Thanks for your review of chapter 9, CSI Encyclopedia! :-) Glad you enjoyed it! I'm patiently waiting for the next installment of your story, 'Tonight Tonight'! :-)

...

Chapter 10 is (cheekily) dedicated to LilMisfit5290. ;-) I'm looking forward to the next update of 'Suddenly'.

...

THE DATE

CHAPTER 10

Nobody bothered to tidy up June's cabin at Lac Selby before departing. Carrie said that herself and Brody would fly back up one weekend sometime soon, to sort everything out.

Planning a dirty weekend away, already? Quinn imagined, jealously.

Carrie and Brody lingered over their impending temporary separation after such a fleeting reunion. "So the plan is to stop at a motel somewhere on the drive back?" Brody breathed huskily, stroking Carrie's cheek.

"Yeah, we'll see how far we all get, then try and find one." Carrie's eyes twinkled. "I can't wait to snuggle up with you again!"

Quinn felt sick to his stomach and averted his eyes. He glanced at his watch as Brody hugged Carrie and kissed her passionately through his matted red beard, yet again.

Eventually, Quinn couldn't stand it any longer, "Carrie! Come on! We need to hit the road!"

Brody growled as he reluctantly pulled away from Carrie, and glared threateningly at Quinn. "Carrie, just ring mine or Dana's cell phone if you have any trouble with Peter Quinn."

Quinn flashed a fake smile that was designed to intimidate Brody, rather than reassure him.

"And as for you Rude-boy McCoy..." Brody snarled and turned around to face Dana and McCoy who were snickering to each other about something. "Stop eye-fucking my daughter. She's half your age!"

"Dad, you're so embarrassing. I'm seventeen!" Dana snorted and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Rudy do we have to bring him home? Can't we just drive back together and leave him here?"

Rudy McCoy laughed. "Not a bad idea, but the CIA wouldn't like it. Saul Berenson needs your Dad back in the United States."

…

Finally everyone climbed into the cars that they had been reluctantly assigned by Peter Quinn. McCoy sat in the driving seat of his car, with Brody insisting on sitting alongside him, much to Dana's annoyance as she was banished alone to the backseat. McCoy adjusted his rear view mirror and winked playfully at Dana. She blushed, before childishly kicking the rear of her Dad's seat, repeatedly.

Quinn drove Carrie's car slowly and carefully away from the lakeside cabin and back down the narrow track through the looming trees. They both waved as they passed the others who were sat in McCoy's car which was still stationary. Brody and Dana seemed to be having a minor dispute of some description, whilst McCoy appeared to be laughing at them.

"How long do you think it'll take us to get back home?" Carrie asked, glancing at her watch.

"How long did it take us to get up here?" Quinn yawned. "I can't remember now. Hours? Days? A week? Years? It's all such a blur now! I just know that it took a long, long, long time with McCoy's terrible driving and his bad knock knock jokes making my ears bleed the entire way."

"Yeah, it was a very long drive. My Dad probably would have tried to do it in a few hours and ended up with a stack of speeding tickets," Carrie rested her head back and yawned, "although it was a very insightful journey with Dana as a passenger."

"Insightful?" Quinn snorted. "You mean she taught you everything she knows about One Direction, Taylor Swift, Grumpy Cat and Tumblr?"

No, I mean I understand Dana better now. I feel that we really bonded somehow," Carrie laughed, "which I guess will be useful with Brody coming back!"

"Yeah, you're going to have to get used to playing Step-Mom to Dana from now on."

"Step-Mom?" Carrie shuddered. "I hadn't thought of it like that. Can you imagine me as a Mom or Step-Mom? I'll be the worst ever!"

"Well, Carrie Mathison's Freaked-out Guide to Motherhood is definitely a book that I'd read. Kids need to eat more than out of date yoghurts, you know?! Have you got any experience with kids at all? "

"I see my nieces, Ruby and Josie regularly. Although I'll admit I'm not the best Aunt in the world, I normally show up with a cool present a few days after their birthdays." Carrie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Oh and when I was in Iraq, I got to know a local family really well and they had the most adorable little girl called Far-"

Carrie's tale was cut short by the sound of her cell phone ringing. She dug into her jacket pocket for it and frowned at the screen before answering the call.

"Galvez?" She swallowed. "Oh my God, Danny. You're... you're alive... yet again!"

Quinn smirked as he listened to Carrie's side of the conversation. This should be interesting, he thought. He was sure the last time Carrie and Galvez had spoken was when she had mistakenly accosted him at the FBI road blockade. At the time, Galvez had been wearing a sling, bleeding and was face down, eating the dust and rocks on a road. He was surrounded by FBI agents after being stopped on Carrie's orders. She had accused Galvez of sneaking Abu Nazir out of the abandoned mill, with her only preposterous evidence being that he is a Muslim.

"Yes, I'm so, so sorry about that Danny..." Carrie bit her lip as she listened. "Yes, you're right it was a ludicrous theory... No, I'm ashamed to say it was all my idea, not Peter Quinn's. Honestly Galvez, I'll do anything I can to make it up to you..."

Quinn raised an eyebrow and glanced at Carrie.

"Well, not anything obviously." She frowned. "Yes sure, dinner would be great sometime. I'm going to be busy for a few weeks though..."

Quinn smiled to himself. He was relieved to hear that Galvez had pulled through, yet again. After recovering from being shot at the Tailor's Shop in Gettysburg and being accosted at the FBI road blockade by Carrie, Galvez had then been promptly blown up at Walden's Memorial Service at Langley, when the car bomb went off.

"Yes, I'm on the road at the moment. In Canada with Peter Quinn..." She laughed at something Galvez said. "No, no definitely not...he's not my type. Listen I've got to go Galvez, I'll explain everything when I get back... Yes, great to hear your voice too... Stay safe... Stay alive and out of hospital for five minutes if you can!"

Galvez is the CIA's unluckiest agent, thought Quinn. He frowned as he realised that Galvez was actually one the luckiest ones. The two hundred dead agents were the unlucky ones.

Carrie laughed loudly at her cell phone and rolled her eyes, "OK Danny... Yes, I promise not to trust him... Yes, I know what he's like. Take care, bye!"

"Galvez?" Quinn raised an eyebrow, quizzically.

"Yeah, great news!" Carrie smiled. "He's finally out of hospital and I'm going to take him out for dinner in a few weeks."

"Will Brody mind?"

"Brody can come along too. I'd like him to get to know Galvez a bit better." Carrie's eyes lit up, "Galvez is quite involved at that community centre next to the Mosque. Perhaps he can put in a good word for Brody, in case there's any jobs going there!"

"What? Like in their library?" Quinn snorted, "I've been over there myself recently to return a few books and I can hardly imagine Congressman Brody dusting shelves in a library!"

"I'm sure Brody will be glad to do anything to keep busy and out of the spotlight," Carrie sighed, "It might be a while before he gets involved in politics again..."

...

The trees and hours rolled by as they travelled south, crossing the border into the United States and speeding towards where they needed to go. They both lost track of distance and time, like daft British tourists who assume that it is possible to drive the length and breadth of many US states in a day without checking the actual scale on their maps.

"What were we talking about? Before Galvez rang?" Quinn mumbled drowsily, before perking up as he accepted the final reviving haribo from Carrie.

"My motherhood skills and Dana, I think?" She yawned. "Quinn, I'm so tired after that long drive up here. I know it's still early, but I think we ought to start to looking out for a motel soon."

"Good idea" Quinn sighed and rubbed his eyes, before rummaging for some more sugary snacks that he'd successfully hidden in the car from McCoy. "Oh yeah, you were saying that you got to know Dana a bit more... with dragging her along on the drive up here?"

"She dragged me along more like!" Carrie grimaced, unwrapping the warm packet of wine gums that Quinn had pulled out of his back pocket. "Once I'd made the mistake of confessing the truth to Dana a few weeks ago, that her Dad was alive, safe and innocent, she just wouldn't let it lie. She pretty much blackmailed me into taking this roadtrip to see Brody!"

"She seems a very determined young lady!" Quinn laughed.

Carrie shook her head. "That's an understatement and a half."

Quinn chuckled. "She was certainly making serious eyes at Rudy McCoy as he was getting into the car!"

"She's only seventeen. He's about thirty eight, I think." Carrie rolled her eyes."Older than me!"

Quinn smiled dirtily. "What were you like at seventeen, Miss Mathison?"

"My father's worst nightmare," Carrie grinned, secretively, "although it didn't do me any harm..."

"Ah, so what sort of relationship advice are you going to give young Dana Brody? Go for it?" Quinn glanced across, suspecting Carrie was reliving a very particular teenage memory, perhaps from an older men phase.

Carrie snapped out of her filthy reverie."Are you being serious? McCoy would never..."

Quinn arched an eyebrow. "Wouldn't he?"

"What do you think?" huffed Carrie, "you live with the guy!"

Quinn frowned, "I think Rudy McCoy is... ambiguous. Very honest, but hard to figure out sometimes too..."

Carrie smiled. "He's a very nice guy though..."

"He's a great guy!" Quinn laughed. "If I was a seventeen year old girl I'd be attracted to McCoy too!"

"Me too, I guess!"

"What, only if you were seventeen?" Quinn frowned, "or are you attracted to him, generally?"

"Honestly Quinn," Carrie rolled her eyes, "why do we always end up talking like girlfriends?"

"We're friends aren't we?" Quinn glanced at her, "and you can trust me, no matter what Galvez says!"

"Yeah, I know," Carrie sighed before grinning cheekily,"well all I'll say is that Rudy McCoy is downright irresistible in the looks and physique department!"

"Oh yeah, I quite agree," laughed Quinn, "I just can't keep my hands off him!"

Be careful," Carrie chuckled, "or you'll make Dana jealous! Rudy McCoy is a decent bloke, so let's observe what unfolds. Let nature take it's course, so to speak..."

"As long as Brody doesn't kill McCoy first," Quinn smiled. "Jessica Brody will probably hate him! She'll think McCoy's way too old for Dana."

"Jessica Brody hates everybody, apart from Mr Personality, Mike Faber," Carrie spat, before her brow furrowed in contemplation. "How could Jessica give up a hot stud like Brody for Mike Faber? They're so different!"

"Different?" Quinn snorted, "Brody and Faber both seem like a pair of lame dicks to me!"

Carrie's eyes flashed with anger at the insult of her beloved."You really hate Brody, don't you Quinn? Why is that?"

"I just have this underlying niggle that he might turn terrorist again." Quinn spoke seriously and thoughtfully. "He could still be a latent threat to this country. Who knows who'll be next on his hit list? The President?"

Carrie laughed in disbelief,"You don't honestly believe that, Quinn?"

"Who knows, though, really?" Quinn shrugged, nonchalantly. "You can't see into his fucking soul!"

Carrie flinched, "Yes I can! I know Brody, I know that his heart is good."

"You hope!" Quinn huffed, certain that Carrie was trying to convince herself as much as him.

"Shut up Quinn," snarled Carrie.

"I'll kill Brody if he hurts you again Carrie," Quinn threatened , his more personal jealousy now barely disguised. "The knife won't be just in his hand next time!"

"And you call Brody a threat?" Carrie snorted, angrily. "You're a fucking liability, Quinn!"

"I spared Brody's life, you know?" Quinn gripped the steering wheel tightly,"I was supposed to assassinate him, but I didn't. I couldn't bear to see you suffer..."

"And now I suppose you're regretting that decision?" Carrie snapped, furiously.

"Honestly?" Quinn muttered as he swerved to overtake a rusty pick-up truck. "Yeah, Sometimes I do."

Carrie and Quinn glared at each other, stubbornly refusing to admit that the other might have a valid point and neither of them could actually see into Brody's tortured soul. Their southbound journey progressed slowly and awkwardly in oppressive silence.