I do not own POI.

Numbers and School Work

Alex stared at the picture on the glass wall that was their latest number and then looked at her computer screen. The statics that she had pulled up for her research paper seemed to fit the life of the women John and Harold were trying to help. The statics were troubling in and of themselves, but the facts that they presented lined up perfectly with the life of the young woman whose number had come up.

The fact that they could very well be dealing with a human trafficking situation made chills run down Alex's spine. All she had been doing was looking up some ideas for a paper that Harold wanted her to write as a part of her studies and she had found information that completely tied into the case. The only odd part of it was that neither John or Harold wanted her to help them out with the cases even though she'd expressed her desire to help others like she had been helped.

She'd been instructed to write an argumentative essay on a topic of her choice and she thought to look up issues in other countries as she wasn't quite ready to write a paper, let alone look up statics about street kids like she had been. The problem was that human trafficking happened to anyone and occurred in any country in the world.. She glanced at the picture of the seventeen year old on the wall as she wrote down the details for her paper and hoped the young woman was not dealing with that.

oOo

John sighed as he saw someone following his latest number. Her case happened to be one of the sadder ones. She seemed to have been forced into prostitution by her mother to pay the bills and the one that held the power of her kept on threatening her life. It was going to be one of those long cases and he couldn't help but think of the fact that Alex could have easily found her self in that very same position.

He cared for the girl as if she was his own daughter and hated the idea of her going though something like that. As he watched the stalker move to knock the woman out, he quickly moved forward to stop him.

oOo

Harold had just gotten through talking to the parents of the seventeen year old and he couldn't help but feel disgusted. As he made his way up the stairs of the library, he heard Alex mutter to herself in frustration.

"Are you doing alright?" he asked as he looked into the room where she was staring at her computer screen chewing on the eraser of her pencil.

"If I could get this essay started I would be in very good shape," she muttered as she looked up at him with weary eyes.

"I never told you what form the essay had to take," he said as he sat down at his desk and booted up his computer.

oOo

Alex frowned as she considered Harold's words. A different form that was not the normal essay. She glanced at the pictures on the glass wall and it hit her. With no hesitation she ran into a different room of the library looking for something for an object that she had seen during the days of boredom when her number had been up. In a drawer Alex found what she was looking for.

"I'll be back in a bit," she called to Harold as she ran past the room he was in and down the stairs. She knew how she was going to do her essay.

Digital camera in hand she walked down the streets taking pictures of normal people in a park, homeless people and anything else that could be possibly need for her photo essay.

It was evening by the time she had everything that she needed that she thought that she needed and she was more than a little excited to get started on her essay.

oOo

John frowned when he got back and Alex was no where to be found.

"Harold, where is she?" he asked as he glared at his colleague.

"She's working the essay that I assigned her," Finch said with out looking up from his computer.

"Take it easy Dad," Alex said as she joined them with a camera in hand.

Both of the men looked at each other is shock. She had never said that before and they couldn't help but feel that they were making progress when it came to showing Alex that there are people who care about her no matter what.

She smirked. "I know exactly what I said Uncle Harold. Thanks for the idea for the essay by the way."

Alex then ran into a different room leaving Reese and Finch smirking.