Open Case File [COMPLETED]

Something Unexpected

It should be known that I hate you. Okay, I do. I really really do. Now let's get on with this one shot that said I was never never ever going to write but wrote because I hate you soon much! Gaaa you're the worst!

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"Donovan, send an extraction team," Carter whispered into the phone. "You have my location, get me out of here."

Donovan sucked in a breath on the other line as Carter's heart hammered away in her chest. As she heard approaching footsteps, she clutched the phone harder.

"Donovan," she said. "Do it."

Donovan let out the breath. "You know I can't."

Carter closed her eyes, cursing him in her mind. "I never loved you."

"Carter, you're going to make it through this. You can do this."

Carter shook her head. She couldn't. She knew she couldn't. She could face anything else but this. In all her time at the FBI this might be the one thing that broke her.

"Carter," a soft feminine voice said. "Are you changed yet?"

Swallowing down her panic, Carter opened her eyes. "You know, I realized I forget to pack a bathing suit. Sorry."

A soft laugh emanated from the other side of the changing stall door. "Oh no worries, I brought extras, I'll go grab you one."

The footsteps retreated and Carter pulled at her ponytail in frustration.

"I know you forgot your bathing suit on purpose," Donovan said, still on the other line.

"Yes, well I thought the plan would work. You know I hate you. And I hate that you have brothers."

"You're going to be fine. You've faced mobsters more terrifying than my brother's significant others."

"You know I really don't think I have."

Donovan laughed but Carter wasn't joking. Taking down a drug ring seemed like a walk in the park compared to what she had to do, who she had to face. Letting out a breath, she leaned her forehead against the pastel-painted wall.

"I really can't do this, Donovan," she whispered. "I'm out of my element."

Donovan's amusement vanished, hearing the sincerity of his wife's admittance. "Look, if you really can't do this then I will find a way to get you out of this."

Of course as he offered up the one thing she wanted, Carter knew she couldn't accept. The women she was about to face would be in her life for a long time and avoiding them now would make no difference. She had to face them.

"I hate you," she said.

Before he spoke, Carter could picture Donovan's smile. "I figured that would work. Now go have some fun girl time. When I see you next I plan to see your nails painted."

"I'm divorcing you after this."

"Love you too."

As Carter hung up, Ashley returned. "Here you go," she said, holding an orange bikini over the top of the door to the changing stall. "Just put it on along with the white robe hanging up and meet us outside."

"Great, thanks," Carter said, amazed her teeth weren't gritted.

Sighing, Carter changed and stood before the mirror. Though the bikini worked with her soft tan skin tone and she was fit, that wasn't what she saw. All she saw were the scars that marked her body.

The place on her side where her broken ribs had healed differently. The white line along her stomach from a knife wound. The star-shaped scar on her shoulder where she had been shot. All the things that said she didn't fit in with the women she was going to spend time with.