Marcus~
Marcus hadn't moved a muscle since he'd fallen asleep, but his body jolted itself awake around 3:30am. Every one of Marcus' muscles contracted all at once, jarring him into consciousness, forcing him awake in a sudden panic. His chest was heaving as if he'd just run a marathon and tiny beads of sweat peppered his forehead and neck.
Most nights he was lucky enough not to remember the nightmares that woke him, but tonight wasn't one of those nights. The images of Caroline flashed hot in his brain with perfect clarity and he couldn't turn it off or make it go away. The images of her...or what was left of her, tagged and organized in the morgue played on repeat in some sort of horrific slide show that was on an endless loop.
"Fuck." He muttered under his breath as he ran a frustrated hand through his bed-headed hair.
The visual he had of Red's perfect hands, the hands he had held so many times before with charred flesh and missing digits tore him apart. He couldn't force the picture from his thoughts and desperately squeezed his eyes closed, hoping to rid himself of the gut wrenching image, but it was no use.
Suddenly his mind focused on one particular detail - one detail he was too overwhelmed to notice, but that his subconscious was trying to make sure he saw and took note of. The hairs on the back of Marcus' neck stood on end as he focused intently on the image in his mind. Instead of ridding himself of visual he focused harder on it, bringing the details into perfect focus until he reached a terrifying conclusion.
Her nails were painted in the morgue pictures and Red never painted her nails.
Marcus flew out of bed, throwing on shorts and a t-shirt as fast as he could as he made his way to his car. He dialed Nates number and waited impatiently as the line trilled.
"What up Mac?" Nate said in a groggy voice that was thick with sleep.
"I'm on my way over." Marcus stated, throwing his car in drive.
"Sure man but uh... you know what time it is?" Nate asked.
"It's 3:38." Marcus replied dryly.
"Well that answers that, I guess I'll see ya in a few." Nate chuckled.
Marcus arrived at Nates in record time and jogged up the front steps of his house as he fired off a text letting Nate know he had arrived.
"Hey man, so what's..."
Marcus cut Nate off before he could finish his question.
"Her fingernails were painted Nate." Marcus said, brushing past Nate in the doorway and entering his home as if he lived there.
"Come again?" Nate asked, swiveling his head in confusion and squinting one eye against the bright lights of his entry hall.
"Fingernails." Marcus reiterated holding up one of his hands and pointing at his own nails.
"Yeah I know what fingernails are, but what I don't know is why you're pacing around my living room talking about them."
Huffing out an irritated breath from his lungs, Marcus dropped his shoulders and explained himself.
"Caroline...The pictures you showed me today of her in the morgue...her nails were painted."
Nate obviously wasn't putting the pieces of Marcus' story together on his own and narrowed his eyes at his teammate as he studied him.
"Mac are you drunk?"
"What? No! What I'm trying to tell you is they were painted in the picture, but she never kept her nails painted...not ever."
"Are you sure?" Nate asked in a skeptical tone.
"Of course I'm fucking sure. You think I'd drive all the way over here in the middle of the night if I wasn't sure?" Marcus bit out in a raised voice that put a scowl on Nate's face.
"Okay, okay. Lower your damn voice - Claire's sleeping. Let's take this conversation out on the deck."
"Sorry." Marcus offered in a hushed voice, forgetting Nate's wife, Claire, was only a few feet away from them.
Before they could settle into their seats on the back deck, the kitchen light flickered on and revealed a very sleepy Claire, wearing one of Nate's shirts that was so oversized it looked like a dress that covered the shorts she was wearing, or at least the shorts Marcus hoped she was wearing.
"Marcus? What's wrong? Oh God what happened?" Claire's tired eyes went wide with panic, but before either one could answer her she studied Marcus' face and posture and came to her own conclusion.
"Wait, is this about Caroline? About the pictures Nate showed you today?" Claire asked, taking a seat between them.
Marcus lowered his chin and gave Nate a look, but Nate wasn't apologetic in the least.
"We're married dude, we don't keep secrets."
Nate shrugged his shoulders, but he wasn't really apologizing for telling Claire and to be honest Marcus really didn't mind that she knew. He'd accept all the help that he could get at this point because he needed it - because he was desperate.
"So what are you trying to get at Marcus? What does the color of Caroline's nails prove?" Nate asked.
"I think the photos from the morgue aren't Caroline. The nails on those hands were painted and Red never painted her nails."
Nate dropped his head slightly and let his shoulders slump at Marcus' words before bringing his head up to meet Marcus' eyes.
"I know how badly you want that to be true, but..."
"I'm not crazy Nate, I know her, she didn't paint her nails and the nails in the morgue pictures were painted." The desperation of Marcus' voice made it almost unrecognizable.
"It was such a long time ago Marcus...what if..."
"Listen to me!" Marcus roared, slamming a fist onto the table.
The impact of his fist on the table coupled with the loud boom of his voice caused Claire to jump and Marcus hated himself for it.
"Shit I'm sorry Claire..." Marcus said in a calm voice as he placed his hand over hers and gave it a squeeze.
He knew better than to raise his voice like that around women. His size alone was enough to be intimidating and increasing the volume of his deep booming voice was less than comforting. The last thing he wanted was for any of his teammates women to be scared of him and he immediately regretted not being more aware of his audience.
I'm not a monster Claire, I'm just all fucked up in the head at the moment. You know I didn't mean it.
Marcus squeezed Claire's hand, feeling her wrap her fingers around his in a reassuring response before looking over at Nate with desperate eyes.
"It's not Caroline, Nate. I can feel it."
Picking up on the utter despair in Marcus' tone, Nate relented and held his hands up in a surrender pose, nodding his head in agreement that he heard what Marcus was saying.
"I hear you brother, okay? I am listening. I'm just trying to figure this shit out for you and to do that, I need all the pieces and I'm going to have to ask you questions without you taking it personally." Nate said calmly.
Dammit he's got a good point.
"You've got my word, Man. I'll lock it down. Just help me...please." Marcus was desperate and wasn't above begging for help, help that only someone like Nate could provide at the moment.
"Alright. I gotta ask you a question that you aren't going to like, but one I need you to consider if we go down this rabbit hole together." Nate said.
Marcus squared his shoulders at Nate, readying himself to answer any question that Nate had for him as calmly as possible. He was determined to prove to Nate that he could be professional about this and that he wasn't a complete mess - even though he was.
"Let's say for arguments sake that the photos are shopped and that she did survive the bombing...Why hasn't she contacted you over all these years? You said it yourself the op your team was working on wrapped a few weeks later when the terrorist leader was taken out. So if she's alive...where is she?"
Shit, I hadn't really gotten that far.
With his brows drawn in, Marcus considered Nate's words and let them marinate in his brain for a few minutes. Nate was right, if Red was alive why hadn't she come to find him? Either way he had to know for sure. Not wanting to be with him anymore was a lot different than being blown to pieces and Marcus had to know the truth no matter what that meant for him.
"Maybe she couldn't" Claire offered.
"Couldn't what?" Nate asked.
"Couldn't contact him. Maybe she's undercover or doing something top secret with the CIA and can't contact her family. That would explain faking a death and loss of contact, right?"
To be honest it sounded like a far fetched movie plot, but for Red, it wasn't really. She was so damn good at what she did it wouldn't have surprised him at all to know she'd been deep under for years.
Nate shrugged his shoulders at the idea and sighed.
"I guess it's possible based on who we're talking about, but not likely. I mean months maybe, but years? I don't know, man."
Rubbing the back of his neck, Marcus knew that Nate wasn't convinced, hell he wasn't even convinced of his own logic and suggestion, but he had to know for sure.
"Will you at least look into it for me? I'm desperate brother." Marcus said in a low defeated tone.
"You know I will." Nate said, giving Marcus an encouraging slap on the back. "But how about we get some sleep first? Go crash in the guest bed and we can start on this bright and early."
Nodding his head in agreement, Marcus knew Nate and Claire needed to get some sleep. There were still a few hours before the sun came up and even though he knew sleep was out of the question for himself, he needed Nate to bring his A game in the morning.
Marcus figured he must have been scowling because Claire quickly interjected and got his attention.
"Don't worry I washed the sheets since Declan and Lexi last stayed in there."
Her comment caught him off guard and he let out a laugh deep from within his chest, knowing exactly what happened in that room for Claire to make that comment.
"Yeah Dec told us they had a fun time house sitting for you guys...I'll uh, take the couch." Marcus chuckled.
Apparently Nate and Claire had asked Declan and Lexi to house sit and feed Claire's cat while they were away on an anniversary trip. He came in bragging about fucking Lexi in every room of Nate's house, which the team thought was an exaggeration up until Nate returned and screamed at Declan in front of the entire team at Knight. Declan was completely unfazed and couldn't stop laughing as Nate yelled at him. Dec said it was payback for trying to cockblock him when he was first introduced to Lexi which made the whole thing even more hilarious.
"Well that's the last time they ever house sit for us. Dec's a fucking animal." Nate said, but was only half joking.
"Lexi wasn't innocent either, I think they just forgot we have motion activated cameras inside..." Claire giggled.
"They sure as shit did... Nothing says happy anniversary weekend like getting a notification on my phone of Declan and Lexi banging in every room of my damn house." Nate grumbled.
Marcus tried to conceal his laughter, knowing it really had gotten under Nate's skin. Normally he would have taken a jab and salted the wound a little, but he needed a favor from Nate and was trying to stay in his good graces.
Claire got him all set up on the couch with some blankets and pillows before giving him a quick peck on the cheek the same way his sister did when he would stay with her.
"Night Marcus...oh and I know you aren't going to sleep so there's beer in the garage cooler and some casserole and leftovers in the fridge of you get hungry." Claire said with a grin as she took hold of Nate's hand and followed him into their bedroom.
"Thanks Claire." Marcus said, folding an arm behind his head, knowing she was exactly right.
A few seconds later Marcus heard Claire giggling from their bedroom. The sound prompted Marcus to roll his eyes and reach for the remote, looking for something to drown out the sounds that were about to escape from his teammate's bedroom.
"Jesus there must be somethin in the water here that makes everyone horny as hell." Marcus muttered to himself as he turned the TV up louder than usual so Nate knew he had the green light.
Claire was right, sleep was out of the question, so Marcus laid there for the next few hours, trying to distract himself enough to focus on anything except Caroline, but it was no use. She was present and loud in the forefront of his mind, consuming all of his attention until he had the answers he desperately needed. Answers he would hopefully have sooner rather than later with his teammates help.
I don't know if you can hear this Red. I don't know if you're in Heaven or here on Earth, if you're safe or you're in trouble...I just know that I love you...I love you so damn much.
*******
Okay my loves! What do you think so far?
Thoughts and theories? You know I love hearing from you!