Joss awoke the next morning feeling rested which was surprising since how lousy yesterday had been. Last night things got a little awkward for her and John when they both were ready for bed; because John had immediately lowered his large body to the floor, without a pillow or anything, and she felt bad. After insisting he take one of the two pillows on the bed, she felt a tad bit better. Maybe next motel room they got was a two bedded one.

Though as they lied in the dark she had been unable to fall asleep readily, so unfortunately for John she had subjected him to pointless conversation. She smiled as she rolled her shoulders to work out the kinks there and thought about how he went with it:

"You're not a snorer are you?" Joss asked.

"Not sure," he answered with what sounded like laughter in his voice. "Are you?"

"Nope," she lied. Still her eyes refused to close. "Did you know that Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts?" she stated conversationally, randomly, out of the blue.

John paused. "No, I can honestly say I did not know that and didn't think I'd ever would."

"Sorry, I love learning useless facts about stuff," she mumbled embarrassed. Paul had hated whenever she'd sprout off a random fact. But she just liked learning new things. There was a reason she took extra classes at college that weren't prerequisites for her law degree. She took Art History, Creative Writing, Film Study, and others just to learn something new.

"Me too. Well try this on for size; did you know that every time you lick a stamp you are consuming 1/10 of a calorie?" he inquired.

Joss lied there in surprise. John liked learning random information too! "You've got to be kidding!" she said hopeful.

"Not kidding, if you lick ten stamps you just licked a calorie."

She laughed as she groaned. "Well damn that should be a public service announcement or something!" she muttered and she heard him chuckle a little in response.

Joss smiled just thinking about their banter back and forth last night. After their random trivia quiz her eyes grew heavy and she had fallen asleep. Now, she realized that he had figured out she was anxious and just needed to talk until she could relax. John was a good man even though he didn't seem to think so. He claimed to not be a knight in shining armor, actually claiming to be the exact opposite. She decided that maybe her hunch on where he went after his military career could be correct. The CIA did a lot, many less than moral, things which could make him think he was this monster. Not to mention he reacted negatively once he learned she was a cop. But even if John had done unspeakable things in the name of their country she didn't care. Perhaps she should, and maybe she would have, if their circumstances were different, or they met in some other kind of way, but not now, not when he was helping her for no other reason than because it was right. If John was truly a bad man, with no heart, he wouldn't be helping her. He wouldn't care that her and her baby would be killed.

Her son was squeezing her bladder and the urge to pee grew to a code red. Joss pushed the comforter off her and pushed up. She froze when she saw the floor empty. She looked to the bathroom door and found it open with the light off, and on the table rested her coat but her gun was missing.

John was gone.

Joss cursed the tears that pricked the backs of her eyes, so much for thinking of him as a good man that was honorable. Her gut, her instincts, that never steered her wrong before thought he was but maybe her pregnancy hormones were screwing her up. And so much for saving him and having someone to watch her back; John waited until she fell asleep to leave probably taking the last bit of money to go get more booze before he blew his brains out with her gun. That unsavory thought settled in her heart cracking the already break in it further. Well so far she was zero for two at saving someone, and she refused to believe she'd strike out protecting her son.

Joss climbed to her feet stubbornly wiping away the few tears that fell, blaming them on stress and not crying over a man leaving who didn't even know her. She couldn't really blame him for wanting to bow out. He didn't ask for this; she had every Tom, Dick, and Harry after her while John just wanted to kill himself. And he did help her get off the subway intact, so it wasn't fair to assume he wasn't a good man. Joss groaned as she was forgiving him for leaving when she should hold onto her hurt and anger.

She entered the bathroom to pee or she'd embarrass herself even more than crying over a man she barely knew. After flushing the toilet she washed her hands, and looked herself in the mirror as she combed her hair with the comb John bought yesterday.

"So what if you're alone? What else is new? You'll be fine. You don't need anyone. You never did." she told her reflection, though her voice didn't sound all that convinced. Her eyes drooped to her belly where her son was growing and panic settled in her bones. Oh god, who was she kidding? If it was just her she would indeed be fine but she was pregnant and needed help. But she didn't have anyone to turn too. Elias would be watching her mother and Lionel like a hawk. No one knew about Shaw but she couldn't very well just dump her problems on her friend like that.

Joss fought the rising hysteria and exited the bathroom with shoulders slumped. She stopped short because there stood John, in his new clothes, with a bag of food in his hands. His hair was cut, brutally short, obviously stopping someplace to lob it off. But it looked soft and free of hair care products. And he was still here. John didn't leave. He didn't turn his back on her. New tears formed in her eyes but this time out of happiness. She was sorry she doubted him, and her well-honed instincts, even for a second.

He looked up. "Figured we could use breakfast; hope you don't mind a smorgasbord as I didn't know what you liked. And I got us both some coffee though I'm not sure pregnant women are allowed caffeine. I walked up to the closest diner thinking we deserved better than fast food breakfast." he murmured as he set the bag down on the table along with the cardboard tray filled with two Styrofoam cups of coffee. He removed her gun from the back of his pants and set it on the table before taking his coat off to sling it on the back of the chair. "Sorry I took your gun that you were hiding from me but I wanted something on me just in case I met up with someone that could place me," he stated icily. Clearly she pissed him off for trying to hide her gun from him but she'd take his anger too seriously because he was still here.

"Thank you," she managed around the lump in her throat.

John stared at her but didn't comment on the tears in her eyes. "What, for being here in the morning or for breakfast?" he asked with considerably more warmth to his voice.

"Both," she answered honestly. He didn't respond but rather began unpacking the food for them. Joss took that as a sign of his inability to take gratitude. Pieces of his personality seeped out even though he worked hard on keeping anything remotely personal from surfacing. Joss looked him over from behind and liked the jeans and light sweater outfit as it gave off a more approachable appearance about him. Not to mention he had a killer butt. John was gruff and standoffish, which she was sure was due to the fact that he didn't want to get close to anyone. He was determined to keep a link to the world severed. "Nice haircut," she murmured eyeing it as she moved closer for an inspection. He had a sweet V as it tapered to a point at the back of his neck.

He looked down at her and Joss felt tiny in comparison and wholly feminine while John was all hard male. Heightened awareness crackled, thickening the air between them until he looked away first. "We need to eat fast and get going, checkout is at twelve or we get charged for a new day." he stated tersely. Joss sat down beside him at the same table quietly.

Understanding why they couldn't stay here she ate the heavenly food quickly. She hadn't realized how late in the morning it was as it was already past eleven. John did the same, and neither stopped to talk. The silence was comfortable unlike yesterday. John was the one to break the silence first. "We need to head to East Hampton."

"Why?—I was thinking more along the lines of leaving the state." she said after sipping her coffee. She was restricted to one cup of coffee all day, well really she was restricted from having any other caffeine all day but she'd take it.

John stabbed his fork into his eggs. "I know someone there. He won't ask any questions and he might be able to help us out," he murmured.

"Who?"

"However you ask a lot of questions," John remarked annoyed as he looked up. Joss swallowed hard. Sitting this close to John with his intense blue eyes on her made her insides do the samba. Not to mention that deep in those mesmerizing blue eyes of his held flecks of green that she hadn't seen last night.

Once again heightened awareness emerged as their eyes lingered for a little too long and John's focused gaze became poleaxed before he again shifted them away from her first. Joss found the ability to breathe again as she looked away and grabbed her coffee in shaky hands. Good lord that was some kind of potent feeling. She shot a narrowed look at her belly blaming Taylor for her wonky hormones. She was in the middle of a life and death situation and she was lusting after her frog prince!

Joss set her coffee down to pick up her fork. "Sorry, I'm a detective and former Army interrogator, and can't turn it off, John. Expect questions along the way because they will be plentiful," she muttered in way of explaining her curious nature.

"He's…a friend," John admitted reluctantly, keeping his gaze on his food.

"Does this friend have a name?" she prodded.

"Was there a reason you hid your gun from me? Or does that come with your mistrust of people in general?" he asked, changing the subject on her.

She thinned her lips. Oh, he was good but not better than her. "Well, you were on your way to go take a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge that you weren't going to come back from so I didn't see it wise to announce that I had a weapon," she explained brusquely.

"So you did it with my protection in mind?" he snarled.

Joss realized that he thought she was scared of him. She could have laughed. John was a danger to himself not to her. "Yes," she answered softly.

He seemed to relax a little. He slid the chair back and got to his feet. "We need to leave. Go change and I'll check us out." he ordered. Joss had to swallow back the impish urge to salute him. John was used to giving orders but he'd soon learn that no one ordered her around. He paused at the door to turn to look back at her. "And one other thing; I don't need protecting Joss," he stated, and with that he disappeared out of the motel room and she smirked as she slowly stood.

"Perhaps not, but you are in desperate need of saving and since you are going to try to save me it's only fair I save you," she vowed to herself. With that she turned to change and this time wear matching shoes.

It was almost noon when they checked out of the motel room. John never did give her the name of his friend, or the true whereabouts of exactly where in East Hampton they were going to. And it wasn't until John strode up to a black sedan, parked out front of the diner that he got their food from, that they walked too, which could get mixed up with other sedans of similar makes, when she realized what he planned to do. Joss gaped as he gave a courtesy glance around before sliding a flat piece of metal, where he got it she had no clue, under the window and immediately unlocked the door without so much of a fuss. As he climbed in to hotwire the car her unbelieving feet began moving.

She grumbled as she tossed their things into the back of the car they were stealing and climbed into the passenger seat unceremoniously and a little out of breath.

"You know this is wrong, right?" she stated tersely.

He smiled as the car's engine turned on. John looked at her. "Sorry, detective, but we only need to borrow it for a little bit. We'll change cars later." he said as he pulled away from the curb.

"Elias will probably get his hands on security feeds or if he has a man on the inside of the police force and they'll see it themselves. You stole a car in broad daylight. They'll be following us sooner rather than later," she muttered.

John shrugged as he drove leisurely like they were on a scenic journey. "There were no security cameras." he said.

Joss looked at his profile in surprise. "There weren't?" she inquired. There usually were one on every street corner and if not then the diner that the car was parked outside of would have had it captured.

"No. I checked when I went to go get us some breakfast this morning. And the waitress that took my 'to-go' order happily explained that their cameras were down and wouldn't be fixed until next week," he explained as if it wasn't an issue.

"Exactly how the hell did you manage to ask about their security cameras in normal conversation?" she demanded incredulously.

He chuckled. "The girl was starved for some male attention so I flirted and flattered her until I got the answers I was looking for. We even got the biscuits for free." he muttered in response. The phone number she gave him was thrown away instantly as he walked back to the motel room.

Joss stared at him. "Care to tell me who exactly you are now? I know you were Special Forces but I get the feeling you were recruited by some government agency with the things you know how to do. Your dexterous ass-kicking skills and intelligence must have made you a top priority with the CIA or FBI. You know how to work people over to get what you want without their knowledge and you use that knowledge to your advantage," she murmured thoughtfully, hoping he'd open up. He didn't though she must have hit close because his hands tightened on the wheel in response.

"It doesn't matter…."

She decided to try again to get some sort of answer from him when she had more leverage to actually get a response. As of now John didn't seem forthcoming and she had no way of forcing him to be.

Joss kept her sidelong gaze on him before saying; "There isn't a word in the English language that rhymes with silver, orange, or purple," proud of her random factoid.

John looked at her briefly in surprise. "Not one?"

"Nope. Bet you can't beat that one!" she gloated.

"We shall see. How about this: nearly 80% of all animals on Earth have six legs." he offered up his.

Joss's brows rose. "Wow. Okay, speaking of animals a giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can."

He responded with; "Reindeer like to eat bananas,"

She snorted. "You're making that up," she accused.

He shook his head as he kept an even speed and navigated them onto the interstate. "Completely true," he assured.

Joss dipped into her useless information reservoir. "Okay, nothing can top this: Mel Blanc, the one that did the Looney Tunes voices…is allergic to carrots," she informed him.

"He can't be, he's Bugs!" John argued. She nodded her head that he was. "Where did you find that out from?" he wondered.

"A magician doesn't reveal his secrets," she responded coyly.

John smirked as he glanced at her and she saw confusion in his eyes before he looked back to the road. "We'll see how many more you have the next round." he murmured, silently waving the white flag of surrender, for now. He needed to concentrate on where they were going as he had been there only once before.

Joss leaned back in her seat and watched the passing scenery while silently contemplating the turn of events from just a day ago to now, and couldn't help but wonder what was next.

AN: I loved looking up the useless facts that I used in this. It was a blast and something that runs through this story being that John and Joss are both intelligent individuals and I figured they would enjoy learning random knowledge of just about everything.

Thanks for reading!