Sorry that it's been a while. I had college finals and a bunch of other things to deal with. I also may be worse about updating in the future, as I have job now as well as classes. I do not own person of interest, just my OC.

Alex looked around at the crowd that filled the square that were all watching the ball drop. As the seconds ticced below ten, the crowd started to shout the numbers on the screen. Shouts of "Happy New Years" filled the air second that the ball was all the way at the bottom.

Everywhere she turned people were hugging and kissing each other, as well as announcing their resolutions for the new year. Resolutions that never lasted very long. For Alexis a new year was a fresh start in her life. After all the years of living on the streets her wish for someone to care for her had come true. On the cold nights and in the dark of the alleyways, she'd made that wish while everyone else was getting drunk and celebrating with family and friends.

This year she could make a different whish. Her wish was to learn to trust the people that had rescued her from being killed by the mob form accidental overhearing one of their top secret meetings. Alex was not going to let that chance for a new life slip through her fingers. Finch was already homeschooling her to catch her up to where other kids her age should be. Most of that was in preparation for the possibility of her going to public school the next fall, if she felt up to it. She wanted to make new friends, but first she had to relearn how to trust.

oOo

Harold glanced over at Alex clearly worried that the noise of the crowd was bothering her, but he relaxed when he saw her smile as she took the whole scene in as snow started to drift down from the sky. He knew that Alex still had a lot of wounds hidden deep inside her heart. There were days that John walked into the office looking completely drained because of a nightmare that had kept Alex up allnight.

As he watched everyone else celebrate he decided that this year he was going to be more of an open person to Alex, so that she would see that she wasn't the only one who had problems that kept her up at night.

oOo

John kept silent after he'd dropped Finch off at the Library and was headed back to the pad that Finch had given him for his birthday, several months before Alex had been brought into their lives. As he glanced in the rereview mirror to see Alex asleep, he couldn't help but wonder what the rest of his assets, besides Fusco, would think when they met her. Carter, he figured, would give him a half an hour lecture about how he should have even adopted her.

He sighed. When he came to that particular bridge he would deal with it, but he still couldn't help thinking of what the new year would bring all of them, especially when it came to the numbers.