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

[freshoffthefarm]

[From here, as requested by fakesIt 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

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[freshoffthefarm]

"I am Mrs. Webb, and I have to say? It makes me feel pretty good to be able to say that," she confessed with a soft smile.

She squeezed his hand, then dropped her left hand over it. Then she smiled even larger. "The name isn't the only thing that's going to draw a lot of looks, you know. Wearing forty thousand dollars worth of diamonds on my hand is going to be kind of conspicuous."

[fakes_death]

"Well, you don't have to wear the engagement ring all the time, if it makes you feel uncomfortable."

He could see how carrying the price of a midsize vehicle on your finger would make anyone uncomfortable.

[freshoffthefarm]

"It's really gorgeous," she breathed, looking down at her hand again. "If I wear it, then people are going to say... lots of things and I'm sure that you'd hear about it from the men at the Agency."

She's not sure that she'd feel uncomfortable, exactly. Just a little unsure.

[fakes_death]

"I really am glad you like it."

Then suddenly he thought that whatever anyone said at the Agency was going to make feel Annie feel bad about their marriage. "Whatever anyone says to me doesn't matter. I love you."

[freshoffthefarm]

"You say that now, but I don't want you to regret this in two weeks after everyone knows," Annie told him honestly. "Once it can't be taken back without an actual divorce. I don't want you to hear things that'll make you feel bad for marrying me."

[fakes_death]

"I'm sure it'll be things I've heard about other women I've dated over the years. This time none of it would be true."

Clay had dated his share of floozies, gold diggers, and any other number of women who possessed unsavory personality traits.

"Nothing can make me feel bad about marrying you. You make me happier than anyone else ever has. You just make everything brighter."

[freshoffthefarm]

"I don't want to be thought of badly for marrying you," she said under her breath. "Not by your mom or her friends, either. But especially not by your friends and the people you've known for years."

Work people she could deal with, but his personal life was something she wanted to make sure wasn't going to be an issue. When he said what he said, she shook her head. "Clay, come on. That's... I mean." She could feel the tears starting. "I love you so much and I didn't know how to function after we broke up. This is everything I'd dreamed of just kind of given to me and I don't want it to be a bad thing for you."

[fakes_death]

"No one will think badly of you. Most of my friends have been married three or four times, to a younger woman. They also have just as many alimony payments and Alan Clarke bought his second wife a yellow diamond that size. Divorced eight months later. No one has any right to judge."

That doesn't mean they wouldn't, just that they had no right.

[freshoffthefarm]

"Is that what I am, the younger woman?" She sighed as she leaned back against the seat. Exhaustion was settling in. "You know, just because they don't have the right doesn't mean they won't. They'll just think that I'm the next step in your mid-life crisis. You married the art lady at the Smithsonian."

She turned her head to face him. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired. So, tonight we'll just go to our respective homes. Tomorrow, I'll talk to Joan, tomorrow night... Danielle? We'll find a printer somewhere in there so you can talk to your mom this weekend. Sound good so far?"

[fakes_death]

"You are younger than me." That was all he was going to say.

Annie, who couldn't really sleep on planes was admitting she was tired. He put his arm back around her so she can get comfortable before making his offer.

"If you don't want to be alone, my condo's door is always easy to open."

[freshoffthefarm]

"I'll be okay," she told him with an easy smile as she lifted the arm rest separating their chairs. Curling up in her seat, she added without thinking, "I've had months to get used to sleeping alone again."

Immediately, she looked up at him and said, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that."

[fakes_death]

"Because it's the truth." He smiled a little sadly, "Don't worry about it."

There was no need for Annie to apologize. He was the one that treated her badly. "Hopefully, you won't be alone too much longer."

Once they worked through some of their issues, he'd propose the idea of buying a place together, maybe somewhere that had that view of the Capitol that Annie told him about when they first started dating.

[freshoffthefarm]

"It's really okay if you don't want to move in together," she said, mistaking his sad smile and his earlier comments for his not actually wanting to live together. "I'm perfectly happy with my apartment and since it's considered my safe house, I've got all my stuff in it. I mean, the guest house didn't really have all that much stuff to begin with."

She was rambling in her attempt to make him feel better.

[fakes_death]

"I would love to live with you, but I'd like to do it in a place we both picked out, that's ours, not mine."

He assumed she would have to live with him as she was currently living out of her safe house. He wasn't allowed to know where that was, just like she couldn't know where his was.

[freshoffthefarm]

"I just meant that there was no rush," she hurried to reassure him. "I don't want you to think that I'm trying to make you give up your bachelor condo."

She gave him a reassuring squeeze as she nestled against him again, closing her eyes.

[fakes_death]

"I know. You've never rushed me into anything." Though he couldn't speak for the previous evening.

"We're going to be fine, Annie. I know it." He leaned over and kissed her hair, since it was easier to do that than anything else before taking out his music player so Annie could sleep.