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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"That's because Sarah broke your heart, not the other way around. If you'd crushed her the way you'd done it to me, then I'm sure your mother would have taken offense," Annie said, trying to assure him that his mother would have been upset at any appalling behavior. "I mean, I thought she liked Sarah."

"They didn't meet each other long enough for either of them to form an opinion. In fact, I think they'd only spoke to each other twice, once when she was looking for me, and once after an incident."

If Annie pressed him for details he'd tell her. Other than that he was going to leave it at 'an incident'.

"Looking for you after your faked your death, I'm guessing," Annie said quietly, but then her eyebrows furrowed. "Wait. An incident?"

Yeah, she wasn't about to let that one go.

Clay nodded a little. "It was the same time as when I faked my death. I was in Indonesia breaking up a terrorist ring. They had an assassin on their payroll at the time. He tracked me back here."

He was quiet for a minute while he tried to figure out how to tell her the rest without giving too much away. "He was former MI6, a good manipulator, and a better shot. He found out, thanks to Sarah, where Manderly was. Thankfully, my mother put the pieces of the puzzle together faster than he did. Shot him in the living room. Three times."

Annie listened quietly as he told her the shortened version of the story and then looked out the window. "Oh, wow. I'd like me better, too. I'm sorry your mother was put in that position and especially at Manderley."

She sighed audibly.

"It happened. Sarah was angry with me that I took a shot at the other agent when she was with him than anything else."

Clay hoped that if Annie was in a similar situation, she'd understand why he'd have to take the shot and his goal was not to hurt her.

"You shot at her or you shot at him?"

Annie wasn't quite sure what it was that had made Sarah angry or what it was that he was describing exactly, so she decided to ask for clarification before making a judgment on who'd been right or wrong. She had a feeling it wasn't a simple situation.

"I shot at him." Granted it'd been a few years since he used a gun like that, but the shot was clearly meant for him. "She was upset because 'she could have been hit.'"

"I sincerely hope that you know I have more faith in your marksmanship skills than that," Annie said with a teasing smirk as she squeezed his hand again. "I'd rather you didn't shoot a gun in my general direction, but I'd understand if you had to."

She paused thoughtfully. "Of course, I'd also hope you'd tell me if I was hanging out with a master assassin, but..." She shrugged as if to say, 'the job'.

"I hope I never have that problem again. It's one of the reasons I gave up field work."

Clay had enough of putting those he cared about in danger. He's a little more removed from it now, but occasionally it was still a problem.

"I understand."

Annie didn't feel like now was the time to point out, yet again, that he was married to a field agent. Instead, she cupped his hand with both of hers and sighed. "I hope you're not put in that position again, Clay. Especially now and not just because we're married."

"If I am, I've done it before. It's not a situation I like, but I can handle it."

And with Annie he expected nights of nightmares and days of worry. He wouldn't like it but he could handle it. "As long as you keep coming home, it'll be fine."

"I trust you to handle every situation that comes up. You're the best agent I know and I know you can do it," she told him.

She went back to being quiet on the drive, her hand holding his tightly.

Clay kept a hold of her hand and drove quietly until he saw a string of fast food places on the way back home. They both had to eat, and this was a quick and easy solution.

"Which one, Wendy's, Burger King, or McDonalds?"

"Wendy's." Her answer came promptly. "One of those really big burgers, fries, coke-- no, a chocolate milkshake."

Obviously, her appetite was back now that she'd gotten the breaking news out of the way. "Actually, no. A coke and one of those Frosty things." A pause. "I'm hungry."

Webb just chuckled as he turned to pull into the drive-thru of the Wendys. He ordered everything that Annie asked for and a burger, fries, and a Sprite for himself. Once everything was handed over from the takeout window and he passed it over to Annie to check the bag he was on his way back to the condo.

"I bet no one at The Agency would think I ate this."

"That's because no one at the Agency knows about your addiction to hot dog carts, either," she told him, taking a french fry from the bag and holding it out so he could eat it before taking one from the bag for herself. "Come to think of it, I'd bet there's a lot of things they don't know about you."

It may have been the best french fry he'd had in a long time.

"There are quite a few things they don't know about me. Just like I think there are a few they don't know about you."

"More than quite a few, actually. Like how I have a thing for handcuffs... or is that you?" Her tone was overly thoughtful as she pondered the question while looking out the window. She couldn't look at him or she'd crack a smile.

Clay could have sworn he turned bright red as soon as she mentioned the handcuffs. He hadn't so much as breathed a mention about them in nine months or so, they just sat in his nightstand.

"Could be both of us."

The temperature in the car practically went up the way Clay flushed and Annie's smile was so smug it was ridiculous. Yup, she still had it... the ability to make him just a little bit flustered. It was a skill she prided herself on, actually.

"I think it is, actually."

She did and he would be the first one to tell her that she was. He'd add it to the list of things the Agency didn't know about either of them.

His next admission was very quiet, "I haven't even taken them out of the drawer since things ended." For some reason, that he couldn't put his finger on, all of that would be much less fulfilling without Annie being involved.

"Would you have had a reason to take them out of the drawer?" Her tone wasn't in the least judgmental, but she was a little curious to know if he'd had anyone in his life, even the most casual of encounters.

She'd known a little bit about his past and how the handcuffs had played a part, so if he was going to tell her that he'd paid for someone to come over, she wouldn't have been shocked. A little ego-damaged, but not shocked.

Edited 2012-07-25 02:22 (UTC)

"No, I haven't." It was all he was going to say on the matter.

Annie could take a hint when it was given to her and she just nodded once and turned her head back to look out the window, keeping her mouth shut.

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