Full Circle P11
"Are you sure?" Annie asked as she looked down at him.
Auggie wasn't sure if she was concerned about his injury or their tenuous reconciliation, but he felt pretty confident they needed this so he nodded slowly. He used his hands to find her hips and flipped her off of him and on to her back.
"So sure," he spoke against the skin of her rib cage as he kissed a path towards the one small piece of fabric in his way.
Despite the late hour and the evidence of his own desire, Auggie appeared to be in no hurry. Annie arched under his lips, her mind wandering back to the last time they did this. The contrast of that near-violent encounter and this was night and day. Annie was not discounting the pleasure of that evening in her hotel, in fact she had replayed that scene a few lonely nights in Budapest for her own enjoyment. This though, this was different.
This was a conversation, not like the one they had earlier in the day, but like a communication of their souls. His lips spoke verse over her skin, her body echoed a response.
Annie had watched Auggie orient himself to surroundings before, new places required careful evaluation, but even familiar places change and she saw him notice the changes in her body, the different muscle groups she developed swimming and the new scars she racked up in her hunt for Henry. He took his time to orient himself to her body again.
She tried to keep her vocal response low, a sigh here and a gasp there, never wanting to break the hold he had of her, but finally his name came forth in an involuntary keening sound . It was his undoing, after seemingly hours of gentle touching and kissing he worked his way feverishly back up her body and captured her mouth with his own, swallowed all her want.
She reached for him then, both of them more than ready. He moved to roll them over, but she held him there.
"I can't put that much weight on my arm," he said reasonably.
"Then don't," she replied as she swept his arms up and around her neck, let his whole body rest on top of hers, taking all of his weight.
It didn't give him much leverage, but neither of them really needed much more by then. Annie clung to him as tightly as she could and just said "I love you" over and over in his ear until he fell to pieces in her arms. Even then when he moved to roll off of her she held on fiercely.
He felt her try to fill her lungs with air, heard her breath hitch.
"Please don't cry," he whispered.
She nodded.
"We're good," he promised.
***555***
Annie slipped out of the bed against her will very early the next morning. She showered at Auggie's and threw on enough of her previous day's suit to make it to her car. When she emerged from the bathroom he was awake, although still naked and in bed.
"It's so early," he lamented.
"I know, I have to go back to my place and change," she explained.
"Your place," he said the 2 words with thinly veiled disgust.
"I'll pack a bag today?" her voice fell somewhere between a question and a statement.
He turned a smile toward her that nearly buckled her knees.
"Last night was…." He trailed off.
Usually a man struggling to find words in this situation is a bad thing as he reaches for a synonym for the word 'mistake'. The look on Auggie's face though was reverent, almost sacred. She went to him, took his face in her hands and kissed him so softly she heard him whimper at it.
"I've never felt like that Auggie, I've never felt that loved," she whispered in his ear and had to hold strong when he tried to tug her back to bed.
"Can't you call in sick?" he asked as he pulled her closer and pressed his face to her stomach.
"Well, I missed 6 months of work being dead, so I think I am out of sick days," she tried for a joke but felt him tense under her hands.
"Too soon?" she smiled down at him and he nodded against her body.
***555***
Auggie's phone rang at 2:00 pm.
"Hey," she said happily but businesslike.
"Hey," he replied happily and less businesslike.
"Do you feel well enough to come in for a meeting?"
"Sure, I am itching to get out of here, I am even willing to go to a meeting."
She chuckled. "OK, I am sending a car for you in 30 minutes," she reported. "Put some pants on," she finished and hung up.
Auggie hopped off the couch, he had pants on but they wouldn't quite do for a meeting at Langley. He kind of missed dressing for work, so found a nice outfit, vest and all, and headed to the bathroom.
His efforts in getting ready were instantly rewarded when he stepped off the elevator at Langley and Annie inhaled sharply.
"You look nice," she said as she offered him her arm.
"A man can only wear sweat pants for so many days in a row."
"I'll reward you for your efforts later," she smiled and watched the slightest blush creep into his cheeks.
They made it to the DPD and a chorus of "Auggie!" greeted them as various staffers noticed his return.
"You have 20 minutes, I'll come get you for the meeting," Annie informed him as she left him in his office with Barber and team excited to see him.
***555***
"So we have determined Syria had six moles in Abishek's administration, including Tazik who attempted to assassinate our informant in the incident that resulted in Operative Anderson's injury. All six are now in Turkish custody, Abishek is immensely grateful and our informant is still covert," Nick finished his report.
"Excellent work Gallster," Calder said to the gathered crowd of: Joan, Annie, Auggie, Barber, Millie and some guy from Asset Management Nick didn't even know.
"Walker did most of the research, Sir," Nick gave Annie her due credit.
"She is a bit of nerd," Calder smirked her way.
Nick was shocked at the flippant remark but the majority of the people in the room were smiling, so he assumed they were all close enough to joke.
"Auggie actually found the initial ties in his work at home while recovering from a gunshot wound, that is why I wanted him here today," Annie passed the credit along.
Auggie looked to her with a question on his face.
"The hotel receipts and the banking information was a matrioshka of hidden intel, one inside the other. I just unravelled it after you found it," Annie shrugged.
"I didn't think we had anything there," Auggie stated with modesty.
"Once you figured out the alias he used and found the reservation I was able to back trace several purchases made with different aliases, eventually cross-checking surveillance footage I noticed they were different people and knew we were looking at a larger network, it came together after that."
Auggie had to grip the edge of the table to prevent himself from launching at her and making out with her in front of all these people. His Annie was back, not the Annie of the past year drowning in rage, but his real Annie the brilliant Operative that he had fallen in love with.
Nick looked on amazed and Barber grinned.
"Dude, they are always like this. Annie says she saw a guy in a green polka dot tie and in minutes Auggie has the names and photos of every person in a 600 mile radius wearing a green polka dot tie. Or he will repeat a word from a surveillance tape and she'll know it is the colloquial word for bomb in some rare eastern European dialect. They are like a really good looking Rain Man," Barber finished with a snort.
"OK, everybody back to work, except Auggie who is still on house arrest for 2 more days," Joan stood to indicate the meeting was over.
Auggie was working up a head of steam to fight for the afternoon in the office when Annie interjected, again knowing where best to take the conversation.
"How about Auggie do his physical therapy here today while I finish up," she offered the compromise.
"Fine, but I don't want to see you at your desk," Joan mothered.
The room cleared leaving Annie and Auggie alone.
"Take it easy in the gym, I have a few reports to finish and file and can meet you down there and run through your regimen."
"I won't overdo, I was actually hoping we could start substituting my therapy with some alternate activities," he whispered in her ear.
"I'll be happy to restructure your strength and flexibility exercises to a more intimate setting, you still need to rebuild your cardio endurance, start on the treadmill and I'll be down within the hour," she kissed his cheek and then wiped away her lip gloss tenderly.
TBC…
Note: Only 1 more chapter guys, Thursday will be the end of this story….and I have absolutely no idea where I am going from this fic…. For the first time in 18 months of writing for CA I have no ideas.