AN: I wanted to get a chapter up before tomorrow because I have a wedding to go to, one I'm dreading because of family drama rather than because I don't love the groom and bride. *sigh*
Joss exited the precinct with stiff shoulders after a long day at work. She and Fusco had worked a double homicide case all morning, afternoon, and evening but they actually narrowed down the suspect list. Hopefully, they would be able to narrow it further after they spoke to some key witnesses. She was glad that Taylor was being watched by her neighbor and not by her mama. It would be a ten minute drive with traffic rather than a half hour ride to and then another half hour ride back home. Sleep was a rare commodity these days. Since she last seen him she had broke down and called him once and even texted him a photo of Martine so he could be on the lookout himself. Joss blitzed John with a rapid fire trivia quiz just to settle the ache in her heart. But even with that it felt as though John retreated from her which was frustrating. They loved each other but his past wedged itself firmly between them, pushing him further from her. She just wished Donnelly would move faster on the information they got him.
She climbed into her car dejectedly and turned it on so she could turn up the A/C. It was another steamy summer night and even with it being nightfall it was still hot in her car. Her phone rang. She quickly grabbed it hoping it was John which was instantly dashed, it was Root.
Joss picked up after the second ring. "Hey, what's up?" Joss answered. Root didn't call so it had to be important.
"Detective, we have a problem," Root answered cutting directly to the chase.
Dread filled her. "What kind of problem?"
"A very bad one," she admitted. "Martine gave me the slip after the meeting with Mark Snow. I'm not sure if she knew she was being followed or she's that paranoid but I finally found her again only she was taking Zoe Morgan, fixer extraordinaire, hostage by gunpoint. I force-paired with Miss Morgan's phone and she just called your John under false pretenses to lure him into a trap. They're almost there right now; I'll try to keep up. I'll text you the address that Zoe gave him."
A host of emotions all warred for dominance but she focused solely on her innate calm in intense situations. "Give me the address now!" Joss stated brusquely.
"Will do," Root agreed and hung up; Joss's phone buzzed with a text. She immediately read it and quickly put her car in drive and sped away out of the precinct's parking lot.
"Hold on John, I'm coming."
John parked curbside and climbed out to head down to the underpass where Zoe wanted to meet. He didn't see her but that didn't mean she wasn't around. John's phone vibrated but he ignored it as he heard a sound to his left and he turned, and instantly froze. Zoe was there alright but there was an arm wrapped around her neck and a gun placed against her temple. The blond standing behind her was taller and smiled at him. No doubt this was Martine who was hired by Mark to find and eliminate him.
"I must say you're a tough man to find," Martine spoke. John shrugged in answer as his phone stopped vibrating with a call to simply restart all over again. John could get Zoe out of here unscathed but he needed the right moment. "But I finally found a thread that led me to you."
"I'm sorry, John; but she said if I gave her you then I'd live," Zoe apologized.
"It's okay Zoe," he reassured. He was just glad that Joss hadn't been that thread. He didn't know what he would have done if Joss was the one being currently held at gunpoint.
"Touching, but it's time to collect my money," Martine stated gleefully as she focused her gun on him and pulled the trigger.
John hissed in pain as the bullet ripped through his abdomen. And she shot him again in the shoulder as he was going down. Pain reverberated everywhere but he pushed it into the background of his mind and tried to focus on what was happening around him. He stayed on the ground keeping his eyes open to watch what Martine did with Zoe so he could save her.
Martine shoved Zoe to the ground. John tensed as he slowly moved his arm behind his back. "Sorry Miss Morgan but I lied; I can't let you go," Martine murmured, focusing her gaze, and gun, on Zoe and John made his move. He pulled his gun out from the back of his pants and fired at Martine and caught her in the shoulder not once but twice. She shouted in pain before taking cover behind the car.
"Run, Zoe!" he ordered trying to sound commanding.
Zoe didn't think twice as she kicked her heels off and tore off running in the opposite direction and didn't look back. Good. John dragged himself up and fired rapid rounds to keep Martine behind the car for cover so he could find some himself.
"You'll pay for that! I was just going to make your death quick and rip out your molars for the money but now…now I'm going to have fun with you, pretty boy," Martine called out, which was slightly drowned out by the bullets slicing through metal. John continuously fired again and again at the car she hid behind until he heard clicks meaning he was out of ammo and out of time. He had no cover, not really. Running wasn't much of an option as she would easily catch up. "Time's up!" Martine snarled as she appeared gun trained on him.
John tried to fire again. Martine arched a brow. "Just making sure it didn't jam," he muttered as his breaths were coming out in pants as he felt his shirt sticking to his chest and not from the humidity. His legs were feeling heavy and keeping upright was becoming a tad difficult.
Simultaneous sets of squealing tires earned Martine's and his gazes and he saw a tall brunette exit the car firing at Martine. Great, it seemed Snow hired another assassin to take him out and she didn't want to share the payout. John turned to face the other car that arrived and watched as Joss hung out the rolled down window and was firing at Martine. She was stunning in full blown badass mode.
"Hurry, get in!" she shouted as she fired rapidly at Martine to give him cover, who had to take cover from two sets of people firing on her. John didn't even bother to look back at the brunette as he staggered-ran for Joss's car and climbed into the backseat and she hurriedly sped off. "Are you okay?" she asked as she sped them away from the underpass.
"Been better," he admitted wryly. He watched as she looked in her rearview mirror and her eyes widened in horror.
"That bitch shot you!" Joss cried, not having realized that. She had been so focused on Martine that she barely spared John a passing glance. She knew he'd listen to her.
John grabbed at his abdomen knowing it went straight through and he was already feeling the effects. But the other, in his shoulder, hadn't. "That was what she was paid to do," he pointed out.
Joss wasn't in the mood for his realism. "Zoe sold you out by luring you there." she said, hating the quiver in her voice. But she much preferred to be angry than scared out of her mind.
"She had no choice, Joss; Martine would have killed her on the spot."
Joss knew that but it didn't help any right now. Not with John bleeding in her backseat. "Where is Zoe?" she asked.
"I told her to run off. After you drop me off you'll need to go back to that car. If it was Zoe's that means it's her driver's car. He's probably in the…"
"We'll make sure." she reassured quickly. She had no inclination of just dropping him off anywhere. She'd send Fusco on it after she checked on Root. But her first priority was John or he was going to die. "How bad is it?" she asked shortly, trying to get him to focus on himself for damned once.
"Would you like me to lie?" he asked.
"I'll take you to the nearest hospital," Joss said as panic rose at the answer. If he wanted to lie that meant it worse than he wanted to admit and she gripped the steering wheel tightly. Now she knew how John felt when he was driving while she was in labor because the urge to speed dangerously was overwhelming.
"No," he responded roughly. "That's the first place they'll look for me; no hospitals," he whispered.
Joss cursed herself. Of course, hospitals would be the first place they'd look for him. What was she thinking?—she wasn't—because John was bleeding out in her backseat. Where could she take him that he'd be safe but could get looked at?
"Take the next left," he said quietly. "We don't know who could be tailing you."
"John I need to get you someplace to receive medical attention." Joss argued.
"Take the next left or I jump out of your car moving or not," he repeated.
She ground her teeth together so hard that she heard them make a crunching noise; she didn't think they were being followed and they were wasting time that he didn't have but did as he asked just to make him happy so they could focus on saving him. She couldn't risk John growing agitated and hop out of the car, not that she couldn't catch up but that would surely make people notice. Joss pulled to a stop in a barren alleyway, parking and turned off the headlights. She immediately reached into her glove compartment, needing something to apply pressure to his wounds with.
She grabbed the clean rags out. "Here, this should help a little," she said calmly as she threw him one before climbing into the back to sit beside him and she felt him tense up. Joss ignored his response and pulled his shirt up and felt concern grow in her. He was shot more than once. "You look like Swiss Cheese," she whispered, feeling tears gather in her eyes. There were at least two shots but who knew if there was another few she couldn't see in the dark.
He laughed gently but she hadn't said it to be funny. John gasped as they pressed the rags hard to his abdomen making white hot agony flare through him. He panted a bit and he wished to reassure her but couldn't.
Joss thought frantically of where to take him because if she didn't figure it out then he was going bleed out and then an idea struck. She looked at him and his pain filled eyes met hers. "Shaw! I can take you to her because she's a pathologist," she exclaimed with hope.
John eyed her. "Are you trying to save me or cut me up to have me autopsied and looked at under a microscope, Joss?" he tried to tease to relieve the panic he saw bubbling up.
Joss couldn't believe that a smile was twitching her lips up. John was the only one who could joke while bleeding to death in the backseat of her car. She appreciated the attempt. "We'll find out when I take you to my friend's place," she teased back because it calmed her nerves.
He shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea, Joss. I don't want to get you or her involved any more than you are," he whispered. She pressed the rag hard into his side and he hissed out a breath. "Guess that wasn't what you wanted to hear."
"Guessed right," she snapped. "Well I'm involved and Shaw can help. She studied to be a doctor before she realized she preferred working with stiffs than living people."
He didn't respond for a moment but the grimace on his face was story enough. He was in intense physical pain and if the paleness to his skin was anything to go by; he was losing way too much blood. "Look, we can sit here and talk until you pass out and I take you to my friend with the risk of you dying or we go now," she ground out, trying to hide her urgency. He wasn't looking so good. She had a feeling he was using conversation as a way to not lose consciousness. "And let's be clear: I'm not losing you."
"Fine," he agreed a little breathlessly.
Joss pressed the rag tighter into his wound eliciting another groan. "Sorry, but Shaw doesn't live far," she promised before she climbed back over into the driver's seat and slid the car into drive. Joss didn't realize how much blood was on her hand until she looked down and a distressed whimper escaped her.
"I'll be fine," he whispered and Joss didn't feel relieved by his words because his voice sounded weaker.
Joss needed to keep him talking so she demanded him to tell her about his evening. She risked a look back at him and his eyes were closed and sunken into his skull.
Joss focused on driving and sped up further. She pulled to a stop in front of Shaw's apartment complex and felt a tad shaky but drew her inner poise and calm. John needed her and she was going to save him no matter what. "Shaw's thankfully on the bottom floor," she murmured more to herself. Joss watched in dismay as John climbed out of the car without waiting for her. "HEY!" she cried as she cut the engine and climbed out to rush to his side. He stumbled as he grew weaker and weaker. "John, you need my help."
John gritted his teeth as he leaned against Joss as she stepped beside him. He tried to ignore the way his muscles didn't want to move and the fact that his vision had tunneled. "Did you know porcupines can float on water?" he slurred softly.
"I think you lost too much blood to think I would play our trivia quiz right now."
He chuckled weakly. "Humor me," he whispered and then stumbled into her and then sucked in a breath as her hand brushed against the wound he had near his gut, to steady him. Joss struggled under his weight as he was leaning more and more on her, and realized he wanted to use conversation to keep conscious.
"A dime has 118 ridges on the edge," she offered her own as she focused on getting one foot in front of the other as she sagged under his weight even as he whispered an apology. "It's okay, I got you," she assured him.
"Did you know that there is a New Zealand hill called: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiakitnatahu?" John asked.
They reached Shaw's door. "No, but I'd love to hear you try to spell it?" she said, out of breath. He chuckled sickly and gripped her tightly as he swayed. "Please Shaw, be home." she pleaded more to herself as she reached out to pound on Shaw's door hard.
The door opened and Shaw stood in front of her, with a towel wrapped in a turban-style on her head, and Joss would have laughed at Shaw's mouth dropping open had it not been so dire, "We need your help…"
AN: I blended in bits of what happened at the end of 3x9 into this since I didn't make HR into anything in this story. And by the way that Hill really does exist. I copied the spelling because, yea that wasn't happening. So if wikipedia has the spelling wrong than it's their fault :D
Thank you for reading!