Agent Carolina (topoftheboard) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-11-29 15:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, agent carolina, agent washington |
Who: Agent Washington & Agent Carolina
When: Early November 3rd, after the plot ends.
Where: Wash & Carolina's apartment
What: Wash tries to sneak back in after being AWOL for four days
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete on posting!
The last four and a half days had been...interesting. Yes. That was the word Wash was going to use. Interesting. He still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. One moment he and Stefan had been working on the pulley system to get the gun turret in and out of the Warthog, the next moment? Well, Wash wasn’t really sure how to explain it, but all of a sudden his instincts as a soldier kicked in. Not the paranoia or flashback symptoms one heard all too often in regards to veteran soldiers suffering with PTSD. Oh, no, see that would have made more sense. Instead it was as though Wash suddenly had a set of orders, a mission, that he needed to carry out and carry out right now.
He was perfectly aware that he was in Orange County, California and that there was no real threat present - no terrorists, no Dream Boogeymen out to do them all in - and yet for some reason Wash was absolutely convinced he had orders from his superiors to take gathered intel and meet at the rendezvous point. You’re behind enemy lines, soldier, maintain radio silence and keep out of sight.
So, Wash had wandered away from the garage and the next four days were spent stealthily making his way from one side of Orange County to the other. It might not have taken him quite so long had he not doubled back at one point and fetched the warthog, having decided he needed it. For reasons, of course.
He was waiting at the rendezvous point in the wee hours of the morning when, just as suddenly, Wash realized just how ridiculous these “orders” were. Bemused and slightly chilled due to the night air, he drove the warthog back to the garage, put it back under the tarp and went home.
Soo...how was he going to explain to Carolina why he’d been off the grid for four days? She hadn’t exactly reacted well the last time he’d disappeared on her. Christ, she probably thought he’d fallen off the wagon or something. And Wash wasn’t too sure he could persuade her otherwise, especially considering he had nearly a week’s worth of stubble on his face and he looked (and probably smelled) like a homeless man.
Maybe he should call first.
Wash decided that, yes, calling his sister before just showing up at their door was probably a good idea. His phone, with barely enough battery power to activate the screen, told him that he had a plethora of missed calls, voicemails and text messages. Oh...oh, fuck… Carolina wasn’t the only person out looking for him apparently. Shit...he’d stood Anna up too. Jesus Christ, Wash. What the actual hell?!
With a sigh, Wash put his phone away. Time to face the music. It was still the wee hours of the morning when he finally arrived home. Maybe he’d be lucky. Maybe Carolina would be asleep.
She wasn’t.
In truth, Carolina had barely slept since receiving the text from Anna on Tuesday morning. A map of the county was spread out on the kitchen table, weighed down by used coffee cups that held a variety of pens and highlighters. The paper was full of hand-drawn lines and hash marks, detailing the results of the search she and Gale had made so far. Nearly the entire county had been covered in one color or another, like a toddler had taken a set of finger-paints and used it for a canvas. She was sick of looking at it.
The wee hours of the morning found the former Marine sitting on a counter in the kitchen, a half-eaten bowl of soup in her lap. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting against one of the cabinets. She really should go lay on the couch to catch a few hours’ sleep before heading back out. The bars were closed and it would be easier to search the streets during the day.
There was a click click of nails against linoleum as Sophie rose and went to nose her human’s leg. The dog was apparently in agreement that the woman should move to someplace more comfortable before she passed out. Carolina could almost hear the dog chastising her for finding such a ridiculous spot in the entire apartment to fall asleep. Her shirt was going to look even more ridiculous if she spilled the soup all over herself.
It was Sophie who heard it first. When the insistent nose pulled back and was not followed by a whine or a yip, Carolina opened her eyes. Looking down, she saw that the dog’s ears were perked up and she was staring straight at the door. Muscles tensing, she carefully moved the bowl from her lap to the counter and slid down. The tail rhythmically smacking her leg had her reaching for hope instead of her gun. Moments later the door swung open to reveal one very dirty, very unkempt looking, blond Marine.
“Wash?” Two days worth of worry and stress melted from her as Carolina quickly covered the distance between them. Both arms wrapped around him in a bone-crushing hug. “Oh, thank God.” It was definitely easier to breathe now that he was home. Well, breathing easy may not have been the best description. Wash reeked something awful, like he had spent a week marinating in the sun by a trash heap. Still, none of that olfactory horror included the distinctive smell of alcohol. Wherever he had been for four days, the bottom of a bottle had not been one of those places.
That fact was likely his only saving grace as relief swiftly turned to anger and frustration. One hand shifted to grab Wash’s forearm and the next moment Carolina was twisting around and rolling him up and over her shoulder. There were no mats, but these were arguably extenuating circumstances. Besides, she had not technically hit him. Just...flipped him a bit so he’d think twice about pulling the same stunt again.
Carolina glared daggers down at the man now flat on his back. “Where the hell have you been? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Jesus, Wash! Why the fuck did you wander off like that? And why didn’t you say anything?” Now that she was sure he was safe, the floodgates had finally opened and the third degree had officially started.
It did not surprise him that Carolina was still awake at this hour, nor did it surprise him that she was immediately on him the moment he came into the apartment. What caught him off guard was the embrace he found himself in not two steps within the apartment. Well, this was a better welcome home than he had first expected. Wash let out a tired sigh of relief. No sooner than he had, than Carolina had him by the arm. The next thing Wash was fully aware of was his back hitting the floor hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Ah. There it was.
He opened his eyes to see Carolina looming over him with the fiercest of fierce scowls and winced. He technically had answers to her questions, but she wasn’t going to like any of them. It was another moment before Wash had air back in his lungs to answer. “I was wandering around the county. Clearly you were very worried. I’m not sure why I wandered off, other than I think I had orders and part of those orders was to maintain radio silence.”
At least he was already on the floor. It wasn’t likely that Carolina was going to flip him again.
“Wandering around the county. On orders.” The look Carolina gave him was flatter than the entire state of Florida. There had been more whispers than yells about the odd things that had happened in the county over the past few days. If Wash had somehow been affected by...whatever it was… it would explain why not even his friends had heard from him. She knew it would have taken quite a bit for him to stand Anna up on Halloween like that.
Unfortunately, if this was County related, it also meant there was no way he could promise to not disappear again any more than she could promise not to start vomiting blood. But damn if she didn’t want to make him promise anyway. A part of her also felt like it was her fault for not noticing earlier; for not keeping a closer eye on him. He could just have easily fallen off of the wagon and she would have been none the wiser. It pissed her off that Anna had been the one to inform her that he was missing. It should have been the other way around.
Beside her, Sophie finally padded forward and began licking at Wash’s face, tail wagging happily. Now that the humans were done, it was her turn to welcome him home. Carolina gave a heavy sigh and shook her head. “You smell like a tannery.” It might have been her imagination, but it almost looked like there were whiter strips of cheek and nose where the dog’s tongue had been. She gave the rest of him a more critical eye. If he was maintaining radio silence it was likely that he had not risked going to a convenience store for a meal either. Now that she was mostly sure she was not going to just flip him again, she bent to offer him help up. “When was the last time you ate?”
“Gah!” Wash cried and squirmed as Sophie started to lick his face, taking it upon herself to get the man clean again. “Sophie!” But, he was laughing. And come on, how could someone not laugh while getting a tongue bath by a very attentive German Shepherd? “Alright, alright, I’ll take a shower.” Wash sat up again and gently nudged Sophie off him.
Still seated on the floor, Wash looked up at Carolina, still towering over him. The fierce scowl she’d been giving him had been replaced with a look of concern. “Eat?” Wash repeated. “Oh, uh. Uhm…” When had been the last time he ate? It wasn’t as if he’d been able to just go to the nearest McDonald’s and order a Big Mac, not while he was convinced he was deep behind enemy lines. And, really? Who would have served him looking the way he did?
He took Carolina’s offered hand and got to his feet and then attempted to brush himself off – though there was no saving the clothes he was wearing – and looked at Carolina a little sheepishly. “Probably Sunday?” He answered.
Carolina gave a small grunt at the answer. “Typical.” Controlled fasting was one thing, but soldiers (men) rarely made calm decisions on an empty stomach. Nor did they place much value on it when on a mission. It was one of many things beaten into officers throughout time immemorial: make sure the soldiers have food and water or they’ll either revolt or you’d wish they had. She had heard stories about toothbrushes and latrines that still made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Don’t be afraid to use all the hot water.” The redhead quipped. “I’ll find something for you to eat when you get out.” She wasn’t sure how many fruits and vegetables they had, but she would make it work. There were a few people she would need to contact anyway.
The truth was he simply hadn’t been hungry since wandering off from the garage and the warthog. He couldn’t really explain that other than he’d been so focused on his “mission”. But now that he was home, his body was starting to tell him just how tired and hungry he really was.
On his way to the shower, Wash stopped and looked over his shoulder. His sides were a little sore from the massive hug he’d received and his shoulders were already a bit sore from landing on the floor afterwards. He wanted to tell Carolina he wouldn’t do it again just as much as she wanted him to promise that he wouldn’t. However, if this was County Event related (and Wash was inclined to think that it was), that wasn’t a promise he could really make. “I’m sorry, Carolina.” It was the only thing he could say.
“I know.” And she did. The two of them had worked through a few conflicts and no-holds-barred arguments since she had arrived in California. The experience had forced them to find a way to communicate above and beyond any combat situation. She understood that there were just some promises that neither of them could keep, but that was okay. “Me too.” Tomorrow she would start looking for ways to make sure that this situation would never happen again. Tonight, she was just glad to have him back. Smelly, ratty clothes and all.
“Here. Just in case.” Carolina looked back at him, she tossed him the plastic scraper that was normally reserved to pry difficult, stuck-on food from their pots and pans. There was the ghost of a teasing smile on her face. “Oh, and welcome home.”