"She's beautiful," Quinn said as he looked down at the baby sleeping in the portable bassinette next to Carrie's hospital bed, tightly swaddled in a light pink blanket from the nursery. He reached out and stroked the top of her head that was covered with the thinnest layer of strawberry blonde hair. He smiled sadly as he noted, "You said you wanted a piece of him. Looks like you got it."
Carrie was propped up against the pillows of her hospital bed. She pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes as she looked over to her six-hour-old daughter. Forcing a smile, she softly agreed with her colleague, "Yeah, I guess I did."
She then turned her head toward the window and stared at the lines of water that were streaking down from the soft rain outside. After a few moments, she gave small shake of her head, as if to bring herself back to reality. She sat up and smoothed the sheet that covered her legs.
"Anyway, less than a day in here and I'm already going crazy. They said I can go home tomorrow, which is good since I have about a million things to do before I leave. You can't imagine how much administrative bullshit I have to go through to transfer over my non-essential cases."
Quinn listened to her ramble on without saying a word. He knew better.
"I mean, Jesus, you'd think when they ask you to move halfway around the world, they'd ease off on the paperwork." She stopped as she noticed the blank expression on Quinn's face. "I guess I don't have to tell you. You're probably knee deep in your own pile."
Quinn hesitated for just a moment. "Nope," was all he replied.
Carrie furrowed her brow. "They're not having you turn over cases before the move?"
"I'm not moving," he said simply.
She scoffed, "C'mon Quinn, you can't mean that."
"Yeah, I do. I told you that I'd help you clear Brody. Well that's done now. I'm out." He began to fiddle with the tab on top of his soda can and turned to look out the window of her hospital room, not wanting to see the anger he was certain was building in her eyes.
Carrie pushed herself up in bed even more and then leaned forward. "So, that's it? You're just done? What about everything we've worked for? What about the long-term play with Javadi? You're just going to quit before we see it through?" The animated movement of her arms punctuated each of her pointed questions.
Quinn laughed, "We both know that you don't need me to see anything through."
He walked back over to the bassinet and began to stroke the little girl's head again, as he continued. "I mean, shit, Carrie, aren't you sick of it too? Your daughter doesn't have a father because of these assholes and you're still working for them."
Carrie sucked in her breath and then rolled her eyes. "We both know it's not that simple. What happened with Brody was complicated…"
Quinn interrupted, "Oh don't try to feed me some bullshit I know you don't believe. They killed the guy because they knew it was to their strategic advantage. Which was the smart thing to do, I guess. But you can't convince me that it was the right thing to do."
"Of course, I'm not going to tell you it was right," Carrie protested a little too loudly. The baby began to stir in her bassinet and let out two small cries. Quinn began to lean down to pick her up. Carrie, seeing his intention, put up her hands, "No don't."
Seeing the quizzical look in Quinn's eyes, she explained, "I read somewhere online that you should help them learn to self soothe or something."
"Well, far be it for me to argue with wisdom of the Internet," he tried to joke. But the look on Carrie's face showed that he had clearly missed the mark.
"Jesus, Quinn, back off. Since when did parenting classes become part of black ops training?," she asked sarcastically.
Ah, so this is how it's going to be, Quinn thought to himself. "So, I assume you're not bringing her with you," he said aloud, hoping this would be a more benign topic to discuss.
"Maggie said she'd take her until I get back," Carrie replied plainly, but her voice still carried an edge.
Quinn simply nodded, reading the clear signs that he needed to tread carefully.
"I suppose you think that's another way I'm being a bad mom, right?" Carrie narrowed her eyes, seeming to dare Quinn to challenge her.
Quinn knew enough not to take the bait. "No, I don't," was all he offered. He then leaned over the bassinet and kissed the sleeping baby on the forehead, feeling Carrie's eyes boring into him.
He turned toward her. "Listen Carrie, I get you're pissed. I'm not entirely sure why, but if you want to turn it on me, fine, I don't really care. I just came here to tell you congratulations… to tell you I'm not going… and to tell you to have a nice life."
As he turned to walk to the door, Carrie offered her own goodbye, "Fuck you, Quinn."
Saul picked up the phone on the third ring and didn't bother with a hello. "So, how did she react?," he asked.
"Shitty," Quinn replied.
"Yeah, well, you told a woman who just gave birth and is about to start a new job and move to a new country, that the team member she relies on most isn't going with her," Saul laughed. "What did you expect?"
"Nothing," Quinn sighed. After a moment, he admitted, "I guess I was hoping we'd have a civil conversation about what the fuck she's thinking leaving her baby and taking this job."
Saul paused for a moment. "You didn't think you'd talk her out of going, did you?"
"No," Quinn lied.
Saul smiled. "You did, didn't you? So, what did you say to her?"
"Nothing really. I just told her I was quitting and asked how she could stand working for people that killed her baby's father," Quinn explained.
"Jesus, Peter, you might want to try a little subtlety sometime," Saul advised.
"Yeah, that's never been my strong suit," Quinn said. "Anyway, it doesn't matter now because she's decided she's pissed at me."
"Well, I guess it's a good thing that you're going to be working for me instead of her then," Saul reasoned.
Quinn didn't say anything. Just took another sip from his soda. The rational part of his brain wanted to agree with Saul. It would be so much easier to leave it all behind – the stress, the moral ambiguity, the physical pain, the emotional toll. God knows, he had a million reasons to leave the agency and never look back. But there was one reason to stay that he couldn't shake off.
After a few moments of silence, Saul finally spoke again, "You're not going to be coming to work for me, are you?"
"Nope," Quinn admitted.
Saul sighed. "Well, I'd say I was disappointed, but I never figured you'd jump ship anyway. Take care of her, Peter," he advised. "She won't want your help, but she needs somebody on her side."
"Believe me, I know," Quinn said and then hung up the phone.
After he heard the click on his end, Saul laughed to himself, "He might be as socially inept as she is."