I wrote this little oneshot before watching ep.04, so I apologise for any possible outdates. English is not my native language so there may be some mistakes. Anyway I hope you'll enjoy reading this ficlet as much as I enjoyed writing it.
When Harold Finch is walking down the street or working in the office cubicle, nobody pays attention on him; he's just another worker bee in a huge hive, an imperceptible little man in a plain formal suit and glasses.
Since some time Finch's begun to value some new things, those things he hadn't got or noticed before. He is rich. But could all his billions bring back the past? Could they resurrect those, who'd passed away?
One of his present treasures is his creation. The Machine. In some way it was a cause of him had become a person, which people see now: a nondescript limping man, not worth of anybody's concern. Argus Panoptes, the most excubant and sleepless ward, his Machine replaced his vision, it let him stay unnoticed and watch everybody, let him to observe, but not participate. Had being invisible he became all-seeing. Daily observation, daily surveillance on strangers became for Finch a sort of quasi-communication with the rest of the world, much easier, safer and much more productive communication than a real contact.
He doesn't take any painkillers, even if the pain grows almost unbearable - and this happens quite frequently; the drugs can becloud his senses, and his mind - the sharp, nimble mind is his only real weapon, the only instrument Finch still can wield with perfect skill. And it is his second treasure.
Sometimes Finch wakes up in the middle of the night with a feeling that he's lying in a coffin - buried alive. His crippled muscles easily stiffen without activity and it brings an illusion that he's locked, imprisoned in a long and narrow chest, where you can't move.
He feels the pain constantly. Every step makes dozen of sharpest knives pierce into his spine and his leg.
And while he feels this pain - the one which hits him like a thunderbolt, or another one - a dull, indelible pain of loss, Finch knows that he's alive.
And that is his main treasure.