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.

LilMisfit and Shockey13 – thank you for the reviews and sticking with me.

A/N Apologies for being a bit vague in this chapter, but it is leading up to something and will be revealed...at some point. Caution for swearing.

Furious, Stephen walks fast and hard across the car park needing some distance between the two of them.

"Stephen!", he hears her shout on him, but he keeps going because he can feel the anger attempting to consume him. He needs to calm down.

"Stephen!"

He'd known coming back to D.C and trying to help her would drag up his own past, his own misery, but then he wonders if sometimes that's what he wanted. Perhaps subconsciously he was looking for his own closure as well as helping her to find hers. If so, he'd drastically over estimated his ability to deal with it. He'd been like a caged animal when he found out what was being hidden from him, as if her death wasn't enough in itself to make him fall apart. Every time he thought about it, the fury that accompanied the helplessness he'd felt at the time, would make a reappearance.

"Jesus, O'Neill, what the hell?", he hears Carrie's voice. Now she's pissed at him, but sometimes she is so oblivious. He stops where he is.

Carrie really didn't appreciate having to chase him across the car park. Finally, he had stopped to wait on her.

"Ok", she says drawing level with him, "I was out of order and I'm sorry."

He doesn't answer. Carrie hates being ignored, "right Mister. I've said I'm sorry. I will not put up with the silent treatm…",

Carrie trails off as she looks at him. At first she thinks she has imagined the tear trickling down his cheek, but on second glance she realises she's right. She lifts her hand up slowly and wipes away the tear.

"I'm sorry", she whispers.

"So am I."

"Aw shit."

"You could say that, Rick."

"Oh fuck off Tony. Why the fuck do we have to visit shit holes like this?"

"Because, this is a fucking government operation."

Rick looks up to see the boss has come outside to meet them.

"Yes, Boss. Well government operations suck."

"You really have no idea."

"He should. He's been doing this long enough", Tony replies disapprovingly.

Rick opens his mouth to argue, but the Boss beats him to it.

"I'm not listening to the two of you sniping at each other. Have you got anything?"

"Yes."

"Good. Rick, take those fucking shoes off, you are not coming in with them covered in shit."

Rick nods his head albeit sourly, giving Tony the evil eye as he smugly turns to follow the Boss straight inside.

"And you", the Boss says stopping and turning around to face Rick, wipe that smug fucking smile off your face and stop sucking up. It is making me nauseous."

The silence as they walked round the aisles was eating away at Carrie, but she had been getting used to him having all the answers for her problems, that she didn't know what the hell to say to him. She's becoming increasingly agitated watching him.

"What the fuck are you doing?", the words are out of her mouth before she can stop them. Not exactly what she'd intended.

"I'm looking for the freshest tomatoes."

"By feeling them all up?", Carrie asks sarcastically.

"You know nothing about cooking at all, do you?"

"Brody tried to get me cooking once."

"What happened?"

"I distracted him and hauled him off to bed."

"Now whose feeling up tomatoes", Stephen replies with a smile, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"Hey", Carrie gives him a shove. Silence falls between them again and Carrie hates it.

"Ok, look. I suck at talking about feelings and stuff. But…"

Stephen puts his finger on her lips, "don't say you're sorry again. I was out of control that day and you are helping."

"I am?"

"Ye. Just be you. I mean who else can I take into the fruit and veg aisle and end up talking about sex?

Carrie laughs, "a fine endorsement of me being me."

"Joe and Darren have taken over for the rest of the day and the two CIA agents are still there. We kept out of their way."

"I', assuming there is more?"

"Yeah, Boss", Rick replies picking up where Tony left off. We weren't the only ones keeping out of their way. This woman was definitely aware of them and she was just off.

"Just off? What he fuck does that mean?"

"She was watching the Congressman."

"You know this how?"

"A guy showed up and she didn't look happy at him pulling her away. He was a smart Bastard though because I think he made us and the CIA agents."

""What makes you think that?"

"Well, the fact that he managed to avoid giving us an angle to get a decent picture of him and he spent ages driving round and round until he lost us."

"Ye", Rick agrees with Tony. He knew that driving smart was the best way to lose us. Either his or her superior knowledge of the area was our undoing."

"You lost them?"

"Yes, but we got a picture of her."

Tony and Rick watch the Boss stand over at the window, stooped over, apparently thinking. They were still getting used to him, but they'd come to realise this was normal for him.

"Let me see the picture." Tony hands his phone over to the Boss.

"Fucking shit!"

"Boss?", Tony and Rick ask.

Getting no answer, Rick tries again, "do you want us to find out who she is?"

They look between each other bewildered as the Boss picks up his own phone. To their surprise he puts it on speaker. They hear the phone being answered.

"Hi, Saul, what's up?"

"What the fuck is she doing, Quinn?", their boss asks.

Tony and Rick look between each other again completely clueless as to what is going on.

"Wait a minute, Boss, you know who she is?", Tony asks.

"Carrie?", Quinn asks.

"Yes, Carrie. Who else do you know that gives me so many ulcers?"

"Going to need a bit more, Saul. You've lost me on this one."

"You two", Saul says looking at Tony and Rick, tell Quinn everything from the moment you set eyes on her until the moment you lost her."

"Saul, what the fuck?", Quinn demands.

"She was apparently keeping tabs on the Congressman."

"Fuck!", Quinn curses.

"Well get on with it you two", Saul says becoming agitated. "We don't have all day. Tell Quinn what you know."

Carrie approaches the house with a little dread. She'd pissed her father off with her behaviour as a teenager more times than she could remember. She hadn't cared much at the time…childish indifference. Now, though she knew she would be in his bad books, but the look he was giving her whilst standing holding the door open as she walked up the driveway, did nothing to encourage her to move faster.

Stephen gave her a nudge forward, "come on, it won't be that bad."

"You don't know my dad", Carrie snorts in reply.

"One thing at a time", Stephen replies. "For example, I would really appreciate it if you could put one foot in front of the other and move inside before my arms break. Tins and bottles aren't light."

"Well, you're the one that bought it all", Carrie replies testily.

"If I am going to make you all dinner then I am going to do it right."