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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"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.

Clay drove in silence the remaining distance back to his condo before he spoke again changing his mind about his earlier decision, "I'm sorry, Annie. I shouldn't have snapped like that."

They were married. She wasn't going to run away if he told her he dated other women, which he hadn't.

"There hasn't been anyone else, using handcuffs or otherwise."

"It's okay," she interrupted and then fell silent as he continued.

It shouldn't have shocked her that he'd remained single, but it did a little. Not because she thought he was promiscuous, but because once he'd opened the door to dating, she thought maybe he'd be interested in doing it more. "I see."

Stopped outside the condo, she didn't know what else to say, so she looked at him and waited.

Clay sighed just a little as he took the bag of dinner from Annie before getting out of the car. He wasn't sure where to go from there either.

Once inside he put dinner on the coffee table and settled into the couch, and went for a subject change, "No sleeping through dinner." A lame attempt at humor.

"I make no promises," she told him, reaching for the bag and her french fries before settling back against him. "What a day."

Not that she was complaining, even though he was most comfortable when he was relaxing on the couch; he always had been. After a moment, she even rested her head against his upper chest and sighed herself, feeling a little bit of the tension drain away.

"At least everyone who needs to know does now. We can sleep a little easier and you can sleep late on Sunday."

Then he went about eating his dinner which was easier than he expected with Annie leaning on him like she was.

"That's my current plan," she told him with a smile into the darkened front room. "I kind of missed that, even when I slept in on Sundays at my place. It was never the same without you sneaking out of bed with a kiss to my forehead and a promise to be back before I was awake."

She had fond memories of coffee in bed and his riding gear near the front door, too. "Those were good Sundays."

"And we have plenty of them to look forward to."

Clay loved spending Sundays with Annie. It was the one day when they could just relax and enjoy being together before the week started again. He always thought that was one of the reasons they were so happy when they were happy.

The way he sounded like such a promise that Annie wanted to reach down and pinch her leg to make sure that the whole 'married in Vegas' thing wasn't some kind of surreal dream. An entire married life with Webb was what she'd wanted, complete with relaxing Sundays on the couch and now she had it.

"I'm glad," was what she said, very quietly, before relaxing further into him. She wasn't going to fall asleep in her dinner, though, even without making the promise. She just wanted to get comfortable. "I love you."

Now that she could say it again, she wasn't going to stop. Even if it just sounded weird at times.

"Love you too."

Clay wasn't entirely sure Annie was going to make it through dinner without falling asleep, but for right now he was going to assume she was just relaxing.

And Annie telling him she loved him? That would never sound weird.

Closing her eyes, she decided she could eat that way because she knew where her mouth was and she was skilled that way. It didn't take long after that, maybe three or four minutes, before her hand stopped moving from the carton of fries to her mouth.

She'd fallen asleep.

Clay was honestly surprised that Annie took that long to dose off. He took the box of fries out of her hand and put them on the coffee table. When she woke up, he'd heat everything up for her as best he can. Right now, though, he was just going to enjoy being there on his couch with Annie.

Once her hands were free, she slumped against him, curled into his side. Her sigh was soft and her hair fell over her face as she got comfortable, but she didn't move once she was settled.

Twenty minutes went by before her head dropped forward, which woke her up. Groaning, she peered up at him, pushing her hair out of her face. "We have to get a new couch," she mumbled as she sat up and cleared her throat. "Otherwise, I'm never going to be able to sit here with you without falling asleep."

Clay just smiled, "It's been a long day and I know you didn't get all that much sleep two nights ago either. I don't think a change in couches would help much."

He shifted his position a little, "I can heat everything up for you."

"No, probably not. The problem is you, anyway," she said around a yawn as she nodded. "That'd be great, thanks. I'll sit at the table this time."

Standing, she stepped out of her shoes and headed for the dining room table, sliding into the chair closest to the kitchen and resisted the urge to put her head down and go back to sleep. As much as she wanted to, she knew how much he loathed it when she didn't eat.

Clay reheated Annie's dinner, fully aware that it wasn't going to be as good reheated but it was worth a shot. He sat across from her with another glass of wine from the bottle they started earlier in the evening.

"After dinner we can just relax."

"I'm ready to change and get ready for bed," she told him between her first and second bites of her burger. "But if you don't mind joining me in pajamas, we can come back out to the couch and make an evening of it in comfort."

She sounded so hopeful, mostly because she'd have hated to keep him in just casual clothing while she was most likely going to doze off again. That and she didn't want to drag him to bed if he wasn't ready.

"Go right ahead. I'll clean up, feed the fish, and meet you on the couch."

He didn't plan on changing, but spending quality time with Annie on the couch was a perfect way to end the day.

Annie went into the bedroom and got ready for bed, changing into her yoga pants and a tank top and putting her hair up into a ponytail. When he didn't come into the bedroom to change, too, she went back out into the living room to see what he was doing. Finding him on the couch, she frowned slightly.

"You're not going to change?"

"I'm fine, as long as you don't mind." Maybe the buttons on his shirt would bother her.

Clay looked extremely comfortable even though he was still dressed. For someone who didn't leave the bedroom in his pajamas this was pretty much as relaxed as he got outside of his room.

She didn't move any closer but continued to look at him. Her frown turned to curiosity, as though she were working a problem out in her mind. When she didn't come to a satisfactory answer on her own, she tilted her head and went back to frowning.

"Why?" Then she shook her head and motioned. "Do my pajamas bother you?"

"No, not at all. I've just never really left my bedroom in mine. That's all."

If Annie wanted to wear hers, he was completely fine with it. He just couldn't do the same thing himself.

"I never did it when I was younger, it's a habit I guess."

"You never ran out in your footie pajamas and crawled into your mom or dad's lap for a story on the couch or--?" She trailed off as she walked closer, then folded her legs under her as she sat on the couch, a little further from him than she had been before.

Clay's childhood fascinated her and she wanted to ask questions about the man she married.

"Not that I can remember. Usually, they read to me before I went to bed. I know I liked when my father read to me, probably because he wasn't home as much as my mother."

Clay knew their upbringings were drastically different and the evidence presented itself as early as this evening when they entered Porter and Danielle's houses. All of this was just going to confirm that.

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

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