A/N: Not much to say except thanks for reading and reviewing. Thanks to SWWoman for her patience with an unpredictable new writer.

Breaking Point Chapter 12

Joss slowly opened her eyes to a semi-dark room, lying on her back on a cold, steel table of some sort. She turned her head, again slowly because it felt like jackhammers were drilling into her head. After closer inspection, the table reminded her of an autopsy table, only this one had restraints added to hold her by the wrist, her arms above her head, spread apart. Joss was also restrained by the ankles in the same way. She was still fully clothed, so whatever Donnelly had planned for her he hadn't implemented …..yet.

The last thing she remembered clearly was pleading with John silently to find her. A few minutes later, while she was still looking out of her window as they entered the city, she felt a needle in her neck, and she woke up here. She moved her wrist has best she could in the restraint; no, they hadn't found her tracker. If they had, she was sure they would have cut it out by now. She tugged on the restraints fruitlessly, testing their strength, and finding what she already knew. Donnelly had her, and he wasn't letting her go anytime soon.

Joss shivered. Even with her jacket, long sleeve ribbed pull over, and a shirt, and jeans, the steel table and the room were cold. She let her gaze roam over what she could see in the semi-darkness, which wasn't much. In the far corner to her right she thought could make out a door, and then further into the room she saw a tall, small, round table with four tall chairs around it. The kind of table you might see in a break room or club. Turning her head this way and that, she caught glimpses of counters and cabinets but couldn't make out any details. By the end of her little exploration all she managed to do was make her headache worse.

Joss nearly jumped out of her skin when the sound of the door opening and closing disrupted the pervasive silence of the room. She looked toward the door to see who had opened it, and saw Donnelly walking toward her, looking very smug. She wanted to slap that smug smile right off of his face. She watched as he walked up to the side of the table where she had been restrained and stood looking down at her. At first his look remained smug, as when he came in, but as his eyes moved down her body stretched out before him like an offering, a spark of lust lit in his eyes. By the time his eyes returned to her face there was a raging fire in that darkness and Joss had to swallow a whimper of unease. He looked feral, animalistic, and not in a good way.

He reached out, and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. It was cold just like the room, just like this table, and with just as much feeling. It took all of her will power not to jerk away, but she didn't want him to see that she was affected in any way by his touch. Donnelly just smiled a feral smile, and dropped his hand back to his side.

"It seems you have found yourself in a precarious position, Jocelyn." He said still staring at her hungrily.

"It's not that bad. Besides, I won't be here long," she said defiantly.

A flash of anger crossed Donnelly's face. "You think your boyfriend's going to rescue you, do you? Well, don't bet on it. See, we already know he's on his way." He smiled smugly again when he saw Joss's distraught face. "Yes, we have a welcoming party waiting for him and his friends. Which means he will never get close to this building, much less close to this room. Which also means," he said shrugging out of his suit coat and walking over to lay it on the small table, and then walking back he began to roll up his shirt sleeves "I have all the time I want, to do any thing I want...with you." He finished in a breathless whisper; lifting his hand he once again stroked her face…..then down her neck, and the valley between her breasts brushing his thumb briefly against one.

Joss couldn't control the shiver of revulsion that traveled through her at his touch. Looking into Donnelly's eyes, she had never seen him this way before. He was evil incarnate. She closed her eyes. God, if Donnelly knew about John's plans, they would kill him and their new friends. I have to do something; but what? She thought desperately. I'm strapped to a table by a madman.

Joss looked back at Donnelly and saw the all-consuming hunger; he was not going to be stopped. Then she had an idea. If she could pull it off she might be able to kill two birds with one stone, no pun intended. She didn't know if she could do it, though. Just the idea made her sick. But the idea of trying to live without John made her even sicker. Making up her mind, she closed her eyes again, and zoned out. She wasn't Jocelyn Carter anymore. She was someone else. Slipping into her new persona she opened her eyes and, taking Donnelly completely by surprise, she smiled at him.

John was antsy. It wasn't that Shaw wasn't driving fast enough because she seemed to be trying to break the sound barrier. No, he kept thinking about what Finch had said the last time they spoke. Joss's tracker hadn't moved. At all. Finch was right, though. That could mean she was tied down, and couldn't move. Even if that were true, the images his imagination kept bringing to mind didn't ease his apprehension.

He was trying to banish just such an image when he felt someone touch his arm from the backseat. He had insisted on riding shotgun. Turning in his seat he saw it was Root. John wasn't sure what to make of this strange yet brilliant woman who seemed to have a "relationship" with an AI they called the Machine. They said Finch would explain everything when all of this was over. He was beginning to think they were all nuts.

"She says you don't need to worry. Joss is okay. Joss is doing what she needs to do." Root said in her enigmatic way.

"What does that mean? What is she doing?" Reese demanded.

Root just shrugged. "That's all She told me. So see, you don't need to worry." Root said with a smile.

"Like hell I don't," Reese grunted. He glanced down at his watch. Three forty a.m. It would dawn in just under an hour and a half, full daylight in two and a quarter. He checked the GPS on the dashboard where Shaw had punched in the coordinates Finch had given them; less than ten minutes. They still might be able to pull this off under the cover of darkness. They had had to adjust their approach since Donnelly would probably have his men waiting for them now that Kara had joined the party.

Kara. He was going to have to do something about her too, along with Donnelly and Blondie. She would surely have something up her sleeve. If he had to guess, she would wait till he killed Donnelly and then she would try to kill him. Just how she planned to do that was what he wasn't sure of. Kara was the wild card in this game, and there were none wilder.

Shaw pulled into a vacant parking lot and put the black SUV in park to let it idle. She turned in her seat to look at John and the rest of them. They all looked to John, which made him a little uncomfortable. It still amazed him that they would take him on as a leader when they barely knew him. Shrugging that aside he looked back at all them.

"Any last minute instructions?" Shaw asked, directing her question to Reese. She had no trouble accepting him as commander. She had seen him in action, although he didn't know that. He was brilliant in the field, physically unmatched and knew several different fighting techniques as well as weaponry. She wanted to know everything he knew. Now. If she were honest with herself, she would admit she secretly had a small crush on Reese, but she would never say anything. One, he had Joss; two, Root would kill her.

John looked around at everyone. These people were going into battle with him, risking their lives and they didn't even know him or Joss. He didn't understand it, but he was grateful, and he had to find a way to convey that gratitude. He wasn't great at expressing himself, except with Joss, but he was going to try. He was about to open his mouth when Shaw smiled one of her very rare smiles.

"You can buy us all a steak when this is over, sound good?" She said.

Reese smiled back at all of them, and they were smiling too. They understood. "Sounds good," he replied simply.

Sobering, he said, "We know now that Donnelly knows we are coming so he'll be prepared for an attack. With us being so few, that would be reckless. So, we use stealth. Everyone has their map of the exterior and interior of this building on their phones. Let's take a moment to check coms. Step out of the car and each of you go to the four corners of the parking lot. I'll stay here by the car and relay to Finch." John paused and tapped his earbud. "Finch, com check," and John waited for a reply.

"Com check ready, Mr. Reese," Finch replied back and everyone left the SUV and headed in different directions. When John thought they were far enough he said, "Com check," and his stomach turned over as he remembered the last com check.

"Shaw, ready."

"Fusco, ready."

"Root, ready."

"Reese, ready." John checked in. "Everything clear, Finch?" John asked.

"Everything's clear, Mr. Reese. Com check, ready." Finch replied.

"Okay, everybody back to the car." Reese said and was about to open the car door to get in when Root came running up to him a look of distress on her face. John's stomach plummeted. There's only one reason Root would run to him with that look on her face. Joss was in trouble.

John turned to face her as Root reached him. "What? What is it? What happened?" John asked desperately.

"Remember when I said Joss was doing what she needed to do?" Root asked and John just nodded wanting her to get to the point. "Well, She just told me She was premature in her calculation. Joss is doing something very reckless, and we need to get to her fast or the Joss we know will be lost to us forever." Root's expression was dreadful and filled John with fear. What did that mean, the Joss we know? John wondered. He wasn't going to take time to sort it out.

"In the car! Now!" John's soft voice bellowed. Everybody piled into the SUV and Shaw slammed the car into gear, squealing out of the parking lot.

"What the fuck just happened?" Shaw demanded as she maneuvered around the lite traffic in her way. John just side-eyed her, "Of course, Root happened! What did you tell him?" Shaw said in that demanding way again.

Root told Shaw and Fusco what the Machine had told her and Shaw pressed even harder on the gas pedal, if that were possible. It had to be on the floor by now. They sped through the city until they reached their base in a quaint middle class neighborhood, and Shaw took her foot off the pedal and slowed down. Pulling off the road and into the garage of a neatly kept starter home Shaw pushed a button and the garage door closed behind them, and a dim light came on in the garage, letting them see to walk to the door into the house itself.

They entered the mud room just off the kitchen, then into the kitchen. The large kitchen was typical of a middle class home with stainless steel appliances, scored tile countertops, and redwood cabinets with stainless steel hardware. Walking through a door from the kitchen they entered an equally large dining room with a carved round wood table and six matching chairs positioned around it. This would serve as "base camp", where they set up, assessed and examined their equipment, reviewed their check list and readied themselves to fight.

Everyone was quiet as they prepared themselves; putting on leather gun gloves, Kevlar vests, holsters for the various weapons they would carry, and the weapons themselves. Root and Fusco looked at each other, and then they looked at Reese and Shaw wide eyed at the amount of weapons they each were strapping onto various parts of their bodies. Reese and Shaw happened to look up at the same time, and saw Root and Fusco staring at them as if they had grown a second head. Reese and Shaw looked at each other then back at Fusco and Root.

"What?" Reese.

"What?" Shaw.

They both spoke at the same time.

Fusco spoke first. "There's no way in hell you're gonna be able to even walk, much less fight with all that shit strapped to ya! Ya look like you're about ta fall over!" He said directing his remarks at Shaw.

Shaw blew up like a blowfish and John had to grab her around the waist to keep her from attacking Fusco. With the amount of gear she had on her she would surely kill him.

"Let go of me! I'll kick your sorry ass all the way back to the warehouse! I said LET ME GO, DAMN IT!" Shaw shouted. It was everything John could do to hold on to the little minx.

"I'm not letting you go till you calm down. Please, Shaw, I've got to get to Joss before…." He couldn't finish his thought because it was unthinkable. This seemed to calm her down, reminding her of her mission. Shaw stopped struggling and raised her hands over her head in surrender. Reese let her go gently and her feet hit the floor without a sound.

Shaw took a deep breath and shot Fusco a glance that would have shriveled the balls of a lesser man. Fusco just smirked and began to finish with his prep.

John tugged the last strap of his Kevlar vest then shrugged into his lavender button down shirt and began buttoning up. It was Joss's favorite shirt. He thought it looked better on her. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip as he remembered the first time she wore it, after the first time they made love. Lost in this memory he was just putting his long black coat on when he stopped and remained still; a cold chill ran down his spine. He heard Joss say his name. Not with his physical ears, but he heard it just the same.

John slowly lifted his head and focused his unrelenting gaze on Root who was looking at him with her mouth wide open and her eyes filled with terror. John swallowed the large lump in his throat but it seemed to be stuck there. Shaw and Fusco were watching this exchange with fascinated dread.

"Are we too late…" John whispered to Root around the lump in his throat while tears welled up in his eyes.

Root couldn't….or didn't want…..to answer…..

A/N: Not much longer till things come to a head. How will John react to whatever Root has to say, when she finally says it? What game is Joss playing that could've backfired on her? We all know that John and Joss's love can defeat anything. But can it defeat death itself? See you soon...