Disclaimer: I do not own Person of Interest

"How are you doing, Mr. Reese?"

Reese smiled at Finch's concern, "I'm doing fine, Finch." He rubbed a hand over his face and yawned, "I should be headed back soon. Mrs. Anderson just returned to her apartment, she should be safe for the night."

He placed the binoculars down on the ledge of the building and stood up slowly, wincing as his back and knees cracked. This case had been particularly rough, he'd only managed a few hours of sleep all week and he was desperately needing a few hours right now.

He watched the light go out in Mrs. Anderson's apartment across the street from the rooftop he was standing on, "I'm heading back now, Finch."

"Don't worry about it." There was a pause as Finch typed away on his keyboard, "I've got serveillance on Mrs. Anderson's building and Detective Fusco on speed dial if anything happens during the night. Go home and get some sleep, John."

The line went dead before Reese could respond, he shook his head and smiled at the thought of Fusco getting a call in the middle of the night.

He grabbed his bag of supplies and made his way towards the elevator.

Reese walked out of the apartment building, not realizing in his exhausted state the three young men that followed him out.

He walked around the corner of the building into the alley where he had parked his car and stopped, turning around slowly he was met with a fist to his face. He stumbled back a few steps taking in the three teenagers standing in front of him, "I don't have anything that you want."

"I think you do." The tallest one said before coming at Reese again. He easily side stepped this swing; punching the kid in the gut and watching him fall to the ground. "You two sure you want to do this?" He pointed at the other two, not as tall as their friend but built quite a bit bigger.

They looked at each other and laughed and approached Reese at the same time. He ducked the first punch, striking out and breaking the kid's nose.

Reese turned in time to catch the third guy's fist before it could collide with his face, he growled in frustration, he was tired and wanted to go back to his apartment and sleep. He balled his hand into a fist, but that's as far as he got as something solid connected with the back of his head.

Oh right, he'd forgotten about the first guy.

All he'd wanted was to get some sleep, but this was not the way he had planned for it.

That was his last conscious thought as his body hit the ground hard and everything went dark.

Finch limped back into the computer room, his tea in one hand as he glanced up at the monitor and caught sight of the fight that John was commenced in. He knew John could handle himself, but he also knew the younger man was exhausted from the past week.

The mug fell from his hand when he caught sight of the man coming up behind John, he wanted to yell, to scream, but he knew there was nothing that he could do. There wasn't enough time.
He watched as the wood made contact with the side of John's head, knocking him to the ground and unconscious within seconds.

Seeing John, his friend, hit the ground snapped Finch out of his daze and he quickly made his way over to his computers. The anger burned through him as he watched the three miscreants steal John's wallet and car keys and take off towards the car parked further down the alley.

He typed furiously into his computer for several seconds then stood up, grabbing his keys. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a familiar number, "Detective Carter, I need your assistance."

Reese slowly regained consciousness, groaning as he became aware of the ache in his head. The events of what led to the ache came quickly to mind as he shifted into a more comfortable position, expecting to feel the uncomfortable ground underneath him and instead was surprised to feel the softness of a bed.

"Mr. Reese you need to remain still, you've got a concussion and moving around will only hamper your condition, not help it."

John opened his eyes, glad that the room was darkened as he searched for the familiar voice. "Harold?"

"Yes, John." The voice came from the chair next to the bed.

"Where am I?"

"You're at one of my private clinics, Mr. Reese."

Finch shifted uncomfortably in the chair and John could immediately tell he had been sitting there for quite awhile and was suffering the consequences.

"How'd I get here?" Reese's face scrunched up in confusion. "The last thing I remember was those kids trying to rob me."

Finch snorted. "They were no kids, Mr. Reese. They were all over the age of eighteen."

Harold stood up slowly allowing the muscles in his neck and back to stretch after sitting in one spot for so long, he took a few steps away from the bed before turning back to John.

"There was a traffic camera across the street from the apartment building you were on." Harold started pacing across the room and back, "I left the room to go get tea and when I returned I saw that…that…person hit you in the head with the piece of wood."

John grimaced as he imagined Finch walking in on the end of the fight, not being able to stop it and not being able to do anything immediately after.

Harold continued on still pacing the room. "I managed to hack into the security system on your car and when those hoodlums got inside." Finch stopped and smiled at Reese. "They couldn't drive away and they couldn't get out."

John smiled. "Remind me to never make you angry, Harold."

Finch fidgeted with his tie for a moment, almost looking embarrassed. "There are far worse things I could have done, Mr. Reese." He shrugged. "I called Detective Carter and had her meet me at the scene, thankfully we were both pretty close to where you were and she helped me get you into the car and we arrived here several minutes later."

The ex-CIA agent closed his eyes and started to relax, "Whose watching Mrs. Anderson, Finch?"

The chair next to the bed creaked as Harold once again lowered himself into it. "Detective Fusco was very eager to do us this favor and watch her for the rest of the night."

John snorted and opened his eyes just a crack as he glanced at the man next to him. "Eager?"

"I was very persuasive, Mr. Reese."

"I bet you were Harold." John whispered as his eyes drifted shut once more.

"Get some sleep John, I'll keep watch."