I don't own Blindspot or any of these amazing characters…
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Everyone can thank lurkingwhump for our next scene, very inspiring…thanks for the great idea!
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Kurt woke up first. For a split second he didn't know where he was. He wasn't alarmed, because as confused as he was he had no doubt who was resting against his chest.
Looking down at Jane with a little smile he suddenly remembered. The smile turned to concern and his hand came up to smooth her hair off her face so he could check on her. She looked peaceful as she slept.
His hand checked to see if she was hot and her nose crinkled before she moved her cheek into his hand. Seeing her snuggle in settled something deep inside his chest. He knew she was getting too weak for Ivan to continue to experiment on. If this hadn't worked…his eyes closed. It had to work.
He knew there were things he should be doing, but he didn't move. The most important thing in the world was right there in front of him. He lay there holding her, watching her, and for the moment at least he was happy.
She was still with him and they had hope for the future. Tomorrow there'd be something else to worry about, but right now all that mattered was this moment.
He didn't wake her, but he didn't release her either.
Watching them from the other room, Rich turned away. Now that Kurt was up he felt like he could finally ease his vigil.
They were going to need food. Turning away he sent out a text to Patterson as promised. She immediately responded and he wasn't surprised. He'd never met a person who slept less than she did.
He went to organize food and he knew Patterson would be in so he ordered for her as well.
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Reade looked at Tasha.
"Keaton doesn't know anything about your mission?" Reade verified.
"No," Tasha admitted, "It came from up the ladder."
"Who?" Reade asked bluntly.
"I can tell you about the mission, the proverbial what and why, but I can't tell you who." Tasha insisted.
"Is it because you don't know?" Reade pushed a little harder.
"I know," Tasha insisted.
"Do you trust them?" Reade demanded.
"As much as I trust anyone," Tasha tried to assured him.
"That's the best you've got?" Reade's frustration was showing.
"I'm sorry," Tasha told him, "I'll give you what I can."
"How about when?" Reade tried.
"It was before the Gala," Tasha admitted, "I insisted on going not just to get away from here, but to make contact with Blake."
"To what end?" Reade asked her.
"We think she's more than just Crawford's daughter," Tasha admitted, "We think she started taking over from him a few years ago."
"So you believe she's corrupt." Reade confirmed.
"We think her Father still was working on his special project, but Blake was the day to day operation. She was the one that was responsible for Avery's father."
"You think she ordered him killed?" Reade was looking at Tasha in disbelief.
"Yes," Tasha confirmed, "She was determined to keep the Crawford name clean. He threatened that."
"But…you told Jane you had no Intel that indicated Blake would kill Roman!" Reade protested.
"She'd never killed anyone herself," Tasha denied, "She always let someone else's hands get dirty."
"If she's capable of ordering a hit," Reade pointed out, "You are far from safe and Jane and Ivan are definitely in danger."
"They are in danger," Tasha agreed.
"Ivan wants to pretend to be Roman and try to work his way back into her inner circle." Reade told Tasha.
She didn't say anything for a moment.
"It would probably work," Tasha admitted, "She's obsessed with him."
"He offered to be your backup," Reade told her.
"It wouldn't be safe for him, but I'd welcome the backup." She admitted.
"Why did she change out her entire Board of Directors if she was the one that was corrupt?" Reade didn't understand.
"Image," Tasha admitted, "She needed to look clean."
"Where did she find the new Board?" He worried.
"I gave them to her," Tasha admitted.
"Why would she trust you to do that?" Reade didn't understand how Tasha could have earned so much of her trust in such a short time.
"We bonded over betrayal," Tasha explained, "Even corrupt women have men troubles."
"Where did you find the new Board?" Reade asked her.
"Nas," Tasha explained.
"The NSA is involved in this?" Reade didn't know why he was surprised.
"The organization is too big and employees too many people to take down all together. The solution was to establish a legit Board so that when we take Blake down, the business can still go on."
"Controlled by the NSA," Reade pointed out.
"They aren't going to control it," Tasha denied, "They just put people in place so that it could continue to run."
"You know better than that," Reade chided.
"It's Nas," Tasha insisted.
"How many good people have to be corrupt before you realize it can happen to anyone? Both Mayfair and Hirst found that out. We all trusted Bordon." Reade reminded her.
"So you don't think we can trust Nas?" Tasha looked concerned.
"She already lied to us to get her job back," Reade reminded her. "What else is she willing to do?"
Tasha didn't say anything.
"We need to brief the others, but we'll have to wait for Jane and Weller to wake up. You should go. The longer you're here without Blake's lawyer, the less trustworthy you'll seem." Reade stood up.
Tasha joined him. Placing a hand on his arm she tried to reassure him, "I won't betray you or the team."
"I know you believe that," Reade didn't look reassured.
"You don't?" Tasha was hurt.
"I know you won't mean to," Reade assured her, "But deep cover doesn't give you free will. You have to have noticed that."
Tasha couldn't argue with that.
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Patterson felt thrown together and probably looked it. She'd gotten a couple of hours sleep and showered, but that had been the extent of her down time.
Kurt had woken up and even though she hoped Jane would sleep longer, she wasn't depending on it. There was too much at stake right now to not push forward.
With her coffee in her hand she turned to lock her apartment door when it happened.
"Where is she?" The man asked her, the gun currently pointed low on her back told her he meant business.
"Where is who?" Patterson actually didn't know who they were talking about. Unfortunately, at this point the list was extensive.
"Don't play games with me," The man warned her, "Where's Roman's sister?"
"She's probably at the office," Patterson was buying time. She needed a little bit of distance because if he fired right now, she'd be paralyzed at best.
"Is she sleeping there?" The man demanded.
It was only then that Patterson realized he'd been watching Kurt and Jane's apartment for them to come home. It was a good thing they'd had the others move out.
"We have a lot of work right now," Patterson insisted, "The hours have been long."
"Open the door back up," The man told her.
Well, that wasn't happening. No way was she going to make it easy on him.
The coffee she'd pored because she needed it to survive, became the actual weapon that kept her alive.
She turned to deflect the gun and the scalding liquid found his eyes.
He was a big man, but she'd been training with Jane and even big men had the same weaknesses.
The gun went off and she felt the lick of fire, but that didn't stop her from disarming him.
She turned the gun on him and got off a single shot. He grunted, but began running down the hallway toward the stairs. She started after him, but instead of pushing open the door, he broke out the window at the end of the hallway. Patterson gasped as he disappeared through the opening and reached the window in time to see him pushing himself up from the ground and running away with a noticeable limp. Living on the second floor had its disadvantages.
Well, she had his gun and she had his DNA, she'd find him. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her cell phone and sighed. This was just another thing to do in a day that wasn't getting any shorter.
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Reade answered the phone on the first ring.
"I've had an active shooter," Patterson didn't waste her words.
"What!" He listened to Patterson's explanation.
"Go back inside your apartment and wait for backup, I'm on my way." Reade told her.
"I'm securing the scene," Patterson denied, "We have everything we need to identify him. I'm not letting anything get in the way."
"Are you hurt?" Reade worried.
Patterson looked down at where blood was seeping from the crease along her hip. "Grazed."
"I'll send paramedics," Reade insisted.
Patterson wanted to protest, but knew it wouldn't do her any good.
"I'm going to call Ivan and warn him. Blake might have sent someone after him." Patterson worried.
"I'll let Rich know," Reade assured her, "He can see if he can track the shooter through street cams."
Reade left the office moving fast. They needed to bring Blake down ASAP, before someone else died.
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Rich was sitting in the lab when he looked down to see that Reade was calling.
"How lazy," He answered the phone, "Why can't you just walk over here and talk to me?"
"Can it," Reade warned him, "Patterson was assaulted leaving her apartment."
"WHAT!" Rich was on his feet immediately.
"She's been grazed, but the perpetrator jumped out the second story window and got away. I need you to find him." Reade told him.
"She's okay?" Rich demanded.
"She's determined to secure the scene, so she's every bit as stubborn as usual." Reade reassured him.
"I'm on it," Rich pulled up the street cams outside Patterson's apartment.
"You might want to warn Allie and Sara," Reade suggested, "This guy is looking for Jane. We don't want to take any chances."
"Weller's awake," Rich told Reade, "I'll update him and give them the heads up."
"Thanks Rich," Reade hung up the phone.
Rich made a beeline straight for Weller. He hated to interrupt them, but this was just too important.
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Ivan answered Patterson call on the third ring.
"Is everything okay?" He worried. He'd been in the shower and almost missed her call.
Patterson leaned wearily against the wall when he finally picked up.
"We've had a shooter looking for Jane," She didn't waste any time warning him, "He might not be the only one. Blake isn't sitting on this."
"Where was he looking?" Ivan worried.
"He came by my place," Patterson explained, "I guess I'm the only one on the team that is still staying at home. I don't think Reade has gone home in two days."
"Are you okay?" Ivan demanded with a racing heart.
"I'm fine," Patterson insisted, leaving out the graze, "But, I had to throw my coffee on him and I would kill for some caffeine."
"I'm on my way over there," Ivan insisted.
"NO!" Patterson denied, "You're trying to convince Blake you still care about her, you can't be seen over here."
"Are you heading into the office?" Ivan worried.
"I have to wait for CSI to take the scene," Patterson denied, "It's going to be a little while."
Even as she was reassuring him the elevator doors opened to the paramedics.
"I have to go," Patterson said distracted, "Don't bring the gurney any closer, this is a crime scene."
"You called for paramedics?" Ivan demanded.
"Reade called them," Patterson explained, moving toward them, "It's just a graze, I'm fine. I'll see you at the office. Be careful."
Ivan looked down at the phone after Patterson hung up. She'd been grazed.
Throwing on his clothes, he dismissed her concerns. She was hurt and needed backup that was all he cared about. He filled a thermos with the coffee waiting for him in the kitchen and headed toward her apartment. He'd deal with any repercussions of his actions later. He knew he was the closest to her and he was going over there.
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Weller looked up as Rich came in.
"Sorry to bother you," He whispered, "We need you."
Weller didn't question him, but began to gently extract himself from Jane.
"I'm awake," She all but slurred.
"Go back to sleep," Kurt insisted covering her back up, "I'm going with Rich."
"You need me?" She opened one eye.
"Not right now," Rich assured her.
"You feel okay?" Kurt worried.
"Tired," She admitted.
"Sleep," Kurt kissed her forehead, "I'll be with Rich."
Rich was waiting as patiently as he was able. That wasn't saying much.
"What's going on?" Kurt worried when they reached the observation room.
"Patterson was assaulted outside her apartment." Rich explained.
"Is she okay?" Kurt worried.
"Grazed, but still stubborn." Rich assured him.
"Why?" Kurt worried.
"The shooter was looking for Jane," Rich explained.
"We need to warn Allie and Sara," Kurt realized.
"You do that," Rich suggested, "I'll see if I can follow the shooter through the street cams."
Kurt reached for the phone.
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Patterson was biting her lip as the paramedic probed and cleaned her graze when the elevator doors opened. She'd just had management close this floor so expecting Reade she looked over.
"I told you not to come here!" She protested.
"I brought coffee," Ivan held up the thermos.
"I'd kill for a cup," Patterson relented, "But I don't want you to get kill over bringing me one."
Ivan's eyes were on her graze.
"That was close," He worried, not even pretending he wasn't looking.
"Yeah," Patterson agreed, "He had all the right tools, but couldn't seem to use them. It wasn't exactly good for me."
Realizing what she'd just said and the amount of skin that was currently exposed with her pants pushed low she blushed.
"Sorry to hear that," Ivan said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Are you going to give me some of that coffee or not?" Patterson demanded embarrassed both literally and figuratively.
"Yes, mam." Ivan began pouring some out for her.
Just then Reade arrived.
"I thought you said it was nothing!" He protested when he saw the amount of blood on her clothes.
"It's just a graze," Patterson insisted, "I've had worse."
"Is there sugar in that coffee?" Reade worried.
"Yes," Ivan assured him.
Patterson took another sip and made a little face, "What are you aiming to become diabetic?"
"It's to help you with the shock," Ivan said patiently.
"Thanks," Patterson smiled up at him gratefully, "But this has happened enough lately that I'm not even surprised anymore."
"Blood loss then," Ivan was standing over her in concern.
"Ivan," Patterson waited until he looked up from where they were bandaging her wound. "I'm fine."
"Are you going to the hospital?" Reade asked Patterson.
"No," She denied with a stubborn look.
"I knew you were going to say that," Reade shook his head, "I've got the scene, head back to the NYO."
Patterson didn't argue. She was tired and shakier that she was letting on. When she stood up, Ivan was there. He wrapped one arm around her waist and she leaned against him in relief.
"Thanks for the coffee," Patterson said without looking up at him. If she had, she would have seen the look on his face as he studied the top of her head. She would have seen that he was far from unaffected by what happened. A man struggling with the beliefs of a lifetime in the face of an unfamiliar emotional roller coaster…a man realizing that determination alone wasn't always enough to protect your heart.