Head Notes: Sorry it has taken me a long time to post the last chapter. It took me forever to work out the ending. But after months of typing and posting, here it is: my final chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 9
The next morning, John walked into the library with a newspaper and a box of doughnuts. He saw Finch laying on his desk, his back noticeably tight and rigid and his glasses were folded and set off to the side.
"Look at this, Finch," he said, startling him awake. "You're in the news."
Finch put on his glasses and looked at the paper in John's hand. 'HR Boss Finally Identified' 'HR Investigation Reopened' were the two headlines on the front page.
"I hardly see how that's good news seeing as we're trying to stay out of the press," he said ironically.
"It's great to have you here, Finch," John replied, choosing a chocolate doughnut with sprinkles.
"I know what you did, Mr. Reese," Finch said, sleep gone from his eyes as they stared at him gravely.
"You sound like you're about to discipline me," John remarked.
"It's unlikely a coincidence that Agent Donnelly arrived at Quinn's office just in time to save me simply by good fortune." Finch spoke slowly so that there was no mistaking what he was about to say.
"Are you going to fire me because I cared about you?" John asked.
"No, Mr. Reese," Finch sighed. "I'm not going to fire you. But calling Agent Donnelly was reckless. Did you realize that he could have traced your call and gone after you instead of Quinn? What would have happened then? You would be back in Riker's."
"I had to go after Carter and Fusco but I was not going to let you confront Quinn without some backup." John explained. "And I certainly was not about to trust Simmons to save you. I knew that calling Donnelly was risky. But that was a risk I was willing to take in order to keep you safe."
"Furthermore, did it occur to you that Agent Donnelly might have seen me dropping off his daughter?" Finch added. "He could have recognized me. Then he would be after both of us and that would greatly undermine our ability to help the irrelevant numbers"
"It was either him or Simmons, Finch," John quietly shot back. "Which would you have preferred? I don't know about you, but I trust Donnelly a whole lot more than Simmons."
They stood there for a few minutes, glaring at each other. John took his eyes off Finch took a bite out of the doughnut.
"So do we have a new number?" He asked, changing the subject.
"So far, no," Finch said, turning his attention back to the computer. "Anyway, we could both use a day off after yesterday."
A beep came from John's phone. He looked down at it. It was a text message. But before Finch could read it, John was already typing a reply. We can meet in an hour. you choose the place. I will find you.
He turned to Finch.
"Looks like I have an appointment," John remarked.
"With who?" Finch asked, apprehension dawning on his face.
"Relax, Harold, I'll be careful" John said softly.
XxXxXx
Carter walked into the precinct more quietly than she normally did. It had been a crazy ride the last couple days. It had been almost three days since she had found Cal's recording. Since then she and Fusco had effectively crumbled what was left of HR. Fusco.
She honestly didn't know what to think about the revelation of him being a former dirty cop. On the one hand, she was glad that he had changed and that someone had given him a second chance in life. On the other hand, she shuddered to think that Fusco, her partner, her friend, had once trampled on the one thing they were fighting to uphold. How many people had he killed? How many crimes had he been paid to ignore?
It was obvious that he had changed. She had heard that in his voice and seen it in his actions last night. His genuine shame when he had spoken of his past was in total contrast to his proud defiance toward Terney. Even so, how did that justify ignoring his past crimes; the people he had hurt, the families he had let down by looking the other way. She should be turning him in. Instead, she was acting as if she was none the wiser.
"You okay, Carter?" Fusco's voice startled her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled. "I'm alive, At least."
Fusco smiled a little, but Carter could see faint worry lines creasing his face.
"Yeah, you and me both," he said. "Wonder Boy definitely knows exactly when to show up. He's never late or early. It's actually starting to drive me a little crazy."
Carter gave a small smile in response then looked away. She didn't want to be reminded that someone so normal had been so...evil. Was that even the right word?
"Carter, if you want to talk to me, you can," Fusco said, disrupting her thoughts again.
Carter looked Fusco in the eyes but didn't have the heart to articulate the question. It was as if voicing it out loud herself, would make the fact irreversible. Fusco must have read her mind because he stood up and invited her into an empty office.
"There's no way around this Carter," He began. "I was a dirty cop. Plain and simple."
"Why?" she asked, her voice harder than she had intended. "How could you justify doing what you knew was wrong?"
"To be honest, I was dragged into that kicking and screaming, too," he answered, not looking at her . "I hated it. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't say no. I was shocked the first time they asked me to do it. I wanted to say no. But someone that I thought was a friend talked me into it. Asked me to do it to help him. The next time, same story. After a few years I just finally quit caring. That's where our mutual friend came in."
"John?" Carter realized. So it had been John that had given Fusco a second chance in life.
"Yeah. He found me. Told me he needed someone on the force." Fusco looked up at her. "Carter, I need to be honest with you. John pulled me out of the shadows, There's no question about that. But there was another person who saved me."
"Who?" She asked. "Finch?"
Fusco shook his head.
"You." He said.
Carter blinked.
"How did I save you?" she asked confused.
"You reminded me what it meant to be a good cop. I wasn't lying last night when I said that I wanted to be clean because of my kid. But you were the one who showed me how."
"Fusco," she whispered not sure what to say.
"I know that this doesn't change the way you feel about the questionable moments in my life," Fusco began carefully. "And I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to turn me in. I just wanted you to know the truth."
Carter stood quietly taking in everything she had heard. She had saved him? She hadn't thought that being a friend to him had affected him so much. He considered her as having saved him. Then again she didn't know much about his previous partners. For all she knew, she may have been his first partner that wasn't dirty. The first partner that had started to pull him back.
She looked at Fusco and realized that his gaze had not left her face while everything had sunk in.
"No, Fusco," she said finally. "I won't turn you in."
Fusco looked like he had expected her to do the opposite of what she was doing.
"Really," he said, a mix of relief and shock in his eyes.
"Really," she repeated. "But Fusco, I trusted you and last night that trust was broken. And it's going to take a while for me to rebuild that trust. I trust you enough to let you off the hook for now, but if you do anything to betray that trust it won't happen again. Are we clear?"
"We're clear," Fusco said, looking her in the eyes.
XxXxXx
Donnelly stood at the edge of a pond in a small park. The park wasn't full, but hopefully there was enough people to avoid drawing attention to two people meeting. The only reason he had called John was because he was curious. He had been going over John's case file trying to figure out a motive when the call came. He was looking for anything that would remotely explain what the crime scenes meant. He wasn't sure if John would really come. After all, he, himself, probably wouldn't. But whether John actually planned on coming or not, visiting the park always had its perks. It was one of those simple things he did with his family whenever he could.
It still didn't explain how John was going to find him. There was a fair number of parks in the surrounding area. Even if John guessed which one he was at, how was he supposed to find exactly where he was? Well, that's his headache, I suppose, Donnelly thought to himself. Then there was the question of whether John would answer his questions or not. He still remembered that John was not very keen about answering questions. And when he did answer them they were noticeably vague.
Donnelly was suddenly aware of a presence standing beside him and looked to see who it was. John was looking around the park with a pretended interest.
"How did you find me?" Donnelly asked. At first he wasn't sure if John had heard him. But then John answered his question.
"I'm very good at this, Nicholas," he began dryly, his gaze still wandering anywhere but where Donnelly was standing. "If you wanted to present me with a challenge you should have gone with some place a little less personal."
They both stood where they were. Donnelly began to mimic John by looking around the park as well.
"How's Julie?" John asked softly.
"She's adapting. She's fine physically, and the nightmares are diminishing but…" He couldn't continue.
"I'm sorry," John said, understanding. "And just so you know, I know what it's like when someone you care about is recovering from a trauma."
John paused for a moment before continuing.
"So you wanted to talk to me about something?"
"You called me last night because you knew that Quinn was the head of HR," Donnelly said carefully.
"Right," John confirmed.
"What made you suspect him in the first place?" Donnelly asked.
"I figured that Walker probably wasn't clever enough to be the HR's big boss. And if that was the case, the real guy must have slipped through our fingers." John explained.
"but how did Quinn's name come up?" Donnelly asked. John shrugged.
"Anonymous tip," he answered vaguely.
"That the same type of anonymous tip that told you I was in danger?" Donnelly asked, not expecting an answer.
"Not quite," he replied. "But it's just as private."
Donnelly took a deep breath. He was definitely not expecting an answer to his next question, but he was not about to walk away without asking.
"What do you do?" He asked.
"This mean you don't think I'm a killer selling my services to the highest bidder?" John scoffed, amused.
"I figured that out a month ago," Donnelly said. "You may not be the killer I thought you were, but with all the crime scenes you're involved with over the last two years, I know you're up to something. So what is it?"
John continued to scan the park as though he hadn't heard Donnelly's question. Donnelly suspected that he wouldn't get an answer. His suspicion was confirmed when John spoke again.
"I read the news this morning," he said casually. "looks like you're a hero."
"What are you talking about?" Donnelly asked.
"Quinn tried to use a hostage, didn't he?" John replied.
"Yeah, a man named Norman Hawkins," Donnelly confirmed. Donnelly was sure he had seen John's lip quirk up at the mention of the name, but it was gone before he could register what he had seen.
"And what did you do when you saw that Quinn was trying to use a hostage?" John asked him.
"Well, I saw Hawkins standing there, looking at me, afraid." Donnelly began. "And I knew then and there that I would do everything in my power to make sure that he walked out of that office alive."
"Why?" John asked. "Why worry about the hostage? You had the big boss. Anyone else might have considered it worth it to sacrifice a hostage in order to catch him."
"I remembered what it had felt like to be the hostage." Donnelly tried to explain everything that had gone through his mind in the two seconds it had taken him to make a decision. He was failing miserably. "I looked at him and saw myself."
"So you're a hero. You not only arrested the head of HR, you saved a life."
"There's nothing special about what I did last night," Donnelly insisted. "I did what anyone would have done."
"Maybe, but you still did it." John replied.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Donnelly asked.
John finally turned to look him in the eye. Donnelly realized that he had been wrong to assume that John wouldn't answer his question when he spoke again.
"You asked me what I do, Nicholas," he answered. "Well this is what I do. I see people in danger and I do everything in my power to make sure they get out of it alive."
Donnelly looked back to the pond but he wasn't seeing it. He was trying to take in everything he had learned. He remembered what he had thought after John had saved him from Snow. John had been so calm and so nonchalant after his fight with snow that Donnelly had wondered if it was an everyday occurrence. It seemed his assumption hadn't been too far off. But then an odd fact struck his memory. One that had him turning back to face John.
"But you knew I was in danger before Stanton even called me," Donnelly noted.
"You know I can't answer that, Nicholas." John said before he could ask.
"I'm an FBI agent, John" Donnelly said. "There are certain questions that I have to ask."
"And I respect that," John replied. "But there are certain questions that I can't answer."
Donnelly scoffed and turned back to the pond. Even if John hadn't said those words, Donnelly would have known by the tone of his voice that the interview was over. He wasn't going to get anymore answers. Still, he wished John would be a little more trusting of him.
"Well then, if you're done answering questions," Donnelly began. "I should be heading back to the field office."
"I should get back to work too," John whispered.
Donnelly turned around sharply, But by the time he was facing the spot where john had been, he had disappeared. He looked around wildly and finally spotted John walking toward the edge of the park.
Donnelly sighed and scoffed. Then he walked toward his car and drove back to his office.
XxXxXx
Harold Finch sat at his computer listening to every word Mr. Reese and Agent Donnelly said to each other. At first he was astounded that Mr. Reese had even agreed to meet with Agent Donnelly. Why must his only friend be so recklessly trusting. Then he listened as John likened their work to what Agent Donnelly had done last night.
While he didn't think it was wise for Mr. Reese to reveal to Agent Donnelly the work they did, he did think that John might be right on one point. He listened as Agent Donnelly attempted to explain his reasoning for trying to save him.
"I remembered what it was like to be a hostage," Agent Donnelly's voice said. "I looked at him and saw myself."
The conversation continued, but Finch was no longer listening. He sat very quietly. Perhaps John was right to trust Agent Donnelly. In a very real way he was much like themselves. And in a small way, he was even similar to Mr. Reese. It was impossible to tell who had more determination between the two of them. They were both reasonably intelligent. And from what he'd seen last night, Agent Donnelly was just as determined to save lives as Mr. Reese was. True his own experience may have been the leading cause for his actions last night. But was he, Harold Finch, supposed to disregard it from Donnelly when he, himself had done the exact same thing? Hadn't it been he that had ignored the irrelevant numbers while Nathan had been the one who had given up everything to help them. Harold hadn't cared about the irrelevant list until after Nathan had been killed.
His thoughts focused on Agent Donnelly. He had never regretted saving the man's life. He had thought it risky to have him see John work, but he was always glad to save lives. And now he saw an advantage to having saved his life. Just as John had demonstrated last night, Agent Donnelly could be very useful. Perhaps at some point in the future they could use him as an ally much like Ms. Morgan and Mr. Tao.
After all, when he had started out after Nathan had died he never could have hoped for so many allies. At first he had been desperately trying save the numbers on his own. Then, almost inexplicably, he had learned of Mr. Reese and earned him as a partner and friend. And with Mr. Reese, slowly but surely, the rest had followed. Somehow, Mr. Reese had convinced the detectives to help them. Even Ms. Morgan and Mr. Tao turned up several times to help them. Could it be possible to persuade Agent Donnelly to become their ally as well?
It didn't seem very likely, but he couldn't help but consider the possibilities of having an FBI agent on their side. With him on their side, they could have access to that much more information on their cases. Information that Carter and Fusco couldn't get, there was a chance Agent Donnelly could get it. Plus with their work, they could use all the help they could get.
Finch smiled as he thought of the possibilities. Perhaps, Mr. Reese was right. Agent Donnelly may not be their ally yet. But judging by his actions last night, he was well on his way to becoming so. Perhaps, in a few months, Harold could introduce himself properly. But for now, he would wait and watch.
End Notes: Thank you everyone who read my story and an especially big thanks to all those who left reviews. This story wasn't as much fun to write as my Donnelly story but it was still fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed it.