[AU] ... from the 'meet at a different time' meme

[freshoffthefarm]

After two years at the Agency, Annie's job hadn't gotten any better (or worse). Sure, it had it's downsides - namely, being shot at (or being shot), but the biggest one had to be the Agency parking lot.

She could never, ever find a parking spot.

Of course, the morning that she'd gotten up early and proceeded to spill coffee on her first outfit, had to jump start her car and then fill a tire with air? She managed to get behind the chatty son-of-a-bitch in the compensation car at the guard shack. She sat there, plotting the ways to key his car without actually getting caught and then he'd moved on.

Smiling at the guys in the shack, she showed her ID, waited until they'd looked under her cars with mirrors, and then picked up the pace on the way to the agent parking lot.

It just wasn't her morning.

The short cut she took through the visitor lot took her right past the spots in front for all the diplomats and the Agency hotshots. She didn't see Mr. Compensation trying to adjust his parking until she'd plowed into his rear bumper.

Comments

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"It happens, especially if your morning isn't going the way you planned."

His certainly hadn't, which is probably why he was less than careful when adjusting his parking. Three dead informants had a tendency to make a person distracted.

Annie's comment about her defensive driving scores made him chuckle, "It happens. It's why they call them accidents."

[freshoffthefarm]

"Something I've learned over the last two years? Nothing every really goes the way we plan."

She sighed into her cup and leaned back a little to give him a contemplative look. "Accidents don't usually happen to Aston Martins, especially in parking lots. Why a four hundred thousand dollar car here?"

It was the polite way of continuing the "crisis or compensation" conversation.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

"The car was an upgrade when I got promoted. When I was an agent I drove a BMW."

After Paraguay, he needed something material to prove to himself that he survived. Granted, he didn't buy it until after Mac slapped him across the face, but it made him feel better.

[freshoffthefarm]

What was it with fancy East Coast boys and their fancy cars? Jai Wilcox had his own fancy car that he drove around in as an agent, too, and Annie just didn't see the point. Not that she was going to judge. Much.

"Of course you did," she said quietly, taking a long drink and standing. "Well, thanks for the coffee. It was... nice."

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

He wasn't sure what her comment meant, other than he was sure she'd thinks he's an entitled ass. Clay would admit he's an ass but he wouldn't say he ever felt entitled to anything.

"Hope it made your terrible morning a little better."

[freshoffthefarm]

There was that smile again; the one that, in another time or place, she would have saved just for him.

"Coffee always makes a terrible morning better, Director Webb." She touched his shoulder as she passed him by, then glanced over her shoulder at him as she walked away, another smile on her face.

Lunch in two hours was the only thing that was going to stop her from having an awful afternoon.

[fakes-death.livejournal.com]

Annie's smile caused Clay to smile back. He was sorry that he was such an asshole earlier in the morning, Annie got the brunt of his stress from work and the phone call he was dealing with.

Once she'd walked down back toward the elevator he finished his coffee, wondering how she got away with wearing a skirt like that in an environment as conservative as the CIA.