A/N: Many thanks to SWWoman.

Although he didn't look like it on the outside, on the inside John Reese was frantic. His insides were tied in knots as he stood in the semi-dark, eerily quiet Library where Finch should be, but instead Finch had been kidnapped by an unstable computer hacker who called herself Root. She had disguised herself as one of their numbers, Caroline Turing, and had nearly gotten herself and John killed. He had almost been captured by Agent Donnely of the FBI because he was trying to protect her.

Enemies had come for him from all sides, but with the direction of Joss Carter and help from Finch and Fusco, John had been able to stay one step ahead of them; only to unknowingly deliver Finch right into the hands of his kidnapper. There was only one place where he knew he would get answers, although he didn't know how he would actually get those answers.

John stared up at the very same camera he had gazed into when he first began this crusade with Finch several months ago. He wasn't the least self-conscious when he began telling the Machine Harold was in trouble, and the Machine was going to help him get him back. Seconds later the little red light on the camera winked at him as if The Machine understood, and then a payphone close by began to ring. He glanced at the phone then back at the camera before quickly moving to answer it. When he picked up the handset a string of words poured out in a mechanical voice then stopped. He hung the phone up in confusion, and left to find some answers.

"Taylor?" Joss called out into the dark, empty house as she entered her apartment. He should be home by now. "Taylor?" She called out once again, flipping the light switch on just as she heard a deep male voice somewhere near the back of her home. She instantly drew her weapon, ready to fire until she realized who had invaded her house.

"Come on in, John. Make yourself at home…" Joss began sarcastically until she was interrupted by John's soft, husky voice full of worry and frustration.

"He's gone…she took him."

"Who took him?"

"She was lying. Her name isn't Turing, it's Root…at least that's what she goes by," John's voice was low and hoarse as he tried to swallow with a dry throat.

"What could he possibly have that she would want?" Joss asked in confusion. None of it made any sense. She would expect someone to come after John…but Finch? And she knew she wouldn't be getting any answers from John when she saw and heard his deep sigh.

"Okay," Joss said with her own sigh of resignation. "I'll set up a missing persons, get his photo out to police and the FBI…" John interrupted her before she could lay out her plan.

"You can't," John said, taking a step toward her. "Finch went off the grid for a reason. We'll have to do this on our own. Root killed a government operative named Alicia Corwin when she took Finch. We need to know why she was in town, and what she was doing." By the time he finished speaking, he was standing directly in front of Joss, looking down at her intently.

"Okay, I'll get myself assigned to the investigation…"

"Thank you."

"What are you gonna be doing?" Joss asked quietly, looking into John's lost eyes, her heart breaking. Finch had come to mean a lot to John over the past several months. She didn't know how John was going to react when the dam broke on the flood of emotions he was holding in to focus on finding Finch.

"I'm not sure…math I think," John replied absentmindedly, and he started to step around Joss to leave.

Joss put a hand to John's chest, and gently pushed him to a stop. He looked from her hand on his chest to her warm, dark eyes. He allowed himself a moment to get lost in the deep, dark depths that washed over him, soothing and calming him, grounding him. Before he knew he was doing it, he had begun to kiss her warm, soft lips, sighing into the kiss as she opened herself to him. He wrapped his strong arms around her, and pulled her body to him, pushing one hand up into her thick, silky hair. He felt her body melt into his as he deepened the kiss, and heard her soft moan.

It had only been a gesture to delay him so Joss could ask John when he had last eaten. It had quickly turned into something completely different when his mouth descended on hers. The embers that always burned inside her for him flared into flame as she responded, and she moaned softly. She felt his hands on her, in her hair, and she couldn't help but melt against his hard body. When they pulled apart, she was gazing into the deep, rich depths of his smoky blue eyes.

Sapphire blue began to drown in warm ebony. John began to feel all of the stress he had been holding inside from the moment he discovered Finch was taken to start to melt away from him as she held him in her arms, pinning him with her gaze. He couldn't have broken their connection right then even if he had wanted to, so he allowed himself the temporary reprieve of the comfort in her love.

Relief flowed through Joss as she felt the tension in John begin to ease. They continued to hold each other, gazing into each other's eyes until she felt he had relaxed well enough for her to speak.

"John, I know you want to look for Finch…and we will, but right now you need rest and some food. You'll need your strength and stamina," Joss rushed on when he opened his mouth no doubt to argue. As serious as this situation was, a slow, seductive smile curved his lips as he pulled her even closer.

"You've never complained about my stamina before," John whispered in a deep husky voice.

Glad that at least he could smile, and be playful in this situation. Joss smiled coyly back. "I've never had a reason to, so don't give me one now."

His grip on her loosened as he sighed. "You're right, of course…again. Let's get something to eat, and then I'll get some rest, but then I will start looking, Joss," He stated firmly. "We don't have much time."

Joss nodded, and pulled John close again, laying her head against his chest content that he had agreed to that. She wouldn't ask more from him.

Later that night John stood in front of the plexi glass board they normally taped their numbers to in order to write out the words The Machine had given him over the phone. He couldn't get that mechanical voice out of his head, repeating the words over and over.

With an old code breaking book from his CIA days, he began trying to decode the message he had written on the board. Nothing he did made any sense until he closed the book in defeat, and happened to glance at the spine where the title and authors initials were as well as the dewy decimal code beneath them. That's when the thought struck him like a lightning bolt, and he began running around the Library grabbing seemingly random books. But they weren't random.

After gathering the three books that correspond with the message on the board he saw the way Finch received his numbers.

"The dewy decimal system. Finch, you sly dog, that's how you get their social security numbers," John said in awe. The number The Machine had given him could only be the person who could help John find Finch!

Later that morning John had Fusco run the social security number through the system, and they came up with the name Leon Tao. To John's disappointment Leon Tao had no information about Finch or Root, Tao didn't even know them.

It turned out that John was the contingency plan Finch had set up in case something happened to him, and John could continue to save people. John wasn't having any of it, so while trying to save Tao from the Aryan Brotherhood, John negotiated with The Machine to help him find Finch, or he would stop saving people at all.

When John and Tao were getting their ass kicked by a huge Aryan Brotherhood member, Joss came to the rescue by shooting a smoke grenade at the guy, hitting him square in the back of his head. The guy dropped like a sack of potatoes.

John looked up to see Joss smiling down at him. He had to smile back at the idea of her, a small black woman, taking down a mammoth Aryan Brotherhood soldier. She was still smiling as she sauntered toward him with a black duffel bag in her hand.

"I've been meaning to get this back to you," Joss said softly as she met him. John reached down, taking the bag from her at the same time brushing his lips against hers, surprising Joss at the public display of affection.

"Thanks," John said huskily, making Joss shiver, and then he turned toward Tao.

"I never thought I'd see you almost lose," Fusco said with a grin as he passed, not remarking about the kiss he'd just witnessed. He wasn't really surprised, to tell the truth.

"I wasn't losing, I was just resting," John responded incredulously, and both men chuckled as they passed.

When John had gotten Leon off on his way he talked to Joss for a few minutes, bringing her up to date on what he knew, and they agreed to meet at her place after she had arrested the Aryan Brotherhood members they had captured while he looked up the new number The Machine had given him.

With a quick kiss John and Joss went their separate ways, with John finding his way to the Library. Somehow The Machine let him into Harold's system, and John was able to see who The Machine had given him.

Hannah Frey. She was the key to getting Finch back. John just felt it. He grabbed the print out of her information, and the article about her disappearance and made his way to Joss"s place.

They were going on a trip…to Bishop Texas.

A/N: Thanks for reading. I'm going to have surgery on 10/28 for a biopsy so I'm not sure when I'll post again. Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. See you soon...