#adlerson

1976

Oh, the queen of peace Always does her best to please Is it any use? Somebody's gotta lose

Like a long scream Out there, always echoing Oh, what is it worth? All that's left is hurt

Like the stars chase the sun Over the glowing hill, I will conquer Blood is running deep Some things never sleep

Now you have me on the run The damage is already done Come on, is this what you want? 'Cause you're driving me away — Queen of Peace, Florence + the Machine

Tried something new because I didn't know how to finish off this piece, and honestly I don't hate it.

Claire and Adler have a very complicated past. It was fine up until a point, but before Claire could come clean about her background things went sideways. Adler killed her target, her partner, and then shot her for good measure once he realized the situation. Claire lost her gun in the scuffle and tried to fight him off to buy herself some time to slip away. In the end she lost, because her CQC skills are less than stellar after one too many close calls when she was younger.

“Come to think of it,” she said, “you didn’t have to request me for Berlin, either.” “I needed your expertise,” he reasoned, a bit too easily. Like he’d done this in his own head a hundred times before. But she noticed a tic in his jaw and the way he adjusted his grip on the wheel again. “Between your knowledge of Perseus and the Soviet Union as a whole, that alone was enough to qualify you. Say nothing about the clinical expertise.” He shrugged. “Besides, you were already involved in the research for MKUltra. You were experienced, reliable...it was practical.” “Ah, yes, Russell Adler: a man renowned for his practicality,” Claire said, and this time she didn’t try to hide the fact that she was teasing him. The truth of the matter was that he was many things, but practical was rarely one of them. At a glance he seemed the type, but those fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your perspective) enough to know him well very quickly discovered that it wasn’t a word that he made much use of, at least not when it came to in-field decision making. He knew it as well as she did. He adjusted his position in the seat again, grunting slightly. But he didn’t interrupt. “You can have your pick of brainiacs within the agency, many far more well-versed in MKUltra than I was. I was primarily a consultant there.” “You were overdue for a promotion,” he replied flatly, something close to a joke.

Something with Adler in it, selected just for you from yet another one-shot I started and never finished. This one was supposed to be done for Claire's birthday but that obviously didn't pan out. I got 10-and-a-half-thousand words in, up to the day before her birthday, stopped writing and never picked it up again. Anyway, the one-shot as a whole details how they ended up reconciling after Berlin and sticking it out for another attempt at their relationship and I would like to finish it eventually, but might tweak some things.

One thing that must be said, though, is that I adore writing Claire and her dialogue with anyone is always a blast to write, but especially with Adler. They match one another's wits better than most.

7. Is there anything that could have kept them from ending up together?

In Claire and Adler’s case, quite a few things (all of this is from my fics, so not entirely canon.) Everything about their relationship was one big domino effect of entirely unrelated events. If Claire’s parents had never died the KGB never would have recruited her and she never would have gone to America. Or if the Harrows hadn’t been killed for feeding Claire and Mikhail information then Claire never would have had the idea to join the CIA herself. If Mason hadn’t been captured and sent to Vorkuta then the chances Claire would have regularly interacted with Adler, even within the agency, on anything but a strictly professional level/in passing would have been slim to none (she was one of the psychologists primarily handling Mason upon his return, and she became a regular consult and Adler ended up rather fond of her company.) If Claire had been honest from the beginning I don’t think Adler would have been involved with her on principle, so they never would have gotten very close. If things hadn’t happened the way they did in 1976 when he learned the truth then they probably wouldn’t have reconciled in ‘81. Everything worked out exactly as it should have.

In Alex and Graves’ case…well, the start would be the joint task force/operation they were a part of. If Alex never made Delta or she was never picked for the roster for that team then they wouldn’t have ever properly met/gotten to know one another. I think beyond that they probably would have stayed in touch enough after the operation that even if she hadn’t agreed to take on Shadow with him they probably would have stayed close enough friends. They went through a lot together, they get one another…short of not meeting entirely, I think somehow things would have worked out for them. Life’s funny that way.

12. Do they argue often? About what?

Claire and Adler don’t really argue much, actually. At best they have debates, but they’re never heated. The most they’ve ever argued was following Claire’s return to the CIA and the deal she made with them, that ultimately led in a mutual agreement that they couldn’t stay together. They also argued about MKUltra and Bell very often during their time in Berlin, with both Claire and Park advocating for a softer approach. They’re also often at odds with work in general, with Claire believing there are some lines that aren’t worth crossing whilst Adler believes in essentially leaping over whatever line he has to in order to accomplish his goals, something Claire insists will turn around and bite him one day. Ultimately, they have different views on their jobs and they’re not shy about sharing this with one another. They’re never shouting matches, though. They’re stern and direct, they don’t need to raise their voices.

Alex and Graves are more likely to have typical relationship squabbles: their children, the time they both spend with Shadow, money, other family issues, medical expenses, bills, etc. They’re good about working things out for the most part. They also have more unconventional arguments. Alex is his right-hand with Shadow, so obviously he asks her opinion. She’s his sounding board and his conscience and he appreciates her ability to give it to him straight, no BS. Sometimes they both have different ideas on how to do things, even if they’re usually on the same page. They fought a lot when the mess with Shepherd occurred (Alex told him from the get-go she didn’t like taking the contract and she was proven right when he hung them out to dry), mainly because Graves withheld information from her and she discovered this fact and the truth behind the mishap. To say she was upset he didn’t tell her (they’re supposed to be a team, so obviously this hurt) was an understatement. She ripped him a new one and a lot of things were said that neither of them should’ve said. Which she felt bad about as soon as he seemingly died (this did not stop her from continuing the argument as soon as she found out he was not, in fact, dead.) They also fought when he wanted to get involved with Shepherd again, mostly out of some twisted since of loyalty on Graves’ part (like he owed the man), but after what happened Alex won round two.

1. Do they actually love love each other? Has it changed over time?

For all three of them the answer is an resounding yes, but there have been significant ups and downs and it's all a little weird.

For Claire and Adler there was a period they didn't speak and he was more or less indifference to her presence due to some...things that occurred. As they say, the opposite of love is in indifference. But honestly, both of them were dealing with a very unique form of heartbreak/betrayal during that period. I don't think they ever stopped caring about one another, and they definitely never stopped respecting one another.

In the case of Nadia and Woods, their relationship is very unusual and snuck up on both of them. They did not always love each other. Honestly, for a lot of their relationship neither of them actually knew whether or not they were friends or not, and for a while they both wanted to not like one another. Although neither of them would actually say it, they do genuinely love one one another. And they trust each other more than anyone else (in the case of Nadia, Woods is one of the only ones she trusts...in the case of Woods, she's right behind Mason until the latter's death.) As odd as it is, they're probably the most stable out of this lineup considering Claire and Adler's history.

Elizabeth and David are probably the second least stable out of these three, but again, they do love each other. They met around 2005 and David developed a bit of a crush on her during the joint operation they were part of, but Elizabeth was convinced she had something to prove and was a little bit...mean. Or at least difficult, but she's kind of always difficult. About ten years later, after the death of her brother Elizabeth ended up blowing off everyone from their team and that included David, and she also became very self-destructive and hostile. When she was back in the field, David was fed up with her behavior and she was fed up with him (and felt guilty that her behavior was affecting those around her) and honestly he thought she was a liability and wanted her gone (or at least out of the field.) Eventually, though, she snapped out of it and David stayed with her for the fallout. You've gotta love someone if you stick with them through the worst of things like that. Besides, he's stupidly sappy like his dad. Once the Masons are head over heels you're stuck with them.

13. Are there any regrets or unresolved issues between them?

Claire regrets pretty much everything that led up to her and Adler's initial divorce. She regrets not telling him the truth sooner, she regrets not getting the courage to defect sooner, she regrets hurting him, she regrets essentially leading a double life...she regrets a lot of mistakes she made. And Adler, to some degree, regrets doing what he did because on some level he knows he crossed a line. He also knows he didn't handle the aftermath very well either, and he regrets the way things ended and how long he essentially punished her. They've never said this out loud to one another, so this could count as unresolved, but they still worked through these issues in their own way. They've both atoned enough at this point.

I don't think Nadia and Woods have as many regrets or a lot left unresolved. Nadia might regret not being able to save Mason and not being able to protect Woods and David from Menendez considering how much misery that all caused Woods (and, well, David.) Woods might regret not telling her he loved her more (or properly...or like, at all) before she died (she died in 2022 at 72, she was doomed from birth to have a shorter lifespan...she hung on as long as she did out of spite, tbh.) He was pretty lonely once she was gone and I think he probably regretted not telling her how much he appreciated her/cared about her while she was still around.

David and Elizabeth are good on the unresolved thing, though. They actually know how to communicate like normal people. At best, I think David might regret not being able to save William (Elizabeth's brother) since that's what caused an end to her military career and some life long disability, not to mention her downward spiral. Elizabeth might regret being such a pain and miserable person to David specifically, but she regrets the way she treated everyone back then.

"Philip, Iris made a mess with her cereal again."

"I'll be right there."