Here you go, the final installment of the Carter Broken Saga. If you haven't already, make sure you've read the previous two chapters.

There's a part in here that would naturally be in italics since it's a flashback, but reading in italics for long chunks is annoying you will just have to use your imagination.

If you can't then what are you doing reading this book?! Go watch movie. It will probably be more uplifting than this chapter.

Warning: violence. (Like intense violence) and again emotional pain! YOU ARE WARNED!

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As they left the gun range, Carter never let go of Donovan's hand, forcing him to drive with just one to accommodate her. She needed it. He was her anchor. The eye of the storm that she had been trapped in.

Without the constant reminder of his presence and strength, she had the fear that she might lose herself once again. It was a terrifying feeling, needing him almost as much as she needed to breathe.

When they entered the apartment, Donovan paused, watching her. She could see the way he made note of every movement, every inhale and exhale as if he were reminding himself she was alive. For his sake as well as her own, she couldn't lose herself.

The emotions that had been ripped out of her with each fire of the gun were still a tangled mess, but at least she felt herself returning.

Without saying a word, Donovan guided her to the couch. When he sat, Carter instantly settled into his lap, feeling the comfort and familiar warmth of his body. He held onto her and kissed her forehead, saying nothing letting the words come when they would.

For a long while, Carter remained silent, soaking in the solidity of Donovan, the reassurance that when the world had been shattered he was still there. She let out a slow breathe, relaxing further into his embrace.

"It happened two days after I made you that video," Carter said. "The day I was supposed to meet my handler."

She tensed the past almost too vivid to enter but knew the only way to face it was to plunge in. Donovan tightened his hold on her helping her remember where and who she was. She swallowed and walked back into a world she would rather never remember.

*******

The night chill swept over her as she made her way through D.C. The hood of her jacket was pulled up but she had this sensation that eyes were tracking her. Bypassing the main entrance to the FBI building, she ducked into an alleyway and found a hidden rear door.

After slipping through the security, she was safely within the building. Due to the lateness, the place was silent. What guards were on duty were nearly invisible. Finding a back stairwell, Carter climbed the twelve floors to the office she shared with Donovan. The floor was quiet, the only glow available from beyond the windows.

Even though she knew he was busy with an op, she wished to see him sitting at his desk. Still, the lingering scent of his cologne made her smile. As she took a seat behind her desk, she flipped on the lamp and pulled up a video screen on her computer. For a beat, she didn't know how to start but knew even if she had no evidence or was being paranoid the gut feeling she had couldn't be ignored.

Imagining Donovan watching this, she smiled.

"Hey, Donovan," she said.

She took in a breath hating the words that she would need to say and knowing full well how it would hurt him to hear them.

"So," she continued, clenching her fists. "If you're getting this message now, it means I didn't make the meeting with my handler. My cover is most likely blown. If that is the case then there is something I need to tell you."

She took in another breath, wishing she could see his face.

"I believe the cartel has a fifth safe house," she said. "I don't have any proof that's why I haven't shared this with Director Townsend. It's just a gut feeling from watching them. I believe it's on the East end of the city, in the warehouse district. But again I don't know for certain. I figured I would tell you though in case it does mean something."

She smiled at the screen, picturing him and wanting to ease some of his pain.

"I love you, Donovan. And if I can't get myself out of this situation," she leaned in, the smile turning devilish. "I guess you'll have to come save me."

She cut the recording. Tacking on security measures - in the form of a question only he would have the answer to and a capsule code that would send it unless she stopped it, she stored the message. Turning off the computer, she slipped out of the office. In the back alley, she scanned the area, searching for signs that someone had followed her. Satisfied that she hadn't been, she crept back into the night.

Two days later, she stood in a cramped bathroom, inspecting her reflection. The previous days had been tense as she was alert for any sign that her nightly visit had been noticed. When all appeared as it should be, she had let herself relax.

The girl staring back at Carter was one even Captain wouldn't have known. Her hair was styled into over-the-top curls, her face was layered with make-up making her blues eyes seem sultry and her lips look blood red.

The outfit she wore was one she never hoped Captain would catch her in. The shirt clung to her body and hung off her shoulders while showing an expanse of her stomach. The skirt barely covered her and she had learned to resist the urge to tug the bottom down. Looking like something any man would want to grab, she stepped into a pair of heels, still wishing it had been one part of the disguise that could have been nixed.

Snatching a pair of large earrings, she headed through the tiny apartment while putting them on. She caught up her purse, missing the familiar weight of a weapon and left. The hallway was dingy and smelled of pot and beer. The buzz of tv hummed from doorways. The elevator was broken and Carter imagined the landlord would never shell out the money to fix it, not when it could be used to get him a new car.

She took the same route to the club as she always did, despite the want to change it up to see if she was followed. She knew someone normal would find a routine and stick to it. At 9 o'clock the club was only beginning to prepare for the night. The floor was being swept and barmen were cleaning glasses. The air was cleaner than it would be in the next few hours. Instead of sweat and alcohol, it smelled mildly like dirty water.

As she set her purse down behind the bar, one of the bartenders approached, his smile as oily as his hair.

"When you going to say yes to a date, Celeste?" he asked.

She waved him off with a teasing smile.

"When I'm desperate," she said. Her words were spoken with a soft rhythm to them. All the clipped and quickness of her normal speech dropped.

As Carter moved about helping set up for the night, she watched the barmen talking. A few minutes after she arrived, a polished man in a trim suit accompanied by two young men similarly attired - trailed by three bodyguards - showed up. After exchanging a few words with the manager, the group climbed a set of stairs and disappeared into an office.

Though she worked efficiently, Carter noted the movements. The return of the Cartel's leader - Tony Costello - and his sons - Micky and Jimmy - put her back on alert. Someone called for her and she sauntered forward.

"Yeah?" she called back, in a tone that was bored.

"Boss wants to see you."

Putting on an air of casual disinterest, Carter climbed the stairs and knocked on the door. It was opened by a beefy looking man that filled out a black t-shirt like he was trying to break it. When he stepped aside, Carter saw the cartel leader positioned behind his desk and his sons standing on either side, like they were posing for a portrait. Smiling, Carter swayed inside.

"Hiya boss. I saw you were back. How was your trip?"

The stony countenance of the men didn't change. In a heartbeat, Carter knew that everything was shot to hell. They knew who she was. Adrenaline spiked through her, gripping every muscle. Thoughts skyrocketed in her mind.

Without looking behind her, she knew there were three bodyguards all from the same mold as the one that had let her in. Besides their size, they were all carrying enough firepower to cut her to ribbons before she even took in a breath. And if their guns didn't reach her, the ones on the trio would.

Death had its teeth in her and wasn't going to let go.

Knowing all this in a heartbeat, she smiled at the guy to the right and winked.

"I missed you while you were gone, Micky," she said.

There was only one sliver of a way out and that was being Celeste to her core. Without waiting, she plopped into the chair before the desk, crossing her legs. The gesture showcased more of her thigh. When it got a twitch from the other son, she smirked at him as if she were playing a game.

But she knew she wasn't. Her heart was beating for its life, pleading with the clock that was running out.

"So what did you need from me, boss?" she asked, focusing on the leader.

His narrowed eyes cut at her as if he were trying to slice away the veneer she wore. In response, she beamed back, ever the picture of eager-to-please employee.

"I want to know who you are and who you work for?" he said, in a detached voice.

Carter let out a nasally laugh that petered off into a nervous chuckle.

"Seems like a funny question coming from your boss," she said, throwing confused glances around.

When none of them spoke, she leaned forward, showcasing a good amount of cleavage.

"Boss is this about what I said the other week to Scarlett, cause I was only joking. I would never leave this place for the Diamond Club. I love working here." She swallowed, showing a bit of apprehension. "I need this job, you know I do."

Tony rested his hands on the desk.

"You play a good game, but I am not interested in pretend. I know you were seen coming out of the FBI offices. I want to know what you're after."

Carter shrank back. Though every muscle was screaming to act, to run, to do something, she stayed rooted to where she was. Dropping her gaze, she toyed with the edge of her skirt.

"I was picked up," she said in a small voice. "They were trying to get me to find out information on you." She raised her head and placed on a red nailed hand on the desk. "But boss you gotta know I would never turn on you. I swear it."

The furious certainty in her voice did nothing to assuage the man's chilly expression.

"You were seen at night," he said.

"You think they were going to bring a girl like me in there in the day?"

The reasonable explanation had no impact on him, though she could see Micky getting swayed by the answer. She swallowed, there was a chance of getting out of this but second by second, she felt it slipping from her grasp.

"I still believe you're lying," Tony said. "And I will find out the truth."

The finality of his statement sent a stab of fear through Carter. She rose, her body coiled to act. Before she could so much as curl her fingers a sharp pain exploded in the back of her head and everything went dark.

*********

A shock of cold like a slap jolted Carter awake. She gasped, water getting sucked into her lungs. She sputtered, droplets flying out. Her arms were tied above her, just tight enough that her shoulders screamed.

The ropes binding her wrists bit into her skin, trying to tear away the flesh. Her feet were bare and the concrete was icy. As clarity returned to her, she found she was alone with Tony, Mickey, and one of the bodyguards.

All three were watching her with cold eyes. With consciousness, Carter found her thoughts coming back in spurts. One thing that cut through the throbbing in her head was that she needed time. With time she knew that someone would notice her absence. That she could be found. So that meant she couldn't break. If she broke she was truly dead.

Though Carter knew she could bear this level of discomfort, she began to cry. Because it wasn't Carter they had tied up, it was Celeste.

"Mr. Castello, please," she said, her body shaking as the coldness seeped into her skin. "I-I don't know...what you want from me. I never did nothing wrong. I swear it."

"You were seen entering the FBI building alone. How do you explain that if you were brought in."

Carter hung her head, her shoulders aching, threatening to pop out of their sockets.

"Please, Mr. Castello. I was ordered to be there. I was...I was never gonna say nothing. I promise."

Tony gave a disappointed sigh like he had wished it had been a more favorable answer.

"I don't believe you." He gave a single nod of his head.

The bodyguard moved forward and Carter tried to back away but her bound hands kept her in place.

"Please don't. I swear it was like I told it. I swear!"

Panic and fear were twisted in her voice, both were not very difficult to manufacture. The fist hit was to her face. Pain exploded in her cheek and she saw stars erupting in her vision. She let out a whimper, letting the tears keep coming.

"Please."

The second and third blows were to her ribs. The man didn't hold back and it was like a battering ram had been slammed into her sides. Agony tore through her and she sagged but scrambled to regain her footing when her shoulders threatened to tear away.

"I want to know who you are?" Tony said, his voice almost bored.

"You...you know me...I'm Celeste....Mr. Castello, please."

A nod, a punch and something splintered in Carter's side eliciting a scream from her. Another hit vibrated through her body. A punch to the stomach and Carter felt bile ripped from her throat. She coughed, the acid searing her throat.

Before she could suck in a breath, a fist slammed into her skull. It was like shards were slicing through Carter's head. The force of the impact turned the edges of her vision dark. Part of her begged for the blackness, wishing to escape for even a brief moment.

But the relief didn't come. A haze filled her head as pain battled her will. She tried to think but nothing was making sense. Her body was rebelling, telling her to give in.

"Are you an informant or an agent?" Tony asked.

Carter couldn't answer, she was shaking too hard.

"Tell me!" the crack in his composure betrayed the depth of his anger.

Carter opened her mouth, but even that one action sent shock waves of pain through her.

"P-please," she whimpered.

There was no response, instead, she heard the clang of a metal pipe being picked up off the floor. There was a swoosh of air and she was being shattered into pieces. She screamed, the cry tearing at her vocal cords. When the second blow came, her mind surrendered and the world stopped.

**********

A sharp slap yanked Carter from unconsciousness. She cried out. Her surroundings were slow to form. What did come first was the torture of being in her skin. Hot agony was slicing through her nerves down to her bones. Thoughts were blocked by a pounding in her head like someone was taking a sledgehammer to her skull.

The world was a blur, one eye already swelling shut. Though dazed, she was aware that she was no longer hanging, but strapped to a chair. Her wrists were raw, fresh ropes pinning her arms to hard, cutting metal. Through the fog, she managed to see two vague shapes, one more muscular than the other. She knew who they were when one began to speak.

"I was wrong to think you were an informant. By now you would be talking," Tony said. "Since you are an agent, you will be able to tell me what I want to know."

Fear was a snake, winding tighter and tighter around Carter's chest, it's venom seeping into her veins. She trembled, her body reminding her there was worse yet to come.

"I...don't...know...what...you...want..." she managed to get out.

One pinprick of light in her mind was Donovan. Nothing more than just his name. With her last bit of clarity, she clung to it, holding it in the protection of her heart. She needed to hold out for him.

A fuzzy mesh of features leaned into her. The taint of cigarettes was on his breath.

"Tell me what the agency knows."

Carter was shaking so hard with cold, fatigue and pain, she felt her teeth were going to fall out of her head.

"I'm...not...with...them..."

Tony stood. "You are and you will tell me what I need to know."

The blur of him backed away and was replaced by the bulky man. Carter waited, her heart beating weakly in her chest. She waited for the pain that was coming to cut her in two. Instead of a hit, the man clamped to metal tongs onto the arm of the chair.

Before Carter could register what this meant, 100 volts of electricity were seared through her. Though her throat was raw, she screamed, every bone in her body liquefying while trying to escape through her skin as every cell exploded. The pain was never-ending, eating way at time and her.

When it eventually stopped, she was left gasping, trying to remember who she was.

After that moment, there was nothing but pain and questions she didn't even know the answers to.

Eventually, the savior that was unconsciousness took her once more.

**********

What brought her from the darkness was not the shock of pain, but the sound of a voice, calling for her to come back to him. Struggling against a mind that begged over and over again to leave life behind, she came to. The brightness of light hurt and against it was a silhouette.

"Carter," the voice whispered. "I'm here. It's going to be okay."

The words were a dull buzz, their meanings lost. But one thing wasn't, she knew that voice. It was a voice that made her heart stir with hope. Clawing against the blackness, she squinted.

"Don..."

The rest wouldn't come out, blood choking her throat.

"Don't try to talk."

Again the statement was a disjointed tangle of sounds. The bindings on her arms fell away, but the pain they had carved into her remained. Reality and dreams seemed to collide as voices came and went, but nothing could penetrate the blackness that was trying to eat away at Carter's mind.

Dream or reality, Carter couldn't know for it was almost too beautiful to believe true. Gentle hands cupping her face, a familiar voice soothing her. Knowing she was going to get dragged under once more, she had to tell the dream what she hoped to be true.

"You...saved...me."

As she was yanked back into oblivion words chased after her.

"I will always save you."

********

Stepping out of the past, Carter didn't realize she was crying until she felt Donovan's hand brushing her cheeks dry. She felt hollow, the story leaving her depleted. Donovan said nothing and she knew from the quiet that he was trying to hold his grief back from her.

She knew she didn't have to finish the ending. He had been there through it all.

When the world came in and out, he was by her side. Even when it had been Captain, Maggie, Link, Maddy or even his family that surrounded her, he had been there. When the nights had offered no escape for the horror she had faced, he had been there to wake her and hold her until she stopped shaking.

Though he had always been there, it was like she hadn't. Pieces of her had been broken and the places they had split kept crumbling away. Each day she felt a void sucking her in, carrying her away.

Even though she had seen it all. It was someone else who had been there. When Donovan had seen her without her shirt on for the first time after the incident, she had seen the pure fury burning in his eyes as he took in each and every sign of abuse. He had balled his fists, shaking with the rage that was seizing him.

When his gaze made it up to Carter's though, the anger dissipated. Left behind was raw grief like every blow had been made to him.

Gently as if he was afraid she might break, he rested his hands on her sides. He then kissed every bruise as if he could take away the pain, as if he could heal her as if he could bear the hurt of it all.

Carter felt and saw it all, but it was as if she were out of her body. Inside was shredded and she was falling deeper and deeper into an abyss.

It was a place she never thought she would escape until he had been the one to pull her out.

Carter buried her face in Donovan's chest and cried. She cried for a girl that was no longer there. For who she had been. For the reckless, fearless person that she would never be again. She cried because she was still alive. She cried because she wasn't alone.

When she finally stopped, she was empty. All that had been buried inside her for the past three weeks had been released. Though her own cheeks were soaked, she felt the plop of something on her forehead. Looking up, she found Donovan's heart was torn apart. She kissed the tear that clung to his chin.

"Thanks for saving me," she whispered.

"Thanks for not leaving."

She knew that they would need to talk about what they would do next, whether they would stay with the agency. Whether they could still do what they loved when it had almost ripped them apart. How they were to move forward.

Even though she knew this all needed to be dealt with, she didn't want to think of it. Right then she didn't want to think of anything but him.

Lifting herself up, she kissed beneath his chin, then the stubble on his jaw. Her lips made a slow trek to his mouth, where he captured her lips with his.

She had lost herself and he had found her. Now all she wanted to do was get lost in him.

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Well, there you have it.

I see no point in trying to put in a scary greeting because by this point you should just be emotionally scarred for life.

I'll be honest with you. I actually had no intention of writing this chapter AT ALL! I wanted to leave it where the last chapter ended, cause Carter was returning to herself and she would tell Donovan what happened. I didn't feel like more needed to be explained.

But after I got about fifteen people telling me they needed a part 3 well, I caved and wrote this.

So is it fair to say that I used the power of my writing to emotionally crush you to get back at you for wanting more from me....?

You read the chapter, didn't you?

Just kidding, I love you and gave this to you cause well...you asked for it that's why.

I hope you can still go on and realize that everything is going to be okay and that Carter will eventually go back to being her normal snarky self!

Love you, hope you enjoyed it. If you feel like leaving a comment and telling your thoughts, great! This is a crazy long chapter and I'll probably only answer the comments left HERE!

If you feel like it then vote, comment, follow! No, I'm not writing a part 4, your imaginations could do a better job than I could.