Look out for the <>!

I felt the sun on my face as I laid outside. I rubbed my hands against the fresh green grass and smiled. This was what summer was about. I could feel the sun hit my face as it warmed my whole body.  I could hear people laughing off to the side of me. It sounded busy. I had to be at a picnic.

"Hey Annalise."

I opened my eyes to Toby standing over me. I frowned at him, he was blocking the sun. "What are you doing here? You don't belong." I said surprised that he was here. I know I wanted closer but as I looked at him, all I could do was fear him.

I stood up and looked at him, bracing myself for an attack. He sent men after me. They were going to kill me. I took a step back as if he was a disease. Whoever's sick game this was sending him here, I was done with it already.

He laughed calmly like nothing was wrong. He reached for my hand but I pulled back. He had no right touching me. "This isn't a normal picnic, Annalise." He was talking to me like I was a child that was confused with school work.  "I don't work for the CIA and you don't either. This is MIA. I work here and you do to. Everyone does. The CIA is no more," he said sincerely, his deep blue eyes looking right into mine.

My breath caught in my throat. Everyone does? What happened to the CIA? What did MIA do to them? What if B26 was right? And I let them get away with it. I was right all along, I was a failure. I stepped away from B26 when he needed me.

I looked to my other side and saw Fabien smiling at me. "No, I don't work here, and I'll never work with you!"  I said looking at Fabien with disgust.

"You already do," Toby said and held my hand gently. "You see, you helped bring down the CIA. We couldn't have done it without you."

I shook my head. I couldn't breathe. He was wrong. He was lying. I loved the CIA, I would do nothing to hurt it. "No," I said and ripped my hand out of his. "And don't EVER hold my hand again," I yelled at him as I backed into a tree. It wasn't true. I didn't help them. This had to be a dream.  I closed my eyes waiting for it all to despair or change.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw that I wasn't sunbathing outside. I was inside a big room lying in a big comfy four poster bed with the sun shining in through the windows. I struggled to take a deep breath in feeling my chest burn.

Panic over took me. I passed out, MIA must have put me here. I wasn't safe. I had to get out. I tried to sit up but it hurt to move. "Aaggh," I said and wrapped my arms a little above my stomach for support. "Hello? Is anyone here?" I asked, my voice sounded weak and rough.

Within a minute Carter came running into the room. "Annalise," Carter stated with worry.

I nodded although my head spun. I was in a daze as I looked at him. I had no idea where we were and why I was here. This place was not home, it was not familiar to me. "Carter. Where are we?" I asked as my voice cracked.

"At my house," he said and opened the window to let in a summer breeze.

"Oh," I said as I felt my body melt into the bed. I was safe. The MIA didn't have me. I was here, with Carter, he had me.

"You gave me a scare Annalise. You broke a couple ribs and a couple of them were close to breaking."

He must have read my mind. I rubbed my side softly. That's why it hurt so badly. That guy, if I get my hands on him, he was going down. "How long was I asleep?"

"All night long. It's noon already. The doctor said you would sleep through the night but no one thought you would sleep this long. Everyone was worried about you."

"Everyone?"

He nodded. "Yeah. August, you're grandma, and Mara are all down stairs waiting on news."

I felt excitement run through me, giving me strength to push through the pain and sit up properly. "Mara's here too? Can I see them?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you stay here and I'll get them," he said and walked out of the room.

I smiled as I thought about Mara. I hadn't seen her in months. I thought she was still on a mission to the middle east. I remembered the last day I saw her before she left. I never thought I would make it months without my best friend, but I had made it this far, just barely.

I rubbed my head, convinced that I hit it since I was battling an already pounding head ache. Today was the 15th, the 15th. Today was the meeting with Toby at 8. My heart raced. That was only hours from now.

A part of me didn't want to go, afraid that it would be a trap. He already tried to give me at my house and failed so he would be seeking a new place. But the Loft was public. He left that note before I got trapped at my house. Maybe Toby didn't know about it. Maybe he did want to talk and maybe I was ready to listen to him. If I went, the information I would gain would maybe allow me to get an upper hand on MIA. Maybe it would be better prepared for him.

I frowned as I remembered pushing B26 away. It was clear that MIA was not going to leave me alone and I needed help. I needed to stop them before they got to me. This was solely life preservation here. They were out for my blood and I wasn't going to give it to them.

I thought about how B26 let me know about the trap. I wondered how they knew. But one thing was for sure, B26 hadn't given up on me yet and maybe I shouldn't give up on them. Maybe I could make this work for my benefit. I think it was time to start talking to them again. At least they seemed to be looking out for me. I was done standing by the sidelines. B26 trusted me, maybe because he knew I would be the only one crazy enough to believe him.

"Wow, I just got back last night then I got a call from Carter about this. Some way to welcome a girl back, Annalise," Mara said peeking into the room and smiled at me.

I looked at Mara's olive tone summer glow then looked at my pasty whiteness. She had been sunning and it made her skin shine. What ever she was doing in the middle east was working for her.

She took long strides into the room then brushed some of her dark wavy hair behind her ear, reveling an ear full of piercings'.

"Those are new," I stated as I pointed to them. I knew Mara as well as I knew Auggie, after all, we had been friends for about the same amount of time. That being said, I knew she didn't like needles. She wouldn't even pierce her own ears the first time, let alone four different times.

She smiled at me. "It's a good story. I'll tell you later," she winked as the sun touched her hair and made it glitter red. She casually sat on the bed next to me as if she owned this place and smiled.

I nodded, I expected she would. After all, she told me everything. Mara was an open book tome and I expected to hear all her stories at the right time. "Mara! I missed you!" I chirped with a slightly horse voice.

"Heck yeah. I think a girl's night is in order. But before anyone else comes in, you and Auggie? Hu?"

I nodded at her. "Yeah."

She threw her hands up in the air and cheered. "Gosh. I knew it. It's about time you two did something."

I smiled lightly at her. This was what I had been missing in my life. She was my go to wing woman. I just hope she was here to stay for at least a few months before my grandmother whisked her off to some other long assignment.

"Annalise," Auggie said as he walked into the room slowly.

I looked at him and beamed. "They released you!" I said happily.

"Yup, this morning. I convinced them to let me out a day earlier," he said, taking slow steps into the room. He limped slightly with every step he took and it made me worried that maybe he should have stayed in the hospital for another day. I felt a pang of concern, knowing that I was probably his reason for getting out early.

Grandma was the last to come in. "Hi," she said softly. She was guilty about something, it was all over her face.

"Hi," I said awkwardly, unsure what else to say to her. I tried to correct my sitting position with a bit of difficulty.

Auggie frowned at me as if he didn't approve. "You should rest. There's no rush."

If only he knew. There was a rush. I had to go to that meeting tonight. "I've been resting." I said. I tried to take a deep breath even though it burnt. Everything in my body was aching.

"Annalise what happened yesterday?" Gram asked finally.

I frowned as I remembered the fear I had. MIA found me, they wanted me. Toby told them where I lived. My breathing became hitched as I remembered running through the yards in the neighborhood with no back up. They were going to get me if it wasn't for Carter.

"Annalise?" Auggie asked as he grabbed a hold of my hand. He rubbed it lightly as if telling me everything was fine.

I nodded at him and let out my breath slowly. I needed to pull myself together. Gram needed to see me together. I then dove into everything that happened and how MIA came after me. After I was finished sharing what happened I frowned. "My house?! What happened to my house?" I begged for an answer. That was the house I grew up in. It had so many memories, I couldn't lose it.

"Your house is fine. They stole some things like your laptop, Zune, and your purse but not much more. The local police are saying it was a local robbery," Gram explained.

"They took my Zune?" I asked with a frown. I was sad that my laptop was gone but my Zune, I had that thing for over ten years and it still worked like a charm.

"I'm sorry sweet heart. Today, we're going to sweep the house to see if they left any bugs. You're going to sleep here tonight and we'll work out the rest later," she said and rubbed my back trying to comfort me like when I was little.

I frowned. My grandmother was never a touchy person but now that she was showing affection, it just felt odd. I rather her leave. "Does anyone have Tylenol?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Here, I'll get some," Gram said then walked out of the bedroom. Thank goodness.

Auggie smiled lightly at me. He moved slowly as he came to me. He was hurting but he wasn't about to tell me. "I was so worried about you," Auggie said coming to sit on the bed with me. He brushed some of my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead.

"Now you know how I felt." I smiled lightly. "But I felt ten times worse because I thought you actually died."

"It's a terrible feeling," Auggie said and held my hand. I looked up and smiled, happy that he was here with me.

<>

Breaking us from our moment was a cough from the other side of the room. I looked at Carter, forgetting he was here still. He looked pained then quickly looked down at the ground to hide his face.

I frowned at the back side of him as he walked out of the room. I knew Carter had feelings for me and I was going to tell him about us but this wasn't the way I wanted him to find out. "Carter. Wait. Please," I said and got up from the bed slowly, feeling my ribs burn.

I turned back to Auggie who looked confused. "I'll be back," I said to him then walked out of the room.

It only took me seconds to find Carter who was in the hall sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. A frown was plastered on his face. He looked crushed. "Carter," I said and sighed as I came up to him.

He shook his head at me as if he didn't want to hear what I would say. "No, it's ok. I understand."

I shook my head at him. He didn't understand fully and I don't think he ever would. I was silent, I didn't know what to say to him.

"August was always going to win. Wasn't he?"

I frowned at him. Carter liked but it wasn't until this past week when I realized how much he liked me. But I was never going to feel the same about him. I couldn't lie to him but I didn't really want to tell the truth either. I was afraid that I would ruin our friendship that we just built. "Yes," I said after a minute.

He looked at me with a sharp nod. "I guess I can't always get the girl," he said then stood up from the ground and walked away.