Okay, here's the latest. Not much movement, just trying to tie up this arc in preparation for the next one. Forgive the ugly cut off point though. Thanks so much lipamo for the feedback. So incredibly appreciated. More to come soon. :)
Stirring after hearing the door open, assuming a nurse was here to kick them out, Carrie's eyes blinked open only to see a shadowy figure in the doorway. Squinting to see him better she froze, swallowed hard.
"Shit. Shit."
"Hey hallmate.", Dominic sneered, moving closer as Carrie jerked back, waking Brody up. Seeing him, eyes iced over he swiftly stood up, lunged at him only to be met with a punch to his throat.
"What's a matter, can't take a punch?", the blond man mocked, kneeing him in the stomach as he groaned, dropped to his knees. Pulling him by the hair Dominic shoved him onto the floor, then started kicking him in the ribs to Carrie's horror.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!", she shouted.
"What, you need him to protect you? From me?"
"I don't need a protector!", she yelled as he shook his head, laughed.
Hitting the call button but not getting a response, panicked, Carrie tried to climb off the bed as he jumped onto it.
"You think you can stop me? You can't." he hissed, pinning her down on the bed.
"No, get off of me! GET THE FUCK OFF OF ME!"
"You think you can keep those kids, keep anyone safe, you can't!"
"No, LEAVE ME ALONE! NO!"
Still feeling a hand on her shoulder, trembling she curled up in a smaller ball on her side, shaking her head.
"Carrie? Carrie?!"
"Leave me alone! No!", she choked out, her eyes still squeezed shut.
"Hey! Easy. It's okay, love. It's okay."
Holding, gently tapping the side of her face Brody watched anxiously as she twitched, whimpered.
"Carrie it's okay. You're with me, Carrie-"
"No...NO!", she yelled, eyes snapping open as her breath hitched.
"Hey...hey."
Stroking her hair, the side of her face, he watched sadly as she caught her breath, looked around anxiously.
"Carrie what is it, what-"
"He was here, he...he was in the fucking room with us! He..."
"Who was..who..."
"Lawson!", she insisted as she sat up, looking frantic.
"He broke in here, he...he beat you up and then got on the goddamn bed and-"
"Shhh, it was just a nightmare, love. He's not here. Dominic isn't here."
"But.."
"It's just us. You're in here, with me. We're safe, I swear." Brody assured as her chin quivered and her eyes welled up.
"Carrie?"
"Fuck. Fuck.", Carrie choked out, bowing her head. Sure she looked as humiliated as she felt.
"Hey..." Lifting her chin Brody thumbed a tear off her face but she shut her eyes, shook her head.
"Look, you have nothing to be ashamed of, you understand? That asshole threatened you, Farrah, the baby, me all in the span of just over a day. You've got every reason to fear him, and every reason to know he's finished. You finished him, Carrie. He's not going to be able to just walk away, not from all of this."
Opening, wiping her eyes she gave him a small nod.
"I just wish it all hadn't fucked me up so much.", she sighed.
"It hasn't, okay? It hasn't."
Pulling her into a hug he held her close, rubbed her back before lying back down, still holding her.
"What do you need? Can I get you anything?", Brody asked as she shook her head, yawned again.
"No. The meds they gave me just made me drowsy."
"Well we only slept for about twenty minutes. The nurse came in though earlier and woke me up, said they were gonna keep you overnight for observation.", he said, as Carrie glanced up at him nervously.
"I don't want you to have to leave, I-"
"I told her after everything that happened I'm staying put. She didn't argue with me about it. And I called Maggie. She said she'd pick up Farrah at J.J's when her shift was through and that she could spend the night at her and Danny's."
"Okay. Good.", she said softly as he reached over, held her face.
"Everything's fine, love. You're not alone, you're safe. Just try and relax, okay?"
Nodding, she turned her head, kissed his palm before closing her eyes again. After watching her sleep for a few minutes, making sure she was settled he curled up next to her, drifted off again too.
...
The first to wake up about two hours later, Carrie smiled, glanced down to see Brody's arm curled around her middle and his face buried in her neck. Shifting slightly, she stroked his hair, kissed his temple before smiling slyly at him. After her nap she was feeling better, and between her hormones and his proximity...
Moving his hand from her belly to her breast, when Brody stirred, then frowned at her she giggled. "Hey."
"Carrie..."
"What?" she asked, rolling slightly to kiss his neck, toy with his shirt buttons.
"Okay, now you're just teasing me."
"Yeah? So?"
Trailing kisses down his chest Carrie curled closer to him, let her hand wander lower as he shook his head.
"Carrie, wait. Wait!", he exclaimed as she looked up, frowned at him.
"What?!"
"I'm sorry. It's just...everything Dr. Hennessy said about your blood pressure. Do you really think that this is a good idea? I-"
"Brody, I think she meant high blood pressure from dealing with perverted psychopaths, not from hospital room sex.", she snorted.
"Carrie, I'm serious."
Meeting his gaze she shifted, rested her chin on his sternum then softly smiled, reached to smooth his hair. "I know. But I'm feeling fine. And if we need to stop I'll say so. Okay?", she asked as he nodded, pulled her up before kissing her.
Sliding a hand between them to untie the front of her gown, when she whimpered under the kiss he panicked, pulled back abruptly.
"Hey! What...Brody?!"
"I'm sorry, I just.."
"I think you bit my lip."
Frowning, she touched it as he sighed, rolled his eyes.
"Shit. Guess I'm not the right kind of pent up."
"Brody, just relax. Okay?", she said, trying to keep her agitation in check but having trouble.
"I mean, fuck. If all of a sudden you can only see me as some frail, fragile flower because of the asshole across the hall from us, I-"
Pulling her closer and kissing her again, this time without incident, when Brody flipped her under him Carrie shook her head.
Sitting back up, still kissing him, she wrapped her legs around him then shifted onto his lap. Slowly she ground into him as he bit his lip, tried to keep in check.
"Carrie, Jesus..", he murmured, breaking the kiss just long enough to slide the gown off her shoulders. When he swore she quickly shushed him, seeing over his shoulder that the door was unlocked.
Wanting to move things along, still moving suggestively against him she slid her hand to the front of his jeans. Hearing him swear again, before the door creaked open and someone else began to.
"Fucking shit, Carrie. Right in front of me!"
"What the...Quinn!", Brody growled, quickly moving to shield Carrie's exposed chest.
"Yeah, like he's never seen breasts before!", Carrie snorted as Brody shot her a look, quickly retied the gown for her as Quinn rolled his eyes, turned to face the door.
"I didn't mean to fucking interrupt. Trust me. Maggie just wanted to make sure you got these." Holding two filled brown paper bags behind his back, Brody stood up, grabbed them.
"What the-"
"They're just some bagged lunches she packed. She knows how you feel about hospital food and figured no-name needed some goddamn sustenance."
Rolling her eyes, smiling, Carrie emptied the bag to find half a tuna sub, chips, an apple and a juice box. Brody happily found the same contents in his, only a ham sub had replaced the tuna one. Noticing, Carrie cleared her throat, eyed him.
"Yes?", he asked.
"May I?"
"Hey! What if I wanted the..."
Met with an arched brow Brody groaned, swapped them out. Getting a peck on the cheek in return before Carrie tore open the chips, glanced up at Quinn who was still studying the doorknob.
"Quinn you can turn around.", she laughed as he reluctantly did so.
"And there's a chair right there if you want to take a seat."
"No it's fine. I wasn't planning on staying. I just wanted to bring you the food and get an update. The doctors weren't telling me shit."
"Everything's okay. The cramping was just stress related. My blood pressure was too high.", she said as he shot her a look, shook his head.
"Goddammit, Carrie."
"I already got a lecture from the doctor, Quinn.", Carrie snapped. "I know."
"Well know you had us extremely fucking terrified."
"Hey, the prick across the hall had a lot to do with that too.", Brody reminded bitterly as Carrie stroked his hair, rested her head on his shoulder.
"I think that you mean the prick in the morgue.", Quinn said quietly, getting surprised looks from both of them.
"Holy fuck..."
"Carrie..."
"Look, I know what he was going to...what he almost did but Jesus...I didn't...shit!"
"Hey, easy. Easy.", Brody soothed, holding her closer.
"I didn't just do it because of you, Carrie.", Quinn said, deciding to sit in the chair after all.
"What do you mean? Not to sound completely self centered but I thought...what the fuck do you mean?!", she frowned as Brody nervously shifted away from her, wiped off then munched on his apple. Prompting her to look curiously between him and Quinn.
"You mean you actually didn't tell her? Holy shit.", Quinn marveled.
"Tell me what? Jesus Christ!"
"Carrie!", Brody cautioned as she rolled her eyes, took a few deep breaths.
"Just someone say something here, please!"
"I've wanted Lawson gone for months. Ever since I found out he was preying on my son."
"Wait...Brody told me that he'd abused Farrah's friend, not...wait!"
"Her friend J.J is John Jr, Carrie."
Gape mouthed Carrie turned to look at Brody, then hit him on the arm.
"Ow! Hey!", he yelled, almost dropping his apple. "What the-"
"That's what you were so fucking set on keeping from me?"
"Hey, don't blame me! It's how he wanted it! And it's not like I wanted a stab wound in my other hand.", Brody scoffed as Carrie and Quinn rolled their eyes before she turned back to look at him.
"So J.J's really your son? You have proof, you know for sure?"
"I decided I'm going to talk to Anita about getting a DNA test done. But I'm sure it'll just confirm what we already know.", Quinn shrugged.
"Brody, I know you and Anita are close. If you could try and talk-"
"I...sure. I definitely will. It's just..."
"What?", he asked, eyes narrowed.
"I'm just surprised. All along you've said you wanted to keep your distance and now-"
"You said he's been asking about me, wanting to see me. If he wants contact I'll make it happen, but I'm not about to keep him in the dark. He doesn't fucking deserve that."
Seeing Carrie watching him with curiosity, Quinn frowned at her.
"Why the fuck are you looking at me like that?"
"It's nothing, I just...this is probably the last thing I ever expected to hear from you.", she laughed in disbelief before something else dawned on her.
"So wait, Lawson told me that J.J's mother was...oh shit."
"Yeah. I found out just over a month ago when the funeral was."
"Jesus, Quinn. I'm so sorry, I..."
"It's alright, Carrie.", Quinn said softly, getting to his feet. Nodding, Carrie bit her lip, twined her finger's with Brody's.
"You know, you'll make a great dad.", she said sincerely.
"Goddammit, Carrie. Don't go that fucking far yet, I-"
"I'm serious! Look I've seen the way you are around Farrah. Believe me, I know you'll be able to do this."
Nodding humbly, Quinn stood, got to his feet.
"I'll give you two some space. I just wanted to make sure everything was-"
"We're okay.", Carrie assured. "And thank you, for staying with me earlier."
"And for getting me away from Lawson, I...", Brody trailed off, getting an understanding nod.
"So you know I got a guy I know who's taking care of the security camera footage, any possible witnesses. Cleaning everything up for us. As far as everyone's concerned that fucker died of strangulation related injuries sustained at the mental hospital."
Nodding, Carrie shuddered.
"I still can't believe he's-"
"Just forget about it, Carrie. Just forget about it.", Quinn said before exiting. Semi distracted as he walked down the hall to the elevator. Killing Dominic and the possibility of being caught weren't weighing on his mind at all. Quinn had treated him same as he would any high value target that needed to be eliminated.
What was weighing on him was his change of heart regarding J.J, the impact it would have if he moved forward with things. He didn't want to tear the boy apart, disrupt his life more than it had already been disrupted. But he did want him to know the truth, he did want contact.
Seeing Carrie Mathison of all people ,firstly, scared out of her mind, and secondly, scared out of her mind at the idea of losing her kid, affected Quinn more than he wanted to let on. He realized if she could turn her world upside down, put her career, even sanity on the line for the sake of two kids, who was he to push away one that apparently wanted to know him.
Once getting on the elevator he got off at what he hoped was the right floor, got a hold of a nurse. "Can I help you, sir?"
"Yeah, I just had some questions. If someone was looking to, get a DNA test done..."