Disclaimer: I don't own any characters that are in POI and am merely using them for entertainment purposes only.

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day to the Careese community. Now we couldn't possibly pass this special day without having a romantic story from me :D Hopefully, this means I'll be on the up and up with story ideas that I have planned. I'm also gonna be secretly cheering on you other lovely authors because there is a drought and I need my fix lol. Anyways, I hope that this is to your liking and thank you SWWoman for the speedy beta.

Locked

"Ms. Shaw, do you believe that it's smart to be interfering like this" Harold asked the question with a worried treble to his voice.

His employee and strange friend simply snorted as she locked the door. "Finch, if we don't do anything, then we'll continue to be subjected to their eye sex until the end of time. Fusco can vouch for me on this, right?" Both pairs of eyes turned towards the pudgy detective that stood just behind him.

"Glasses, you have to admit that this has been going on way too long. These two survived getting taken out by Simmons, but still nada. They need a small nudge from their friends."

Harold remained conflicted over forcing John and Joss to confront their feelings about each other. Of course, he saw that the two shared a close connection. Their actions when they were near each other spoke volumes. It reminded him of his relationship with Grace where he just couldn't stop looking at her as if she was his whole world. He was glad that John found someone to bring him out of the low point he had found him in when he first offered him employment. He wanted the best for him of course but wondered if the direct approach was really the best way.

"C'mon, let's open up the laptop and watch the show" Shaw announced with anticipation as the two men followed close behind.

John's head felt like it was in a fog. The last thing he remembered was having a drink at the safe house with the rest of the team. Joss looked gorgeous sitting off to his left in friendly conversation with Shaw. Her inner beauty was unmatched in his eyes because it had helped him reconsider his suicidal ideas before Harold offered him the work that had allowed him to do what he had sought to do when he joined the CIA. John wanted more than anything to tell her how he felt, but that just wasn't an option. CIA agents didn't get close to their assets unless they wanted something from them. They'd lock away their emotions and do their jobs without any questions.

However, this wasn't the CIA anymore. He wasn't around toxic people like Kara and Mark anymore. These people surrounding him now were good friends that he'd give his life up to protect, Joss especially because there was that uncertainty of his feelings as to whether she was simply a friend or something more. The word he looked for was lost in his memories, but his heart yearned for her in another capacity.

As the night went on and drinks continued, John felt slight lightheadedness and it grew worse as the night went on. He heard Joss mention something similar going on with her and grew concerned. He had made a mental plan to take her aside and talk with her in private sometime later. Next thing he knew, he was trying to get rid of this fog in his head. "Ugh" John muttered before slightly shaking his head. He was slowly beginning to get his bearings as he saw that he was in an enclosed room that matched the décor of the safe house.

Okay, so he wasn't under immediate threat. Raising his body, John got up to a sitting position but quickly noticed that he wasn't the only one in the room. "Joss?"

Why was she so tired? The last thing Joss could remember was admiring John's attire of a red t-shirt and jeans because he rarely dressed down from his Man in the Suit attire. Tonight she was in the company of the team just enjoying drinks after another successful job well done. When Joss wasn't ogling John, she was keeping up a friendly conversation with Shaw as she felt that they hadn't talked in quite some time.

Despite Shaw's emotional issues, Joss loved having another woman to talk to that was on the team. She especially liked how the smaller operative took a liking to her because of their shared love for Nanos. Granted, Shaw's bluntness could make for some pauses to a conversation; like when she once again brought up how she and John should burn off that sexual energy now that Simmons and Quinn were gone.

Joss didn't want to give anything away, but it wasn't as if her thoughts weren't on the prospect of them taking their strange relationship to the next level. She had loved John for a long time now. Somehow, he had managed to worm his way into her life to the point that she couldn't imagine it without him. His selfless persona made for some heart-wrenching moments like when he was ready to sacrifice himself to help her escape the morgue. She had meant what she said when she told him through the door that she'd hate him forever if anything happened to him.

As Joss found herself distracted by looking towards John, she told herself that she'd take him to the side and ask him about the state of their relationship. Even though she didn't drink too often, Joss wondered why she was feeling lightheaded with only a bottle of beer. Before she knew it, her world went dark and now she was feeling something hard underneath her. A loud moan escaped her as she felt something on her arm.

"Joss? Joss?" John called gently as he touched her arm. Watching as she became conscious, he breathed a sigh of relief before helping her up to a sitting position. "Take it easy."

As her back pressed up against the cold wall, she got her bearings enough to realize that John was the other person she heard in the fog. "John? Where the hell are we?"

His hand lingered a little too long on her cheek before moving it to her shoulder. "It looks like we're still in the safe house. Don't know what's going on though. The last thing I remember was having a drink" he explained before sitting next to her.

"Same here" she added.

The silence that slowly crept into the room was shattered by a high pieced noise, causing both John and Joss to jump to their feet before looking around. It was then that she spotted a camera and intercom in the upper corner of the room. "What the hell is that?" Joss shouted which grabbed John's attention.

The red light blinked once before a voice came from the intercom. "Wakey wakey lovebirds," Shaw uttered from the other end.

"Shaw? What are you doing?" John growled.

"We feel that it's in your best interest to put you two through an intervention about your feelings for each other."

"We? Who's we?" Joss asked before looking around to see if there was a way out for fear of what the emotionless operative had planned; especially if it involved John.

There was some shuffling before another voice came through which they recognized as Lionel. "Well, I for one need this to happen so that I don't have to watch the heart eyes on Wonderboy anymore."

John was flabbergasted by the comment. "Lionel, I'll make sure that you regret getting involved," he uttered lowly.

He failed to notice Joss's admiring gaze as she was aroused by his rough voice. She shook her head and chastised herself because of the situation she was in. This was not the time to ogle her friend. Instead, she continued to think about the reasoning for this kidnapping. Confusion etched on her face at Lionel's comment about John's look her way and wondered how long that had been the case.

"I feel that this course of action is for the best even though I'm reluctant as to the method in which Ms. Shaw went about it."

"Harold?! You're in on this too?" Joss was clearly in shock over this as Harold was one to normally be respectful of other people's privacy. "You guys better explain yourself before your former CIA buddy goes on the warpath." The look in John's eyes was intense.

Shaw's voice once again came through. "Easy, we're gonna keep you locked in there until you just admit that you've had the hots for each other for the longest time now. No one is fooled by the act."

Joss was taken aback by her words and wondered if they were as transparent as she claimed.

"Now there is quite a bit of evidence that shows this was going on well before I joined this group so I figured that the Machine could help us out too."

"Wait, what?" John asked, hoping like hell that they were just bluffing because of his fear for what the Machine could possibly expose to Joss. "Don't you dare" his eyes solely focused on the lens of the camera and grew infuriated when the red light merely blinked again.

A snicker was heard from the other end. "So let's get this little thing started. How about we start off with Lionel? He seems to have quite a bit to get off his chest."

Shuffling could be heard before he spoke up. "You're telling me. Wonderboy always gets on my ass about anything involving Carter. Back when she was a target of Elias, he threatened me for merely suggesting that maybe her getting taken out was a good thing, as a joke of course. Talk about wound up."

Joss looked over at him. "Is this true?"

John simply grunted in annoyance.

"I knew you were watching me closely but to go that far…" she couldn't have fathom him saying such a thing merely because she'd been threatened. Surely he acted as dedicated towards a random number.

Laughter drew her attention back to the intercom. "Are you kidding me, Carter? Reese would go out of his mind if you got a paper cut. He's soft on you even when you considered him as enemy number one. I thought it was a pretty big mistake, but then again, I can see why he likes you so much. You got a good heart and I think Wonderboy needed that."

Silence enveloped the small room once again. Joss closed the distance between them before placing her hand on his arm. "John, it's okay. Just talk to me." Instead, he remained silent and left her discouraged. She wanted this man more than anything but kept her feelings quiet. All the ups and downs they've been through just pointed to him as being the man for her. Even when Joss tried to move on with Cal, John was always in her thoughts.

Lionel could be heard sighing. "Damn, it's worse than I thought. I might be divorced but even I can see that he's got it bad for you Carter."

There was more shuffling before Harold came up to the mic. "I'd like to add that even though I had been against Mr. Reese getting close to you, Detective, when we first started working together, he had still been adamant about your safety after the confrontation with Snow. Sadly, he had been very withdrawn thanks to the CIA, but once you were on board, things were getting better and I was happy that he saw better in himself simply by being in your presence. Mr. Reese, please understand that feelings don't make you weak but actually add to the strength that you already possess."

John finally spoke in a hushed tone. "I don't deserve any good Harold. You know that as well as I do because of everything I've done." He then turned to Joss. "I'm sorry Joss, for everything that's happened just by me being in your life."

"John, you can't be sorry if you've brought so much good in my life."

Suddenly static kicked into the intercom before something that sounded like a recording began to play. "She's not just another number Finch. There are some people this world can't afford to lose." This quieted them.

"See? Even the Machine is rooting for you two so get your crap together. Damn emotions are just a pain in the ass anyway. What is there to even worry about anyway?"

John slammed a nearby wall. "Dammit Shaw, you just don't get it. Joss has a life that matters. You weren't there when she almost lost everything because she wanted to protect me from the FBI." The pain began thrumming through his hand as his temper skyrocketed at Shaw's lack of understanding.

When he felt Joss's tender touch, he simply followed her hands as they slowly traced his red knuckles. "I did what I did because you matter John. Don't think that it's just okay for you to pretend that you're still nobody…" Her voice broke, catching John by surprise before she pressed her forehead against his chest. "John Reese is the man that I hadn't expected to care so much about, not because of who you were, but because you were so closed off that I never thought there would have been a chance for us."

Without hesitation, John's good hand began to lightly caress her soft locks as his heart began to thump. "It's because emotions were a weakness. Shaw knows what the higher-ups expected from their agents and we had to be their obedient slaves or otherwise be 'retired'."

"But you felt something that night didn't you? After you were taken from the precinct, you didn't just go back to that bridge."

John shook his head when Joss looked up at him for confirmation. "I became intrigued by you and the care you showed for me. There was this urge to learn more about you. Before I was kidnapped by Harold, I was formulating a plan to study you and what made you tick."

Joss let out a shaky giggle before sniffling. "Stalker" she muttered playfully, leaving John a bit embarrassed.

"I just couldn't stop. I wanted to feel like I knew the real you despite knowing that you had marked me as enemy number one at the time and much to Harold's disapproval of my constant monitoring. Like I told you in the morgue, you changed me by showing me that there was still kindness in the world after I knew nothing of it for so long."

"That's a hell of a way to get a girl's attention, Reese. Sounds like the crap Ian Murphy pulled." Shaw smiled at the irritation on John's face.

"I'm just flattered that he liked me enough to gift wrap me so many criminals," Joss said.

"Real smooth Reese." Both John and Joss rolled their eyes. "We'll just give you two lovebirds some privacy now that the air has been cleared. Have fun" she uttered in a sing-song voice. The two looked over and saw the red light turn off.

They breathed a sigh of relief before Joss took a step back. "So what do you want to do now?"

"I'll go with whatever decision you make."

"Nope, you have to be selfish John. I know that you're used to submitting to other people's needs over your own so tell me, what do you want for the two of us." She watched as his Adam's apple bobbed slightly. Then he began to approach her, but the look in his eyes surprised her and she began to backpedal. The normally light blue eyes appeared black as John's focused solely on her. As her back pressed up against a wall, his hand moved to either side of her, encasing her in his heat.

"I want you, Jocelyn Carter. Everything about you is something that my body yearns for and I have to constantly fight to let go of that feeling because I thought I was destined to be unhappy as some kind of punishment. Then Simmons almost took you away from me and I stepped back to figure out if maybe things would be different because you survived. Even with the ups and downs that keep finding us through our relationship, we still managed somehow."

"John…" She was silenced with surprise when John made the leap and kissed her for the second time in their relationship.

Recovering from the brief shock, Joss's eyes slid shut as she began enjoying the sensation of the soft kiss. It reminded her of the one he had planted on her in the morgue, but there was also a hint of something else behind it. Her hands slid up his chest to encircle around his neck to change the angle slightly as she leaned up to try and accommodate for the height difference between them.

The moment was beautiful and surreal for John as when he had kissed Joss the first time; it was meant to have some finality behind it because their situation seemed bleak and he was all too ready to lay down his life for her. The duel was fierce and John smiled to himself, expecting no less for his fierce detective, but as his eyes began to wander, he was reminded of the camera that still had them in clear view. John panicked and quickly broke off the kiss, noting the sexy pout on Joss's face. "I'm sorry but I'm not a fan of giving our friends a show." He jerked his head in the direction of the camera, her eyes following and understanding what he meant.

"You think they'll let us out of here?" She asked

Before John could answer, a beep could be heard from the door's direction. The two looked to see the door was ajar. Approaching it slowly, Joss pulled the knob but didn't see anything but the living room everyone had occupied not too long ago.

"I guess they are finished with us," John said. They were alone and he was grateful because right now, he needed to have Joss in the most primal way which surprised him. Eyeing the room and the other camera to make sure that they still had their privacy, his arm reached out to encircle Joss' slim waist and drag her back to him, loving the gasp that she made as he pinned her up against the nearby wall to continue what they had started.

The demand for oxygen was great but they still managed a few minutes of kissing and just being obsessed with feeling as much of each other as possible. After breaking apart once again, John looked down at Joss with a real smile that took her breath away and a question. "Your place or mine?"

She gave him a smirk in return. "Yours. I have to see where John Reese puts his head down after everything you've been through."

John held her face in his hands before giving her a brief kiss; happy that he had survived this long because he got to have Joss in his life. "I think you'll like it." Taking her hand in his, John led her out of the safehouse. As he closed the door behind him, the camera's red light turned on, blinked once, and powered down once again.