Disclaimer: Credit to Jonathan Nolan, Greg Plageman, and the POI writing team. Bolded sections are straight from the episodes.
QUEENSBRIDGE PARK
Chapter 26: mid Root Path
"I know it seems weird," Root tells Finch as snow continues to fall on them in the middle of Madison Square Park. "But I'm one of the good guys now, Harold."
Finch is trying to get her to stay away from their current Number, a Wall Street multimillionaire turned janitor, and is failing rather spectacularly.
She pulls out her phone and sends him an ad for knockoff Viagra. "Third from the bottom, fifthteenth on the right, behind you," she says enigmatically before walking away.
Reese, Shaw, and Bear quietly join Finch as they watch Root approach their Number.
"Root wouldn't take 'go' for an answer?" Reese asks.
"No, I'm afraid not," Finch says. "Seems that she thinks she has the situation well in hand. Ms. Groves has never been particularly concerned about collateral damage, which may be precisely what Cyrus Wells is about to become. Watch over them until we can figure out what's going on. In the meantime, I'll try to determine what message this is meant to convey." He looks down again at the ad for a male enhancement pill she had texted him.
Shaw and Reese glance at his screen.
"Seems pretty clear to me," Shaw smirks.
"I think she likes you, Harold," Reese adds.
"Is that guy still bothering you?"
"Why, are you going to fly 5,000 miles just to beat him up for me?" Elena teases.
"Yes." John is not teasing. She can practically hear him making travel arrangements already. And suddenly she's dangerously close to crying.
It's Saturday night, and unlike every other grad student on campus, Elena Cassidy is sitting in her apartment, talking on the phone to a man halfway around the world.
She clears her throat and says briskly, "He hasn't spoken to me since last Thursday. He said some guy claiming to be my husband called him up and threatened to kill him."
"We are married, Elena."
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't legal, John."
"Never cared much for legalities."
Elena laughs. She thinks he's never said anything more true.
Then the minutes pass as they listen to each other's silence.
It's second nature to her to try to fill awkward silences. It was practically a job requirement when she was a receptionist. And she'd become a pro at small talk and useless chatter from all the parties she'd attended with Ken.
But the silence is never awkward with John. It's just part of who he is.
"Do you think people ever really change?" he finally asks.
"Yes," she answers immediately. Then she rethinks it. "Actually, no. I think people's priorities can change, and our understanding of them can change. But do people actually change themselves? I don't think so."
Her answer is surprisingly cynical, not something he expects from Elena Cassidy.
"You've thought about this," he says. It isn't a question.
"I keep thinking about Ken, you know?" she says, trying to explain. "Maybe if I'd told him earlier what I was working on with Joss, he would have changed, he would have stopped working with HR. He would have helped bring them down." She swallows hard. "He would still be alive."
"El, you can't think like that. His death is not your fault."
There's something odd in the tone of his voice. As if he knows just how it feels.
"I guess that's what I'm trying to say. I don't think he would have changed, even if I had told him. He didn't care about the money or the morality. He loved politics, he loved his career, he loved the intrigue and power plays that happened at City Hall."
"But he tried to save you from Simmons."
"I don't think it's because he changed. I think he was being who he was all along. Yes, he loved politics, but ... maybe ... he loved me just a little bit more." She blinks back the sudden tears that spring to her eyes. "It's like that time we fought in the park, remember? He was there waiting for me at home instead of going to the mayor's event. That was Ken."
She holds the phone away as she takes a steadying breath and tries to regain her composure.
"I don't know, maybe I'm just being naive, trying to make myself feel better. Sorry, I didn't mean to —"
"No, Elena," he cuts off her apology. "You're right. Parker did love you. He did exactly what I would have done if I were in his shoes." (Well, he would have killed Simmons with his bare hands, but that's beside the point.)
That odd note is still in his voice. And she wishes more than ever that she could see him and figure out what was going on in that pretty head of his.
"Joss ..." she begins.
"This isn't about her," he says quickly.
She lets another minute pass by in silence. "Then what's this about, John?"
He can't tell her. He wouldn't in person, and he certainly can't over the phone.
Elena sighs, and they retreat from the edge of discussing Important Things.
"Are you looking to make a change?" she asks dryly. "New haircut, maybe? New outfit?"
He lets out an amused huff. "Got any advice?"
A few options cross her mind. Go a bit easier on the hair gel? Wear a tie once in a while? Smile a bit more?
But then he wouldn't be him.
"Elena?"
She realizes she's been quiet for so long that he's checking to make sure she's still on the line.
"Don't change, John," she says softly. "I like you just the way you are. Classic, remember?"
She hears an embarrassed huff on the other end of the line. And she wonders if she's made John Reese blush.
"Well, you married me for a reason, right?" he quips.
"I did, didn't I?" She tries to mimic his tone, but it sounds more wistful than teasing.
Another silence.
"Are you all right, El?"
"I'm all right, John."
"You always say that."
"I always mean it."
"I heard someone once say that no one's always all right. If they are, then they're lying."
There's a moment of shocked silence. "I'm not going to ask how you heard me say that to Lionel."
She can almost hear him smiling on the other side of the world. And for the first time in months, she's smiling, too.
"John?"
"Yes?"
"Are you all right?"
"I'm always all right."
She thinks back on the injured man who had lain for weeks in that safehouse with near-fatal injuries. And the broken man who'd agreed to fake marry her, and had kissed her in a single moment of weakness, and had run away.
"Okay, then. Let's be all right together."
