I don't own Blindspot or any of these amazing characters…

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"What have you been doing since you escaped?" Kurt asked Roman.

"Finding out everything I could about Madeline Burke and her corrupt officials," Roman admitted.

"Did you find anything we could use?" Rich asked him.

"A few things," Roman admitted, "The big news is that she's crazy."

"That's not news," Patterson denied.

"No," Roman clarified, "I mean actually certified crazy. Her husband had her institutionalized for more than four years."

"He should have left her there," Jane noted.

Kurt winced at her words. He hoped they wouldn't be saying that about Roman.

Roman didn't miss Kurt's reaction and the grin on his face wasn't reassuring.

"I was able to hack into her Doctor's old records," Roman went on, "I think it will help us start chipping away at her defenses."

"When was this?" Patterson asked him.

"Right after her Father died," Roman explained, "Guess she has some Daddy issues."

"Is that worse than Mommy issues?" Rich asked rubbing his hands together.

"I didn't hire an assassin for you," Roman noted, "That might have been a mistake."

"Now…" Rich protested, "You can think those things, but you're not supposed to say them out loud."

"Some might take it as a warning," Roman looked over his shoulder at him.

"Oh," Rich was positively gleeful, "I'm going to like you. You remind me of me."

"He already wants to kill you," Jane told Rich, "You might want to tone it down."

"If only it were that easy," Patterson scoffed.

"Hey, now," Rich protested, "You're going to give Roman the wrong impression of me!"

"Actually," Roman admitted, "I already know quite a bit about you."

"Anything you like?" Rich asked in a come hither voice.

"Rich," Kurt chided.

"Just asking," Rich protested with a scowl, "These guys need to loosen up."

Suddenly Roman's easy banter was gone.

Just when Rich began to become really concerned Roman lunged for Jane.

He just made it. The bullet meant for her head hit the ground a few feet from where they now lay.

"Take cover!" Kurt called to his team even as he reached for his wife.

Roman released Jane, but his eyes weren't on Kurt or the team, they were focused on the roof where the shooter still waited.

Moving over to a car parked on the street Kurt demanded urgently, "Were you hit?"

"No," Jane answered him, the hand not holding her weapon brushed against his cheek in reassurance.

"We need to catch whoever that is," Roman insisted, "They've seen us. It takes away our advantage."

Jane didn't argue because she knew he was right.

"They have the high ground," She noted.

"I'll draw their fire," Roman told her, "You head for the shooter."

Jane didn't protest, they'd worked together on countless missions and she now remembered them all.

"Jane," Kurt worried. The shooter had been targeting her.

"Kurt's with me," Jane told the others.

"I'm with Roman," Patterson said calmly.

"Rich and I will take the back," Tasha responded.

Roman didn't wait for confirmation, but immediately began to move between the cars, Patterson right on his heels.

Jane knew Madeline was responsible when the shooter began firing again.

Any other professional would have cut his losses, but whoever was targeting them couldn't afford to miss. Only the threat of death would make a professional risk getting caught. Whoever was up there feared Madeline more than they feared their targets. That was their biggest mistake.

Kurt watched as Patterson and Roman disappeared and felt his stomach sink. He should have been the one that went with Roman. Patterson was still vulnerable after everything they'd been through.

"Let's move," Jane said as she pushed up and headed for the front entrance.

Kurt pushed his concerns aside and did his best to shadow Jane across the street.

The distraction worked and they made it to the entrance without any more shots being fired.

"We need to head for the roof," Jane insisted.

"I've got the South stairwell," Kurt confirmed.

"I've got the North," Jane assured him.

Kurt met Rich and Zapata as he was pushing open the stairwell door.

"Stop the elevators," Kurt said to Rich as he disappeared.

"On it," Rich assured him as he headed toward the control panel.

Jane made it to the fourth floor before she encountered the man coming down. His face gave him away. The shock and surprise in his eyes had her raising her weapon and warning him, "Drop the bag!"

He did, but when it hit her in the chest it through her off balance. As she tried to catch herself, he reached for his own weapon. Before he could even point she fired. The gun fell from his useless hand and she warned him, "The next one will hurt a lot more."

Desperate men…she'd been able to keep her balance when he threw the bag, but as he tackled her they both went down. Her finger squeezed the trigger even as she felt them fly backwards.

Suddenly several things happened simultaneously, Kurt screamed her name as he came down from the roof and Roman burst through the window that led to the outside fire escape.

Jane was aware of the events, but then she knew nothing at all.

Kurt ripped the now dead assassin off his wife and looked down at her still form.

"Is she dead?" Roman all but roared.

"Kurt!" Patterson gasped out as she climbed through the broken window and rushed down the stairs.

"She's alive," Kurt insisted.

Patterson's hand went to Jane's neck. She'd heard Kurt, but his inability to lose Jane had colored his judgement on more than one occasion.

"She's alive," She looked up at Roman to reassure him.

Just then Jane's eyes fluttered open.

Kurt had been afraid to move her. When she began to sit up he protested, "Take it easy."

"I'm okay," She assured him and it was only then that he pulled her gently against his chest.

She closed her eyes and rested against him as she got her bearings.

Looking to where the assassin lay she worried, "Guess he's not going to answer any questions."

"What's there to say?" Roman reminded her, "We know who sent him."

"We don't know how he found us," Patterson reminded him.

"We're moving anyway," Kurt reminded her.

"Speaking of moving…" Roman hinted.

"We've got to go," Jane agreed standing with Kurt's assistance.

Patterson grabbed the discarded bag while Roman searched the dead man's pockets. He retrieved his phone and used his thumb to unlock the device before quickly changing the passcode.

"Let's go," He handed the phone to Patterson and took the bag she was holding.

It was a subdued group that filed back down the stairs.

Tasha and Rich met them at the bottom.

"Did he get away?" She demanded when she saw them.

"No," Jane denied, wincing at the ache in her head.

Rich took one look at Kurt's worry, Jane's pained expression, Patterson's frustration and Roman's fury and didn't ask anything else.

"How'd you two get upstairs?" Tasha demanded. They'd secured the only avenues up she'd thought.

"You don't want to know," Patterson denied.

Roman had gone up in the next building over and jumped to the fire escape from the fifth floor. Not to be left behind she'd been forced to follow after him. She didn't know which one of them had been more surprised when she made it.

Roman didn't say anything, but he did covertly look over his shoulder at the FBI Tech genius. She'd surprised him, that didn't happen very often.

He was starting to see why she'd survived his hitman. More disconcerting was the fact that he was glad she had. Not needing this type of complication he pushed his thoughts away.

Rich followed behind them with raised eyebrows. This he hadn't anticipated. Then he began to smile, but it was going to be a lot of fun to watch.

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They didn't have time to analyze the phone because they needed to bug out before Madeline had a chance to regroup.

"Where did you get all of this tech?" Roman demanded as he helped them disassemble their lab.

"Wizardville," Rich told him cryptically.

"Aw, yes," Roman nodded, "I would have thought the FBI seized your assets."

"They tried," Rich admitted, "But I hid it before they had a chance."

"They must have loved that," Roman said with no mirth.

"Yeah," Rich admitted, "I was a guest of the CIA for a while."

"A guest?" Roman did smile at that, "I hear they're very attentive to their guests."

"Their spa treatments left a lot to be desired." Rich scowled.

"I'll keep that in mind and stay away from their amenities," Roman told him.

"You play Wizardville?" Rich asked him as he wound up some cords.

Of course he doesn't, Patterson thought impatiently. When would he have had the time?
"I'm a Grand Master," Roman admitted, "I really liked when you hid the anvil in the…stairwell."

"Stairwell," They both said simultaneously.

"Are you developing another level?" Roman asked with interest.

"I had a concept in mind," Patterson admitted, "But then all of this happened so I haven't started writing the program yet."

"You should consider adding false leads so that the game isn't so linear," Roman suggested, "That way the user can replay the game and have different outcomes."

"That's…." Rich waited for her to slam Roman's ideas like she always did… "Brilliant."

Rich blinked and looked over at her in outrage. What the hell was going on? He'd tried to give her plenty of good suggestions and she'd dismissed or protested every one.

"Brilliant?" Rich hissed at her, "I told you that four months ago and you told me to mind my own business!"

"At the time you were critiquing my current program," Patterson reminded him with a scowl, "Not suggesting new ideas for the next game."

"I….I…" Rich was too outraged to even come up with a response. This might not be as fun as he thought after all.

He listened silently while they discussed the different levels and what really worked and what could be better. Hadn't this man tried to kill her? When had they become so chummy?

"You're right," Roman laughed over at Patterson, "He really hates it."

"Hates what?" Rich asked petulantly.

"To be left out," Patterson smiled over at Rich.

"So you're doing this on purpose?" Rich demanded.

"Of course," Patterson readily admitted, "That's for the whole adoption thing."

"You suck," Rich finally accused her.

She laughed in his face.

"I'm going to go check on Jane," Roman excused himself.

"What's going on?" Rich demanded immediately, "You're way too relaxed around a man who arguably tried to have you killed!"

"He was sick then," Patterson reminded Rich.

"I don't think that's the only reason," He warned her.

"We're all a part of the same team now," Patterson argued, "We need to learn to work together."

"Nigel tried to kill you too and you didn't just brush that aside!" Rich reminded her.

"That was different," Patterson denied.

"There's more than one form of dead?" Rich asked in disbelief.

"Of course not," Patterson scoffed, "I'm not saying I trust Roman, but he is Jane's brother and I knew him from before."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Rich asked suspiciously.

Remembering her coma induced dream Patterson turned away uncomfortably, "No of course not."

Rich watched her walk away with narrowed eyes. What was going on?

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Kurt watched as Jane gathered up their few possessions. He knew she was hurting and he wished he could insist she take it easy, but he knew that wasn't their reality. He'd had to satisfy himself with a quick physical inspection when they'd gotten back. She was going to have some killer bruises, but she didn't seem to be broken. He hoped anyway.

"Kurt," Jane stopped what she was doing to come over and wrap her arms around him, "I'm fine. Just a little bruised."

"You could have broken your neck, or been shot." He worried.

"But neither of those things happened," Jane reminded him reaching up to smooth out his furrowed brow.

"But they could have," Kurt said in frustration.

"Roman saved me," Jane reminded him, "That's a good sign, right?"

Remembering that moment Kurt nodded his head in agreement, "He could have let you die, but for all we know he might have been the one that set this all up to begin with."

"You don't really think that," Jane worried.

"I don't know," Kurt admitted.

Jane wished she could reassure him, but she knew exactly how far Roman was willing to go to complete whatever mission he embarked on.

"We'll stay vigilant." She promised.

"I know who you want him to be," Kurt worried.

"I love him," Jane admitted, "But I loved him when he was Sandstorm and I loved him when he didn't have his memory. I even loved him when he was trying to kill me…"

"That's not exactly reassuring," Kurt chided.

"Not to you maybe," Roman said from the doorway, "It means a lot to me."

"Roman!" Jane turned to find him watching her with a soft expression.

"I'm not going to betray you again," Roman assured them, "I know you don't believe that and I don't even blame you, but I just wanted to let you know."

"I want nothing more than for that to be true," Kurt admitted.

"You'll see," Roman insisted, "The rest of us are ready to go."

"Let's go," Kurt picked up the bag Jane packed and followed the one person he would trust with anything and the one person he didn't think he'd ever trust again. He feared that nothing about this situation was going to get any easier.