A year later
Disclaimer: I still don't own Person of Interest. If I did there would be no doubt about John's fate.
Finch sighed as he stood on the same roof and the same spot he stood a year ago. He was looking at the top of the building across from the one he was standing on. It was a little different then what it was at this time a year ago because it had to be rebuilt after a cruise missile hit it but where Harold was looking was about where John had been standing the last time Harold saw him alive. Harold closed his eyes as he remembered what happened on the two roofs a year ago
""Wait are you sure this is the right place?" he asked the Machine. "Yes" the Machine replied "This is where you're supposed to be." "No, none of these dishes are capable of transmitting to a Molniya orbit. This is the wrong building" he said. "Right building Finch. For you" he heard John's voice say. He turned around and saw John appear at the edge of the roof of the building across from the one he was standing on. No I locked John in the vault how could he be here? he thought. "John what are you doing?" he asked. "Me and the Machine have had a long-standing arrangement, a deal" Reese answered. He unlatched the brief case he was holding and saw that it was empty. Reese held up the real brief case. "Told you pay you back all at once. That's the way I like it" Reese said. "No, I told you it's supposed to be me alone" he said distraught. "sorry Harry deal's a deal" The Machine said "You know as well as I do that he wasn't gonna let you die." Reese's fingers moved across the keyboard as he uploaded the Machine's core. "Should get moving Harold it's gonna get a little exciting up here" Reese said. "All right, you've done it now let the upload take care of itself and get out of there John" he said. Please let him get out of there. "behind you John now." the Machine yelled suddenly. Reese grabbed his gun and shot the Samaritan agents. "two more" the Machine said. Reese shoots both of them. "More on the way" The Machine says. "Mr. Reese, John this wasn't supposed to be the way" he said. Sure he had warned John right from the beginning when they started working together that one or both of them would likely end up dead but John wasn't supposed to sacrifice himself to save him. "Sure it is" Reese said "This is what I do, remember? When you came to me you gave me a job, a purpose. At first, well, I had been trying to save the world for so long, I...saving one life at a time seemed a bit anticlimactic. But then I realized sometimes one life, if it's the right life it's enough." At that moment more Samaritan agents turned the corner and Reese raised his gun. "Goodbye Harold" he said "No!" Finch said and Reese focused on fighting. "I'm sorry" the Machine said as he watched John continue to shoot the Samaritan agents "My core systems are failing I'm almost gone. I'll stay with John, help him as long as I can. Only 30 seconds left." "No, please" he said in despair. "You need to go Harry" the Machine said "You're kind of screwing up the big guys plan if you bleed out up here, and Harry I remembered. It was a police officer. He had to notify a family of a death, his 35th notification he'd had to make over the years and afterwards he said something that I remembered. His partner said 'you know it's true what they say, everybody dies alone' to which the officer responded 'Sure, everyone dies alone but if you mean something to someone, if you help someone or love someone, if even a single person remembers you then maybe you never really die at all.' I know I've made some mistakes, many mistakes but we helped some people didn't we?." He nodded his head "yes, yes we did" he said. He watched John for a few seconds then he turned around, pulled the gun out of his pocket and walked towards the door that would lead him off the roof. "Goodbye Harold" the Machine said. Harold stopped took one last look at John, turned his head and saw that the Machine image as Ms. Groves was gone. He turned to the camera that was on the roof. "Goodbye" he said then opened the door and walked off the roof. He was still in the stairwell when the sounded of an explosion reached his ears and he knew that the cruise missile he had thought was going to end his life a few minutes before had taken John's instead. He closed his eyes paused for a second then he continued down the stairs more determined not to let John's sacrifice be wasted.
Harold felt a hand close around his left hand. He opened his eyes and saw Grace standing there looking at him with concern in her eyes. After he had gone to a doctor he trusted to be treated for his gunshot wound and had healed sufficiently enough he knew what he to do so he went gone back to the subway for some money and boarded a plane to Italy. When he had found Grace she had been understandably shocked and confused but happy to see him. "Harold how are you here? I thought you were dead" she said as she got up from where she was painting and gave him a hug. Harold suggested that they go to a cafe to talk. So they did and he told her everything except about John's death. "I'm sorry I had to lead you to believe I was dead and all the pain it caused you" he said. Grace grabbed his hand. "I love you no matter what" she said "I could yell at you for leading me to believe you were dead but I understand you were protecting me and I don't want to spend one more minute without you." They were married four months later. It was a happy time for Harold but every now and then he would dream about John's death. One morning Grace asked him about his dreams and after some hesitation Harold told her about how he was going to sacrifice himself to stop Samaritan but John had made a deal with the Machine and was the one who sacrifice himself. "his sacrifice is part of the reason I came to Italy to find you" He told Grace. "Oh Harold I'm so sorry" Grace said and hugged him.
They didn't talk much about it until the year anniversary of John's death was coming up. Grace told him that she thought he should go back to New York and back to the building he was on when he last saw John. "I think it would be good for you and a way to say one finale goodbye" she said. So after some convincing (and the condition that she would come with him) here they were. Harold gave Grace a small smile and gently squeezed her hand, telling her that he was alright. She had been right, even though the memory of what happened a year ago still pained him and he missed John. Soon after Ms. Groves had died he told the Machine while discussing her use of Ms. Groves voice that her voice was one he dearly missed and now it was John's voice that he dearly missed. The Machine had been right when she told him before showing him what would have happened to John if she had never existed that he had always known that John had been on borrowed time and even John himself told him when he had attempted to teach him how to use a gun that he wouldn't always be here but he hadn't expected to happen so soon and in that way but he would always remember John as well as the other people he lost and he would keep them alive as long as he lived. He was glad Grace convinced him to come back. As he turned around and walked with Grace to the door that would take them off the roof and opened it Harold turned around and looked at the building across the way one last time. John had told him once after they had helped Lou Mitchel "Some of us don't get to grow old with the one we love" now thanks to John's sacrifice Harold could."Thank You John." Then he turned and walked through the door with Grace, once again leaving his old life behind and moving on towards his new one with Grace.
Author's Note: As you notice I had changed the scene with the two police officers in the bar a little. That's because it's the Machine telling Harold not us watching the scene on the tv screen. Just so you guys know I don't plan on doing another chapter where Shaw and Fusco run into Harold and Grace (mostly because I'm not sure how that would go down). If you want to write a story yourself where they run into each other feel free to do so (just tell me so I can read it please). I have no idea how Finch had money to get to Italy so if you have a better idea then what I put please tell me. Also if you think Harold and Grace got married too fast or not soon enough tell me why and if it's a good reason I'll change it (just sign in in case I need to ask something). Sorry to anyone who thinks Grace was too forgiving. In the episode she looks happy to see Harold so I went with what I saw. I'm also sorry to anyone who think Finch having dreams about John dying is dumb. I needed Harold to tell Grace about John dying and he's not the type of person to have blurted it out while telling Grace what happened and I'm sorry if anyone thought Grace's reasoning for Finch to go back to New York was stupid.