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.

Comments

[posterboymarine]

He sighed, then gave her a once over. "I know you'll try, anyway."

[neverwrongagent]

As she finished chewing the bite of food she'd just taken, Carrie got to her feet and moved to stand in front of him. She touched his cheek and waited until she had his eyes. "I don't try. I make things, crazy things, happen." She exhaled slowly. "I won't give up on you and I won't let anyone else."

[posterboymarine]

He leaned into her hand and nodded. "You won't give up on me. But the people above you have. " And he had no idea how to fight that.

[neverwrongagent]

She shrugged. "But I'm the one on the ground. The one with the contacts." She licked her lips. "And I have your back. Better this time. We can do this." She swallowed. "We can."

[posterboymarine]

"I hope so. " But he didn't sound so sure. The last time had not worked out for him so well. Still, he was alive and that was in part due to her.

He wrapped his arms around her and laid his head against her hair.

[neverwrongagent]

Sighing softly, she caressed his head. She had to smile faintly at his bald head. She'd never get used to it. It wasn't him somehow. "I'm asking a lot. I always have. I'm sorry for that."

[posterboymarine]

He had to laugh softly. "I think you enjoy it. " It wasn't a criticism, it was simply a fact, as he saw it.

"If I don't make it back, will you check on my kids from time to time?"

[neverwrongagent]

She blinked hard, then nodded quickly. "Of course. I doubt they want any part of me, but I'll make sure they're okay." Without their father, again. A father who loved them. "They're good kids."

[posterboymarine]

Good was such a relative thing that he had to agree. He squeezed her, then stepped back. "I'm sorry. This probably isn't why you came to see me. "

[neverwrongagent]

She groaned. "Oh God, it really was. I wanted to talk about your kids and the weather and anything else that is normal." She nodded slowly. "We need to talk about reality."

[posterboymarine]

"Reality..." He frowned at that. Reality was going to get him killed and someone's agenda served. He had no use for it, really.

[neverwrongagent]

She nodded slightly. "Yeah. That. I'm not a fan these days." She sat back from him a little and looked down. "They don't care about you. About your kids. They aren't thinking about you at all."

[posterboymarine]

"Tell me something I don't know." He turned back to the window, his food now forgotten completely. "And why should they? I'm a traitor and a terrorist. I'm a means to an end."

[neverwrongagent]

She shook her head. "You're a Marine and a good man." She said it with absolute certainty. More than anyone, she knew the layers of Nicholas Brody, but she saw the good. "And you've been through enough. The least they can do is get you home."

[posterboymarine]

"I don't even know where home is anymore." He'd already been out of his house when he went on the run, so his home was not with his family anymore. The closest he could come up with was the room they were standing in.

[neverwrongagent]

She licked her lips slowly, considering the wisdom of what she was going to say. "Home is where you stop moving. Where you are safe." She shrugged. "Some place quiet."

[posterboymarine]

"Some place quiet. It hasn't been quiet for a long time." He pressed his palm against the window, closing his eyes and just feeling the cool through the glass.

[neverwrongagent]

She wasn't entirely sure quiet was what he needed, but it sounded good. She sighed softly. "We'll...we can find a place. Some place nice."

[posterboymarine]

He looked over his shoulder with a raise eyebrow. "Oh yeah? After I get back?"

[neverwrongagent]

She nodded, smiling a little nervously. "It could be nice." She let herself think about that for a moment, think about how they were when they were really alone. "Might be really nice."

[posterboymarine]

"Babe, you are the only person who believes I'm coming back." He pulled back from the window and looked at her. "Means a lot that you still believe it."

[neverwrongagent]

She sighed softly and looked away. "You don't believe it." It was pointedly not a question. "I do. I believe that if we're working toward the same goal, we can do anything."

[posterboymarine]

"Maybe if the whole world wasn't against us..." He moved away from the window and back to the bed. His hand rested on her shoulder and he squeezed briefly. "You..." He sighed. "You deserve better then trying to save me, you know."

[neverwrongagent]

She opened her mouth to give him an argument, then groaned and shook her head. "Give it a rest, okay? I'm a lunatic fuck up. I have no idea what I deserve. I only know what I want."

[posterboymarine]

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Of course, now he was left with nothing to say. There were no more safe topics. He turned his attention to his now cold food and sat back down in front of it. He knew he needed to eat or she was going to hurt him.