A/N: No long notes. Just thanks all around for everyone who reads and reviews! Especially SWWoman for being such a great mentor. Please enjoy...
Breaking Point Chapter 5
Joss slowly opened her eyes to a semi-dark room with a persistent throbbing in her left shoulder. From what she could tell by the feel and smell of the room, she was in a hospital or clinic of some kind. Turning her head she could see John dozing uncomfortably, his large body stretched out in a hard hospital bedside chair. She stirred a little more trying to get comfortable because her shoulder was starting to throb incessantly. John must have heard because he was instantly awake and by her side reaching for her hand on her uninjured arm.
"Hey there sweetheart, how are you?" he asked softly as people normally do when someone is in the hospital, although Johns voice was naturally soft and soothing.
"I feel like I've been shot." She said with a lopsided smile her voice husky from surgery. She grimaced as another throbbing pain went through her shoulder. "It does hurt a little."
"Do you want me to get the nurse?" John asked in the process of turning.
"No, no, not yet, I want to be with you." She said quickly. "If you call the nurse they'll give me pain medicine and it will make me sleepy and we need to talk because I don't want you doing something stupid." She clasped his hand tighter as she felt him go rigid.
"I was right, wasn't I?" she asked quietly. "You were planning on going after them weren't you?"
"I can't let this go, Joss." He said his voice low and rough. He knew she would try to talk him out of going but his mind was made up. "They hurt you. I can't let them get away with it."
"Who are you going to go after John?" She replied in a harsh whisper. "We don't even know who blew our covers much less who wants us dead. We have no idea how any of this ties together and yet you want to go all cowboy on….who?"
John stared at her for a moment then let out a frustrated breath letting go of her hand to run it through his hair, turning to pace beside her bed.
"Dammit Joss there's got to be something I can do! I'm tired of waiting for the other shoe to fall." He stopped next to her bed and picked up her hand again with shimmering eyes. "It might not be a shoulder wound next time. I can't lose you, Joss."
Joss felt her own eyes begin to tear as she saw the anger, frustration, and desperation in his eyes and heard it in his voice. But she also saw determination. He had made up his mind. He was going to do what he had to, no matter what she said, so she might as well help him as much as she could from where she was.
With a resigned sigh she smiled, "I love you too, baby. If you're determined to do this then I want to help as much as I can. But can we agree on one thing? Will you at least wait until I'm out of here before you start hunting people down?"
He was torn. He didn't want to wait. He wanted to hunt the bastards down now. But he also wanted to be here for Joss and she was compromising somewhat by not arguing with him, although she had some valid points. He could use the time to research their notes and there was something about this agent Donnelly that wasn't sitting well with him. He needed to look into him. Kissing the back of her hand, he nodded his head and she smiled a wide smile complete with dimples. He couldn't help but grin back.
"Now, you can call that nurse in here and get me some pain meds 'cause this shoulder hurts like hell." She said grumpily.
"Sure thing sweetheart," he said smiling as he turned to go get the nurse.
When he returned Joss asked, "Just what was my diagnosis and prognosis? Do you know?"
"Yeah, you had a through and through with no bone damage and limited tissue damage. You lost a lot of blood so they had to transfuse you but other than that it was a clean shot. You should heal completely within a few weeks. You'll have to wear a shoulder harness, of course." He added at the end knowing Joss would probably fight against it.
Sure enough, "Why do I have to wear a shoulder harness if it was a clean shot? It should heal enough in here for me to be able to carry my arm without a harness!"
"No, it won't," said a young woman as she walked in with a syringe in her hand. "You will not be nearly healed enough to carry that weight so you will wear a harness," and she looked at Joss sternly, "in and out of bed, just like you are now. By the way, my name is Megan. I'm your doctor." She finished as she took an alcohol pad out of her pocket to clean the IV port before placing the needle of the syringe in. She slowly pushed the plunger while looking at her watch.
"Hey Megan, I didn't know you were here. Oh, sweetheart, before you go to sleep again I want you to know I went back to the hotel and got our stuff. For some reason they didn't go thru it or take any of it, not even the laptops." John said quietly because Joss's eyes were beginning to glaze over. She probably wouldn't even remember. John and Megan exchanged a smile.
"Really? That's great." She said dreamily. She was already halfway gone. Then she turned her dimpled grin on John and was asleep.
John was wide awake. The more he thought about Donnelly the more interesting he became. Some things were starting to fall into place in his mind that he would need to get confirmation on but Donnelly was looking more suspect by the minute.
Kissing Joss on the cheek he whispered, "Sleep tight, sweetheart. I have an errand to run. I'll be back before you wake up." With that he waved to Megan, turned and left the room. He had an old friend he needed to see.
Joss was not the only FBI agent John had contact with. He had an old Army buddy who, like him, was in Special Forces, but instead of joining the CIA he chose to go with the FBI. Although their clandestine professions kept them apart most of the time, they would find time to meet on neutral ground and have a drink and talk about old times. It was this friend that John was now going to meet for a drink and, if he was lucky, some information.
John chose a corner booth in the back facing the door so he would be able to see Moss when he came in. Moss knew exactly where to find him and made his way through the semi-crowded bar and grill to John's table.
John stood up as Moss approached with his hand out and gave him a hardy hand shake.
"Hey, Moss, you're looking good. Married life must be agreeing with you." John said as he sat back down.
"Yeah, I would have to say it is." Moss replied with a wide smile showing perfect white teeth. He was about John's height but his build was more muscular than Johns, not as trim. Not that he was overweight by any means. He had short brown hair cut close, but not as severe as military. He slid into the seat across from John and looked at him quizzically. "I was surprised to hear from you. Last time we talked you were going deep cover. Something happen?"
John looked at his friend seriously. "How much time you got, Moss?"
Moss whistled through his pursed lips, "That bad, huh?"
John just nodded his head.
The waitress arrived and took their drink orders, both ordering bottle beer, and she soon returned. After she was gone Moss took a swallow of his beer then looked back at John. "Let's hear it." And John proceeded to tell him everything that had happened, including Joss being FBI which instantly got his attention, all the way to when she was shot.
Moss sat quietly for several moments taking swigs of his beer, then said bluntly, "Damn John, what the hell have you gotten yourself into now?" and then they both grinned.
"I swear, John," Moss said still smiling softly, "you get yourself into some of the biggest shit of any man I've ever seen." Their smiles faded as the seriousness of the situation settled on them again.
"Moss, in all the time we've been friends I've never asked you for anything and honestly thought I never would. But" and he looked his friend squarely in the eye, "someone I care deeply for is in trouble and I need your help." The question was left unspoken.
Moss reached over the table and grabbed John's fist. "We were brothers before we were professionals. If there is anything I can do to help all you need to do is tell me what you want and it's yours." John didn't have to say thank you, it was written on his face and in his grateful eyes.
"I need you to find out all you can about a fellow agent. I don't have his first name, all I have is Donnelly…" he began when Moss interrupted with an explosive, "Aw, fuck! Don't tell me he's involved in this!"
John sat back in surprise. "Well, yeah, he's Joss's handler. Didn't I say that when I told you she was FBI? He's the whole reason for this conversation."
"I wish you had said that from the start and we could have saved ourselves a lot of time. I know Nicholas Donnelly well. He's as slippery as they come. He's into some nasty shit that Joss probably doesn't even know about, we just can't prove it." Moss said but it was one phrase that jumped out at John; 'some nasty shit that Joss probably doesn't even know about' was the same phrase, or close to it, Joss used to describe Kara. A blinding thought shook him to the souls of his shoes. What if Maxwell had nothing to do with any of it? What if he was a red herring meant to distract him and Joss from what was really going on?
"John? Are you alright, man? You're white as a sheet." Moss said with concern.
Pulling himself together he looked at Moss. "I need you to get me everything you have on Donnelly, whether you can prove it or not. I'll take care of that. No matter how meaningless you think it may be, I want it. I have a feeling that the CIA and the FBI are a little cozier than they should be."
Moss looked at John disbelievingly. "You've got to be kidding!" he said in a harsh whisper. This was a conversation that definitely didn't need to be overheard.
"Think about it. Think about what I told you Joss said about Kara. You said the exact same thing about Donnelly," John whispered back and watched as Moss's eyes grew wide. "Exactly, you understand where I'm going with this don't you? I need that intel. If Donnelly is up to what I think he is then Joss is in more danger than she thought….and so is her family." He said his voice as low as he could get and Moss still hear him.
"I'll get you everything I can. It may take me a couple days." He said soberly.
"That's fine. I promised Joss I wouldn't do anything 'stupid' till she got out of the hospital so I've got time. I've got some things I want to go over in Joss's notes. I have a nagging feeling there's something in there that we've missed. I've got to move her family now, as in yesterday." He was starting to feel an edge of panic grip him.
"Calm down brother. I've got a place they can stay until you find something more long-term. Where are they?" Moss asked, calming John some. John told him where they were staying and said he would meet him there at 9 pm that evening. He still had to talk to Joss and Joss's mother. She was not going to be happy about him having to move her mother and Taylor without her talking to them but there was nothing for it. It had to be done. She was really not going to like what he had to say about Donnelly.
They both stood up to leave shaking hands again and agreeing to meet back there in two days after they moved Joss's family that night.
As John was about to reach the door he glanced to his right and saw a man with thick black framed glasses, dressed in an expensive grey suit with a vest, and a small younger woman with long dark hair in a pony-tail dressed all in black. They seemed like an odd couple but that wasn't what caught John's attention. As he took a second look he would swear he had seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't think where. Shaking his head he continued out the door. He had to get back before Joss woke up. They had a lot to talk about.
"That was a close one there, Finch. I think he almost recognized you." Said the small woman dressed all in black.
"Yes, but thankfully, he didn't Ms. Shaw. How's your arm, by the way? It mustn't have been easy taking out those two gunmen in the front of the hotel all by your-self. I was very impressed." Finch drawled ignoring the attempt to sting his ego.
Shaw held up her bandaged left arm for him to see. "It's healing fine. Lucky I'm medically trained as well as tactically or you would have an impressive medical bill. That guy cheated by bringing out a knife at a gun fight. Some people just don't play by the rules," she said with a sigh.
A smile played at the corners of his lips. "You did attack him Ms. Shaw. What did you expect him to do?"
She threw him a disgruntled look. "It was a gun fight. Shoot me, of course." She said as if this explained everything. "But you should have seen Reese! By the time I got around back to help, Reese held the dude up by the collar and pistol whipped him with his own weapon until he was unconscious! Priceless." She finished with a rare smile. "I'm tellin' ya, Finch, that man is a machine." She said with obvious admiration.
"Thankfully, Ms. Carter only suffered a shoulder wound. According to my contacts at the clinic she should make a full recovery. I expect she'll be leaving the clinic in a day or two." Finch replied with a slight frown. Finch just shook his head. "They're getting closer to the truth. The closer they get the more danger they are going to be in. John still has the threat of the CIA looming over him, also. Can you handle that Ms. Shaw or do I need to bring in reinforcements?"
"I hope you don't mean two fisted Root?" she said with disgust. It was just an act though, the two gun thing had actually grown on her. "What about Fusco? We can pull her old partner in for a little help. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
"I think I'll contact them both and see what help we can glean from them. I think Ms. Groves could be a great help to me while Detective Fusco lends you a hand. Until then Ms. Shaw," and he looked meaningfully at Shaw and she started grudgingly to her feet, "you're on your own." He finished, speaking to her retreating back.
A/N: What is it John may be on to about Kara and Donnelly? And why does the CIA want John "retired"? Finch and Shaw are going to have to be more careful or John's going to get suspicious if he see's them again. Things are about to get very exciting indeed. Here's a teaser from Chapter 6: "John, why won't you talk to me about why the CIA wants you dead?" Joss asked bluntly. John slowly raised his head from the notes he was reading, a look of wariness in his eyes...she wasn't going to let this go. He would have to tell her...
See you soon...