Here goes the next chapter, thank you all very much for the reviews. I enjoy them so much :-)

And a happy new year to all of you guys!

4 - Busted!

He's been standing there for about four hours by now and a few more are yet to come. He wisely changed into some warm and dark clothing. John was in position on a building across from Carter's home. Like this, he had a good view of her windows to see what's happening inside and could still check the street for any possible threats.

Finch created a list of people which were imprisoned by Carter and were now living freely within New York. The few people on this list seemed rather uninteresting since the real bad guys won't get out of prison for a long time. None of them showed any suspicious activities within their digital tracks, which included their bank accounts and emails. Shaw was checking up on them right now after they took turns in the observation of Carter's apartment. He'd love to pay those guys a visit himself but trusted Shaw she would not leave without knowing everything they might be up to.

By the time he arrived the black SUV left already. Finch was still tracing the license plate. He already linked it to some shell companies across different countries but wasn't finished yet.

The daylight already began to dim as he thought about the discoveries he made during his observations. He smiled as he remembered Joss dancing around to some loud pop music while cleaning up the rooms, the need to laugh at this was almost overwhelming. But he couldn't resist taking a short recording of this with his smartphone, just as a little reminder.

Finch stepped by to take a walk with Bear and relax his muscles from sitting all day in front of the computers in the library. John has been thankful for the coffee Harold brought by and they were having a small conversation about the possible perpetrators. Elias wouldn't try another move at Carter since he knew this would have consequences. HR was still pissed at Carter for sniffing around and since they're forming a new alliance with the Russians, those were on the list, too. But their closest track was still the black SUV.

This way the days went by. Shaw took turns with him in watching Carter from the rooftop so he could go home at least for a couple of hours and get some sleep. Finch offered to set up some video surveillance but John feared to be too late if something happened.

The license plate has been backtracked to a person called Mike Stone who seemed to be a fake identity. The address was a room at a motel in New Jersey, which was empty by the time Shaw arrived.

John saw the black SUV a few times during his observation and once tried to get a look inside by walking up next to it, but they drove away before he could closer than ten feet. They must have recognized him from the walk with Joss the other day. After this incident those guys were more careful and probably used different cars because Reese couldn't spot them anymore.

Carter was back at work and thanks to the puppet camera and Lionel they could still watch her. Nevertheless Reese wasn't far away. Like this they could watch the reaction to the new order of wearing bulletproof vests all the time. Finch's ears got slightly red while Shaw and Reese just grinned at the cursing. John knew those vests they got at the police station were absolutely uncomfortable. But better this small inconvenience than being seriously hurt. He would remember this to get her a nice lightweight but still effective vest at her next birthday. 'What a present to a woman…' He thought by himself.

Shaw worked through the list Finch gave her but without luck. None of those were out for revenge. Most of them were imprisoned for minor crimes or were cooperating with law enforcement to reduce their sentence.

Today was the fourth day of observing, Shaw already joked about putting up a tent and a coffee maker. The light at Joss's living room became dark, she probably went to bed early. John knew she just finished a tough case at work about a poor kid who was at the wrong place the wrong time and got caught between some gang wars.

Finch visited him accompanied by Bear as he did the last days, but soon enough he was alone again at the rooftop. He liked those times at a stakeout, there was enough time to think about certain things or let your thoughts wander.

Lately he caught himself more and more often thinking about Joss and his feelings towards her. This day showed him why. It felt like she was one of the few people who truly understood who he was and didn't judge him for the things he did in the past but respected him for the man he became recently. He never talked to anyone about what happened with Jessica, never wanted to either. But being around Joss made him feel like not being the monster he always thought he was.

Still, he shouldn't get her involved too much into his life. The danger this would be too great, she has a kid she needs to take care of. Taylor should not grow up without his mother and Joss was a person the world couldn't afford to lose. However, the need to be with her became more and more overwhelming.

"So, what the hell do you think you're doing up here?" came a voice from behind him.

He closed his eyes. 'Damn it.' John thought, he would have recognized this voice anywhere. This could only go south no matter what he was answering now. But how the hell did she manage to sneak up to him?

"Enjoying the view?" That wasn't even a lie. He finally turned around. In front of him stood a very upset Jocelyn Carter, hands on her hips.

"John Reese, don't you dare making fun of me right now. Do you think I didn't know you guys have been spying on me the last few days?"

"I wouldn't call it spying…" John interrupted.

Joss ignored him. "Fusco has been following me constantly, acting like a damn mother hen. Finch and Bear walking up the street I live almost every day? Did you even hire some private investigators who drive around in a black SUV? And now I'm finding you standing up here like some stoic statue watching my apartment. What the hell is going on here?" Her voice got a little bit louder by each word, so she almost yelled at him by the end of her speech.

He just stared at her for a moment. She was even more beautiful when she was this furious. On one hand he didn't want to worry her by telling her the truth but on the other hand he didn't really have a choice. If he didn't answer her honestly now he could lose her trust forever.

"Well, we're trying to protect you." He finally admitted to her.

"Protect me from what?" she asked still angry.

"I don't know yet. We happened to know that somebody is trying to kill you but couldn't find out anything yet. This is why we were observing you." He stepped forwards to get closer to her. "Listen, Joss, I didn't want to worry you about this. All I wanted is to keep you safe."

"Damn it John, I can take care of myself. I get threatening letters every day, this is my daily business as a detective." She exclaimed but didn't step back.

"That's exactly why I haven't told you. Remember what we told each other a few days ago? None of us is alone anymore. I'm here for you, Joss, and always will be." He explained to her. "Please Joss, let us help you with this."

"You still could have told me all of this right at the beginning. But what about the black SUV?" She slowly calmed down but still demanded answers.

"It doesn't belong to us. They've already been following us while we were walking in the park. I tried to get a closer look at them but they've noticed me."

She looked at him. "So they were following me the whole time?" Suddenly her eyes became big. "Wait a second, what about Taylor? Oh my god, what if they organized this basketball training just as a distraction? I need to call him!" She already started getting her phone out of her pocket.

"Everything's all right, Joss, we were faster. That was Finch's idea, he arranged Taylor's trip to the training camp. He also hired some bodyguards to keep him safe over there." John quickly reassured her. "Maybe we should get somewhere else to talk."

"Yeah, I could really use a drink now. You're still not out of the woods, John, so you're the one who's paying for it." She told him as they slowly went towards the stairs.

In the meantime John was still wondering how she got up here without him noticing. He watched the street all the time and her front door didn't open. As if Joss could read his mind she said: "I understand too, how to use the backdoor, you know? It's not just there for you to sneak into my home."

Slowly they wandered down the street to Dempsey's Pub while John informed Carter about their recent discoveries. She couldn't provide him with any new names of possible perpetrators.

They just passed John's car when he saw a black SUV approaching them very fast…

Whoops, there it is, I wrote a cliffhanger :-)