neverwrongagent | We all fall down

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

posterboymarine

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

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

neverwrongagent

She groaned. "We're a pair." She shifted forward, wrapping her arms around his middle. "You've got a few things on your mind. When it's just about us, it's easy." It always had been. "We'll get there again."

From:

posterboymarine

He wrapped her up in his arms and sighed softly. "I hope it's soon. I don't like this."

From:

neverwrongagent

She nodded. "It's long past time for you to come all the way home." She pictured that as a place he shared with her, but mostly it was a place where all he had to do was be a Marine. And a father. She ran her hand up his back, pulling him close.

From:

posterboymarine

He sighed again, then closed his eyes. "I need a vacation from my life."

From:

neverwrongagent

She held him for a long while, then started speaking softly, almost in a sing song. "Somewhere quiet, somewhere...soft. Where the beer is cold. Somewhere we can sleep."

From:

posterboymarine

"Sleep? What's that again?" He pressed his lips into her hair with a groan. "I'm tempted to seduce you standing here in this water, but I fear for my back."

From:

neverwrongagent

She didn't bother explaining sleep since it wasn't something she was that well versed in it. Instead she rubbed his back, then moved her hand down to his ass. "Seducing me doesn't take that much work." She kissed his chest, half snorting with laughter when water went up her nose. "Not like it's heavy lifting."

From:

posterboymarine

That got her a smirk. "It's not the lifting I'm worried about." He turned them so she was under the water.

From:

neverwrongagent

She closed her eyes and leaned back, letting the water run over her. It was still warm enough that it felt good and she moaned softly. That and his hands on her were enough to turn her to liquid inside, too. Her hand came up to caress his chest, but she kept herself from giving him any nails. He'd had enough of that.

From:

posterboymarine

He ran his hands through her hair, then back down her back, before pulling her close. "Shall we go back to bed, spend our last few hours together and get some sleep?"

From:

neverwrongagent

She whimpered loudly. "Fuck, please?" She reached up to touch his face. "And will you keep doing that? Touching that way?" She pressed close against him. "Because that's nice. Really nice."

From:

posterboymarine

"Rubbing your back? I can do that." He let her stay under the water another few minutes, then pulled back and shut off the water. "The towels here suck."

From:

neverwrongagent

She'd meant in her hair right up until he mentioned her back. Then she was sold on that. "You should have told me. I could have brought nicer ones." Among other things.

From:

posterboymarine

"I didn't think you were a delivery service." He kissed her nose, then climbed out and handed her the best of the towels. It was easier for him to dry off with little, he had no hair.

While she got dry, he went out to clean up just a little and properly turn down the bed. He opened another beer and set it on the night stand, then cracked the curtains enough that dawn would wake him.

From:

neverwrongagent

She kept the towel on her hair once she was mostly dry and flopped down on the bed with a harumph. She'd come bearing other useful things, why not towels? Stretching her arms up over her head, she settled in so he could reach everything. "Where would you want to go? For a vacation." She glanced back. "Not the cabin. Somewhere new."