Thank you very much for your reviews again! I hope you enjoy this chapter and aren't mad at me for getting poor John injured.

6 - Consequences

Library

Finch was sitting at his desk in the Library, checking if he could find out more about the SUV which chased John. The only name he had was Mike Stone, which he knew was a fake identity.

He searched every possible database of the name, he even hacked into the FBI systems and searched possible pseudonyms of undercover agents. Just in case someone would have followed in Agent Donnelly's footsteps. But no luck.

An idea crossed his mind. What if…

About an hour later his eyes were growing big as he stared into the monitor. He connected the alias, which was used in several room bookings over the last few years, to flight tickets within the same period. This generated a list of possible suspects which he checked individually. At the end there was only one name left.

Harold realized he had to contact John immediately after he found out who was behind the attack. Dialing his number the call went straight to mailbox. That wasn't a good sign, he knew they had to drive through the woods, but this safe house was chosen because on the way and within the cabin was enough signal strength to be always reachable in case of an emergency.

This could mean his friends were in deep trouble, so he called a familiar number.

"Detective Fusco, I need a favor of you."

A street somewhere between the woods

The silence was peaceful between the dark shadows of the trees but the view at the street was a totally different story. One car totally crashed against the trees and another one which didn't look much better was lying upside down but still on the street.

John was slowly beginning to gain consciousness and to sense his surroundings. The world seemed to be wrong somehow, but he couldn't pinpoint the reason for this. A few questions came to his mind, like in 'Where am I?' and 'How the hell did I get here?'. He tried to search through his clouded mind for the latest memories. There was a rooftop and a street, then some cars and… bullets? "Carter!" He gasped with a dry throat as the memories came rushing back and tried to convince his eyes of opening.

The first thing he noticed, as soon as the blurs in his visions were gone, was that the car seemed to lie at the wrong side. So that's what felt strange earlier. He turned his head to check the passenger seat and was relieved at the sight. Carter was hanging in the air secured by her seatbelt and as far as he could see she suffered no major injuries from the accident. A small tickle of blood was visible at her forehead which would give her some serious headache as soon as she wakes up.

"Carter!" he tried to say loudly but ended into a low whisper. He didn't dare to move yet so he tried it again. "Carter!" She began to stir. "Carter… wake up!" Finally her eyes were fluttering showing him she would be responsive soon. "… John?" she whispered quietly and with a sudden jolt she flashed her eyes open in shock. "John!" "Carter, it's okay… I'm right here." he whispered to calm her down.

Joss secured herself as good as possible before she opened the seatbelt, but she still landed uncomfortable within the glass fragments from the broken windshield. He almost smiled at the face she made while trying to roll over so she could sit upright. After that she looked at him for the first time since waking up. He tried to smile at her reassuringly as her eyes grew big and pure worry showed on her face.

Until then he tried not to think too much about his own injuries. He knew after the first shock settled down there would be plenty enough time to feel every bone of his body. The thought of keeping Joss safe kept him working, but after he knew she was okay so far, his mind was getting unfocused.

"John…" Carter whispered weakly. She seemed to realize the fact he was unbelted when the accident happened. The way he was laying uncomfortably at his back with his legs resting partly against the steering wheel proved it. His face was suspiciously pale and cuts from the broken windows covered his skin.

His body started telling him now exactly how it felt about getting tossed around inside the car. At first, everything hurt, so he needed to check each of his body parts individually while trying to move them.

His legs were a little bit stiff but otherwise okay, his arms was a different story. The right one was doing okay, some cuts at his hand but nothing that would be a danger. The left one didn't quite respond to his commands but it has been like that before the accident, too. He took a look at his shoulder to see if the bullet wound was still bleeding, which fortunately stopped in the meantime. So except for his unresponsive arm he didn't need to worry about bleeding to death anymore. He had some headache, but nothing serious, a simple concussion from getting tossed around.

The last thing to check was his torso. He tried to move it slightly to sit more upright and knew immediately something was terribly wrong. Breathing was difficult, most likely a few ribs were broken because he was dashed against the steering wheel while the car flipped. But he worried more about the stabbing pain at his left side. After taking a look at his side he grimaced. A chunk of metal was stuck deeply inside his flesh. It probably broke loose from the car's A-pillar as the car crashed and he was thrown into it.

However, they needed to get out of here as soon as possible. The safe house wasn't far away anymore the last time he checked and maybe someone was after them again, since their recent attackers crashed as well or they wouldn't still be alive.

"Carter… We need to get out of here." He stated weakly, not knowing if he would be able to even get out of the car without going unconscious. The pain started to increase every second.

Joss' gaze was locked to his side by then. "John, your side! We need to get your injuries covered first!"

"We won't be able to treat any injuries at all, if we don't get out of here now. Listen, the guys who attacked us probably weren't operating on their own, so others will be here soon enough." He had to stop talking and took in a deep breath. "The cabin isn't far from here, we can walk."

"I wouldn't be so sure about the last part if I look at you right now." She sighed. "Okay, first of all, let's try to get out of the car, and we'll take it from there. I'm going to get out first and help you out from the other side."

She forcefully pushed open the passenger door and crawled out of it cautiously. Her head started spinning as she stood and she needed to hold herself to the car for a couple of minutes. Looking at her surroundings she spotted the black SUV crashed against a tree. There was no way someone would be able to get out of this alive so they didn't need to worry about them anymore.

Carter was walking around their own car and pulled open the drivers door as much as possible. Reese wasn't making a move at the inside. "John?" She called him and bent over to check him out. His eyes were closed and she softly touched him. "John! You need to stay awake!" He opened his eyes and smiled weakly at her. "Sorry, Carter"

She took a closer look at the wound at his side. "Should we pull it out first?"

"No… It would start bleeding heavily and I already lost too much blood anyway." John prepared mentally for the next few minutes, which would be very painful.

"Are you ready?" She asked and John nodded carefully as a response. Joss grabbed around John's waist, trying not to hurt him further, and pulled him out of the car slowly.

He knew it would be painful, but at the moment his body moved he nearly passed out. It took all of his concentration to stay awake, although he couldn't suppress gasping. Finally they made it outside of the car and he was laying flat on the back, breathing shallow.

His phone! He had to let Finch know of their current location so he could get Shaw to protect Joss further. He reached into his pocket and brought out a totally damaged smartphone. The display was broken through the impact of the crash and he wouldn't be able to get it working again. Carter's phone was laying somewhere a few miles back on the street, probably in no good condition either.

Joss was now examining his injuries, he couldn't stop her anyway so he watched as she got more and more worried with each body part she checked.

"Can you move your left arm?" She asked him with a wavering voice.

"No" He admitted, it would be useless to lie to her.

"Okay, to sum it up: a gunshot wound to the shoulder, which impacts your movability, a piece of metal within your side and the way you breathe a few broken ribs, let alone the amount of cuts and bruises all over your body. John… why didn't you tell me earlier."

"This wouldn't have changed anything, Carter…" he reassured her "Need to get… going." With these word, he tried pushing himself up using his good arm. She helped him to lean against the car by steading his left, wounded side.

"Where is the cabin?" Carter asked as long as he was still responsive, which she bet would change after a few steps.

"Over there" he said and pointed into a direction through the woods. "It's about two miles away."

They were taking the first few steps and he almost fell after letting go of the supportive car. But after they pulled themselves together they kept going step by step. She saw the pain in his eyes and it was hurting her, too.

"Come on, we can get through this together. I won't let you die on my watch. There are some things we have to talk about." She promised him. He gave her a weak smile as response and continued concentrating on every step while clinging onto her.

Not too much romance yet, I admit. But there will be soon :-)

I wanted to explain their current condition before moving on with the story.