Disclaimer: Person of Interest is not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while. No beta, so apologies for any errors.

Spoilers: 2.22 God Mode; Slight references to 1.01 Pilot, 1.03 Mission Creep, and 2.21 Zero Day.

A/N: This could be seen as a sequel to my story "Blame Game" (missing scene for 2.21), but it's not necessary to read it in order to understand this one.

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All it took was a picture….

Seeing Jessica's image staring back at him was another blow to his recently shaken psyche.

He knew she had been one of the Numbers, but to have solid proof in his hand was just a little bit overwhelming.

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Enough time had passed since he'd first heard that Finch had been peripherally involved in his ill-fated mission to Ordos that he'd been able to rein in his conflicting thoughts. Finch was always so far ahead of everyone else when it came to crafting strategies and contingency plans that he was confident that his employ— no, his friend must have had a reason for what he had done. When he'd voiced part of that thought to Shaw, he had believed it without any reservations.

Looking at this photograph, he now knew one thing for certain: what happened in Ordos was not Harold's fault. Twelve years ago on a bed in Mexico, he'd made the first of two choices that he would live to regret. Not wanting to hurt her if he were to be killed while fighting overseas, he'd made the decision to leave Jessica behind, never contacting her again. Then, seven years ago at a chance meeting in an airport, he'd made another choice. This choice set him and Jessica on separate paths that would each lead them to their undoing. But he had somehow survived, managing to stumble along a broken path for a time until he'd taken a fateful ride on a subway train.

With a different mindset, some might consider Finch's laptop a minor course correction, one that set him on a trajectory towards finding a purpose that would someday redeem the soul he'd tarnished while working for the CIA. His choices caused him to lose almost everything, but his friend shouldn't be held responsible for the resulting choices of so many other people or their effects on his and Jessica's lives.

If there was any blame to be had, it was his – not Harold Finch's.

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All it took was a picture…and suddenly the world he'd thought had been knocked off its axis righted itself again.

He decided to move past what he'd learned about the laptop and China, because ultimately it didn't change how he felt about working with Finch and the Numbers.

John had a choice. He could either let the knowledge he'd gained from Decima's mouthpiece destroy his partnership with Finch, or he could do everything in his power to find the Machine and keep that partnership alive.

It was an easy choice to make.

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The end.

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A/N: The show runners weren't kidding when they said the second season finale would be like the end of the first chapter… Anyone want to share their thoughts about the episode?

Thanks for reading!