House/24 - Red Alert Squad - Maturation (021. Labor.)
Title: Maturation
Fandom: House/24
Claim: Red Alert Squad
Prompt: 021. Labor.
Characters: Adam Carter, Brittany House
Pairing: Adam Carter/Fiona Carter, Greg House/Brittany House
Word Count: 625
Rating: PG
Summary: She didn't know him, he didn't know her, but he was always the only one who knew what she was going through. An old acquaintance lends Brittany some advice on the way of the world.
Author's Notes: Takes place in 2011, during the events of the novel Glass Waltz (our previous 100_situations claim).
After a good ten minutes of searching, Adam Carter finally found his woman. Brittany House was sitting on the fourth-floor stairs, elbows on her knees, hands folded in her lap. He had seen that look from her before, and he had never liked it.
"Hi," he said gently as he came up behind her.
She turned her head and looked at him, with a weak smile he recognized as trying to be nice when she really didn't feel that good. "Hey," she replied softly. "I didn't mean..."
"Shhh, shhh, it's okay," he assured her, waving it off. He eyed the slight shiver in her body, and began to shrug out of his suit jacket. "You cold?" he asked, peeling out of it and intending to offer it to her.
She shook her head. "Just nerves," she replied.
This was an odd statement for a woman whom Adam had met on an operation that would end with her putting a gun to her head on national television to bait a terrorist. He quirked an eyebrow, but folded his jacket over his arm and sat down beside her on the stairs. He could guess why she had walked out of the operational briefing. It had less to do with nerves, and more with the additional lines under her eyes, and the extra weight she'd picked up in the hips.
Her son. Her husband.
That was something Adam had heard about before.
"You're worried about them," he said needlessly. "About what happens to your husband and your son if we fuck this up."
Brittany gave a cynical laugh. "Jake would just tell me not to fuck up."
Adam laughed with her then, being well aware of her acerbic colleague who had shown up as her backup on this mission. "Yeah, well, Jake's a hardass who doesn't have a wife or kids," he replied. There was a long pause, before he asked her, "How old is your son?"
"He's turning five in August. How's yours?"
"He's good." He nodded slightly. "Then again, he's got both parents who work, so..." He cracked his knuckles, knowing she'd know he didn't just mean picking up a paycheck. Adam's wife, Fiona, was also a member of the Security Service. Unlike Brittany's husband, who was only a reservist for CTU.
She shifted on the stairs to face him a little bit more. "I haven't done this in years," she murmured. "Not since you last saw me. I quit about a month later." Her face looked pained as she resolved to tell him only the bare bones and nothing more. "They kidnapped Greg, and I found out I was pregnant, so I quit. I've been coaching sports for the last five years. This isn't what I do anymore." A soft, cynical laugh. "I don't know how you raise a family like this."
"Sometimes I don't either." Adam shook his head. "It's not a selfish thing, to want a family. There's no rule against it. But it's the responsible thing, to look out for them."
Brittany nodded. "I shouldn't even have brought him, but he gets real upset when I'm gone for too long. And with this...I wanted my family where I could see them. Feel them. Know that they're okay."
Adam could read what she wasn't saying.
"They're okay," he advised her softly.
She met his eyes. She would never believe that, not now, not in a situation like this and maybe not ever as long as she continued to be involved with intelligence, but there were bigger things at stake. She would simply have to trust him.
Thank God, trusting Adam Carter came easy.
She nodded, and when he offered her his hand, she let him help her up, and walk her back inside.
Fandom: House/24
Claim: Red Alert Squad
Prompt: 021. Labor.
Characters: Adam Carter, Brittany House
Pairing: Adam Carter/Fiona Carter, Greg House/Brittany House
Word Count: 625
Rating: PG
Summary: She didn't know him, he didn't know her, but he was always the only one who knew what she was going through. An old acquaintance lends Brittany some advice on the way of the world.
Author's Notes: Takes place in 2011, during the events of the novel Glass Waltz (our previous 100_situations claim).
After a good ten minutes of searching, Adam Carter finally found his woman. Brittany House was sitting on the fourth-floor stairs, elbows on her knees, hands folded in her lap. He had seen that look from her before, and he had never liked it.
"Hi," he said gently as he came up behind her.
She turned her head and looked at him, with a weak smile he recognized as trying to be nice when she really didn't feel that good. "Hey," she replied softly. "I didn't mean..."
"Shhh, shhh, it's okay," he assured her, waving it off. He eyed the slight shiver in her body, and began to shrug out of his suit jacket. "You cold?" he asked, peeling out of it and intending to offer it to her.
She shook her head. "Just nerves," she replied.
This was an odd statement for a woman whom Adam had met on an operation that would end with her putting a gun to her head on national television to bait a terrorist. He quirked an eyebrow, but folded his jacket over his arm and sat down beside her on the stairs. He could guess why she had walked out of the operational briefing. It had less to do with nerves, and more with the additional lines under her eyes, and the extra weight she'd picked up in the hips.
Her son. Her husband.
That was something Adam had heard about before.
"You're worried about them," he said needlessly. "About what happens to your husband and your son if we fuck this up."
Brittany gave a cynical laugh. "Jake would just tell me not to fuck up."
Adam laughed with her then, being well aware of her acerbic colleague who had shown up as her backup on this mission. "Yeah, well, Jake's a hardass who doesn't have a wife or kids," he replied. There was a long pause, before he asked her, "How old is your son?"
"He's turning five in August. How's yours?"
"He's good." He nodded slightly. "Then again, he's got both parents who work, so..." He cracked his knuckles, knowing she'd know he didn't just mean picking up a paycheck. Adam's wife, Fiona, was also a member of the Security Service. Unlike Brittany's husband, who was only a reservist for CTU.
She shifted on the stairs to face him a little bit more. "I haven't done this in years," she murmured. "Not since you last saw me. I quit about a month later." Her face looked pained as she resolved to tell him only the bare bones and nothing more. "They kidnapped Greg, and I found out I was pregnant, so I quit. I've been coaching sports for the last five years. This isn't what I do anymore." A soft, cynical laugh. "I don't know how you raise a family like this."
"Sometimes I don't either." Adam shook his head. "It's not a selfish thing, to want a family. There's no rule against it. But it's the responsible thing, to look out for them."
Brittany nodded. "I shouldn't even have brought him, but he gets real upset when I'm gone for too long. And with this...I wanted my family where I could see them. Feel them. Know that they're okay."
Adam could read what she wasn't saying.
"They're okay," he advised her softly.
She met his eyes. She would never believe that, not now, not in a situation like this and maybe not ever as long as she continued to be involved with intelligence, but there were bigger things at stake. She would simply have to trust him.
Thank God, trusting Adam Carter came easy.
She nodded, and when he offered her his hand, she let him help her up, and walk her back inside.