This one-shot was inspired after watching "Dead Reckoning" (for the umpteenth time!) last night. What if Kara knew about Reese's affection for Joss and only let her live after the ambush because it served her purpose to complete the mission she was on? This is my spin on what could have happened between the shooting at the flat and Kara, Mark and Reese sitting at the restaurant table.

I don't own Person of Interest.

Two Sides of The Same Coin

Reese waited for Mark to step out in the hallway then closed the door behind them. The negotiation hadn't gone down the way he had expected, and it left him shaken to see the lengths Kara would go to – even if it meant executing two people in cold blood.

Not for the first time did he wonder how the hell he got to where he was at this moment. What wrong turn had he taken? Was it too late to make amends?

"Come on," Mark ordered. They still had a mission to fulfill, and Kara wasn't keen on any deviations from her schedule. There was no telling what might set her off. She seemed to be getting more than enough pleasure setting the timers on the vests.

They had only taken two steps when Kara stepped from around the corner. "Give it to me," she ordered and held out her hand.

"Here." Mark handed the package over.

Kara looked down, then up. Her gaze locked on Reese. "I want to talk to you."

"You're in for it now," Mark commented under his breath. "Not a wise move when you're dealing with a woman who has a happy trigger finger." He didn't try to hide his smirk.

"Mark, do you have anything brilliant to add to this conversation?" Kara narrowed her eyes.

"No."

"Then I suggest you leave us alone," she ordered. "Unless you want to find out how itchy my trigger finger can be."

Casting a look at Reese, Mark disappeared around the corner.

"What the hell was that back there?" Kara demanded.

"What did you think it was?" Reese challenged.

"Don't try to pretend that you've suddenly developed a level of intelligence in the past few years, John." Her look was one of pure ice.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Reese's look was unblinking. Of course she was lethal and full of revenge, but he still knew her and the way she took hold of something and refused to let it go.

"Playing stupid was never something you could pull off. Do you think that you can manipulate me?"

"I'm not thinking anything," Reese countered. "What happened back there could have been negotiated without bloodshed."

Kara snorted. "Always the boy scout. I thought being on your own these past few years would have hardened you." She shook her head. "You never were a team player. Even when Mark sent you to 'retire' me, you couldn't pull the trigger. A hired killer with a heart of gold," she scoffed sarcastically.

"I just don't think it's necessary to kill people to further an unjustifiable cause."

"So you kneecap them? Yes, John, I know about the task force set up in your honour and how the whole NYPD is on the lookout for the 'man in the suit'. I've kept my tabs on you."

"I'm touched," Reese replied without any warmth.

"I needed to know what you've been up to. Does your employer know what he signed up for when he took you on?" Her smile was sly. "I'm sure he would love to know all the little things you did, and all the heinous acts you committed while in the CIA."

"Is there a point to this, Kara?"

"The point is, John, that you still don't know how to follow orders. You were sent in to retrieve something for me, and you thought you could get around the rules. I had to shoot those men because you refused to do as you were told."

"I doubt that you had to debate much to consider pulling the trigger." He could still remember the look of ecstasy on her face after each kill. He had considered the missions he took as 'get the job done'; Kara considered them as legalized hunting.

"Is there something you want to tell me," she said and crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe something you want to get off your chest?"

"Aside from this bomb vest?" Reese quipped with an indifferent shrug.

"This is not the time to get stupid and try to grow a brain. I still know you better than you know yourself, John, and I know that you still harbour that soft spot for the human race."

Reese knew that look Kara got when she was planning something to hurt him. He felt his blood run cold.

"I know all about that pretty detective you manipulated to work with you," Kara purred sweetly, but her eyes burned fire and hate. "Have you slept with her? Made her promises you know you'll never keep?" She leaned in close. "Have you whispered those sweet-nothings in her ear?"

His heart pounded loudly in his ears, Reese fought the urge to reach over and throttle the woman who had once been his partner.

"What's her name…oh, yeah, Jocelyn Carter. You never struck me as the 'Jocelyn' type. I guess you have changed." Kara tapped the cell phone on her hand. "Does she know about your true past? Maybe I should take her to lunch and tell her all of the things that you did before you fell off the grid?"

"If you go near her…" Reese clenched his fists so tight his nails dug into his palms.

"You'll do what, John? Kill me?" She gave a short laugh full of mirth. "You tried that once before, and look how well it worked out for you."

"Damnit, Kara," Reese growled. "Don't you…"

Kara tilted her head. "Heh. You do care for her. And you haven't slept with her. Too bad she doesn't know you're poison to every woman you get near."

"You're still alive," Reese pointed out evenly.

"Yeah. Well…what we had was never real, so I'm not sure my brush with death counts. But I bet hers does." Kara sighed overdramatically. "I did let her live."

"What do you mean you let her live?" Reese tried to think back to the moment in the SUV. He barely remembered Joss lying beside him and mumbling his name. He recalled telling her to play dead before darkness claimed him. The next time he opened his eyes, Kara was standing over him.

"Oh, come on, John. Donnelly wasn't the only one packing, but he saw me. And for that, I had to kill him. Detective Carter, on the other hand, she missed joining the FBI agent because she had the misfortune of being unconscious. But maybe it was for the best. I can tell by that look in your eyes how much you care for her. Eliminating her would not have helped convince you to participate in this little treasure hunt."

"Wouldn't it be easy to just eliminate me and let Mark do your dirty work?" Reese suggested as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. But he was feeling anything but humorous.

"It's tempting. And trust me, the thought has crossed my mind. But you and your lady are two sides of the same coin, and for that coin to flip, I need both. What a waste of a good coin."

Reese stood and absorbed everything she said. And the more he listened, the more stoic is expression became.

"See, I can't have you running around like a broken hearted puppy," she finished. "You have a job to do." Kara's look hardened. "And if that vest you're wearing isn't incentive enough, maybe the thought of that pretty, little detective lying in a casket will be."

Reese blinked back the red haze clouding his vision. Nothing was stopping him from killing her right here, right now. Except for the remote she was holding. She could hit the button and trigger the detonator before he could get to it. Or worse, she could have already rigged something on or near Joss's car. There was no telling how deeper her thirst for revenge went.

Think about Joss, he told himself. He had made a vow to keep her safe, and he had done his best. But if the look in Kara's eyes meant anything, she would blow him and Mark up without a second thought, then she would go after Joss. And he wouldn't be able to stop her.

Reese could play Kara's game…if it meant keeping his friends alive.

"Okay," he conceded.

Kara studied him for a moment before smiling broadly. "I knew you'd see it my way. You know, that bleeding heart of yours is going to be your downfall." She checked her watch. "Let's get you something to eat. You and Mark are going to need your energy for what I have planned next."

Kara reached over and gave a rough pat on Reese's cheek. "Be a good boy and all of this will be over soon."

Reese didn't try to disguise his feelings for his former partner as he turned on his heel and followed the same route Mark had taken. He could only hope that Joss had gotten away from the crash and contacted Finch with what she knew. Between the two of them he knew they could save him.

If his time hadn't run out.