AN- Another one I wrote due to withdrawal. Spoilers for 1/03 Breaking brig.
As Dwayne Pride stood with his weapon squared in front of him his heart was in his mouth. The site in front of him scared the life out of him. He knew one wrong move or word and she was dead and he could not and would not let that happen. He had his orders but now when it came to the crunch he would not let her die just so the director could have his suspect.
Looking at agent Brody as he spoke he knew he had minutes if not seconds to a save her. Seeing the look, Brody was giving him all he knew was she would not die. Squeezing the trigger he watched as if in slow motion the bullet flew through the air and hit the man square in the forehead. He fell backwards and hit the floor leaving a very stunned and shocked agent Brody stood staring at Pride. Lowering his weapon he took a step forward and stopped.
"You okay?" He asked looking at the look of total shock still on agent Brody's face.
"I'm okay" Brody answered back even though her voice said a very different thing.
"Sure?" Pride questioned back hearing the way her voice shook a little.
"I will be" Brody answered back trying to control herself.
Pride nodded not wanting to push the matter, but he would make time later to talk to her. Just then LaSalle came running down the stairs and took in the site of a dead suspect just behind Brody, Pride standing with his weapon still in his hand and agent Brody who even from the back he could she was a little shaken up.
"Glad am not you King, you're going to have one pissed director Vance on your case," LaSalle said looking between the body and Pride.
"Didn't have a choice" Pride answered his senior field agent.
"Let's gets this body back and we can make a start on getting my ass kicked then go home," Pride said as he made his way out the building.
Agents LaSalle and Brody followed behind passing the coroner on the way in with the stretcher. Walking back to the car agent Brody stayed quiet, her mind going over what LaSalle had said to Pride when he saw the body. LaSalle was right or course, they were told to bring the suspect in alive and now due to her he was dead. If she had been quicker or better at defending herself then Pride wouldn't have had to shot him. Getting in the front seat of the car next to Pride she did not look at him the whole ride back but kept her eyes fixed out the window.
LaSalle tried to make small talk on the way back and he was granted a few well-timed nods of the head and yes or no answers so as not to upset him but neither of the cars front seat passengers wanted to really talk. Arriving back at the office they all climbed out the car and went and sat at their desks to write up their reports of the events that lead to the suspect being dead.
It was tougher than she thought it would be writing a report that yet again catalogue her failings. It had to be done, but it was not easy. Looking up from her report she saw Pride watching her, nodding at him she got back on with her report so she could get it down and go home. She did not want to be here when the call came through from director Vance and Pride had to face the consequences of her action.
Too late, at that very moment a call came through for Pride and he left to go to the conference from to take it. LaSalle and Brody watched him go, both knowing what would happen. After a few minutes of sitting Brody got up and followed the route, Pride had taken not daring to look at LaSalle as she went. As she arrived outside the conference room she stood steadying her nerves, not knowing what to expect when Pride came out but she would wait and ride the storm either way. She could just make out voices coming from inside the room so she stood and waited.
After standing for what seemed like a lifetime the voices from inside the conference room stop and it went silent. Taking a deep breath, Brody knocked on the door and waited. Finally, she heard the word enter so stepping forward she turned the handle and entered.
"Should have known it would be you. What's up?" Pride asked seeing the look of concern on Brody's face.
"How did it go with director Vance? I hope he didn't chew you too much for something that wasn't your fault" Brody said not daring to look at Pride.
With her not looking up she was taken by surprise when the next thing she saw was another pair of feet just in front of her own and felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Look at me agent Brody," Pride said as he tried to get her to look at him.
Brody kept her head down and didn't move, she was having a major struggle with her emotions and she didn't want him to see that.
"Meredith look at me please," Pride said, knowing that by using her first name she would look up.
Sure enough hearing Pride say her first name was enough to get her to look up.
"I told the director the truth about today. I told him that you were taken by surprise and you put up a good fight before he got the upper hand. He nearly threw Christopher over the walkway from up above before he came to you. If LaSalle couldn't hold him how were you supposed to?" Pride asked looking at Brody.
It was then that Pride saw a bruise forming on Brody's neck from where she had been held. Thinking back to what could have happened he shuddered. Without a second thought, his hand came up and he ran his finger over the angry purple Mark on the front of Brody's throat causing her to gasp a little at his touch. Thinking he had hurt he stop moving his fingers but left them on her throat. What Pride didn't realise was it was not the pain that had caused the gasp but something completely different. Even Brody was shocked by her reaction when she felt her bosses fingers, her married bosses fingers on her throat.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Why didn't you say you were hurt?" Pride asked still not moving his fingers.
"I didn't know I was till you touched it. I haven't paid that much notice to my neck since it happened, my mind has been on other things" Brody's answered honestly.
"Well you needed have worried, I can handle the director. As I said to him I will not lose a member of my team to a terrorist. More importantly I will not lose a friend" Pride said as he stroked his fingers back over the bruise.
At the feel of Prides fingers moving on her neck, Brody couldn't help but shut her eyes at the sensations he was causing. She let out a small sigh as she felt Prides fingers move up and down on the bruise and then slowly they made bigger and bigger strokes finally coming to rest on her cheek. Keeping her eyes shut in case opening them broke the moment until she heard Pride speak.
"Open your eyes Meredith I want to see you" as his fingers gently stroked her cheek.
Slowly she opened her eyes and her breath caught in her throat at the emotion playing across Pride's face and deep within his eyes. Bringing her hand slowly up she rested her hand on his cheek using her thumb to make small strokes back and forwards.
"We really should stop now before we do something that we can't forget of take back," Brody said as she brought her other hand to rest on Pride's waist.
"I'll stop if you want me to" Pride said as he placed his other hand and Brody's waist and slowly moved it around to just above where her weapon rested in its holster.
Brody moved her hand and placed it in the middle of Pride's back and pulled him flush against her chest. Locking eyes with Pride she turned her face a little and indicated to the hand resting on her cheek.
"What about that ring? Surely that means more than this" indicating to Prides wedding ring which was resting against her cheek and looking at the lack of distance between them.
"You have noticed that I stay here every night now and don't go home" Pride added as the hand he had resting on Brody's back started to make slow movements up and down and side to side as he felt his way up her back till his hand finally rested on the back of her head.
That was all the reassurance Brody needed as she closed the gap and brought her lips crashing down on Pride's in a heated kiss. The kiss started fast and hard with tongues duelling and hands grasping at the other person yet it gradual slowed and became more meaningful and less possessive. When they broke for air they stayed touching but moved back a little from each other.
"Well, I didn't expect that when I came in here to get my ass chewed by director Vance," Pride said with a smile on his face as his fingers stroked Brody's hair.
"I only came here to apologise, did I do a good job at saying sorry?" Brody asked with a slight smile on her face.
"You sure did, but I think another sorry just to make sure the memory of Vance's tongue lashing is washed away" Pride said as he leaned forward and placed his lips gently on Brody's letting his teeth graze her bottom lip as he made sure to savour the kiss knowing they would have to leave this room soon and go back to being boss and agent.
Brody felt Pride bite her bottom lip and moaned against his kiss as he took over her mouth. She made sure she returned the gesture as she ran her tongue along his bottom lip as she knew what he was telling her with the kiss. When they broke apart Pride wrapped his arms around Brody pulling her to his chest and placed kisses to her hair.
"You want to continue this later?" Brody asked as she looked up at Pride not sure if this was a quick release or if he wanted more.
"I am not a guy that kisses and then walks away. What time shall I come over? It's not like I can invite you to mine since we are at mine all ready" Pride laughed as he looked around at the room they were in.
"Good point, how about an hour or so after we finish work. Gives me a chance to get home and change before you come over" Brody smiled as she ran her fingers over Pride's cheek.
"That works for me. I suppose we better get back out there and face them reports. When you hand me yours it better not be full of self-doubt and double guessing what you did cause if it is you will be here all night till you learn the difference between mistakes and human error" Pride told her as he stepped away from her and let his arms fall away for her back.
Brody looked up at him as he mentioned the report sitting on her desk. How had he known what her report looked like? Well, she better suck it up and go change it as she had a date tonight and she wanted to get home sooner rather than later. Pride held the door open for her and she exited with him following just behind her.
As they came back in LaSalle looked between them and watched as they went and sat back at their desks.
"How'd it go with the director King? He chew you about today and what happened?" LaSalle asked as he looked up from his computer towards his boss.
"It went better than I expected," Pride told the younger agent as he smiled and went back to his computer.
LaSalle didn't push the reply he got as he could see he didn't want to know so went back to pressing print so he could go home and watch the game.
As LaSalle left the office he looked back at the 2 people who were left sitting at their desks and wondered just what happened with the director. Neither looked like they had been chewed up and spat out for the decisions they had made. What he didn't see was the look on both their faces at Prides reply of better than expected.
