Time for another short Blindspot fic. BTHB with the prompt Go Through Me", which was requested by my lovely beta. She also gets credit for honing some of the dialogue to be more in character and for the idea of the ending. Thank you!
I hope you guys like this one!
Wake-Up Call
"Where the hell is the backup, Patterson?" Jane heard Kurt's barked question in her comms and saw his agitation as he crouched on the other side of the doorframe, taking cover.
"They're less than 10 minutes away, Weller. Just hang on."
"We might not have 10 minutes!"
Returning fire against their assailants with her pistol, Jane wondered briefly how they'd ended up in this situation. It was supposed to be a simple case of picking up an accountant for protective custody in a case they were working on. Unfortunately, the crime syndicate had had the same idea, and their footmen appeared at the residence right when she and Kurt were about to escort the man and his teenage daughter to the SUV. They had quickly retreated to the upstairs bedroom where they were now, exchanging fire with the gunmen.
As the fire died down for a few moments, Jane glanced at Kurt as he tried to glimpse downstairs to see how many opponents they were facing. Luckily only one of them had managed to reach the second floor landing and was in a bedroom down the hall from them.
"What's your ammo count?" She asked Kurt.
His look was resolute, but she could see the worry in his eyes too. "Last mag." If their back up didn't arrive soon, this would end badly for them. She then glanced at the accountant, who was wearing the bulletproof vest they had brought with them. He was sitting in the bedroom closet, holding his daughter who was smothered in Kurt's way-too-large body armor. Kurt had insisted the girl take it, for the father's peace of mind if nothing else. Jane could only smile at the gesture that was so characteristic of her husband. She had offered to give the daughter her body armor, but at Kurt's quick and adamant "no!", she relented. She didn't have time to reason with him when bullets were flying.
Kurt ducked back around the doorframe on his side, as the bullets impacting the wall showered Jane's face with plaster and splinters. He fired off a couple of shots, followed by the sound of a groan as his rounds had hit someone downstairs.
"Jane," Kurt whispered to get her attention. He nodded towards the next room signaling with his hand he was going to cross there.
She shook her head vehemently. "Kurt, no!"
"We need to draw their fire away from this room."
"OK, then let me go. I still have my vest on."
"No, you're not going."
"Yes, I am." Before Kurt had a chance to argue further, Jane sprinted and dived into the room next door, a strain of bullet impacts trailing her path, but luckily missing. Feeling the adrenalin buzz in her body, she took a couple of deep breaths, and whispered a quick "I'm okay" into her comms.
Suddenly, a voice called out to them from downstairs. "Hey, Feds!"
"What?" Jane could hear the irritation in Kurt's voice.
"We just want Reisner. Give him to us, and we'll let you walk out of here."
"He's in federal protective custody right now, so you can't have him." Kurt replied almost flippantly, trying to play for time until their backup could get there.
"Doesn't look too protective from where I'm looking," the gunman replied.
Jane used the moment to check her ammunition. Pressing the magazine release of her Glock 19, she grabbed the magazine, and slid it out of the magazine well until she saw where the last round was. She sighed. "8 in mag, 1 in the chamber. Where the hell are they? They need to get here soon or the only thing to find are going to be dead bodies." Slamming the magazine back in, she continued listening to the exchange between Kurt and the leader of the hit team.
"If you want him, you'll need to go through me!" Kurt shouted back.
The reply was a few more rounds hitting the doorway that Kurt was crouching behind. Jane could hear the fearful, short scream of Reisner's daughter as the firing started again. The poor girl hadn't had any idea what her father had been involved in before Kurt and Jane had shown up at their door.
The exchange of gunfire continued, and the assailants were starting to advance upstairs more brazenly when they noticed that Kurt and Jane weren't firing back as much, trying to conserve their ammunition.
"Hey, you hear that?" Kurt soon bellowed over the gunfire. Jane listened and then she heard it too. Sirens. Backup.
"That's our backup!" Kurt continued. "You better make a decision! Die or be arrested, or slink out of here. The choice is yours."
Despite their shrinking odds, a couple of the gunmen, including their leader, decided to stay put. Kurt was right, they died in an exchange of fire with the Reade and the agents who arrived.
"Weller! Jane!" She heard Reade call out to them from downstairs.
Kurt gave her a quick once-over, as she emerged from the room. "You okay?"
Jane saw the worry in Kurt's eyes and smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm fine, Kurt."
Kurt nodded at Reisner and his daughter, indicating that it was safe for them to come out of hiding and head outside.
Jane smiled at the girl, and touched her shoulder comfortingly, as she fell instep beside the girl as they headed downstairs, with Kurt following behind them.
They had just stepped off the porch of the old farmhouse, and Jane had turned the girl and Reisner to the agents there, when she heard Kurt's alarmed voice.
"Jane…"
He was standing on the last step of the porch stairs, the look in his eyes a mixture of shock and confusion, as he pulled his hand away from under his black shirt and saw it was red.
"Oh, God no. He's been hit."
The next moment, his knees buckled and he collapsed on the ground.
"KURT!" Jane sprinted to him, dropping to her knees beside him. Now, she noticed the large stain of blood soaking the bottom of his black shirt. Carefully lifting it, she tried to wipe away the blood to see the wound right by the edge of his jeans.
"There's too much blood. He's going to bleed out right here. I can't lose him," the voice inside her was verging on panic.
She took Kurt's hand, firmly placing it on the wound, putting her own hand on his and pressing down. She heard Kurt groan in pain. Not able to look at the blood seeping through their hands, she focused on Kurt's face. It was glistening with sweat, his brow furrowed in pain as he tried to lift his head to look at the wound.
Jane caressed his cheek with her free hand, guiding his head to the ground. "Hey, Kurt. Don't look at that. Look at me," she told him, hoping her voice sounded steadier than she felt. She could see he struggled to focus his eyes on her, but she gave him a small smile as she locked eyes with him.
Keeping her hands on him, she turned hear head over her shoulder, shouting. "Kurt's been hit! Get an ambulance, NOW!"
"Jane…" he whispered weakly, his eyes almost closed.
She kept running her fingers over his forehead gently, small traces of blood leaving trails on it. "I'm right here, Kurt. I've got you." The voice inside her was getting more desperate. "He's fading. He's dying."
He tried to move his hand from on top of the wound to interlace his fingers with hers.
"No, no. You need to keep pressure on that," she told him, her voice quivering. She interlaced her fingers with his on top of the wound, and pressed down harder, desperately trying to stem the bleeding as Kurt let out a wail of agony.
"I'm sorry, I have to do it," she whispered and leaned down to place a kiss on his forehead.
"I feel tired," Kurt mumbled quietly, and closed his eyes, his breathing getting shallower.
Jane moved her hand to his neck, feeling his pulse. It was thready. She gently lifted him into her arms, cradling him close with her free arm. "Stay with me, Kurt. Please, stay with me," she pleaded with him, whispering into his hair as tears trailed down her face.
After a couple of minutes, Jane realized he had stopped breathing. Her vision blurred by tears, she brought her hand to his cheek, tracing his stubbled cheek softly. "Kurt, no! No! Please, no!" She sobbed, as she squeezed him close to her.
Jane jerked awake, a feeling of anxiety nearly overwhelming her, her heart racing. It took her a couple of seconds to orient herself. "You're home." Feeling Kurt's solid body pressed against her back and feeling his steady breath on her neck, she let out a shuddering breath as her heartbeat slowly returned to normal. "He's alive. He's right here, with you."
Her hand sought out his that rested on her stomach. She interlaced their hands and squeezed his fingers, as she backed further into his chest, seeking assurance that he was really there.
As she moved, he instinctively tightened his hold on her, stirring slightly. "Everything okay?" Kurt mumbled against her, still half asleep.
"Yeah, just a bad dream," was her quiet, timid answer.
He squeezed her fingers and pressed a sleepy kiss to her neck, sheltering her in his embrace. "Go back to sleep. I've got you," he whispered.
"I love you, Kurt," she replied, feeling safe again as she closed her eyes.
"Love you, too," he managed, before starting to snore softly again.
