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

[posterboymarine]

He drank the coffee and nibbled at the food as she reassured him. "I believe you." He actually snorted softly. It was a hard thing, believing anyone. But she still hadn't lied to him.

"Ask your questions."

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie exhaled slowly, running over the dozens of possible openings she had, but in the end, she went to her first instinct. "Why did Nazir tell you Walker had to die? And why did you have to do it?"

[posterboymarine]

He took another bite of food, then shrugged. "He said my choices were to kill Tom or be killed by him. He said I'd never see my kids again if I refused."

He set his cup down and looked at her. "He said Allah had a plan for me and I needed to be shown the way."

[neverwrongagent]

She frowned, considering both parts of his answer. The first part was simple enough. Get a man to do a horrible thing and you could see what his limits were, what things he would fight to keep. It was pretty clear what things Brody wanted to keep. "Did he say anything about what kind of plan?"

[posterboymarine]

He shook his head. "He said that would be made clear later. When I was worthy and ready." He looked at his hands. "I beat my shooter to save myself. We're Marines. We don't do that."

[neverwrongagent]

He was a man and men did things that they had to when survival was at stake, things they'd never imagine, but he didn't want to hear that. "Marines make the best of what they get handed which is what you're going to do now by answering my questions."

[posterboymarine]

He had to accept her answer, since it was true. So he nodded. "I'm finished in the military. After this, no one will trust me."

[neverwrongagent]

"I think you've given enough of yourself to the Marines at this point." And there were parts he was simply never, ever going to get back. He was probably right, though, in that this was going to keep him from a lot of things, enough that they might as well cashier him out. "You'll get back to your kids."

[posterboymarine]

"That'd be nice. I'd like to see them grow up." He shuddered a moment. "Be nice to get out of the sandbox."

He had the good grace to glance at her. "No offense."

[neverwrongagent]

She snorted loudly. "Please, don't apologize. It takes a special kinda crazy to want to be here." And she was way crazier than anyone knew. "They like it better when I'm out here." Much like him, the minute anyone knew the truth of who she was and what she'd done, she'd be out.

"Besides Nazir, who else did you see?"

[posterboymarine]

Brody thought for a few moments, remembering, then rattled off several names of other high-value targets. Then he went back to his coffee, giving her time to mull that over.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie sat back, stunned. Right there Brody might have redeemed himself. It took her a while to regain enough focus to get back to questions. She scrambled back to the chair so she could go through her files and she started taking notes. When she started back up, her questions were more pointed, more direct, then they had been before. This was the business portion of their time together.

Someone came in with more coffee and she bustled them out as soon as she could so she could go back to a round of redirected questions, looking for more details.

[posterboymarine]

He answered each of her questions as best he could, with as much information as he could give her. He kept reminding her that he was not privy to the day to day details of things, but he still listened. He managed to avoid giving her too many more of the details of his torture, but it was hard for some of her questions.

[neverwrongagent]

She didn't want to drag him through the worst of it any more than she had to. Doing that would put up distance between them and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She needed him to feel close, to be able to talk to her. Finally, she realized just how long they'd been going. Had he been a bad guy, she'd never have stopped, but she made herself grind to a halt. "This is amazing stuff, Nick. I can't tell you how valuable this is."

[posterboymarine]

When she finally stopped with the questions, he laid back down. He sighed softly and rubbed his eyes. "I hope it helps." What he didn't say was I hope it was worth it but, again, it wasn't her fault and he wouldn't blame her.

[neverwrongagent]

He didn't have to say it, she could feel it in the way he went back on the bed and she felt a twinge of guilt. It wasn't her fault, but she was contributing. She gathered up her files, and her notes, and went to sit next to him. "I have to report in, talk to the rest of my team, but I'll come back." She put her hand on his leg, rubbing gently. "Is there something I could bring back?"

[posterboymarine]

He glanced at her hand, then shrugged. "I could use some clean clothes. And something to read. Since I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while."

[neverwrongagent]

"I can do that." She sat there for a moment, wanting to say a lot more, none of it about Nazir or what still needed to be asked, but she wasn't sure he needed to hear it. "I'll get those to you right away, before I come back." No reason for him to wait for creature comforts.

"When I come back, we'll go over to the fountain again."

[posterboymarine]

He brightened some at that. "I'd like that." He touched her hand. "You should go. Before they come looking for you again."

[neverwrongagent]

She clasped his hand for a moment, squeezing hard, then she got to her feet and headed for the door. Before she got the door open a few inches, someone had already stepped forward to intercept her. She glanced back at him, biting her lip, then let her be dragged off to report on what she'd learned.

She kept her promise, though, and had them send him clean clothes and a couple novels that were lying around the building.

[posterboymarine]

While she was gone, mostly Brody slept. He was making up for lost time. Some of it was even dreamless. Most of it wasn't, though, so he still looked haggard no matter what he did.

Finally, he gave up and turned his attention to the novels. They were all popular rubbish, but he didn't expect much more than that. Everyone needed escape.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie hadn't written down anything Brody said about killing, or thinking he'd killed, his partner. She was hoping that she'd get to question Walker before she had to reveal anything, but she was stunned when her team presented her with Walker's version of what happened.

According to him, it was Nazir's men alone who beat him. Brody was there, on the other side of the room, but he was nearly delirious from lack of sleep and water. Walker didn't remember anything until well after the beating and when he'd finally come around, he'd been told Brody was dead, shot at Walker's supposed grave site.

Carrie sat there, trying to process it all, fitting the pieces together into the only thing that made any sense at all--Walker knew what Nazir's plan was. He'd been in on it. He was covering for Brody so the plan could possibly still move forward. Just what that plan was, though, she had no clue yet.

By the time she got back to Brody, she was reeling. She brought him some more food and some for her since she hadn't eaten all day. She put the tray on the bed and plopped down on the floor beside the bed with one of the sandwiches.

[posterboymarine]

Brody took the other sandwich and watched her. Her silence made him uncomfortable and he was waiting for the men with guns to come in and haul him away.

Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and he touched her shoulder, his eyebrow lifted in question.

[neverwrongagent]

She kept chewing until half her sandwich was gone before looking up at him. She put her hand over his for a moment before finally speaking, her voice soft as though she thought they'd be overheard, even though she knew they weren't bugged. "He said the guards did it. That he was gaslit, too."

She met his eyes and repeated herself, hoping he'd put the pieces together. "He didn't tell them."

[posterboymarine]

He stared at her for a long time, confusion slowly turning into some level of vague understanding. When he finally spoke, his voice was almost flat.

"Why?"