Chapter 16

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.

"Come on, Franny, eat your breakfast so we can spend some time together before Jack wakes up. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" her dear aunt Maggie asked. The little girl brightly smiled at the question and at the possibility it implied. Her life had been even more altered by the arrival of the youngest member of the family a few days back. Not that it had not been disrupted enough a year before by some unexpected and dramatic events, but certainly the advent of a blue-eyed baby had threatened her previous status of only child no matter how hard her whole family had tried to minimize the effects on an already complicated situation. After all, she had gone from just living at her aunt Maggie's, lovingly surrounded by her husband and daughters, for more than six months to a brand new life, and although she had proven to be resilient and had always easily adapted to changes, this was certainly too much if you happened to be nearly four.

It was not the first time Franny had to adapt quickly to a new home. Her mother had left for Kabul to be CIA station chief right after she had been born, leaving her with her father and her sister Maggie. Memories of that time had haunted her mom for years, while Franny had no recollection at all of that stage of her life. And just a year back, she had found herself living again with her aunt Maggie overnight. First it had been her mom, who had suddenly started a new job in a place called 'Langley' or something like that and she hardly saw her during a week to finally lose sight of her for good, and then it was her dad the one who had brought her with her cousins for a surprise sleepover one afternoon and had completely vanished from her life after that.

"Yeah!" Franny happily exclaimed, quickly taking her fork and rushing to eat the contents of the plate in front of her. Her dearest aunt Maggie seemed to be spending a lot of time with Jack lately, and the prospect of having her all for herself, with no crying or whining baby around, was certainly something she was not willing to just miss.

It certainly broke Maggie's heart to see how easy it was to please her niece, as she would only need a little bit of quality time with her to be happy and fully satisfied. Seeing how Franny had to cope with all kinds of adjustments in her life before turning four years old always made Maggie think about her daughters and how lucky they had been since they were born. She only hoped they actually appreciated it, which she was starting to doubt as they were both in their teen years and she had noticed their demeanor and mindset slowly beginning to change.

"Where's mom?" Franny's sudden question took her off guard. There was a time, a year ago, when both her parents had just run to Afghanistan, Carrie working again for the CIA and Quinn following his wife in order to protect her, that inquiring about them was the first thing Franny would do as she woke up every day. The answer was always the same, 'they're working honey', and eventually as time went by she had stopped asking. Maggie was not a psychiatrist, but it was not difficult to assume that the little girl was just setting in motion a self-defense mechanism, shielding herself in case she never saw them again. So it was a huge relief for Carrie's sister to hear her niece asking again about her parents. Maybe things were slowly going back to normal and she was adjusting just fine after all.

"She's resting," she replied, lovingly caressing Franny's blond curls. She just hoped that the answer was not too disappointing for a very young child who really missed spending time with her parents.

"And daddy? Resting too?" Franny asked again, doing her best not to speak with her mouth full and thus quickly swallowing the scrambled eggs she was currently eating.

"Yes, sweetie," Maggie mumbled, not expecting at all the next question that was about to come from her niece.

"He's still in pain?" the little girl mumbled, her eyes suddenly shining with unshed tears.

"He's doing much better. Don't you worry about that…" Maggie said with a heavy heart. No matter how hard Billy, their teen daughters and herself had tried to protect Franny from the events of the last year, she had ended up sensing the nightmare her parents had gone through since they had landed in Kabul a year ago.

Carrie and Quinn had never been closer to death than that day in that secluded safe house in the middle of nowhere in Afghanistan, and that is certainly a lot to say given their long careers in the CIA, the missions they had been part of during all that time and their track record. The operation conducted by Adal's team had soon turned into a massacre, despite Quinn's anxious efforts to try to minimize the damage and conduct his small team more like a military reconnaissance mission than an attack. For a second before it all went to hell he had even been proud to realize that a few years working in the private sector for a security company had not impared his skills and instinct.

But it was bad timing that their unexpected assault had to coincide with the arrival of Carrie's old CI Ali Hadd, and all of the sudden the house turned to be the very exact definition of crossed fire. Saul's analysts and agents, most of them unarmed, did their best to protect Ali and themselves, but the informant soon feared for his life and did not hesitate to open fire. As a result, five members of Carrie's group were killed, and nine more people were seriously injured, Carrie, Peter and Saul among them.

When Adal and the rest of the Special Ops team entered the house a few minutes later, there were bodies scattered all around and blood could be found on the ground and walls of the main room, where the altercation between fellow Americans had just taken place. Dar quickly ordered to tend to the wounded and request the medics, and as he looked around he placed his eyes on Quinn and Carrie lying on the floor, his body almost completely covering hers. It was obvious from where he stood that he had tried to protect her using his own body as a shield.

Totally unmoved by the image before him, Dar slowly walked toward them and squatted down as he reached their position. He placed two fingers on his favorite soldier's neck, trying to find a pulse. He sighed, relieved, when he found a very weak and erratic pulse, and called for the medics again. As they arrived, he stood up to let them work on Peter. Two gunshot wounds on his back could be seen at a glance, and given his weak pulse, he was certain he was in a critical condition and he needed immediate medical assistance. Sighing again, he turned around and exited the house to grab his phone and wake the CIA director, trying to think how he was supposed to justify this operation since all he had against Saul were suspicions, nothing concrete, and yet he had ordered the intervention.

Dar left the house without checking on Carrie. To him, she was the ultimate cause of most of his problems, and, more importantly, he thought that over the years she had grown to be the only source of Peter's problems. Dar Adal had no doubt that Quinn would have never quit his job in the CIA or even think about it had he not fallen in love with Carrie. So he saw her as a witch that had enchanted his top soldier and diverted him from the right path. At least, from what Adal thought was the right path for Peter. In that context, he really didn't give a damn if she was alive or not.

Right after that, Carrie and Quinn were evacuated by helicopter to Bagram airfield, where they received emergency medical assistance that saved their lives, and then by military aircraft to Ramstein air base, in Germany, where they spent nine months recovering from their extensive and severe injuries before they were cleared to fly back home. Carrie sustained a serious concussion that finally resulted in various complications that needed surgery and a series of risky procedures that had to be carried out with more precautions due to her underlying mental condition and her pregnancy, because, yes, she hadn't known about it when she had run to Afghanistan to interview with her former CI, but her and Quinn's efforts had finally paid off and she had been pregnant at that time.

On the other hand, Peter's condition was critical for months. One of the gunshot wounds had severely damaged his right lung, and he was kept on a ventilator and in an induced coma for weeks until they were able to remove the damaged tissue. Fortunately for him, he was slowly able to regain a good portion of his breathing capacity, but as soon as he was stable, he had to undergo a dangerous surgery again to retrieve the bullet that was dangerously allocated near his spine.

So when Carrie at last regained full consciousness almost four months after she had flown to Kabul, she found herself in a hospital bed in Germany, with no recollection at all of what had happened, obviously pregnant, and with her husband fighting for his life and hooked to countless tubes and machines in the other end of the ICU.

Her first thought then was Franny, and she asked non-stop all the doctors and nurses for a cell phone to be able to call her. In full Carrie-mode, she insisted until she got it, her doctors fearing that her condition could worsen if they did not comply with her anxious wishes.

Back in the States, during all those months Franny had been leading a happy life with her aunt Maggie, her uncle Billy and her cousins Ruby and Josie. At first, she had missed her parents dearly, but with time she got used to the idea of them working away and not seeing them. If she also found it strange not to speak with them on the phone, she did not mention it at all. She felt loved by her family and gradually ceased to ask about her mom and dad, which broke Maggie's heart.

Carrie's sister was informed about what had gone down in that secluded house in Afghanistan by the CIA director that same night. She was awakened by his call to her cell at 6 am only to hear him say that her sister had been evacuated to Bagram in a very critical condition, and that those treating her were fearing for her life. Her first instinct was to run to her, but the director assured her that there was nothing she could do there, and there was no way they could guarantee her safety in a war zone. "If they are able to stabilize her she'll be going to Germany, and you're welcome to join her there," he said.

She then asked about Quinn, and the CIA director was surprised by her question. As far as he knew, Peter Quinn was not currently working for the Agency, and he was not aware yet that he had been a last minute addition to the Special Ops Team. He was informed about that circumstance later that night, and he called Maggie again when she was about to wake Franny to get ready to go to school. His news about Peter was even worse, and she held her niece tight in her arms when the little girl stepped into the kitchen brushing off the sleep from her eyes.

Over nine months Maggie had flown twice to Germany. The first time, as soon as she had been informed that Carrie had been transferred to Ramstein, three days after the night she had learned about her sister's fate. There she had to face the shock of seeing her little sister in a very serious condition and learning that she was pregnant at the same time. She stayed there for a little over two weeks, visiting her in the ICU twice a day for half an hour each time, and she went back home when she realised that Franny needed her more than Carrie. After all, she was confined to an ICU bed, unconscious, and she would be like that for at least weeks, according to her doctors, and her brother-in-law was even in worse shape, while her niece was only three and her parents had just been ripped off her life without notice.

The second time, it was for Jack´s birth. As she was recovering from her injuries and her pregnancy was making good progress against all odds, Carrie had insisted on not leaving Quinn's bedside. So when she was seven months pregnant and it was her last chance to fly home, she decided that their baby would come into this world in Ramstein.

Jack was born six weeks after his father had regained consciousness. Finding a heavily pregnant Carrie by his bed had been a pleasant surprise for Quinn, and it made his hard recovery much easier.

So when Franny saw her parents entering Billy and Maggie's house again a year after they had suddenly left, her mom was holding her brother Jack in her arms and her dad was in a wheelchair. That didn't stop her from running to them and jumping on Quinn's lap much to the horror-stricken gaze of her uncle and aunt. That had only been five days ago, and she was still getting used to having them around again. She cherished the time she got to spend with her parents. She had been told that her dad would be playing with her in no time, but his winces of pain every time he got up to walk from the bed to the couch had her worried. And she was learning to love Jack, she truly did already, but she still prefered to have some alone time with her aunt, who had taken a leave of absence from work to help Carrie with a recovering Quinn, the baby and Franny adjusting to the new circumstances.

Meanwhile, as Franny was rushing to finish her breakfast to have her dear aunt Maggie all for herself for a while, Quinn quietly opened his eyes when he felt Carrie's hand caressing his cheek. There was a certain conversation long overdue between them, and she thought that perhaps it was the right moment before they dove into the craziness of trying to rebuild what had taken them so hard to build in the first place, now with a new addition to their family, Jack. They had settled in Billy and Maggie's guest room until they got on their feet again, trying to make the transition smoother for their daughter.

"Good morning," he said as he took her hand in his and kissed it, turning his head to face her.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Carrie laughed. "You slept well?" she asked, concerned. She was afraid that he would start having nightmares as soon as he was taking less medication, but apparently he wasn't, unlike her. But she felt he had enough on his plate to burden him with her on and off bad dreams.

"I did. Jack and Franny?" Quinn mumbled, closing his eyes again. He felt tired all the time and he blamed it on the side effects of the medication he was still taking, but now that he was home (well, almost home; they would be leaving for their own house soon, he hoped) he found that sensation highly annoying. He just wanted his old life back: his civilian job and their family life. He was well aware that eventually he would have to share with Carrie the circumstances that had led to her return to Langley and the role Dar Adal had played in it, but he needed to be fully recovered in order to do that. And he knew that Carrie had felt guilty since she had considered taking that job in the first place, so maybe she could use some time to gain the necessary strength to deal with that.

"Jack's still asleep and I think Franny's in the kitchen with Maggie," she whispered. She hadn't heard the baby crying in the nursery down the hall, where her sister had insisted on having him in order to be able to tend to him and let Quinn and Carrie rest. "You feeling okay?" she inquired again.

"Yeah, just fucking tired…" he replied, opening his eyes and flashing his bright smile, that smile she could not resist, as he locked his gaze on her. She had no doubt now that the time to apologize had come.

"Quinn," Carrie said, biting her lower lip and resting her elbow on the bed, so she could look at him from above and make sure he understood what she was about to express. "You know that I'm really sorry and I love you, right?"

Peter nodded, his eyes locked on hers. He considered telling her about Dar and his threats, and how he had reluctantly agreed to spy on her to protect her, but at last decided against it. That was a conversation for another time. "I know. But don't be sorry. I know you thought that you were doing the right thing…"

"I know, but…" Carrie interrupted him, her lower lip now quivering. And that was something that Quinn could not resist, either.

"Hey, no buts, okay?" he said, reaching out to caress her cheek with his thumb, still lying on the bed. "I'm certain that if duty calls again, you won't resist that call. I'm sure that'd be your choice ten times out of ten. And I've learned to accept that… " he continued, "but, please, try not to do it four weeks pregnant and with no heads up…" he finally added, raising his brow, his hand glued to her neck.

"I'll do my best…" Carrie chuckled, despite herself. She had been blaming herself for months but he always helped her see the bright side of things. And she loved him for that, among many other qualities.

"Yeah. Let's just hope that with Dar in jail and Saul retired no one will remember you at Langley and we'll be able to live in peace…" Quinn said, bringing her in to softly brush his lips on hers.

The end.