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 couldn't afford to care about most people's opinions. They got in the way of her work. And her life. She nodded slightly, thinking about just what they'd accomplished--the work and his giving her stability. "We did. Real progress."

[posterboymarine]

"Good. Then we sleep a little bit." Which was to say that he snuggled in real close and started touching her. Not with any real goal, per se, but still with the intent of enjoying her.

[neverwrongagent]

She let him touch for a long time without responding beyond soft sighs of pleasure. Since the bombings, they hadn't taken the time for quiet touch. Before that they would occasionally find themselves just standing together, checking in. Finally she drew him into a deep kiss.

[posterboymarine]

When she finally kissed him, he whimpered softly. It wasn't that he was worried about being rebuffed. It was that he still needed that last little bit of contact to feel reassured. Just because she was the one obviously having the issues didn't mean he wasn't also not processing terribly well.

[neverwrongagent]

She'd had more than one mental health professional tell her that using sex to medicate was a poor idea, that it didn't do any good and only complicated her life. Mostly she thought they were right, at least until she met Brody. It wasn't about sex, entirely, it was about contact and connection. She kissed him again, this time more tenderly and then with a delicate tease.

[posterboymarine]

He whimpered again, then pulled her on top of him. He still wasn't rushing sex. He just wanted to feel more of her. He also managed to pull the covers over then, to keep the exposed half of her warm.

[neverwrongagent]

They'd fuck, eventually, but that wasn't the important part. This was the part that mattered, the way they answered each other's needs be it tenderness or sudden passion. She kissed his lips, his face, his neck. Her hands moved over his torso, hands flat, pressure light. "Sometimes don't think you're real."

[posterboymarine]

He had to laugh at that. "Sometimes I don't feel real, babe. Sometimes, everything feel like a dream. Like it's all beyond my control." His hands rested low on her back, taking in her heat.

[neverwrongagent]

She nipped at his jaw, smiling. "You are though." She pulled back and watched him for a long moment before going back to kissing him. "That's the scariest part, you're the most real thing." As real as her work, which was the only thing.

[posterboymarine]

Smiling, he held her in the kiss for a few moments, then released her with a wink. "Thanks, babe. I think." He was teasing her some. "You know I'll be ready to go back to work soon.

[neverwrongagent]

That made her stop for a second. Even though she'd worked with him to get him a solid plan for his military career, something that would keep him close and let them have some kind of life together, it was hard to remember that he wasn't a part of her team. She smiled slowly. "Well, I know you're stronger. You've been carrying me around again."

[posterboymarine]

He chuckled softly at that. "You like it when I carry you around." He gave her a light spank. "I like carrying you around. Feel good to be able to do it again."

[neverwrongagent]

The blow made her press harder against him. She rolled her eyes at him a little, even though she enjoyed it immensely. "Going to be able to do it all again, soon. Everything you need to." And then he'd be back on active duty, leaving for work in uniform. She pulled back again, considering him while she pictured that. "There will be some serious upsides."

[posterboymarine]

"Oh yeah? Like what?" He grinned at her, spanking her again because he could.

[neverwrongagent]

She laughed at his continued abuse, even as she squirmed against him. Contact was contact and she loved it. "Just thinking that I like you in uniform."

[posterboymarine]

He smirked. "Which one do you like the most?"

[neverwrongagent]

That was easy. "Favorite is the way I first saw you, but I can't say I mind the full dress kit." She shook her head. "Not that I think I'd let you stay in it long. Too flashy. Too shiny." Too distracting for a mental magpie like her.

[posterboymarine]

He chuckled softly. "You like the rough and rugged. That doesn't surprise me." He held her against him with a grin, rocking his hips. "Probably good you didn't meet me while I was in PT gear."

[neverwrongagent]

She sputtered a laugh. "Yeah, because I resisted so badly when you were fully covered." She shook her head. "I'd have broken a land speed record." She kissed him hard. "It's competence. Sexiest thing."

[posterboymarine]

"Than what are you doing with me, babe? " He grinned, then hooked his leg around her legs and ground against her.

[neverwrongagent]

She squirmed so she could rub against him, smiling when she got him in just the right position so she could feel him against her core. Laughing roughly, she kissed him hard. "Working with outstanding raw material."

[posterboymarine]

He groaned against her lips. "Fuck, you feel good. You always feel so good."

[neverwrongagent]

She twisted again, gasping when he hit the best spot. He was right, they always felt good together. It wasn't her, it was them. "They say it gets better, the longer you do it." She didn't have a lot of experience with return engagements.

[posterboymarine]

He chuckled. "As long as both people want to do it, anyway." He nipped at her shoulder, then held her still a moment so he could just enjoy her heat.

[neverwrongagent]

As long as he held her that way, keeping her hips still, she had to retaliate. So she kissed him firmly and shuddered at the intensity of it. Finally she broke free. "I want to do it." She had to laugh at how that sounded, but she meant it.