Disclaimer: Credit to Jonathan Nolan, Greg Plageman, and the POI writing team. Bolded sections are straight from the episodes.


QUEENSBRIDGE PARK

Chapter 13: between Reasonable Doubt & Razgovor


"How long are you going to keep him waiting?" Carter asks Zoe.

The police officer, the fixer, and Shaw are sitting at a bar, enjoying a round of drinks after helping Reese and Finch with a Number.

Zoe glances over her shoulder at Reese, who's standing outside on the sidewalk. With his uncanny sense of timing, Reese looks up at the moment all three women are looking at him.

Zoe tosses her head. "He promised to walk me home."

"Very chivalrous of him," Shaw notes.

"Okay, fine," Zoe says, setting down her glass. "I should probably get going."

"Yeah, I need to go, too," says Carter, taking a last sip. "I have a date ... with my son."

"Nice work tonight, ladies," Shaw commends as they depart.

She drains her bottle of beer as Reese and Zoe walk off together.

"You wanna get out of here?" she asks Bear, who's sitting patiently at her feet. The canine seems amenable. "Okay. But you're sleeping at my place."

As they step out of the bar, she pauses. Her place is toward the right, but ...

She can just see Zoe and Reese disappearing around the corner toward the left. Never one to pass up the opportunity to learn more about her mysterious co-workers, Shaw tugs Bear in that direction instead.

"Let's go the long way home."


It's relatively easy to tail the couple. Zoe lives in one of the trendiest places in town, so there are enough people out and about to obstruct their view of her. And Reese is ... tall. Honestly, Shaw doesn't understand how he ever made it as a spy. He sticks out like a sore thumb.

Reese and Zoe squeeze past a group of giggling women — a bachelorette party. The one wearing the sparkly plastic tiara and an equally sparkly sash labeling her as the bride-to-be trips when one of her friends drunkenly bumps into her, and she nearly goes sprawling to the pavement. Reese's hand quickly shoots out and steadies her, averting disaster.

"John," Elena Cassidy gasps faintly, one hand clutching his arm, the other clutching at her displaced tiara as he pulls her upright.

"Elena."

After a breathless moment, they become intensely aware of their audience, namely seven drunk bridesmaids and one Zoe Morgan. Reese releases her a tad too quickly, and Elena staggers back but keeps her balance.

"Thanks," she quickly says, decidedly casual.

"No problem," he says, mirroring her impersonal tone.

Then, as if by mutual agreement, they both turn and continue in the direction they had been going.

Zoe and Reese walk the next block in silence.

"I never pegged you for the blushing bride type, John," Zoe finally observes.

Reese smirks, swaggering as he does only in her presence. "Don't be jealous, Zoe."

"Oh, I'm not," she assures him. "But I'm curious about how you know Ken Parker's fiancée."

Reese looks at Zoe sharply. "How do you know her?"

"She's not of any particular interest," Zoe says dismissively, "but her future husband could become an important player at City Hall, if he plays his cards right."

"Hm."

Zoe gives him an appraising look as she leads the way up her steps. "Okay, John. You keep your secrets, and I'll keep mine. That's why this," she gestures between them, "works."

Luckily for Elena, her friends are neither sober enough nor as astute as Zoe Morgan to have noticed the exchange between her and John.

A familiar bark from across the street catches her attention, but before she can see if it is Bear, she's being pushed and pulled through the VIP line of a club.

As she gives herself up to the flashing lights and pulsing beat of the music, she can still feel where John had held her. And she tries to convince herself that tingling feeling is just the beginning of a bruise.

After Zoe and Reese disappear inside Zoe's apartment, Shaw finally turns Bear in the direction of her own place. She has no interest in what happens behind closed doors. The interesting thing had already happened when John had run into that blushing bride-to-be, who Bear had barked at.


The blushing bride-to-be is looking rather pale the next day.

Elena's hiding behind a pair of big sunglasses as she slouches on a bench in Queensbridge Park. A family with three young children have commandeered Bailey, and she couldn't be more grateful.

Her hangover is proof she's too old for this shit. She should have taken up her future mother-in-law's offer to host a civilized weekend wine tasting at Martha's Vineyard instead of pretending she could still drink like a college student. She is going to regret this for days, if she doesn't just die right here.

"Good morning."

John appears in front of her, looking so goddamn fresh and uncharacteristically chipper that she really, truly hates him in that moment.

"Is it?" she mumbles.

Reese glances at his watch. "Afternoon, actually."

Elena groans.

"Nice day for a walk in the park."

Reese freezes and slowly turns to greet the newest arrival. "Shaw," he says, infusing the syllable with warning.

Shaw and Bear had tailed Reese to this park near the Queensboro Bridge. Bear had bolted at once, though not for Reese. He is currently frolicking with a golden retriever.

"Hello," Shaw says in a fakely warm tone as she reaches around Reese to offer Elena her hand. "I'm a co-worker of John's. You are?"

About to be sick, Elena realizes.

She smiles brightly. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" she asks politely.

Without waiting for an answer, she turns on her heel, walks to a nearby trash can, and promptly throws up in it.

"Oh, boy," Shaw mutters unsympathetically, making no move to help.

Reese hands her a few dollars. "Get a bottle of water from the vendor," he orders before hurrying to Elena's side.

Elena feels like she could die of mortification, especially when she feels someone gather up her hair and hold it back for her as another wave hits her.

Shaw fetches the bottle of water, then hurries back to the bench where Elena had left her purse. "Okay, lady, let's see who you really are."

She quickly rifles through the organized bag and determines Reese is currently playing knight errant to a Miss Elena Marie Cassidy, age 27, receptionist at City Hall, and scheduled to marry a Kenneth Parker in December, according to the invitation tucked in her purse.

Shaw sets the purse back to rights in disbelief. Either this chick is a cautious operative, or she's truly as normal and benign as she looks.

But then why would Reese be so interested in her? New Number?

"Thanks for keeping an eye on her things, Sam," Reese says, as he helps Elena back toward the bench. He holds out a hand for the purse, which Shaw tosses onto his arm.

"I'm so sorry you're not feeling well," Shaw says in what she hopes is a sympathetic tone as Reese snatches the water bottle from her, too.

Reese gives her an unimpressed look as he whistles. Bailey and Bear come rushing over, taking a seat at his feet expectantly.

"Here, take Bear and the car back to Harold," he says, handing over his own keys to Shaw. He pulls Elena's keys out of her purse. "I'm going to see her home."

"It was nice meeting you," Elena manages a weak smile. "I'm sorry I wasn't better company today."

"Don't worry about it," Shaw says, just managing not to roll her eyes.

She looks down at Bear, and they both watch as Tall Man walks away with Bailey and Pretty Lady. Reese is holding the lady's purse and the dog's leash in one hand. His other hand hovers behind her, ready to steady her if necessary.

"Does John have a girlfriend?" Shaw asks Bear. She frowns. "But he's stepping out on her with Zoe? And this chick has a fiance. Nah ... Boy Scout wouldn't have it in him. So what's this all about, Bear?"


While Ken would have just uselessly hovered and asked her what he should do, John takes charge. He picks up her purse, takes her to her car, packs her and Bailey in, and drives her home. And he drives so smoothly that she only has to ask him once to pull over so she can be sick again.

He helps her inside, and she's pretty sure Mrs. Kelly next door is watching (as she always is), and everyone on the street will know by dinnertime that Ellie Cassidy was entertaining a tall, dark, handsome stranger in her home that afternoon.

"I'm sorry, John," she says as she sits at her kitchen table, her head in her hands. "Thank you so much. You don't have to stay. I'm feeling better now."

"You trying to get rid of me?" he asks, setting a glass of water in front of her, along with a bottle of aspirin from her medicine cabinet. "Drink up."

She groans. "Please don't say those words to me ever again."

He smiles, glancing around the neat yet cozy home as she begins to take tentative sips. It's very ... Elena.

"I'm sure you have better things to do than making sure someone who thought she could still party like a 21-year-old doesn't die of a hangover. Or of embarrassment after hurling in front of a park full of people."

"I've ended up in worse places after a long night out," he muses as he pats Bailey.

"Really?"

Several places come to mind. A police precinct. The morgue. A wheelchair. The trunk of a burning car. Jail.

"Yeah."

And that's such a typical response from John that she can't help but smile.

"Oh, I almost forgot." She reaches into her purse. "I didn't know where in the world to send this, so I've been carrying it around, hoping I'd run into you or Harold again."

She's holding out a cream-colored envelope made of thick, expensive-looking paper.

"I'd like for both of you to come, if you can. It's just here in town, at the New York Public Library. Ken's family and their friends are going to be there, all 400 of them. I've got maybe 30 on my side? If they all can make it."

He makes no move to take it.

"Look, I know you're probably not going to come, but just think about it, all right? And tell Harold?" She smiles. "You're both welcome to bring plus-ones. Zoe Morgan's already got an invitation of her own, but maybe Sam —?"

Reese takes the invitation from her, if only just to stop her speculation. "Thank you."

Somehow, he knows that she knows he has no intention of attending.

She nods in resignation. "All right. Well, tell Harold I said hi. And please beg Bear's forgiveness for not playing today."

"He understands."

"Maybe I can make it up to him next week?"

They'd let their weekly dog playdates slide, but he supposes there'd be no harm in picking them up again. Purely for Bear's benefit, of course.

"We'll be there."

She doesn't know if 'we' means just Bear and John. Or Bear and John and Harold. Or Bear and John and Harold and Sam, who had appeared out of nowhere with Bear. What a strange working relationship they all must have.

"I'll see you next week," he says, waving her off when she starts to stand. "I can see myself out."

He manages to slip out of the house just as Parker drives past again in search of a parking spot. He contemplates staring down Elena's nosy next-door neighbor who's watching him like a hawk from her window, but settles for trodding on her daffodils as he makes a quick escape.


When their next Number comes up, a veterinarian about to be caught in the crossfire of some addicts planning to raid her clinic, inspiration strikes Reese as he looks at Bear, who had been inconsolable since Pretty Lady had been too sick to play with him at the park.

"I have an idea of how we can help Dr. Jensen," Reese says as Finch tapes the vet's photo on the board. "Make an appointment for Bear. We'll say that he's sick."


A/N: Worse places Reese has ended up in after a long night out:

A police precinct. In Pilot (s1e01), after hobo Reese beats up some guys on the subway, he meets Carter for the first time.

The morgue. In Super (s1e11), after Reese gets shot by the CIA, Finch takes him to the morgue and gets the doctor there to save him.

A wheelchair. Also in Super, Reese is stuck in a wheelchair after getting shot.

The trunk of a burning car. In Blue Code (s1e15), Reese infiltrates a gang of smugglers but pretends to be killed, and is thrown into the car that's set on fire.

Jail. In Shadowbox (s2e10), after helping a Number blow up a bank vault, Reese is caught by the FBI.