A/N: I was beyond giddy when Carter and Reese called each other friend. My little Carter/Reese heart did flips when Carter loudly proclaimed that Reese was a good man. If you have read Something Born Between Them, you know that friendship and Carter being convinced that Reese was a good man is what lead to them falling in love in my PoI world… because of that, I decided to do this short story. I sort of went with whatever came to me because I didn't want to over think it… I hope you enjoy my on-the-spur musings.
A Good Man
"How'd he turn you Carter? What was your price?"
"No price… just helping a friend."
"Then you've been played for a fool, recruited as an asset by a private intelligence…"
"You don't understand Donnelly! He's a good man…"
Reese winced at her words.
She was a good solder. She was a damn good detective. She was a good woman.
But him? A good man?
He was a trained killer. Helping people now did not change the facts. Nothing would ever change that and yet she did her best to shield him.
He could accept her efforts to protect him because he was an asset to a greater good, a greater good she believed in. He could accept her efforts to protect him because she felt indebted to him for saving her and keeping his promise to not let anything happen to Taylor.
What he could not accept was her declaration, her fervent declaration that he was a good man.
He knew who he was. He knew what he was. If she knew him, the real him, she would know he was not a good man… but she did know what happened in New Rochelle and still she defended him.
He did not deserve her defense or her view of him.
"We're helping people!"
"Oh god, is that what he told you?! Wake up Carter! Your friend is nothing more or less than a highly trained murderer. You don't wind up with that job by accident. He chose that life. He chose to become the monster he is…"
The monster… that is who he is… that what he is.
That's when I saw it.. in your eyes… genuine concern… no price… just helping a friend
For the tiniest moment, Reese allowed himself to take comfort and be at peace because there was genuine concern in her eyes for him… because there was no cost for what she did for him… because she considered him a friend worth risking so much for… because, in her eyes, he was a good man.