AN: This is AU like super AU I won't say anything more but you'll get a clear picture of how AU this is as you read the story but don't worry John and Joss are still are babies. I hope you guys are up for an AU since I know they are an acquired taste :D Eventual Careese because well I can't help myself and the rating will go up eventually in some future chapter which I don't know exactly because this is becoming a damn thing is taking on it's own life! Someone please kill my muse!

P.S. Thank you Elaine, I appreciate everything!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, like normal, which is probably a good thing.


It happened so fast.

Joss had been just exiting The Pony Bar near Canal Street and walking towards her car. She only had one cocktail and she had taken her time drinking it. She had a lot of work to do tomorrow and she wanted to drive home and not have to hail a taxi. It was refreshing to sit with Toni. She hadn't had a chance to sit down with her in a long while. Toni was busy being a lawyer, who she met during law school, and she was busy being a detective. Not to mention that Toni had a little one in ballet and, well, she had a not so little one herself that kept her hopping. He was on the basketball team and in drama which kept her busy with games and plays to attend.

But while she had been walking to her car, nearly reaching it, she had paused when she thought she heard a whimper. When it sounded again she knew it was whimpering. Joss had immediately followed the cries and soon she could make out words, like: 'please don't do this', 'please let me go', 'please stop' were being begged and pleaded. The female voice sounded young too. Her highly trained cop ears detected that the girl was petrified and something was definitely wrong.

She ran immediately, adrenaline pumping, and sure enough, as she entered the alleyway near Centre Street and Canal, she found four men; two African American and two white, about to rape one lone girl. She looked no older than her son and Joss had reacted angrily. Joss had dragged the one boy who had just undone his pants off the girl and told her to run and call the police. The girl heeded her advice and Joss tried to take four young males on by herself. Of course she was outnumbered but she wasn't about to let a girl be raped on her watch. No way, not when she had worked far too many homicides of girls that had been raped and then dumped like yesterday's trash. If she could save one, then she was saving one.

She hadn't thought of her own safety, hopefully the girl called 9-1-1 and didn't just leave her here, though she wasn't entirely sure if it would be in time. The only thing she truly wished was she got to call her son and tell him she loved him.

A rather sharp blow to her stomach brought her back to her current predicament. She was getting her ass kicked by four gang bangers who were pissed that she got in their way of an easy fuck regardless if the girl wanted it or not. Joss had given up trying to attack instead she was concentrating on defense, she had positioned herself so that most of their blows were superficial at best, only doing minimal damage to her. It was the only way she was going to come out of this alive. She had no backup, no gun, and was outnumbered.

"Bitch, you should have kept your nose clean. But a cunt is a cunt, even if you're old."

Joss realized they planned on raping her instead and she went back on the attack. She waited until he rolled her onto her back, going for her pants, and smiled. "You can't rape me if you don't have a dick left," she snarled, catching the young man's gaze at her defiant statement, before she rammed her knee into the man's groin as hard as she could and he yelled out in agony as he rolled off of her.

She rolled onto her knees and punched the boy lunging at her, but then the other two were on her. The back of her head smacked the cement ground and she stars. And this time when the white male climbed on top of her, he straddled her hips and had no intention of raping her. He had every intention to kill her because he wrapped his large hands around her neck.

She gagged as he cut off her oxygen. She fought punching him, ignoring the stinging pain in her knuckles, but the guy was ignoring her hits because his grip tightened around her neck. She couldn't even make a sound as her eyes watered from lack of oxygen. Joss refused to panic, the moment you panicked was the moment you were dead. She felt lightheaded and couldn't breathe. She continued to fight but felt herself throwing weaker punches, her legs thrashing weren't as strong as her vision began blackening on the edges, and her eyes met the man's and saw nothing in them. She slid a hand down her body, just focusing on grabbing the pocket knife she had and she'd stab this man in the damn neck if need to be. She just had to have enough in her left to grab it. She worked her fingertips into her pocket.

Joss heard the others screaming for him to kill her and get it over with when she suddenly heard a cry before the man that was choking the life out of her was off of her and she could breathe again.

Joss gasped in air as she rolled onto her side and gagged as she drew in much needed air into her lungs. She grabbed at her neck that still felt constricted from the tight pressure the man had on her as she coughed and sucked in deep breaths. Her body ached from the beating she had taken but her body was more focused on taking in as much air as possible. She looked up, looking through watery eyes, and watched a homeless man kicking the four punks' asses. It was four dumbasses on one man who had a bottle of Jack hanging out of his long dirty brown trench-coat.

She almost forgot nearly being strangled to an early grave because she was watching the bum fight. His fighting was skilled and elegant, which screamed he had extensive training. She had seen skills that matched the bum's and those had been by expert military trained men who were in Special Forces and or Delta. The high-up military, the kind that only a few were chosen for and were hand selected, and it appeared her homeless savior had once upon a time been exactly that. If she wasn't so enraptured by his graceful fighting and wondering which military branch he had been in she would have offered to help him kick their asses. But her body still felt shaky and weak from the lack of air and well and he didn't exactly look like he needed anyone's help to bring these jokers down. He yanked the one black man's arm out of the socket easily, earning a screeching scream as the kid fell to the ground writhing as he held his shoulder, and she heard sirens off in the distance. Thank god the girl heeded her advice and called for help.

Her bum ducked a blow, upper cutting one and she cringed at the sound it made knowing he just broke teeth and possibly a jaw which dropped the white scrawny boy with far too many tattoos that made him look ridiculous, without much effort. The bum had only two left, finally the one she nearly castrated got to his feet but he didn't remain their long because the bum placed a precisely placed punch that knocked the guy out cold within five seconds of him standing. Her homeless man turned his attention on the last one and the chicken shit was about to turn, tucking his tail between his legs, and run. But the bum wasn't having any of it. He lunged forward wrapping an elbow around the boy's neck in a sleeper hold which he kept applied until the kid went slack in his hold and he dropped him down mercilessly on the ground.

Joss continued to drag in ragged breaths as she glanced around the carnage before her. Two of the four men were whimpering as one rolled, grabbing his shoulder, the other was crying as he held his face. And the other two were unconscious. She watched her homeless savior turn to look at her, not even breathing hard, and the sirens were getting closer and closer. Her breath hitched as her eyes got caught on this man's intense pale blue eyes that nearly glowed in the dark night.

"Are you alright?"

His voice was soft, not trace of a slur from the alcohol, and she stared into those piercing sad blue eyes he had. "Fine." she croaked as she got to her feet, forcing herself to ignore the lightheadedness. She glanced up after she stood and saw her homeless savior turning to leave. "Hold it, I'm a cop and I need to take your statement of what you witnessed and…!" she demanded, sounding like a frog still, and annoyed because the man wasn't listening as he continued to walk away. She was left to stand there making sure the four men that nearly raped the girl and strangled her to death didn't get away. She could still feel the imprints of fingers around her neck cutting off her oxygen.

Joss watched in aggravation as the hobo rounded the corner, tugging the half empty bottle of Jack Daniels out of his pocket, and fled from her view unhurriedly. Her eyes strayed to the four men and each one of them was down for at least the time being, she could try to convince the man to come back. Joss rushed to the mouth of the alley and found her bum had disappeared just as the cops arrived.

Officers Dell and Johnson were out of the squad car first. "You alright, Carter?" they both barked, eyeing her neck.

"I'm fine, where's the girl?" she demanded.

Dell motioned back at the other intersection and she glanced seeing another squad car with lights on, two officers out, and were near a woman who they wrapped a blanket around. "She's with Officers Stewart and Henderson, she's safe. She said a woman intervened for her and was outnumbered. Carter, are you sure you're alright?" Dell asked.

She waved off his concern. "As I said, I'm fine. A few of them (pointing to the gang bangers) need to head to the hospital, I had my own savior intervene, but he all but disappeared. Did you guys see a bum leave this alleyway as you drove up?" she demanded. They shook their heads. "He just left though, like less than a minute ago." she said as she looked around. And glared at the building to the right seeing there were shadows he could have used to keep out of sight. Joss pointed at the men. "Stay with them." she ordered as she took off running. There was another alley just after the big brown bricked building he must have used as cover and when she got to the mouth of it she saw her homeless man turn to the left on the other side and there was no way she could catch him. She made a face as she whirled around to walk back to the crime scene.


AN: *sigh* See my muse is evil. And these first few chapters are all in Carter's pov too. I hope you guys are up for simultaneous stories because Followed By Marriage will be coming in a bit too.

Thanks for reading XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX