Disclaimer: I do now own Leverage or Person of Interest.
Finch looked at John who was sleeping silently. Bear was lying at the end of the bed, ears pointed at Finch who was sitting up in bed. "Breakfast?" He whispered so as not to wake his sleeping lover. He wanted to make something special for John. Bear yipped and ran to the kitchen. John moaned at being woken up early, put an arm around Finch and pulled him closer. The smaller man chuckled and pecked John on the cheek.
"Why don't you ever sleep in?" John asked looking at Finch out of the corner of his eye. Finch laughed and managed to wriggle out of John's loose hold.
"I did sleep in." He said pointing at the clock before hobbling into the kitchen. John huffed at the analog clock that read 7:36. He slowly got up from bed, feeling his muscles stretch as he stood. He adjusted his pajama pants before walking to the kitchen. Finch was making a breakfast of pancakes, John's favorite. "We have a new number." He said as he tasted the batter off the wooden spoon. Bear was chowing down on his bowl of kibble. "What do you think? Too thin?" Finch asked holding the spoon up to John who smiled and licked it slowly. Finch rolled his eyes behind his thick glasses but was smiling at John's flirtatious smirk.
"Hmm..." John thought for a moment before opening one of the cabinets, taking down a container of something that Finch couldn't reach. He took a pinch and sprinkled it into the batter before taking the spoon and mixing. "There." He said smiling and lifting the spoon to Finch's lips. "How's that?" He asked. Finch licked some of the batter off the spoon and savored it for a moment. John was right, it was perfect now.
"Perfect." He said smiling. "What was that?" He asked.
"Cinnamon, brown sugar, and ginger." He said smirking as he put the contained back. "My own creation."
"Clever." Finch said as he began pouring the pancakes. "So our new number, I haven't deciphered it but we have one. Five actually." He said.
"Five? Don't you think this may be important?" John asked with a concerned note in his voice.
"Yes but I wanted to make you breakfast. You can eat while I'm working on the numbers. Just save me a few." Finch said with a smile as he flipped the first few pancakes.
"You know how much I hate special treatment." John huffed.
"I know but just this once, let me pamper you." Finch smiled as he put the first few on a plate and poured the next few.
"That's what you said when you bought this house." John reminded him. "And the bike and the helmet, and-"
"Fine more than once." Finch interrupted, grinning at him. Soon enough they had a plate full of mini pancakes and Finch was back in the bedroom. He had been planning on putting real clothes on but John had followed him. He had perched on the end of the bed, the very image of perfection. His salt and pepper hair was still ruffled from sleep. His bare chest rose and fell gently, the scars adding to the appeal or danger. His thin grey pajama pants flowed softly along the lines of his legs. His bare feet were resting silently on the floor. John had a small smirk as he watched Finch.
"What?" John asked.
"What?" Finch responded, flustered.
"You were staring." John responded as he got up and walked over to Finch. He put his arms around the smaller man's waist lightly.
"I'm allowed to stare." Finch defended with an easy smile for the taller man. "I have to go work on those numbers." Finch chuckled as John began nuzzling his neck.
"Mhmm. They need your undivided attention." John murmured as he ran his fingers up Finch's sides in a feather light tease. Finch squirmed so John went back to perching on the end of the bed. Five numbers. That was a big load, John both hoped they were connected and weren't. If they were it would make recon easier but would also mean more danger. He watched as Finch changed out of his pajama pants and into his usual suit.
"No special treatment?" Finch asked, turning around to face John while adjusting his tie. John smirked and fixed it for him.
"What did you have in mind Finch?" John purred.
"Bring the pancakes to the library and we can eat breakfast together while I work." Finch offered hopefully. John grinned.
"You get Bear and I'll change." John said as he began putting on his own suit. Soon enough they were walking hand in hand to the library, Finch with Bear and John with the heaping plate of steaming pancakes. The air was cool and crisp. It made their breaths come out in little puffs of vapor. They got there soon enough and Finch got right to work. Soon he had five pictures taped to the board. "Sophie Devereaux." He pointed at one of a woman with olive skin and black hair.
"Do we know anything about her?" John asked as he passed Finch a plate of pancakes.
"She's...not exactly elusive. I ran facial recognition on her and found at least twenty aliases for her. She appears to be what we call a grifter." Finch said. "All five of them are...unique. All the searches I ran started out with multiple results suggesting aliases then they all went blank." Finch said peeved as he cut his pancakes with more than enough fervor.
"Okay what are the rest of their names?" John asked, amused at Finch's misplaced anger.
"This is Parker. I could find nothing on her. Nothing as in, every record, photo and record of her has been virtually wiped clean." Finch said pointing at a picture of a blond girl looking straight into a camera with a blank expression.
"If it's all gone how'd you get the picture?" John asked. The question probably founded stupid to Finch but if it did the nerd showed no signs.
"I got one picture of each of them before all their history and aliases were wiped." Finch said. "This is Eliot Spencer." He continued, pointing at a picture of a tan man scowling with brown shoulder length hair. "This is Alec Hartisan." He said pointing at a black man with horn rimmed glasses and a mischievous grin. "This is the only one I have information on. His name is Nathan Ford." He said pointing at a picture of a man looking serious. He was older than the others with curly brown hair. "Before his background was wiped I found out that he worked for an insurance agency. He is the owner of an apartment." Finch said. John waited for the rest of the information but when Finch didn't continue he had to ask.
"That's not very much to go on Finch." John said with a smirk.
"I know but that's all I have." Finch said helplessly.
"Well I'll get to work." John said standing up and stretching. He hated finding some place to perch in the library, it always left him sore. He put his plate on the floor for Bear before heading to the door. He paused looking back over his shoulder. "Send me the address?" He asked.
"Already done Mr. Reese." Finch said grinning. John went to his motorcycle and pulled on his helmet. The rugged black bike that Finch affectionately called "death on wheels" was a gift from Finch two years ago. The year after, Finch had enlisted a custom helmet to be made to match the black bike. It had a high tech visor that was tinted and showed the image of any incoming calls as a picture of the caller in the bottom corner. There was GPS enabled programs that were updated by Finch's machine keeping his maps updated to every pedestrian and traffic jam. The GPS would show as a small arrow pointing him in the fastest direction to his destination. There were speakers built into the padding that Finch had linked to their com system. There was Bluetooth programs in the mouth piece that reduced sound, running on voice waves rather than broadcasting everything.
"Hello." Said a voice over the helmet com.
"Hello." John responded warily. He did not recognize the voice and the only one who knew the station his helmet ran on was Finch.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. Can I have your name please?" The voice asked. The person behind the voice was using a voice modifying device of some kind. John refrained from scoffing. Not only was this person a coward, but was also stupid.
"John Smith." John responded. There was a chuckle that sounded distorted from the voice changer.
"Well John Smith, I'd kindly like you to stop digging into my life and the lives of my friends." The voice said. John thought for a moment. It was one of the guys, probably a weaker one, not the old one though.
"Hartisan I presume?" John said after a thoughtful silence. John said as least threatening as he could be. There was a long pause in which John figured Hartisan would gather his accomplices to debate further action. Not wanting to be a bother, remained silent while moving towards the apartment John hoped they would be in. It was doubtful they would actually be there but it was a place to start.
"Mr. Reese?" Finch's voice was suddenly back with a worried note to it.
"Yes Finch?" John responded calmly.
"What just happened? Our com was intercepted." Finch asked urgently.
"Our newest numbers may have gotten spooked by your snooping." John said as the arrow pointed him down an ally. The GPS never used alleys so he knew it was a trap. Naturally, he went anyway. "I'm probably going radio silence for a while." John said bracing himself for impact as he entered the ally.
"Just be careful." Finch murmured. "We've never gone up against people who can match my skills." He said not at all modestly.
"Of course Finch." John murmured. He hoped this wasn't the team he'd heard of. John kept himself aware of any new players in the game and there had been rumors of a group of people who were labeled the modern day A Team. Someone, probably the guy with the apartment, had brought them together. The best hacker, the best hitter, the best grifter, the best thief, and their leader. If they were using lame tricks like this they weren't as good as John had been led to believe. The sun was setting at just the perfect angel to shine off the trip wire they'd set for him in just enough time for him to slow to a stop. He smirked, not very clever at all.
"Finch?" John murmured. There was no answer. He sighed and took off his helmet. He switched off his bike and hung the helmet on one of the handlebars. "Your trip wire didn't work. The whole messing with my GPS thing wasn't very clever ever. Messing with my com was pretty well done but now I'm here, waiting for someone to come out and face me." He said holding his hands out palms up innocently. He looked around waiting for their hitter to come out. He and Finch were no match for them. John himself covered the thief, grifter, and hitter roles while Finch took on hacker and mastermind. Two people against five, it wasn't exactly a fair fight but John didn't care. "I've tried to tell you I'm not a threat but if you want a fight I'm here." John continued.
"I'm going!" Snapped a man as he stepped out of one of the two buildings on either side of the ally. "Give me a sec." He snarled to John. John raised his eyebrows and waited patiently leaning on his bike. The guy pulled his hair back and pushed a bandana headband up to keep it out of his eyes. John wondered what kind of hitter would have hair long enough to yank or to get in his eyes. He flicked his head up, his hair fluttered back behind him.
"Ready?" John asked standing. He was taller than the man easily but the smaller was not intimidated.
"Yeah yeah let's just do this." He replied taking a stance that gave away every move he would make.
"I don't want to rush you Eliot." He taunted.
"I'm fine." He growled changing stance to something new. John had always hated stances; they gave away all your plans and moves. It was like giving the person a play by play of what you're going to do. He could have just taken his gun out and shot him in the leg but the noise would attract unwanted attention. Also, he wanted trust, not a man bleeding out. He also had a taser, he could taser him. No blood, no excessive noise, but then he still wouldn't gain the trust he desired. He watched the unease he was causing in Eliot as he changed stance again. John wasn't good at gaining trust. Should he tell him about why he wasn't shooting or tasering him? Should he tell him his views on stances? He wished Finch were here to look these things up for him. How to make a friend, or possibly, how to gain someone's trust. Finch, not the best with other humans, would look these things up because he didn't know the answers either. That was one of the reasons he loved Finch. He was a perfect little introvert and, being the jealous type, that meant no competition. John smiled at the thought of Finch sitting in the library tapping away on his computer, with Bear at his feet, his family waiting for his return. The fight was long, and Eliot got in more punches than John usually took and Eliot took a lot before finally going down. John was sure Finch would be doting on him for getting bloodied up but he secretly loved when Finch did first aid on him. It was weird but John found it oddly intimate. Like playing doctor. John wondered if he bought Finch a skimpy nurse outfit, would he wear it? Definitely not.
"Guys I can't take this anymore." Eliot mumbled. He was slumped on the ground, John was sure he'd broken at least one rib and multiple fingers for the poor guy. Eliot also had, in addition to the broken rib and six broken fingers, a black eye, a busted lip, a burst ear drum, and had dislocated his knee. It was a quick fix as he popped it right back in and continued fighting, but John surmised it still pained him. John had sustained no broken or dislocated limbs, only minor bruising and a few scrapes. He had a cut on his cheek, a busted lip, and his knuckles were bloody. He wasn't sure if it was his blood or Eliot's, or maybe both. Probably both, he decided. He was expecting a spectacular show of bruises tomorrow to cover his body.
"You fight well." Said a voice as Nathan, Parker, and Hartisan emerged from the same building Eliot had come from originally.
"Mr. Reese?" Finch asked over John's earpiece. He ignored it.
"My name is Nate." Said Nathan Ford offering his hand for shaking. Being a naturally suspicious person John ignored it. "You say we're in danger?" He continued, not outwardly offended by his unshaken-hand as he retracted it.
"Yes." John said.
"Ah the coms are back up. It's good to hear your voice John." Finch said soothingly.
"Well, you understand, I take that as a threat to me and my team." Nate said coolly.
"I'm not threatening you. I'm warning you. I'm trying to help." John responded as he offered Eliot his hand to help him up.
"That's the longest sentence he's used so far." Parker quipped. John looked at her quizzically. Nate looked puzzled for a moment before sobering his expression once more.
"Then who is threatening us?" Nathan pressed.
"I don't know." John answered truthfully.
"Not much to go on, now is it?" Hartisan asked smiling. John thought for a moment, that sounded familiar. He had said the same thing to Finch this morning when trying to locate the team he was with now. John supposed if he could, they could too. Was this the kind of thing to share though?
"I said the same thing." John said. Nate looked bemused for a moment.
"I'm triangulating your location." Finch said calmly.
"Who are you working with?" Nate asked bluntly.
"I'd say I work for rather than with him." John responded.
"Now now mister Reese." Harold chide, clearly taking insult to that statement.
"And what is it that you do?" Nate pressed.
"What do you do?" John retorted.
"We want trust John. Not to chase them away." Finch purred in his ear. "A good topic to gain trust just stepped out of the supermarket behind you with his camera phone. Be careful."
"I help victims of violent crimes." John said carefully.
"We provide..." Nate started before pausing.
"Leverage." Parker quipped. Nate, Hartisan, and Eliot all shot her a look and she looked apologetically at Nate. John thought about it for a moment, he did the same thing.
"We do the same thing. Don't we Mister Reese?" Finch asked.
"It seems like they don't need our help Finch." John said.
"That means they're the perpetrator." Harold responded.
"Who's your target?" John asked. He knew they would probably not tell him but it was worth a shot.
"Loan shark by the name of Tim Sanders." Nate responded easily. John blinked in surprise. He was definitely not expecting that.
"John he's-" Finch began to say.
"He's not going to be an easy mark." John cut in. "If he finds out you're after him he'll have every bounty hunter in America after you."
"But if we can trust you..." Hartisan said began. It was a big if.
"He won't find out." Nate finished.
"Not from me but that guy works for him." John said flicking his thumb over his shoulder at a building across the street. A guy was standing outside with his camera phone pointed at them.
"Hartisan. Jam his phone. Eliot go make sure he's going to cooperate. Parker, you and Sophie get us somewhere." Nate said. Hartisan went back into the building with Parker and then there was the sound of screeching tires. Eliot went off to smash the man's face in.
"And what about you?" John said watching Nate carefully.
"How did you know he was there?" Nate asked.
"A birdie told me." John said dryly. He heard Finch chuckle.
"Tweet." Finch said sarcastically. "They don't know our coms are back up. I was running a software virus on them while they were talking to you."
"I guess my hacker's just better than yours." John said as he turned around to get on his bike.
"Thank you Mister Reese. Another thing, my software is still running but its hit a glitch and has your com and Mr. Ford's com linked since you two are so close. Anything either of you say will be sent to the other's com. It's actually quite convenient because now I'm learning all about their system. I know how it works, what frequency it runs on, and I'm just about done triangulating their main server system." Finch said proudly.
"Stay out of our business." Nate called both out loud and in John's ear as John slipped on his helmet and started up his bike.
"Stay out of trouble Nate. I wouldn't want to see any of you on the news." John purred as sped off. He saw Nate frown and tap his ear piece experimentally.