[Thailand] ... making or breaking her career
[A/N: Fic by fakes_death, takes place between 2/20 & 3/07, or so. Ish.]
Almost three months into the new year, Clay received an interesting alert in his inbox. Annie was being sent to Thailand to break up a terrorist ring. She was going at it alone: no interference from Langley, no Auggie in her ear, just Annie and her skills as an agent. It was the kind of mission that could make her career.
To be honest, Webb was extremely proud of her. When he’d first met Annie Walker, "Smithsonian Acquisitions", he was still Clayton Webb, "State Department" and she was still extremely green. In fact, and much to his surprise, Joan had pulled her from The Farm before she'd even completed her firearms training, all because of the disaster that was Ben Mercer, the CIA’s Harmon Rabb, with all his cowboy hero bullshit. He supposed it made what he'd said to her when they broke up even worse. Maybe that’s why he wanted to hurt her; maybe he never forgave her for Sri Lanka.
Regardless, he wasn’t going to dwell. He and Annie'd had what they had. Now they’d settled into a routine of avoidance. He stuck with the catered lunch on the seventh floor, and coffee time was moved to eleven thirty. They barely saw one another, though occasionally they got to ignore each other on the elevator. He kept his word and stayed away from Annie, just like she wanted.
Keeping his word is what brought her Thailand mission to his attention in the first place. He’d made a promise to keep an eye on her, and that’s exactly what he was going to do. It was deep cover and dangerous which was everything that made Webb nervous concerning his own missions, never mind someone he still cared about.
***
Clay spent the next week and a half looking at Annie’s file and mission details three times a day. When he first got to work to see what happened the night before; at lunch, to keep apprised of what occurred that morning, and right before he left for the evening because he hoped that it would help him sleep better at night. It never did. He knew checking three times a day was borderline crazy, since Annie couldn’t send information back home that quickly, but he did it anyway
From what he could tell, at least, everything was going well. Annie was where she should be within the organization and she was still writing her own reports back to Langley, no matter how infrequent they were.
A week later, all communication stopped. Annie was known for doing the unexpected, but this just felt wrong.
***
That evening, Webb waited in the corner of the local spy hangout, looking for Auggie. If anyone would know what was going on, it’d be the tech ops guru, Webb was sure of that. When he spotted Auggie at the door, Clay got up and headed toward the younger man to lead him back to the table.
“I didn’t think think those of you on the seventh floor would be caught dead here.” Auggie said as Webb went back to the table in the corner. At least as far as Auggie was concerned, it was true. Even Henry Wilcox hadn't appeared here until after his retirement.
“I haven’t been here in a while. I’d rather not have my employees think their boss is looking over their shoulder on their off time.” Considering he wasn't one to manage his department like that, giving the impression that he micromanaged off-time would be unfortunate.
“We don’t know anything and haven’t heard from her in two weeks.” It was just easier to cut right to the chase than to continue with small talk neither of them cared about.
“Is Joan worried?”
“No, but she’s getting there.”
Webb sighed and ordered two shots of bourbon. It was going to be a long evening.
***
When the DPD still hadn’t heard from Annie at the end of the week, Joan was worried. The last time it had happened, Annie was stuck in some Iranian hell hole. Now, no one was sure where she was or what was going on, just that she hadn’t checked in.
Webb was a wreck. He wanted to reach out to his contacts in country, but he could only imagine the wrath he’d get from Annie, Joan, and probably Arthur, so he decided to wait it out, which he did until 3AM when his cell phone rang. The last person he expected to hear was Jai Wilcox. Obviously, he could hear Jai but Jai couldn’t hear him, and the last thing he did hear before being hung up on and nearly having a panic attack in his bedroom was, “We’ve got her, and she’s stable. Lost a lot of blood but she’s stable.”
He’d thank Auggie in the morning.
***
Two days later, Annie was admitted to Intensive Care at Kresge Medical Center. Her injury report somehow found its way into Clay’s office when she arrived stateside. A broken arm, bruised ribs, and a bullet hole three centimeters from her heart. She was going to spend the next few days sedated, to keep complications at a minimum.
Clay had to do something to see her. He needed to make sure she was still there, breathing; waiting until after visiting hours were over almost killed him. Three centimeters closer and he never would have seen her breathing again, hooked up to machines or otherwise.
When he made it to Kresge, he left the multi-colored tulip and white lily arrangement near her bed. There was no card. He was surprised his was the only one in there, that there was nothing from Jai or Auggie. Then he sat in the chair in the corner, keeping an eye on Annie. She was there and alive, bandaged and banged up, but alive.
He actually lost track of how much time he spent sitting in the hospital room, but it had to be three or four hours at least. Eventually, his back started protesting sitting in the chair. Clay got up and walked over to Annie’s bed.
She looked so small, attached to all those tubes and machines, so much so that he was unsettled by it. When he finally spoke, he did so quietly and as he was fixing the hair around her face, “Annie, you can’t do this anymore. You scared me.” Then he leaned over and placed a very gentle kiss on her forehead only because he was sure she couldn’t feel it while she was sedated, “But you’re home safe and sound now. That’s what matters.”
Clay squeezed her hand before leaving her room and heading back to his condo.
Almost three months into the new year, Clay received an interesting alert in his inbox. Annie was being sent to Thailand to break up a terrorist ring. She was going at it alone: no interference from Langley, no Auggie in her ear, just Annie and her skills as an agent. It was the kind of mission that could make her career.
To be honest, Webb was extremely proud of her. When he’d first met Annie Walker, "Smithsonian Acquisitions", he was still Clayton Webb, "State Department" and she was still extremely green. In fact, and much to his surprise, Joan had pulled her from The Farm before she'd even completed her firearms training, all because of the disaster that was Ben Mercer, the CIA’s Harmon Rabb, with all his cowboy hero bullshit. He supposed it made what he'd said to her when they broke up even worse. Maybe that’s why he wanted to hurt her; maybe he never forgave her for Sri Lanka.
Regardless, he wasn’t going to dwell. He and Annie'd had what they had. Now they’d settled into a routine of avoidance. He stuck with the catered lunch on the seventh floor, and coffee time was moved to eleven thirty. They barely saw one another, though occasionally they got to ignore each other on the elevator. He kept his word and stayed away from Annie, just like she wanted.
Keeping his word is what brought her Thailand mission to his attention in the first place. He’d made a promise to keep an eye on her, and that’s exactly what he was going to do. It was deep cover and dangerous which was everything that made Webb nervous concerning his own missions, never mind someone he still cared about.
***
Clay spent the next week and a half looking at Annie’s file and mission details three times a day. When he first got to work to see what happened the night before; at lunch, to keep apprised of what occurred that morning, and right before he left for the evening because he hoped that it would help him sleep better at night. It never did. He knew checking three times a day was borderline crazy, since Annie couldn’t send information back home that quickly, but he did it anyway
From what he could tell, at least, everything was going well. Annie was where she should be within the organization and she was still writing her own reports back to Langley, no matter how infrequent they were.
A week later, all communication stopped. Annie was known for doing the unexpected, but this just felt wrong.
***
That evening, Webb waited in the corner of the local spy hangout, looking for Auggie. If anyone would know what was going on, it’d be the tech ops guru, Webb was sure of that. When he spotted Auggie at the door, Clay got up and headed toward the younger man to lead him back to the table.
“I didn’t think think those of you on the seventh floor would be caught dead here.” Auggie said as Webb went back to the table in the corner. At least as far as Auggie was concerned, it was true. Even Henry Wilcox hadn't appeared here until after his retirement.
“I haven’t been here in a while. I’d rather not have my employees think their boss is looking over their shoulder on their off time.” Considering he wasn't one to manage his department like that, giving the impression that he micromanaged off-time would be unfortunate.
“We don’t know anything and haven’t heard from her in two weeks.” It was just easier to cut right to the chase than to continue with small talk neither of them cared about.
“Is Joan worried?”
“No, but she’s getting there.”
Webb sighed and ordered two shots of bourbon. It was going to be a long evening.
***
When the DPD still hadn’t heard from Annie at the end of the week, Joan was worried. The last time it had happened, Annie was stuck in some Iranian hell hole. Now, no one was sure where she was or what was going on, just that she hadn’t checked in.
Webb was a wreck. He wanted to reach out to his contacts in country, but he could only imagine the wrath he’d get from Annie, Joan, and probably Arthur, so he decided to wait it out, which he did until 3AM when his cell phone rang. The last person he expected to hear was Jai Wilcox. Obviously, he could hear Jai but Jai couldn’t hear him, and the last thing he did hear before being hung up on and nearly having a panic attack in his bedroom was, “We’ve got her, and she’s stable. Lost a lot of blood but she’s stable.”
He’d thank Auggie in the morning.
***
Two days later, Annie was admitted to Intensive Care at Kresge Medical Center. Her injury report somehow found its way into Clay’s office when she arrived stateside. A broken arm, bruised ribs, and a bullet hole three centimeters from her heart. She was going to spend the next few days sedated, to keep complications at a minimum.
Clay had to do something to see her. He needed to make sure she was still there, breathing; waiting until after visiting hours were over almost killed him. Three centimeters closer and he never would have seen her breathing again, hooked up to machines or otherwise.
When he made it to Kresge, he left the multi-colored tulip and white lily arrangement near her bed. There was no card. He was surprised his was the only one in there, that there was nothing from Jai or Auggie. Then he sat in the chair in the corner, keeping an eye on Annie. She was there and alive, bandaged and banged up, but alive.
He actually lost track of how much time he spent sitting in the hospital room, but it had to be three or four hours at least. Eventually, his back started protesting sitting in the chair. Clay got up and walked over to Annie’s bed.
She looked so small, attached to all those tubes and machines, so much so that he was unsettled by it. When he finally spoke, he did so quietly and as he was fixing the hair around her face, “Annie, you can’t do this anymore. You scared me.” Then he leaned over and placed a very gentle kiss on her forehead only because he was sure she couldn’t feel it while she was sedated, “But you’re home safe and sound now. That’s what matters.”
Clay squeezed her hand before leaving her room and heading back to his condo.