freshoffthefarm | [MEME] -- #5, the AU from Hell

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[MEME] -- #5, the AU from Hell

[From here, as requested by

fakes]
--

It was an op in Vegas, which was so weird since most of her domestic ops stayed in the DC Metro area, and Annie had done her job well. The extra babysitting had been extra annoying (when wasn't it?), but he'd come along to visit an old friend... or so he'd said.

She hadn't seen hide or hair of him during her mission, but when she went to have a drink in the bar at their hotel late the night before they were supposed to leave, she found him sitting in a dark corner. When didn't he sit in dark corners, really, but she rolled her eyes and put a smile on her face to join him.

Their breakup and subsequent dealings had been difficult, and after that State Dinner, she'd gone out of her way to keep her distance from him as much as possible. That didn't mean they couldn't enjoy a drink or two (or seven) while in Vegas.

Unfortunately--

When Annie woke to the pounding in her head, she almost couldn't open her eyes. When she finally managed, she ignored the immense nausea she felt and peered at the walls in the hotel room she was in. She hadn't been given this nice of a room, not on the Agency's dime, no. This was something else. Turning, she caught sight of a man's head and her eyes widened, causing the pounding to pick up and she clenched her eyes shut again with a groan.

Clapping both hands, right over left, on her head, she felt something heavy and lifted them again almost immediately. Seeing the wedding ring set on her left hand, she gasped.

"Oh, my God."

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The sound Danielle made was completely unexpected. He expected yelling or something else. Not something like that. At least mention of his age went by quickly enough as did Annie's denial of being pregnant.

"We were happy when it happened," he smiled, "Did you bring your phone?"

"Oh!"

Annie reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone to show Danielle the photograph of them in the chapel. The dress didn't go unnoticed and Danielle placed a hand on her chest. "Oh, Annie. You made a beautiful bride. Did you guys have rin--"

Her voice dropped off when she caught sight of Annie's wedding rings and her eyes went wide. Annie shook her head. "It's not-- I mean, it's really just--"

Turning her Webb with wide eyes, she silently asked for help. She didn't want to say that he'd spent as much money as he had and she also didn't want to say that she knew he'd gotten the money gambling.

"I'd looked at that set before I ended things." Clay didn't want to go into too much detail beyond that. Danielle didn't need to know he'd won just over forty grand playing poker, then spent it all on Annie. He assumed Danielle thought he could afford it, based on the car parked in the driveway. "It wasn't an impulse buy."

Dropping her hands to put the phone away, Annie smiled at him and said, "He's really kind of just full of surprises."

"Obviously, you both are. We'll have to have a party," Danielle said.

"We," he cleared his throat, "need to tell my mother first. I doubt she'll let us get out of this without some sort of event." An event that could really work out for Danielle if she wanted to do the catering. His mother's connections could really boost her business.

"If she needs help with the planning, let me know," Danielle said with a smile, and Annie kept her own in check as she realized that her sister was now fully on board.

That realization came again when she was hugged impulsively and Danielle whispered in her ear, "I'm happy for you. He always made you the happiest I'd seen you and I know he'll be good for you again."

Annie felt the tears well up in her eyes and she nodded before pulling back. "We have dinner still on the stove, so..."

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, go. I'll talk to the girls and Michael, don't worry about it," Danielle said, practically shooing them toward the door. "And Clay? Congratulations. Take care of my sister."

"I have taken care of Annie, almost since the day I met her. She's in good hands." Clay punctuated his statement with a smile.

As Danielle shooed them out of the house, he put his arm around Annie's waist. None of this was as bad as he thought and he didn't have to tell her what he did at The Company. It could have been much worse. He wasn't sure if this meant things with his mother were going to go just as well or worse than he expected.

Annie had opened her mouth to answer Danielle, but when Clay did it, she just looked at him for a moment before giving her sister a wave and getting in the car.

"You have, you know. Taken care of me for that long." Her voice was quiet.

"I know and I never stopped watching out for you. I had a promise to keep." If something happened to Annie and she didn't make it home, he was going to tell Danielle what happened, how brave Annie was and how proud Danielle should be of her.

Clay backed out of Danielle's driveway and headed back to his condo, holding Annie's hand between shifting gears. "I think I'm going to like having them as my family."

"Well, now you have to take care of me," she teased him, trying to lighten the mood. "You promised somewhere in those vows, I'm sure of it."

Lifting his hand, she kissed the back of it and then went back to holding it lightly. "I think they're going to love having you as family, too. The girls always liked you most."

"Out of all the problems we might have, taking care of you isn't going to be one of them." Clay knew Annie knew but it felt good to say it.

"As far as the girls go, it's only because I came with horses," Clay teased right back. After that first dinner, he found himself liking Annie's nieces almost immediately. If their kids turned out like her nieces he'd be happy. Even if it did mean paint on his suits.

"They do love going riding with you," Annie said with a nod. "Hey, maybe they can come on Sunday and your mother will be so distracted by young children that she won't even notice that we're married."

Her tone was falsley hopeful as she knew there was no way it would ever happen.

"I doubt we could get away with that. If you want, we can just keep driving and break all the news to everyone that needed to know today."

It wasn't a threat, but a suggestion that would remove all of the immediate stress from their lives. Neither of them particularly wanted to face Porter (and Harrison) with the news, but it had to be done. Why put it off until Sunday?

"We could." She tightened her hold on his hand and looked at him in the darkened car. "Dinner'll be ruined."

It was odd that was the first thing that came into her mind when her stomach tightened, though she had a feeling that she wasn't going to want to eat when it was all done and over with anyway.

"Let it. I wasn't too enthused about chicken." When Annie said he was getting tired of it earlier, he was sure she didn't know how right she was.

He made the turn to head toward to Great Falls and took another deep breath to calm himself down. It would all be fine. All he had to do was keep telling himself that.

"You know, if my mother does want us to have an event of a wedding, it'll help your sister's business."

Annie took a deep breath at the same time he did and then turned to face him. "I heard that."

It made her feel a little better that she wasn't the only one that was a little terrified of seeing Porter Webb and telling her what they'd done. Even at fifty, the man still had to answer to his mother in some things and she actually found it a little endearing.

"I don't think she even knows that," Annie said. "But that would be fantastic. Really."

"She's going to be upset that she wasn't there, I know it." Hopefully, that will be all she was upset about. Clay didn't think the wedding would upset her, neither would his choice of bride. Not being able to be there and make it an event, that would be the problem.

If Danielle got her wish and got a party though, it could all be fine for everyone. "Maybe this'll work out for the best for more than two of us."

"I want your mother to be happy, so whatever it takes? I'll do it." Even if it meant dressing up for whoever for whatever kind of event that Porter wanted. Especially if it was going to help Danielle.

Taking a breath, she looked at him again. "Plus, doing this tonight means that I'll get to sleep in on Sunday."

"She's going to be happy." Even if he had to convince her that everything was going to be okay.

"Back to our Sunday routine almost immediately," He said it with a smile. Clay missed his lazy Sundays with Annie. It was a hole in his week that he hadn't quite managed to fill just yet. Now, he didn't have to.

"I've missed it," she admitted quietly in the dark. "Even just lounging on the couch while you read the paper... it was always just comforting. Being there with you."

Her throat closed up and she let go of his hand to push her hair back, but she didn't take it again. "It was a hard nine months, Clay. I missed you. All of you."

"I missed you too."

Over the past nine months he realized how much of Annie was in his life every day. From the nightstand in his bedroom to the honey in his kitchen. All her things that she'd returned to him where still in his spare closet except for her gray shoes. Those were in his.

"You brought a lot of good into my life. I wasn't sure how to function without it."

If they kept talking, Annie wasn't going to be in any condition to see his mother.

"We should stop. I don't want to cry right now." It was an admittance of how much she was affected by him and the things he said to her. "I want to see your mom and go home. Well, back to your place. I mean-- you know what I mean."

"You can call it home, I don't mind. You have a key now."

The last thing he wanted to do was make Annie cry, even if it was just from being generally emotional. Instead, he took her hand back for as much of the rest of the drive to his mother's house as he could.

She thought of it as home, she really did. She had before, too, but now wasn't the time to revisit that particular argument, either.

As they pulled into Porter's driveway, she felt her blood pressure rise. As a trained operative, Annie knew she shouldn't be nearly as apprehensive as she was, yet the woman's approval meant quite a bit to her.

"Round two," she said as she opened the door, wondering if they should have called first.

"It'll be fine." The assurance was meant for both of them.

Clay headed up the walk to the stairs and rang the bell. Harrison greeted them both then ushered them into the living room while he went to get Porter from outside in the back. Clay turned to Annie and said quietly, "At least you won't have to see the expression on her face when she finds out you're here."

Edited 2012-07-21 23:11 (UTC)

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