Disclaimer: Credit to Jonathan Nolan, Greg Plageman, and the POI writing team. Bolded sections are straight from the episodes.
QUEENSBRIDGE PARK
Chapter 30: after Beta
Fusco parks in front of Grace Hendricks' house and opens the door for her. In the last 12 hours, the artist and Harold's former fiancee had been almost kidnapped, saved by two fake detectives, been in a car crash, actually abducted, questioned by a strange old man about her dead fiance, and then blindfolded and mysteriously set free again. He's impressed by the fact that she's still standing.
"Day like today, it's gotta feel good to come home," he says.
She smiles at first, but then a look of worry crosses her face.
"Hey, you gonna be okay?" he asks.
"Honestly, I don't know. Is it gonna be safe here?"
"No."
Grace turns and sees the tall man she knows as Detective Stills standing behind her.
"They have what they want for now, but that won't stop them from coming after you again, which is why you should open this." He hands her an envelope, and she looks in it to find a stack of cash and a passport. "The job you were looking at in Italy? You've been selected for the position."
"What?" Grace asks, bewildered. "I didn't even go on the interview. I was supposed to leave —"
"Your flight leaves tonight. The job begins next week. They'll set you up with an apartment, stipend — all under the name on that passport. Lionel here will get you to the airport safely. It's a good time to start over. Please don't look back."
He begins to walk away, but Grace calls after him.
"Did you know him? Harold?" she specifies.
Reese stops.
"Is he what this was all about?"
"All I know for sure is ... you loved him. And he loved you back."
He turns and continues walking away. As he rounds a corner, he pulls out his phone and dials a number he knows by heart.
"Elena," he says as soon as she picks up.
"John?" Somehow, she knows something's wrong just from the way he'd said her name.
"A new professor is going to arrive at your school next week. Her name's Grace Ellsworth. You're going to be her research assistant."
"All right," she says slowly.
She knows better than to ask who she is really, but the question hangs in the silence that passes.
"We need to keep her safe. For Harold."
There's so much more going on than that. She has so many questions, but she knows it's not the time to ask them. She can feel it in the tenseness of his voice, the hard edge to it.
"I'll look out for her, John."
"Thank you."
"Is everyone else all right?"
"Lionel's fine. So is Shaw. And Bear."
Her heart sinks. "So it's Harold."
He doesn't answer. Just an hour ago, he had watched Finch hand himself over to Decima in order to save Grace.
"And what about you?"
"I gotta go, El."
"John."
He remains silent on the other end of the line, but doesn't hang up. Elena sighs.
"Please be careful."
His automatic response is to brush off the caution, but he decides to tell her the truth.
"I'll try."
