Rescued?

[neverwrongagent]

When the posters went up showing the two members of the Marine sniper team who'd gone missing, Carrie Mathison stood and stared at them. She didn't see two Marines in their uniforms, though, she saw only one of them half dressed on a rooftop looking up at the blanket of stars. She saw a sweet smile from a man who was too far from home and was trying to hold onto his humanity. Every time she passed the posters, even if she didn't turn to look, she was as aware of them as if someone had reached out and grabbed her. Months went by and the sensation never weakened.

Then came word that they'd been found, that two Marines had been found in neighboring camps. Both men were in rough shape: dehydrated, beaten and demoralized. One was worse than the other, but first reports didn't make it clear which it was and Carrie held her breath until she knew that Brody was in better physical shape. Not that she asked or spoke to anyone about knowing him. The moment she said a word, they'd pull her out of it all and that wasn't happening.

The men were kept apart while they were cleaned up. Carrie read both files, but it was Brody's she kept going over and over in her head. She knew every detail of what they'd found out so far. On the outside it probably seemed cruel to interrogate the men so soon, but the sooner they got it done, the better. These men were headed home, at least for a while, and it would be harder to get solid information from them when they were there.

It wasn't until minutes before she walked into the room that Carrie knew for sure which man she was going to debrief. She was ready to bounce out of her skin by the time she walked in, a feeling that vanished immediately when she saw him. "Sergeant Brody? I'm Carrie Mathison. I'm here to ask you some questions."

Comments

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie risked touching him, reaching for his hand for just long enough to brush her fingers over his. "I'll be right back. Five minute at the most while I figure this out." They wouldn't ever be alone, it would all be an illusion, but she thought it would be one he needed.

She left him there while she went to figure out how the hell she was going to swing it. Convincing the team that he should get outside wasn't the hard part, figuring out where was the bitch of it. In the end, the picked the courtyard of the next building over where they could put guards around the perimeter and see in from above.

When she went back in, she waited just inside the door. "Well, that was easier than I expected."

[posterboymarine]

While she was gone, he sank down to sitting in the corner, his arms wrapping around his knees. When she came back, he had his forehead on his knees. And when she spoke, he didn't look up right away.

"We can go outside?"

[neverwrongagent]

She put her hand out to him. "We can go outside. There's a patio with benches around the outside walls and a fountain in the middle. It's kind of nice." She waggled her fingers. "Just you and me."

[posterboymarine]

He slowly took her hand and stood. He knew they wouldn't be alone. He wasn't that foolish. Still, outside would be nice. He'd take outside, even if he didn't say anything else.

[neverwrongagent]

For the first time she took his hand firmly, although she was careful of his injuries. They were left largely alone on the short walk across to the little walled area. It was about the same size as the rooftop they'd been on, with the fountain off to one side and a large table with chairs in the middle. The walls were seven feet tall, plenty tall enough to give them some privacy.

When they got there, she let go of his hand and stepped back to let him decide how to be in the space.

[posterboymarine]

Once they were outside, he relaxed. A bit. He was still aware of the eyes on him. He was hypersensitive to it. As they entered the courtyard, he looked around, then went toward the fountain. He sat on the edge and ran his fingers through the water.

[neverwrongagent]

She let him experience the place on his own for a while, keeping her distance as best she could while still watching him. Finally she came over to stand beside him. "Shame we didn't have the fountain that night. I'm sure we could have thought of something."

She exhaled slowly. "I thought about you after. And when you were taken, they put your picture up and I..." She shrugged. "I"m not much for praying, so I just kept thinking about you."

[posterboymarine]

Her suggestion made him smile faintly. He wasn't as concerned about who might overhear out there. "I prayed. A lot. For all the good it did."

[neverwrongagent]

"You did?" She nodded slightly. "We did find you, so maybe it helped after all." She didn't have the kind of faith in anything but her own abilities, and Saul, but she had respect for it. Religion could drive people to be their best or their worst.

[posterboymarine]

"God never gives you more than you can handle, right?" He clearly didn't believe that, even as he said it. "For such supposedly devout men, they do horrible things."

[neverwrongagent]

She snorted softly. She didn't believe that bit for a second. Then she sobered. "The human mind can conflate the most amazing things, contrary to all exterior logic. We're all capable of it to some extent." Not that she imagined either of them would go to that kind of extreme, but she wasn't naive enough to think it wasn't possible.

[posterboymarine]

Perhaps she was right, that neither of them would do that, but who really knew. He'd beaten his friend, he believed until recently, to death. In an attempt to live a little longer himself.

"What else do you want to know?"

[neverwrongagent]

What he'd done was survived. There were limits to what you could expect a person to endure before they snapped. "I want to know everything because I never know what might connect to something else. Any detail, no matter how small could be important."

She reached for his hand again, fingers moving over his. "I also want to know what more I can do for you. Short of turning back time."

[posterboymarine]

"I've told you everything." He hadn't. But he wasn't going to go back now. He shrugged, then looked at their hands. "What you can do, or what you can do?"

[neverwrongagent]

She let the first part go. Even if he wasn't actively hiding anything, they hadn't gotten close to everything he could tell her. She shrugged, smiling with that same almost embarrassed expression. "Either. Both."

[posterboymarine]

He looked at their hands again, then sighed softly. "Can I get a little time alone? Out here?"

[neverwrongagent]

She glance around, looking at one spotter but not the others, then shrugged. "I can give you a little time, but I can't really leave. They made me sign all kinds of papers saying I'd keep track of you."

[posterboymarine]

He looked around. "Where am I going to go?"

[neverwrongagent]

"You ask that like they actually thought it through." Mostly they wanted to be in control. All anyone expected him to want was to go home. "I can give you fifteen minutes." All of which time he'd be observed from afar. "I'd be right outside the gate."

It was a bad idea, really, and she didn't want to do it, but she knew the best way to get him to open up was to get him to bond more with her. Giving him something he wanted was a step in that direction

[posterboymarine]

He nodded. "Thank you." Then he turned back to the water. He would spend the entire time just moving his hand through that water. But he would also spend it pretending he was really alone.

He believed his own lie for well that by the time she returned, he was silently sobbing.

[neverwrongagent]

She came up behind him quietly, slowing when she realized he was crying. So she didn't startle him any more than she had to, Carrie came around to the other side of the fountain so he could see her approach if he looked up. "Nick? I'm back." She licked her lips. "I'm back for you."

[posterboymarine]

He looked up at her and wiped his eyes. "Thank you." He rubbed his face and looked down again. "What has Walker said?"

[neverwrongagent]

She wanted very much to wipe away his tears, but she didn't want to intrude. Not at the moment, anyway. "I don't know. I only saw the initial stuff about his release." Her focus had been on Brody, not Walker and after licking her lips, she admitted that. "I focused on your condition, on how you were."

[posterboymarine]

He looked hard at her, confusion crossing his eyes. "Why?"

[neverwrongagent]

She blinked up at him, smiling slightly. "Because I know you. I liked you." She finally reached up to touch his cheek. "Wanted to see for myself that you were in one piece."