Disclaimer: I do not own Homeland, or any of its characters or plots. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners.
"Carrie, how are you?" Saul greeted her as soon as she hopped in the back of the big black SUV that was parked just two blocks from their house. Yes, once more Quinn had been right. No doubt he still kept his survaillance skills intact despite of being on a civilian job for over two years now. Not for the first time, Carrie quickly wondered if there was a chance that in his current job he somehow kept training them. He had never mentioned any dark part in it, and Carrie pushed the thought away. "He would've told me if that were the case."
"What the fuck, Saul? I'm out, remember?" she replied sitting on the further end of the back seat, trying deliberately to put an actual distance between them, all thoughts about Quinn and his job suddenly gone.
"I'm well aware, Carrie. I helped you throughout the exit process, remember?" Saul sighed. She had been too hurt back then, and too eager to leave her last experience in Islamabad behind her, to notice his assistance, and therefore appreciate it. Instead of that, she truly thought that all he was doing was hindering it.
"Helped?" Carrie's eyes were open wide. "Fuck you Saul!"
"Believe it or not, I did. And I'm glad you have a happy life now..." he trailed off, trying to hide a smile. Her last line proved that she was still 'his' Carrie, no matter how domestic her life was now.
"Cut the shit. What do you want?" she bluntly asked. The sooner she knew what he wanted, the sooner she could be home with Franny and Quinn. There, sitting on the back seat of a CIA vehicle with her former mentor and boss, she wondered how she had been able to lead a life without them in the past.
Saul took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy, and he feared her reaction. He had to do his best to stress how much they needed her without pushing her away. "Carrie, this is important. We do need you, and I was hoping you could help us..."
Carrie snorted. "Help you? That's funny Saul, so fucking funny, I'd never thought I'd hear you asking for help from me again..."
Trying not to lose his patience, Saul sighed again, looking for a more practical approach. "Say whatever you want, Carrie, I don't care as long as you help us..."
"If you think that I'm gonna help you in any way you're definitely out of your mind. You and Dar Adal betrayed all of us. Please don't call me again, and leave Quinn alone..." she said scooting over the seat and heading for the door of the SUV.
"Carrie, Haqqani is back and planning an attack on American soil. Only you can help us get that son of a bitch and stop it..." he blurted out before she was able to reach the door handle.
Much to her dismay, his sudden revelation hit her. "What?" she managed to ask, shaking her head. She had thought all this time that they had Haqqani under control. In fact, that had been the only thought that had given her some solace after Pakistan. "I thought you'd made a deal with him. Isn't that what Adal was doing when he was with him in that damn car in Islamabad?"
"Let's just say that it didn't work out the way we thought it would..." Saul slowly said in a low voice. Ha had the impression he had hit a nerve, and he wanted to give her time to process the enormity of the task at hand. "And now there are lives at stake, Carrie…" he went on, in an effort to trigger a positive reaction from her.
"Did the Talibans fool you, Saul? I'd laugh if it wasn't for the horrible consequences..." Carrie scoffed. So many lives taken only to jeopardize many more.
"Carrie, please, this is important. You can laugh as much as you want but please help us. It'll just be a job in a desk at Langley, as an analyst. We've got people in the field..." Saul knew he sounded desperate, but he was desperate indeed. If he had to show it to bring Carrie on board, well, so be it.
His words and his tone truly surprised her. He had never said anything of the sort before. "Is this for real? Are you begging?" she inquired.
Saul sighed again. "I am, and I will until you come to your senses and help us..."
Carrie shook her head. She had not struggled so hard to build a new life for her and Franny to throw it overboard the minute her former mentor and boss showed up begging on her door. "That life is over for me, Saul. I have a family now, and I am happy for the first time in my life. I'm sure you have very capable agents and officers who can track Haqqani down..." she stated, doing her best not to run out of the SUV.
"Come on, none is as good as you Carrie, or Quinn, and you know it..." Saul was not lying. Never during his long career had he seen a more capable agent than Carrie or Quinn, and the mix of the two of them together was the dream of every CIA director. Even Dar Adal, who was not exactly fond of Carrie, agreed with Saul on this.
"Please keep Quinn out of this. He's out too..." she quickly said.
"Please think about it, Carrie. Despite just being a desk job, I know you'll need time to make arrangements at home. Take as much as you need..." he reiterated his plea.
"Saul, this is final. I'm not going back," she said stressing the word 'not'. "Good luck with Haqqani," she added exiting the SUV.
It was cold as she hurried back home, and she bundled up in her thick winter coat. Her encounter with Saul had brought back too many memories and feelings she had buried for goods years ago, and she felt the urge to get home with Quinn and Franny as soon as possible to remind herself of the life they had been able to build together leaving the Agency and all its shit behind.
As she busied herself in walking as quickly as she could, her cell chimed with an incoming text. It was Saul. The message was brief and yet devastating. "Have you already forgotten Fara and everything that happened back there? There're innocent lives at stake, Carrie, and you know it."
Carrie froze as she read it. Saul knew her well, too well for her taste, and he was using his last card here. It was exactly those memories the ones that she had been trying to live with for the last three years. Of course she had not forgotten about Farah, not a single day had passed by that she did not remember her. Every time she saw Max she could swear she saw Farah around him. Sometimes when she was tucking Franny in bed, or taking her to school in the mornings, she thought how unfair it was that Farah had not had the chance to have kids and enjoy those moments with them. She was sure she would have made a great mother, but Haqqani had taken that from her along with her life.
When she arrived home, she found Franny watching cartoons on television. She was seating on the couch with her favorite doll, and Carrie had to restrain herself from running from the front door to hug her. She was a very smart little girl and she would immediately sense that something was wrong if her mom behaved like that. Luckily for her, she did not remember the times when her mother's erratic behavior was a concern for all the family, She had been a baby back then, and her grandfather and aunt had taken great care of her, not letting her notice the absence and odd conduct of her mother, and the last thing Carrie wanted now was to scare her.
So, instead of that, she slowly left her keys and cell phone in the hall and approached her. "Hi, sweetie, how was school today?"
"Good," was her child's short answer. She was too adsorbed by the cartoons playing on the screen and too tired after a while playing in the park to have a conversation with her mom right then.
"That's great," Carrie said quickly kissing her cheek and heading for the kitchen. There she found Quinn clad in a white t-shirt and jeans, busy gathering food on the counter to start making dinner. Although all she could see was his back, she quietly leant on the door frame enjoying the view. He had started cutting vegetables and Carrie found herself staring at the way the muscles in his arms shifted and the short sleeve of his t-shirt tightened with every cut. Not long after that her gaze ended up admiring his jeans and what was underneath them. Definitely, his civilian job had not taken a toll on his good shape. He had always had a great body, and it was only getting better as years went by.
"You like what you see?" he startled her. She should have known better, the best agent in CIA Black Ops unit for over a decade would notice her by the door no matter how quiet she was.
She smiled. "No, should I? Too domestic for my taste," she retorted.
"I can be wild too, you know?" he replied, earning a laugh from her as she began to walk towards him.
"Yeah, I know," she said hugging him from behind, her arms wrapped around his waist. She rested her head between his shoulder blades. "Wanna show me when Franny is in bed?" she whispered against the soft fabric of his t-shirt.
Surprised by her reaction to his banter, his hand let the knife slip from it and turned around to face her. He softly lifted her chin and tilted his head to make eye contact with her.
"That bad, uh?" he simply stated looking at her and placing his hands on her waist.
"Yeah. Apparently Haqqani is back and they need me to track him down, just a desk job in Langley as an analyst…" Her lower lip quivering told him that that meeting with Saul had stirred up many memories in her mind. No doubt Islamabad had been the worst assignment in both their careers, and that was a lot to say.
"What did you tell him?" he cautiously asked her. Deep inside, he was afraid of her answer. He was well aware that over the years, when she had been working for the Agency and duty had called again, Carrie had never been strong enough to resist that call, and, to be honest, neither had he been. They had been very much alike regarding that, But he had changed, he was convinced that he was over that now, cherishing the life they had built together, but he wondered what Carrie would think in this scenario. He was about to find out, and he held his breath.
"To go to hell," she simply shrugged, and he felt a huge relief. Little did he know that she had been struggling with herself since the moment she had gotten the text from Saul right after she had exited the SUV. But she was still too shocked to notice it, so there was no way she could share it with Quinn until she did so.
"Atta girl," he mumbled hugging her, wishing that her encounter with Saul would not have any further consequences.