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]

Laughing, he nodded. "Probably, yes." He flailed back, reaching for the bag. "Pudding?"

[neverwrongagent]

She started laughing again and it was a while before she could tell him better to start with a sandwich. They kept swapping stories during the meal, but when she got them moving toward the lake they let the conversation die off in favor of listening to the birds and holding hands. For her part, she had a lot to process and she was still deciding if she was going to ask him the questions she still had floating about.

They got down to the water's edge, to a random dock that no longer had a cabin associated with it, and she kicked off her shoes so she could dangle her toes in the water. "Can I ask you about Jessica?" Not your wife, but Jessica.

[posterboymarine]

He sat down next to her and shrugged. They were clearly in the 'getting to know you' part of the trip, so questions about his wife were fair game. "I'll answer as best I can."

[neverwrongagent]

As the other woman, she couldn't ask directly about their sex life, no matter how badly she wanted to know. "How are you getting along? You're still gone a lot without being able to say why. That's got to be a strain."

[posterboymarine]

He exhaled and looked out over the lake. "She doesn't like it. She says it's better that I'm home and gone a lot, then still being MIA. But I'm not sure I believe it. At least when I was missing, I was missing. Now I'm home, but I'm not really home." He shrugged as he continued to watch the lake. "She's better right when I come back, because I'm better. But I still can't sleep in the same bed. I still am not comfortable naked around her. And I still wake up screaming in the night, if I get to sleep at all."

He rubbed his face, then looked at her. "Sometimes, I think she'd be happier if I just wasn't there. I think that's why she lets me leave with so little question."

[neverwrongagent]

He didn't sleep in the same bed as his wife, but he mostly easily napped around her. He was better after being with her. None of which was a change, really, from right after he'd gotten back. Every time she asked, she thought she'd get a different kind of answer, but it almost sounded like it was getting worse. "But she hasn't said that, has she? Has she said anything?"

[posterboymarine]

"She told me I should go back to my unit, that it would be best for me to get back to normal." He snorted. "Back to normal, whatever the hell that is. She said she and the kids could keep staying with my mother until I find out if I'm going to be deployed again."

[neverwrongagent]

That wasn't someone who wanted to be with him. Carrie hadn't ever lived with him and she couldn't stand the idea of him going so far away. She'd had one night with him and then longed for him when he was missing. Admittedly, Carrie knew she got a little obsessive about things, but still. Accepting you lived with a Marine who could be in danger again was one thing, but practically sending him away was another.

"Normal." She snorted softly. "I lost touch with that one a long time ago."

[posterboymarine]

"Normal for her is me being gone. Normal for me... Well, I don't know what that is anymore."

[neverwrongagent]

She sighed softly. Normal for him was stress, uncertainty and doubt. None of which was good for the mind. "I'm here. That's starting to be normal, scary, huh?"

[posterboymarine]

"It is, yes. You are here." It was also weird, that this woman he'd meet in the sandbox seemed to care more for him then his own wife.

[neverwrongagent]

She tried to process that for a while and in the end she shrugged. "We can talk. What do you say to someone who wasn't there?" She knew she was more comfortable talking to a World War II vet who'd seen action than to a banker exactly the same age as her. "It's like the whole language changes."

[posterboymarine]

She had a point and he nodded. He and his wife had so little in common anymore that it was hard to find anything to talk about at all.

[neverwrongagent]

She licked her lips, not sure if she should say the next bit. "That's never going to change." She shrugged. "It's why I'm single."

She snorted. "Well, that and I'm a driven lunatic, but besides that."

[posterboymarine]

He sighed. He knew it wasn't going to improve. And maybe he was ready to stop trying. But he wasn't ready to make the decision yet. He was getting closer, though.

[neverwrongagent]

She didn't have much more to say on the matter, so she was glad enough to drop it. Except to reach over and kiss him gently, reminding him that she was there. Then she settled against him and looked out over the water. "We should go out one night." She glanced up at him. "I don't mean while we're here, necessarily, but where there's music maybe."

[posterboymarine]

He was also happy to drop it, since he needed to think. Then she was taking about going out and he grinned. "You want to take me dancing, don't you."

[neverwrongagent]

She grinned broadly. "God knows you know how to move." She loved the way he moved with her. "It would be fun. Something just about us, about being free."

[posterboymarine]

"You have noticed that I'm very white, right? " Still, the idea of going dancing had some appeal and he nodded. "We should go while we are here, where we don't have my shadows."

[neverwrongagent]

"You're pink." She leaned over and nipped at a freckled spot on his jaw. "Strawberries and cream. I like it." She was more peaches than strawberries. They were both ridiculously pale, really. "God, yeah, fuck them. They don't get to enjoy the good music."

[posterboymarine]

He laughed deeply, pulling her into his arms. "I trust you know a place nearby?"

[neverwrongagent]

She had to think about that for a minute. There were places she'd gone with Maggie when they were younger, but she thought most of those were closed by now. Then she smiled. "Oh yeah, I know a place. They even play jazz sometimes."

[posterboymarine]

He kissed her again. "Then we'll go tonight." He rubbed her back a moment, then laid back, pulling her down with him.

[neverwrongagent]

They stayed by the water for another hour or so, enjoying the setting until they decided it would be more comfortable to nap in a proper bed. Carrie called to be sure the place she had in mind was, in fact, still open. They got showers and something light to eat before heading out.

It was more an old fashioned dinner club than a bar, but the crowd was an odds mix of bikers, hipsters, and couples who had probably been coming for thirty years. The band that night played a mix of soft Rick and jazz, perfect for slow dancing. When they got there, they were playing Coltrane, which made Carrie beam.

[posterboymarine]

Brody saw the look on her face when they walked in and smile as he pressed a little closer to her. They got a table and a pitcher ordered, then he wasted no time dragging her out on what passed for a dance floor.