Torture At Its Finest

Chapter 21

By: Harold Finch and Grace Luvr

Author's Note: Special thanks to adorestories for the great reviews and your continued support. You know at first I was thinking of killing out Fusco, but then decided against it at the last minute. So please don't shoot me! Oh just so you know this chapter is kind of deep. And I know what you're thinking, everything bad happens to Harold. Well sometimes, that's just life.

Harold slowly began to arouse from his unconciouss state of mind. He slowly began to open his eyes and flinched against the light. Once his eyes fully opened he felt nausea immediately overcome him. He turned his body to the left and vomited. When he sat back up, he noticed that he was still seated in his computer chair.

"Finch!"

"Jo….John?"

John quickly stood up from his chair and nelt down in front of Finch.
"Are you alright Finch?"

"I…I don't know. What happened to me? Where's Grace?"

"You had a mini stroke Harold. Grace is fine."

He looked around and saw the whiskey bottle on his desk. That's when he remembered. He remembered Grace saying that they could never be together. That's when he felt a slight pain in his fractured arm. The pain had quickly spread to his heart and he fell backwards into his chair, into unconcioussness, into a dark quiet world where there were no worries, a dark quiet world that he had secretly hoped was death.

"I remember everything she said."

John looked at his friend with sorrow as he spoke without feeling, like an empty man without a soul. He truly felt sorry for the older man, who wanted to do nothing more than protect the woman he loved and keep New York safe. Yet he lost her in the process and John feared most, that Harold may have just lost a part of himself in the process as well.

"Where is she John?"

"I sent her home Harold. Lionel's watching her house from outside."

"OUTSIDE! Why isn't he inside!"

Harold quickly began to panic.

"Don't worry Finch. He's got this."

"How did she get home?"

"Lionel picked her up."

"Where?"

"Here."

Harold was so outraged that he felt like he could break John in half.

"YOU DID WHAT!"

John knew this was coming. He knew that Finch would be angry at him for this.

"HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH A GODDAMN IDIOT!?"

"Look Harold, I know you're upset…."

"UPSET!? NOOOO. I'M NOT UPSET! I JUST LOST THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AND THE OPERATION THAT I HAVE DEVOTED MY LIFE TO IS ABOUT TO GO STRAIGHT TO HELL! NOW I DON'T SEE ANY REASON TO BE UPSET MR. REESE! DO YOU!?

Harold was about to yell some more, until slight pain started to travel back into his still sensitive heart and he had to sit down again.

"Harold. I told Lionel because we can trust him. And I didn't want to leave you alone in your condition, just to take Grace home."

"Yes, well we might as well tell the whole damn city right?"

John felt absolutely terrible. Harold might be his boss, but Harold was his friend. And he was a damn good friend who deserved to be happy. Harold had pulled from the streets when he thought of himself as a nothing, a worthless pathetic excuse for a man. Sometimes he would fall asleep under bridges in the winter, hoping that death would come for him in the snowy night. Whether his soul was taken by the Lord or the devil himself, he did not care. Just as long as he was taken away from the pain, misery, depression, sorrow, and death that was his life. Then Finch found him and gave him a purpose again, gave his life a new meaning. John was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by his cell phone ringing. It was the hospital.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Winter's?"

"Yes, this is Mr. Winter's."

"My name is Dr. Julia Heartfield. I'm your fiance's doctor. I'm afraid Dr. Jackson was killed in the shootout a couple of hours ago."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that."

"Um… well we called to tell you that remarkably, your fiance' is awake."

John's heart beat so wildly that he feared it might explode. He couldn't remember the last time he heard news this good.

"That's wonderful! Can I come see her now."

"It's four o clock in the morning, but what the hell."

"Thank you so much Doctor Heartfield, you're a life saver."

"Anytime."

They said their good byes and John's heart was soaring. He had never felt so eager to see Carter in his life. But then he looked to his side and saw Harold, who he had temporarily forgotten about.

"Harold…"

"Go. I'll be fine. I've got Bear to keep me company."

"But Harold…."

"John. Go. Don't make the same mistake I did. Go after the woman you love."

Harold smiled warmly at John who reurned the smile. John patted Harold's shoulder and walked out the door to confess his love to the woman who made his life feel so complete.

Author's Note 2: I know it took a couple of days but I got it together. Please keep reviewing. Oh yeah, Wednesday is my birthday, so Happy Birthday to MEJ!