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]

"I guess not." She tightened her grip on his hand for a moment, almost in warning. "Nick, there's something you don't know and I'm not really sure how to tell you so I'm just going to come out with it. Corporal Tom Walker is alive." She shrugged. "He's in rough shape, even rougher than you, but he's alive."

[posterboymarine]

He jerked his hand away from her and shook his head. "No. I sa... I buried him. I dug the fucking grave. Don't fuck with me, Carrie. Don't play games with my head."

[neverwrongagent]

She made no effort to hold onto him. His pulling away was expected. She let him finish, then reached into the files she'd brought in with her and pulled out a photo of Walker standing by the same wall that they'd had Brody stand by when they took pictures of his injuries. One of the men in the background had been with Brody, too. "I'm not fucking with you. I wouldn't do that."

[posterboymarine]

He looked at the picture, then stood up, pushing hard away from the table. He started pacing immediately, shaking his head. "I buried him. I ki... He was dead. I saw it with my own eyes. This is all just some fucking head game and..." His rant ran out of steam, even if the pacing didn't for another few moments.

When he stopped the nervous crossing of the room, he was near the corner. There wasn't a bit of thought in his moving into it and leaning into the dark, just shaking his head.

[neverwrongagent]

That was the second half word he'd gotten out and she replayed them both over and over in her mind while he paced. By the time he ended up in the corner, Carrie had an awful idea of what he'd been subjected to. She hoped beyond all hope that she was wrong, but it was exactly the kind of thing that Nazir and his people liked to do. Talk about fucking with someone's mind.

She stood and crossed to him slowly, giving him time to hold her off in some way. "You're right. It is a head game, but I'm not doing it."

[posterboymarine]

He didn't let her close, retreating even further into the corner as he held his hand out at her. He didn't want her any closer. He was too raw for that at this point.

[neverwrongagent]

She didn't press because that wasn't going to help. He had to trust her and it was a simple matter to let him have his space in that moment. It reinforced her idea that he'd been a part of Walker's supposed death, even if it was just an intimate witness. He'd seen much more than just a body going in the ground or even a man being hurt. He'd been right up in it.

"He's alive. Alive enough to be giving a statement from his hospital bed right now." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I know you barely have a reason to believe me, but I'm not lying to you and I won't lie to you."

[posterboymarine]

The idea that Tom was giving a statement froze Brody right up and he groaned. He would tell them what Brody had done. He would tell them that Nazir had been there, had made him do it. It would land him in jail.

[neverwrongagent]

That wasn't even close to the reaction she'd expected, but she didn't jump on it. Once she had him calmer, and hopefully still trusting her, he'd tell her more. If she pushed, she'd lose him. Instead she had to restore the ease they'd had with each other on the rooftop.

"You know what? We need to get you out of here. Too much time inside."

[posterboymarine]

He simply nodded, still not looking at her. Being able to see the sky would help. Maybe they would go someplace where he could get away. He would go to prison if they found out what he did while he was still in custody.

[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."