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.
LilMisfit - thank you so much for the wonderful review...and you Terzima, although I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while to find out exactly what's going on with Chris.
A/N I'm going to put dates at the start of each chapter (or section, when necessary) to help you know when we are. You'll notice we've jumped back a couple of months for this chapter. Please don't let the time jumping put you off...it will make sense in the end...at least, that's the plan!
27 August 2013
"They'll be here at 12.30pm. We'll give them something and send them on their way. Hopefully that will be enough for Faber to back off and stop digging around. Honestly if the man wasn't at the Pentagon, I'd just have you shoot him" Lockhart finished, staring at him.
Quinn knew who he'd like to shoot and it wasn't Mike Faber. Unable to verbalise this though since, he was staring at the subject of his distaste, he settled for nodding his head and said, "Yes, sir".
Lockhart continued "I've arranged for Carrie to have a conference call with the Depute Station Chief of Istanbul at the same time. She doesn't need to have anything to do with this."
"Yes, understood sir". Quinn replied.
Quinn turned and left the room, as Lockhart indicated he was dismissed. Free of the need to nod and agree like a good little lemon, Quinn silently fumed. He hated that man, something about him irritated Quinn no end. He'd been here over 4 months and had been sticking his nose in for months before and, he thought arranging a conference call, would keep Carrie out of the away. The man was an idiot. When the subject matter was Nicholas Brody, Carrie would find a way.
She looked at the clock, it's only 10.45 am, but Jess could do with a drink already. They were being picked up in 45 minutes and Chris was nowhere to be seen.
She poured 2 glasses of orange juice. As she passed one to Mike she said, "I swear he is doing this on purpose".
"Still not talking, huh?" Mike questioned.
"It's like Chris has moved out and the Incredible Hulk has moved in", she answered.
Mike rubbed the back of Jess's hand in comfort.
BANG!
They both jumped about a foot in the air as Chris shut the back door.
"Sorry", he said, all the while staring at Mike's hands. "Wind must have caught it".
"Holy Fuck, Chris", they heard Dana shout from the living room.
"Where have you been? We're leaving in 45 minutes", Jess demanded.
Finally taking his eyes off of Mike's hands, Chris looked at his mum and replied "out, running".
"Running, that's all you do now", she answers back.
Chris shrugs his shoulders and says "I'm going for a shower. Wouldn't want to stink Langley out, now would I?"
Jess opened her mouth to shout him back, but Mike shook his head, "I'll have a word with him, if you want".
"I'm not sure that will help. I think I preferred Dana arguing with me all the time, at least then I knew what she was thinking and feeling", Jess replied.
"So, you ok about going to Langley? Mike probed.
She looked at him and shook her head, "Dreading what they're going to tell us, what we're going to be hit with now".
"If I could come with you I would", he told her. He knew the invite didn't include him. As long as they were given closure, he didn't care. It seemed his digging might have paid off.
Something was going on, she was sure of it. Lockhart was being semi nice to her and had even arranged for her to speak with her Depute in Istanbul, Tony...shit, what was his last name again? She better find out before she speaks to him. Anyway, something was off.
Carrie knew she wouldn't get anything out of Quinn, no point even trying. She spotted Fara just along the corridor. Perfect, she'd just go and...
"Oh, for fuck sake, not again!". Carrie suddenly became aware of everyone in the corridor looking at her. Shit, had she said that out loud? "What? Haven't you seen a pregnant woman before? Lets see how you do with a kid playing soccer with your bladder". Everyone sensibly went back to their own conversations.
Carrie looked up, Fara was gone. "Fuck!". She stood for a second wondering whether or not to go after Fara. She turned in the opposite direction and waddled off to the bathroom instead.
They were walking through the corridors of Langley, the wife and kids of the guy who had blown the place up and, not one person was giving them the evil eye, not one person bothered with them in the slightest. Chris felt the anger burning in him. These peope were impossible, cold and detached.
They were taken in to a conference room where two people were sitting, apparently waiting for them.
"Mrs Brody, Miss Brody and..."
"Sorry, but it's Lazaro now", Dana stated, cutting arcoss whoever he was.
"Dana!", Jess scolded her".
"It's ok, I quite understand. My apologies...and young Mr Lazaro..."
"Brody!", Chris points out, deciding if Dana can cut across him, so can he.
"Sorry?", the man questions.
"Brody, my last name is still Brody, I haven't changed it". Chris pointedly doesn't look at his mother or sister. He won't be changing it either.
"Right", is all the man says to that. My name is Andrew Lockhart. I'm the Director of the CIA and this is my colleague Dar Adal", he says pointing to the other man in the room.
Chris decided he doesn't like either of them. He looks at Dar Adal, sitting straighter than should be possible, eyes taking in everything. He stares right back at Chris. Chris looked away from him. He thought the people in the corridor seemed emotionless, this guy resembled a terminator.
"We have some information regarding your husband and father", Lockhart says looking between the the three of them.
Chris narrowed his eyes at Dana, as she snorted at the word father.
"He is helping us with a situation in the middle east", Lockhart continues, ignoring Dana's snort.
Chris looks up, staring intently at Lockhart, cutting across him again, "Why would you tell us? What about National Security?" Chris, all but demands.
"You are such a moron, Chris. What are you going to do, run around the neighbourhood telling everybody our dad's working for the good guys? We're the family of a terrorist, no one will believe a word we say. That's why they can tell us. While, we're on the subject of belief. Seriously, he blew up this building and he's working for you?, Dana looked at Lockhart, having turned away from Chris.
"Intelligence work is complicated, Miss Lazaro" Lockhart replies coldly.
"Moron", she was calling him a moron. Chris fumed, he wasn't the fucking stupid one in this family. Her and mum were the ones who couldn't see what was right in front of them. They were in a room with professionally trained liars!
"Brody is well enough. However, unfortunately his position is such that it is unlikely he will ever be able to return to America, or that you will see him again", Lockhart tells them.
"What a shame", Dana piped up.
"Shut up!" Chris shouted, standing up quickly, making Dana jump in her seat. "You, shut up about dad!". Chris pushed his chair back and ran out of the room into the long corridor, looking for the way down. He saw the sign for the stairs and headed for them.
He didn't notice the shocked pair of eyes trained on him as he bolted through the door to the stairs.
Chris had bolted down the stairs with purpose, trying to work off his anger, to get out of this building. Having, now reached the ground floor, he realised he couldn't actually leave without his mum and Dana and he would be in trouble. He didn't care. He wasn't going back up there.
He stared around and found himself drawn to a wall with a lot of stars on it.
"It's the memorial wall" Carrie finds herself speaking to Chris. It probably wasn't a good idea. She'd seen him running for the stairs, couldn't believe it and took the elevator down to investigate. So, this is what's going on. She was glad her conference call hadn't taken as long as Lockhart had expected. Chris was tall, probably not as tall as his dad, just yet, but not far off it either.
Chris turned around at the sound of a voice, taking in the appearance of a blonde woman. Her, it had to be her, why else would she talk to him. "You're Carrie?, he asks.
"Yes", she answers, stepping up next to him. Carrie waits for him to say something else, but he doesn't. She turns to look at him, only to find he is looking at her, or more precisely, her stomach.
"You're pregnant? It dad's?", he questions.
Carrie noticed his voice was somewhere between demanding and pleading. She should lie to him, but found for some reason, she couldn't. He was Brody's boy, with the same look on his face, the look that told her he was upset about something. "Yes", she tells him.
He turned back to the wall, but he wasn't looking at it, not really. Carrie could see he was thinking, as though struggling with something. There's an uncomfortable silence until,
"Can I come see it, when it's born", he asks her.
She is shocked, hadn't expected that. She forces herself to hold back tears and tells him "her, you can come see her, when she's born. I'm due in the next 3 weeks, but could go anytime.
Chris looks at her and says, "a girl, a little sister?". Carrie sees his eyes soften.
"Yes", is all Carrie says. She takes out a bit of paper and writes her dad's address and phone number on it.
"Here", she hands the paper over to Chris and explains, "My dad's contact details. It's where she'll be staying".
Chris's face hardened "What do you mean, where she'll be staying?", he questioned.
Carrie pondered what to tell him, "I have to go away for a while after she's born, so my dad will be looking after her" .
"You're leaving after she's born?" Chris's question was laced with anger and indignation. He turned away from her back to the wall.
There was tension in the air. Carrie tried to ease it by changing the subject back to the wall, "The stars are for those who have died over the last year".
Chris snorted, "I'm sure it's of great comfort to their loved ones. We can't tell you why they died, but hey, they have a star on a wall. Look at that one", he pointed to a star.
Carrie's breath hitches as she realises which one he's pointing to.
He continues, "It's not even on right. I'm sure that would be appreciated by his or her family. Looks like someone was forgotten and added as an after thought", bitterness laced Chris's words like poison.
Chris turns and walks away from her without saying goodbye, as angry as he had been, when she approached him.
Carrie couldn't move. Every word had been like a knife to her heart. She was numb and heartbroken, as though she'd just lost Brody all over again.
