Disclaimer - I do not own Homeland. That pleasure belongs to Showtime. No copyright infringement or money making scheme intended. This is purely for reading enjoyment.

A/N I decided this fic could do with a bit of a cheering up chapter. If you happen to be reading TLG you may remember me promising to show Max some love in that story and if I couldn't, I'd do a one shot. Well, I've decided to show Max some love here. Caution for swearing and sexual references. Perhaps a bit OOC but this is meant to be for fun.

Please review.

She couldn't believe it had been four months. She had atcually been properly trying to be a mom for 4 months. Maggie had that smug look on her face at times that said, "I told you so". She wouldn't say it though because she knew Carrie could say it too. A Mathison female silent battle, with neither willing to lose.

Virgil had been harassing her to meet them for drinks for the past fortnight. Her dad had finally convinced her to go.

She wasn't the blushing type but as she walked across this parking lot she felt her cheeks redden. She also felt happy and sad at the same time. A wonderful memory she couldn't repeat. There'd be no parking lot sex for her tonight. Walking into the bar she saw Virgil and Quinn standing at the bar itself talking to a group of women who seemed to be hanging on their every word. Her eyes found Max sitting at a table on his own. She wasn't in the mood for the loudness surrounding Virgil and Quinn, so decided to join Max instead.

"Hi", Max said as she sat down.

"Hey."

"What do you want to drink? Those two went to the bar 20 minutes ago and haven't come back. I could die of thirst before they do."

"Orange juice and lemonade", Carrie answers.

Max raised his eyebrows and asked, "Being good are we? Well snap", he finished bitterly.

"Firstly Max, I'm never good and secondly why are you on the hard stuff?", Carrie smirked questioning him.

"Drew the short straw. I am designated driver for the evening. I'm sure those two assholes fixed it", Max responded nodding at Quinn and Virgil before going up to the bar.

Carrie could hear Virgil from her seat. He was getting louder which meant he was already a bit drunk. Carried laughed shaking her head as she watched Max fend his brother off to get back to their table.

"Thanks", she said as Max passed her drink to her.

"How much have they had?", she asks Max.

"Enough that they are irritating if you're sober, but not so much that you couldn't catch up if you wanted", he replied.

"I don't want to."

"Shame. I was hoping to see you drink them under the table", Max said.

Carrie shrugged her shoulders, "I've missed your complaining Max."

"I don't complain."

"Oh c'mon you did nothing but complain in Istanbul", Carrie lightheartedly responds.

"I wasn't complaining", he says emphatically. "Lockhart should be in the dictionary next to the word."

"Sorry" Carrie says to Max. She had suffered and heard all about Lockhart's displeasure after she had decided to concentrate on Allayna. He had to find a new Station Chief for Istanbul and had bent Quinn, Virgil and Max's ear when he brought them back, because the new Station Chief wanted his own people.

"I wasn't having a dig. And fuck him."

"Ok. If you weren't complaining what were you doing?", she asks him curiously.

"I thought you were the intelligence officer", he replies cheekily.

"Oh, touche, Max, touche."

"MAAAX BABY, COME HERE FOR A MINUTE", Virgil yelled.

"Did he just call you baby?", Carrie asked snorting through her laughter.

"Yes, yes he did", Max said narrowing his eyes as Virgil approached.

"Don't sit here all by yourself", Virgil said loudly.

"I wasn't. You two ditched me and anyway Carrie's here now..."

"CAAAARRIEE" Virgil yelled as he noticed her, practically throwing himself on top of her in greeting.

"I need to borrow Maxi for two minutes", he said in a whisper and then putting his finger to his lips said, "shhhhh."

"Don't call me Maxi and you" he said looking at Carrie, "send in the SEALS if I'm not back in 5."

Carrie laughed. She had forgotten how annoyingly funny Virgil could be when drunk.

10 minutes later...

"Ok, where were my SEALS?", Max asks sitting back down.

"Huh?

"You, ok?", he asks slightly concerned.

"I was just thinking", Carrie answers.

"Ahh so that's what that noise was. Here was me thinking it was the sound of Virgil and Quinn's bullshit."

"Oi!", Carrie said laughing inspite of herself. Then adds seriously, "you were distracting me."

"What?"

"In Istanbul. You were distrcting me."

Max shrugs his shoulders.

"You noticed", Carrie says failing to keep the surprise out of her voice.

Max smiled but answered, "it's funny, people being so surprised at me noticing things when my job is to be observant."

"Carrie smiled sheepishly, " I guess I never thought about it."

"That's ok. It's useful. The bad guys make mistakes around me, insignificant as I am."

"You're not insignificant", Carrie suddenly finds herself defending him from himself.

"Oh I know that. I just meant that is how they see me."

"Thank you", Carrie says sincerely to him.

"No problem. What are friends for?"

Looking at their empty glasses, Max says, "right two more glasses of the hard stuff coming right up."

A few minutes later Max returned to the table with a smirk on his face.

"What are you smirking at?"

"Virgil and Quinn are in tall tales mode. Apparently Virgil is a producer and Quinn is going to be holding auditions for the new Bond girl in the next Bond movie. They are both very single and very available."

"Ok. But why is that so amusing to you?"

"Because. No one said being the sober one had to be boring. They have their fun and I have mine. They still haven't cottoned on", Max finishes with an evil grin.

Before Carrie can respond they hear Virgil saying "Oh, that's just Max. He's...he's a real life Q."

Carrie looks at Max, who is cracking his fingers, with some admiration.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, you play the disgruntled wife phoning looking for her husband and his friend", Max nods at Quinn, "whose wife happens to be at your house also looking for her husband. "How are your accents?"

Carrie grinned, "not to bad. Anway they're drunk. It will make it easier." Talk about hidden sides, she thought. Who knew Max could be so much fun and daring.

Max positioned himself at the bar as Carrie went outside to make the call.

Not too long after the barman suddenly shouted, "I got a phone call for a Virgil."

"That's me."

"It's your wife."

"What? I don't have a wife!", Virgil says incredulously as the bar man moves to hand him the phone.

"Ye,ok buddy", the bar man replies rolling his eyes.

The women are now staring at Quinn and Virgil.

"Did that Bastard just say he doesn't have a wife?", Max could hear Carrie screaching through the phone in an Irish accent.

Virgil trepidatiously picked up the phone, "who is this?"

WHO IS THIS? WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WHO IS THIS? YOU LYING PRICK!

"But..."

"DON'T BE GIVING ME ANY OF YER SHITE. AND DON'T BE COVERING FOR THAT QUINN ARSEHOLE EITHER. MARY'S HERE LOOKING FOR HIM TOO. YOU TWO TELLING WIMEN YOU WORK IN THE MOVIES AGAIN? IF ONLY A HADN'T BEEN AS STUPID TO FALL FOR THAT PISH! LOOKING TO GET YER ROCKS OFF NO DOUBT. WELL I'LL FEED YOU YER BALLS FOR YOUR BREAKFAST YOU WANKER.

Suddenly there was quiet as Carrie hung up. Max was silently pissing himself laughing and made his way back to the table before Quinn or Virgil noticed him. They were utterly horrified and their wannabe Bond girls were deserting them.

Carrie came back in and quickly and took her seat across from Max. She assessed the situation and noted she'd done her work well.

"Remind me never to get drunk when you are in the vicinity", she says laughing.

"Partners in crime", Max says hoding his hand out to her.

Carrie took it grinning, "absolutely."

Just then, one of the women who had been hovering around Virgil and Quinn came right up to their table, put her hands on Max's face and planted a kiss right on his lips.

After trying to eat Max's face for a couple of minutes, she pulled back and turned to Carrie, "do you mind if I borrow him? He's Q right? I like a man who knows his gadgets and geekchick is so hot."

Carrie looked at Max whose hair was sticking up and whose eye were glazed over. "Borrow away", she said to the woman.

"Go with it!", she mouthed to Max as he allowed the woman to drag him away.

"Guess you'll have to commandeer a taxi, boys. Looks like your designated driver's engine is in demand", Carrie says smirking at the stupified look on Quinn and Virgil's faces, as she headed for the door.

Maybe parking lot sex was on tonight's menu after all. It just wasn't for her and she was ok with that. She had a daughter to go home and cuddle...