On the next day their number had to call in at work and call his daughter's school and tell them she was sick so that they were hidden at the safe-house. Mr. Reese's daughter was excited to play hooky and spend the day with her daddy. Finch felt himself forming an attachment to the man and the young child, which was unplanned and unusual. Finch was paranoid by nature, but John was an easy man to talk too, and his little girl was very sweet. She started calling him Uncle Finch once she realized Uncle Lionel and he were friends. Finch became more determined than ever to help save this man. The plan was to be executed this evening. Finch was going to stay with Mr. Reese and his daughter, while the two detectives were going to accompany Ms. Shaw during the handoff. Mr. Reese was uneasy with the fact that Detectives Carter and Fusco were both heading into danger because of him, however Finch had done his level best to assure their safety.

"I just want this over with." Mr. Reese commented and not for the first time. Finch could tell he was nervous about their plan and whether or not it would work. He had no doubt if the detectives and Ms. Shaw failed to get the CIA and Ms. Freeman to buy that John was deceased that he would disappear with his daughter, going on the run once more.

"I'm sure you do, John." Finch agreed while they sat in the dining room quietly while John's daughter was watching a movie that Fusco had brought over in the adjacent room. It was Snow White. "But it will be all over in a matter of hours."

John nodded. "I never figured this day would come, to maybe be free of what Veronica did."

"Just to be sure you understand, John, you'll never be able to locate old friends you once had as John Davis. It will be similar to being in witness protection."

"I told you, the only friend or family I have is Lionel."

Finch nodded his head. "After you have your new life back, are you going back on your quest to search for the truth of your wife's murder?"

John eyed him sharply. "You know about my wife's murder?"

"We know basically everything, like your wife's suicide might not be suicide, and that you suspect Peter Arndt, the man that she cheated on you with. There is no proof, no evidence that ties Peter to your wife's possible murder."

John sat back. "That's because the small town police of New Rochelle wrote off her murder as suicide. She didn't kill herself, Finch."

Finch wasn't nearly as convinced as everyone else that Jessica was murdered. Sure, there were inconsistencies but Finch drew up the woman's medical papers and she had been on some big time anti-depressants. Maybe Jessica couldn't handle losing this man. Maybe she was murdered, but proving it was going to be an uphill battle since there was nothing much to go on. "Maybe you'll never know what happened to your wife, John."

"That's not good enough for me."

"Searching for answers that you may never find could do more harm than good, Mr. Reese. You have a beautiful little girl to raise by yourself, and a life to live."

"Sometimes not knowing is more harmful." John said sincerely. "My daughter's mother was murdered and if I can't prove it, then Aubrey is going to believe her mother left her behind. I have to prove that Jessica was killed, that she didn't want to leave Aubrey."

"Are you sure you need to prove that for your daughter, John, or is it more for you?"

John swallowed hard. "Jessica would not have killed herself."

Finch eyed the man, sensing the man was going to look into this regardless of what he said. "Perhaps I could offer you some assistance in the endeavor."

John blinked his eyes in surprise. "You're offering to help me investigate and find out what happened to Jessica?"

"Yes, John."

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"You didn't seem to think searching for answers was a good idea and now you're offering help? I'm just curious why the change in attitude Finch?"

Finch smiled. "Because I can see that you are determined to do this for your daughter and maybe even for yourself, maybe if I help then we can find out what really happened to Jessica."

John was a bit skeptical but he wasn't unwilling to accept any help. This man clearly had money and resources that he did not. "Okay, Finch, you have yourself a deal. I need to do this for my daughter, and for Jessica as well. She deserves to have her killer brought to justice."

"Alright, John, after your life isn't in danger we'll start searching for her killer together."


Fusco, Carter, and Shaw all showed up at the safe house later that evening. Carter distracted the little girl while she and Fusco grabbed Finch's laptop that he was donating to the cause. Shaw smirked at the man who eyed the white laptop wistfully. "Just imagine, Finch, this puppy will be blown into millions of pieces soon enough." Shaw cruelly stated as she patted the thing.

"Get it out of my sight," Finch said despondently as he turned to look away. Shaw snickered before eyeing Carter who was deep in conversation with their number and his little kid.

"Yo, Carter, let's go," Shaw called out. She looked up and nodded before saying something to the little girl. Shaw watched as their number caught Carter's hand, stopping her from leaving. He said something to her and Shaw rolled her eyes, wondering if the two would just suck face and get it over and done with. But they didn't, he let Carter go, and the woman hurried away with an odd expression on her face.

"Did you kiss your boyfriend goodbye?" Shaw joked as they exited the safe house with the laptop in tow. It was turned on, so Finch could hack into it and turn the audio loop on when it was time.

Carter's look was dark before she spoke. "He's not my boyfriend. Let's focus on the task at hand, getting John out of this situation." Shaw nodded, letting the woman deflect. They exited into the cold air. Shaw popped the trunk, before lifting it up.

Fusco whistled as he eyed the amount of explosives. "This will blow the car to kingdom come."

"Not really, but it is enough to make sure it's a death sentence. Finch is going to leak the fake intel to their informant when we meet up with Freeman. I already called, telling her I had her package. She wants to meet up at a suburb just on the outskirts of Manhattan which means CIA can arrive at the location quickly. But I guess there is a small park that is not well maintained with no cameras and very little lighting that is perfect to do the drop off," Shaw said as she situated the laptop in the trunk before slamming it shut. She hit her earwig. "Okay, Finch give it a test."

The three of them waited and soon the audio of John cursing and thumping angrily in a trunk sounded. "It sounds like he's in there and it comes through fine, Finch."

"Alright, Ms. Shaw, call me the immediate moment you arrive for the drop off, I'll leak the information as soon as you do, and that will give you only a few minutes to do the trade and arm the mini bomb in your trunk before the CIA arrives."

"Don't worry about me, Finch," she assured him before she disconnected. She looked at Carter and Fusco, motioning at the backseat. She opened the door before handing over sniper rifles. "You two will be on differing rooftops, keeping watch, if things go south you'll kneecap them." They nodded their heads, taking the guns.

"Let's do this," Fusco said with a smirk.

It was about a half hour later when Shaw arrived at the vacant and kind of decaying park they was meeting at. Shaw parked further into the dirt and gravel parking lot to make sure she had the car bomb nowhere it could do any unplanned damage. Shaw scanned her surroundings seeing the nice foliage, big large oak trees near a biker's trail that had trunks nearly bigger than ten of her that could give her some cover when she needed to hit the deck. Carter and Fusco left about ten minutes ahead of her, arriving at the coordinates she gave them previously, so they could scout out the right rooftops in the area. "Carter, Fusco, you in position?" Shaw asked.

"I'm in position." Joss agreed before a little red laser light blinked on her chest.

"Me too," Fusco said over the earwig doing much the same thing.

Shaw rolled her eyes before connecting with Finch. "I just arrived. No sign of Freeman just yet. I guess she's going to be fashionably late?"

"What do you want me to do, Ms. Shaw?" Finch spoke up on the earwig.

"Leak the fake intel to the known CIA informant anyway, Finch."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, she won't be that late, not with the goods I say I have. But stay connected, Finch, that way you can hear my cue for the audio to be looped." She assured.

"Alright," and with that Finch went silent. Shaw exited her car, slamming the door shut. Freeman arrived a couple minutes later. Shaw glared at the blonde as she exited the car. "I don't like being held up," Shaw sneered.

"I'm sorry but traffic was a bitch," she said teasingly. Shaw hid her disdain for the former CIA agent. She was sworn to protect the country but instead turned on it. "Where is he?"

"Oh the sad sack?" Shaw said, which was Finch's verbal cue to start the audio. "He is in the trunk, he put up a good fight but he was no match to my taser." Shaw motioned at her black eye first then over her shoulder as sounds of thumping and shouting came from her trunk, as she held out Root's taser that she borrowed. "And here is the flashdrive." She pulled it out of her pocket so Freeman could see it. The lady reached out to take it from her but Shaw snatched it back. "First my money, then you get the flashdrive and the hot guy in the trunk."

Veronica smiled. "Alright, you drive a hard bargain." She agreed before flinging the duffel bag she was carrying on the ground. "Fifty thousand, all in hundreds, are in there."

Shaw smirked as she threw the flashdrive in the air, making the woman have to go retrieve it. Shaw threw it hard and well away from Freeman that earned her a look, but Shaw shrugged. "And take the keys too, I stole the stupid car anyway," Shaw said throwing the keys in her direction, but far enough away from her to give her a chance to get a clean getaway. Shaw had less than a minute before the CIA arrived and the moment they opened the trunk it would set off the rigged explosives. She didn't even bother to look into the duffel bag, instead grabbed it and ran towards the biker's trail for cover.

"Shaw get down, an unmarked black SUV is speeding your way it's obvious CIA is coming. The leaked but fake intel got to them just as we wanted it." Joss whispered through the earwig. Shaw didn't have to be told twice, as she hunkered to the ground, hiding beside bushes and behind the large and very old oak trees. She peered out, looking between the foliage in the shadows to keep an eye on the scene.

Veronica had him now. She had spent a very long time looking for John and this flashdrive and now her long wait was finally over. John had been exceedingly amazing lover even drunk. She was going to offer him one chance to come with her and if he declined, he was a dead man. She turned around and saw that the woman who got him for her had all but disappeared must have gone down the bike trail.

Veronica turned when she heard a SUV pull up. Kara Stanton, Grimes, and Mark Snow exited it with their guns drawn and aimed at her. Veronica realized too late it was a setup, as the bitch that had gotten John must work for the CIA.

"Well hello Freeman, we have been searching for you for a long time." Kara said. "And you have helped us by bringing us Davis and the flashdrive." Kara motioned at the car before pinning her with dead eyes. "Veronica Freeman, you committed treason, a crime punishable by death, hand the flashdrive over."

"You're going to kill me either way, Kara," she whispered as she pulled her gun out.

"This could be bad if they don't open that trunk, it won't blow up and John won't technically die." Carter whispered via the earwig.

"The bomb is set to go off in about thirty seconds as a fail-safe option." Shaw whispered back, watchful of the scene before her and careful to not make a sound to alert them of her presence.

The tense scene unfolding before them grew even more tense when everyone eyed Shaw's car as an odd buzzing noise mixed in the thumping and cursing they heard the audio of John was making. Their eyes widened. "Freeman is going to blow Davis up," Stanton yelled as she, Snow, and her partner hid behind the SUV as the car exploded, sending Freeman flying to the ground from the blast wave.

"And boom, John Davis is effectively dead." Shaw whispered gleefully.

"We hope," Fusco whispered hopeful.

Veronica rolled over and stared in shock as the car was engulfed in flames before Kara fired her gun that made no noise thanks to the silencer. Veronica Freeman's head snapped back, blood spraying everywhere before she fell onto her back on the dirt parking lot lifelessly.

Mark motioned at her body. "Grimes and I will grab Freeman, while you grab the gravel with her blood on it. We don't want to leave any physical trace she ever was here."

"What about Davis and the woman that grabbed him?" Kara motioned at the burning car.

Snow shrugged. "We don't have time to care about who grabbed Davis, he's dead, so leave it burning, I hear sirens off in the distance. They'll see an unmarked SUV without a license plate leaving the scene of the crime so they have no trace back to us. We can't leave any trace of Freeman," he stated as he grabbed the flashdrive, pocketing it, before he crouched down with Grimes and hefted the dead woman's feet while Grimes grabbed under the shoulders. Stanton hurried to the trunk of the SUV took out a garbage bag, before scooping up gravel and dirt with the woman's blood on it. Once Kara was finished with making the scene look like just a burning car, she threw the trash bag into the SUV next to the dead body, slamming the trunk door shut.

Kara eyed the burning car. "Damn, I really want to fuck him while I tortured him too." she muttered to herself. Easy come, easy go, but now they could get back to Paris. Maybe she could convince Grimes to climb into the sack again, and with that she turned and climbed into the passenger side seat.

Shaw kept in the shadows as she connected with Finch. "Hey, Finch, how's Reese?"

"Nervous, he hopes this is all over."

"Well Davis is effectively dead to the CIA, they shouldn't be coming around. Do you have ears on the agents yet?" Shaw asked. Finch had included a tiny little GPS tracker on the flashdrive, which he was going to use as coordinates to know where the CIA were headed, and hack into the car's navigation and stereo system to listen in on them. Thank god Finch was on the side of good!

"I do, they are calling and checking in."

"Give me details when you have them, Finch."

"Will do, Ms. Shaw."

"Just tell Reese he's close to having his new life back."

"I'll let him know."

And with that they disconnected once more.


They all had arrived at the safe house. John's daughter was asleep in the next room, cartoons blaring, and Joss found a relieved and smiling John. "Hey," she greeted.

"Thank you, all of you, for this." he said sincerely looking from her, to them all.

Shaw nodded. "You won't have to wait days to get back to your life."

"I won't?" John sounded cautiously optimistic with that.

"No. Snow, Stanton, and Grimes are already headed to the airport to head back to Paris to finish up their ongoing mission there. This was a little side mission. They gave their report that you were dead as well as Veronica Freeman."

"But to be sure that the CIA doesn't send anyone back to make sure, as planned we still planted evidence of your DNA being found in that trunk." Joss added.

Fusco nodded. "Yeah, wonder-boy, Carter and I assigned ourselves to your murder to find out who fake killed you; that case will end up going cold."

"So that means I can get back to my life, I don't have to call in and miss everything anymore. I hate that I had to cancel a session for those women learning self-defense."

"No more calling in, unless the bounty on your head has not been dissolved, but Ms. Shaw and I are going to be remain vigilant to make sure there is no lingering problems for you to get back to your new life." Finch agreed as he was going to keep the hidden cameras he placed in and around John's home on for a few weeks more to keep watch. You could never be too careful, not with the government after you. But from the way the CIA left after the case and never bothered John's daughter, Finch assumed that the CIA never learned John's alias which was good news for the man and child. It could have been much worse had they.

John smiled. "So could you guys give me a lift to my place? I want to have my daughter sleep in her own bed, so that she's well rested and back in her usual routine for school tomorrow."

"I'll give you a lift. I'll go get Sleeping Beauty," Fusco assured him, moving to go grab Aubrey.

"I'll go warm up your car for you, detective," Finch added as he took the man's keys to help. After a few minutes Fusco came out with a little girl in his arms, curled inward, arms hanging loosely at her sides. Aubrey was out of it. John's eyes grew soft as he eyed his daughter. He helped Fusco get a jacket to protect her from the cold.

Shaw yawned. "I'm going to go home and hit the sack, now that your safe," she said before turning to leave herself. And with that, it left only Joss and John alone in the safe house.

"So," she started slowly. He turned to look away from the door to eye her. "I'm glad you're safe, John."

He peered down into her eyes. "Thank you for helping me get that way. I wouldn't have been able to do any of this, fake my death, get rid of the CIA or Veronica, had it not been for you and these odd friends of yours."

She smiled. "I'm sure you could handle yourself, judging by the black eye you gave Shaw."

He chuckled. "I don't usually hit women, but I thought she was CIA or some other government worker coming after me."

"So what's next for John Reese?"

"Get back to work, get back into this life. It might not be my real name but the life is mine and I enjoy it. Finch agreed to help me find out what happened to Aubrey's mother."

"If you need anything with that, let me know, and I'd be glad to offer some assistance," Joss offered.

"Thanks, I might take you up on that, Joss." He said as he grabbed his jacket, tugging it on.

She wrung her hands together. "I guess this is goodbye."

"I guess so." he agreed.

She tried to force a smile before she turned to walk to the door, when he grabbed her elbow, and tugged her to him. Before she could even utter a single sound, his lips were on hers, and she sighed softly. Joss found herself helplessly kissing him back without an ounce of hesitation. What was the matter with her? She told him the truth the other night about the date only being for work. But yet here she was kissing him back just as eagerly as he was kissing her. She longed for him to deepen the kiss but instead he pushed her back.

"Uh, what was that for?" she asked a little breathless.

He smiled softly at her before leaning down. "Because I have wanted to do that all damn day, see you around detective," he whispered into her ear before letting her go and she felt uneven as she watched him leave.


AN: So I originally wanted John to be more apart of the plan and take down of Veronica and freeing himself of the CIA, but, as I wrote it I felt like this way was the way to go. As much as I wanted John to be his BAMF self I felt having Shaw, Fusco, and Carter doing it with Finch's assistance was more natural for this particular story as John is not a team member yet. Also I somewhat enjoyed the team pulling the wool over the eyes of the CIA while leaving a chance to bring back Kara. Because seriously I freaking love that whackjob!

Pointless smut for smut's sake should be coming to you guys soon with a flimsy plot that I added but you may harm me as I deleted some smut out of it and kept it for something else. But don't worry there is more than enough smut that you won't even miss it ;D

Thanks for reading XOXOXOXOXOX