Head note: Okay so I planned the next two chapters as one chapter but I realized that it was getting a little long so I decided to split it in half. Thank you for your patience with me and I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Harold Finch watched as Agent Donnelly left Quinn's office. Despite his outward show of calm, his nerves were on fire. It was similar to the way he had felt after Detectives Carter and Beecher had killed the fake FBI agent that had been trying to kill him. It was interesting. A few moments ago he had fully expected to die. That Quinn would either drag him off, or get tired of Agent Donnelly's uncooperative attitude. But either way he had expected the letter opener to tear through his flesh at any moment. Yet now that it was over, he felt weaker than he had ever felt. His knees buckling, he reached out for the chair he had occupied while confronting Quinn and sank into it. As many life threatening situations he had been in over the last two years, he still wasn't used to the rush of adrenaline he always felt immediately after. He didn't suppose that he would ever get used to it.

It was extremely fortunate that Agent Donnelly had arrived when he had. Finch was sure that if Donnelly hadn't shown up at that exact moment, he would have been killed. Poking Quinn in the eyes had ensured a distraction, but if Donnelly hadn't been there to disarm him, Quinn still could have killed him. And yet the moment he had seen Agent Donnelly, a small fragment of his mind remembered a small detail about him. Donnelly had looked in Finch's direction as Julie ran toward her father. Once that fragment of his mind had remembered that, his entire mind had remembered it and a single thought brushed through his mind. Had Agent Donnelly caught a glimpse of him?

True, Agent Donnelly might have been more focused on his family and more especially on his daughter, but Harold had been there. He had been the one dropping Julie off after they had saved them. What if he were to remember seeing him.

There was no doubting the fact that Agent Donnelly was a good man. Or that his timely intervention had saved Harold's life. But to have him recognize Harold as having been the man that dropped off his daughter would be dangerous to his and John's mission. Agent Donnelly didn't appear to recognize him, but any prolonged exposure could greatly increase his chances of doing so. And saving the irrelevant numbers was difficult enough without Agent Donnelly chasing one of them. If he started chasing both of them it would be well nigh impossible.

But, regardless of the risks, Agent Donnelly had saved his life and he was truly grateful for that. He almost wondered if Donnelly's concern for him was because it reminded him of his own life-threatening situation.

He forced the thoughts of Quinn's attempt to kill him to the back of his mind and instead tried to focus on ways to avoid arousing Agent Donnelly's suspicions. For one fleeting moment he considered leaving Quinn's office before Agent Donnelly came back. He rejected the idea when he realized that if he simply disappeared, it would prompt Agent Donnelly to launch a missing person's investigation. And that would attract the attention of the NSA or Decima, both of whom were far more dangerous than Donnelly.

Since leaving the office now was out of the question, he had to fabricate a reason for being at Quinn's office. Perhaps he could claim he was Quinn's financial adviser. That technically wasn't a lie considering what he had been doing before Agent Donnelly arrived. It would also explain why he had Quinn's bank accounts on his laptop if they asked to see it.

XxXxXx

Agent Donnelly walked out of Quinn's office trying desperately to piece together some puzzle that just was not forming. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about Mr. Hawkins. He could have sworn he had seen him before somewhere. He didn't look too familiar, but judging by the way he had been looking at him, Hawkins definitely knew him. Perhaps he had seen him in an elevator or bumped into him on the street.

Another odd fact was that Quinn had insisted on taking Hawkins with him. In fact, now that he thought about it, he found it odd that Quinn had attacked Hawkins before he had burst into the room. The suspect usually didn't grab a hostage until after the threat of arrest was real. And even then they were usually eager to release the hostage in exchange for freedom. But Quinn had insisted on taking Hawkins with him. The way that he had been threatening Hawkins told Donnelly that he wasn't just a hostage to Quinn. It had been personal. What had Hawkins done to tick Quinn off so much? What had he done that had put him at the mercy of a man who had shown him no mercy? The only thing that had saved his life was having the presence of mind to poke him in the eyes. It wasn't very often that a hostage displayed that much composure. Quite simply, they usually just didn't think about it. It was a simple self-defense move. But simple as it was, it was also effective. Without that, Donnelly wouldn't have been able to get a shot.

Ah, it didn't even matter whether he had seen him before or not. It didn't matter why Quinn had attacked him. The important thing was that the man was alive.

"Agent Donnelly," a young agent greeted.

Donnelly looked up to see who had spoken to him and nodded to him.

"Agent Fleming," he greeted back. "I need to get my notebook so I can take the witness' statement. So I want you to keep an eye on him." He indicated Quinn. "When I come back, I want you to be in charge of taking him to Riker's."

Fleming suddenly looked crestfallen as he heard what Donnelly wanted him to do. No he looked more...ashamed.

"Something wrong?" Donnelly asked.

"It's just that, the last time you trusted me to transport a prisoner, he got away," Fleming explained.

Donnelly's eyes narrowed, confused. Then he sighed when he realized what Fleming was referring to.

"Do you still blame yourself for the Man in the Suit's escape?" Donnelly asked. "I've already told you, that's not your fault."

"Please don't patronize me by disregarding the facts," Agent Fleming said wearily. "I didn't pay attention to him. And because of that he was able to grab a paperclip."

Fleming had been scrutinized for months while the Bureau tried to figure out how the Man in the Suit had escaped and each time Fleming had blamed himself. He explained that he had been careless and hadn't noticed the Man in the Suit to grab a paperclip while being transferred to a holding cell. Before he knew it the Man in the Suit had gotten free of his handcuffs and attacked him. He had assumed that the Man in the Suit must have escaped before Donnelly had even made it down there. That was the official version of John's escape and Donnelly hadn't felt the need to correct it.

Nevertheless, Donnelly had tried to defend Fleming from the jokes at his expense. Unfortunately, it hadn't been very successful.

"One stupid mistake," Fleming sighed. "And they won't let me forget it."

Donnelly looked at Fleming, an uncomfortable knot forming in his stomach. He couldn't shake the guilt he felt for making the young man take the fall for him. But he certainly was not about to confess that he had simply let John go. He hoped there was someway to restore the young man's faith in himself. Then an idea popped into his head.

"Yes, it was a stupid mistake," Donnelly admitted. "And you're going to make a lot of them throughout your life and your career. Everyone does. Even I have made my fair share of mistakes. Some of them serious. But from my experience, dwelling on your mistakes does not change the past. Learn from your mistakes, but don't keep beating yourself up over them."

"It's hard to move on when your peers don't give you the chance to redeem yourself," Fleming said.

"Why do you think I invited you here?" Donnelly asked, a small smile growing on his face. "Maybe booking the real head of HR will earn you some well-deserved respect."

The young agent finally allowed himself to look up at him and smile.

"Thanks," he said. "For giving me another chance."

"Your welcome," Donnelly said.

He grabbed his notebook and gave Fleming another encouraging smile before walking back into Quinn's office.

XxXxXx

He found Mr. Hawkins sitting in one of Quinn's chair and that's when he noticed Hawkins' unusually stiff posture. He also noticed that Hawkins had to turn his whole upper body in order to look at him.

"What happened to your back?" Donnelly asked.

"I was in an accident a few years ago," Hawkins said.

Donnelly got the impression that he was being very vague. Forcing it out of his mind, he asked Hawkins to give a detailed account of what happened. Hawkins took a deep breath and began his story. He explained that he was Quinn's Financial Adviser and that he had been going over his bank accounts with him.

"I don't know what caused him to attack me," Hawkins said as he concluded his story. "I suppose he blamed me for his poor money management. I had come here to explain that he had lost all his money. I had never seen him lose his temper like that."

"Okay Thank you for your time, Mr. Hawkins," Donnelly said, getting up to leave. "Just one more question. Do you have a number where we could reach you in case we need to ask you more questions?"

"Sure," Hawkins said. With some great reluctance, Donnelly noted.

Hawkins drew out card in his wallet and borrowed a pen on Quinn's desk to write a phone number on the back.

"Universal Heritage Insurance," Donnelly read from the card.

"I used to work there," Hawkins said, turning to give Donnelly the card. "Don't suppose I could convince you to switch your insurance policy?"

Donnelly realized that Hawkins was joking when he saw some slight mischief in Hawkins' eyes and smiled.

"Sorry," Donnelly said, taking the card and turning to leave. "I'm happy with Geico."

"Agent Donnelly," Hawkins said, stopping Donnelly in his tracks. He looked back at Hawkins. The mischief was gone from his eyes. "I wanted to say thank you. For saving my life."

Hawkins looked somewhat embarrassed and he still had that air of nervousness around him. However, despite Hawkins' obvious concern, Donnelly could see in his eyes that the gratitude was sincere.

"Your welcome," Donnelly said, before turning to leave.

XxXxXx

End Note: Yes I realize that Universal Heritage and Geico are different types of insurance companies but I couldn't resist. And also I used a new character for two reasons 1. I wanted to explain how John's escape was explained to the FBI and 2. I wanted to give that character a name.