I have to warn everyone. Since I'm also writing "Situations and Circumstances", I've been focused on that, and the chapter that I've been writing of that was like Über-angsty. I'm serious; in that chapter, I don't think that there's any semblance of happiness (the sequel to that oneshot is, though) and so this chapter of "Top Notes" is a bit more angsty than I planned out.

xXx

"Knock, knock," Annie quipped, knocking on the glass door. Auggie turned around in his chair, and once he was alerted to her presence, a smile nearly split his face.

"Annie," he lilted, "You all set?" he queried, as he instinctively pressed a few buttons to power down the assortment of computers.

Annie plastered on a smile, one that would look like a grimace to any outside observer, and nodded before murmuring an affirmative "Uh huh."

"You okay?" Auggie inquired, his brow furrowing with worry.

Annie let out an awkward chuckled and nodded, "Yeah, no, I'm okay."

Satisfied with her response for the moment, he bent his elbow at an angle.

"Walk with me?"

xXx

Turning her key into his door, they both stepped into his comfortable apartment.

Auggie closed his eyes and took a deep breath in when he stepped in the center of the room. He knew that she was looking at him when he spoke, "Ah, home, sweet, home."

She snorted in humor – she seemed to do that more often when he was around – and seemed to relax. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she turned him towards her. She was holding three DVDs that she had found in his movie collection.

"So, Eagle Eye, Forrest Gump, or The Bourne Identity?"

He smiled and led them both to the couch. He thought about it for a moment. "Forrest Gump. It's easier to follow."

Once they both sat down, she curled up closer to him – an act that momentarily surprised him. It briefly reminded him of when of when he had woken up next to her, and he wondered if this was an after-affect of her dream. Surely, it couldn't have been the first time.

She placed the DVD into the player, and stepped back until her knees hit the couch. After pressing a few buttons on the remote, she sat back down. Putting the remote between them, she curled up to him in her original position.

Halfway through the movie, Annie realized that it hadn't escaped her notice that he hadn't spoken that much, and that he had his brow furrowed – a sign that he was deep in thought.

Annie was, though she didn't know it, correct about her observations. Auggie had been thinking – specifically, about her. There was something off when she told her Danielle she had slept well. Now, it wasn't an outright lie - he had grown well-tuned to those, when it came from her, at least. There was, however, something off about her tone – it was tinted with surprise and suspicion.

He was debating back and forth whether he should ask her about it, when he felt her shift against him, and heard the movie stop. Was it already finished? To be honest, he hadn't been paying too much attention to it, but he didn't think that he had day-dreamed through a movie over two hours long, although he would admit that he had been out of focus with the world for a while, there.

He tilted his head slightly, "Annie?"

Her response was a quiet and slightly muffled snore. He smiled slightly; that explained it. It seemed that Annie had fallen asleep a while the movie played, and he had only noticed it when his TV's sleep timer enabled itself.

"Annie," he tried again, but she didn't budge.

"You know," he murmured, mostly for himself, "If we're going to make a habit of falling asleep on couches, I think I'm going to have to invest in a comfier couch."

Placing an arm around her shoulders, and an arm under her knees, he carried back to his bed. Laying her down, he pulled the covers up to her shoulders and, making sure she was comfortable, made to leave. Something stopped him.

A childlike whimper escaped her lips, and her eyes were screwed shut.

"Auggie," she choked out, gripping the covers tighter.

Worry froze his veins, and he rushed back to her, his hand searching for her. He brushed against something that was probably a wrist, and as he trailed his fingers up it, he made contact with her shoulder.

Perching himself on his bed, he gently shook her.

"Annie. . ." he murmured, and then spoke it more loudly, "Annie."

She woke up or was, at least, a bit more lucid than she was asleep. "Auggie?" she mumbled, her voice muffled with sleep and tears.

"Hey, I'm right here," he soothed.

She unsuccessfully stifled a sniffle. "Auggie? Can I ask you something?"

He shuffled in closer to her. "Of course," he promised, running his hand up and down her arm.

"And if I do," she continued, "Will you promise to tell me the truth?"

He nodded, apprehension seeping into his voice, "If I can, I will."

He heard her take a deep breath. "Yesterday, when you slept over, did I . . . did I have a nightmare?"

He paused for a moment, and a guilty look encompassed his face, "Yes."

"God," she choked out, and ran her fingers through her. She collapsed weakly against the pillow.

"How do you get over them, Auggie?" she questioned, not able to stifle her sobs.

"You don't," he responded bluntly, "You find someone to talk about it with, and they just . . . fade away."

She thought about it for a moment, and then whispered to him, "Can I talk to you about it?"

"Sure," he nodded, nuzzling her hair.

"Did I tell you anything about my dream?" she asked him, "I don't remember anything about it. I guess I fell asleep too quickly; usually I say up for an hour before I can go back to sleep. Danielle suspects something's wrong, but she doesn't know."

"You didn't tell me much," he admitted, "Only that you dreamt that . . . that I died."

She sharply took a breath, and closed her eyes as a tear slid down her face.

"Annie," he murmured, "You can tell me. You know that, right?"

"I know," she nodded against him. She took a deep breath, and mentally prepared herself.

"It starts out normally; we're in the office, and there's barely anybody there," she closed her eyes and took a deep sigh, "We're both done with our work, and we decide to go someplace. It's never the same place – sometimes it's the beach, the tavern, my house, your apartment. Once it was even the Smithsonian," she snorted.

"Sounds like it's been going on for while," he murmured worriedly.

"It has," she mumbled as she turned closer to him. She continued with her previous thought, "We're having fun. We're dancing, badmouthing Jai, drinking shots of Patron. And then the place is empty. Everyone disappears because . . . because they know something bad is going to happen," the last part was sobbed out, muffled by her cries.

"Annie," he crooned, pulling her closer as she buried her face into his neck.

"And . . . and then," she whimpered, "Then the trigger's pulled, and you fall down. You're bleeding, and I try to stop the blood. But there's so much, and it wasn't meant to happen!"

At this point she was sobbing fully into his shoulder, "And it was all my fault, Aug."

"How was it your fault, Annie? Who shot me?" Auggie whispered.

Annie lifted her head to meet his gaze. Her voice was clear and strong when she responded to him.

"I did, Auggie."

xXx

Okay, so this isn't going to be the last chapter of this story. I had more planned out for this chapter, but it would be too long, so I'm just going to make into another chapter. That one will probably be the last one for this story, and then the sequel will continue the story line.

A few people have asked, if it's going to be in the same storyline, and if the next chapter is going to end in a "semi cliffhanger", then what is the point of writing it in another separate story. The reason is this: this story is focusing more or less on her nightmare, and both of them wanting more, right? The sequel has a different focus. The nightmare doesn't play as much a part in that story as it does in this one, as something else will "command" the attention.

I hope that that wasn't too confusing, but you'll understand everything in the next chapter. Promise.

Also, I actually researched what movies are easy for the blind to follow, and I found out that "Forrest Gump" is really easy to follow.

Wow. Longest Author's Note ever.