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]

"Ever lived with someone before?" It seemed the valid question, if she was going to make those statements.

[neverwrongagent]

She nodded. "Boyfriend in college. For about six months." It might have been a little longer, but not much. Not long after, she'd had her first big breakdown and she hadn't lived with anyone but family since. "I travel, have to be able to either talk about work or be with someone who actually understands not being able to. That's hard."

[posterboymarine]

He nodded. "Lived with someone since high school. It's never as hard as you think. Until it is."

[neverwrongagent]

She blinked hard, forcing away the idea that they were discussing his wife, and nodded. "I've thought about it, but then work got in the way." Or her own need to be moving so fast that no one else could keep up. "This is the longest I've been home in a while." She winced a little. "You, too, I guess."

[posterboymarine]

He nodded, trying not to pull away some. "I'm not real sure where home is anymore."

[neverwrongagent]

She turned slowly in his arms, wrapping her own around his middle as she put her head on his chest. For a while she just held him, trying to figure out how to say what she was thinking. Finally she sighed softly. "I have an apartment, I like it. I love this place." She shrugged slightly. "But I've been as comfortable in a back room surrounded by men who want nothing to do with me and or...or in a room around a patio with a fountain, hoping no one is looking in the windows. Home's a little weird for me."

[posterboymarine]

He thought about what she said for a moment, then pulled back to stare at her for a moment. Then he smiled and kissed her softly.

When he spoke again, after the kiss, his voice was soft. "They want me back in North Carolina. Back with the battalion."

[neverwrongagent]

Now it was her turn to stare. Then she realized she wasn't hiding her look of despair. All the promises might have been made to him, but she didn't want him away from her. She shook her head slowly. "No. I mean, I guess that makes sense, but..."

All she really had was No. "What about your family?"

[posterboymarine]

He cupped her face and pulled her into another kiss. "If they insist, I'll take a medical and they can rot in Hell." Then he laughed a little. "Not that I have any idea what I'd do then. But I'm not going back to Lejune. They'll just deploy us again."

[neverwrongagent]

She didn't look any happier at the word deploy. Not that she couldn't be pulled away at any moment if things went in a certain direction, but that wasn't the point right now. "After all this, there has to be another option." One that recognized the numbers of time he'd gone above and beyond and would keep him close to her.

[posterboymarine]

He shrugged weakly. "You know I don't have any options. I go where they tell me, or I discharge."

There were options, but there was nothing he could make happen. He didn't have the pull or the connections.

[neverwrongagent]

She shook her head again, a plan forming in the back of her mind. "Should have pulled when we met, gotten you out." She licked her lips. "Things would have been so different."

[posterboymarine]

He smiled at her, then kissed her again. "Probably. But you didn't. We both had our jobs to do. We did them." He nuzzled her neck. "Mine was to go out there, yours was to find me."

[neverwrongagent]

Her arms tightened around him and she knew she'd never say how close she'd been to looking for him right before he'd been taken. It was all pure luck, really, what had happened and water under the bridge, but she'd never feel right about it. "Then you need a better job now. Something to keep you where you belong." She tightened her arms again in a not terribly subtle hint about where that was.

[posterboymarine]

Even at the squeeze, he laughed softly. "Babe, you realize there's only two things I'm good at, right? Finding people. And shooting them."

[neverwrongagent]

She wasn't going to argue with him even though she knew that any man who could make her feel that safe and protected was good at more than those two things. "We'll figure it out. We've gotten this far." She sighed deeply and leaned into him. "Let's get out of here. I need sky."

[posterboymarine]

He nodded, hugging her hard before moving back. "Guess I should get dressed, huh." He stole a kiss, then headed for where she'd laid out the clothes.

[neverwrongagent]

She exhaled slowly, watching him as he walked away from her. The conversation felt unfinished, even though she'd called an end to it. It wouldn't be finished until they had a real plan. She didn't watch him dress, even though she did love seeing him move. Instead she finished packing up and went to wait for him on the porch steps. She had a plan on where to take him, but she re-thought it over and over as she waited.

[posterboymarine]

Once he was dressed, he joined her outside and took her hand. "Lead on, Chief."

[neverwrongagent]

She handed him the bag, then started them on their walk. Miles of trails went around the lake so they could get lost out there or a while if they wanted. The first solid path took them to a spot on the other side of the lake where a feeder stream then led them up to the top of a ridge so they could overlook the whole area. As they walked, she talked to him about being there with her sister when they were kids, about how they would race or play hide and seek.

[posterboymarine]

He followed her with a smile, happy to listen to her talk about her past. It helped make her even more real for him, someone he could hold on to if he needed to. Which was something he foresaw needing in the near future, especially if he separated, either from his wife or the Marines.

[neverwrongagent]

She hit a point where she knew she was rambling, but she kept going for a while because he seemed to like it. Finally she paused, then exhaled deeply. "I'm nowhere near this interesting, I know. You're being remarkably tolerant."

[posterboymarine]

He flashed her a huge grin. "Don't underestimate how interesting you are to me. If I didn't think so, I'd have never followed you to that rooftop."

[neverwrongagent]

She laughed at that. He'd followed her for a completely different kind of interesting than her childhood stories. "You sure have stuck around longer than....anyone." She went up on her toes to kiss him. "And overcome worse obstacles to achieve that."

[posterboymarine]

"Must mean something." He kept her close and kissed her again. "Keep talking."