This is spying. Isn't it FUN?

[neverwrongagent]

Brody attending the meeting Walker had so casually mentioned turned into a three ring circus. More than one person involved was convinced the whole thing was a wild goose chase, including Carrie occasionally. If she hadn't seen Walker as up close and personal as she had when they were first rescued, she could have been convinced. Maybe sending Brody to a regular meeting for returning vets who were also Muslim was just a kind of fuck you from a man who felt he'd been betrayed by a brother soldier. Or it could be something much more sinister. The problem was, no one could really figure out what that sinister was supposed to be. Carrie continued to maintain that Brody had no idea what was going on.

The questions Brody faced right after the meeting ranged from if he knew any of the people there already to how was he planning to overthrow the US government. When the questions headed that way a majority of the time, Carrie called foul and got Brody out of there. With full understanding of the irony involved, they had decided that the cover that would work best with his family was that he was working with other vets on integrating back into the world. Carrie would have felt a lot worse about that if it was just being used to cover up them fucking around. She still felt pretty shitty about it given how much stress it was putting on him.

They took their own cars back to her place. She got there before him and immediately opened a fresh bottle of wine, leaving a full glass on the counter for him, then she went upstairs to change into something decidedly less official looking.

Comments

[posterboymarine]

"I want you to start talking. I don't care if you ramble." He smiled at her as he started to pull something together that they could actually eat.

[neverwrongagent]

That was an amazingly dangerous thing to tell her. She thought for a long minute about where to start, finally shaking her head some and going with the safest thing she could think of. "Came out here with my dad and sister. Long weekends. Maggie and I would wander for hours."

[posterboymarine]

Safe or not safe didn't matter anymore, given that he was committed. Still, it was something. He nodded and smiled over his shoulder at her before going back to cook on the cooking.

[neverwrongagent]

She watched him as he worked, trying not to allow herself to imagine them doing this all the tie. It felt good, really good, thought. "I was a wild child, always doing the next big thing, but here? Here was so normal. Free."

[posterboymarine]

If there was one feeling Brody could relate to, it was the feeling of freedom. That was what he was feeling there, with her. He put a pan on the stove, then stole a kiss before she could continue.

[neverwrongagent]

The kiss made her laugh and she reached out to grab his ass when he went back to the stove. "Don't know what it is. Usually the quiet makes me a little nuts. And Maggie makes me a lot nuts." She mentally apologized to her sister, even though she meant it. "But out here things were good."

She licked her lips. "Never brought anyone out here, you know." Maggie had and then she'd married him.

[posterboymarine]

He turned back to her in surprise. "Never? Well, then, I'm honored." Setting the heat on the stove to low, he went back to her and squatted in front of her.

He reached up and ran his fingers down her cheek. "Thank you for sharing this place with me."

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie leaned into the touch, swallowing slightly, and she let her eyes close for a moment. "We needed it." She turned to kiss his fingers. "We need a place we can find this feeling, where it's just us." She looked at him for a long moment. "Where it's only about...about love."

She exhaled sharply. "Fuck. That's..." She didn't know what else to say.

[posterboymarine]

His eyes narrowed in confusion at her hesitation and he rubbed her cheek another moment before kissing her. "What's wrong, Carrie?"

[neverwrongagent]

She leaned her forehead against his. "I've caused you enough trouble. And I'm only going to cause you more." She shifted to kiss him firmly. "But I promised I wouldn't leave you again and I won't. My bosses don't get that and your, uhm..." And his wife was an issue, too.

[posterboymarine]

He nodded, keeping his forehead against hers. "Yes. My wife and my kids. I know." He was trying really hard to keep them out of his relationship, and that's what it was, with Carrie. But they were going to have to talk about it. He was going to have to talk about it.

[neverwrongagent]

She put her hands on his chest, knowing the contact would work to settle them both during the conversation. "Lots of reasons we can't go on like this forever. It's already come out some." She caressed his neck. "Some one can use me against you."

[posterboymarine]

Since he figured he was small potatoes, he shook his head. "I think you've got that backwards. I'm just a broken down jarhead, not much good to anyone. Certainly not in any kind of position to have you used against me."

[neverwrongagent]

Up until the moment Saul found out about him, he could have been used against her. "That depends on what Walker really wants, on if there is some plan out there that includes you." She pulled back and glared at him. "And you are't that."

[posterboymarine]

He shook his head at her glare. "Yes, Carrie, I am. You've spent more than 10 minutes with me. You know I'm right about that." He touched her hand on him and smiled weakly before standing to check the food.

"I'm not a lot of good to anyone."

[neverwrongagent]

She didn't say anything until he'd done all the fussing with the food that he was going to. Then she got up and went to stand behind him, her arms around his waist and her head resting on his back. She could feel one of his scars against her cheek. "You make me happy." She kissed that spot on his back. "You make me feel whole. That hasn't changed at all."

[posterboymarine]

He shivered a little at the kiss and leaned back into her some. "Guess I'm doing one thing right. Lord knows I'm not managing too well on any other front."

After a moment he turned in her arms, hugging her. "You know I'm a mixed bag at this point, that you aren't getting the man you met."

[neverwrongagent]

She shook her head. He wasn't getting it. "I'm not the woman you met. We've got years between then and now and you've been through hell in the meantime. Didn't stop us from reaching out immediately." She ran a hand over his chest, lightly grazing over the evidence of that hell. "And I've always been a mixed bag. There's a lot you don't know about me, you know."

[posterboymarine]

He shivered again, then kissed the top of her hair. "Maybe you wanna tell?"

[neverwrongagent]

That was something she couldn't do for so many reasons, not in the foreseeable future, so she gave him a weak little smile. "We don't have enough wine in the house for that one. Or time away." She went back to kissing his chest. "We can work up to it."

[posterboymarine]

That brought a real frown, which he tried to hide as she kissed his chest. He was supposed to trust her, but she wouldn't trust him. It was enough to make him start questioning what the hell he was doing.

[neverwrongagent]

The problem with telling him her secret was that it could take her from her work, which was her entire world. She'd had years of practice hiding it from everyone. Looking up, she caught the tail end of his expression and swallowed hard. Maybe if she brought him around to it slowly.

She touched his face. "Live with me a while. You'll see what I mean." That, at least, was complete truth. It was hard to hide over time.

[posterboymarine]

That was an interesting choice of words and he eyed her a moment. "Not sure we are at the point where living with you is possible."

[neverwrongagent]

"Oh, I--" She shook her head and pulled away to find plates so she could set the table. "I didn't mean like that. Not implying that." She glanced back at him. "Just meant being around me. That's usually enough to scare most people off."

She winced. "You probably haven't noticed, but I'm a little intense."

[posterboymarine]

They were both so obviously retreating that he felt his own heart breaking some. He turned his attention back to the food, to give both of them some space.