Disclaimer: Person of Interest is not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while.

Spoilers: 3.09, The Crossing.

A/N: My beta suggested I issue a tissue alert… You have been warned.

ooooooo

Joss.

No, no, no… Please, God… No.

Not again.

The first sob rips through me as I bend over and kiss my friend's forehead. Even in death she is still beautiful.

Clutching her lifeless body to mine, I can't help the subsequent sobs that wrack my own.

It was my Number that had come up.

MY Number!

Not yours.

It's as if my heart has been pierced just like yours has been. I can't control the sorrow and grief that surges through every fiber of my being.

I was ready to die. I've been ready to die for so long now.

It was supposed to be me, not you.

Me.

Not…you.

But you had to step in front of me. You had to be the person you were always meant to be – a protector, a guardian, a sentinel against the injustices of this world.

You should have just let me die. I have no family. I'm not worth saving – I never have been despite what Harold might think.

No one will truly mourn me when I'm gone, but so many others will mourn you. How could you do this to Taylor? How could you trade your life for mine when he still needs you?

You helped change me, Joss. You helped to show me that I could escape the dark and walk in the light once again. But now that light has dimmed and I feel like I'm being dragged back into the dark.

The pain from my wounds both body and soul is mutating into a rage that will probably consume me and I can't find it within myself to care.

I lift my head and a few stray tears run down my face. The fact that Harold is nearby barely registers in my mind.

Simmons.

You can run. You can try to hide.

But I will find you, Simmons. You will not escape my wrath.

You murdered one of the very few people I care about, one of the very few people who might miss me when I am gone.

You wanted to end me, Simmons?

I will give you another chance to do so – right before I end you.

Or maybe, if I'm lucky, we will end each other.

I should have been dead a long time ago. For years, I've been living on borrowed time, but now I understand why.

It's you, Simmons.

I'm alive because I'm supposed to be the one to kill you, just like you killed her.

So you can run and you can hide, but you won't escape your fate.

I am coming after you and you will die.

ooooooo

The end.

ooooooo

A/N: Many thanks to ncismom for the beta. As always, remaining mistakes are my fault.

Thanks for reading! And to those who celebrate, have a happy and safe Thanksgiving! :)