Usual disclaimers, they don't belong to me...also, I have no beta, any mistakes are mine :)
Finch kept a far enough away distance that he wouldn't be noticed by camera crews and the rescue team, but close enough to be able to hear at least some of what was going on. He was staring at the wreckage of the building that he was positive John and Mr. Caffrey had been in, and he only noticed the small bald man staring at him when Bear whined and strained at the leash for a moment. Limping over to the small man, Finch stopped a few feet away. "Mr. Mozzie?"
"What did I say about the 'Mr.'?" griped the smaller man. Finch didn't say anything in reply to that. The only thing he only cared about was finding John and Neal alive.
"Excuse me, gentlemen," a familiar voice said from behind them. Finch turned to see Detective Carter standing there. "I'm going to need to ask you to move away. This area is unstable and we need all unnecessary personnel out of danger," she explained as she shepherded them away from the destroyed building. As soon as they were out of earshot, she glared at Finch. "What are you thinking?!" she asked incredulously.
"I'm thinking that John and one of our latest numbers is in the wreckage of that building," Finch explained. Carter closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. Finally she let out a sigh of frustration and opened her eyes.
"And who are you?" She asked Mozzie, sounding slightly frustrated.
"I'm a friend," he replied, not saying anything else. Carter looked like she was expecting something else, but when he refused to say anything else she looked back to Finch.
"I can't let you over there," she said, sounding apologetic.
"Is it unstable?" Finch asked, worry in his eyes. Carter shook her head.
"Not very, but enough that they don't want any unnecessary personnel near the area. We're still trying to locate anyone in the building," she added. "They weren't sure if there was anyone, but I'll let them know we have at least two people down there."
"Thank you Detective," Finch said. Joss turned away and was about to walk back to the wreckage when Bear's ears twitched and he started whining and straining at his leash. "Bear?" Finch asked. Carter turned back around and looked at the Malinois in slight confusion. Finch looked up at the detective with hope in his eyes. "I think he hears something!" He held out the leash to the Joss and she accepted it. The eager dog almost pulled her over in his attempt to get over to the wreckage.
Harold heard Carter call out to the crew members to be quiet. When that order was complete, she gave Bear more slack in his leash, letting him go wherever he needed. He whimpered and started trying to dig around a spot, and the workers converged by the dog with all sorts of listening equipment in their hands.
"We've got sound!" one of them shouted. It was as if a dam had broken. One minute everyone was standing still and waiting to know what was going on, but as soon as they heard they had life underneath the rubble, everyone swarmed around different pieces of equipment, preparing to carefully dig and recover the trapped people.
0-0-0
Joss was standing and staring at the spot where Bear had begun digging, lost in thought until someone tapped her on her shoulder. She glanced around, seeing a man in a suit standing there.
"I'm Agent Jones with the FBI White Collar Crime Unit," he introduced himself. Joss took the extended hand, introducing herself as well.
"Detective Carter, NYPD Homicide."
"Homicide? What is homicide doing here?" Jones asked quickly.
"Just heard about this and thought I'd come see if they could use a hand," she replied smoothly. "What about you? Why is the White Collar Division here?"
"I have reason to believe that one of our team was inside this building when it collapsed," Jones explained.
"I'm so sorry," Carter said with sincerity. "We do have proof of life though," she added, seeing Jones' stressed look. "We believe there are two people down there, and from the amount of sound we heard, we are assuming they're both alive."
"Thanks for the update," Jones said. "I'm gonna stick around though, if that's alright with you?"
"It's not me you need to talk to," Carter said, jerking her thumb over to the crisis team manager. "As far as I'm concerned though, you're good to stay."
Jones thanked her again and walked off to talk to the man in charge while Joss turned around and walked back to Harold and the small bald man. She handed the leash off to Harold, then looked at the two of them.
"Why didn't you tell me your number was an FBI agent?" she asked almost accusingly.
"Because he isn't an agent," the second man spoke up before Finch could. Carter gave him a confused look.
"I believe what my friend here is trying to say," Finch cut in. "Is that the man down there, Neal Caffrey, is a confidential informant," he explained. Joss's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"You got some explaining to do, Harold," she finally said.
"Yes, I suppose I do," he relented. He proceeded to tell her what had happened over the last twenty four hours while the rescue crew continued to dig.
0-0-0
"Ssh," John said suddenly, stopping the banging. Neal stopped as well, straining his ears to try and hear whatever it was that John was hearing. After a few seconds he finally heard it; the banging and whirring of drills and saws. He grinned at John.
"Looks like rescue's on it's way," he remarked. John gave a tight smile back, and Neal could tell that his ankle was hurting him. "So what is it you do for a living?" He asked, trying to keep John's mind off the pain.
"Exactly what it seems like I'm doing," John replied. "I help people who need it."
"Yeah, but I'm almost positive that first of all, it's not what you've done your whole life, and second," Neal added. "This seems like something that borders on vigilante-ism, which the cops don't look too kindly on. I know that there's someone out there who does stuff like this, they call him "The Man in-" Neal stopped and stared at John, realization dawning on his face. "Oh…" was all he said. John said nothing to Neal's slightly shocked expression. "But...he only showed up last year," Neal pointed out. "So what were you doing before this, and what made you decide to do this?"
John thought back to his first encounter with Harold. "I wasn't doing anything with my life," he stated. It was true. The agency had turned against him and the world had thought he was dead, so he just let them believe that. "Harold found me and convinced me that I needed a purpose in life."
Neal looked thoughtful. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but before he could get it out, there was a rumbling above them. The two of them looked up, watching in horror as the debris above them started shifting and falling towards them. Without a second thought, John lunged towards Neal, smashing into him and knocking them both out of the way of the falling objects.