One For The Road

40: Dreams, Part 1

"Where the hell is Annie?"

Although it had been about two hours since she left, Josiah had only bothered to bitch about her absence and not actually call her. What a man.

But I wasn't going to tell him that. If he found out that I was slightly involved with his beloved servant's disappearance, he'd think that it was all my fault. But I didn't have anything to do with Annie's decision. It was all him.

I promised that I wouldn't leave without telling Annie goodbye, and even though I knew she wasn't coming back (or, at least, she originally had no intention of coming back), the seconds ticked by slowly in the living room. Drake flipped through the channels on the TV, but he never replied to Josiah when he asked where Annie was. Maybe he figured it out.

"Honestly, it doesn't take a couple of hours to buy some groceries, and this is just getting annoying," Josiah continued.

Well, Josiah would know all about that, wouldn't he? It was part of the reason Annie was probably somewhere close to the border.

"Katie, could we chat for a second?" Drake asked.

Fuck. He found out.

I nodded. The sooner someone broke the news to Josiah, the sooner I could leave too.

I was no stranger to conversations I didn't want to have with my boss, but this time, it wasn't about something I did or didn't do. It was about a light who stayed positive at the risk of her sanity because she loved too hard. It was about someone who was what everyone wanted me to be.

Drake and I went back into his bedroom, and with all of my shit cleared out, there was much more space, but it still needed cleaning.

"She finally did it, didn't she? She's gone," Drake said.

I nodded.

"Dammit," he muttered. "Of all times, why the hell would she pick now?"

"She should've given up with Josiah a long time ago, Drake. It's about time she does what makes her happy. It's not like she was trying to be selfish," I said.

"I know that, but she held this team together. She meant the world to me." He shook his head and looked away.

He spent a bunch of time trying to convince me that I was an important cog in the Sacrilege machine, but anyone could drive a robot with a little training and focus. Not many people were willing to put up with that shit show of a team.

"Maybe you and Josiah should have let her know that, because all she wanted was a little security. All she wanted was to feel loved, not just useful," I said.

"I assume you put her up to this. We're just not good enough for you here, are we?"

"I told you that I'm not leaving the team right now, but Annie's gone, dude. I didn't tell her to do anything. She decided that she didn't want to let me go alone."

She was too selfless to let them flounder. She did everything from working to cleaning to cooking to creating without any sort of recognition. She even would have settled for a ring, and Josiah couldn't handle that.

"I told him he should have married her and given her what she wanted, but no one ever listens to me," Drake said.

"And do you think that marriage would just solve their problems? Do you honestly believe that? It would never end well for either one of them," I said.

"Well, where is she now? It's not like she has anywhere else but here."

I hesitated. "She has me."