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

[posterboymarine]

He stole another piece and grinned. "Yes, ma'am." He sat back and chewed, thinking for a few moments before speaking. "What do you think is missing? "

[neverwrongagent]

If he was going to steal her food, she was going to steal back kisses, which she did while grinning at him. By the time he asked his question, though, she was well back into working on the puzzle. She shook her head. "If this is really about covering for someone, about putting you in a compromising position in the meantime, then we probably won't know until we see what you're supposed to destroy. But why not just fake your way into the box? Even that would put you in a rough place."

[posterboymarine]

He smirked at her. "You think I'm not going to fake my way into it? I'm trying to not get killed here."

[neverwrongagent]

She rolled her eyes at him. "That's because you're smarter than the average bear. Pinker, too. It's not what they asked you to do, though." Whatever they wanted from him was big, bigger than this. It was like throwing him in the deep end to see if he swam out or built a bridge. Which was fine, but where was that bridge supposed to go?

"I fucking hate this." Which wasn't entirely true. She lived for this stuff, but when he was in the middle of it, she got jumpier than normal.

[posterboymarine]

"They asked me to destroy the information. No one said I had to go shoot the place up in the process. These guys are fucked up, but they aren't stupid." He glanced over at her and smiled. "You're pretty hot when you're gnawing on something."

[neverwrongagent]

She wasn't expecting that because it annoyed the hell out of most people. Blinking at him, she actually asked him, "What?" Then she blushed. "Oh."

She leaned over and kissed him quickly. "I'm starting to wonder about you."

[posterboymarine]

He raised an eyebrow. "Me? Why are you wondering about me? What'd I do?"

[neverwrongagent]

She looked him over. "I'm a puzzle obsessed language dork with a thing for danger and you think that's sexy." She shook her head. "I don't care what Saul says, you're a keeper."

[posterboymarine]

He eyed her for another moment. "Saul says something?" He stole another piece of pastry.

[neverwrongagent]

Most of Saul's criticisms were for Carrie and her generally poor life choices, but he also had some questions about the general well being of her lover and how long things could last. She shrugged. "The still married thing comes up now and again."

[posterboymarine]

"He's got to know I'm getting divorced by now." Not that he really cared, but it really wasn't any of Saul's business.

He sighed softly, then stole a kiss before getting up. He finished his beer with a grin. "I'm going to shower before I eat all your dinner."

[neverwrongagent]

Saul was as big a part of her life as her family, a kind of surrogate father, so it was partly his business, but that didn't make him right about Brody or about their relationship. "He's surprisingly old fashioned."

She ran a hand over his hip when he got up, well aware she'd just driven him away. "Let me know if you want anything scrubbed."

[posterboymarine]

He squeezed her hand before heading to the bathroom. "Yes, ma'am." She hadn't driven him away, exactly, but he needed a little space. His martial status was a sore subject when other people decided to judge him for it. It was inevitable, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

The hotel didn't have the best shower, but it had hot water and lots of it. He stood under it with his hands on the wall in front of him, his eyes closed against the world.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie finished eating her pastry and cleaned up their dinner before even considering following him into the shower. It was probably a bad idea, but when did that ever stop her. He could always send her away.

She stood in the bathroom door, watching him under the water. He was healing, getting stronger every day, and all she wanted to do was run her hands over his body.

[posterboymarine]

He sensed her come into the bathroom but didn't look up. She'd join him if she was going to. He wasn't going to rush her, even as he felt that awkward divide settling in.

[neverwrongagent]

He'd said he'd invite her, but then he wasn't exactly sending her away. After a little while longer, she came closer, moving to just beside the shower. She knocked softly on the wall. "Avon calling."

[posterboymarine]

He glanced back at her and smiled. "I'm not sure it's appropriate for me to invite the Avon lady into the shower. But I'll make an exception this time."

[neverwrongagent]

She snorted softly as she climbed in. "Can you imagine? I can't imagine a job I'd suck more at." She got behind him and started rubbing gently. "It's scary."

[posterboymarine]

He leaned back into her some. "Being an Avon lady? It's very scary. Those ladies are terrifying."

[neverwrongagent]

"Been attacked by an Avon lady lately? Trying to get you to buy cologne sets?" She kissed his back softly. "One tried to sell me that skin lotion soap stuff. It never seemed natural to me."

[posterboymarine]

He reached back and squeezed her hip. "They used to always come to the house. Jess liked to sit and talk with them. Eventually she'd buy something."

[neverwrongagent]

Jess struck her as more of a Mary Kay kinda girl, but she didn't say that. She'd made it a pretty hard rule not to say anything one way or the other about the woman, no matter what she thought. "That's nice of her."

[posterboymarine]

He shrugged at that. "Suppose." Carrie was probably right. Brody didn't really ask. Which was likely just another symptom of the overall problem that had lead to their split.

He really didn't want to think about it and he fell silent again.

[neverwrongagent]

Carrie moved closer, her hands moving slowly over him with no real pattern or intent. All she wanted was to pet him and be close. With a sigh, she rested her head against his back while moving a hand around to his belly. "You feel so good."

[posterboymarine]

He smiled gently. "Biased. You are completely biased." He let her stay against his back a few more moments before he turned to face her.

Cupping her cheek, he tilted her face up so he could kiss her. After, he rested his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry I'm a bear to deal with sometimes."