freshoffthefarm | [Dinner]

This time, Webb brought his own car to Annie's. He'd had just enough of the Focus. He couldn't imagine how people use those things as their primary vehicles.

He walked back to the guest house to get Annie wearing his favorite black suit. He did opt for different tie than his usual diagonal striped choices. He also came prepared, since an answer of 7.6 made him a complete asshole, he brought an "I'm sorry" Purple rose.

Webb knocked on her door again and really hoped she didn't have second thoughts about all this and decide to stand him up.

Opening the door, Annie gave Webb her usual smile and it softened when she saw the rose.

She wanted to be angry with him, she really did. Not because his answer had hurt her feelings so much as it had been embarrassing. She'd assumed he'd been judging her or their kiss and it hadn't sat well with her. Finding out that it was based on the Richter scale wasn't much better, but she understood it more.

"Come in," she said. "I'll grab my purse."

He stepped inside a little more at ease than he thought he had any right to be, considering what happened earlier, "I made the reservation for 8:30. We should have enough time to get there..."

The flower went into a slender glass, something that would have to pass for a vase until she could grab one from her sister's house. Smiling at it, she turned and nodded as she lifted her purse and motioned toward the door.

"I'm ready."

He took her arm and led her out to his car and helped her in. Webb can be a gentleman if he wants to, and figure Annie deserved it after the mess he'd made earlier.

He got in the drivers side and headed off to the little Italian place a little closer to Alexandria. It did fit the requirement, no valet parking.

She was impressed with the restaurant. No valet parking - she hadn't been sure that Clay knew how to park a car in a space that wasn't near the front door, so she was pleasantly surprised.

Taking his arm as they walked, she felt the butterflies settle in. Talking in a public place, however, was going to be much better than doing it privately.

Webb came here a lot, as evidenced by the maître d's familiar greeting. He led them to the back table with a clear view of the door to the restaurant, and the kitchen. Webb took the seat facing the door.

"How am I doing so far?"

Annie took it all in: the quiet atmosphere, the ambiance in the lighting, the way he made sure he could see the exits at all times. Once she was seated, she smiled at him. He was trying so hard, it was obvious. "You're fine, Clay."

She sighed and leaned forward, about to comment further when the waiter stepped forward and offered the wine selection.

Webb picked a bottle of wine, a lighter red that should go well with anything they ordered.

"That's good to know." At least he could still manage to take someone out to dinner without screwing it up. Although the night was still young.

Obviously, the conversation had to wait until after they'd ordered and Annie found herself nattering on about something inane regarding her niece until the waiter had walked away a second time. By then, her nerves had taken over again and she took a long drink of wine to calm herself.

Focusing her gaze on the man sitting across from her, it was hard to separate him into the different men she'd seen: the agent, the man in the folder, the man on the beach and the man in her house. Combining him into one person wasn't easy.

"So."

"So....this is complicated."

Someone once told him he was a fascinating man when he wasn't drinking, and since he decided to cut back on the alcohol consumption, he just took it to mean he was a fascinating man. He assumed it was because he had all of these facets to himself that he kept separate for a myriad of reasons.

"Right. Very complicated."

He'd said he liked complicated, but she wasn't sure what that meant. So, she decided to go first. "I liked spending time with you at Manderly. Swimming, breakfast, watching you try and put on suntan lotion..." She smiled and ducked her head. "You were a different person outside of DC. Then seeing you that night, what happened-"

She shook her head. "That's when it got complicated."

"Events like that, always make things complicated," he signed before continuing, "I could have come up with any other number of ways to handle that, and I didn't."

That wasn't much of an excuse, but it was something. He shouldn't have done that, "You were in an interesting position, you managed to see two parts of who I am that rarely intersect with one another."

"It probably would have been less complicated if I hadn't gone to your house and had a truth or dare conversation with you about it afterward." She gave him a look that clearly said she understood why he'd done what he had. "If I'd gone home alone, or even stayed to talk to Joan, I don't think it would have been as bad. Kissing you wasn't the complicated part. Hearing you say you wanted to do it again was the complicated part."

Annie took a deep breath and another drink from her wine glass. "What happened at my house was complicated, too. But I liked seeing you that way, Clay. I liked it a lot."

He nodded and took a long drink from his glass. Webb was never one for these kinds of conversations.

"So would you have considered this outside of what happened the other night?"

Webb supposed that's what he wanted to know more than anything else.

"I was considering it when I thought you worked at the State Department and stepped on grenades in your free time," she told him quietly, her gaze locked on his. She sat back in her chair and tilted her head to watch his reaction to her confession.

If there was a right answer during all of this, that was it. The tension in Webb's shoulders seemed to go away after that. "I didn't step on the grenade, so much as it was hurled in my general direction", he said with a smile.

At least he didn't think this was all some side effect following the events of that alley way. It may not have been the best way to start things out, but they were sitting here now and that's what was important.

"That makes everything a little less complicated. Since I thought the same thing when you were talking about running in four inch heels."

Annie shifted slightly in her seat and extended her leg so he could see the black heel at the end of her foot. The same Christian Lauboutins that she'd worn on that mission, she'd worn tonight. She liked the way they made her legs look.

"No running tonight, okay?" The waiter dropped off their food and she thanked the man with a smile and then turned back to Clay. "Less complicated is good, at least for me. You said you liked complicated."

He smiled at the shoes, "I don't plan on going anywhere. And I do like complicated, which it still is since there will be a lot of things about ourselves and what we have to deal with that we can't share with anyone, including each other."

"With you? I expect secrets." It was said with a smile as she tucked her leg back under the table and crossed them again. "I don't think that's the only complicated aspect we have going, either."

"There are a lot more, not the least of which is the age difference. Not that I see that as much of a problem. Others might." By others he meant her family and possibly his if this got to that point.

"And I don't want anyone to think that being with me, in any capacity, is your way of getting ahead in the Agency."

He had said that his mother would like her - but she might not like Annie dating her son. As for Danielle, she'd probably be so happy at the thought of Annie dating again that any age difference would be the last thing on her mind.

Annie didn't say any of that, though. His second concern was far more pressing and she nodded. 'In any capacity' were key words. "I agree. Joan Campbell would know better, and for now, that's what matters. With Counterintelligence and DPD not working the same circles, would it be a problem?"

"It shouldn't. Occasionally, we need someone from another department, but that's rare."

"And you know how Joan feels about that." The quip came easy, but the question that followed didn't. She asked, but covered up her unease by pushing her food around her plate.

"Is this something you want to try?"

"Yes, it is." In his mind no further explanation was needed.

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