neverwrongagent | Rescued?

He nodded and pulled away, standing up slowly. He hurt all over and he was exhausted. "I just want to sleep." And never wake up. But he couldn't say that. They'd never let him out of their sight, until he'd been rung dry, if he did.

She'd pick up on that desperation fairly quickly if he kept that line of thinking. She might not always recognize the signs of it in herself, but she could see it in others. "Let's get back, then. Get you settled." There were going to be more rounds of interrogation, but they weren't going to keep up the torture and not let him sleep.

She guided him to his feet and back to the room where they'd started. She left him there with a guard outside the room while she scrambled to find a space. In the end, she managed to get a back office cleared out and a bed dragged in. The only reason she got away with it was because she somehow managed to make it sound like an emergency. What that emergency was supposed to be she was deliberately vague about.

The room was dark by the time they reached it, obscuring the chair she'd set in a corner. The double bed was right in the middle of the room, though.

When she came back to get him, he had his forehead on the table in front of him, his eyes closed. He wasn't asleep. He was just listening.

She had to lead him, much like a zombie, into the room. Chances are he wouldn't have noticed the chair if it were broad daylight. So he certainly didn't notice anything but the bed, right before he collapsed onto it.

Carrie winced at the weight of over six foot of Marine, even a thin one, hitting that bed. It was makeshift at best. She knelt next to it and got his boots off him, then covered him with the thin blanket they'd scrounged. "I'll be here when you wake up. I won't leave you alone in this."

He just nodded, then pulled the blanket up over him. He unconsciously curled into the fetal position, clinging to the blanket like a lifeline.

He was asleep moments later.

Because sitting still with nothing to do was a sure road to disaster, Carrie had the files she'd been working on brought in. She sat with a small lap in the chair and read through them over and over while he slept. Adding what she knew now to what they'd already uncovered made her brain swim.

He slept dreamlessly for a few hours. Then the twitching and the whimpering started. He pulled in tighter, he kicked out, he was generally combative in his sleep. It was anything but restful, by this point.

After a few hours, Carrie drifted off herself, files spread over her lap. She came awake quickly when he started vocalizing. His nightmares came as no surprise to her and she allowed herself a few minutes to watch him clinically. Them his thrashing became too much for her. Not worried about how the files fell, she went to kneel beside the bed.

"Nick?"

"NICK

At the sound of his name, he jerked awake, flailing out as he sat up. He didn't connect with her, nor really see her for a few moments, as he tried to figure out what where he was.

Then he saw her and broke down, sagging back down to the mattress and weeping.

She wouldn't have blamed him if he had connected. When he started crying, she moved to him immediately. She climbed into the bed with him and wrapped her arms around him. Let one person question her on comforting a traumatized hero.

She didn't tell him it would all be okay. She just held onto him and let him take what he could from the fact that she'd kept her word and was there with him.

He pressed close to her, tightening his arms around her and just cried. It was all he could do. He was just too broken down to care about appearance. She was familiar. She was safe.

Carrie let him hold on tightly, finally whispering gentle nonsense so he had something else to hold onto. The words didn't amount to much more than she was there and she would be there whenever he wanted. It was a bold promise in many ways, but she found she meant it. Every moment seeing him so broken reminded her forcefully of the man she'd met.

She was so solid, so real, and exactly what he needed. But being so close had an added effect of reminding his body of their previous connection. His hands clenched at her a little harder and he buried his face in her neck. He was ashamed of his body's reaction to her.

She was so focused on the mental that it took her a long moment to realize the physical. She knew that it was all about wanting to feel alive, to be convinced that the now was real, rather than any particular appeal she might have. Running a hand down his side to his hip so she could pull him a little closer, she kissed his temple. "I remember, too. It's good to remember that, to feel it."

Her response confused him and he almost pulled away. But her hand was so warm on his hip and she was so close. And she smelled so nice compared to where he'd been.

All he could do was whimper helplessly.

She put her free hand under his chin and encouraged him to look at her. "I still see the man I met, the one who I took to see the stars." She smiled gently. Kissing him would be natural if they were somewhere else, but she wasn't sure it was the best idea there. Not that they were being watched directly at that moment.

She might have had reservations, but he only had instinct. And his instinct was to lose himself in her, to hide himself away in her embrace.

He brushed his lips over her, letting her taste salty tears.

Carrie gave in to her instincts, leaving her hand on his cheek as they kissed. She let him set the pace, let him tell her what he needed. At the very least, she wanted him to be able to trust her. Pushing him in either direction at this point wasn't going to do that.

She blissfully ignored her own emotional response to him, that base attraction and affection that she'd felt when they met, that had built over the time he was gone.

When she kissed him back, he groaned softly against her lips. This was what he needed. To be close to someone he knew. He'd answer anything she wanted, if he could just have this.

She kept right on kissing him until she found herself getting a little breathless. Pulling away slowly, and not going very far, she let him see that kissing him affected her. "Oh yeah, I remember you." If only she could be sure he remembered himself. That was the trick. "I like you."

He watched her face, then smiled. "I like you, too."

That got him a slight blush in return. "I'm glad." She gave him a very quick kiss. "I want to help you. I want to be here for you." The minute the words were out, she realized it was true. She didn't want it as much as she wanted Nazir, but she didn't want air as much as she wanted Nazir. Still, it was a real thing. A very real thing and she wanted him to know it.

He nodded, then buried his face back against her neck. He was asleep again a few moments later, still clinging to her.

They were only allowed another two hours before anyone came knocking on the door. Per her original request, they brought a tray off food and a pot of coffee. She'd asked that no one come for as long as possible, as long as they could tolerate no questions being asked 'officially.'

She tried to wave them off, but the food was put on the chair she'd abandoned and she got a serious glare before her co-worker backed out of the room.

When the food was dropped off, Brody woke up, but stayed hidden. Dreamless sleep was a blessing and he didn't want it to end. He continued to not move even after the door closed.

"The questions have to start again, don't they?"

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