EPILOGUE

Her light feet padded almost silently over the plush carpeting hugging her naked toes. In nothing more than a thin, white, men's dress shirt and dark panties, the faux-brunette smiled as she watched the only other human being in their secluded bungalow attentively focused on the oversized headphones over his ears and modified keyboard beneath his fingertips. As silently and lightly as she could muster, she tiptoed her way over to where the man sat typing away on his computer, and without giving him any indication that she was inches away, decided to plant a kiss on his neck.

The instant Auggie felt her warm lips on his skin he flinched in surprise but erupted in a smile that novels could rave about for decades. "Always the welcome distraction," he muttered smoothly in response.

"Hmmm…" she smiled as her lips moved slightly higher to just below his ear. She could feel his skin warming under her touch. "I was just admiring how enticing you looked over here all alone in this big bed, so focused on your computer and all the things I'd rather see you focused on." Her seductive words were almost a purr in his sensitive ears, and it made him want to swallow thickly. "What are you doing anyway? This is our last week in our private paradise and you're spending our makeshift vacation on a computer."

He smiled even wider. "Actually I was talking to Andrew Hollman from inside the DPD. They got an interesting package in the mail yesterday." He spoke the words with a mischievous smirk and Annie's eyebrow peaked in interest as her lips released his skin.

"Really?" She said almost surprised. She knew full well this had been the plan the two of them had worked out together, but she never anticipated for the department to process their delivery quite so quickly that she'd be hearing about it from the tech ops within 24 hours of delivery. "What did he say?"

"Not too many details, but it basically went something along the lines of a very strange flash drive was hand-delivered to the head of clandestine services yesterday morning, and by the time he was clocking out for the day, everyone's security clearance was changed for review. Everyone and anyone who ever worked personally with Henry Wilcox is under review with strict restrictions from coming within 500 yards of Langley walls, and they already arrested multiple individuals who fought to get him in his seat before you 'died'."

Annie couldn't resist the smile that stretched her face. It was over. After everything that man had put her through since Jai's death, it was finally over, and in eight day's time, she would be walking into Langley's front doors again, hopefully as a reinstated operative. It was finally over, and she felt like there was an ease in her chest as the weight of everything she'd fought through for the past two years was lifted.

"They're looking for him now," Auggie whispered this time.

Annie's smile fell slightly. "They'll never find him," she admitted in an equally low tone.

"I don't think they really intend too, and that's the important part." Auggie smiled in a way that made everything slow down for a moment. Feeling the strange foreign sensation of peace in her bones for the first time in two years, Annie silently moved the computer in front of her romantic partner's lap to the side, and gently removed his headphones from around his neck with a smile that matched his and told her it was acceptable to do so. Auggie felt her knee find the mattress on the other side of his lap and his hands instinctively reached out to around her waist as she straddled his lap, her arms around his neck in a playfully and yet loving manner.

"Have I actually told you enough times already how incredible you are?" Her voice was sultry and low, almost a purr.

He smirked. "The feeling is mutual." The smirk that graced his face almost seemed to glow a strange luminescence of pride in addition to something else the women in his lap couldn't quite put her finger on. Her hair, falling loosely around her shoulders tumbled behind her back in loose curls, the dark and dry brown dye fading and slowly blending into the warmer blonde tones underneath as her natural color began to finally get the chance to make a reappearance.

"A year ago I didn't know if I could do this in five years, let alone just under one," her warm voice softened so near his sensitive ears. Her thin fingers were unconsciously playing with the loose half curls that sprouted from the base of the back of his skull.

"I doubt I had much to do with that. I almost successfully derailed your entire mission in three days time, and then managed to almost get myself killed." As if to prove his point, he tightened and loosened a fist in his left hand, twisting his wrist slightly before letting his palms press back against her warm skin. The pale scars over his wrist and light one just along his brow were the only reminders now of all that had occurred those first few days and week that he had begun searching for her, and to his sightless eyes, even those were invisible now.

"No," she started simply. "Even Teo agreed before I found out you were out there. I needed someone with certain skills I didn't have and never needed before because I always had you." She watched Auggie's expression closely, and as the words sunk into his understanding his sexy smirk softened to something of mutual adoration and love. "Plus, I think I just needed a reminder that I wasn't alone in the world."

The smile Auggie Anderson wore remained strong, and further into the conversation his thumbs started fanning small circles and shapes along her skin in comfort. "One of these days or years, we need to find out how Teo ever even found out about me."

Annie smirked, and though the smile was lost to the blind man in her arms, it was almost like he just knew it was there and reciprocated with a widening of his own similar expression. "Well you know, on my first day at Langley, Joan told me if I was looking for clarity I was in the wrong line of work. I think there are always going to be more questions unanswered than information found."

Auggie didn't even hesitate to add on. "So long as you're with me, I can live with that."

Finally closing the small space between them, Annie let her mouth collide with his, arms tightening their hold on his neck to bring him closer, and his hands digging into her warm and soft skin of her sides as he pulled her closer himself.

It was the little moments like these, the small glimpses of peace and comfort and love and passion that made everything worth it. These moments were what made the past six months of his heartbreak worth it, and her six months of solitude worth it, and their six months of craving, crying, wanting and needing the other worth it. These moments were what made them remember why they were together in the first place, and as Annie pushed gently but strong enough on Auggie's chest until he let his body weight fall back into the pillows behind him before she reattached her hungry lips with his, she was remembering all those reasons just as well as he.

"Wait," he finally breathed in the haze of their heated moment. Their skin were getting hot, their very few layers of clothing were diminishing further, and as much as he hated to pause the moment his body was screaming at him to continue, he had another announcement to make, followed by a question.

"I told Joan that even if you come back to Langley, you didn't know yet if you were going to come back with the same name," Auggie's breathless and heavy voice spoke up. Annie sat up slightly, the open shirt around her otherwise naked torso lightly dragging across the naked skin of his chest as he breathed in heavily.

"I told you Auggie, I'm ok with resurrecting Annie Walker so I can get back to as normal a life as possible. The whole purpose of going dark was to get rid of Henry Wilcox. He's gone, I'm here with you, everything is back where it should be for the most part. I thought that's the life we decided we wanted to try?" She was perplexed by his initial announcement, but even more so by the strange expression that was on his face.

In his chest, Auggie felt like the pounding muscle pumping blood through his veins was just a few pumps away from pounding straight through his sternum and out of his body. He swallowed hard, not something he did often, holding back the nerves that crept up on him, an even more foreign sensation to the spy.

"That's not what I meant." Annie wasn't watching his hands until he had one up between them with something very small and very identifiable between them. Her breath caught in her throat as his fingers slowly popped open the small velvet box in his hands revealing the brilliant jewel within.

"Two years ago we talked about being married and in love for years, and I think somewhere along the way we skipped the ceremony and went straight into whatever that next step in a long-term relationship is."

Annie felt like the world had stopped spinning straight on its axis. He hadn't said it yet, but the realization of what was happening hit her like a meteorite, straight in the heart.

"I was hoping you might consider coming back as Annie Anderson."

He didn't have to ask, just as he didn't have to see the way her entire body just seemed to glow; he knew.

"Will you marry me?"

. . . . .

THE END

. . . . .

Author's Note:

*tear* Well, there you have it, the epilogue to Six Months Dark.

I really can not begin to describe how great it has been to write for you guys and see all your positive responses to every single update. Really, thank you. Special thanks to Epona3 for encouraging me to write this fiction in the first place, paixnouvelle for all the time you helped me catch those pesky plot bunnies along the way (especially through parts 3-5) and Marie King for being my biggest supporter here!

I hope you all enjoyed the ending. The first time I started writing this fic it was going to end with chapter 8, then before I even finished chapter/part 1, I wrote an epilogue (I always write the ending first!) and before I knew it Auggie was proposing to Annie. I don't know, it just took on a life of its own, lol. (But you guys should have had some hint since Barber did tell Auggie to marry her in part III. ;)

Anyways, I'd love to see your thoughts on the very ending of Six Months Dark. Make sure to check out my other Covert Affairs fanfiction, Timeline and the sequel collection of oneshots, Time Frame.

Lots of Love,

- Liz