I don't own Blindspot or any of these amazing characters…
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Ivan walked into the Gala alone. He looked around and tried to spot his target. He'd assured the others that he could do it, but the reality of facing his brother's killer was weighing on him. The fact that he knew what she was only made it harder.
He saw Tasha first, but didn't acknowledge her. Scanning the crowd he saw Patterson and Rich dancing.
"I didn't think you were coming," Blake said from behind him.
He turned to find her watching him intently.
"How could I refuse?" He held out his hand and she took it. They moved onto the dance floor without saying anything else.
"You're beautiful as always," Ivan told her.
"Smooth," Blake responded back.
"Why am I here?" Ivan looked down at her.
"I'm trying to figure out if I made a mistake about you." Blake admitted.
"Well, I loved you and you tried to kill me," Ivan pointed out, "Sounds like a conversation should have been in there somewhere."
"You said you loved me," Blake was looking up at him, "Past tense."
"How can you love someone you don't really know?" Ivan told her. Not realizing how significant that question was.
"It is you," Blake looked away with tears in her eyes.
Ivan didn't know what it was about that question that convinced her, but he knew he was on the right track.
"I think there might be too much between us to go back," Ivan knew just how to make her want him. He just needed to seem to be reluctant, she had the fight instinct. She would want their relationship on her terms.
"Things are different now," Blake insisted, "I have my Father's entire company depending on me. I need you."
"You're surrounded by people that will do whatever you say," Ivan insisted, "You hardly need me."
"That's just it," Blake insisted, "They only do what I say. I need someone I can trust to help me know what to say."
"Well," Ivan reminded her, "That's not me. The reason you tried to kill me was because you didn't trust me."
"But you didn't turn me in when I shot you," Blake argued, "I tried to kill you and you still protected me. I trust you now."
And just like that Ivan knew they had her for Roman's murder, but this wasn't just about that, this was about turning Crawford's company legit. They needed to know who was corrupt and who could be trusted. They needed access to her inner circle.
"Who else do you trust?" Ivan said with feigned reluctance.
"I've gotten rid of everyone affiliated with my Father," Blake told him, "I only have a hand full of people close enough to rely on."
"Give me a number," Ivan said, "5, 10, 50?"
"What does it matter?" Blake asked impatiently.
"I still care about you," Ivan lied, "But I don't trust you completely. If you want me to be a part of your life again, I need you to earn it. If you can't even answer such a simple question honestly, then there's no point in even trying again."
"Seven," Blake bought it hook, line and sinker.
"Am I in that number?" Ivan asked her.
"Yes," She agreed.
"That's a pretty small inner circle," Ivan agreed.
"I assume the other six are here as well?" He asked her.
"All but one of them," Blake admitted, "He's out on an assignment."
"What kind of assignment?" Ivan asked, looking around as if distracted.
"I sent him to kill your sister." Blake admitted, watching him closely.
Ivan's eyes jerked back to her.
In the van Weller's fists clenched.
Blake was watching him closely.
"I think attempting to face off with the FBI is a poor decision," Ivan said casually, "You do need me."
"That's it?" Blake demanded, "You aren't going to protest?"
"I did protest," Ivan insisted, "You're trying to look clean, but going about it in completely the wrong way. Drawing the attention of the FBI is stupid and I know you aren't that."
"She knows I tried to kill you," Blake said defensively, "She's never going to stop trying to bring me down."
"You're making this personal and I guess she is too." Ivan noted, "It's foolish. If they had enough to arrest you, they already would have. By placing the hit on her, you give them a trail to follow. If you do nothing, then she has to live with knowing you tried to kill me and being able to do nothing about it. You're playing right into their hands."
Blake thought about what he said, it was true. Logically, she knew he was right, but she saw the look in his sister's eyes, she wouldn't stop. She needed to die.
"If you aren't going to listen to what I tell you, even when it isn't what you want to hear, why am I here? You know I'm right."
"If I call off the hit on your sister," Blake negotiated, "Will you come back and try to work it out?"
Those were words you didn't hear every day. Patterson thought with a scowl.
"Is she for real?" Rich had seen a lot of crazy, but Blake was unlike anyone he'd ever met.
"Shhh," Patterson shushed him.
Rich looked down at her in exasperation.
"That's not how this works," Ivan chided her.
"You're sister seemed to love you," Blake taunted him. "Don't you care about her?"
"I tried to have her killed too," Ivan reminded her, "Remember your father ordered it?"
"I ordered it," Blake told him, "I didn't know she was your sister at the time."
"Good to know," Ivan kept dancing, "The point is that I ordered the hits. My sister turned her back on me a long time ago. Biologically related doesn't really matter to me, I want someone I can depend on."
"So do I." Blake admitted.
In the van Jane turned her face away to hide the hurt she felt. Kurt didn't need to see her face to know she was hurting.
"He's just playing a role," He reminded her, his hand engulfing hers.
"I know," Jane agreed, "But he's pretending to be Roman…and I believe that's exactly how Roman felt before he died."
"He still loved you," Kurt insisted, "He never stopped looking for a cure and he gave you the drive so that you could find it. He loved you."
Jane looked up at Kurt with a trembling smile.
"Thanks," She whispered.
He squeezed her hand and they turned their attention back to Ivan and Blake.
"Let's go somewhere more private," Blake suggested.
"Don't look!" Rich chided.
"He shouldn't go anywhere more private!" Patterson insisted.
"I think he was right," Rich said seriously, "You shouldn't be here."
"I can do this!" Patterson insisted.
"I saw you two together," Rich reminded her, "You're too close for objectivity."
"I'm a professional!" Patterson protested, afraid he was right.
"But this is personal," He insisted.
Patterson didn't know what to say to that.
Tasha was watching everything unfold from the sidelines. She sipped her drink wanting to guzzle it.
It was surreal watching Blake and Ivan dance. She knew that Roman was dead, but you wouldn't know that to look at them.
She closed her eyes when she realized just how difficult it must be for Jane. The brother that she'd protected all their life was dead and here was the physical manifestation of him to remind her just what she'd lost. Tasha hated the roll she'd played in that. She hated everything about her new life.
She'd gone from having people she knew she could depend on to trusting nobody. Not even herself.
Reade had offered her a position back at the FBI and she wished she'd taken it. She'd almost had everything and she'd thrown it all away.
She watched Blake and Ivan moving off the dance floor with a worried expression. She knew he'd offered to be her back up, but she's pretty sure he was the one that was going to need help in a minute.
Following after them from a distance she watched them disappear into Blake's study. She'd give them five minutes before she interrupted. She hoped that whatever he intended took less time than that, because she knew just how quickly Blake had been able to kill Roman. She wouldn't underestimate her again.
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Ivan let Blake kiss him, but his mind was looking for a way out.
When she pulled his shirt out of his pants, he let her, because he knew the wound he had on his abdomen would sell the story that he was Roman better than any words could.
He hissed when her hand skimmed over the bandage.
Blake pulled back and lifted up his shirt.
"It's still sore," Ivan explained.
She let his shirt fall down and turned away from him.
"I'm glad you didn't die," She admitted.
"I never took you for a killer," Ivan told her.
"You'd be surprised," Blake told him, "Have you known many killers, beside yourself?"
"Yeah," Ivan decided to stick as close to the truth as he could and see if he could get a response. "I grew up in a training orphanage when I was younger. I knew a lot of killers."
"What?" Blake turned to him in surprise. "What orphanage?"
Ivan named the one that Jane and Roman had been sent to.
"That was a horrible place," Blake admitted, "I was only there for a couple of weeks before they moved me."
"Crawford trained his own daughter?" Ivan acted surprised.
"I wasn't his biological daughter," Blake denied, "He chose me because I was special, at least that's what he always told me."
"You were adopted?" Ivan wanted her to confirm it.
"I was," Blake admitted, "I almost had a sister, but it's just as well the orphanage was raided before that happened."
Suddenly Ivan began to wonder if Crawford had been going to adopt Jane.
"She died?" Ivan guessed.
"No," Blake denied, "She was taken in by an American. It must have been someone powerful, because Dad didn't go after her. Some kind of deal was made and from what I understand he was able to get her daughter, but it wasn't the same. The baby was exceptional, but she didn't have the right training, so Dad passed her off to one of his executives. I still see her sometimes. You've met her actually, it's Avery."
Jane was sitting in the van, frozen as she listened to the secret behind losing Avery.
"Kurt…" She looked to him.
He could see that she was reeling and he immediately closed the distance between them. "I've got you."
"He was going to turn Avery into a conscienceless monster!" Jane felt like she was going to be ill.
"But he couldn't," Kurt reminded her, "She had too much of you inside her. She was strong in a way that not many people are."
"That son of a bitch!" Rich was outraged.
His voice over the Coms diffused the tension and Jane and Kurt shared a little smile.
"Thanks Rich," Kurt actually meant it.
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Tasha knocked on the door and Blake bade her to enter.
"You remember Roman," Blake told her.
"I'm surprised to see you," Tasha admitted.
"Well I'm full of surprises," Ivan told her, raising the glass he was holding.
"What is it?" Blake demanded, "I don't want to be disturbed."
"There was an attempted breach to your firewall," Tasha explained. She knew because she was the one that had done it.
"Did they get in?" Blake demanded.
"No," Tasha denied, "But you told me to let you know if that happened."
"Tasha, is the one that told me you weren't who you said you were." Blake explained to Roman. "She's one of my seven."
"Your seven?" Tasha asked her.
"Don't worry about it," Blake told her, "I think Roman's going to be sticking around for a while, so you should probably get to know him."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tasha asked her.
"See," She turned to Ivan, "She's not a "yes" person. That makes her invaluable."
"If you say so," Ivan finished his drink.
"He doesn't like you," Blake told Tasha with a laugh, "But to be fair you did almost get him killed."
"Well, if he can forgive you for pulling the trigger," Tasha argued, "Then I shouldn't have anything to worry about."
"But he loves me," Blake argued.
"If you say so," Tasha took a page out of Ivan's book.
Blake laughed.
"Well," Ivan rubbed his neck, "Unless there's any more people that you want me to meet tonight, I'm going to go."
"You can't leave!" Blake protested, "Stay."
Listening, Patterson finished off the drink she'd been holding all evening.
"I'm still working on that trust thing," Ivan admitted.
"I can make you forget," Blake promised.
Patterson scowled when she heard that over the coms.
"I know," Ivan admitted, "But I don't just want your body. I want to trust you again and right now I don't."
"You will," Blake promised him.
"I hope so," Ivan lied, "I want to."
"Meet me for lunch tomorrow." Blake suggested.
"Where?" Ivan asked.
Blake named a restaurant known for its discretion.
"What time?" Ivan asked.
"One?" Blake suggested.
"I'll be there," Ivan agreed, walking over and kissing her.
Tasha turned away, after he'd gone she looked over at Blake, "Are you sure this isn't a mistake?"
"If it is," Blake assured her, "I'll just finish the job."
Tasha looked at her with a puzzled smile, "I thought you loved him?"
"As much as I've ever loved anyone," Blake admitted, "But I've killed people I loved before."
"Who?" Tasha asked in confusion.
"I wasn't the only one adopted," Blake admitted, "I'm just the only one left."
"Crawford adopted more children?" Tasha was surprised.
"There were three of us," Blake admitted, "One of them my own biological sister."
"Why'd you kill them?" Tasha felt like she was looking into the eyes of a monster.
"There can be only one winner." Blake explained, "The world I grew up in there was no second place."
"What did your dad say?" Tasha asked her, her voice devoid of the anger she was suppressing.
"He said that he would have expected nothing less from me. I was one of a kind." Blake admitted.
Tasha secretly hoped she was, because it was evident that she was psychotic.
"I'll stop worrying then," Tasha lied. She was more worried than ever…
