Disclaimer: I do not own Person of Interest or Danny Phantom. I'm just borrowing their characters.

AN: I'm using Bailee Madison as the face claim for Danielle.

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Phantom of Interest

Chapter Six: Break Down

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Third Person P.O.V.

Reese ignored Dani as she shouted for him to open up the cage, and moved back into the main room to stand by Finch.

"She does not sound to happy," Finch muttered, typing on the computer.

"She'll get over it," Reese replied, sitting down next to Finch.

He didn't really like the idea of locking the kid up in the cage, but he wasn't going to let the kid go back to that warehouse. It was too dangerous, not to mention she'd catch her death sleeping in that place at night with how exposed it was to the elements. And she seemed determined to go back. She was obviously capable of sneaking around without being spotted and he knew the second she got the chance she'd high tale it back to the warehouse. So, the best plan he could come up with was to lock her in the cage. The only way she could get out of there was for him to let her out.

"So, this is your plan. Lock her up here in the library for the rest of her life?" Finch asked.

Reese frowned and shook his head.

"No, just until we can figure out what to do with her. Or until she agrees to let us take her to Carter and promises to stay wherever Carter places her," Reese answered.

He sighed and let his head fall back onto the back of the chair. This kid was going to turn the rest of his hair grey, he could already see it happening.

"You know, technically this is kidnapping," Finch muttered.

Reese looked over at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before sighing again.

"Finch, the kids all alone, and she won't let me take her to Carter because she knows she'll be put in a home. She's been living in that warehouse for god only knows how long, and she roams around the streets picking fights with strangers with guns. She's gonna get herself killed one of these days. If she not gonna look out for herself then somebody else is going to have too!" He stated, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Finch was about to respond when a loud crash rang out from the cage, and Bear started barking franticly. Reese jumped up from his seat and raced back towards the cage. He could hear Finch limping after him, but he ignored his friend for now and focused on finding out what the hell that crash was. He skidded to a halt in front of the cage door and stared inside the room in shock.

The table in the middle of the room was turned over, and books where strewn all across the floor. Dani was lying curled in a ball in the middle of the room, arms curled around her head. Bear was lying next to her head, whimpering and pawing at her hair. He could hear her crying and muttering something, but he couldn't hear what she was saying. He quickly unlocked the cage and raced into the room, sliding to the floor next to Dani.

"Dani! Dani what's wrong? What happened?" Reese questioned, pulling the girl into his lap.

Dani whimpered and shook her head, and curled up tighter, her face burying itself in his chest.

"No Vlad, please don't, I've been good I promise, you don't have to lock me up, please. Please, it small and dark, please don't leave me in here," She whispered frantically, tears streaming down her face.

Reese felt anger rush through him as he listened to her repeatedly ask someone named Vlad to not lock her away. It was obvious that she didn't even realize where she was or who she was with. She was trapped in some memory of the past, and he'd done that to her. He'd locked her in the cage, and it had brought up some horrible memories. If he ever ran into this Vlad person he'd kill the man with out a seconds thought. Whoever this Vlad person was he'd hurt her, badly.

The only thing he could do for Dani was to hold her as she cried and begged not to be locked up. He rocked her back and forth, and ran his fingers through her hair, trying to calm her as she repeatedly stated over and over that the room was small and dark, and that she didn't want to be locked away. After about twenty minutes she finally cried herself to sleep, and he stood up with her in his arms and carried her over to the couch at the back of the room. He gently set her down on the couch, then covered her with a blanket, and Bear jumped up onto the couch and curled up at her feet.

He looked her over for a moment, taking her in. She was short, only 5'2", and pretty damn skinny, there were tear tracks across her face from crying, and the skin around her eyes where red and puffy from crying. Her raven black hair had fallen out of its ponytail and laid limply around her head in a tangled mess. She was frowning in her sleep, her eyes moving rapidly behind her eyelids.

Reese sighed and turned back towards the entrance to the room. Finch was standing at the doorway, staring at Dani's form on the couch. He could see the worry in the man's eyes, but he could also see the anger there too. Anger that anyone would hurt a kid, the same anger he was feeling. He moved out of the room, leaving the gate open, and headed back towards the main room in the library. He sat back down in the chair he'd been sitting in before, and closed his eyes.

"You didn't know she'd react like that to you locking her in there," Finch stated, sitting down at his computer.

"She just had a panic attack because I locked her in the cage and it triggered a memory of when someone used to lock her in a small dark room," Reese muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

This day hadn't gone at all how he'd expected it to go. Nothing about this number had been typical. From the way they'd gotten her number, to finding her, to the way he saved her, and everything that happened afterwards.

"That kid in there doesn't deserve any of this. She's strong, independent, brave, and selfless. She spends her days handing out stolen food to the homeless, and stopping people with guns from killing people in parks at night. She didn't ask for anything in return for it. And somebody has hurt her deeply, locked her away in a small dark room for god only knows how long. Left her mentally and emotionally scarred," Reese said, shaking his head angrily.

She seemed to spend all her time looking after others, and not much time looking after herself. She was still just a kid, and one of their numbers. Something about her just made him want to protect her, he couldn't really explain it, but he'd be damned if he let anything or anyone hurt her.

"She's going to be fine. We're here now, whoever is responsible for that, they're not getting near her again. And if this person try's coming around, I'm sure you'll be able to handle them," Finch said, looking up at him knowingly.

Reese couldn't help but smirk at that. Oh, he'd defiantly handle them, with a bullet to the head.

"I'm gonna go get us all some food," Reese murmured, standing up.

At that, he quietly left, his mind racing with thoughts of how to protect a kid that didn't want to be protected…

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AN: Okay yes, it's a short chapter I know. But it's more of an interlude of sorts, and a look into how Reese is feeling about their newest number.

AN2: Reese and Finch are definitely overprotective of their numbers, especially when one of those numbers is a kid. And Reese sees his job as protecting the numbers, even if that means protecting them from themselves. And oh boy, Vlad best hope he never runs into Reese, because Reese will definitely rearrange his internal organs if he gets the chance!

AN3: Yeah Reese feels kinda bad, cause he's the one that locked her in that room which brought on her panic attack. But it's really not his fault, he didn't know that being locked up in a room was a trigger for her. He was just trying to look out for and protect her, things just didn't really go the way he wanted them too. Honestly I kind of cried a little while writing the part of Dani begging Vlad not to lock her up. If ya'll can't tell, I really don't like Vlad, never have never will. I mean the man beat up on a fourteen-year-old on a regular basis while also trying to kill the boy's dad and creepen on his mom. And then cloned him when the boy refused to be his son. That's some serious psychopath shit right there!