PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE STARTING THE STORY!

Author's note: This story is majorly AU. If you don't like AU stories unfortunately you will not like this one, because Reese never joined team machine, and since this takes place well after The Crossing my Joss Carter lives. But I won't give everything away because a lot of it is explained in this chapter but just know that if you are looking for a typical Person of Interest story this isn't it. Most of what happened in the real POI world does happen in mine just with a spin on it. And if you guys are wondering about Careese...it might happen ;P Also one other thing, I apologize if I made a mistake on the timeline that the show gave I tried to keep most my facts straight, but I do apologize in advance if there is a mistake.

Thank you to SWWoman for allowing me to use Davis as John's real legal surname I appreciate it! And Sarah, Gretchen, and Elaine thank you to all three of you for convincing me to write more than just a giant oneshot for this in Careese Themes.

Okay with that said I hope you enjoy the bumpy ride that is about to happen!

"We have a new number, Ms. Shaw," Finch announced as Shaw entered the library, pausing to pet Bear on the head as usual. She shrugged as she handed Finch his tea before eyeing the the face on the glass board. He was a looker, had dazzling blue eyes, and the uniform he wore fit the man to perfection.

"Who is he?"

"Mr. John Davis, age 43, joined the army when he just eighteen, it was either join the army or go to jail, he chose door number one. His father died when he was eleven, his mother just after he joined the military, and he had no siblings."

"Married?"

"No, never married. He left the army briefly in 2001 but rejoined shortly thereafter. Then all record of Mr. Davis ceases to exist in 2006. I received his number this morning, along with several aliases he has, all with dummy corporations."

"CIA maybe."

"Perhaps, it would explain the aliases. I had Detective Carter look into the matter and she said his file has been redacted."

"CIA," Shaw confirmed. "So I'm guessing we got his number because he's the perpetrator, we need to find out who he wants to kill and why."

"Your optimism aside Ms. Shaw, I'm in the process of hacking into the CIA's secure database to find out where Mr. Davis is and what his current assignment is. I'll call you when I have more information," Finch assured her as he grabbed his coat, fedora, and scarf before picking up his laptop to limp towards the exit.

"Where are you going?"

"Well, I need more Wi-Fi anonymity before I hack a government agency's website, especially the CIA's."

"Take Bear with you," she ordered her friend and employer; with how many enemies they had along with Root on the loose, she felt better knowing he was protected. He nodded his head in agreement, without another word he exited the library with a happy Bear in tow.

"Smile, John, this mission is a slam dunk." Kara murmured, sipping her coffee while he cleaned his gun. "Eric Dunham is a traitor; we kill him, give the evidence of his death plus our report to Snow and we might even get two days leave." John didn't bother to look up from the gun he was cleaning, didn't bother addressing his partner, not until she put a hand on his. He looked up.

"How do we know Dunham is a traitor?"

"He sold government information to the Chinese, leaked Federal documents, that's the very definition of a traitor!"

"What about Viktor Neely, he was a traitor too?" he murmured, his eyes were icy.

"Intel was wrong on Neely and Snow owned up to the agency's mistake, you executed him in a way so he didn't suffer, so what's the big deal?"

"An innocent man died because the intel was wrong, Kara," John explained quietly. Recently he had been noticing more discrepancies in the intel they were receiving. From the limited information of this Eric Dunham he had received from Snow there didn't seem to be enough evidence to prove he was a traitor. But Snow claimed the evidence against Dunham was classified, not even he could see the files, and to stop asking questions and do his job.

"This isn't. You've been questioning every mission we go on lately, John, and it isn't very becoming. I'm getting tired of your Boy Scout routine. You don't want to be here? Retire," She snapped angrily, letting his hand go to chug the last of her coffee before she threw it away. As if he could 'retire' and still live, he knew better. "But we both know why you're still here, the little ex-girlfriend, Jessica wasn't it?, was offed by her husband, and you are hoping that one mission will be your last." Kara grinned just before he stood up, crossed towards her, slamming her into the wall, and grabbed her throat.

"Don't ever speak her name ever again or I'll squeeze the life out of you." His voice was quiet, low, and deadly. He tightened his grip on her throat. "You're not good enough to utter her name."

"You know how this turns me on, but I guess when your little girlfriend went into the grave your cock went too." She gasped. "Come on lover, we used to fuck real good, it helped you relieve some built up tension before," she offered.

"Let's just kill Dunham and be done." Pulling his hands off her throat like it burned him, he grabbed his gun, ignoring her completely as she panted in air. "Where is he going to be at?"

"He works at Gyrotech," Kara answered and was back to all business just as he was, with marks around her neck. He slid his long jacket over his suit coat and motioned for her to leave first. They exited his hotel room side by side without another word.

"Thanks Carter for showing up." Joss eyed her unusual friend that Fusco colorfully nicknamed 'lunatic,' and 'wonder-woman.' Shaw didn't like many people, quite possibly just her and Finch, and maybe Fusco.

She didn't have anything better to do this fine evening anyway, besides the less time she had to think the better. She was still raw over the death of Dean Fisher; her friend, the 'man in the suit' who saved a lot of people, Finch's friend and employee and who had saved Shaw. Fisher died thanks to her, he died because he had decided to help her take down HR. Simmons had shot him twice, she shot Simmons in return fire, but in the end it was too late. Fisher died from his injuries in her arms and she couldn't let go of the guilt she felt over it. Shaw was handling the work for all the numbers alone, it had been that way before, just Fisher and Finch, for a while until they helped save Shaw. Now they were back to a two-man team, all thanks to her.

Fisher had been a good man, he had been in the army, and had gotten injured in Iraq. From what little she was told, Finch reached out to Fisher to help save the irrelevant list when his other 'helper monkey'-Dillinger, left him. Carter wasn't aware of the particulars of how Dillinger left, but from Finch's expression, it didn't look good. She smiled to herself, thinking back on Dean Fisher. He had been a bit of a womanizer, had a sexual relationship with Zoe Morgan, and even had hit on her from time to time. She didn't feel that spark for him, didn't even see him as attractive, but she did care for him as a friend. Before she befriended Fisher she had been only vaguely aware of a man in the suit going around saving people. Some of her cases ran along with the man in the suit, but for the most part he was an annoyance she had to deal with, but she had wanted to learn more about what Finch and Fisher did after they saved her from dying thanks to her CI who'd been hired by Elias. She could still feel the bullet in her chest two years later, even though she'd had a vest on.

After that night, after he saved her, Fisher had called to give her a tip the next day. She thanked him for saving her life and he asked her to meet with him, and the rest was history. She befriended Finch, got close to Fusco, befriended Fisher once he realized she wouldn't sleep with him, worked cases with them, and even became friends with Shaw. Now a good man, Fisher, who had been awarded metal after metal, who had worked the numbers just because it was the right thing to do, who had no need for redemption, who didn't live his life in the shadows for any reason, not like Shaw and Finch, was dead because of her.

"Earth to Carter." Joss blinked rapidly, realizing she had gotten lost in reverie over Fisher, her friends, and her own guilt. She slid her gaze to Shaw.

"Sorry, was just thinking."

"Don't matter; I'm just glad you're here and not Lionel," Shaw muttered. Joss smiled a little, thinking the lady protested too much. If you asked her, Lionel and Shaw had a mutual understanding and an odd little friendship. But she wasn't going to call either one out on it, if they wanted to pretend to hate one another that was fine by her.

"No problem, Fusco said I needed to take one for the team," she joked as she sipped her coffee. When Finch called this morning to get information on Mr. John Davis, and she pulled up his file, she had been struck by him. John Davis was a strikingly handsome man; though she'd seen enough pretty boys in her life, it was his eyes that spoke to her. In the military photograph his eyes radiated warmth, intelligence, and loyalty. Her heart went out to him when she learned he had joined the CIA. Those bastards would turn that man who served his country into a cold heartless killing machine. He wouldn't even be recognizable. She wasn't sure if this Davis man was the perp or victim, but she was sure if they saved him a 'thank you' wouldn't be uttered their way. Shaw had bets that he was the perp, while she wished he was the victim, one they could save. She just didn't want him to be the perpetrator.

They sat watching their new number with his partner in the CIA; they had force paired with his phone two hours ago, listening in on his conversation. He had a sexy voice. It rolled over her. He was questioning a lot about Eric Dunham and why he was a traitor, his partner hadn't given him any real details, and they seemed to be in a tense argument for the past fifteen minutes. "Kara, don't you ever question even to yourself if our intel is wrong? That what we're doing is killing innocent people and not traitors to the country."

"I'm so tired of this conversation John, turn the good boy off and give me back my killer, orders are orders, and if we are ordered to kill Eric Dunham then he's dead."

"She sounds like my kinda woman," Shaw sighed. Carter rolled her eyes, sipping her coffee as they continued to listen. This John Reese, aka John Davis, man seemed different from his counterpart. He didn't sound heartless; he sounded mistrusting of their intel, he sounded like he may still have a soul.

"He doesn't sound like he believes this Dunham guy is a traitor, Shaw."

"He's questioning the order, and it sounds like it hasn't happened for the first time. He sounds like he actually thinks for himself."

"Admirable, but that could get him killed in the line of work he does."

"You got a thing for him or something, Carter?" Shaw asked as she looked at her. "I mean he has an ass that won't quit but I didn't think you were into the murdering type." Joss laughed with a shake of the head.

"Hardly, I don't even know him; I'm just speaking out loud Shaw. CIA won't tolerate thinkers; they want cold blooded killing machines."

"True, I wonder if he's hot in the sack."

"Oh god, grow up Shaw." She groused with a roll of her eyes, trying to cover up the fact that she had been wondering the same thing. She must be insane, she was finding herself attracted to their newest number! Joss sighed, she knew she was ready to move on after Beecher, but, this guy-he could be a perp for all she knew! She put her coffee down to lift her own set up binoculars up to watch the man; he looked around as if searching for an unknown threat. He was aware of his surroundings, as if he could feel her eyes on him. Joss watched as his partner paused beside him to look down at her phone. It was dark out, but they were standing near a streetlight pole; they had been standing out there for a little while, in an alleyway conveniently located next to the office building. Shaw sighed when Finch called, she put him on speakerphone so Carter could hear too.

"What do you have for us, Finch?"

"Oh dear, he's the victim Ms. Shaw and Detective Carter. You must get him out of there...now!"

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a setup there is no man named Eric Dunham that works for Gyrotech, the man that they are watching for is another agent, an Agent Peters! I just hacked John's partner's phone, she just received a text from her handler, Mark Snow, that Agent Peters was on his way out and her real mission is to execute Mr. Reese!"

"Shit, you won the bet Carter," Shaw grumbled as they both exited the car, going for their guns just as a man exited the building. They tried to cross the street as their number and his partner talked with the man she assumed was this Agent Peters. She saw the glint of Davis' gun; they rounded the corner, disappearing from her view, when she heard gunshots moments later. Shaw and Carter ran as fast as they could towards the alleyway their number disappeared down. She motioned she was going on the other side of the alleyway, while Shaw remained on the right, and ducked down while Shaw covered her before leaning her back against the other bricked building that was thankfully closed for the night. Shaw nodded her head at her, before they popped into the opening of the alleyway, aiming their guns, while watching their number shooting at his partner and the other agent. He was crouched behind a dumpster closest to them, while Stanton and Peters were on the opposite end of the alleyway,using the buildings much like her and Shaw were, as their cover.

"NYPD! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" She shouted, knowing full well that was going to go in one ear and out the other. Their number's ex-partner looked her way and began firing at them. She and Shaw both hid behind the buildings as bullets ricocheted off the bricks. Joss and Shaw popped out, firing at Stanton and Peters. Joss slid her gaze to Davis who was leaning heavily against the bricked building, the same building she was using as cover, seeing a large crimson stain was seeping out from under his open jacket. He was shot. "He's been hit, Shaw."

"I see that," Shaw answered flatly as they continued to be in a gunfight with the CIA. "He's as good as dead if he moves."

"He's good as dead if he bleeds out," she hissed back. They rapidly fired back at the CIA agents before both hiding behind the bricked buildings, reloading clips into their nanos. Gunfire resounded while Carter snapped a clip into her gun and their number appeared right in front of her, leaving her stunned. He was tall, towering over her, and his eyes were even more of a haunting blue color up close and personal. He snatched her gun right out of her stunned hand so fast she barely realized what had happened. In seconds, before she even had time to react, he put the nano to her head and his right arm slid around her neck. Shaw lifted her gun to aim it at him, still using the building as her cover from the other CIA agents.

"Let her go," Shaw commanded.

"Move slowly or I will blow your brains out." He whispered in her ear, and strangely not an ounce of apprehension, fear, or worry overcame her. Instead she felt at ease near this man, even though he had a gun pointed at her head. She was insane she decided. But Joss followed him, feeling him stumble slightly. He was their number, he needed help, and she needed to get him away from the CIA.

"Shaw, cover us," Carter commanded, Shaw's eyes widened and she slightly shook her head no.

"Carter…"

"Cover us!" she growled angrily at the younger woman. Shaw snarled something before aiming down the alleyway again, firing at the CIA agents who probably by now realized Davis was out in the open, injured, and on the run. She was ninety-nine percent sure that Shaw would be alright while she and Davis got away. She prayed she was right because she couldn't handle losing another friend.

John Davis, the man they were trying to save, dragged her into the middle of the street; honks filled the air as the car they just stepped in front of had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them. "GET OUT OF THE CAR!" he commanded. A middle aged woman with a frilly white coat and big white hair exited the car, shaking, and he shoved Carter towards the driver's side. "Get in or I'll shoot you where you stand." His body swayed but the gun trained on her didn't. She refrained from telling him she had no intentions of leaving him, that she was there to help him; instead she quietly climbed in the driver's side while he fell in the passenger's seat. "Drive, " he whispered and she nodded before speeding off in the stolen vehicle.

Author's note: Okay love it/hate it? I mean its different from the show but I keep things that happen in the show in my story just with a tweak to it, this story will be definitely Careese. This chapter was originally longer because this was going to go into Careese Themes but with the help of Elaine, Sarah, and Gretchen they convinced me to let my little muse for this story go on instead of trying to kill it lol. So that is why chapters 1 and 2 got split up. So please don't hate me for splitting the two chapters up, you guys like mini little cliffies, and posting a near 6000 word chapter 1 would bore you guys and I don't want to bore you. I hope you guys enjoyed it, if not I guess I could end it after chapter 2.

Here's just a little teaser for chapter 2:

"John, would I be here about to stick pliers into your wound to pull a bullet out if I wanted you dead?"

"I don't know, you tell me why you're helping me."

Just a little something to tide you guys over until I post the chapter...hopefully you guys want more. I'm so undecided since AUs are an acquired taste. Well anyways thanks for taking the moment to read this I love all of you guys XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX