Running away from home. Just like kids.

[neverwrongagent]

Briefings with Saul were getting more and more tense. Carrie could feel the strain on all of them as a real, palpable thing. Beside her, no one had ever had much faith in Brody, which was largely her fault. How could she explain her change of heart without explaining it was exactly that. What was harder was not telling him about how bad it was. Every time she was vague it was a physical pain.

The final straw was a heated conversation about what they would do if he were found out, revealed to be on a mission. They had escape plans, but it was clear very few people in that room gave a damn if they worked. Or if they even existed. She'd been through hell for the man they were dismissing like so much dross and all because... She wasn't that sure why because at this point. It was about Saul, really, and she knew that. That's why when he made a passing comment that made it sound damn like he'd made his decision and Brody didn't figure into it at all, she felt her stomach lurch so badly she almost had to leave the room.

She didn't go to him that night, that would be stupid. She waited a day, all of which was spent wondering when she would throw up. She got there late, just before dark, and sat back to watch the men finish up before meal break. He looked good. Better than when she saw him last, even.

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[neverwrongagent]

She wrapped her arms around him and held on just as tightly. His words made her shiver, but wasn't with the kind of fear she'd felt other times he'd said it. As fraught as things were, she was happy. Happy with Brody. She smiled slightly. "Love you. I do."

She'd better, all things considered.

[posterboymarine]

He smirked slightly. "Are you Yoda now?" With a shift of his body, he got her tucked in against him, engulfing her in his arms.

[neverwrongagent]

She smacked his shoulder as they rolled, shaking her head at him. "Not my fault you fucked my brains out." Not that she hadn't helped. "Just lay there and look proud, smart ass." She curled close to him, tucking her face against his shoulder. "Or smug. Smug works, too."

A man should look smug when he could leave a woman in the shaking state she was in. And knocked up, too.

[posterboymarine]

"I can do smug." He nuzzled into her hair and grinned. "You should feel pretty smug, too. Got me to follow you all the way across the country."

[neverwrongagent]

Her eyebrows shot up. That was an interesting take on what was happening. Not wrong, exactly, but interesting. She leaned in and kissed him gently. "I'm happy with the results so far. All of them."

[posterboymarine]

He caught her expression and grinned. "All of them?" He reached down to touch her belly.

[neverwrongagent]

She put her hand on his, holding it there. They were surprisingly gentle given the bouncing they'd just given their unborn child. "Oh, I have concerns, a ton, but yes. I'm getting used to the idea." It helped that he knew. Not suspected. Knew. It helped her hold onto the idea. "Somehow that's outside of everything else. More real."

[posterboymarine]

He nodded. He could understand that, completely. He nuzzled at her ear. "It is probably the most real thing in our world right now." Of course, the names they were using weren't real, which raised an interesting dilemma for when the child was born.

[neverwrongagent]

The child, and the love that had created it, were probably the only real things in their world right now. Not names, not identities, not futures. Just them. Of course, that's all they'd ever had. Still holding his hand on her belly, she shifted so she could kiss him slowly. As she pulled back, she spoke softly. "I do love you. Kind of a lot. You know that, don't you?"

[posterboymarine]

He rested his forehead against hers and nodded. "I know, Carrie." And he did. Everything she had done to get them out there was proof of that. Everything she had tried to do to clear his name was proof of that. What happened to him in the process was not her fault at all. If he hadn't gotten shot at that border crossing, he would have been okay.

[neverwrongagent]

She would never look at it that way, but they would probably always disagree with that. She caressed his cheek, happy to stay against him. "I'm going to panic. At least once." She hadn't yet, but what they were doing was what she was trained in. What they were going to do she had no experience in. "Probably about six weeks before the due date. I just thought you should be warned."

[posterboymarine]

"If you make it that long, it will be a miracle." SHe would probably panic at least once every few weeks from here on out. He kissed her forehead. "I know I will panic before then."

[neverwrongagent]

She smacked his shoulder hard. "I will make it that long. It'll be when I really can't move around." She smacked him again, but not as hard. "I'm counting on you to tell me what is normal. My sister made it all sound like some kind of cult."

[posterboymarine]

He sputtered and stared at her. "Normal? What's that?" He sneaked a kiss. "I'll tell you what you might be able to expect from a Brody baby. But I don't think that's normal."

[neverwrongagent]

She laughed at his reaction, pleased beyond words that he could joke about it. "I don't know. Chris seemed pretty straightforward." She liked his kids, felt for them. "And keep in mind, it's half mine. So crazy is sort of a given." Not really, since the odds were closer to fifty-fifty. At least she'd be able to advise him on that. "I just need to know what weird movements are normal. Because they always seemed really strange from the outside."

[posterboymarine]

"You mean that alien belly bulb thing? Yeah, that's normal." He pulled her up for a real kiss. "It'll be fine."

[neverwrongagent]

She went into the kiss with a moan, her arms wrapping around him. She needed the contact. "It'll be weird and freak me out." She didn't sound terribly upset about it, though, because the weight of him against her was a comfort. She hoped he knew that. "It's all so weird. Names. Diapers. Just weird."

[posterboymarine]

He groaned roughly. "Names. I hate that part." He kissed her again. "So much room for disagreement in names."

[neverwrongagent]

She laughed against his lips. "We'll get a book. Then roll dice, take whatever the dice pick." There were benefits to that, like not picking something that anyone chasing them might figure out. Not that anyone would be looking for a couple with a baby.

[posterboymarine]

"We'd end up with a boy named Sue, doing that." He sneaked another kiss, then closed his eyes. "Probably too soon to worry about it, though."

[neverwrongagent]

She curled up close, her head on his shoulder. "Two names. Neither of them Sue." She kissed his skin. "It's not a bad thing to make some plans, even simple ones. We have to get used to thinking of our lives that way." Or they'd go crazy. Crazier than they were. Him having something good to think about should help his cravings and her having focus was never a bad thing.

[posterboymarine]

That earned her a laugh. "Since when did you become the practical one?" With a smirk, he got her rolled under him and himself settled behind her legs. He was half erect, a consequence of just laying there with her. He wanted to do something with it, while they had a little time.

He nuzzled in against her neck and started kissing right where he could feel her heartbeat against her skin. He slid fingers into her hair, turning her head some.

[neverwrongagent]

"I am very practical!" She was just insane off her meds, but that wasn't the same thing at all. Just for effect, she reached around and slapped his ass. Of course, that had a deep effect on her, too, and she arched toward him as he settled. He had to be able to feel her pulse increase quickly. They went from zero to sixty in very few seconds. It was a little dizzying, but she liked it. "You need something there, big boy?"

She arched into him to make the point she was not referring to his height.

[posterboymarine]

"Just you." He rocked against her as his teeth pressed to her neck. For all he had done to get lately, this was the most actively dominating. This was a sober, intentional claiming.

[neverwrongagent]

Her first instinct was to laugh, but then she felt the change in him. Her body reacted immediately with a flood of desire that he had to be able to smell. She certainly could and it made her flush darkly. Letting her body go slack under him for the moment, she surrendered to him. If he wanted a fight, she'd give him that, but he needed to tell her.

She moaned his name softly, urging him to hurry up and tell her.