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 for your continuing feedback. Means a lot. I try to do them justice.

Shockey 13 - thanks for the follow. When I get a chance, I'll have a look a your fic. This one has been occupying me.

A/N sorry this one has taken so long. It has been giving me a lot of trouble. Hopefully it makes sense. A lot going on and the longest chapter I have written. Thanks to those who keep coming back for more.

November 13, 2013

Being on the outside looking in was rarely easy. It felt wrong. She was his mother, she should be in that interview with him. Jess knew that logically it was the right move but that didn't make her feel any better about it. Mike was more likely to be able to keep his calm. So, here she was watching her son be interviewed from an observation room.

Dana was standing next to her just as tense and just as angry.

"I'm Peter Quinn. I'm just going to ask you some questions, Chris", Quinn says calmly, trying to put Chris at ease.

Chris nods his head in acknowledgement.

"About what? What exactly is it you think he's done or is involved in?", Mike questions.

"We just want to understand what Chris knows", Quinn replies.

"You just want to understand what he knows? Shouldn't you know that already given that you have apparently had him under surveillance?"

" I understand..."

"Can we just start, please?", Chris asks quietly but firmly, interrupting Quinn. He was grateful Mike was there with him, but he wanted this over with and didn't appreciate either of them talking as though he wasn't in the room.

"These were in your bag", Quinn pulls the Qur'an and Arabic for dummies out of the evidence bag and lays them on the table, all the while searching Chris for a reaction.

"I know", Chris replies matter of factly staring straight back at Quinn. "I want them back."

"Why do you have them?", Quinn enquires, ignoring Chris's demand.

"I'd like to ask you the same question", Mike interjects.

"I wanted to understand", Chris interrupts before Quinn can retort. He feels Mike and Quinn both staring at him.

"Understand what?", Quinn asks puzzled.

"Dad", Chris replies sadly.

Dana recognised it, even if her mom haddn't. She could see the worry in her mom's face. She new her mom hated not understanding. Dana knew what she was thinking about, what she was worrying about. Dana thinks she understands, but she can't tell her mom. Chris was going to have to. Dana took her mom's hand, silently telling her it was ok. It was. She was sure of it. This was Chris, not dad.

Although not really sure what sort of an answer to expect, Quinn knew he hadn't been expecting that one. He could also see Faber hadn't been expecting it either.

"What do you mean?", Quinn probes with interest.

"The Qur'an. It's his. He and mom had a fight about it. I saw him bury it out front with Dana. I just wanted to understand why he seemed to need it so much. Everyone says bad things about it. He didn't see it that way. So, I dug it up. But I obviously couldn't read it so..."

"That's why you needed this", Quinn finishes for Chris, pointing to Arabic for Dummies.

"Ye."

"It help?"

"Not really", Chris sighs disappointed.

"What about this?",Quinn places the sheet of names on the table.

Quinn sees the kid look at it and frown in confusion.

Looking back up at Quinn, Chris asks "where's the rest?"

Quinn stares at the kid for a moment trying to process what he just said. Regaining his composure, Quinn asks, "what do you mean the rest?"

"There was another sheet of paper with names on it."

"Do you know who they are?"

"No. Well, obviously I recognised Nazir on that one", Chris points to the paper on the table.

"And you didn't think that might be important?", Quinn questions.

Chris shrugs, "it's my dad's handwriting and he's dead, so he's not going to be doing anything with them, is he?", Chris answers sharply.

"These could be names of people involved in terrorism", Quinn responds.

Chris stares silently back at Quinn.

"How many names were there on this other sheet of paper?"

"Don't know exaclty, maybe 60 or more."

"Well, where is it?"

"How should I know? Both bits of paper were inside the front cover of the Qur'an when I put it in the bag. It's where dad had put them. I only took them out once, the first time I looked at it", Chris responds.

"60 + names. Jesus", Lockhart turned away from the screen they were observing the interview on to look at Adal. "We aren't even getting any hits on the first 20", he finishes, removing his glasses and cleaning them in irritation.

Carrie looks up sharply, "20? There are 20 names on that first bit of paper?"

"Yes, roughly", Lockhart responds.

"Why didn't someone show me it, say something? I could have told you for a start the handwriting was Brody's."

"I would have thought that was obvious", Adal replies coldly.

Carrie glares at him, before turning her attention back to the screen. She'd check something with Virgil first before sharing her suspicions.

Quinn observes that Chris seems to be telling the truth but he has more exlpaining to do. Quinn now places Chris's laptop on the table now and as he does so, notices the boy wince. This wasn't going to be easy.

"You were sent a video back in July. Do you know wo sent it?"

"No", Chris replies trying to fight tears threatening to come.

"Why didn't you say something last time you were at Langley?"

Chris blinks away the tears and replies angrily, "you mean while you were all lying to us?"

"You've had that video since July and you didn't say anything to anyone", Quinn pushes.

"What do you want me to do? Yell it from the rooftops?", Chris snaps sarcastically. "And I was going to tell someone, but you assholes knocked me down before I could get to Mike's."

"That's still months", Quinn replies, ignoring the jibe.

"Imagine a child being overcome by grief and anger and not immediately or at all thinking about how he should hand a video over to the CIA. Imagine that", Mike says quietly, dangerously.

Chris jumped slightly at Mike's voice. He'd almost forgotten he was there. Mike was staring at Quinn with a look of intense dislike as he continues, "you've had him under surveillance, knocked him down and you're going to get away with it and quite frankly that pisses me off. He's here voluntarily and he's answering your questions, but if you think you're going to sit there and blame him because he cares, I'm here to tell you it's not happening."

Quinn did not look away from Mike, before saying, "the person responsible has been dealt with."

Chris sits up straighter at this, "dealt with?"

"Yes."

Chris snorts, shaking his head disapprovingly, "I doubt I want to know what that means. I doubt I'd agree."

Quinn doubted it as well. Though not for the reason the kid thought. Wilson hadn't been dealt with. That rankled with Quinn, but Faber was getting on his nerves and that made the lie easier.

Jess was feeling so many things currently: regret, pain, heart break, anger, but at that moment, that precise moment, pride. Her little boy, no longer an innocent but still so good. He wasn't alone and by Christ was Mike making sure they knew it.

Quinn was finding this difficult. More difficult than he would or could show. He continues, "why do you have articles about Javadi and Akbari?"

"Why do you think?", Chris retorts wearily.

"Why?", Quinn repeats the question coolly.

But Chris does not answer, simply meets Quinn's ice cool gaze.

Quinn reigns in the frustration threatening to show itself.

"It would be better to answer the question."

"Why?", Chris throws back at him.

Carrie was glad she was sitting in front of Lockhart and Adal so they couldn't see the smile she allowed herself. Chris was holding his own. He was also perhaps more like his dad than he realised. Except that unllike his father he had no lies to trip him up.

Pushing aside his irritation, Quinn continues, "it doesn't look good."

Chris was silent in consideration before eventually adding,"no, it doesn't..."

"Well then..."

"But I'm not stupid", Chris interrupts Quinn.

"I never suggested you were"

"You may as well have. Telling me it is better to answer the question."

Quinn found himself unwillingly intrigued, "you don't agree?"

"Please. Llike you people haven't already been guessing why I might be looking at articles about those two. You're just trying to find out exactly what I might have worked out."

Quinn struggled to hold back a smile at that.

"And what have you worked out?"

Chris snorted, "besides the fact it seems obvious that dad had something to do with Akbari's death, it's very strange that Javadi is now our best friend and it likely has something to do with the CIA...not much really."

Quinn sat up straighter. "How have you come to that conclusion?"

"Which one? There were 3."

Cheeky little shit. Deciding silence was his best option, Quinn waited for Chris to answer, noting as he did so, after a few minutes that a sad resignation seemed to have overcome the kid.

Chris took a deep breath and explained, "there isn't a second of that video that isn't imprinted up here", Chris pointed to his head. "It made me angry, but I couldn't stop watching it at first. I noticed the date. The video was date stamped May 7, 2013. So I started looking to see what was happening around that time. Wasn't hard to find. Akbari is assinated and not long after my dad is hung. Then we're fucking hugging and kissing with Iran and their new head of the IRGC."

"That's impressive", Quinn replies. He meant it. For the kid to work that out on his own.

"No it isn't, Chris replies hotly."I fucking googled it!". How long have you wasted on me? What if I had died?"

Quinn hears the anger and feels the glare of not just Chris and Faber, but the mother and sister through the glass. He could answer, but he doesn't feel worthy.

Dana felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Dad had something to do with their new relationship with Iran. He'd told her he hadn't done it, hadn't blown up Langley. She didn't want to listen, didn't want to care. He'd left them in shit. He'd come to see her, not Chris who would have wanted to see him. She'd told him she never wanted to see him again and now she never would. She let the tears fall.

"I'm not the one you need to worry about!", Chris breaks the silence that had enveloped the room.

Chris's words brought Quinn out of his reverie.

"What do you mean?"

"That lawyer that came to see me in Hospital."

"Leland Bennett. His name is Leland Bennett."

"Right. He knew stuff. Knew you had me under surveillance and my bag. He said he had a client who would be willing to pay for him to represent me."

"Did he say who or why?"

"No, he just referred to him as his client and said something about his client having been under surveillance but being able to do something about it.

"Anything else?"

"He was keen to point out the Police didn't seem interested in my case..."

Quinn snorted at that. Fucking Adal. "Leave it to me", he had said.

"And he mentioned something about his client helping those the CIA would silence", Chris finishes.

"Who does that mean?", Lockhart asks.

Carrie struggles to hold in a snort.

"Lets face it, that could be a reference to just about anyone", Adal answers Lockhart's question.

"What do you think about the boy?", Lockhart asks.

Carrie waits for Adal to answer but he doesn't. She then realises Lockhart is looking at her.

"What do you think? Is the kid a problem? Going to be a problem?"

Carrie was taken aback. She hadn't expected to be asked. She thought about all the explanations she could give, but dismissed them, answering firmly and confidently, "no no he's not. Whatever is going on, he has nothing to do with it."

Lockhart nodded accepting her input.

A knock at the door interrupts them.

"Come in", Lockart shouts.

Wilson walks into the room and stops very quickly. Carrie's glare is icy cold and full of rage. Clearly she had been filled in since last time he saw her.

"What is it Wilson?", Adal asks in a bored tone.

"Um, you asked me to let me know when your guests got here", Wilson replies, keeping an eye on Carrie.

"Well, now you have. Show them to the conference room", Adal says dismissively, indicating he can leave.

Lockhart waits untill Wilson has left before saying, "we'll go down and let Quinn know he can let the kid go before we go and see the other two. I want to know what you think of them."

"Of course" Carrie answers as Adal and Lockhart leave the room.

Now alone, Carrie picks up her phone and calls Virgil.

"Hey. Look Carrie, if she's been sick on you or peed on you, you'll just have to deal with it. You don't even want to know what Max and I are doing right now", Virgil informs, not giving Carrie a chance to speak.

"Hello to you too,Virgil. I'm not on because of any of that. I have a quick question.

"Oh, right. Shoot."

"Hypothetically, if you had access to Langley systems and had names you didn't want people to be able to get a hit on, would you be able to make sure those names wouldn't return a hit?

"Hypothetically?"

"Yes, Virgil. Hypothetically."

"Right. Hypothetically, yes you would, but also hypothetically it would be difficult."

"But not so much if you were Director with virtually everyone in the building at your disposal?"

"We still hypothetical here?", Virgil asks, uneasy.

"Yes."

"Well hypothetically then, probably a bit easier if you are Director."

"Thanks. All I needed to know. I'l phone you later."

"Right."

"Virgil, what are you and Max doing?"

"Talk to you later Carrie", Virgil responds hanging up.

Carrie chuckles. Knowing those two, it would be good.

Jess watches Quinn leave the room after a knock on the door. A few moments later he returns to tell Chris he can go. Jess isn't really sure how she feels. She should probably feel relieved, but she doesn't. Anger is bubbling away in her stomach.

The door to observation opens and a man enters. Jess remembers him as the current Director, somebody Lockhart.

"Could I have a word with you?", he asks her.

Jess considers asking if she has a choice, but deciding that would be pointless answers, "yes."

The technician in the room leaves immediately, but Dana does not.

"Dana, it's ok. Go and see your brother and Mike. I won't be long."

"But, mom!", Dana starts to argue.

"Dana, it's fine" Jess reassures her.

"I want to give you my word that Chris will be left alone", Lockhart addresses her as soon as the door closes behind Dana.

Jess stares at him incredulously, "I hope so Director, but don't expect my thanks. However, I expect my son's belongings to be returned to him...including his books."

"Of course", he replies.

Opening the door, he calls for Quinn and Jess hears him tell Quinn to give Chris his belongings back.

Shutting the door behind him again there are a few moments of tense silence, before Lockhart says, "he did the right thing."

"Excuse me?"

"Your husband, in the end, he did the right thing."

Jess felt the anger that had been bubbling in her stomach rise, but she fought to control it, to have her say, "I remember my distraught eight year old daughter crying herself to sleep the night Brody left for his tour. I promised her it would be ok, that dad would be home before she knew it. Fate made a liar out of me. I remember my four year old son asking if he'd done something wrong, if the reason other kids had a dad and he didn't was because he was bad."

Jess took a breath, determined to keep going, "I always got on well with Brody's mum. She was a strong woman with a great personallity. I watched not knowing what happened to her son destroy and eventually take her. Me and him? When he came home, we didn't fit. I can't pretend it doesn't hurt, but I don't blame him for not loving me anymore."

She turns now to look directly at Lockhart, fixing him with a steely gaze, "but I will never forgive him for leaving our kids again, for leaving them broken hearted. So, don't you tell me he did the right thing in the end. Don't tell me that this was more important than the second chance he had with his kids. Believe what you need to help you sleep at night, but don't dare force that belief on us. Because everytime you do, you would be as well telling us we don't matter and I am not having anyone tell us that", Jess finishes angrily.

Picking up her bag she looks at Lockhart one last time before leaving, " I hope never to see you again, Director."

Carrie watches Jess go in to the other room where Chris, Dana and Mike are, watches her pull her children into a hug. A mother left behind to raise children without their father in a horrible mess, like her. But unlike her, Jess had not played a part in it. She felt the weight of their grief attacking her through the TV screen.

He sees the man and his son led into the conference room with all their heirs and graces, perfectly at ease and sure of themselves. Well, he was going to do something about that. It hadn't been easy interviewing Chris Brody. The kid was likeable enough and Quinn had doubted he was a threat. He was feeling irascible now though, as a result of that interview, mainy because he'd felt like shit and now he'd gladly put this little fucker and his father in their place.

"Peter!"

Quinn turns around to find Adal and Lockhart approaching him.

"Let me and the Director go in first. Make them comfortable. Come back in about 15 minutes or so. Should be long enough for them to think they're here because the son is a rising star", Adal says.

"Fine", Quinn answers, watching them walk away and enter the conference room. He sees them shaking hands and smiling with the other two in the room. Quinn understands why, but sometimes the need for appearances made him sick.