Okay here's the latest! Had a little trouble with this update but I'm hoping it turned out alright. Thanks so much to all my lovely awesome followers/favoriter folk that pushed me to get to my 40th freaking chapter. 40. GAH! Honestly, only reason I've kept this going is the reviews I've received so thanku muchly. Here goes nothing..
Having trouble keeping his eyes open, from his spot on the couch Brody sleepily looked on as Carrie sifted through her notes. Not wanting the two of them to stay in the art room the rest of the day, he took the liberty of copying her lists and scribbles from the white board onto sheets of construction paper for her. Leaving her to take Farrah's sketches off the pin board and sort them to her satisfaction. He wasn't about to take that kind of control over her work away from her. Not now, not ever again.
Maggie had warned him that even after taking her pills it would take Carrie time to come back down. He was given strict orders to watch her as she did, not that he had a problem obeying them.
Hearing a sharp knock on the door, now officially awake Brody stood.
"I'll get it, love."
Opening the door his heart skipped about eight beats when he saw Saul staring him in the face along with a few others.
"Brody who's...Saul? Danny, Maggie, Virgil, Quinn?"
Looking on as they all entered the apartment, Carrie was perplexed until she drew the obvious conclusion. Her whole face lighting up she rushed over to them.
"Oh my God, where is she?! Where's Farrah?!", she asked eagerly.
"You must have found her or else why the fuck would you all be here! Wh..where is she?!"
"Carrie, we came here to talk to you."
Biting her lip she bowed her head, shakily crossed her arms.
"Maggie, if this is about our..disagreement, dispute, I'm so sorry, you know I never meant to-"
"It's alright, sweetie. That's all water under the bridge.", Maggie assured. Nodding Carrie looked back up, eyed a fidgety looking Virgil.
"Hey, what are you holding?", she asked curiously as his hands went behind his back.
"Let me rephrase that, what are you hiding?"
Sighing, Saul stepped forward, removing his cap. He kept his eyes on Carrie, refusing to even acknowledge the figure standing next to her, for now anyway.
"Carrie, like Maggie said, we need to talk, I-"
"No, Saul!", Carrie spat, eyes narrowed into icy slits as she stepped protectively in front of Brody.
"So help me if you've come here to...you are not going to arrest, apprehend, accuse Brody of one fucking thing! He's innocent, he's got insight, he's assisting me! He's been invaluable during all of this!"
"Calm down, Carrie. I just want to talk to you about Farrah for now."
"What about her?! She's not with you, you didn't bring her back here...she's not..oh my God."
Trailing off she clasped her hand over her mouth, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Shit, she..she's been hurt. She's in, in the hospital, fuck..."
"No, Carrie. We're still looking for her.", Quinn assured.
"We've just been looking in the wrong places, Carrie. For the wrong man.", Virgil said as gently as he could.
"What the fuck are you talking about?", Carrie spat, grabbing her folder with the drawings.
"Khaliq is the kidnapper! This proves it!"
Taking the folder from her Danny sighed, shook his head.
"Carrie these are just photocopies of some drawings-"
"That prove our fucking point, Danny! You found the original sketch, right? You know Farrah draws what she knows, who she knows! And I know that she knew the person who took her! She wouldn't have gone with them otherwise! She saw Khaliq, same as Brody saw him!"
Frantically Carrie turned back toward him, breathed the slightest sigh of relief.
"Khaliq was at the community center. Brody saw him and sent him away!"
"She's right.", Brody chimed in.
"When did you see him?", Quinn asked him suspiciously.
"The day before the parade. He was lurking around, looked like he was up to no good,"
"That's rich coming from you..", Virgil muttered under his breath as Carrie shot him a glare.
"Anyway, I got someone to take care of him. Send him packing. But if he's Farrah's brother it makes sense she'd go with him if he asked her to. Right now from where I'm standing, Carrie's theory makes sense."
"Yeah aside from the fact Khaliq's a Muslim and would never have-"
"Quinn..", Saul warned, not wanting that news divulged yet. Nodding in understanding, Quinn held his tongue.
Curiously, Brody frowned tempted to ask what they were discussing, or trying not to discuss. Carrie was the first to speak up though not having heard their muttering.
"Look there's more then the drawings to consider. There's what I last heard from Farrah at the parade! I..I heard her screaming for me. And I've told her that if she was ever taken or in trouble she should attract as much attention as possible. And she was! I heard her yelling for me but then it stopped. She stopped. And it was wasn't from her being drugged or gagged. The sound didn't taper it just, terminated. She must have felt safe again. She felt safe seeing her brother! He's the only other person she'd trust to take her anywhere! You all have to understand, I..I'm right about this!"
Sadly, Saul sighed, shook his head.
"Virgil, show her.", he said solemnly, getting a look from Maggie.
"Saul, I don't-"
"Maggie we have to tell her."
"When she's leveled out!", she hissed.
"You told me that takes days, a week. We don't have that kind of time, no way we can keep her in the fucking dark that long!"
Looking to Danny who looked to be in agreement, Maggie sighed, nodding for Virgil to hand over the hijab.
Taking it from him Carrie frowned, shaking her head.
"Where...where did you find-"
"Max found it in a trash can on the other side of town."
"It tore..". she muttered, examining it.
"It..it must've torn. Khaliq wouldn't have let her wear a torn hijab, he couldn't have!"
"Carrie look at it. It's shredded, been cut to ribbons. Purposefully.", Quinn sighed.
"Someone clearly didn't want Farrah wearing it."
"No! That makes no sense! Khaliq is-"
"A Muslim. Just like his sister.", Saul said. "If Khaliq had taken Farrah he wouldn't have laid a finger on her hijab, you know that. If anyone who cared for her at all had taken her, they wouldn't have disrespected her this way. Someone else was responsible for the kidnapping, Carrie. The hijab winding up in the trash proved it. Now we just have to accept it. Shift the manhunt in a different direction."
"But Saul, my theory makes sense. You can't just dismiss it like this! I..I'm right, I know I'm fucking right!", Carrie insisted turning around.
"Brody tell them. Talk to them. You..you've seen the evidence, all the work. You understand! Just tell them!", she begged as he approached her.
"Carrie-"
"TELL THEM!", she yelled. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes were huge and she looked ready to lash out at him, hit at his chest, scream, swear.
But Brody wasn't intimidated, didn't back away. He just stood still, stuck close hoping to reassure her.
Even if she was wrong she wouldn't be left because of it, certainly not by him.
Sadly shaking his head he moved his hand to cup her face, that was already starting to crumple.
"I..I can't, love. We don't know for sure now-"
"No, we know! I..I have to know. I have to be right about him, Brody. About all of this! I..I need to be right, I..I can't-"
Her voice breaking she shook her head.
"She...she needs me to be right.."
"Shhh, I know..I know...", Brody soothed.
Pulling Carrie close he stroked her hair, rubbed her back, did his best to console her as she started to sob. Short staccato gasps that left him nervous, had him reminding her to breathe as he walked them over to the couch. Holding her close she started weeping, still holding Farrah's scarf close to her face.
Heartbroken, Virgil had to look away. Saul stood silent, still off to the side of the room as Quinn paced, looking ready to punch a wall in. Danny approached Maggie, rubbed her shoulder but reaching into her purse she walked over to the couch. Somehow holding it together enough to load a syringe.
Looking at her alarmed, Brody held Carrie closer, shaking his head.
"No, Maggie. She doesn't-"
"Brody, it's just a mild sedative. It'll work faster than her pills.", Maggie assured softly. "She really needs to sleep."
Reluctantly Brody nodded, looking on pained as she administered the shot.
Afterwards, ignoring Saul's stone cold glare, he stood up, still holding Carrie as her crying started to subside.
Bringing her to his room he gently set her down on the bed. She was fighting the sedative the best she could, refusing to close her eyes.
"Brody..", she muttered as he grabbed a throw blanket, covered her up.
"No, don't. There's still so much to do. We..we have to-"
"Shh, just try and get some sleep, love."
Taking off his shoes Brody went to curl up in bed alongside her but she stopped him, shaking her head.
"No, you...you can't-"
"Okay..okay. What do you need though? what can I get-"
"The..the other brother..", Carrie mumbled before yawning.
"What?", Brody asked, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Farrah.. she...she has another..brother, Brody.", she repeated, her eyes half shut.
"We...we need to find him. We have to."