We all fall down

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie would remember the next few days as some of the best of her life. She was living with a man she was more comfortable with than she could have imagined, working together for a common goal. Even the visit with his kids went well. She gave him most of Saturday with just them, showing up at dinner time with pizza and cookies. They played board games and chased around her little house until it was time for him to take them back. Then it all went to hell.

They finally found evidence that Walker had met someone on one of his random seeming runs around the District. Before they could act on it, a series of small bombs took out three Metro buses as they approached the city center. A half dozen people were killed, twice that were injured. Had it been one bomb, it would have been bad enough, but three in a concert was particularly frightening for the city. It also put CIA on high alert. The work they'd been doing before was nothing compared to the sudden anger and frustration everyone showed. Plenty of people looked at Brody, and Carrie, as though they'd done something wrong. Brody should have come forward sooner. Carrie shouldn't have trusted him so much. Maybe if they'd come up for air this wouldn't have happened.

Carrie though all that and more, although she never really blamed Brody. At least, not any more than she blamed any of them for missing it. They'd messed up, not gotten to the answer fast enough. For her, everything else fell away. The work was everything and she spent as many hours as she was allowed at work. She had to be shoehorned out of the building to go home and rest, but when she was there she didn't sleep. She only ate when someone put food in front of her. This was the Carrie Brody had never seen, that her family worried about, that Carrie held on a tight leash.

She paced her dining platform, looking at the notes and schedules she had posted to her wall, sure she was still missing something crucial. She had music playing, the kind of jazz that normally settled her, but it wasn't doing shit and she could feel her skin start to crawl, but she had to work, had to figure out where they'd gone wrong.

Comments

[neverwrongagent]

She shook her head. "Leaving aside the bugs in my house until a little while ago, it's not something I tell anyone." She looked up at him. "Ever. If I do, I lose everything." The idea of being revealed terrified her.

[posterboymarine]

"The same way my shrink isn't in my records." He turned her in his arms and kissed her soundly. "I'll keep your secret. But you should let me help, tell me when you need it." Resting his forehead against hers, he kissed her nose. "Tell me what I can do."

[neverwrongagent]

The kiss worked the way it always did and she relaxed a little. "I'm better than I've been in a long time. What ever it is, you do it already." She met his eyes for a long moment, then looked away. That was a big deal, telling him how he affected her.

[posterboymarine]

He didn't let her look away for long. He nuzzled her ear then nipped at her. "What do you want to do now, love? Sleep, run, or fuck?"

[neverwrongagent]

She looked down at what they were wearing, then sighed deeply. "We should probably run. Decent exercise is good, too." Not that what they'd done a few hours ago wasn't excellent for the heart. She looked up at him, her expression hesitant. "And that's it? All the questions you have?"

[posterboymarine]

He kissed her nose. "For right now, yes. I'll have more later, I'm sure. But for right now I'm good." He needed to think on it, more than anything, before he could comment further.

"Let go run, then."

[neverwrongagent]

She groaned dramatically. "Fine. Run. Shower. Work." She frowned "No more work until tomorrow?" That was part of his new job, keeping her from working too much. If he did well, maybe Maggie would love him after all.

[posterboymarine]

"That's right. No more work until tomorrow. Run, shower, sleep." He knew the sleep would be hard for her, but he did have his ways.

He took her hand and pulled her toward the door. "We'll do an easy 3."

[neverwrongagent]

She groaned and grumbled the whole way out. She kept her figure by being a hummingbird, not a runner. Once they were on their way, though, she settled into it. She knew it wasn't a real work out for him, but it was good for the lungs and good for the mind.

The whole run, for instance, she plotted what she was going to do to him in the shower.

[posterboymarine]

When she didn't feel the need to talk during their run, he remained silent and keep their pace and distance. While she thought as that ran, he didn't. He never used his running time to think about specific things, he just let his mind wander. This time, it really didn't.

At the halfway mark, he turned them around, taking them back a different way. And by the time they returned to the house, he was practically Zen mellow about everything. Abd he completely reeked of sweat and gun oil, more so even then when he'd first gotten home.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie headed straight up the stairs when they got home, looking back at him with a playful smile. She never reached Zen, as such, but she was pretty close. In all fairness, she was also fairly ripe, but she wasn't thinking about that. She was on to thinking about him naked, under water, and her returning the favor of turning him to mush.

[posterboymarine]

He followed her a moment later, after grabbing a big glass of water. That went onto the nightstand and he started peeling off his clothes. "Flip ya for the shower."

[neverwrongagent]

She'd already headed into the bathroom, shedding clothes as she went. "Not fair. You have better reach." And better upper body strength and better training. She poked her head out. "Or we could share. We share pretty well, don't we?"

[posterboymarine]

He laughed as he followed her. "I meant a coin. Yes, we could share. But you hog the water." He couldn't have been more obvious on his teasing if he'd tried.

[neverwrongagent]

"That's because if I don't, you block it, you strawberry giant." She stuck her tongue out at him. "And where do you think I'm hiding a coin right now?" She turned for him, showing of her naked ass, almost tempting him to come search.

[posterboymarine]

He did go to her and grabbed her ass, pulling her against him. "There are a couple places one might be..."

[neverwrongagent]

She twisted in his arms, theoretically to keep any hiding places away from him, but mostly to rub against him. She reached up and touched his cheek even as she wriggled. "I'm sure you'll be very thorough."

[posterboymarine]

He kissed her, spanked her lightly, and urged her toward the bathroom. "Get the water started."

[neverwrongagent]

She headed in, asking him to set towels out and grab a fresh bar of soap. With another person there, they were going through things. She was fascinated by the little changes in her life having him around. The big ones, like even hinting about her illness, were more than she could handle.

When it was ready, she ushered him in first. "So I don't hog it all."

[posterboymarine]

He slipped into the shower first, carrying the bar of soap. After soaking himself, he shook his head, then reached for her.

[neverwrongagent]

She climbed in behind him, only going under the water long enough to dampen her hair so she could push it back. Then she took the soap from him and made a little turn around gesture. "You're stinky."

[posterboymarine]

He stole a kiss and turned around under the water. "I am not."

[neverwrongagent]

She lathered up his back, massaging as much as cleaning. This was about connection. "You are, but you won't be." She kept working at him, rubbing in tight circles. "You're a good guy, aren't you?"

She sounded a little surprised.

[posterboymarine]

He glanced back over his shoulder at her. "Yeah. I'm a good guy. Why would you think I wasn't? "

[neverwrongagent]

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Because it's so statistically unlikely." She leaned forward and kissed a non-soapy place. "I've always known you were a right guy." She shrugged. "That doesn't always promise being a good one. Guess my first instincts were right."

She read people well, very well, but no one was perfect. He'd had a lot of chances to turn up wrong. So far, even counting the lie he'd told her, he'd kept coming up right. His reaction to her condition, what he understood of it, was more than that.