Finch had been, quite frankly, overwhelmed.

Too much had happened too fast, and Finch was just trying desperately to hold things together.

He had frozen in shock at the gunshots. When he finally got himself moving and across the street it was clear there was little that could be done for Carter at that time. It was all he could do to pry Reese away from her and get him into the car before they were surrounded by officers responding to the gunshots outside the precinct. Then it was a matter of seeing Reese's wounds healed. When John was finally stabilized and Harold thought that he could regroup for a moment, his world turned on its head again when Reese left.

Harold would have liked to respect John's privacy at this time, but he knew Reese didn't handle grief well, and considering the risks John was willing to take under more normal circumstances Finch was afraid of what might happen. So he sent Fusco after Reese, knowing the detective would be glad of the distraction from thinking of his partner's death.

Besides, Ms. Shaw was more suited to do what he needed.

Under other circumstances her expression when he made his request might have been quite comical. She gave him a hard and searching look, and must have seen something in his face to let her know that this was no joke but a deadly serious matter.

So a short time later Shaw was passing Finch the keys to a station wagon, and Harold drove slowly to a cemetery he had not been to in a while and had hoped to never see again. He was careful not to be followed and not to attract the attention of any law enforcement, as explaining the corpse in the back of the car could be rather difficult.


Carter was stunned and disoriented after her revivification, and Finch made sure to get her in the car and on their way as quickly as possible before she could take too much note of their surroundings. Of course Carter had a number of questions, and Finch tried to satisfy her without going into too much detail – knowledge of the sarcophagus was even more explosive and potentially deadly than knowledge of the Machine. She was a bit incredulous, and would have doubted such a story even from Finch except her own extraordinary existence confirmed it was all too likely to be true.

Shaw was visibly stunned when they made it to the safe house. As a doctor she was fully aware that Carter's condition was no sham and should have been permanent. She just stood there gaping until Finch broke the spell by asking her to find some more suitable clothing for the detective (Harold couldn't believe he had made such an oversight, but he had had a lot on his mind at the time). Shaw choked out "good to see you back" before scurrying off to find some clothes.

Once Carter was dressed and had a hot meal and a stiff drink, they decided their next move was to get their wayward companions home. It seemed prudent for Carter to be out of the city until the publicity over her shooting and the loss of her body (Harold's cover story was that the morgue had inadvertently sent the wrong body off to a funeral home and it had been cremated before the error was detected) died down a bit. So she and Shaw were shortly on their way in a jet piloted by Finch.

Carter might have known the two rascals would land themselves in trouble, although it was a rather ingenious method for Fusco to keep an eye on Reese. Both of them were not at their best when she entered their cell, and both were probably wondering if she was but a hallucination from too much booze or a stiff blow to the head. Reese's doubts were set to rest when she walked up and slapped him across the face, growling "What the hell were you thinking?" He didn't know how this was possible, and didn't care how pissed she was at him, all he cared was that she wasn't gone and he hadn't lost her. Her tirade was cut short with an "umf" when he reached out and clutched her warm breathing body to himself, afraid to let go or to find out that it was all a dream from which he would awake to the nightmare of her gone. They were pressed even tighter together when Fusco decided he wanted in on the action and enveloped them both in a giant bear-hug. For several minutes they just stayed like that, until Fusco let go to wipe some suspicious moisture from his eyes. John's eyes were also rather shiny, but he had a smile on his face even larger than Lionel's. A harrumph from Shaw drew their attention, and her "We should be going" got them moving out to where Finch was waiting in the rented car.

A short flight later and the team was finally all together and back home in the safe house. The joy at the reunion faded slightly at the logistical issues before them. Carter's death had been too public, too well documented, and observed by too many people who could attest that it was real for it to be passed off as a mistake or a ruse. Her reappearance would spark too many questions, and there was no telling what unscrupulous people might do to try and ferret out the secret to her miraculous recovery. So it was decided that she would need to stay dead, and go into hiding under a new identity. Fortunately she had friends who were quite expert at creating new personas. Her grieving family could be put in contact with her once her and their new identities were well established.

Although the team would be sad to part with her, it was for the best as she and her family would be much safer that way.