? What if loves her enough to stay with her even after what just happened?

"Annie, it's complicated. I don't know if Joan'll take me back after I just dropped off the grid like that," he began, his thumb was rubbing circles into the back of my hand, a gesture meant to comfort.

"You know she'll always have you, Auggie. It's your choice whether or not you come back," I told him truthfully, looking into the sightless brown eyes I loved.

"I want to," he whispered quietly, "even if it means finally facing reality."

I smiled, "So will you?"

"Would that make you happy, Ms. Walker?"

A playful smirk played across his lips.

I nodded, "Yes, Mr. Anderson, it would."

"Then, by all means, I will come back. Plus, I think you owe me a couple of coffees from starbucks dating back to oh . . . I don't know . . . four months ago?"

And just like that, it was like he had never left. We were back to joking around, the old hurt of being apart almost gone, but not quite. There was still a bit of this awkward conversation I hadn't yet thrown at him.

"Auggie," I began after we both stopped laughing, "what's the real reason you went? I mean I get that you were really thrown when your doctor called but you wouldn't run away from that. Plus, Parker would've came back so you knew you were sort of guaranteed a second chance . . . so why did you leave?"

There it was, the awkward air of silence hung between us once again.

I waited patiently for his answer, my side throbbing while the numbness slowly wore off from the pain medication.

"The real reason?"

I nodded, and surprisingly, he heard that too.

"I left, Annie Walker," he began, taking a deep breath, "because I finally realized that the one woman keeping me grounded and almost completely sane, would never return the feelings I have for her. After I got the call from the doctor, Parker called, and I took that as a sign from the universe that she was my second best. If I couldn't have the woman I love with my life, I can at least have a woman that I love with half my life. Make any sense?"

I swallowed against the lump in my throat, "Yes, it does."

"So I picked up what I needed and left. I thought I could truly be happy until said woman became the 'new translator' I was supposed to pick up. Then things got confusing again."

I laughed, my throat clogged up with tears. Could I have been so blind to not realize that the man that became my friend my first day at the CIA who shortly turned into my best friend, loves me?

"What I'm trying to say here, Annie, is that I gave up for once . . . I gave up on . . . us . . . when there wasn't even an us yet because I was too damn afraid that there would never be an us. Guess terminating our communication wasn't such a great way to go about it huh?"

"No, it wasn't," I told him, giving his hand a squeeze.

He smiled again, "But hey, I figured it out eventually. So Annie Walker, one of the most beautiful agents in the CIA, or so I'm told, what is your reply to my extremely long lecture of how mentally fucked up I am?"

I couldn't help it, I full on laughed, making my side ache and pins and needles shoot up my waist.

"I would say that for a guy that's known for being super intuitive, you're just the opposite. I love you, Auggie, I always have," I told him, a smile on my face.

"I don't know whether or not to say I love you back or to be offended that you basically called me the complete opposite of what I am. Ms. Walker, I'll have you know that I am super intuitive as you so awkwardly put it. But regardless," he paused, catching my eyes even though I knew for a fact he couldn't see me, "I want us to work, so let's take it slow, alright? See where this goes."

I nodded, I couldn't agree more.

Auggie POV

The faint shift in the air around us made me assume that she agreed, and smiled at her. I wanted to kiss her, but that would probably go against what I just preached about.

I heard a knock on the door and instinctively turned towards it, feeling content, finally.

"I don't mean to interrupt," that deep baritone, the faint smell of Old Spice; Jai.

"No it's fine," Annie automatically answered.

Foot steps approaching, and then the sound of a chair being scrapped back next to me; the smell of Old Spice got stronger, yup, definitely Jai.

"Annie, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. The morphine and the pain meds are starting to wear off though," she answered, surprisingly semi honestly.

I had been monitoring her breathing pretty closely and the sharp uneven intakes of breath made me take a guess that her wounds hurt a lot more than she was letting on.

"Maybe you should rest for a while, I'll go and get the nurse to come and give you your medication," Jai implied smoothly.

Subtly, his hand brushed against mine and tapped out in Morse code, SOS.

"No, it's fine, really," she tried to reassure him, but it was obvious part of her agreed.

"Jai's right actually. I shouldn't have stayed that long," I chimed in, my hand trailing up her wrist and onto her shoulder, resting on her cheek. I leaned in and gave her a soft, barely there kiss, and stood up.

I took the silence from her as my way out and let Jai lead me out of the room. I found the door's handle and shut it softly.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice low.

"No, not here," Jai whispered, and lead me down a flight of stairs, turning sharp corners until more voices floated around us.

"Where are we going?" I asked, I hadn't memorized the layout of the hospital yet, considering I was strapped down to a bed for the most part.

The swift woosh of the gates opening signaled that we were headed outside of the hospital.

"There's a cup of coffee at your 10 on a table, chair is at your 9, sit down and have a few sips, I'll join you shortly."

With that said, Jai's hand quickly left my elbow as if it were on fire. I did as I was told; it was either listen to the arrogant bastard and figure out what the hell was going on. I knew the sense of peace wasn't going to last.

After a few minutes of taking sips from the now cold coffee, I heard the chair in front of me being pulled back.

"Napkin is at your three o'clock, inside is a flash drive Joan took the liberty into mailing over to us."

I stealthily took the napkin and slid the flash drive up my sleeve, using the napkin to wipe my mouth.

"Anyone out here?"

"Nope just us, but you can never be too careful," Jai replied, clearing his throat.

"How deep are we in?"

There was a pause, "Too deep to back out now, Anderson."

Annie POV

The kiss, if you could even call it a kiss, still left me breathless, wide-eyed, and shocked to the bone. Did all of this just happen in a few minutes? There's no way; my brain just simply couldn't process it all.

Auggie and I were together; after all those months being apart and wishing that he was back at my side, he was mine. Not just my best friend, but potentially mine for the keeping.

Yet, underneath that happiness, there was a sense of dread; this isn't over, that sly voice said, no, Annie, this is far from over. A group targeted Auggie; why, you still have no idea. Plus there was the way Jai suddenly appeared and then just as suddenly left with Auggie . . . they had plans to discuss, probably.

"Excuse me, Ms. Walker? I have your pain meds," a smiling nurse whispered and handed them to me along with a glass of water.

I swallowed them dry, taking cautious little sips of the water, hoping that everything was going to alright . . . but of course it wasn't going to be.