The Morning After This...

[freshoffthefarm]

Annie had left her shoes in Webb's car and, as soon as she'd walked into the DPD, had been told that she was due to leave on a flight to Madrid. Knowing that Webb wasn't in his office yet, she left him a voice mail and prepared to leave.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, but she was still feeling a little awkward about the previous day's events. Well, a lot awkward. It was better to just leave, right? Right.

On the plane, she listened to Jai's chatter and nodded along when it was best for her and smiled as she could. In Madrid, the op went off without a hitch, her art knowledge coming in handy in the old city. Getting in, and then out, was no problem and the intel was handed off back at Langley two days later without a hitch.

After a debrief, she called up to Webb's office.

Comments

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

To say that Webb was surprised that Annie didn't stop by before she left or call his cell phone to say goodbye was surprising to say the least. He tried to get a line on DPD's water cooler gossip but he didn't have much luck. For the rest of the day he was just out of sorts.

During the rest of Annie's time away, he began to doubt pretty much everything about them. He knew that children were out of the question but did that mean they suddenly had nothing to talk about or to talk to each other at all?

When his desk phone rang, he answered without looking, "Webb."

[freshoffthefarm]

"Hey."

Her voice was quiet, but not nearly as intimate sounding as she usually was when she called up to his office in the middle of the day. Part of it was because of the way she'd left, and part of it was because she'd just spent seven hours on a plane. Another big factor in her return was measuring how he was taking her exit.

Since she hadn't said goodbye before she'd left, she wasn't sure if he was angry. "I'm back."

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

Clay was more miffed than angry, "I barely knew you left."

[freshoffthefarm]

"I know, I'm sorry." She sounded contrite, remorseful. "It happened so fast, you weren't in your office yet--" Her voice trailed off and she sighed. "And I wasn't sure how things had ended the night before, and I didn't want to take that with me as a distraction."

Now THAT he had to understand, right?

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

Clay wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, but he responded with "Alright".

[freshoffthefarm]

That was it? A simple 'alright'? Annie paused and then said, "Okay, well. I just wanted to tell you I was back. I'm on my way home for the rest of the day." As per usual. "You can, um. Call later, if you want."

It was so awkward and she wasn't sure how to fix it.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

Clay was trying to make the conversation less awkward. There was no reason for it to be, she thought she was pregnant, then found out she wasn't. Their relationship had no status change.

"Alright, I have a late meeting today." Which he said more as a point of information, "How did everything go?"

[freshoffthefarm]

"That's okay. If you just want to have lunch tomorrow or something..." She trailed off before clearing her throat and focusing on the second half of his question. "It went well. Nothing out of the ordinary, no bullets and no knives. Not even a punch was thrown."

Good humor was always a sign of things being normal, wasn't it?

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"That's good," he said by way of acknowledgment. Clay was happy she was safe and uninjured.

To him, it sounded like she didn't want him to come over, since she was so quick to suggest calling then lunch the following day, "Lunch sounds good."

[freshoffthefarm]

Annie nodded, though he couldn't see it, a long pause forming over the phone. Before it became too much more awkward, she said quietly, "I really am sorry that I just left. I was going to leave you a message, but the plane left and then things got really busy and then I was on my way back--" She paused again. "I love you."

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"I love you too, Annie." He really did, and he thought he might not ever stop even if this stopped. Annie was someone special to him.

[freshoffthefarm]

Since that didn't sound like much in the way of forgiveness and since she'd said all she could say on the matter, and the more he didn't say the more frustrated she got, she decided to end the conversation.

"Okay, well. Talk to you tomorrow." Pause. "Bye."

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"Bye." He replaced the phone in the cradle.

Clay picked up on Annie's frustration, but he wasn't quite sure why she was frustrated. He said he loved her. Wasn't that the right answer?

[freshoffthefarm]

Annie got out of the office on time, drove home without incident and then picked up the guest house with no problems. Seeing her sister wasn't an issue, either, and then she told Danielle that she needed two plates: one for her and one for Clay. Perhaps Danielle picked up on the undertones of Annie's request, because she didn't ask any questions or make a fuss.

Once she'd changed into her relaxing clothes, she pulled out a book and waited for Webb.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

At exactly six thirty five PM, Clay knocked on the door of Annie's guest house, bearing a bottle of wine and two cheap wine glasses. He briefly thought of sticking to plastic made him cringe.

He hoped this wasn't going to be as awkward as lunch earlier in the day.

[freshoffthefarm]

"Come in!" Annie called out as she stood and set the book back on the shelf before moving toward the door to help him with whatever he'd brought with him.

Taking the glasses, she shut the door behind him and smiled. "The food is at Danielle's. She did something fun with chicken and rice and..." She shrugged. "It's supposed to be pretty good. If you want to get comfortable, I'll go get it."

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"Alright." He set his bag, that was slung over his shoulder on the floor near Annie's closet, then took off his suit jacket and vest, draping them over the couch.

"Danielle's cooking is usually really good."

[freshoffthefarm]

"That's why one of us is the spy and the other one of us is the chef." Annie winked and ducked out the door, practically skipping across the courtyard and into her sister's house. It didn't take long to serve up two plates and, with a kiss to her sister's cheek, she was on her way back to the guest house.

Back inside, she set both plates on the counter and handed Webb a fork. "It's not the most romantic night out, but hopefully the fact that I'm already half-undressed makes up for it."

She was aiming for light-hearted.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

And light-hearted she got, as he responded with a laugh, "Annie, this is just fine. Really."

Clay did enjoy their quiet nights in. They were usually more special to him than the nights out they've had.

"Half undressed is a bonus."

[freshoffthefarm]

"I was hoping you wouldn't object." She lifted a plate and handed it to him, motioning toward the couch. "To the food or my bare legs."

She preferred their nights in by far, except for the fact that she enjoyed seeing him dressed up.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"I've never objected to either," he said as he took the plate and sat back on the couch.

Clay would be the first to admit that being dressed up had it's advantages, but being dressed like he was did too. Annie didn't completely lose out, at least he still had his suspenders on.

[freshoffthefarm]

One day, Annie was going to snap his suspenders, just because she could. Hopefully, it would be one day as she was leaving his office for something serious, too. She could imagine the look on his face and suddenly, she got a big smile on hers.

"I know," she said, trying to focus as she sat down on the couch and pulled her legs under her. "I was just trying to be polite."

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

Clay smiled back, Annie's smile was infectious.

"I know you know. I was just stating fact."

[freshoffthefarm]

"Eat your food or you're not going to get a chance," she said before taking a big bite and affecting a look of pure innocence.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

Webb nodded as his mouth was full and continued eating, pausing occasionally to sip his wine. The mood of the evening was decidedly more playful than he expected after this afternoon. Not that he was complaining.