Authpr's Note: For anyone wondering how the hell it's possible that Jane doesn't know that Kurt is head over heels with her by now - she knows, but she needs to actually admit it to herself now. Maybe Rich will help things along? ;) And if anyone is wondering why I took away the 'did you guys have sex?' line - it's because I need it for the next chapter and it just didn't seem to fit where it was in the script. So it's still coming!
He'd screwed up, and now she knew. Not exactly how much, maybe, but he'd seen it in her stunned gaze after she'd ripped herself out of his arms. She knew he cared deeply; maybe even that he loved her. But she didn't want to deal with it. Maybe she didn't even feel a fraction of what he did.
Kurt wanted to spend the journey back to SIOC nursing his wounded heart, but Jane was right there next to him, and even if she didn't take his silence the wrong way, there were things she needed to learn from him rather than Rich. He put his discomfort aside.
"There's something I should probably fill you in on before we talk to Rich."
Jane gave him a wary look, and he realised she was expecting something he'd actually kept secret on purpose.
"It's nothing serious. I just forgot to mention that Rich was the one who found out where your black site was. Patterson reached out to him after we ran out of leads."
Jane blinked. "Wait. You knew where it was?"
"How else did you think I got to Oregon?" Her confusion surprised him.
"I thought maybe you got a tip-off from an informant in the CIA or something. Once I broke out. And then when Kalina called you, you were already in the area searching for me." She watched him carefully. "What really happened?"
"Rich narrowed the location down to Oregon, so I flew out to stay with Sarah and Sawyer in Portland while he worked on getting a more specific address. Patterson called me when he got it, and I headed down to Springfield. I missed you by ten or fifteen minutes. I was heading down through the woods when I heard your escape vehicle go by on the road."
"Oh," Jane said softly, her focus turning inward, as if she was sinking into memories of that traumatic time.
"I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner. I came the second I knew where you were." He slid his hand over hers where it rested in her lap, trying to bring her awareness back out of herself.
"It's okay." She squeezed his hand for a moment before pulling it out of his reach. "So you saw it, then? The black site?"
Kurt nodded, hoping his rage at the memory didn't show on his face. "Yeah. I saw."
Jane took a shaky breath. "I'd rather not talk about this now. But thanks for telling me. About Rich."
"I should have mentioned it earlier. With everything else going on, I just forgot. I haven't even gotten around to thanking him yet."
Jane's lips twitched. "Oh, he's gonna be a nightmare."
"We blanked out all the screens in there, and then took him to Zero Division," Patterson explained, as they walked alongside her down from the elevator. "Not because he has anything to do with Sandstorm, but because of, um, that thing he did for us that time. We didn't want him to shout about it to the whole building."
"Good call. Are our systems all back online?" Weller had seen some of the agents using their computers on the way past, but it never hurt to check there were no problems.
"He gave us our access back like five minutes after you left. And those coordinates he gave us were for a silo in Kansas. I really doubt he wanted a bomb dropping at all. He just wanted our attention."
"He should just walk through the front door upstairs next time," Jane muttered. "He can leave my safehouse out of it."
"Nas is in there with him now, but I don't think she can figure out what to make of him," Patterson finished off her report.
Weller couldn't help but smile at that. "Who does know what to make of Rich?"
"Good luck in there," Patterson said, as they approached her lab. "I'm going to see if I can come up with a fix to make sure he never does anything like this again. Oh, and he says Boston is dead, but I'm pretty sure he's lying, so be prepared for another double-cross. Nas will fill you in."
Jane and Weller continued on towards Zero Division, leaving Patterson to her work. "What do you think this is about?" Jane asked. "He escaped from FBI custody just to signpost where he was less than a year later? He has to be playing us somehow."
"He'll have another escape plan," Weller said. "You can count on it. What we have to figure out is what he wants while he's here."
Jane frowned. "You don't think he just wants our thanks, right? He can't be that crazy."
"With Rich, I'm not gonna rule anything out."
They reached Zero Division as Nas came out of the conference room with a pained expression on her face. "How are things going?" Jane asked.
"I'm going to need more coffee," Nas said, and left the area without bothering to elaborate.
"That well, huh?" Jane watched her go.
"The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get him back to jail," Weller said, and opened the door to the conference room.
"There you guys are! Thank god. Two minutes more and I was about to start screaming for help." Rich rattled his handcuffs for emphasis.
"You look pretty scared, Rich. What's going on?" Jane sat down opposite him. "I won't bother asking how you found my safehouse."
"The same way I found your black site. You're welcome, by the way. I was waiting for the flowers and chocolates to start arriving, but then I realised you had no idea where I was, so I decided to change that."
"That's why you're here?" Jane asked dubiously.
"It's one of the reasons." His confidence restored now they were here in the room with him, he gave Jane a lascivious smile. "You, Lady Jane, are looking as luscious as ever. I was pretty worried they were going to permanently disfigure that statuesque figure, but you seem to have come out of it pretty well—"
"Rich!" Weller's voice came out so sharply that both Rich and Jane jumped. He tried to tone it down. "Enough of that."
"Stubbles, is there something you'd like to say to me? Patterson has known how to contact me this whole time, and I just kept waiting and waiting for your call, but you just kept me hanging…"
Weller knew they wouldn't be moving on from this point unless he just got it over with. "Thank you for finding Jane's black site. Turns out that she'd already managed to escape when I got there, so technically the information wasn't necessary in the end, but I do appreciate the help anyway."
"Ahh, damn." Rich sighed. "I knew there had to be a reason you weren't offering me a place on your team."
Weller struggled not to groan. Are you serious?
"Thanks for your help, Rich. Even if it did come a little too late. Thank you." Jane's voice was sincere.
Predictably, Rich preened. "You're welcome. To help my favourite couple, I'd move heaven and earth."
"Help me understand why you're here," Weller said.
"Oh, I will. I'm just waiting for your newest team member to get back with the coffee." Rich shook his head. "Things are all wrong with this team right now. The chemistry is just…strange. I thought you were going to tell Jane how you feel?"
Weller lost the battle for stoic self-control and rolled his eyes. "Rich, I can't even remember what I said to you to make you stop fixating on me and Jane, and actually get to work on the black site. Whatever it was, it was a means to an end."
"Still in denial?" Rich sighed. "And you, Jane, you just look so lonely. Closed off. You don't make eye contact with me or with anyone, least of all Kurt. But you're not shying away from him either. This is interesting body language, actually…"
As Weller glanced across at her, Jane raised her head and gave Rich a steely-eyed stare.
"Okay, that's not the kind of eye contact I was hoping for, but it's a start. A little intimidating, but I think I've established in the past that I find that attractive in a partner, especially if we've negotiated a power-play dynamic beforehand—"
The door opened behind Rich, and he just about jumped out of his skin before he registered Nas was the one walking in. Weller raised an eyebrow. Speaking of 'interesting'…
"You're expecting an attack," he said. "You're in the basement of a building filled with trained FBI agents. Who do you think's going to get at you here?"
The moment Rich had been preparing for—his big reveal—was clearly at hand. Complete with dramatic pause, he told them, "I'm being hunted…by the Akkadian."
Jane shot Kurt a questioning glance, as though this must be a commonly known reference that the ZIP had erased from her brain. He had no idea what Rich was referring to, though.
"Seriously? Nothing? You don't know who the…? Oh, my God. How do you still have a job?"
"Fine. Who's the Akkadian?" Weller was more than ready for Rich to get to the damn point. Every moment that he and Jane were in this room with their 'biggest fan' was a moment Rich could use to analyse his body language and Jane's. Weller dreaded to think how close to the truth Rich might get, if given enough time.
"It's a myth," Nas cut in. "It's an assassin so lethal it's able to reach targets in such untouchable locations that the intel community doesn't believe it even exists. He's a catch-all bogeyman. Might as well tell us he's being hunted by the Easter Bunny."
"As I already told you and Patterson, that 'Easter Bunny' already killed my beloved Boston." Rich dropped his head into his hands.
Any moment now, he's going to start talking about true love or something else he can bring around to me and Jane. Time to stop playing his games.
"We're not gonna get anything else from him." Weller stood up. "Let's get him to holding."
Rich's head shot up, genuine dismay in his features. "What? No! I need to stay here with you guys!"
Jane held open the conference room door while Weller manhandled the hacker out of his chair. Rich seemed genuinely terrified, not even making a comment about how much he loved to have Weller's hands on him as they marched him towards the nearest elevator. Nas sipped her coffee quietly and Jane kept a wary hand on her weapon as Rich babbled things about safety and prisoner abuse and dereliction of duty—the whole way up to holding.
It was just after they'd handed him over to the guys on duty there that Rich turned to his favourite pastime again. As they were bundling him into a cell, he reached out a hand to Jane. "Kurt is clearly still in love with you—you don't see this?"
Kurt froze, unable to believe the bastard had actually said the words. Wishing he could go in there and take his fury out on Rich, while simultaneously terrified that Jane would know that what he'd said was true.
Jane just gave a long-suffering sigh. "Goodbye, Rich." She turned and walked out, shaking her head.
"He's just confused, Jane! He's confused!"
Weller stayed behind to give the guys in holding some last instructions—not because he was avoiding Jane, but because he didn't trust Rich farther than he could throw him. After he'd finished talking to his agents, he stopped by the cell door.
"Just quit it, Rich. Jane went through hell in that black site. She might look like she's healed, but she's still recovering, and I don't want you saying anything that will make life harder for her right now."
Through his genuine fear, Rich still managed to look as though Kurt had just offered him a puppy to play with. "That is just so sweet. You really do love her. I knew it."
Weller growled his frustration and hit the bars with the palm of his hand. "I mean it. Lay off, Rich."
"You'll thank me one day, mark my words! God knows the two of you are too stubborn to realise what you have on your own. I just hope I'm alive to see you—"
The door swung shut behind Weller, cutting off any further words.