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]

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.

[neverwrongagent]

She could feel it too, but for her it was this thing that always happened. It wasn't that her heart didn't break some, it was that she was used to it. Once the little table was set, she poured them both more wine and opened a second bottle for the table. She knew all the time they spent together would be like this, back and forth emotionally.

She sat back at the table with a sigh. "Go for a walk with me after we eat?"

[posterboymarine]

He brought the food over and dished out, then he joined her at the table. "I would like that." He'd had enough time to settle some, so he held his hand out for hers.

[neverwrongagent]

She was so distracted by holding his hand that she didn't really finish eating, not that she usually finished a meal anyway. Thinking about touching him was more important. She even brought his hand up so she could kiss the back once. After that, she went back to rambling some, talking about places they could walk and how she and Maggie would pack backpacks for the day.

When he was done eating, she helped clean up just as much as they absolutely had to. "Damn it, I just thought of something."

[posterboymarine]

He listened to the rambling with a grin and even managed most of the cleaning up. Then she stopped him with her comment. "What's that, love?"

[neverwrongagent]

She blinked a little at his endearment, then shook it off as she tugged at the borrowed shirt she wore. "We have to get dressed." In theory she could get away with just putting on her shoes, but it was a little chilly for that.

[posterboymarine]

He smirked at that. "Yes, we do." He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "We'll take a blanket."

[neverwrongagent]

"Not my best planning moment." She wasn't in any hurry to stop the kisses, but she finally pulled away. "I just won't put on any underwear." She pointed out where there were more blankets, bigger ones than the one she'd been wearing around the cabin. "And we should set the fire up so it's ready to light when we get back."

Regardless of what they got up to in the woods, her plans for when they got back included curling up in front of the fire.

[posterboymarine]

"You are insatiable, aren't you." He winked at her before patting her on the ass. "Go get dressed. I'll set the fire up."

[neverwrongagent]

"I am, actually." It was part of her more manic cycles, not that she was going to put it that way, but there was an irony to the fact that she controlled them by expending her energy that way. "Going to have to make sure you work out regularly. Carb load."

She went into the other room and found her jeans and a sweatshirt, tossing his shirt back onto the couch, then got to work on the fire. "Should we bring wine?"

[posterboymarine]

He rolled his eyes as he pulled on his shirt. "Okay, I'll get the wine and a blanket." Before she could do that, too, he started gathering up the items and rolling them in a blanket sling. Then he tied it off and stood waiting for her.

[neverwrongagent]

"What? I like to be prepared." She smacked his ass in payback as they headed out the door. Her mood was swinging back toward the positive at full speed. They were going to be outside, that was always good.

She grabbed his hand and lead him around the lake on a path she'd walked hundreds of times. It was all so familiar to her that she almost didn't see it.

[posterboymarine]

She might have not seen the path, but he did. He tried to take it all in, trusting her to lead him to wherever they were going.

"This is nice. I'm surprised you don't come up here more."

[neverwrongagent]

"That would be because I'm a workaholic. Dyed in the wool." She groaned softly. "Down right pathological, really." Now there was a moment of absolute truth she could give him. "Even when I'm in the States I spend more time at work than any normal human should."

[posterboymarine]

"That's not healthy, you know." NOt that he was one to talk. But hey, maybe she'd listen to him, even if he didn't listen to himself.