AN: I'm seriously freaking out in happiness that Careese will be gracing my screen again! So this was going to be posted later but I can't because I seriously need to celebrate. POI just gave me the best birthday news! Bring on that episode! I don't even care if it's flashbacks, my babies are sharing the screen again!

John didn't want to focus on the fact that the people he had been hiding from had somehow found him. Didn't want to think about hurting his daughter by ripping her away from her friends, from her Uncle Lionel, and everything she has ever known. Not yet at least. Rather he wanted to focus on anything but that at this very moment and allow himself time to calm down.

He sat beside Joss in the backseat of the car, while a man with glasses drove, and the small brunette woman that he had spotted following him sat in the passenger seat.

John turned his head to look at Joss who was quietly looking at him. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"I am a homicide detective and my name really is Joss Carter, partnered with Lionel Fusco at the Eighth Precinct, but I'm helping my friends try to save your life. They are what you can consider a concerned third party," she tried.

"I don't give a damn who they consider themselves to be. I have to go get my daughter."

"She's safe at her friend's house for the time being. Once we have you at a safe house I'll go make sure she remains that way," Shaw said.

"How the hell do you know she's there? Just how long have you people been following me?"

"We have been trying to protect you since we got your name from a very reliable source that you were in danger," Joss started. "The source is never wrong." And Joss missed Finch's smile.

John pinned her with a look. "Does Lionel work for this 'concerned third party'?" John sounded highly skeptical.

"Yes."

"Did he tell you about me, about my past?"

"Yes." She thought she heard him curse under his breath. "Why did you change your name? What are you running from?"

He made a rough sound. "Like the cops can help me. I did what I had to do to protect my daughter and I will do it again."

"So what? You'll just keep shedding your names and life, keep running….from what, from who? Why don't you think the cops can help?" she asked.

"Because the people I'm running from are government. CIA for sure, and probably more government agencies are looking for me."

That got her attention. "Why?" When he didn't readily say anything, she grabbed his hand feeling him jump a little as they touched, and was glad she wasn't the only one unsettled by the attraction between them. Their gazes caught and held. "John, we can't help you if you don't talk to us. I know you probably don't trust me, or us, but let us try to prove to you that we are nothing but what we say we are."

"What, a concerned third party, only out to save my life and want nothing in return?"

She nodded. "Yes."

He exhaled a little roughly, looked out the window for a moment before looking back at her. He hadn't removed her hand from his she noted. "I foolishly believed a woman." He began slowly and stiffly, he didn't know why he was telling them, but he had nothing else left to lose. His careful planning had gone for nothing, and they still found him. "My fault really, I drank a little too much and was a little lonely. I believed her when she said she worked as a secretary. I didn't see any reason to believe she was lying to me."

Joss felt his fingers tighten subconsciously as if he was internally berating himself. She gently squeezed his hand in comfort. "No one would, John, unless you were extremely paranoid."

"I didn't see any reason to believe she was ex-CIA and on the run from her former employers. She had been fun, nice, flirting with me, and something meaningless which was exactly what I needed."

"So what happened, besides having meaningless sex?" Shaw asked as she turned around to peer back at him.

"She slipped out before I woke up, and at some point before that happened she had slipped a damned flashdrive into my coat."

"A flashdrive?" Shaw repeated. "Where did you go for this booty call?"

"She suggested renting a room at a hotel under my name. I was too drunk to drive or ask her why not rent it under her name." Joss felt her stomach clench. It sounded more like this woman took advantage of a weak moment for him, but wasn't going to point out the obvious. She suspected John beat himself up enough about it.

Shaw sighed. "Hotels have cameras galore for people looking for her or this flashdrive to use to realize she was with you."

He nodded. "I didn't realize it was in my pocket until I was already home. At first I didn't know why she put it in there but when I looked at what was on it, it became crystal clear why she slipped it on me."

"What's on it?"

"Government secrets, lots and lots of them, I'm assuming she was going to sell this to the highest bidder, but needed a place to stash it for some reason."

Joss nodded. "So she was a traitor to the country. What happened to make you go into hiding?"

"A balding man and a tall brunette woman came to my home days after that one night stand, asking for her, telling me she was former CIA and asking about the flashdrive. When I said I didn't know where she or the flashdrive was, they wanted to 'take' me somewhere to jog my memory."

"Why didn't you give them the flashdrive?" Finch asked.

"Because I had the distinct feeling they were going to kill me once I did. Call it a hunch, maybe I was being pessimistic, but my daughter had already lost her mother I wasn't going to let her lose her father too. Not without a fight."

Shaw snorted. "You have good instincts, Reese, because the CIA would have taken the flashdrive and put a bullet in your head as thanks. You're collateral damage, one civilian for the life of many," Shaw explained.

"How did you get away?" Finch asked quietly.

But before he could explain the small brunette woman Joss called 'Shaw' spoke up. "Judging by his right hook and the way he fights, he beat their asses," Shaw commented. John felt a small smile tug on his face unwillingly as the woman touched her eye gently, it was turning black and blue already.

"I took them by surprise. I think they both viewed me as a single dad who had no working knowledge of combat skills. I was put in lessons to learn and master krav maga and jujitsu in my youth at my father's insistence, that way if something happened to him I could protect my mother, and earned my black belts for both early in my teens. And I was well trained during my stint in Special Forces, so I downed them with little to no effort using their surprise to my advantage. I doubt I'll be able to do that again though since they know I have experience."

"They won't touch you or your daughter," Joss promised darkly. There was no way she was losing this man; John turned sharply to eye her with a startled look at the fierce way she spoke. She cleared her throat forcing herself to relax. "But uh, you got away, changed your name, changed your daughter's, and fled?" He just nodded his head in agreement. "Why stay in New York?" Joss asked.

"Because New York is home," he said; the answer was extremely vague if you asked her, there was more to it than just that. "I hid in Manhattan because of the amount of people that live here. I've lived a very quiet life, rented a home instead of purchased. I don't have credit cards, I pay for everything with cash and I'm very careful to not draw any attention to myself."

"Yeah, but why not go start a new life somewhere else, John?" Joss prodded.

He shrugged his shoulders before looking out the window. "My daughter loves Uncle Lionel and she has no memory of her mother, I wasn't going to take someone she loved so much away from her. Plus Lionel was drinking heavier as his marriage crumbled in around him, himself, and he was there for me when mine did and I was going to be there for him too. I couldn't disappear on him, he's my best friend and like a brother to me."

"So that's why you asked Fusco not to ask you why you changed who you were, because you were afraid of risking his life."

He nodded. "I made damn sure when I changed who I was there would be no trail back to Fusco. And I don't have any family left, the only real friend and family I had was Lionel. Most of my 'friends' were Jessica's so once I filed for divorce and she died, those so called friends scattered."

Joss nodded. There was more they needed to know about him fading John Davis away and becoming John Reese, like did he use any low life criminal known for forgeries to help him introduce Reese to the world? And if he did, then that was a tangible trail for someone who was looking for him to use to find him. But for now, it was time to let it rest. Let him catch him breath because he looked tense and very unhappy.

Shaw spoke up. "Where's the flashdrive now?" steering the conversation back to why his life could be in danger.

"I have it with me at all times, I couldn't run the risk of it falling into the wrong hands. It might be placing my life at risk but if this falls into someone else's hands who would sell it to the highest bidder it won't be just my life that's on the line." Joss eyed him. Even though the CIA was trying to kill him because of it being in his unfortunate possession, he was still safeguarding it from less scrupulous people until he could manage to give it to the right people without getting himself killed. John Davis or John Reese, whatever you wanted to call him, was a good man in a shitty situation. They had to help him, they just had to help get his life back to him. She couldn't save Cal, but this man she could and damn it, she was going to!

Finch pulled up to their safe house. "We'll figure out what to do once we have Mr. Reese safe. His life is in danger because of his having the flashdrive in his possession," he finally said after absorbing the conversation and as they exited the car.

"I think Veronica, or at least that's the name she gave me, is alive," John admitted earning himself looks.

"Why do you think that?" Joss wondered as they entered the main floor of the luxury apartments, leading John towards the elevators.

He shrugged. "Those men that I dropped in the alleyway asked for the flashdrive. No one knows about it besides the government and Veronica."

Shaw nodded her head. "The hit squad that had been sent after Reese was low level players, while the people in the SUV were definite heavy hitters, probably the CIA. Finch, I think we need to look into matters and find out if Reese has a bounty placed on him. If Veronica is hanging around New York looking for him and can't come out of hiding for fear of the CIA catching up with her double crossing ass, she'll use the criminal underworld to do her dirty work for her," she said as they entered the elevator to get to the top floor where the safe house was.

"Very possible Ms. Shaw, I'll look into that matter after we get John settled in."

"I can't believe we missed our chance at apprehending Davis due to a private security detail," Kara snarled as her partner, she and Mark sat in a diner drinking coffee.

Mark nodded. "We need Davis so he can lure Ronnie out in the open. Our informant spotted her in Manhattan days ago but lost track of her. We believe she's back in the state and out of seclusion looking for the man she stashed the flashdrive with. This is our first lead since she went MIA along with Davis." And finding this Davis guy had been just luck, too bad they didn't know what alias he was living under.

Kara and her partner Grimes nodded. It angered her to be back in the States, especially when they had been in Paris deep undercover. Now all their hard work might be for naught since being assigned to handle the 'Freeman' case once more.

"Well I hope it pays off, Snow, because Kara and I were getting close to making a deal with our target in Paris. We have to hope like hell they bought that we went on a mini business vacation to the States," Grimes stated, annoyed much like her.

"Our French informant is watching the target and he has no idea that you are not who you say are, on business in the States. The deal will go down as planned after we end this Freeman case. We clean up our messes," Snow stated.

"Our mess?" Kara pointed between her and Grimes, both eyeing their handler in contempt. "Freeman isn't our mess, Mark, it's yours. Better be careful if the CIA learns you aren't a capable handler, you might just get yourself replaced."

"Don't threaten me, Kara, as Ronnie was your former partner who stole government secrets placing them on that flashdrive to sell to our enemies."

"And she acted alone as I stated during my intensive interrogation," Kara declared with a dark look, recalling just what had been done to her to find out if she was telling the truth. "Grimes had been ready to execute her, but you failed to get Freeman to the neutral site to do it." Kara left off that had she not been taken to a black site to be tortured as she was interrogated to make sure she did not commit treason as well, none of this would have happened, and her double crossing partner would be dead already.

"She must have been tipped off prior that we knew what she stole, slept with the unsuspecting Davis fellow, and hid the flashdrive on him." Snow remarked.

Kara eyed Snow with hatred. "Maybe what tipped her off was the fact that I was taken to the black site and she was told I was on leave." She never took leave unless she had been injured, Ronnie knew that.

He shook his head. "No, you had worked months in a row without leave, she couldn't have known that was a ploy."

"There you go again, Snow, thinking that your agents aren't more intelligent than you," Kara growled, loving nothing more to kill this man someday.

Grimes eyed the two of them. "Who the fuck cares how she figured it out, she did. We have new information so we can clean this shit up now, then we can get back to Paris and get that briefcase," he snapped, really fucking hating these two, really wishing the higher ups would kill one or the other, hell even both.

"Well Mark what's the plan?" Kara demanded.

"Simple Kara, once we apprehend Davis to help lure Ronnie out with the use of the flashdrive, we get the flashdrive and kill them both," Kara nodded her head, she wouldn't mind fucking this Davis man herself before she killed him. The man was quite the looker and she could use him to itch that scratch she had.

"I'll kill Davis myself," she offered after she had a little fun first, imagining the things she would do to him.

He shrugged. "Just as long as he actually ends up dead Kara, with no mistakes."

"Don't worry, Mark, I'm not you," she snarled. And with that the three of them tensely got to their feet, threw money on the table and left.

Shaw and Finch left the safe house, Lionel had called and John and he had talked for about fifteen minutes. It was clear John didn't fully trust them, but once Lionel said that he did, John did relax a little. Not completely but a little, he seemed a little better once Shaw promised on her life to make sure his daughter was safe. Joss suspected that Shaw's unwavering eye contact had sold John that she was telling him the truth that she would protect his daughter with her dying breath. If anyone Shaw had a soft spot for it was children and she was going to hover near the home the little girl was staying at all night. Fusco agreed to keep Aubrey in the dark about what was going on and go pick up John's daughter tomorrow, take her to her soccer practice then to a karate lesson before bringing her to the safe house. Finch left after he had explained he needed to go speak to an associate and Joss wondered if the 'associate' was Elias but didn't ask. Instead she agreed to sit and stay with John for a little while until he came back.

He paced the length of the floor looking very much like a caged animal. "It will be okay, John; we'll get this cleared up for you so you and your daughter can be safe."

John stopped his nervous pacing. "I don't understand how they found me though. I was careful."

She shrugged. "They could have found something you overlooked. When you became John Reese, did you use any low-level criminal to help you?"

"No, I'm not the world's best hacker but I picked up on a couple things from others to get me by." he muttered looking slightly embarrassed at admitting his intelligence for some reason. She didn't understand why, but he looked adorable at the moment, at admitting he knew how to hack. Finch would love that attribute about him, while she would bet Shaw was probably happier about his combat skills. John fit in with her misfit friends.

"Then perhaps it was just blind luck, you can't plan or prepare for that," she assured him before she patted the couch beside her. John slowly moved over to her and sat down. Their shoulders, legs, and hips touched. She casually eased away to give herself a little space.

"Can I ask you a question, Joss?" She eyed him questioning. "So our date was what?—to find out more about me?" he questioned.

She looked down. "Yes."

"It meant nothing."

She looked up, staring into his blue eyes, seeing that he gave nothing away. "Finch and Shaw thought I could get close to you to protect you if we went out. Fusco was against the very idea of it, so please don't be mad at him. He didn't want us to do that, but we didn't know how to get close to you, to get you to feel comfortable enough to tell us what was going on in your life."

He looked away. "I see…."

"I'm sorry John," said sincerely. She never meant to hurt him at all.

He nodded before looking at her. "At least it explains why you lied when you came by the academy."

"About that, I'm sorry. I'm normally a truthful person."

"So tell me, detective, why do you do this?"

"It's Joss, please," she corrected. "And do what?—save people? Because it's my job to protect people isn't it?"

"Yes but this is above and beyond typical duty."

She shrugged. "I want to make a difference. Finch and Shaw offered me something I couldn't pass up, the ability to be there in time to prevent a death from happening."

John's eyes were so piercing and so penetrating, she felt like he was seeing into her soul. "Who did you lose?"

"Excuse me?" Joss was astonished at how accurate he was at reading people. It was just another thing he was good at. He seriously needed to think about becoming a real cop someday, they could use a man like him on the force. Smart, not just book smart or common sense smart, but he also had street smarts. He had a vast knowledge of many things, he had combat skills, weapon skills, and he read people like a book. The attraction she felt for this man just went up another notch (as if that was possible) and she was aggravated with him for not being just some pretty but dumb tool who she wouldn't be attracted to in the least.

"I'm assuming you lost someone that you couldn't save." he prodded.

She shifted uncomfortably and not because of the conversation. "I lost someone, but he wasn't the reason I joined to help Finch and Shaw. I help them because it's the right thing to do."

He nodded. "So who was it that you lost? You mentioned your ex-husband was through divorce or was that a lie too?"

She swallowed hard, realizing he honestly wasn't sure what to believe. "John, the only thing I lied to you about is why I wanted to meet you. Everything I told you about myself, about my son, or my job was all the truth. And I omitted the real reason for the date, but, your life was in danger so you have to get me some brownie points in my favor." She tried for a light teasing.

But he didn't crack a smile at her lame attempt at lightening the mood between them. "Lionel said it wasn't like you to lie."

"And that's the truth," she agreed.

"He also said I might be letting my past screw with my perception of women now. Maybe he's right, maybe I'm just cynical, but you lied and I'm not sure what to believe about you."

She eyed him, seeing nothing but honesty residing in his blue depths. He honestly didn't know if he could trust her or not. Jessica did quite the number on him. "I promise that everything I tell you will be nothing but the truth."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Joss."

"I don't," she said simply; John looked at her with an intense expression before it was gone. "But, you asked about who I lost, the man I lost was murdered by HR."

"I heard about them. I heard a cop single handedly brought them down, which I assume was you?" he asked.

She smiled warmly. "I had help," she admitted.

"Who was the man that you lost?"

She looked straight ahead. "His name was Cal, he worked in Narcotics. I thought he had ties to HR but he didn't, he died without knowing I believed in him. I let my natural mistrust, let my fears of falling for a guy that turned out to be wrong for me, get in the way and I lost him. But I wasn't going to let his death be chalked up to a bust gone wrong. I knew he was murdered, I just couldn't prove it. It took a long time to gather evidence against HR, especially since they got me dropped down to officer."

He furrowed his brows. "What happened?"

"I was in a good shoot, a guy was going to shoot me and I shot first. But a HR crony made the gun disappear, I got demoted and was told to take it or they would kill Fusco or my kid."

"Sorry," he murmured.

She waved him off. "It's all done and over with now, thankfully."

"So this Cal, is he the reason you reacted the way you did back at your apartment after I kissed you on our 'not' real date? Or is it because I kissed you and you weren't supposed to kiss me back?" he asked.

"John, as I said that night, if I didn't want your kiss I would have knocked your teeth in. I haven't gotten the chance to even process Cal's death and he died nine months ago. I spent the last eight months as a lowly little officer, trying to bring down HR until just a few weeks ago, getting my chance after learning who the head of it was. I have had to bury it for a long time, so I'm finally getting the chance to grieve," she admitted. While she hadn't been in love with Cal, she had cared for him, and she couldn't erase the measure of guilt she harbored. Not yet, at least.

She looked in his eyes, and got kind of locked in some crazy eye contact that it took great willpower to tear her gaze away from his. And then her stupid gaze fell to his mouth and the jerk licked his lips. "But that's enough about me, John," she stated in what could only be described as a hoarse and desperate tone as she stood up to get some much needed distance between them. The closer they were together the more she felt the strong and powerful magnetic pull towards him. She hadn't felt like this in a very LONG time, the last time she felt this kind of instant and overwhelming attraction had been when she met her ex-husband Paul.

John's eyes were watchful. "I thought you weren't going to lie to me anymore."

She looked at him confused. "What do you mean? Everything I just told you was the truth."

He nodded. "It was," he agreed. "But I don't know, I get the feeling that our date was more real than you are letting on."

"I didn't lie, John. That date was to get close to you, to help save your life," she said, sidestepping what he said.

"And there was nothing else to it?" he demanded as he stood up, not dropping it as she had hoped. She swallowed hard as she was unable to answer him. "I thought so, detective."

"John," she made a tight sound as he wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her to him. Joss was pressing up against him, her breasts against his chest, their pelvises touching, and the sensations of them touching so intimately was arousing. She rested her hands on his chest. She should push him away, but instead she stood there feeling her heart begin to race. She had to lean her head back to look him in the eyes.

His were downcast, searching her face for something. "Why do I like you so much, Joss?" he wondered out loud, as if she could give him a reason for it. "I haven't liked anyone quite this way in a long time, since Jessica." She knew the feeling.

She nearly moaned as his eyes slid to her mouth. "I'm not anything like Jessica, John," she whispered, feeling herself succumb to the heady sexual allure between them.

He smiled as his eyes lifted to hers. "I know." He dipped his head to kiss her. She felt his warm breath fan across her lips, and her eyes on his the entire way as her lips parted, wanting his kiss more than her next breath when the door to the safe house opened. Joss pulled free of the spell overtaking her as she jerked out of his hold. Joss looked anywhere but at John as her senses were on overload. His sexy scent filled her nose, touching him was like setting her body on fire, his voice was like sex to the ears, and the man was seriously easy on the eyes. God, this was not good, John was a lethal combination. She gulped as she nervously fidgeted with her blouse as Finch entered with Bear in tow.

"You're back, Finch. Good, because I have to go now," she said as she backed up from John, right into the sofa nearly toppling backward before she caught her balance. John was watching her with an unknown look and Finch wasn't paying any attention to her as he was hanging up his jacket and fedora.

"Yes, thank you detective."

Bear hurried over to the newcomer and John's penetrating gaze slid off her finally, letting her breathe again, and she groaned softly as he bent over to pet the dog. Her eyes roamed over his butt before she blinked and rushed around him.

Joss was extremely careful to not even brush up near the man and made a beeline for the door. "Bye," she muttered without looking back at the men, snatching her jacket off the hook, and hurried out the door.

Finch watched the detective leave in a hurry. "She must have another engagement she has to attend to."

"That must be it," John agreed with a smirk as he continued to pet the dog.

AN: Meh, I'm not sure on the timeframe of how long between when Joss technically was killed off from when she got demoted or when Cal Beecher was killed off on the show, so I hope the timeframe is correct or at least close. But if not I apologize. Next chapter the team hatches a plan that is HATED by Fusco XD

Thanks for reading XOXOXOXOXOXOX