"Fine," Scott attempted to interrupt her as he realised then that he didn't need Carrie to justify her being here. He resented that he'd asked, and her tears made sure that the feeling stung. "That's fine. Stay as long as you like." He hesitated in the unknown and unfamiliar before tentatively settling down next to her. He would stay here as long as she liked.
"It was a trap," and Scott had played his part in it so well, so unwittingly. Sitting here in the dark, watching his desk be the centrepiece of his office, if not his entire life after the dome, he felt his blood build back up to a rolling boil. He saw himself sit there during days and nights spent pouring over reports and plans for this godforsaken mission. She'd been right there, both of them counting down the minutes 'till go. She was going to go on a vacation. A family vacation. Edward might have taken that from her, but the whole Institute were to blame. Himself included. "I'm just... so fucking angry, Carrie," he gritted his teeth, "and so fucking sorry."
Her shaking voice carried such heavy burdens, and her eyes pleaded for something Scott didn't know how to give. It wasn't his role to be a support. He wrapped his arm around her nonetheless. It felt like lead, and his hand stung against her shirt. He wanted her to go on that vacation. "He's an arse," he said, finally, because that much was still true of Alex. There was a barrage of things he could say about that fool's choices, but it was hard to argue that he himself wasn't relieved or thankful to have her back in this moment. "I wouldn't expect you to be okay. Just sit here. Be whatever you need to be."
Carrie nodded at him, understanding all too perfectly the crushing feeling of hopelessness that came with sorrow and rage. She wanted to say it wasn't his fault, but the words never made it past her lips. This mission had been divisive from the start. Carrie had believed in it, though. She had believed in Karen. The memory of her lying on the ground, thrown down like some rag doll, flashed before her eyes and cause her chest to heave. "I know," she whispered, letting him wrap his arm around her. The feeling was strange and unexpected, but not unwelcome. A watery laugh left her lips without an ounce of humour behind it when he called Alex an arse. It almost let her pretend that everything was normal, that nothing bad had happened. She was still Carrie McReid and it was going to be okay.
But none of that was true anymore.
She moved without thinking, burying her face in Scott's neck and clinging to him like he might be able to save her. There was a feeling of comfort that threatened to take her over when he held her however awkwardly. She was the one who had intruded here, on his whole life even, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to be held. There was such a storm of emotion raging in her chest that she hadn't noticed right away his mistake. The blood on her shirt. His blood. "What am I gonna do, Scott?" she mumbled it into his neck, her unbearable sadness slowly being outrun by an unbearable hunger. And his blood... His heartbeat... His pulse underneath her lips...
