AN: It's finally here! Thank you to NiNa5, casper22, Cherie9948, and WhatsGoingOn for your reviews last chapter. A million thank yous to everyone who left a review and especially to those who kept with the story, even though it took way too long to finish. Honestly, you guys were a big reason I still had the motivation to keep going so seriously, thank you. And if anyone wanders across the story in the future, feel free to leave a review - I'll (hopefully) still be around to respond.

It's been quite an adventure, and I'm glad to have shared it with you. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 20

What We Call Home

The morning light began to spill through the curtains across the room, although they were too far away for any rays to reach the bed. I smiled, the corner of my lips curling against the cotton-covered pillow, knowing he'd put the bed here for just that reason.

I felt the bed move beside me before calloused fingers trailed up the length of my spine, stopping to consider the scar that had formed from the wound in my shoulder.

"Does it still hurt?"

I sat up, turning so that my feet hung over the side of the bed, reaching out my left foot until my skin met the sunlight. "Sometimes," I replied, "when I move a certain way." After a moment I let my foot fall. "Best not to tell Trombley that, though."

I felt the bed shift until Brad settled behind me, his legs bracketing mine. His right arm wrapped around my waist, while his left hand drifted over the faint pink scar on my leg.

"And this?"

I tilted my head back against his shoulder, my eyes drifting closed as his lips touched the skin of my neck.

"Nothing."

His fingers traced the length of my thigh next, following the line of my body up over my waist. I could feel my muscles contract with the light touch, goosebumps rising on my skin as a shiver ran through me.

His hand came to settle firmly between my breasts. I sat still for a moment, simply feeling the weight of his hand against my chest, the calloused fingers pressing into my skin, searching. When I opened my eyes I turned my head to look at him. "Still beating."

His eyes searched mine curiously, seemingly rooting through the meaning of my words. A small smile pulled at his lips before his lips found mine again, dragging slow and soft against my own.

His hand fell to join the other around my waist. "So," he began softly as I settled back against him, my arms coming to rest across his.

A small smile came to my lips at his almost shy tone. "Yes, so."

"You knew him, didn't you?"

I instantly knew what he was referring to, and my smile faded just as quickly as it had come. There were still questions, still doubts, things I could no longer hide from him. Perhaps it would have been best to lie and keep him out of it, but it was too late and I was too tired to even try. "Yes, I did."

I took a deep breath, my gaze lingering on the blue sky beyond the window, its brightness belying the bitter cold the glass held at bay. "He's my brother."

The thumb that had been stroking my skin stopped, and I could feel Brad still behind me.

I wondered if he had the same thoughts going through his head as everyone else, the same concern that somehow I was complicit in the things Jacob did, that maybe I'd helped him.

"Your brother... the one in the CIA?" I nodded. "He tried to kill you."

The disbelief in his voice was a welcome hint of trust.

"I wouldn't say he tried, more like... let it happen." Unsurprisingly, the agency saw it as happenstance; sure, I could have died, or it could have been a ploy to make it look like he tortured me gone wrong. As much as I hated it, I couldn't begrudge them their doubts. It looked shady any way you turned it. "He's not in the agency anymore. And this wasn't the first time. He's tried it before, to lesser extents, and I always walk away."

There was a moment of silence before a soft 'Oh' left Brad's lips.

"Yeah," I sighed, "you can see the problem there."

"You would have died, though."

I nodded. "Yes, I would have. And at this point I don't think he'd care anymore, if he ever did. They don't see it like that, though."

Brad's lips brushed against my temple as he spoke. "How did it all start?"

I took a deep breath, knowing this would come up eventually. "I don't know how. I don't even know when..." I closed my eyes, unsure of where to start. "It was our father who got us in. He'd worked in the agency for years, loved it, but had to leave when our mom died. We basically grew up with a walking, talking recruitment ad. I mean what good was life if you weren't serving your country?"

I could feel more than hear the huff of laughter Brad let out, and wondered if he was reminiscing on his own reasons for joining. "That what got you in?"

I shook my head. "Not really. Well, maybe. Partially. But when my father died... I guess I wasn't ready to lose him, and didn't know what to do with myself after I had. I think, more than anything, it was a way for me to feel close to him again."

Brad made a noise of understanding. "And your brother?"

"He had been in for a few years already. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic about my choice to join. I rarely saw him after he'd joined, and I didn't see him very much after I did either, but it was easier to see how he'd changed after I'd joined. Maybe I should have seen it back then, when he implied that this job was just a paycheck for him, that he did it just because he was good at it. I didn't realize how disillusioned he'd become with it all until I got the news that he'd defected." I shook my head at my own stupidity. "It's so obvious now."

Brad's arms wrapped tighter around my waist, as if to shield me from my own pain. "Hindsight," he said, his voice sturdy in a way that hinted at his own past mistakes he had long since learned to live with.

"I looked for him. I thought if I could get to him, I could somehow change his mind or something. But when I finally found him... well, the man I found wasn't my brother anymore."

"How are you allowed to still work in the field, then?"

"Under excruciating supervision. The thing is, it's driving everyone crazy. He has all this information on us, yet he doesn't seem to be using it, at least not directly against us. And while we're watching him, he's watching us, and no one at the agency has any idea what he's up to.

"He's smart enough to do all this alone, and he's been at the agency far longer than I have. He knows how they work, how they react. Still, I know a lot of them hate my presence, but I haven't given them any reason to doubt my loyalty, no matter how hard they test it."

"Sam—"

I knew the question he was going to ask, but cut him off before he could voice it. It was better if he didn't think about it. "I'm not allowed to go on missions that get me anywhere near him. So you can imagine how happy they are about what happened."

I could tell he wasn't pleased that I'd cut him off, but thankfully he chose not to push for it.

"And your other brother?"

I smiled despite myself. Even though he had cut ties with the rest of us, I still thought of him fondly. "Michael. He's living in suburbia, completely unaware of what's going on. They keep tabs on him, but he never bought into all of this. He's the least of anyone's worries."

"So what now?"

I shrugged. "I say fuck the agency and go after him. I'm tired of being sidelined with this, especially now that we know he's up to something big. I need to know how he's gathering all this information, how he knew I was stuck in the fucking desert with a company of marines. It just doesn't add up."

"You think they'll let you go?"

"I don't plan on giving them a choice." I took a slow breath, willing the anger welling up to subside. "I don't want to defect, I don't plan to, but I can't let this go on. They think I still see him as my brother, but if it comes down to it I won't have a problem putting a bullet in his head."

I knew it was harsh, but it was true. Any familial ties we may have had left had long since been severed. He'd chosen a side, and I had chosen mine. Now, for both of us, there was only the job left to be done.

"Normally I would disapprove," came Brad's thoughtful voice, "but one: I know how useless it is to try to tell you what to do," he continued as he moved his hand once more over my heart, "and two: he can honestly go fuck himself."

I wanted to smile at Brad's words, but I knew what he was thinking about. I turned my head so that I could capture his lips once more, reaching up to curl my fingers into the short spikes of his hair. I was still here. This was real.

When we finally broke apart, I decided to change the subject. "What about you, then? What's next?"

He ducked his head down to press his lips against my neck, causing me to gasp as his tongue pressed into my heated skin, sucking in a mark. "You, hopefully," he murmured as he trailed kisses towards a particularly sensitive spot.

I couldn't contain the laugh that left me at his words, and I could feel his smirk against my skin. "Of course. And then?"

He sighed softly, moving up to kiss me once more before resting his forehead to mine, closing his eyes. "Take my few months off. Figure my shit out. Then go back."

His voice wasn't resigned, rather matter-of-fact. I understood; these were the lives we chose for ourselves, not ones forced upon us. It wasn't glamorous, but it was what we knew.

I let my hand drift from his hair down to his cheek, my thumb skimming along his jawline. "Ever the dutiful soldier," I said softly, no hint of teasing behind it; after all, what we did wasn't so different. Maybe it even summed both of us up perfectly.

He opened his eyes then, looking into mine with a certain quietness, an understanding we had finally been able to reach.

I didn't have much time, but I had enough. Enough to enjoy the warmth of his arms around me, to enjoy the press of his lips against the skin of my shoulder, to feel his heartbeat in opposition to my own. We may be two different people existing in two different worlds, our destinies calling us away on diverging paths, but here, now, we were a universe unto ourselves. I closed my eyes and, perhaps for the first time in my life, felt at peace.

I was home.