I want to thank Dragonhaven and Maddsgirl75 for being awesome betas. Yep, yep. Thanks to them I can feel more confident on my writing, and continue on. Make sure you give them love. As I told them, I am really excited for this story. It's still in the works, but I think I have more or less of an idea, and two possible different outcomes.
As always Person of Interest does not belong to me.
Enjoy.
~POI~
When Finch asked him to come and see the number, Reese didn't know what to expect. He thought it was a mysterious number and Finch needed his insight on what could the threat be. It wouldn't be the first time though. There had been occasions before in which Finch had asked him to have a look. But, this time, it wasn't the way Finch requested. It was how he requested it. There had been hesitation, and a hint of fear, in his voice. Was Finch again afraid of how he would react? Of him going off the grid to get the number done with?
The thought of Finch not trusting him hurt. Had he not proven himself with the Jenkins case? Had he not asked Finch not to do that again, even if he had the best intentions in mind? He sighed. Well, whatever Finch had to show him, he would know when he got there.
He made a quick stop at the doughnut shop remembering to get Finch's favorite pastry, a cup of tea tea and a coffee.
~POI~
When he arrived, he expected Finch to already have the number's info. He expected a picture, some papers, and a review of nearly about the number's life.
Instead he came to an empty glass and Finch, sitting in front of his computer, staring at a photo. "So whose number have we got this time, Finch?" Reese asked, as he set the box of doughnuts on the table, and handing the tea to Finch.
Finch looked at him. His lips were thin, speechless. It was now or never, Finch thought. Reese was going to find out either way, and he didn't want to betray the trust that they'd both worked so hard to regain. He stood up and handed Reese the picture. Reese looked at the photo and his eyes widened. He looked at Finch, then at the photo, and at Finch again silently asking, begging, him for this to be a mistake.
"Joshua's, Mr. Reese. Joshua Arnt´s number." Finch said confirming Reese's suspicion. Reese felt a sudden cold come over his body. He felt nauseous, sick to his stomach. Finch, noticing Reese's sudden sickness, pulled his chair over to him and urged him to sit down. Reese sat down, resting his forehead on his free hand.
He looked so much like her. Jessica. He had her brown eyes and brown hair that reached his shoulders. He had a good mixture of both parents in him. He smiled for a bit, remembering the first time he and Jessica had talked about having a family. It had been on one of their dates, before they went on the trip to Mexico.
John and Jessica were walking on a park, hand-in-hand. They had dated for almost six months, but they knew they wanted to be with each other, and possibly get married. The subject of marriage hadn't come up yet, but the thought had crossed their minds.
They were walking for a bit. When John asked Jessica if she wanted to sit down she agreed, saying that she would like to rest before walking back home. They had just come out from a restaurant, so they were both full and just a bit tired. John showed her to some swings where they could both sit down on, even though there were some benches nearby. Jessica laughed and pulled him towards the swings. When she sat, she asked John to push her, something he gladly did. He loved this side of her, her childish innocence. He thought of how happy he felt being with her, as if there was nothing in the world that would be able to stop him. John was hopelessly in love with this woman.
He stopped pushing for a bit and sat in the swing beside her. They swung gently side by side for a while, joking around and laughing. When they settled down, Jessica saw a young family walk by, a couple with a baby stroller. She smiled and pointed them to John. Seeing the family, John thought of him and Jessica having a family and he smiled.
"If we got married and had a son, what would you name him?" he asked Jessica.
"Joshua" she'd said without a thought. "Married?" she asked him when she replayed the question in her mind, thinking that it had been her imagination. She loved John and the thought of spending the rest of her life with him filled her with happiness. "Why not?" he said, hoping he had not ruined his chance with Jessica. Instead Jessica laughed. "What?" John laughed with her. "Nothing" she said, "It's just that I thought you wouldn't want to get married and have a family". John looked at her, got off from his swing and knelt in front of her. "I would love to marry you, Jess, and have a family" he said, cradling her face in his hands. "Really?" she said hopefully. "Really" he said, seriously. He loved this woman very much, and he wanted to spend the rest of his days with her and raise a family with her.
Jessica squealed in delight and hugged John until they both fell from the swing laughing. They stayed on the ground they had fallen on for a while and kissed.
"Why don't we take a trip to Mexico next month?" he suggested. "Yes" she said kissing him. They got up, dusted the sand off themselves off and walked out of the park. His arm on her waist and her arm on his waist, he leaned his head over hers.
He thought of getting out of the army. It would take some time, but he had served his country. He would do it and he would surprise her on the trip. Yep, everything seemed perfect now.
"Joshua" he muttered and looked at the boy's picture. "Did you know, Finch? Did you know she had a son?" he didn't need to mention Jessica's name. Finch knew exactly who he was talking about. Finch looked at Reese; how could he explain this to him?
"No, John. I didn't" he admitted. His eyes stared at the floor, looking as if he had failed some major test.
"How, Finch? I thought you could get on any piece of information" he said coldly.
"I didn't know because there wasn't any digital footprint for me to follow. Even the boy's birth certificate is not available" he reasoned with him.
"So how the hell did you get his Number?" he said the word in disgust. Not because he didn't like to say it. He didn't like to refer to the boy as a 'Number'.
"She must have applied for one for him, even though he would have been in danger" he thought.
"Danger?" he looked at Finch?
"It seems that Peter Arnt had borrowed some money from not so likeable characters" he walked back to his desk, clicked for a bit and revealed Peter's financial records. Most of them were already on the negative and some had unusual transactions made from various accounts.
"So we know the danger, now the question is who?" Reese concluded. This might proved to be difficult. By the looks of these accounts, Peter had various loan sharks after him. Anyone of them could be after the boy for the money.
"But the boy wouldn't have access to the money" Reese looked at Finch. "No, but his grandmother would. And they would use the boy to get it" Finch said. Reese looked at the boy's picture once again. He wasn't there to save Jessica but he wasn't going to make the same mistake again. Now that he knew that the child was in danger he could intervene, save him and eliminate every possible threat.
"What are you going to do, John?" Finch asked. He would never voice it, but he was concerned for his partner. He hoped John would not pull a Jenkins.
"I'll keep an eye on the boy. I'll try and see if anyone has done any moves on him" Reese said as he started to walk out of the library.
"Mr. Reese?" Finch called out. Reese turned to look at his boss. "Be careful" Finch said. Nodding, Reese walked out, got in his car and began the long drive to New Rochelle.
Finch looked at the little paper trail Joshua Arnt had. "Don't worry, Jessica, John will take good care of your son."
~POI~
As I said before I am really excited for this story. As for 'The Dancer' I'm still doing the chapter, I'm just having a bit of a hard time to make it flow, but I'm not giving up on it! For 'Firewall', I'm not sure how to continue it, but I'll keep trying on it.
As always R&R please!