"When is he gonna show up?" Shaw spoke up with a mouthful of food as Joss sipped her coffee at the team's favorite diner. It had been three days since the CIA left in search of John Reese in Washington, which allowed John to leave the safe house. Finch had handed John a card, then he vanished. Finch was cutting into his eggs, Fusco was eating plain pancakes, and Shaw was shoveling bacon strip after bacon strip into her mouth. Joss hadn't felt hungry, she was too nervous and excited, so instead she had just ordered a coffee while she waited.
"Ms. Shaw, Mr. Reese called, cautiously showing interest into helping us and I invited him to join us for breakfast, but he didn't actually say he was going to come."
"He'll be here," Shaw muttered, sucking down her orange juice before nodding her head to Carter. "If he knows she's here, he'll come." She lifted her brow.
"And why would it matter if I was here or not?" she demanded.
"Detective." Joss turned in her seat and saw John sauntering his way over to them. Several female heads turned his way, giving him an appreciative glance, but he ignored them all. He was in black jeans, a dark gray button down shirt, and long wool coat. Finch scooted over to allow the man to sit beside him, which he did.
"Are you healing, John?" she asked, starved to know if he was alright, to talk to him again. He was so interesting, so intriguing, like one giant mystery that she wanted to solve.
"I'm better," he answered just as the waitress made her way over.
"Hi there, I'm Kelly, what would you like to drink?" Joss hid a roll of her eyes with looking down into her cup of coffee. When the waitress had appeared to get their order before John arrived, the woman hadn't even bothered to introduce herself which was clearly written on her name tag. Now all of a sudden this girl was extra friendly.
"A coffee, black." He answered quietly. The young woman nodded before she rushed off. John looked around at the group, his eyes fell onto hers just before Finch spoke up.
"I'm glad you came, Mr. Reese."
"I was in the neighborhood," he answered, giving a small shrug. The waitress appeared placing his cup of steaming hot black coffee in front of him.
"Would you like to order breakfast, sir?" the waitress asked as she smiled at John. He looked up at her, giving her a polite one in return.
"What's on special?"
"For you, anything you want,"the waitress flirted.
"Hey, you told me the trucker's delight!" Shaw stated irritatingly with bacon bits on her lips. The waitress, Kelly, glared at Shaw before sending John an adoring look.
"The trucker's delight is our special, but I can make an exception for you if you want something else. Personally I recommend our stack of chocolate stuffed pancakes, they're delicious." Joss narrowed her eyes at the way the waitress was moving closer to John, turning her body to address him and only him like the rest of them weren't even there.
"Sounds good."
"It comes with a side of hashbrowns, and choice of bacon or sausage."
"Just the pancakes and hashbrowns will be fine, Kelly." She grinned as she wrote his order on her pad.
"They'll be right up," she promised as she whirled around and flew to the back to go give the cook the new order. All eyes were on John.
"What?" he asked.
"I need to take wonder boy with me to more places, I could get used to getting a lot of free stuff," Fusco joked as he ate his own normal fluffy pancakes.
"So, Mr. Reese, have you decided if you are willing to work with us or not?" Finch spoke up bringing the conversation back to why they were all there in the first place.
"I have."
"Well, what did you decide?" Joss demanded when he didn't say yes or no, and John's eyes slid to her in amusement.
"Impatient are we, detective?"
"No, just spit it out already." she said with a huff, noticing his blue eyes twinkling with laughter before he grew serious once more.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to know more, but I haven't decided if I want to remain in New York." She felt deflated by his answer. She'd been hoping he was going to say he was willing to help with the numbers, find a place to stay here, so she could learn more about him. But his answer was tentative, unsure, and exactly what she figured he would say but hoped he wouldn't.
"I understand completely, Mr. Reese, maybe a trial run would be best."
"A trial run, like a mock number?" he scoffed.
"Well no, not a mock number, more like help with a real number and see if it's what you wish to do, and if you don't want to help with any additional numbers I'll give you enough money to send you anywhere you want to go," Finch explained. "No questions asked, you are free to leave when you want, John."
The waitress appeared before John could give his answer, coming with his plate full of food. She grinned as she placed it in front of him, bending a little more than necessary, and Joss noticed that the waitress unbuttoned the top two buttons of her snug little blouse. Could this girl be any more obvious? The girl turned placing the bill on the table and left when John didn't bother saying anything to her. Shaw and Joss both made an attempt to look at the bill, but Fusco snatched it up before they could.
"Wonder boy is eating for free, go figure," Fusco stated, looking at the bill with a smirk. Shaw snatched it out of his hand and Joss leaned over to look at it herself.
"She even drew a smiley face near your meal, Reese." Shaw stated with a sick look on her face. "I might vomit the trucker's delight right back up."
"Please don't," Joss murmured, but echoed Shaw's feeling.
"She's just being friendly," John explained, cutting into a pancake, missing all the rolling of the eyes from everyone at the table except Finch, before opening his mouth and placing a fork full of food in his mouth. Joss couldn't tear her gaze away from his mouth, he moaned, and she squirmed in reaction. "She is right though, this is delicious."
"Who knew that Kelly, the slutty waitress, was telling the truth," Shaw grumbled to her but Joss didn't even bother responding. Her gaze, her focus, her everything was on John. The way his jaw worked as he ate, his tongue licking out to clear the chocolate on his upper lip, and the way his Adam's apple moved as he swallowed. Watching him eat felt like she was watching a porno she realized because she felt warm between her legs. She felt a sharp elbow to the side pulling her unblinking stare from John's mouth to glare at Shaw, who leaned into her. "You look a little hot under the collar, Carter." She whispered in her ear.
"I'm fine." She assured under her breath. "So John, are you going to help out on a case?" she asked drawing his attention up from his pancakes.
"Yes," he agreed slowly. "I'll help on one case and then decide."
"I'm glad, Mr. Reese, because we have a new number," Finch smiled, bringing all gazes on to him in surprise. He hadn't told any of them that they had a new number; he slid a photo out onto the table from his suit. It was of a woman without makeup on and who had a hideous green turtleneck on in the photo. "Her name is Heather Penski, age thirty-three and single."
"With that mug, it's not a wonder." Shaw said, earning glares from everyone. Carter got to pay her back for the elbow into the side because she elbowed her back hard. Shaw flicked a look up and sighed, "I meant, how IS it possible for her to be single, I mean look at that sexy turtleneck." Carter was going to teach this woman a thing or two about decorum if it killed her!
"She's the personal assistant to Richard Bandy who is the CEO for Capital Union."
"He's the Senate hopeful, right?" John murmured while he ate. Finch smiled at him. "What? Just because I was hiding from the CIA didn't mean I didn't keep up with the news."
"You're precisely right, Mr. Reese. We need to learn more about her to learn why her number came up, and if she is the perpetrator or victim."
"Well, we need some more information on her boss, Mr. Richard Bandy. It might lead to an idea of where the threat is coming from," Joss spoke.
"You believe in her too?" She looked at John who spoke up, and she realized she didn't even question the fact that she believed this girl was the victim. "Is there anyone you don't believe in, Joss?"
"Does she look like someone who is going to commit a violent act?" Carter asked.
"Never know, I've been fooled before." She clenched her teeth, realizing he was questioning her instincts because she instinctively believed in him.
"So have I, but, as I said before, I'm usually right when it comes down to these things." He just stared at her without saying much. She waited for his rebuttal and when none came she grinned.
"I think we're missing something between the two of you," Shaw said, looking between her and John, back and forth. "But we know someone who might have more detailed information on her boss, Mr. Bandy."
"Zoe Morgan," Finch stated before placing more eggs into his mouth. Joss frowned when Zoe was brought up. For some reason she didn't want John to meet the woman, though she told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that Zoe was beautiful and every guy's dream. "I'll give her a call to meet with Ms. Shaw and Mr. Reese."
Joss was about to say she would join them when her cell phone rang; she yanked out her jacket. "Like your new phone, Joss," John motioned. She moved her replacement cell closer to her protectively. Thanks to him her other one had gone sailing and then he'd stolen Fusco's! What did he have against technology?
"Carter," she barked into it, smiling at John, feeling ridiculous since he couldn't hear her thoughts.
"Hey Carter, get your partner and head to Columbia Park, a body was found dumped there," her captain responded dryly. Their new captain, Captain Elaine Lennex was good, fair, and hard-nosed. The previous captain was axed when the whole downfall of HR happened.
"Sure thing." She sighed, well there went the idea of going with John and Shaw for the meet-and-greet with Zoe. She hung up. "We need to go, Fusco, duty calls." He nodded pulling out his wallet, when Finch shook his head.
"I'm buying breakfast for all of you for a job well done," Finch explained, his eyes flickering to John who was quietly busy eating his pancakes.
"Well thanks, Einstein, had I known that I would have gone for something more expensive," Fusco joked as he stood up from the chair he was sitting on. Carter slid from her seat as well. John looked up, watching her. He looked like he wanted to say something to her but refrained from doing so. She nodded her head at him, before turning to walk with Fusco out of the diner without saying a word. They climbed into their respective cars, leaving her time to do little else but think about John and Zoe meeting as she drove towards Columbia Park. Fisher had easily fallen under her charms; it wasn't that far of a stretch to believe John could too. And Zoe would get a load of John, and be all over him, not that she blamed her, John was a good looking man. Her mind went back and forth, and she sighed exasperated with herself. So what if John might end up liking Zoe, or Zoe liking John? It wasn't like she had any say in the matter. They weren't anything. She helped save him, but otherwise that was it.
She decided to push the blasted man out of her mind, as nearly fifteen minutes later she arrived at Columbia Park and Fusco parked beside her. They exited their cars. "You okay, Carter?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she answered with a look that she reserved for suspects that were angering her.
"I don't know, you seem upset or angry, I can't figure out which."
"Well I'm neither," she assured him.
"You sure?"
"I'm sure,"she answered shortly, but she realized that her assurance of not being angry or upset was premature because the amount of reporters near the crime scene tape was going to give her a headache. "What the hell!"
"It's a media circus, who the hell bit the big one?" Fusco asked.
"Not sure, captain only said to get down here, that a body was found,"she answered as they made their way towards the crowd where a uni was trying his best at keeping the crowd contained. Reporters were throwing question after question at the poor young man who looked like he was exasperated to his limit. Another uniformed officer lifted the crime scene tape for them as she and Fusco showed their badges, moving forward towards a mass of uniforms who were waiting and a CSU team was investigating.
"What do we have?" she demanded as an officer made his way towards them, before turning to walk with them towards the body.
"A real problem on our hands or shall I say your problem now. Witness says he found her just about an hour ago," Officer Denton said with a thick New York accent, as he motioned to the victim. She glanced at her watch seeing it was seven thirty in the morning now. They peered at the vic and Fusco sighed.
"What, Fusco, you know her?"
"Not really know her, more know of her," he corrected.
"If you are thinking that the victim is the good looking former child star Ingrid Macey than it is exactly who you are thinking of," Denton said. Joss looked at Fusco with a smirk.
"What, I used to have her poster on my wall when I was young." He shrugged and she hid her laughter with a sweeping glance at the crowd near the crime scene tape.
"No wonder we have a zoo with the paparazzi, reporters, and everything else over there." She gestured to the swarm before they both moved close to the dead woman as she looked at the chief medical examiner, waiting for him to finish up his notes while his team was still taking photographs of the crime scene.
"Do you have a time of death?"
"I'd say approximately two a.m. last night, preliminary cause of death is blunt force trauma to the front of the head, but I'll get the full report to you ASAP, Carter."
"Thanks, Kev,"
"No problemo," he replied with a smile as he moved away.
"Well if Kevin is right, Fusco, then she was killed somewhere else and her body had to be dumped here some time between two and six." She motioned to the body that was lying face down on the cold Earth. If cause of death was due to a blow to the front of the head, than there was no way she could be laying on her stomach sprawled out the way she was.
"Yeah, look at this Carter." Fusco motioned, squatting down, pointing with a gloved hand to her lifeless left hand.
"She fought back hard," Joss said with a curt nod, seeing the dried blood beneath the nails. "We need to search her place, find out who would want to kill her and why." Fusco nodded, standing up to full height before moving with her. What she knew for certain so far was that this woman's death wasn't premeditated because Finch's super computer would have given her number if it had.
As they walked back to their cars, reporters thrust their microphones into their faces; her dry 'no comment' didn't seem to resonate with a few more overly enthusiastic reporters as they shouted ninety questions at once. She ignored them all, glad to have a case to keep her mind off the fact that John was going to meet the very attractive Zoe Morgan.
"Hello Shaw," Zoe greeted as Shaw walked towards the leggy brunette. Finch had gone back to the library after the detectives left the diner, leaving Shaw and Reese together. They finished up their breakfast quietly, while he had to endure the eager waitress's lame come ons and was given a phone number he promptly threw away in the trash bin outside. Finch had called Zoe to arrange a meeting for information on Richard Bandy. She agreed, asking to meet at Mario's at noon. Shaw and Reese spent the time between breakfast and the meeting with Zoe learning as much information as they could about Heather Penski and making sure she was safe at Capital Union. Reese offered a lot of good theories and she felt like he would be a good fit if he so chose to stick with helping with the numbers.
"Hey, Zoe," she greeted with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, which wasn't much as she slid into a seat across from Fisher's former conquest. Zoe hadn't been devastated by Fisher's death; though, she was sure the woman had some sort of feelings for him by the shell shocked look on her face when they told her he was gone.
"Let's hurry I have a client to meet here in fifteen minutes, Richard Bandy…." Zoe began but she held up a hand to cease her speech. "What? Isn't it a little early in the afternoon for drinks of the alcoholic kind anyway?" Zoe teased.
"Never too early, but I gotta wait for my new trainee."
"Trainee? You and Harold do that?"
"Yeah, he's one of those wounded three legged animals Finch saves and gives them a reason to go on."
"Like you," Zoe said with a smile. Shaw turned to see Reese entering the restaurant.
"Sort of, he's got way too much baggage, but he's here," Shaw stated before looking at Zoe once more. She rolled her eyes at Zoe, the woman was looking at Reese much like most women did when they first got a load of him-her included, she thought dejectedly. He sat down across from Zoe, sitting next to Shaw.
"You must be Zoe Morgan," he offered his hand which Zoe shook.
"And you must be the new trainee." Zoe said with a smile when he released her hand. Reese gave her a look, which she promptly ignored.
"Now that you two are acquainted let's talk business, Richard Bandy," Shaw said to get Zoe back to what they came here for. Zoe glanced at John one last time before looking at her.
"CEO for Capital Union, a real power player, and has a good chance at getting a seat in the Senate. Word on the street is he's ruthless, cunning, and is taking bribes for his run for Senate."
"Bribes? Anything with a paper trail?" Shaw demanded.
"Not if this guy is half as cunning as Ms. Morgan claims; it will be in slush fund where no prying eyes can access it," Reese murmured.
"Maybe Finch can hack into any and all bank accounts Mr. Bandy has," Shaw responded quietly for his ears only, before looking back at Zoe.
"Well a client of mine had a working relationship with Mr. Bandy years ago, back before he became the CEO for Capital Union and making it the conglomerate it is now. He claimed Mr. Bandy stole two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from him, though he couldn't take him to court for fear of federal indictment."
"For what?" Reese asked bringing Zoe's gaze onto him.
"Fraud," Zoe answered and Shaw nodded slightly.
"So if his personal assistant found out about any illegal activity, and he finds out she knows, it's not so far of a stretch to believe he would have her killed," Shaw said, flicking a glance at Reese who was eyeing her.
"He won't get his hands dirty, if he is the one behind the threat to her," he stated as he slid from the seat obviously believing the meeting with Zoe was over already. "It was nice meeting you, Ms. Morgan,"
"Call me Zoe." He nodded before turning to leave, while Zoe stood up and looked stunned while watching him. "He's definitely different from Dean." Zoe murmured and Shaw rolled her eyes. Fisher had been smitten with Zoe, she bet from day one. Reese didn't seem nearly as impressed with Zoe or her ample assets.
"Yeah, he's an emotional basket case," Shaw replied with a touch of loyalty to Carter. She could see Carter's interest in Reese. If anyone was to have Reese it was her, if she wanted him.
"There is one thing that Dean and this man John share in common, that's their good looks. John's gorgeous."
"He's gay," Shaw said before she even thought about it. But now that she said it she wasn't taking it back. "Thanks for your help, Zoe." Shaw stated as she followed Reese outside and chuckling at the sad look on Zoe's face. Reese was waiting for her outside and they walked away together.
"Trainee?" he murmured and she shrugged. "Bandy could be the threat to Penski, especially if she did learn he accepted bribes for his campaign. But, that doesn't actually mean he is the threat since we have no proof she knows of his criminal activity or not; there might be someone else out there that wants to hurt her. We need to get eyes and ears on her." She was surprised at how easy they fell into a rhythm, it felt like it was her and Fisher again.
"Why don't you go to her place of business? I'll go to her apartment, let myself in and see if there is anything of interest in her place," Shaw suggested and he nodded, agreeing easily. She was glad since she was getting to do the illegal stuff, while he got the lame part with a stakeout. Shaw watched as Reese moved away from her, one long stride after another. The man moved like a panther, quiet, and light on his feet.
"Ms. Shaw are you sure it is a good idea to leave Mr. Reese on his own?" Finch's voice came through her earpiece.
"What? You doubt him or his ability to do the work?" she asked; if that was the case what was the point of offering him a place with them?
"No, never! I have always known John would be perfect," Finch answered and the response startled her. From the sounds of it, he had known John for a lot longer than when his number came up. "I'm just worried that Mr. Reese might leave."
"No," she shook her head against that. He was a soldier through and through. "He gave his word that he would work one case and he will. He's a soldier, Finch, once we are given a mission we see it to the end, no matter what the personal cost is to us."
"I see..."
"Besides if we don't cut the leash off, he won't ever agree to wear the suit," she teased, knowing that Finch was probably wishing to tailor a new suit to dress Reese in right now. The obvious cheap jeans and bland shirts were probably bugging the elder man to distraction.
"You sound like you hope he will, Ms. Shaw." Finch stated and she could hear the smile in his voice.
"Well it will take some heat off of me from time to time, allowing me to do the fun stuff," she agreed, not willing to admit she respected Reese. Not only did he spot her tailing him, he lost her, and he could dish out insults as well as her; so in her book he was alright. But personally she wanted to outdo him and throw the former CIA agent down a peg or two; though that was neither here nor there, just a personal challenge she was bestowing on herself. She had a feeling Reese didn't fully trust her or Finch yet either. She reached the car that Reese had insisted on driving, before climbing into it.
"Well in any case, while you and Mr. Reese are getting eyes and ears on our newest number, I'm been busy hacking her social media accounts trying to learn where she goes, who she visits, and what other possible threats are out there to the young lady. I'll be in touch," he assured her and with that they disconnected, while she drove to their new number's apartment to break in.
Author's note: So it begins, John is slightly showing interest in working with them and he has his first case, while Carter/Fusco have their own to deal with. I know I probably shouldn't have added in the part where Shaw says John's gay to Zoe, but I couldn't stop myself I could almost hear Shaw saying it in that low voice of hers and see Zoe's crestfallen look in my mind :D Here's a teaser for chapter 8:
Deciding to play his part, he picked his card up before smiling down at her. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Joss." He grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it, and he could swear she had the softest skin ever imaginable.
"Uh, you too, John." Her cheeks flushed as he let her hand go, he smiled before sending a dark look at the man that happily slid into his chair across from Carter.
Joss and John go undercover at a speed-dating event to remain close to John's new number ;P I could be evil and not post that chapter until I get back from vacation, but I won't I'm not evil. I'll be adding one more chapter to Entangled and then Careese Themes before I go on vacation. I'm looking forward to it my first real vacation out of state since I was 5! As always I love you guys for taking a moment to read this and for all those guest/logged-in peeps that leave me reviews letting me know you guys are down for this AU I sincerely 3 you guys forever. You never know how much!
