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]

Still wincing slightly at having drawn blood, Carrie curled up close and closed her eyes. She didn't think she'd sleep much, but he felt good and she needed the rest. Of course, she was wrong and it only took a few moments before she drifted into a light sleep.

[posterboymarine]

He didn't so much sleep as collapse in sated exhaustion. It was likely more restful then actual sleep would have been. He didn't move, staying pressed against her and mostly still as he rested. So the bleeding did stop as his back was able to clot some. It would likely scar, given that it would be constantly rubbed, but it certainly wasn't the only one he had.

[neverwrongagent]

When she woke, she stayed still for a long while, watching him. Everything about the moment was evocative of right when she'd got him back. They were stressed, exhausted, and in pain. It should have been the differences that stood out for her, but they didn't. This was who they were.

Finally, she groaned softly. "You're big."

[posterboymarine]

He opened his eyes and scowled at her. "No. You're not big. Your fault, not mine." Still, he rolled off her with a groan as he felt the cuts in his back open again.

[neverwrongagent]

"I am petite. Tiny. Insignificant except for my mouth." She looked at him. "And you're too beat up for innuendo, so let that go." She gave him a little push so he was on his belly before she headed into the bathroom. "Don't move, I'm bringing back supplies."

After taking care of the basics, she brought back a warm, wet washcloth and a little tube of antibiotic cream Maggie insisted she carry with her. "Jesus, I'm a wild cat."

[posterboymarine]

"No innuendo? That's no fun." He groaned again as he settled on his stomach. His eyes were closed when she came back, his arms down at his side.

At her comment, he laughed. "Yes, you are."

[neverwrongagent]

"For the record, I'm not using my tongue until this heals up some." She knelt next to him so she could reach and gently cleaned him off, careful not to open the worst of the cuts. "Fuck, I have to trim my nails." She leaned over to kiss near a bad spot. "You like me like that, don't you?"

[posterboymarine]

"I don't think your tongue caused that." He smirked at her. "Probably shouldn't bind your wrists for a little bit, though." He turned to look back at her. "How did you guess?"

[neverwrongagent]

She pinched the same spot on his hip she'd pinched before. "Wild cat, cleaning things." She shook her head. "And I guessed from the way you pretty much exploded after I did it. Nicholas Brody on switch, discovered."

Of course, the idea of him holding her down hadn't exactly turned her off and she squirmed a little just thinking about it. "And no, probably not, given how I get when I get released."

[posterboymarine]

"Maybe I just won't release you next time." He winked at her, then settled back again. "Well, at least now I have a story. With names changed to protect the guilty."

[neverwrongagent]

That got him a sharp nip which meant that he should absolutely do that. Then she settled back to finish cleaning him up. "They should know you're not living the life of a monk." Not exactly, anyway.

She exhaled slowly. "You think you could convince Walker you're playing me?" Easier to tell what was almost the truth than tell lies.

[posterboymarine]

"I was never living the life of a monk." At her suggestion, he fell silent and thought for a long time. "I don't know. It would depend on his contact with you."

[neverwrongagent]

She thought about that for a long moment, cataloging the times that she was around him and what she thought of the man who'd worked with him most closely. "There were already rumors about us, mostly because of how protective I was." She rolled her eyes a little at that. As much as she cared about him, she'd also been protecting her asset. It was so easy to underestimate the thinking of a woman in a man's world. "Walker's keeper never liked me, never thought there was anything to it all. And I hardly ever took the lead with him."

They'd been trying not to put up walls between the two Marines.

[posterboymarine]

Brody shrugged. "Still. You're Company and he knows it. I'd rather not have to fight that, too. Too dangerous for me." It wasn't that he didn't want her there, it was that he didn't want to put her in danger. He couldn't afford to worry about that, too. Just keeping himself alive was hard enough.

[neverwrongagent]

At least it was something they could file away, a tool they had if they really needed it. It could make him look good or bad just when they needed it. Any edge was worth it.

He was as cleaned up as he was going to be, so she tossed the washcloth toward the bathroom and sank down against him with a whimper. He might have bright, raw marks, but her bruises hurt, too. "Then I'll just stay right here, be your Mata Hari in the night." She laughed. "Wish I got the wardrobe for that."

[posterboymarine]

He laughed as she settled against him. "I'm a Marine, not a millionaire, babe. Besides, you look best naked."

[neverwrongagent]

She shook her head. "I would look outstanding in little beaded nothings. I'll show you some day." She kissed his shoulder. "Some day I'm taking you to a place we can be naked for days and still see the stars."

[posterboymarine]

He carefully rolled onto his side so he could look at her. "Back to the cabin? That would be nice. A vacation. Maybe before I'm actually billeted at Quantico?"

[neverwrongagent]

She nodded. "At the very least back to the cabin." She'd been thinking somewhere a little fancier, but the fact that he thought of that made her chest ache. And then the idea of him living away from her made it full out hurt. "Yeah, before that."

[posterboymarine]

He gave her a look, his eyebrows raised. "WHat's wrong, baby?"

[neverwrongagent]

She touched his face for a moment, then kissed him softly. "Nothing wrong." She shrugged a little sheepishly. "Struck by how used to having you around I've gotten, that's all."

[posterboymarine]

His eyebrow raised further. "You think I'm not going to be around? I'm not going anywhere."

[neverwrongagent]

She shook her head. "I know you will." If they made it through this, of course. "But in my house? You need space for your kids." Not that they weren't welcome around her, but she wasn't the most stable person. "I hadn't thought it all through. You know me, I only do that sometimes."

[posterboymarine]

He did have to agree with that. "We'll work it out." He gave her a long, slow, reassuring kiss. "We'll make it work, I promise. You are stuck with me."

[neverwrongagent]

She was pretty sure he had that backwards, but that didn't stop her from accepting his comfort. If it was going to be backwards, she was going to get the full benefit. "You still have a bet to win with Dad."