Disclaimer: I do not own this property. I use the characters strictly for mine and readers enjoyment.
Nice Timing
Her nails began dragging through the patch of gravel that she managed to latch on to. She was slowly losing the battle to keep herself from falling three stories to the ground below. She was hanging off the edge of a building that was under construction, unable to use her right arm because it had been knocked out of the socket.
Her breathing was becoming more erratic as she felt the grip slipping and the sound of the material rolling under her fingertips. She began to think back to how she got into this predicament. She and Fusco had been on the trail of a suspected hit and run driver. The victim reported the plates and an APB had been put out for the car.
Before long, they spotted the car. She turned on her siren and the chase began. Luckily it was quite late so there weren't many people on the road. The chase hadn't lasted very long when the guy crashed his car into a light pole. They got out of the cruiser in time to see the guy pull himself through a broken window and make a break for it.
The foot chase took them to an office building that was under construction. The suspect sought shelter in the main structure and they followed, taking the stairs. Since Carter was a bit more fit, she was able to gain a bit of a lead over Lionel. When she reached the top floor, she didn't have time to secure the area before she was pushed from behind. The hard floor hurt like hell and she felt the bone in her shoulder move in a very bad way. She hissed in pain, then the guy pushed her over the edge.
As she was falling, she reached out and managed to stop her momentum. As she dangled there, she heard the continuation of the foot chase above her. She was caught between fear and pain, preventing her from shouting out to her partner. She had to do her best to hold out until he got back.
Gravity continued to win its battle as she was inching closer to the edge. "H-help!" she yelled, her body trying to get some force behind the words. "Hello! Fusco!" Her fingers soon found themselves on the metal scaffolding, the last thing keeping her from falling.
Shit "Help!" she yelled again. She was baffled as to where Fusco could have ran off to. They were at the highest point in the building, there was nowhere to go. The combination of sweat on her fingers and metal made her slip faster. Her left arm was shaking with its effort trying to keep her up. "I'm slipping!" She didn't know what else to do. There were no sounds nearby and at this rate, she would…
"Oh no no no" her fingernail were digging into the last grip they had. After another battle with her tiring muscles, it was finally too much. She had lost the last bit of grip that she had and felt herself begin to fall downward. After traveling a few seconds, she suddenly she felt herself stop in place. Her view was pointed down so she could only felt a strong heat source around her wrist. Then she felt herself ascending back up.
"Just hang on Carter" she heard from above. When she looked, she saw none other than John Reese with a vice-like grip on her waist. "Think you can grab my other hand?"
"I wish I could" she groaned, noting her limply hanging arm "but I may have pulled something."
"That's okay, I got you." He ended up pulling her up slowly, making sure her weight didn't shift unevenly and drop her.
Once she was about halfway up, he hooked his arms under her shoulders to pull her away and to the side. Once she was back on solid ground, she reached for her shoulder, the pain still throbbing. "Where's Fusco?"
John saw what she was doing and realized there was something wrong with her shoulder. "He's taking care of the guy you were chasing. What's wrong with your shoulder?"
She groaned as she tried to sit in a more comfortable position. "Well that asshole decided to give me a good shove when I got up here. I went down hard on the gravel and I think I dislocated my shoulder."
She saw him begin to examine it. She hissed a bit as he applied a bit of pressure. "Do you want to go to the hospital?"
"Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to really drive myself with half an arm and feeling like crap." Her fingers were still burning from the time she spent hanging on for dear life. "Just put it back into place" she said reluctantly, not wanting to think about what was to come. When she looked at John, she was surprised to see that smart ass smirk of his.
"It's going to hurt like hell, you know. Are you sure?"
She gave him a pissed off look, her brows furrowed in frustration as well. "Well if I could, I would do it myself; but as you can see, I can't. Hurry the hell up so I can take the guy in." She looked over her shoulder and watched as Fusco was removing some items from the perp's pocket.
"Carter?"
"What?" she was quite irritated.
"Do you know how beautiful you look when you are pissed off?"
She whipped her head back at him, confused at the sudden comment. Just as she was about to become defensive and tell him off, she felt and heard the cracking of her bones. She had to reach up with her free hand to cover her scream from the pain. It felt like her body was burning all over. She began to calm down a bit as she thought back to his comment, understood now why he said it.
She took short breaths to even out her breathing before she looked at his smirking face. "You're a dick John, you know that?" she said once her body began to relax. She was still sore in her shoulder. There was no way that the pain would dull enough for her to be able to take the guy in then get home and put ice on her shoulder.
"It worked to distract you, even for a bit. How are you feeling?" he removed his hands from her and watched as she assessed herself.
"I'm still not one hundred percent, but I'll be okay."
"Hey Carter, you alright" Lionel chimed in, dragging the now secure criminal over to her.
"Yeah, I'll manage, no thanks to this knucklehead." She gave him a cold stare and John saw the man began to shift uncomfortably. He couldn't help but smile at how her dirty looks would scare criminals as badly as his did.
"Look, I'm sorry okay. I just panicked. Please don't take me in" the guy begged. His pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Well you were involved in a hit and run, then assaulted a police officer. Looks like you will be spending a bit of time in a cell." Fusco listed, knowing exactly what would happen to him.
"Lionel, why don't you take him in while I help out Carter here?" John recommended, momentarily avoiding the expression on her face.
"You have got to be kidding me. It's nothing serious. I just need to get my shoulder to stop throbbing by taking an aspirin or something. I don't need any more of your help." She stubbornly tried to ease herself to a standing position. When she added a slight bit of pressure on her good arm, a pins and needles sensation shot straight up her arm which caused her to sit back down. "Shit…"
"I stand corrected," Reese deadpanned.
"Shut up" she grumbled, becoming more annoyed by the second. She didn't like that she couldn't move. Her fingers hurt too much to put weight on them and her shoulder was utterly jacked. She looked up as Lionel and John looked back at her, waiting for her to change her mind. She huffed through her nose, reluctantly accepting that she really didn't have an alternative.
"I think she's decided to take my advice," John remarked as he reached for her.
"How are you going to get her home?" Lionel asked.
"If you don't mind, Carter, I'll just drive your car so you don't have to worry about leaving it behind."
"Do whatever you want. Just get me home already. This guy is bad for my health anyway. How did you get here?"
She put her palm in his and he managed to pull her to a standing position. When he released her, she brought her hand back to her aching shoulder, hoping to dull the pain even a bit by massaging it.
"I decided to take a nice stroll since Finch told me the guy was close by. Enough about that, let's just get you home cause you look like you're ready to kill someone."
She shifted her head towards the perp. "Yeah him." The while John smiled again.
"Ladies first." John opened the door to Carter's apartment with a flourish. Because of the state of her arm, he volunteered to open the door while she continued to hold her shoulder in a somewhat comfortable position.
Joss eyed him as she bit her lip to keep the long list of names she had for him silent. It was bad enough that she allowed him to drive her home, but now it seemed that he enjoyed this little bit of freedom he had with her. If it wasn't for her shoulder, she would have kicked his ass ages ago. She glanced at his gesturing form before crossing the threshold to her apartment.
He followed soon after and locked the door behind him.
"Is Taylor going to be home soon?" he asked as he removed his jacket and draped it over the back of her living room couch.
"No, he's staying over at a friend's tonight so it's just lil old me tonight." Her back was to him when she went to the kitchen. As she turned around, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw John only centimeters away from her.
Once her fast beating heart slowed down, she remarked "I really need to put a damn bell on you. You're too quiet."
His expression turned apologetic. "I'm sorry Carter, that's just how I move."
"Just get me some aspirin. It's in the bathroom cabinet."
John simply nodded and made his way to the door. He had remembered the layout from the two times he had let himself in while he was looking for Finch. Entering the bathroom, he felt the slightly damp air indicating that probably Taylor had taken a shower before he left. John looked inside the mirror cabinet and couldn't help but chuckle at all of the first aid she had inside. He attributed that to her being such a caring mother. She would baby her son, even if he was too old for it.
Scanning the bottles, he spotted the red label bottle and reached for it. When he closed the cabinet door, he heard a loud crash from the kitchen. "Damn it" he heard Carter say and he rushed out. He was afraid that she may have been in danger, but when he reached the kitchen, the sight before him showed anything but. Carter stood with a scowl on her face as she looked down at some broken glass. John immediately maneuvered around it and stepped up to her, placing the bottle on the table.
"Are you alright?" he asked, checking her for any signs of distress that her events tonight may have caused.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just getting a glass of water when my shoulder decided that it didn't like the way I was holding it and shot a pain through me causing me to drop the cup."
"I'll clean it," John offered.
"You don't have to do that. I'll get around to it once I'm feeling a bit better. I see that you managed to find the Advil." She saw the smile on his face. "I'm a mother. What do you want from me?" She defended, knowing what he saw inside.
"I didn't say anything. Have a seat and I'll get you the water so you can wash down the pills."
"Man, I hate this" she said as she took a seat on one of the stools she owned.
"What? Having me here or me taking care of you?" He silently hoped that wasn't it.
"I was talking about the later." He searched for another glass and did what she had been trying to do earlier. He put it on the table next to her and grabbed two Advil from the bottle. He dropped the pills in her good hand and watched as she threw them in her mouth, swallowing before gulping the water down.
"Where's your broom?"
"For what?" He drew her attention to the floor at the mess that she somehow forgot about. "Oh that. I told you, I'll take care of it when I'm better."
"That could be days. C'mon, it'll only take me a couple of minutes and it'll be out of your hair."
She shook her head. "You don't have to bother. You've already done enough as is. You can head home. I'll be fine."
"Joss…" he uttered her name delicately. She couldn't help but feel her body temperature rise slightly because he would rarely call her that. "You'll still have your pride. No one has to know that someone had to take care of you for a change. Give yourself a break and just tell me where the broom is."
She was getting weary of fighting him and instead pointed to a closet in the hall. "Thank you." John smiled at her before heading to get the broom. It took him no time to sweep the mess and with more assistance from her, found a bag to put the broken glass inside.
"There, don't you feel better knowing you don't have to deal with that?"
"I guess. It wasn't like you were going to leave me alone."
He walked up to her, reaching to touch her. "How's your shoulder?" He pinched lightly at a few points, noticing her wincing on occasion.
"I'll live through the night at least. It still hurts like crap but I'll head to the hospital tomorrow to get a better checkup."
"That sounds like a good idea." He stopped his examination. "It looks like you will need a sling to hold it in place, but you should be fine in a few days with proper treatment and not too much exertion."
She allowed herself to smile at him. "What were you in your past life, a doctor?"
"Try field medic."
"Now that makes more sense." She paused, quickly thinking about her next words to him. "John look…" She slid off her seat to try to be face to face with him, which proved to be difficult because he still hovered a few inches above her. "I didn't mean what I said before."
He appeared confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Earlier when you asked me what I hated, I didn't really explain what I meant. It was just that I have been annoyed with having other people in general take care of me. I guess…" she found herself hesitating because her next words were stirring up painful memories. "I guess it was just that it reminded me too much of how my husband took care of me before he died."
John immediately understood. "Hey Carter, if I'm making you uncomfortable, I can go."
Fighting to keep her right arm in place, she used her left arm to grab and stop him as he made the motion to leave. "No, I don't want that. I'm glad that you're here John. I've known a lot of people in my life, but I knew that only you would really understand what I meant and try to run away," she said, letting him see the small smirk.
"Well, I would like to think of us as friends and friends help each other out. Remember when you helped me in the hospital when I was working undercover for that armored car company? I want to try to return the favor for all the times you helped me. You should sit back down though, you look tired." He helped her back in the chair.
"Do you have anywhere else to be? Another number maybe? I don't want to stop you if you need to *yawn* get back to work."
"Really, I'm glad that you are letting me stay after what you just told me. I'm sure that things will be quiet for a while, but how about we move you someplace a bit more comfortable. I doubt that you want to accidentally fall asleep on the table."
She nodded her head and he offered her physical support again as she stood up. "The couch looks quite comfy tonight."
"Okay" he said simply. They took a seat with her leaning her good shoulder against him while he draped his hand around her shoulders. As soon as they settled down, he watched as her eyelids continued to fight sleep. He was quite curious as to why she was trying so hard to stay awake despite what had happened to her today.
Before long, she finally lost the fight. Her eyes fully closed and after a few minutes her breathing had evened out. He took the chance to think back to what she said earlier. He wondered how her and her husband took care of each other when he was still alive. She said she hated it when other people fussed over her well being, but she told him the truth and wanted him to stay.
She unconsciously buried herself deeper into chest and he lightly played with her hair as he looked at her. She certainly had changed her attitude from earlier when all she wanted to do was take the criminal in, wanting to ignore her injuries. He would wait until it was almost morning before he would leave to meet up with Finch.
For tonight and always, John would be there for her however he could.
A/N: It feels so good that the hiatus is finally over. I couldn't help but get extra giddy over Reese and Carter's interaction in that episode. It was nice to see them friendly towards each other again, even if she is now hiding things from him. Thanks SWWoman for going over this for me. You always add polish to my work and I appreciate it.