Okay here's the latest. Sorry for the abrupt ending but I was desperate for a cutoff point. More to come soon and much thanks to any new followers/favoriters and for the reviewage!
Can't wait for the next installment of The Date, Indigo! :)
Sitting on her couch, absentmindedly petting Calvin while Thelonious played on in the background, Carrie bit her lip after checking the time. Farrah and Quinn had been gone over an hour. While Carrie welcomed the quiet earlier, now she was starting to get nervous. How long did it take to eat ice cream?
Moving Calvin off her lap she stood up to get her phone and her stomach rolled.
"Stupid, fucking sub.", she muttered as Calvin mewed.
"What? Nobody's around to hear me."
Snorting when the cat curled up in a ball on the couch, she picked up her phone right as it rung, startling her to the point she almost dropped it.
"Jesus."
About to answer she heard a too urgent sounding knock on the door. Her stomach rolled again. Two people trying to get a hold of her at the same time. Something was off, she could feel it.
Answering the phone, putting it on speaker so she could read a new text message, she heard Virgil's voice, then read his message in type in Quinn's text. Her face went ten shades whiter as she hung up.
"Oh my God.."
Dropping the phone on, then bracing herself on the table by the door, her hands shook along with her knees that were about to give out.
"Oh shit."
"Carrie? Carrie!", Danny called, knocking louder before using the spare key to get inside. Seeing her only standing with the help of a table, he ran over but she recoiled, avoided his touch.
"I'm sorry I just...So you heard."
Not answering him she walked back to the living room, picked up the remote to turn on the news. Reading the crawler across the bottom of the screen, she heard the anchor parroting the words back. Breaking news, Farragut, armed, casualty.
Turning the TV off before she could read the rest she walked back to the foyer, slipped on her shoes before grabbing her jacket.
Watching concerned, seeing her hands were shaking so much she couldn't put on the coat, Danny took it from her, helped her into it.
"Th..thanks.", she murmured, before her eyes widened and she swore, made a break for the staircase.
"Carrie? Hold on, wait!"
Following her down the upstairs hallway into Farrah's room, Danny watched as she grabbed a tote bag, started tossing stuffed animals, blankets, furry pillows, any comforting objects she could find into it. It was only when the bag was nearly full she realized she'd forgotten Merriweather.
After looking under the bed she swore, threw open the closet.
"Carrie, stop. C'mon, we need to.-"
"She's going to want Merriweather!", Carrie growled as she whipped around, glared at him but Danny held his ground. Knowing they could be here all night looking for one stuffed animal when they both were needed at the hospital.
"She just needs you, okay? All Farrah needs is you."
Her chin was the verge of collapse but Carrie managed a nod, held it together as she and Danny went back downstairs, walked outside to his car.
"I'm sorry, Maggie gave me strict orders to drive you."
"How did she..."
"She's got a friend who's a surgeon at St. Mary's. She called and gave her the heads up. Maggie's on her way there though right now."
Nodding, she numbly climbed into the passenger seat. Not even buckling her seat belt until Danny prompted her to.
"She'll be waiting in the lobby right when we arrive.", he assured, getting a slight nod before Carrie turned, looked down and away.
"Carrie..."
"Just drive, Danny.", she whispered as he nodded, sighed, and put the key in the ignition.
Carrie was silent as a Sphinx the entire ride, but Danny knew better than to try and get her talking. Even in the dimly lit car he could see how pale she was, and her hands were shaking to the point turning the radio dial proved a challenge. Getting her frustrated, cursing herself out as Danny turned the radio to a jazz preset. Hoping to offer her a little comfort.
When they arrived at the hospital she was out of the car before it came to a complete stop. Once she got to the lobby, frantic, aimlessly she looked around for a familiar face.
"Carrie!", Maggie called, running over to her. Sighing sadly she took her by the arm, walked her past the front desk.
"Farrah's just a floor above us, alright? Max and Virgil are with her. She wasn't hurt physically at all, not one scratch on her."
Nodding, breathing a little easier hearing that, Carrie forced herself to ask the next question. Her throat felt like sandpaper.
"W..what about.."
"He's in the OR right now.", Maggie said, walking her into the elevator. On the ride up she gave her the most general facts. Saul was shot in the chest and with no clean exit he needed surgery to remove the bullet.
"He's lost a lot of blood. Mira's donating now. I'm not a match but you are, so when you get the chance.."
Seeing Carrie still wearing a deer in the headlights look, Maggie sighed, stopped speaking before pulling her into a hug.
"He'll pull through, sweetie. He will."
Pulling back, still too overwhelmed to acknowledge this had actually happened, that there was a too real chance he might not pull through, Carrie blinked back tears, bowed her head as she crossed her arms.
"Look, he'll be in surgery for awhile, but my friend Dr. McClain's operating on him. She's the best."
"Good.", Carrie said softly, then after a beat, spoke up again.
"Wh...where's Farrah.", she murmured.
"She's over in pediatrics.", Maggie answered as Carrie glanced up, eyes wide.
"Hey, it's alright. Like I said, she's not hurt. There's a lounge in the children's wing with crayons and games and toys. Comfortable chairs. She's in there with Max and Virgil."
Calming slightly, her eyes back to normal size she nodded, before another thought entered her head.
"Quinn? Where's Quinn?"
"He's at the police station. They wanted to formally take his statement. But he stayed in that lounge in a chair holding Farrah on his lap until Virgil and Max showed up, and the nurses and staff refused to question it. I think they were scared of what would happen if they did.", Maggie lightly laughed but didn't get a response.
"I need to talk to him."
"You will, Carrie. You will.", Maggie promised, guiding her the rest of the way down to the children's wing, then the lounge. Seeing Carrie tense up, pale even more, she rested her arm at the small of her back.
"It'll be fine, c'mon."
Farrah was curled up in Virgil's lap asleep as he sat in a teal, overstuffed plush arm chair.
Max, seeing Carrie at the door, got up from the small, child-sized stool he was sitting on and went to wake the girl up.
"Max what the fuck!", Virgil hissed.
"Hasn't she been through enough! Let her sleep for Christ's sake!", he spat, but then caught sight of Carrie too and looked at her sheepishly. Gently shook Farrah's shoulder.
"Hey, wake up short stuff. Someone's here to see you."
"Virg...", Farrah mumbled sleepily.
Rubbing her eyes she sat up, yawned before she turned and saw Carrie. Chin quivering she scrambled off his lap and the armchair, ran straight at Carrie who knelt to her level, pulled her close.
"Shhh, shhh..it's okay. It's okay, honey. It's okay."
Speaking in Arabic to settle her down more , Carrie switched from kneeling to sitting on the rug. When Farrah started recalling what happened, started crying and telling her the whole horrible story in Arabic, Carrie stopped her. Told her not to think about it, that it was all over.
She kept repeating herself until Farrah finally nodded, snuggled closer to her before yawning again.
Eventually she started to nod off, prompting Carrie to lay her down on a nearby furry rug, then reach for the tote bag.
Retrieving the pillow, blanket, and Marvin, once tucking Farrah in Carrie sprawled out alongside her on her stomach. Close enough they were nearly nose to nose, she kept rubbing slow circles on the sleeping girl's back. A last ditch effort to calm them both down.
Not wanting to interrupt the moment or worse, wake Farrah, Virgil quietly knelt behind Carrie on the rug. Tapped her shoulder as she turned slightly, watery eyed.
"Look, Quinn filled me in on everything so if there's anything you wanna know, I-"
"No, Virgil. Not now, okay?", she said softly, shaking her head before turning back to Farrah. Seeing she was out, softly snoring, taking her hand off her back Carrie twined it with the girl's. Linked their fingers.
"Okay.", Virgil said solemnly as Maggie returned to the lounge with a blanket. Draping it over Carrie she slipped off her sister's shoes. She didn't even stir.
Walking over to the opposite side of the room, Virgil plopped down into an orange bean bag chair. Put his head in his hands as Maggie approached, sat in front of him.
"So, what happened?", she asked. "What did Quinn tell you?"
"That Farrah's fucker of a brother snapped, pulled a gun on them. Quinn tried to wrestle it away from him but the thing went off and.."
Trailing off Virgil sighed.
"It's so completely fucked up. And Farrah saw it all. The kid's gonna be a goddamn mess."
"Hey, kids are tough. They're a lot more resilient than we think. I know, it's absolutely horrible what she's seen, but you know as well as I do that Carrie's equipped to deal with it. She's seen hell too."
"Well now she's floating around the seventh circle of it.", Virgil said mournfully.
"Speaking of which, any word on Saul?"
"He's still in surgery."
"What are his chances?"
"Depends on a lot of factors. But he's in good hands."
Maggie said as Danny softly knocked, entered the lounge and tiptoed around Carrie and Farrah so as not to wake them.
"Any word on.."
"No, not yet.", she answered, then frowned at him curiously.
"Where were you? Not trying to find a parking spot I hope."
"I went over to Langley. Gave some of the higher ups an update on Saul. They then told me that since he's incapacitated..."
Nodding over to Carrie he shrugged.
"Wait, you're saying she's..."
"If Saul's unable to perform his duties as deputy director..."
Distracted from that disturbing newfound info by her phone, Maggie stepped out as Virgil and Danny followed.
"What's the verdict?"
"He's out of surgery."
"Wait, Carrie should hear this..", Virgil said but Maggie held him back.
"No, let her sleep. She, they need to sleep.", she insisted as Virgil and Danny reluctantly followed her to the elevator. Once upstairs they approached a panicked, pacing Mira. Stood next to her as Dr. McClain left the OR, approached them.
"How is he? How's Saul?"