CARRIE'S NEW REALITY-

Carrie's eyes suddenly opened and she looked around in confusion. She was in the hospital. Why was she in the hospital?

Her mind replayed the events at the cabin...seeing Tom Walker suddenly appear in front of her and then...nothing. He must have knocked her out and Brody got her to the hospital. A doctor came into her room and Carrie was about to say something when someone else entered the room.

A man dressed in a military uniform. Airforce.

"What's going on?" Carrie asked, puzzled.

The doctor and the the man that appeared to be a colonel, looked at one another. The doctor spoke first.

"You've checked out alright. Better than alright, given what you went through." he said.

"Yes, Ms. Mathison, you're getting out of here. And once you've been debriefed, you'll go home." the colonel said.

Carrie stared at the colonel, then looked around her.

"Where am I exactly?"

The colonel looked at the doctor.

"I thought she was cleared? Because she doesn't sound okay."

"She cleared an hour ago." the doctor said.

"Hey!" Carrie snapped. "I'm right here! So stop talking over me! Where am I?"

The doctor tilted his head.

"You're at Ramstein Airforce Base Hospital..."

"Ramstein? What the fuck? That's in Germany!"

The colonel moved towards her.

"You know you're geography. Now do you know why you're here?" he asked.

Carrie said nothing more. Something was wrong. Very damned wrong. She emitted a fake cough.

"I'm sorry. I'm just really tired. Of course I know why I'm here." Carrie lied as her mind struggled to process what the hell was going on! How did she get from her nice family cabin with Brody, to some airbase hospital in Germany?

The doctor looked at the colonel.

"I don't think anything is wrong. I think it's nerves."

The colonel nodded slowly. He could understand that. He spoke to Carrie again.

"Why don't we see if we can get your husband on the line? Would you rather have us tell him you've been found, or did you want to talk to him personally?" he asked.

Carrie struggled to keep an expression on her face that didn't resemble pure horror! Husband? What the fuck?

She had no idea who this 'husband' could possibly be! She had no idea how she went from being at the lake with Brody, to some hospital in Germany. The only thing she could think was that it had to do with Tom Walker and Abu Nazir...

"Could you do it?" Carrie asked meekly. Hell, since she had NO idea who this husband was, she couldn't very well call him, could she? She didn't even know his first name!

"Of course." the colonel said. He motioned to the doctor and they left her room. Once the door closed, Carrie sat up straight! Jesus! What was that? What was going on? This was more than just some bad dream she was having!

She forced herself to stay calm and closed her eyes. What was it she last remembered clearly? Yes, Brody's laughing at her smutty book, walking away from him in a huff, walking into the cabin, seeing Tom Walker and then...

He knocked her out.

But...he didn't hit her with anything, not even his fist. So why did she lose consciousness? Why? Why did she pass out?

Tom Walker SPRAYED her with something! He sprayed her in the face with something and then nothing. And whatever it was, had her in this condition now. Carrie decided that all she could do was wait it out. Whatever was going on had to wear off, right?

So she was in the military. She had been separated from a husband for some reason. Carrie raised a brow. This was sort of what Brody went through. Odd.

And what of this debriefing? What the hell was she supposed to say about whatever! Carrie bit her lip. She would just play along until this whole hallucinogenic dream ended itself. It's not like she could stay in this 'world' forever, could she?


Lead CIA Analyst, Nicholas Brody stared at the picture of Carrie Mathison he had in his file, while Deputy CIA Chief, David Estes debriefed the room on her rescue. He could feel the other analysts half staring at him and he gritted his teeth and ignored them. This was bullshit!

When the briefing was over, Brody noticed that Saul Berenson had come into the room. He waited until it was just the three of them there. He picked up the Carrie Mathison file and tossed it at Saul.

"This is bullshit!" he snapped.

"Calm down, Nick, okay?" David suggested. "Our finding this Marine is not a reflection on you."

"The hell it isn't! Isn't the whole reason I'm on desk duty here, instead of being out in the field, where I belong, is because of this Abu Nazir thing?"

Saul cleared his throat.

"You were caught and let go. You didn't give up any information..." Saul began but David was a bit harder.

"Nick, you were caught fucking a relative of Nazir's."

"For information!" Brody snapped again.

"And then you were kept prisoner in the same compound we found Ms. Mathison in. Now the fact that you did not bother to rescue her in the six months that you were there, kind of looks bad. Yes." David said bluntly.

"Hey! I was busy being tortured! And then...well...the woman I was with..."

"Nazir's half sister of lower birth." Saul said pointedly.

"Yes, well she liked me and convinced Nazir to let me go. I searched that fucking place from top to bottom and I had a free run of the place! No one was there! Then remember we brought a team there after I returned and the place was empty! We assumed they had escaped to other parts! Nazir must have moved back in after we left. And I would not have missed an American there! Especially someone cute looking like this!"

David refrained from rolling his eyes. Nick Brody just didn't get it, did he? He was one of the most gifted CIA spies they had. Truly. And it had seemed like a great idea for him to try and turn a member of Abu Nazir's family, so they could get close enough to capture or kill him.

But Brody fucked up, got caught and then to be honest, didn't suffer enough! He was examined and one goddamned scab was found on his back and maybe he ingested some scorpion poison. Not enough to kill him, obviously. Maybe enough to kill an ant or something.

Then there was poor Carrie Mathison. Locked up there for years, never breaking and forced to do whatever she had to do, to survive. She had been there the whole time, according to her debriefing. So for all David really knew, Brody here was too busy fucking someone else in the house, to even look for a fellow American. It was sad. Truly sad.

"So I want to be there when we debrief, Ms. Mathison," Brody said, "it's only fair. My good name is being fucked with here. When is it happening?"

"We're going to give Ms. Mathison time to get re-acclaimated with her husband and daughter, then we're calling her in. There will be a welcome home parade at the airport and Vice-President Walden will be greeting her." David said. "Oh, and you will NOT be part of the debriefing."

"That's bullshit." Brody replied.

"It's life, is what it is." David told him. "And I won't have you trying to convince her that she saw you when she clearly didn't. Look, no one is saying you left her there on purpose or anything. You just didn't see her. Now I have to go. Saul...deal with this." David said, clearly referencing Brody. Once David left the room, Saul faced Brody.

"Don't look at me like that. It isn't happening." Saul said.

"Do you believe that I would just leave a Marine, a female one at that, in Abu Nazir's clutches, if she was there? I searched the damned place looking for intel and anything, or anyone that I could find. We have pictures of the room she was supposedly kept in! I know where that room is and no one was there when I was there!"

"Maybe Nazir moved her while he kept you there? You can't take this personally, okay?"

"What can I do to get back in? Just tell me!" Brody almost begged.

"Find some evidence that Carrie Mathison is lying about where she's been all of this time. Find some evidence that proves that she was not in that compound when you were there." Saul advised him.

"Okay. Can you authorize video surveillance for the Quinn home? That is her husband's name right, Peter Quinn?" Brody asked.

"That's not going to happen." Saul told him.

"You've got to give me something here, Saul!"

"If you want this, Nick, then make it happen somehow. But no on the surveillance. This woman is a poster child not only for this war, but for females in combat. She survived. So know what you're dealing with. Now, I'm going to be out of the country with Mira for a few weeks. I promised her a long, overdue second honeymoon." Saul said and walked out of the room.

Brody stared after Saul, then sighed heavily. He turned and picked up the Carrie Mathison file again, staring at her picture. Fine. If he was going to clear his name on this thing, he would make it happen. Himself.


Jessica Lazaro bobbed steadily upon Peter Quinn's thick penetration, even as his cellphone rang.

"Don't answer it!" she whispered fiercely, cupping her own breasts as she continued to seamlessly move up an down upon his thick bulk. But the ringing broke Quinn's concentration.

"It might be about Chloe," Quinn said, referring to his eight year old daughter. He groaned and grasped Jessica's waist, in an attempt to reach for his phone. He didn't bother to look at the Caller I.D.. when he picked answered.

"Hello?"

"Is this Mr. Peter Quinn?"

"Yeah, who's calling?"

"This is Major General Tony Trujillo calling from the Ramstein Airforce Base in Germany. We have some good news. Your wife, Sergeant Carrie Mathison has been found. Alive."

Quinn's eyes widened and Jessica could see something had happened. She slowly climbed off of him.

"Peter? Peter, what is it?" she asked softly.

Quinn looked at her.

"Carrie has been found!" he whispered. My God! Chloe! What would this mean for them as a family?

Jessica now got the hell out of bed! Carrie had, or was her best friend! She had found herself consoling Peter over Carrie's disappearance and playing mother to Chloe. They had been about to announce a more permanent arrangement to their friends and family and now this...oh God...

Jessica slowly dressed and didn't listen in on Peter's call. After what seemed like a long while, Peter hung up. She looked over at him.

"Well?"

Quinn squared his jaw and got out of bed. He put on a robe.

"Carrie has been found. Some terrorist kept her captive all of these years. Now she's coming home and she will expect to find myself and Chloe waiting. I have to break this to my daughter."

Jessica nodded and looked away. She would not ask what this would mean for them. There was no more 'them'- for now.


Brody slipped in to see Farah Sherazi, who was sitting in Saul's office, looking over the Carrie Mathison file. She smiled when Brody came in and closed the door.

He then locked it.

"Nicholas, I don't know what you want from me, but the answer is no." Farah said firmly. She stood up.

Brody walked over to her and reached around for the file. He glanced at it, then tossed it back on the desk.

"I need in on the debriefing." he said to her. Farah shook her head.

"Saul needs to okay that. It's already here that you are excluded."

"I need for you to 'unexclude' me, Farah." Brody said, moving so that he was inches away from her. Farah gave him a look.

"You know, you only come around me, when you need something. You never call or make any other plans..."

"Farah, come on. You know what my life has been like. And with what we do, who has time for future plans?" he asked, while he began unbuttoning the buttons on her blouse. Her hands stopped his.

"I am a decent woman. And I am ashamed of some of the things we have done here. In this very office." she whispered. "Now please go."

Brody ignored her words as his lips found the concave of her neck.

"You know Saul's signature. Forge it so that I can be in on that debriefing, Farah. Please?" his whispered, as his lips burned a trail down her neck. But Farah shook her head and pushed him away!

"No! I should call Saul! Better yet, why don't I call David and tell him what you tried to pull in here?"

"Okay, Farah. Fine. Do that and I'll make a couple of calls of my own. To your father and some of your family back in Iran! You'll be disgraced after I let it be known what the two of us have been doing here! Now you fucking forge Saul's signature and get me into that debriefing or your going to find out the real definition of 'shame', do you hear me?" Brody threatened.

Farah loathed him.

"Fine. It will be done."

Brody smiled at her and ran a finger down her nose, which she shied away from, as he turned and left the office. That was done. Step one. Step two was to get illegal surveillance but into Carrie Mathison's home so he could find out just where the hell she was all of these years.