Disclaimer - I do not own Homeland. That pleasure belongs to Showtime. No copyright infringement or money making scheme intended. This is purely for reading enjoyment.
A/N a fic that plays on the weekly fear of everyone who watched all the way through S1. Brody, we know, got a reprieve at the end of S1 because of how well received the character was by the audience. Maybe someone else got a reprieve in S1 too, but in a different way. A twist on everything. Spoilers across all seasons.
"Carrie, what do we do?" There is a quaver in Virgil's voice that Carrie is not used to hearing. An uncertainty harbouring a mixture of disbelief and shock.
"We fucking kill him!" The venom and finality in Max's tone forces Carrie to look up. There is a fury no one would ever think Max capable of which lined in every inch of his face. His eyes are blazing as he paces back and forth. Carrie knows he's thinking of Fara.
"That's what Quinn would do", Max spits out.
Carrie blanches. Max and Virgil had been careful not to mention Quinn over the past couple of months knowing what a sore point it was, but the illusions of all of them having been shattered and any pretence of subtlety had been thrown out of the window.
"Shit! Quinn?", Virgil says standing up so suddenly that the plate that had been sitting in his lap fell to the floor and smashed. Virgil looks at it for a moment as though he can't understand how it happened which is pretty much how Carrie feels about this whole fucking mess.
"Forget about it Virgil. It's just a fucking plate."
Virgil is already cleaning it up, but continues his train of thought. "Carrie! Quinn!", Virgil repeats.
"He isn't fucking here", Carrie replies angry and rattled. She doesn't fucking need that spelled out for her. "We'll just have to…"
"That's my point", Virgil interrupts. "What is the fucking mission? Responsible for their own extraction!"
Max stops pacing to look at Virgil with the same startling realisation that Carrie is feeling.
"Fucking idiot. Right under my nose the whole fucking time. Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"You couldn't have guessed, Carrie", Virgil tries to placate her.
"Couldn't I? God, it all seems so clear right now. I couldn't see the wood for the trees. Road block after road block when it came to Brody. Always hiding behind the fact Estes was a dick. Jesus fucking Christ, he hugged Hamid when he entered the room, but I was so caught up on Brody…"
"Who you were right about", Max points out.
"It didn't register", Carrie continues as though uninterrupted. "He fucking stopped me quizzing Hamid about the safe house being leaked so we'd find Brody." Carrie feels as though a ton of bricks is dropping on her with every word she speaks, but she has to say it out loud and has to get it off her chest.
"We all knew there was a fucking mole. SHIT!", Carrie pulls at her hair. This cannot be happening. Carrie follows the same path Max had been wearing in her carpet now building up a head of steam. "He sat in my room", Carrie spits out the words like they are poison "and he told me he had half known something was wrong with me when I came back from Baghdad. That he should have made sure I was ok. The fucking prick!"
She stops suddenly in front of Virgil, "he knew!"
Virgil stares at her for a few seconds finding it hard to follow what she is talking about now. "Knew what?"
"The day Elizabeth Gaines was shot, Virgil. The day he tried to have me fucking taken out of it. Remember? He sent our own people after me. He fucking knew. All along, he fucking knew it was Brody.
"Shit", Virgil whispers disbelievingly as the day came back to him.
"8 names, 8 fucking names. I am such a fucking idiot. Hamid gave us 8 names, 4 of which were in Islamabad. One of which was Haqqani. God, I am such a fucking idiot!"
"His opposition to everything me and Brody had fuck all to do with caring about me and everything to do with me majorly fucking up Nazir's fucking plans. He was supposed to keep control of me. Keep me out of Brody's way. I mean me falling for Brody. Hardly a surprise, but Brody falling for me? That put a spanner in their works."
Carrie sits down trying to sort through the mess of the last few years in her mind. Having to think about all the things that hurt. "He leaked Brody's suicide video!" Carrie could hardly believe it, but the truth came horribly formed right out of her mouth. "He made sure he'd be safely out of the way the day of the Langley bombing and he tried to take me with him. That's why he got so pissed when I said I was staying with Brody because he didn't want Brody to have an alibi."
Carrie shakes her head in despair. "He was made Director and what does he do?", Carrie growls angrily. "He manages to talk us all into thinking that putting the man who funded the Langley bombing in a position of relative power is a good fucking idea", Carrie's anger gives way to shame. Feelings she had put away simmer to the surface. She let him manipulate her into convincing Brody to go to Tehran and Brody died just as Saul wanted him to. She clenches her fists into a ball "he told me he was sorry. Was he fuck!" My heart shattered that day and he…", Carrie could not finish her sentence. The betrayal of a couple of months ago seems like nothing in comparison to this. How could she have missed all the bread crumbs?
They sit in silence for several moments until Carrie sorts her thoughts out. "Are you two with me?"
Max and Virgil look at each other knowingly. They know how bad this could get. They nod at each other. Virgil looks at Carrie, "we've always been with you."
Carrie smiles for the first time that day. That is true. The two of them have been right by her side from the very start of this fucking mess.
"Let's start by going through everything Saul has touched with a fine tooth comb. He took Brody from me. Has denied my daughter her father and I'm not saying he'd have been father of the year, but still…", Carrie leaves the thought unfinished. She loves Brody and a part of her always will, but she couldn't focus on the dead. Quinn has helped her deal with that loss. She has to focus on the living. Specifically keeping him that way. "He's not taking Quinn too."
"What do you mean?", Max asks.
"I thinks she means we just became responsible for Quinn's extraction", Virgil says standing up next to Carrie.
Max stands up and moves to the other side of Carrie. "Right. We better get on with it then."