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]

Reminding him of the past might have been manipulative, but the truth of it was that she'd held onto those memories, too. Whatever she wanted from him operationally, she also wanted to at least maintain a connection with him. "Won't be able to test all the surfaces, but I'm sure we'll make due."

She frowned a little, shifting gears in an unexpected direction. "How are you healing?" When she'd had him naked, she hadn't really been able to tell and it wasn't like they showed her every medical check.

[posterboymarine]

He moved closer to her, brushing against her very lightly. The connection was important. At her question, he shrugged. "They say most of it is going to scar, went too long untreated."

After another drink, he licked his lips and signed. "I hear women find scars attractive."

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie knew it was partly because of her chosen profession, where she dealt with all sorts of people who wore scars inside and out, but she had never understood why anyone would find scars disgusting or unattractive. Maybe she'd worn her own for so long that she understood them. "They're a part of you, Nick, and I like you."

She shifted a little so that she could rub her hand over his lower back without being seen from outside. "The option is having you back with them or not having you back. It's not a hard choice at all."

[posterboymarine]

"I wonder if it will really be that easy." He sighed again, then moved away from the window. He was aware that the window was exposed, that anyone could be watching. He didn't really feel like being on display to his hosts.

Perching on the edge of the bed, he drained his beer in two swallows. Then he laid back and patted the bed next to him. "might as well make yourself comfortable. Unless you have someplace to be."

[neverwrongagent]

There were sheers over the window, enough to give them a touch of privacy without obscuring the view in an emergency, and she pulled them partly shut. She took a seat next to him, tucking her beer bottle under the bed and out of the way. "I do, somewhere very important." She leaned back on the bed, spreading her arms out and groaning. "I've been trying to get here for hours."

[posterboymarine]

He glanced over at her and grinned. "And here I thought you'd forgotten about me." He shifted onto his side and watched her. "I hope I haven't been causing you too much trouble."

[neverwrongagent]

She snorted. "You make an impression on a girl, Gunny." She turned to face him, reaching to caress his hair. "You haven't caused me any trouble. Reynolds, the guy who came in with Walker? He's giving me fits. Bosses back home? Highly annoying." She rubbed a thumb over his cheek. "You're a walk in the fucking park."

[posterboymarine]

He moved with her touch, happy to be lulled by it. It felt good to be touched and he'd missed her more than he wanted to admit during the previous night.

"How long can you stay?"

[neverwrongagent]

She glanced past him at the connecting door, then grinned. "I'll have to be up early, but I'm yours until then." She chose her words carefully, shivering slightly when the force of them hit her. She wasn't kidding or playing.

[posterboymarine]

This got another smile from him and relaxed visibly. "I'm glad." And he was very much glad, both for the immediate meaning and for the deeper one.

He shifted closer to her, now touching her back. "Nights are hard."

[neverwrongagent]

She nodded, her lips pursing slightly. "They are. Worse when it gets quiet." She glanced at the window. It would get quiet in that house. "Enough things are hard now. I don't want this to be harder than it has to be."

[posterboymarine]

"Is that the only reason you are doing this?" He suspected that it wasn't. But he needed to hear that. He needed to hear that he was not just the job as much as he needed to breath.

[neverwrongagent]

She turned on her side slightly and moved forward to kiss him. The contact wasn't forceful or pushy in any way. Instead it was tender, almost regretful. "I like you, Nick." She caressed his jaw, slowly. "If I could wave my hand and get you all the way out of this, I would."

She licked her lips and looked down. "Even when that means I'd probably never see you again."

[posterboymarine]

He sank into that contact with a groan. It was enough to convince him that he was more than the job. With a weighed sigh, he pulled her into his arms and just held her.

It felt good, holding her, having someone real in her arms. It made a lot of things much better. Including this round of, albeit improved, captivity.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie went into his arms easily, curling up small against him with one arm around his waist so she could rub his back. All those months staring at his photo had put him in a place in her mind that she hadn't completely understood. Having him there, real, was making it clearer. She hadn't lied to him and she had no intention of it, but the way that opened her up to him was getting scary.

He wasn't hers. He had a wife and family at home and the Marine Corps breathing down her neck about him. And she sucked at being anyone's anything. Right there, in that moment, she could almost feel all that disappear.

[posterboymarine]

He gripped her tighter the more she rubbed his back, his eyes closing and real rest settling in over him. His lips pressed to her hair and he exhaled softly. "I'm glad you're here."

He thought about it for a moment, then smiled. "I'm glad I met you."

[neverwrongagent]

She snorted softly. "Tell you what, I promise not to hold you to that when you get to know me better." She lifted her head long enough to kiss him lightly. "I have a tendency to annoy people." She did snuggle closer to him, though. "It's good when we're together."

[posterboymarine]

"It is." It was good enough that he was able to forget anything outside their little cocoon for a little while. The kiss he gave her was not as light, but still not pushy. Nothing needed to be pushy. They had all night.

[neverwrongagent]

Fairly sure she read his intent correctly, Carrie shifted again so she could get her other arm around his neck. Ruffling his hair and rubbing his back, she settled in for what she hoped would be a nice make out session. She grinned a little against his lips at the thought. When she'd first met him she'd been looking for a double shot of macho to cut through her bounciness. Now she just wanted the connection.

[posterboymarine]

Make out session was exactly what Brody had in mind. He needed the distraction and she was very good at providing that. Almost too good, if he really thought about it. She was dangerous to his socially acceptable world.

Not that he was living that, at the moment. Nothing about what he'd been through would qualify as even remotely acceptable to civilized society. Maybe that was what made falling into her arms so easy.

With a soft grunt, he rolled and pulled her on top of him. She didn't have to do anything except lay there and kiss him. He just needed more contact.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie shifted so that she lay mostly on him with one knee beside his thigh. That way she could lay there comfortably without him needing to support her much and they could each still press into the other if things got more heated. It was a position that held promise of more without requiring it and that's what this was all about.

She got both hands on his head, ruffling his hair and caressing his face as they kissed. He was so solid. That made her smile, too, because she didn't just mean the bulk of his body, which was actually smaller than when she first met him. It was that sense of home and normalcy that he still had. Although, really, that wasn't as big as when she'd met him, either.

[posterboymarine]

He had lost a lot in his captivity, stuff he was still discovering the lose of. But this helped.

He ran his fingers into her hair and groaned against her lips. Just because they were only making out didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy it. He made the decision that he would, in fact, enjoy it immensely and everything else be damned.

[neverwrongagent]

After a while she shifted some, breaking out of the kiss and moving down a little on his body so she could work at his neck. Going slowly, her body pressed hard against his, she nuzzled and nipped her way from just under his ear to under his chin and back up. All the while, she nearly purred with pleasure.

As much as she was enjoying herself, and she was, it was also meant as a gift to him. She still liked him, still wanted him, and she wanted that to show.

[posterboymarine]

What little bit of doubt he had dissolved the longer they enjoyed each other. By the time his arms tightened around her and he pulled her back into a deep kiss, he had no doubt at all that she wanted him. And there should have been little doubt that he wanted her, too.

He rocked under her, rubbing against her with a little more need. He wasn't done making out, but he wanted her to know that he was ready to move on whenever she was.

[neverwrongagent]

Setting limits and time tables barely worked with her professionally. Putting that in her hands when she was getting worked up was ridiculous. She broke out of the kisses again to sit up and rip her shirt off. Looking down at him, she measured her need versus how long it would take to get his shirt off. With a sharp nod, she made her choice and started pulling at his clothes until she got him clear of them.

Then she settled right back on him with a happy whimper, her hands moving over his torso as she went back to kissing him. The heat of his skin made her shudder.