AN: Happy New Year! I hope everyone had safe holidays! Mine were nice. This chapter my muse redid because it pitched a hissy fit over something I wrote previously. So now I'm much happier!
Joss grabbed at the dashboard as John weaved through traffic to get them to a hospital. "John could you, maybe, uh, slow down a bit?" she asked. "I want to actually give birth to my son at a hospital not from a car wreck," she grumbled, actually seeing a little humor in his reaction to her news.
Against his increasingly desire to stomp the gas pedal to the bottom of the car to get them to a hospital quickly, he forced himself to let off the gas and slow their pace down a bit. John looked at her quickly. "I thought you said that this lightening or whatever was a sign that you'd go into labor weeks from now," he said roughly. He didn't know the first thing about babies, whether it was delivering them or what to do with them once they were born! A surge of something akin to panic bubbled up as he quickly glanced at the woman beside him who sat calmly as could be which grated on his frayed nerves. Couldn't her kid just wait like another hour or two before he decided to make his grand entrance?!
Joss sighed. John was acting like a worried husband and impending dad. She smiled at the thought. It was nice to have someone to share this moment with. She looked at his profile and saw he was clutching the wheel with white knuckles and had a tense and pensive look on his face.
"Well…the books and doctors did say that every pregnancy is different and this stage could happen weeks or hours before labor," she admitted. Her contractions were far apart so the birth wasn't imminent but she was looking forward to the hospital.
"Couldn't you have mentioned that fact earlier?" he snapped.
Joss chuckled knowing his temper wasn't really directed at her. "I didn't know I fell into the camp of 'couple hours', John. You know know, I've never actually been pregnant before," she retorted, trying to hide a small smile. "Don't worry, you'll get me to the hospital in time. The contractions are far apart so we have plenty of time."
"Says the woman that told me that she was weeks from labor," he mumbled under his breath.
She hid her smile as she looked out the window as he drove them quickly to the hospital. She insisted on her hospital and not the closest one. "At least we'll have the perfect cover now that I'm in labor. Elias won't suspect I called in the tip to the police since I'll be in the hospital soon enough and then both my husband and Elias will be in police custody," she murmured to calm John by distracting him.
John gripped the steering wheel tighter as he spared a glance at her. "Yea," was all he said. It seemed to him that Joss still thought that Paul was going to be saved by being thrown in jail where Elias couldn't reach him. That unflappable wish for justice was deeply ingrained inside her and it awed him as much as it frustrated him. But he sped up his pace again as she gripped her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut, and breathed in and out.
Joss couldn't stop smiling at John as he paced her room. He wasn't pleased that she was in a semi-private room instead of a private room he had wanted for her. Then he scowled at her for not clearing the nurses up that confused him as the father as they teased him that it was only natural for first time fathers to be nervous.
"Thank you," she expressed softly as he continued to wear a hole in the sterile floor of the room. When they got to the hospital she immediately told them who her doctor was and he was called. Joss had been seen by him twice and told she had a long wait until Taylor would be coming. Her cervix was dilated a whole 4 centimeters. While they waited for her to head to the delivery room she had sent John to go text Fusco the instructions and Elias's exact location.
He stopped pacing to look at her. She answered his unspoken question; "For helping me even though you didn't want to, for getting Paul and making a deal with Elias that he couldn't refuse, for finding out a way to effectively get Elias and Paul in police custody, and for being here now. Your hunch was right and they used Marconi's car," she said. "You've done so much for me and I can't even begin to repay you."
"You don't need to," John remarked. He didn't know what made him do what he had done for this woman but he didn't want her gratitude for it.
"I feel as though I do."
He looked away. "You don't." And with that he stormed for the door needing to get away. He did everything he set out to do. Now there was nothing else she needed from him. Her doctors would deliver her son while Elias, Marconi, and Paul would be in police custody soon enough. This was where he took his bow.
"John, where are you going?" she asked. John stopped, turning to look back at her and she could see he was ready to bolt and that she was getting too close for comfort. "Please stay, I'm scared," she admitted.
Knowing who this woman was, her admitting to be scared must have been hell. John looked away as he held the door handle in his hand; walking out this door and getting as far away from Joss Carter as he could get was tempting because he didn't like how she made him feel. Or liked the way he looked at her. There was this invisible bond that connected them; trying to sever it only seemed to make the link stronger. He wasn't even sure he remembered why being alive was a waste of time. Jessica, but even as he thought about the woman he once loved so thoroughly, he seemed to fail at conjuring up the same level of emotion he used to whenever he thought of her. In a short time Joss had come to mean a lot to him and he didn't know what to make of that or if he was even willing to ever acknowledge the existence of the pull Joss had on him.
He stepped away from the door and proceeded to pace again, not seeing her tiny victorious smile.
Elias sat in the passenger seat as Marconi drove them towards Oyster Bay which was their turf. He turned in his seat to peer back at Paul who had long since given up trying to free himself. He seemed resigned to his fate so Elias reached back and removed the gag from his mouth.
"Just so you know that your death is going to come slowly. Bruce was a dear friend that was murdered because you double crossed me," Elias explained. Paul simply sat there and while he did Elias smiled evilly as he planned what he wanted to do.
After a moment he turned in his seat and as they crossed a major intersection they were immediately surrounded by several police cars making Marconi slam on his brakes. "Looks like my bitch of a wife double crossed you too," Paul announced.
Elias smiled. Of course the pretty pregnant detective wouldn't just hand over her loser ex, and let them get away with it. His admiration grew for her since she probably didn't know about the deal he made with her protector. Detective Jocelyn Carter was a nuisance but, alas, he promised that she'd be on his 'do not kill' list and he certainly didn't want to draw the wrath of the man protecting her.
"Yes, but unlike you, she has integrity and will not see a bitter end such as the one I plan for you," Elias explained, wiping the smile off the other man's face.
"POLICE! DROP ANY WEAPON AND EXIT THE CAR SLOWLY WITH YOUR HANDS UP NOW!" shouted a man with a Boston accent.
Marconi glanced at Elias. "What do you want me to do, boss?" he questioned. "I could try running some cops over and get us the hell out of here."
"Do as the police said, Anthony. We'll just have to change how we operate for the time being," Elias admitted, making plans in his head as he opened the door slowly and very carefully undid his seatbelt, and exited the vehicle with his hands held up just as his friend did. Elias faced the cops with a grin as they held them at gunpoint. Prison wasn't going to stop him from taking this city over and soon everyone would know it too. "Veni, vidi, vici…" he added still with a smile lacing his lips.
Fusco rolled his eyes as he kept his gun trained on who Carter claimed was Elias. He didn't even speak Latin to know it had to mean something pompous. But before he could get the nod from Szymanski to move cautiously towards the two men with their hands held high, gunfire sounded and Elias fell to the ground. "Shit, someone's shooting!" Fusco shouted as everyone ducked. Another sound of gunfire erupted and Fusco scanned the surrounding buildings for where it was coming from before quickly ducking as their cars they were hiding behind for cover became riddled with bullets. Whoever the shooter was had what Fusco figured to be an AR-15 or something like it. And as quickly as the shooting began it was over. Slowly he, the uniforms, and the organized crime unit managed to peek up to see it seemed all clear.
An officer immediately radioed in for more backup and some began immediately locking down the surrounding area to keep civilians out. Fusco cautiously moved to the SUV, even with adrenaline pumping hard through his veins, with other officers to find both Elias and a man with a scarred face lying on the ground lifelessly. He looked to the right because both men had an entry wound in the side of their head from the right with an exit wound to the left. Fusco frowned as he noted with dismay the amount of buildings the shooter could be hiding in. Several uniformed officers raced away looking for the culprit.
Szymanski holstered his weapon and swore. "This was a hit job," he commented before looking up at Fusco. "Perhaps your anonymous tipper also gave the information to other less than scrupulous people."
"Maybe," Lionel agreed halfheartedly though knowing Carter wanted to catch Elias, Marconi, and her loser husband and not kill them. Fusco focused on the backseat of the SUV and surprisingly enough Paul was crouched down peering up at him. "We have a live one in the backseat and it looks like America's Second Most Wanted just as the tipper claimed," Fusco stated as he immediately opened the door.
"I need a damned doctor," Paul cried.
Fusco rolled his eyes as he undid the binds before snapping cuffs in their place. "Don't worry we'll get you to a hospital right after I read your rights because, Paul Carter, you're under arrest," Lionel ground out with barely contained glee. Szymanski called for paramedics that were just arriving. They might have a new issue forming with someone that took out Elias, but at least they got Paul Carter.
AN: And this is where we cue the *uh-oh* Next chapter we finally get to meet Taylor :)
Thank you for reading!