John lifted one eye as he slowly awakened. Joss was lying on top of him and he lifted one hand into her hair as he yawned. "Good morning," she murmured between soft kisses to his chest before she slid up and kissed him on the lips.
She drew back. "Morning, Joss," he murmured, sleepiness still clear in his voice. He had a rough night trying to sleep. He couldn't seem to stop touching Joss to make sure she was truly alive. She would whisper in his ear that she was alive, to feel her, to make love to her before she promptly distracted him with kisses and then they would do as she said: make love. Kara had taken so much from him he refused to allow her to take anything else from him, especially Joss.
Joss smiled. "It is a good one, John, we are both safe and alive," she said before sliding back down to kiss his chest.
She wanted to eat him up. She felt good, she felt alive and she wanted John to feel it too. They were going to catch Kara and then maybe she could approach John about what they were doing wasn't strictly sex, especially after last night. After their shower and another round of lovemaking she fell asleep, woke up and they made love again, then talked. It was clear John couldn't sleep after what happened. Nearly as evident as he couldn't seem to stop touching her, not just sexually, but soft unconscious caresses as if he didn't believe she was still there with him. So she told him things and he reciprocated. She loved the little things he told her about his travels. All the bits and pieces he gave her painted a very beautiful portrait of the man she loved. He was tentatively coming out of his shell for her, seemingly more so with Kara coming back which was opposite of what she figured would have happened and she was going to continue to prod her hermit out further. She felt him getting close to being healed enough to handle the reality of their situation. That they weren't just sleeping together, that their relationship was much deeper than he cared to admit or realize.
"Have you thought about not lying to protect me by telling Agent Moss that Snow was the man in the suit?" he asked again making her roll her eyes with irritation.
She made a sound that was a cross between a snort and a huff of agitation as she was busy lavishing his wide muscular chest with love than answering that annoying question yet again. "We are not having this discussion again, John. You're not going to win." she said faintly as her words were muffled as she never lifted her lips from his skin. She moved to kiss gently his bruises and cuts he had from the accident before pausing at his nipples flicking them with her tongue.
John shook his head. "You always say that when we disagree."
"That's because usually I'm in the right and you're in the wrong, so I win and you lose," she commented catching one nipple between her teeth, earning herself a soft groan as he pushed back her hair.
"Joss, love, you're not always right," he said dryly, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to concentrate on the conversation while Joss slowly but surely found and caressed every sensitive part of his burning body. Joss cocked a brow in surprise at the endearment. She liked it and hoped it would continue.
She lifted her head to eye him as she climbed off of him. "Are you really going to argue the point that when we argue that I tend to be in the right?" she wondered aloud. "And you claim I'm the one that loves to argue with you!" Joss teased as she slipped a hand under the comforter and found him semi hard from the light brushing of his skin. John mentioned she was responsive but so was he. His body crackled alive under her touch and she loved it. He moaned in the back of his throat as she languidly stroked him, feeling him harden beneath her touch, she teased him with a too light of touch on his cock.
"Joss, you're arguing the point that I am the one that argues with you," he pointed out, proud of himself for being able to think at the moment. He was barely resisting the urge to thrust into her too loose grasp.
"Let's call it a draw," she bartered before taking his mouth in a searing kiss which he responded readily. She swept her tongue deep into his mouth, sliding across his, moaning in annoyance when an irritating noise that suspiciously sounded like his cell phone began to shrill. She felt him wiggle and realized she had been correct. No just no, not right now because she had John right where she wanted him. He wasn't brooding (at least not yet), wasn't shutting her out, but she was afraid of what that phone call was going to bring. She pouted when he pushed free of her kiss and manually forced her hand off his delicious shaft. He shimmied over and she sprinkled kisses across his jaws, chin, and caught his lips. "Don't answer that," she requested.
He gently drew back. "I have to," he whispered, grabbing his cell to see who was calling. "It's Finch, Joss."
"Call him back in ten minutes." she suggested before eyeing him. "No, make it fifteen…better yet in twenty minutes." Yea, twenty minutes would give them long enough to satisfy the urge growing in her loins.
"Be good," he admonished before he answered his cell. "Good morning, Harold," he greeted and she made a face at him before sliding under the comforter.
"Be good he says! I'll show him 'be good'," she muttered to herself, ignoring the desperate grabbing at her from his free hand. She batted it away as if it was nothing more than a gnat in her way wrapping her hand around the base of his glorious cock.
"Is this a good time, Mr. Reese?" Harold asked.
"Ye-oh," John started and tried to snuff out the moan as Joss licked him. "Hold on, Harold," he managed as he grabbed the mouth piece. "Joss, stop it. I can't think when you do that," he whispered.
"Stop what?" she murmured as she teased her tongue across his long length just tracing the vein bulging out. Mmm, yep, she loved this beautiful guy. "I'm behaving, I didn't do this…" she said before taking him into her mouth, going down on him as much as she could before his tip tickled her gag reflux. She sucked gently using her hand to stroke what she couldn't take into her mouth. Damn it, she was going to get him all in sooner or later.
John clamped his teeth into his lower lip to keep from moaning as the vixen was testing his limits and hers as she was taking more and more of him in her mouth each time she did this. He was having a very hard time ignoring the feel of her mouth surrounding him.
"God, Joss," he moaned, giving in just a little, careful to keep his hand over the mouthpiece of his cell phone.
She slowly lifted her mouth off of him. "See, behaving, carry on, don't mind little ole' me. I'll just busy myself down here while you talk about whatever. This guy is more interesting anyway," she said with a teasing lick at the underside of the large head of his penis, enjoying the shiver that shot through him.
He put the phone back to his ear and tried to free himself from the damn devil. "Go ahead, Finch," he snapped with more force than necessary as he tried to not groan out loud, but did grunt when she wrapped her tongue around him, playing with him.
"I'll call back," Finch said, sounding distressed before he hung up abruptly. John moaned as he leaned his head back on her pillows.
"Joss, I think Finch knows," he tried to say without moaning in need. Joss descended down his length, more mindful of the hard thing in her mouth than his words. Who cared! She dragged her teeth delicately across his flesh, loving the soft moan he made. She frowned when he tugged her off of him. She pushed the comforter off her face and looked up at him as he slid from her bed.
"Hey!—I wasn't done," she complained, pouting. She had been just getting John good and hard. Joss kind of wanted to pleasure him for once.
"Yes you are. I have to go." he stated as he grabbed his underwear tugging them on, trying to ignore the steely grips of arousal.
"Why?—go and do damage control over Finch figuring out that we are sleeping together? Even if he knows he won't say anything," she said uncaring. This was Finch they were talking about, he was a private man, he would understand they wanted their fair share of privacy. Besides, how long did John really think they could conduct a secret relationship without their nosy friends figuring it out? John was the only one that was oblivious because he had been so used to not feeling anything, it was taking John a while to catch up. And that was okay. She was in no hurry. But if he honestly thought their friends weren't going to figure it out than he was living in a dream world.
He turned to look at her as he grabbed his pants. "You don't care if he knows?" he demanded as he stabbed his right leg through the pant-leg.
"I truly don't care, John," she agreed.
"But I thought…"
She rolled her eyes. "John, I only agreed to keep things between us because you wanted it that way. It didn't matter to me one way or another if people knew we were involved or not. Their opinions never mattered, it's our business not theirs," she said. "Besides, I think they know anyway. Joan figured us out the first second we walked into the encampment, Shaw knew immediately too, so it's safe to assume Finch has known for a while now or at least suspected it. But he's our friend and was being respectful to our privacy, John, so he didn't say anything. And Fusco, well I think Fusco prefers to not think about you and I being together at all," she said with a soft laugh. "I think the only one who doesn't truly suspect anything is my son," she admitted.
John looked at her worried. Her son wouldn't ever understand the arrangement and he would hurt the boy. "Joss, he can't know."
Joss shook her head. "John, I haven't told him and I'm not looking at explaining what we are doing to him either, so relax," she said softly. She couldn't tell her son anything, not until she sprung it on John that they were already dating. Her son wouldn't be able to keep the secret to himself. He wouldn't mean to spill to John, but her son loved John and would want to 'help' his mom.
John tugged his pants on and redid his fly, as he looked at her when she remained silent. She was staring at him and there was something in her eyes. "Joss, are you still okay with 'just being' as you put it?" he asked, eyes flicking to the door needing to leave. He felt antsy. He was going to hurt her. That was the only thing he was really good at, hurting people.
Joss noticed the panic bubbling up on his face. Uh-oh, did she inadvertently tip her hand? Or was he becoming aware that he was falling in love with her? She had been hoping he wouldn't have realized he was in love with her until AFTER she blew them out of the water. It would be easier that way. She could talk him into listening to her.
Joss slid from the bed and rested her hands on his hips. "Of course I am, are you?" she said turning it on him, forcing him to answer the question.
John looked at her sharply and she wanted to squeal like a little kid as he hesitated. It wasn't an automatic response. Her cute snail was carefully moving forward! "Of course," he said finally, lowly.
Joss felt ecstatic at the moment. All her hard work, all his efforts at overcoming his past was actually resulting in real and gradual forward movement. He was healing ever so slowly, but it was happening. God, she just wanted to kiss him for taking a step forward without even realizing he had.
"Well good, then we're both still good, happy just fucking each other's brains out," she teased as she kept it light. She slid her hands around him and grabbed his butt. She loved his ass.
John searched her gaze but he didn't see anything that contradicted her words and he relaxed. He lifted a finger to tilt her chin up. "Thank you," he whispered before kissing her softly.
She pulled back. "For?—I mean your appreciation of me is nice but I didn't do anything."
"Thank you for not asking for more than I can give."
Joss stared into his eyes. "You're welcome, John," she said. He was capable of more than just a physical relationship and he was proving it the more time they spent together. "You better get out of here or you'll be back in my bed in those cuffs I still get to put you in," she purred.
His eyes darkened but this time in desire and she was glad he was slowly letting go of whatever happened with Kara. She hoped it was because he trusted in her just as she trusted in him. "Maybe I'll get you in them again," he said with his eyes slowly gliding down over her naked body.
"Nope, it's my turn remember." She squeezed his butt. "But go, I'm going to wait to get you cuffed to my bed for another time. What I want to do to you requires more time than a measly ten minutes," she murmured offhandedly and felt him harden further.
"Do you wish to share with the class?" he asked.
Joss looked up at her ceiling and feigned like she thought about it. "Nope," she stood up on her tip toes and kissed him warmly before sliding away. "But go on, go run and talk to Harold. I'll just lay in bed naked and think about you." she said teasingly as she climbed onto her bed and crawled. She had realized quite some time ago that John had a thing about her ass. She heard him curse as she slowly laid down and rolled over onto her back to eye him. "Yep, go on, I'll just take care of things here," she assured him.
With any other man she would never have enough confidence to do such a thing as she slid her hand down her body and touched herself. But seeing John as he was right now, fire in his eyes, erection pushing his pants up, and looking at her as if she was the sexiest woman he ever seen…she didn't feel self-conscious one bit. Not with him, never with him.
"John," she moaned for good measure.
He growled something low as he began undoing his pants. "Finch will have to wait." He climbed onto the bed and kissed her hungrily.
John hurried down the long corridor of the library seeing Harold at the computers, Bear in the dog bed, and he felt nervous. Harold had to know, had to know what was going on when he called, and who it was that was with him; especially since he was about an hour late because he hadn't had the willpower to leave Joss this morning. He set Harold's tea on the table and Finch looked up.
"Good morning, Mr. Reese. How are you feeling?" he greeted as if the call never happened and a light smile twitching his lips up.
And while that was an easy way out, John couldn't take it. "Finch about earlier—" he started but paused when Harold held up a hand to stop him.
"What you and Jocelyn do together in your own time is very much your business, Mr. Reese. Not yours, hers, and mine," he reassured.
"I know that but…" he trailed off this time, really not sure what he wanted to say to explain why he was keeping his relationship with Joss silent.
"I understand, Mr. Reese," Finch said with a warm smile. "You and Jocelyn have had a connection since you two met and I am happy to see it blossomed into something more."
John felt panicked at the words 'something more' and the way Finch looked. "Finch it's not like that. Our relationship is physical. It's why we wanted to keep it to ourselves so we didn't have to explain what we are to anyone," he said quickly. If it stayed just sex then it wouldn't hurt when it ended. And it would end once Joss realized there were so many other men out there better for her than him.
Finch eyed John at the desperate lilt to his voice. He never heard it come from John before, not even when he was facing certain death, and it took a minute to put his finger on it but he realized John was afraid. More precisely, John was petrified and Harold wondered if John was scared to realize his feelings for the detective were stronger than he claimed them to be. Harold doubted that what was between Mr. Reese and Jocelyn was all lust as his friend tried to persuade him to believe. He supposed it was John's way of protecting himself, figuring the relationship was doomed to fail as all his previous ones. Perhaps the detective could help him realize that not everyone would disappear from his life.
"As I said, John, your private life after hours from the numbers is just that, your private life. I am merely glad that you found someone kind, thoughtful, and intelligent to spend your free time with when you are not helping me save numbers," Finch said carefully. He didn't want to push John too far, it could do harm to his budding relationship with Jocelyn and he did not want that. Being with Jocelyn was bringing John happiness and a sense of normalcy. Finch wished for it to continue and he would do what he could to help John's healing process; if that meant keeping quiet about his suspicions that his friend's feelings were far deeper than he claimed then so be it.
John relaxed. "Thank you for saving her, I'll never be able to repay you," he said sincerely, having yet to thank him for what he did last night. He couldn't live in a world without Joss in it, wouldn't want to.
Harold stared at him. "You don't have to, Jocelyn is a dear friend of mine," he said before he nodded to the glass pane. "Our docket is clear as of right now Mr. Reese, so it leaves us time to have an unpleasant conversation." John looked to Finch grateful to get back to business and allow the subject of him and Joss to fade away.
"What?"
"During your time tied up, did Kara tell you anything about what her agenda was?" Finch asked. He didn't want to cause John unnecessary pain by bringing up what had nearly happened to Jocelyn but it was necessary that they talk about what Kara was up to. If the target was the machine they needed to know what happened and what Kara had done.
John's gaze darkened. "No, she only really beeped in and out to let us hear her kill men and women with only crumbs about her plan, to remember our past, and remind me she was in control of Joss's future." John admitted softly. They needed to find Kara Stanton because there was going to be a whole host of dead bodies left in the wake of her need for revenge. She would not care who got in her way. And there was only one way he knew how to stop Kara Stanton and this time he would not hesitate to kill her. Not this time. She nearly killed Joss.
"I don't believe she stole anything, Mr. Reese, I believe she uploaded a virus into the government's systems. That DOD facility has a section called Applied Research, it monitors all government systems, including the machine," Finch said his sinking suspicion out loud, thinking of possible repercussions if his ideas were true.
"And you think the machine was the target?" John asked.
"I do, John. I believe whoever she worked for knew about the machine. I think Ms. Stanton uploaded a virus meant to crash the machine as I hacked the DOD facility and they have not reported anything being taken."
"How long is it going to take?" John wondered out loud.
Finch sighed. "That's the million dollar question, Mr. Reese. It could take weeks or months, the machine's drives are enormous, and so it will take a while for the virus to start impeding the machine's functions."
"Are you saying the machine might not issue any numbers?" John demanded.
"That's what I'm saying."
"How do we stop it from crashing?"
"There is nothing we can do as of right now. Unfortunately I cannot hack into the machine because every government agency would be searching for us."
John stared at him. "So if the target was the machine, there's no way to stop the virus from crashing it?" he asked feeling a sense of guilt wash over him and Harold merely shook his head in affirmative. "Well you built it. What will happen when the machine crashes, Finch?"
Finch hesitated to talk about this, to tell John the truth. Everything was interconnected and John's life had gone off course because of him. Harold and his former employee, Mr. Dillinger, were why John went on his unfortunate trip to Ordos and why he wasn't able to get to Jessica in time. Mr. Reese's life had been irrevocably changed forever and he had played a role in it. So he needed to tread very carefully to keep this man as his friend. He didn't want to lose John.
"What's this machine?" both he and Harold whirled around and saw Shaw standing there, hands thrust in her pockets.
"What are you doing here?" John asked. Harold breathed in a sigh of relief as her presence ceased their conversation. It would give him a chance to figure out how to tell John the partial truth of what had happened.
Shaw eyed him and shrugged. "My leads on Root dried up even with your hot girlfriend's help, so I figured to come back and figure out you and Harold," she admitted. She slowly moved to Bear, who wagged his tail happily when she petted him.
"Not much to us, Ms. Shaw. We help people in need," Harold summarized.
"Carter isn't my girlfriend," John added.
Shaw cocked a brow at Reese. Did he seriously think she would ever believe that shit? "Who are you trying to help this time?" she asked, sounding mildly curious.
Harold eyed John before looking back at Ms. Shaw. "As of right now, no one, we haven't received our new…number," Finch finished slowly. He didn't want to tell the truth but it seemed that Ms. Shaw had been listening in on their conversation for much longer than she was letting on and if he lied they were never going to be able to gain her trust.
"Number?"
"Social security numbers, Shaw, that's how the machine gives us who we help," John muttered taking his cues from Finch. It seemed he wanted to let Shaw in on about the machine. He had to agree, lying to her wasn't going to work. "Your Research and the machine are one in the same, they are an Artificial Intelligence."
"I worked for an A.I.?"
"Yes, didn't you ever wonder why your information was so accurate?" John asked.
Shaw shrugged. "No, Cole did and he died because of it."
"That's because the government kills anyone that learns about the machine, Ms. Shaw. You just so happen to have been collateral damage as they weren't sure if your partner told you his suspicions or not," Harold explained.
"Reese said you built it," she murmured and as Harold suspected, that meant she had been listening in on their conversation for a while.
"I did," Harold conceded. "I built the machine to stop the next 9/11, but the machine saw all kinds of violent crimes, so I taught it to separate them into two lists. The numbers that were threats to national security were relevant and violent crimes of everyday people were irrelevant. The numbers you received when you worked for the ISA were from the relevant list while John and I work the irrelevant list," Finch explained reluctantly.
Shaw nodded. But now knowing what it was that they did, how they got their information, made her more curious about their work. They worked for the same entity she used to, but just not the relevant numbers. It might not be as exciting as the ISA but maybe working with Finch and Reese would still give her that thirst for adventure she was craving. Getting Root could be her secondary mission once the trail that ran cold grew warm again.
Shaw glanced at Reese. "So how did Finch recruit you?" she asked flatly. Shaw wanted to know and understand this man better. She doubted he was like her, that needed the adventure. He seemed more laid back. Kind of quiet and brooding a lot but laid back.
"It's a long story," he murmured.
"We got time," Shaw said. "No one is on the docket, remember."
"Does that mean you are going to help work the numbers, Ms. Shaw?" Harold asked, trying to draw the conversation off of John.
Shaw eyed Reese before turning to Harold. "I'll give it a go, just once. If it's lame I'm done," she said before turning back to Reese. "How did he recruit you?—did he wave Carter in front of you?"
"I was a homeless man after the CIA burned me and I was one step from killing myself when Joss entered my life. Joss and Harold were working together on the numbers before they found me and from what I gather, Finch had been looking for me and watching me for a long time," he said tersely with a look to Harold who glanced down before he pinned Shaw with a look. "Joss and Harold saved me from myself, gave me a reason to go on, Shaw."
She stared at Reese, not perturbed by his anger. "Why were you going to kill yourself?"
"None of your business," he said coldly.
"Fine, I'll ask your girlfriend. How did the CIA burn you?"
He exhaled as yet again Shaw called Joss his girlfriend. "They had tried to pit my partner and I against one another and for good measure launched a cruise missile at the compound we were in," he said, giving her the Cliffnotes version.
Shaw had a feeling he was leaving out vital information but that was okay. She didn't need to know everything, just enough to know if she could trust him to have her back in the field. Shaw had a strong sense that this man would die before he would let anyone hurt her which was all she needed to know.
Her back door opened. Taylor grinned. "John's here," he announced happily and Joss nodded.
Her son had been immediately concerned when he saw the gash on her forehead, so had her momma when she went to go pick up her boy this morning, following the harrowing events with Kara. She told them about being in a car accident with John, that their car had collided with a truck but just left off everything else. There was no reason worrying her son more than he was already and her mother would never understand. Joss had taken a verbal ass whooping from her mother for not telling her about the car accident sooner as it was. She could only imagine getting a true ass whooping if she told her mother everything. Her momma scared the bejesus out of her.
"I know, I'll be right back, please don't come into the mud room. John and I are going to have a discussion," she ordered and her son eyed her and nodded.
"Yes, mom, I do not want to listen to you two have your first fight," he agreed raising the television. ESPN was now blaring.
Joss shook her head, letting her boy believe what he wanted. For one thing she wasn't going to go yell at John or get into a fight. She needed to give him the lowdown on what she told her son about the visible injuries they had. And secondly even if she was going to go have a fight with John it wouldn't be their first. She slid out of the living room, missing her boy's smirk as she breezed past her kitchen to halt John's descent from the mud room.
He was tugging off his suit blazer and turned to see her standing there. "Hey," he greeted.
"Hey," she greeted right back. "Okay, my son and momma think we were in a car accident."
John nodded at her. "We were."
"But I left off the fact that Kara murdered Donnelly, we were both handcuffed, and then kidnapped," she said dryly. Joss stepped close, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Taylor knows somewhat of what you really do but I didn't want to scare him for our safety and I can't tell my momma who you really are. She only knows that you're former military like me. And I gave her all the information of who John Warren is."
He rested his hands on her hips. "I won't say anything that will cause you problems with them. They'll never know what truly happened," he whispered. He preferred to not think of what Kara almost had done to Joss either.
"How are you feeling?" Joss asked gently. She didn't want to bring up Kara but she needed to know where he was at emotionally.
John eyed her questioningly. "I'm fine but then again I wasn't the one strapped with a bomb vest." he murmured.
"John, I'm okay, I can handle Kara Stanton. A land mine couldn't get me neither can that psycho." she said as she kneaded his muscles in his shoulders. She was already beginning to heal from her most recent brush with death but it would need time. "So what did Harold have to say this morning?" she teased as she changed the subject not wanting him to dwell on it.
"Nothing really, you were right, he doesn't care," John admitted softly.
She grinned. "I told you so." she said which earned herself a look. "What?—I'm not gloating too badly. Not as bad as I did when I get to have you in my bathtub all slicked up with bubbles." she informed him, wanting to giggle as his look turned into a scowl. "Thought I forgot about that bubble bath you owe me? Well I didn't. It's still on for next weekend," she reminded him. The world was going to have to end for that to not happen. She wasn't going to let Kara take away her happiness or John's.
"Joy," he said, sounding anything but happy.
"You'll love it," she said with a snicker.
John doubted it. But he would enjoy seeing her naked and wet. He dipped his head and kissed her. Joss sighed as she kissed him back, sliding her arms around his neck. John gently drew on her lips wanting more which she happily gave before he deepened the kiss and slipped his one hand into her hair massaging her scalp as the other gently teased her cheekbone.
Joss melted into the kiss for several moments, not wanting it to end because John was a really good kisser but reluctantly pulled away. She nibbled on his chin truly afraid her son's curiosity would get the better of him. Taylor was a good boy but he was curious and would surely want to know what was taking them so long. She didn't need her son to walk in and see them and then her and John would have to try to explain. And she doubted that John wouldn't bolt out the door if her son caught them kissing.
"Mmm, let's go watch some television with Taylor, he's missed you," she said, turning on her heels to enter her kitchen.
"By chance is he staying at his grandmother's tonight?" he asked gently, wondering if he would be staying the night or going home early.
She smiled, pausing at the refrigerator to grab him and herself a beer, and a soda for her boy. "Nope, we have to keep our hands to ourselves," she said, sliding the fridge door closed.
"I can if you can," John muttered and she grinned as he followed her out to the living room, seeing Taylor lounging on the couch.
"Hey Mr. Badass," Taylor said with a smile.
Taylor was proud of himself for not doing a fist pump for joy about what he just saw even though he had hopped up and down, dancing all the way back into the living room in happiness. Taylor knew his mom would have been mad (not upset) if she caught him watching them but he couldn't help his curiosity. They had been gone for a while and he hadn't heard her yelling and that's what he walked up on: John seriously kissing his mom! It wasn't some light peck on the lips either. Taylor didn't particularly like watching his mom making out but he hadn't been able to stop the level of excitement over the fact that his mom was making out with John! That had to mean something as he had been hoping something would happen between them. So was Grandma.
But the fact that his mom hadn't wanted him to come into the mud room at all, letting him think she was going to yell at John, it seemed like they were trying to keep the thing between them a secret. Taylor wondered if it was for John's benefit because of John's old issues. He knew his mom would have told him by now. Especially John since his mom had admitted to really liking him, so if she was keeping mum it was for John's sake. And he didn't want to lose John or make his mom lose him so he was going to keep what he just witnessed to himself.
"Good evening Taylor," John murmured as he patted Taylor on the knee as he walked to the sofa chair and slid down while Joss plopped beside her son and handed him his Mountain Dew.
"Want to watch a movie?" Taylor asked.
John shrugged. "Sure," he agreed and Joss stared at John wanting to tear his clothes off. He was sitting like he owned the damn place. She watched as his face softened as he talked to her son as they discussed which movie to watch.
She absently listened to them as she thought about something that had been on her mind for a while now. "You know," she spoke up earning both her son's gaze and John's. "I am thinking of luring Joan here one night for dinner."
"Joan?" Taylor asked, furrowing his brow trying to remember this said woman.
"Joan is a homeless woman at the encampment I finagled John out of. She is a hoot and she means a lot to John and me."
Taylor glanced at Mr. Badass and smirked. His mom was getting to him, judging by the look he was giving her. Taylor had seen enough of those looks at school from Hayley, John was giving his mom the heart eyes.
"You'll have to make her your chicken enchiladas, mom, those are your specialty," Taylor suggested.
John felt sentimental over the fact that Joss wanted to cook Joan dinner and looked away as he cleared his throat. He didn't know if Joss would succeed in luring her here, he never could lure her to his place but she'd like the gesture behind it.
"Yea, she'd like that," John said quietly as he quickly sipped his beer.
Taylor noted that John's attention was diverted, so he looked to his mom and leaned in close. "He's giving you the heart eyes, mom," he whispered so John couldn't hear, trying hard to pretend he didn't know anything. Maybe when John was gone he could tell his mom he knew. Nah, then he'd get a lecture for not listening to her. He was better off pretending he didn't know a thing.
"Quiet, Romeo," she huffed softly. "So what movie are we watching?—seeing as I am the only woman I know I'll be outvoted for a romance flick." she said loudly. Taylor and John both made faces and she sighed. "How about Inception?" she suggested.
Taylor smiled. "Yes!" he agreed immediately handing her his soda before popping up to go grab the DVD and drop it in. Joss slid her gaze onto John and smiled at him which he returned.
AN: If you have been waiting waiting for Jealous John next chapter is the one for you :) Kara Stanton pokes her head in again in the future, she's kind of the looming issue they have to deal with as they get back to working numbers and looking for the consequences of what happened to them. Since they don't have the hard-drive that John gives them in 2x13 on the show, mine they don't know exactly what's going on but have their suspicions. Thanks for reading!