[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]

Annie didn't give anything away on the drive to Danielle's except the fact that her hands were tight in her lap. That alone was enough of a giveaway, really, and she regretted downing that much wine in such a short period of time as it had made her a little dizzy.

The dizziness had worn off by the time Webb pulled the Aston Martin into Danielle's driveway and Annie couldn't help the short laugh she gave. "She's going to be surprised to see-- Yup. She's already looking out the window."

Pushing open the door to the car, Annie lifted a hand and gave a wave and, sure enough, the front door was open before she got there.

"Annie?" The confusion in her sister's voice was apparent as she looked over Annie's shoulder to Webb. "What's going on? I thought--"

"It's okay, let's just go inside." Annie turned Danielle around and gave a small shove.

[fakes_death]

Clay drive in silence doing his best not to feel sick. He wasn't exactly sure how Danielle was going to take this considering the break up nine months prior. He was also reasonably sure that Danielle knowing his position in the Agency wasn't going to go over well either.

As they approached the front door, he hoped Danielle was the only one home. He didn't want to read in the whole family. That would go over even less well. Deep breath. He'd faced terrorists that were scarier than Danielle and her family and didn't bat an eye. This should be nothing. This should be fine. Deep breath.

When Annie basically shoved Danielle into the house, Webb followed them inside wordlessly. He planned on doing most of the talking with his mother this was Annie's show, at first at least.

[freshoffthefarm]

"You did what?" Danielle's screech was loud enough to rattle the windows and Annie winced, putting out her hands in surrender, but Danielle wasn't done. "You got married. In Vegas. To him?"

Annie rolled her eyes to the first and then scoffed when Danielle mentioned Webb. "Hey! You know how I--" She swallowed and gave Clay a glance over her shoulder before looking back at her sister. "You know I still love him. It just kind of happened. And I'm not sorry about it, so you should be happy for me."

"Happy that my only sister got married to the guy who broke her heart? He's twenty years older than you, Annie. How happy can that make you?"

"Danielle!" Annie stopped her there. "Enough. I want you to be happy for me. I mean it. This is what I wanted nine months ago and this is

[fakes_death]

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?"

[freshoffthefarm]

"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.

[fakes_death]

"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."

[freshoffthefarm]

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.

[fakes_death]

"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.

[freshoffthefarm]

"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."

[fakes_death]

"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.

[freshoffthefarm]

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.

[fakes_death]

"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."

[freshoffthefarm]

"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."

[fakes_death]

"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.

[freshoffthefarm]

"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.

[fakes_death]

"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?