A/N: Hi guys, it's been a crazy few months and I want to thank you for bearing with me and checking in. I really appreciate it. I will finish this story, life is being life but it will happen.

As for now, a short one with our favourite characters to set us up for what's next. If you've read Body Count, you know I don't leave loose ends. BTW I'm still taking M words so feel free to send me some.

As always, enjoy x

Chapter 60: Moving

Six weeks later, Tuesday 14th February 2017, 11.49pm, Galah Apartments, Washington Street, West Village, Manhattan

John always knew his wife was stressed when she didn't have time to tease him about the legality of his daily activities and greeted him through clenched teeth behind a laptop screen at the kitchen counter. He wasn't sure how many nights she'd spent up finishing paperwork she'd brought home because their most recent meetings were under the sheets instead of in the field. With Finch doing double duty as Admin and Zoe's confidant cum Lamaze partner, he and Shaw found themselves stretched thinner than usual.

Noguerra seemed to have taken his laser focus off Carter since she submitted the application for her promotion, it didn't stop him from recruiting two of his old cronies from the 28th Precinct onto her team which put her on edge. If you asked John; a lot of things put her on edge these days. Maybe it was a bout of Imposter Syndrome getting the best of her but what Joss hadn't admitted yet, even to herself, was that she might've bitten off more that she could chew. Busying herself with enough work so she didn't have to think about her choice and what it may or may not do to her partner, her grumbling and rhythmic typing masked strings of curse words that he wished she would let fly, if not for her relief then, for his entertainment. "You know we've got to stop meeting like this." He said, opting to stand instead of sit at the kitchen island just in case she was grumbling about catching him on a security camera earlier that day.

She yawned and rolled her head back against her neck, feeling every crick. "Just…five more minutes. Jesus."

"What's the problem?" He asked, with his blue eyes dulled in the dimmed light.

"They found Emma Philips in Bryant Park, the sophomore who went missing after a dance last Friday night." From her mournful tone, he knew the missing teenager wasn't found alive.

"So you're heading out?"

She shook her head. "Fusco and DeMarco are already on the scene and I'm up to my eyes in these reports I need to sign off so...you know, before the holidays Noguerra pulled me in about relationships and I don't know what that means for Fusco."

"Why?"

"He's…different these days. Like, not all together. And I can't exactly keep an eye on him if…You know, he told me to take the job so he didn't have to hear about me not taking it."

John knew from her open-ended sentences there was more. There was always more. "And?"

"You don't think he's drinking again, do you?" She shook her head and answers her own question befoe he could respond. "No, he can't be…"

"And?" John probed, because he hadn't found something he could fix yet.

"And Taylor's not answering my calls."

"That's 'cause he's…dealing." He barely explained because Taylor specifically asked him to not to alarm her.

"With what? I thought he got all that silly drinking out his system with Reggie, that's the only reason I said okay to Spring Break."

John tried to abide by guy code. "He needs some head space, nothing to worry about."

"What?" She wondered what else she was missing in his life, as though she'd resurfaced from a month or two underwater. "Now I'm worrying." Her maternal clairvoyance filled in the gaps. "It's Zahra, right? Ever since he met that girl…"

John's attempts to put out the fire were adding fuel to it. "Just…expect a little radio silence for now."

As usual, she made the first conclusion and it wasn't far off from the truth. "He's in way over his head. I tried to tell him not to go too far too fast with her but I guess he wasn't listening."

John realised he had to come clean. "He was. After the holidays, Zahra changed her mind. And after the dust settled she changed her mind again and said something about feeling violated twice over. So he's not in a good space."

Joss saw another heartbreak coming for her son and knew she couldn't do anything to stop it. "How's he taking it?"

"He wants space but he still wants her around so…" He wanted to say something to ease her mind. "Look, he's 19; he's always confused. And he'll work it out, whatever that means."

She smiled because despite whatever secret man-talk they were having while she performed the swan act at work – complete with frantic underwater paddling – seemed to offer her son relief. She could always count on him being there for her son. Their son. "I'm done for the night." John didn't believe her until the laptop showed no more sign of life and the light stopped blinking. After a long breath she asked a broad and philosophical question, "Did I do the right thing?"

John knew a trap when he saw one. "Joss, you know I can't tell you that."

She finger-combed her hair back. "You think we'll make it to Scranton?"

And there was that smirk that made her forget her workload. "Depends on if I'm still wanted in PA then."

Her smile beamed from the inside out. "Who knows? Maybe I'll be doing five-to-ten for choking out Noguerra."

He told her what she needed to hear. "You want me to send him some dog treats?"

The thought was more appealing than she let on. "I want you…to leave your socks on."