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 when Carrie called him that afternoon. He had been waiting to see her name on the caller ID in his cell since Dar had barged into his office earlier.

"Cut the crap, Saul, will you?" Carrie replied as she nervously tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and leant on the kitchen counter. She had left Quinn upstairs taking a shower and getting ready to go and pick up Franny while she called her former boss to tell him that she was game. She had just taken one of the most difficult decisions of her life, to which Saul had led her for the last two days, and now he sounded all polite and caring all of a sudden. His tone irritated her. "And now he fucking thinks I've forgotten all about Pakistan?" she thought to herself, trying deliberately to put an actual distance between them. Yes, she was about to go back to work for the CIA, but that did not mean that she agreed with Dar and Saul's actions regarding Islamab and the events that took place there when she was Station Chief.

"I'm just doing my best to be polite here, Carrie. Our last conversation was not very nice, nor productive, remember?" Saul sighed, taking off his glasses and pitching his nose, completely oblivious to the reaction his words were triggering on her.

"Nice?" Carrie's eyes were now open wide. Hearing his voice and, mostly, his tone, was making her forget the actual reason she had to be calling him. "Fuck you Saul!" she could not help but exclaim.

"Believe it or not, I still think that you're the only one who can help us track down Haqqani, no matter how hard our last conversation was. Unless you've changed your mind since then… " Saul trailed off, trying to hide a smile. Apparently Dar had been right: she was coming back. And, of course, Carrie being Carrie, she would not make it easy for her former mentor and boss.

She snorted. "That's funny Saul, so fucking funny,..." She really hated that he knew her so well. She liked to think that Quinn was the person that knew her best, even better and deeper than her sister Maggie, and she liked to remind him of it regularly, especially in their intimate moments. 'Come on, you know my shit,' had been Carrie's first words when Peter finally kissed her for the last time the night of her dad's funeral. The fact that Quinn knew her so well and loved her despite that had been a revelation back then, and it still was, as more than after two years together he still loved her. Come to think of it, that itself had been the key factor that had led her to want to change her life back then. But it was also undeniable that Saul Berenson had gotten to know her very well over the many years they had worked together.

Doing his best to try and not lose his patience, Saul sighed and put on his glasses again, looking for a more practical approach. She just needed a little push to remember why she was calling. "Say whatever you want, Carrie, I don't care..."

"You don't care? That's hilarious, Saul... You and Dar Adal betrayed all of us. And some of us died there, in case you've forgotten...," she explained as she felt her eyes welling up, vivid images of Farrah crossing her mind. She had not been fond of her former mentor and boss since she had discovered he had been closely working with Dar Adal on a deal with the Talibans and he had kept it from everybody at the CIA, including her.

"Carrie, as much as I really like talking to you, and I don't really know why, I'm sure there's a reason for you to be calling, besides accusing us again of something we did not do..." he blurted out. If Dar had been right, she was coming back. He did not want to find out how Adal had gotten her to change her mind (although he suspected Quinn was involved in it somehow), but the last thing he intended was to say something that could prevent her from showing up at Langley the following morning. "She's called, right? So let's get over with this before I end up ruining it," he thought to himself, lifting himself up from the chair behind his desk and starting to walk around his office at a quick pace.

Much to her dismay, his words brought her back to reality and the reason she had to be calling. "What?" she managed to ask, shaking her head and trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Why are you calling Carrie? You haven't for years…" Saul slowly said in a low voice as he came to a halt. He was getting the impression that he had hit a nerve, and the Agency really needed her working for them again. Too many lives were at stake. He would be happy to resume this argument at his office once she had gone to the CIA HR department and signed all the documents required.

The line went silent for a few seconds. "You still want my help?" Carrie inquired, thinking that there was no point in having the same argument all over again. Unfortunately nobody could change what went down in Islamabad and bring back the fellow Americans that had died there, but if there was a chance she could cooperate into bringing down Haqqani she would feel better.

There it was. She had finally admitted it. "Of course. I thought you'd never said it…" Saul sighed, relieved, as he started walking again. "It took you long enough… You can take as long as you need but please help us. As I told you, It'll just be a job behind a desk at Langley, as an analyst. We've got people in the field..." Saul quickly added.

"I remember. And you'd better keep your fucking word, Saul. I have a family now, and I am happy for the first time in my life. I don't want to throw that overboard just because Haqqani fooled you and damn Dar Adal..." she warned him.

"I'll bear that in mind… 8 am tomorrow?" Saul said, deliberately avoiding pronouncing the words "I promise." He had been in that line of work long enough to know that some promises are difficult, when not impossible, to keep.

When the conversation with Saul was over Carrie left her cell phone on the kitchen counter and closed her eyes, resting her hands on the edge of the marble top. She really wanted to help take down Haqqani, make him pay for all his past action and prevent new attacks, but she was having second thoughts about working alongside Saul and Dar Adal

"How did it go?" Quinn whispered in a low, almost sexy voice, as he walked into the kitchen and held her by her waist affectionately.

"I.. I don't know Quinn…" she muttered back, turning around and facing him.

"What do you mean? You've changed your mind?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. His heart skipped a bit when he heard her reply. During the last hours he had made peace with the idea that he would rather see Carrie working for the Agency again than dealing with the aftermath of the declassification of secret documents regarding her past actions in the CIA. He did not wish to see her go through that at all.

Carrie shrugged and briefly diverted her eyes to the kitchen door, and glanced back at him while she bit her lower lip. "I don't know if I'll be able to work with these people again..." she finally voiced out after a few seconds.

"Just a while ago you told me that you wouldn't be able to fucking live with yourself if there's a chance you can help to track Haqqani down and you don't do it, Carrie…" he softly said.

Totally oblivious to her husband's thoughts she went on rambling. "I can't overlook that they dishonored every officer, every soldier at the embassy by making a deal with him…" she firmly stated trying to get her lips to stop quivering.

"Hey, I know, I know..." Quinn tried to comfort her, stepping closer to her and extending his right hand to gently cup her face and caress her cheek. Carrie placed her left hand on his and slightly tilted her head to feel his palm on the side of her neck while she closed her eyes, finding solace in his touch. Once he sensed that she was calm, he carried on talking. "But this is a way to make Haqqani pay for all that he did.. and still does… And if it helps prevent an attack on American soil… I'm sure working with Saul is peanuts besides all that..." he trailed off, feeling awful for pushing her back to the CIA. A part of him was starting to come to the conclusion that by doing that he was breaching the terms of the agreement that they had reached more than two years ago to quit the Agency and lead a normal civilian life together. Lying to Carrie about such a matter like working for the CIA again was not the way he wanted their relationship to work.

Carrie opened her eyes and he withdrew his hand. "You really think so? Am I rushing this?" she asked, slightly turning around to check the time displayed on the oven screen. The last thing she wanted now was being late for Franny.

"I support you a hundred percent. That hasn't changed in the last hour and a half..." Quinn quietly mumbled from behind her.

"So what should I do? Fucking ignore them? Pretend that they no longer work there? That may be difficult..." she inquired, turning back to face him again, nervously moving her hands.

"Just be you, Carrie. Everything is gonna be okay. Just promise me you´ll take care of yourself..." Quinn slowly answered in that low voice she was not able to resist since that night when he had asked her to get out of the CIA together. He rested his hands on her hips and eagerly waited for her response.

Carrie nodded, looking around for her phone. "I promise…"

Sensing that she was distracted and worried about being late for Franny, he raised his right hand from her hip and placed it under her chin, gently tilting his head to lock eyes with her. "I know I've just asked you this, but will you fucking listen to me, Carrie, if I see that you don't take care of yourself? If anything goes south, it will affect Franny…" he added. He had been worried for the last weeks that her discontent about her civilian job would end up triggering a depressive episode, as her health wellness was the most important thing to him, along with Franny's wellbeing, so the mere thought that working for the Company again could jeopardize all that made him sick.

"I will, Quinn," she finally replied, placing her arms around his neck and hugging him. "You have my permission to call me out and resort to drastic measures if I don't. Don't hesitate to call my doctor and do what you have to do," she whispered in his ear.

Peter's heart sunk as he heard her words. A few weeks before they had gotten married Carie had announced to him that she had listed him as her emergency contact and her next of kin. "You know me well, Quinn. When necessary, please don't hesitate to do what you think it's best," she had casually said, and as time went by Quinn thought that fortunately it seemed that he would never be put in that position. But now she was reminding him about it.

"Whatever I do, I'll do it because I love you," he managed to mutter back. "I don't wanna be late for Franny," Peter added, quickly kissing her cheek and taking his cell and keys on his way to the door. As he drove to the school, he wished, not for the first time, that they both could be free from their past so nobody, not Dar, not Saul, not Haqqani and his supporters, not even themselves, could make them go back to the kind of existence you could aim for if you worked for the CIA. But apparently, much to his chagrin, Carrie was diving back into it and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had even encouraged her in order to protect her from Dar's threats. "This can't end well," he sadly thought as he parked his SUV and hopped out to get Franny. Little did he know back then that he was totally right about that.