A/N: Thank you SWWoman for all your skills as a beta and your warmth as a friend. I do not own anything of Person of Interest. Please enjoy...
A More Conventional Life 15
Joss had told him to be careful. She told him that Donnelly was back, and he was "hot for The Man in A Suit," but John just wouldn't listen. He had taken one too many risks and now he, along with the other three men found with him, was being arrested, fingerprinted and his DNA taken for comparison to the DNA that Donnelly had as evidence. He turned, looked through the screened window in the wall separating them, and he seemed to look right at her. She hoped Donnelly didn't hear the catch in her breath as she looked back.
Her head was spinning. Joss had to get away so she could call Finch and then they could come up with a game plan. Once again, she let out a string of expletives in her mind that would make Fusco blush. She couldn't believe this was happening… and now, of all times.
Things had been going so well. Joss and John's relationship was developing comfortably, and he had fallen into the "stepfather" role so well with Taylor they were practically attached at the hip. They had so many common interests, it seemed her taciturn boyfriend had turned into a Chatty Cathy with Taylor. Joss could see the progress John was making… and now this.
Pulled out of her thoughts by something Donnelly said, Joss frowned then turned to him and asked, "You're not going to ask them any questions?"
"No," Donnelly replied in that nasally, drawn out way of his. "We have the blood from the burned-out car, the DNA from New Rochelle and, thanks to you, we have his fingerprints. We don't need to question them. We'll know in a few days exactly who The Man in A Suit really is," he finished with a self-satisfied smile. "I can hold them up to seventy-two hours, and I intend on doing so." He then turned on his heel and left the room.
Joss knew what she had to do. She pulled out her phone and dialed Finch. "We need to meet," was all she said then disconnected when she got his confirmation.
They met outside of Brooklyn Academy of Science high school. Finch was working a new number who was a student there while John was MIA. He led her to a bench just outside the gate of the school and they sat down.
They both felt the same urgency to get John released as soon as possible, but Finch didn't want Joss to "cross any lines" that may compromise her. Her response was that she had crossed those lines a long time ago then handed Harold the fingerprint work up that she took from the precinct. She also told him that she had deleted them from NYPD network.
"I know what I need to do, I just need a few things from you," Joss continued gravely while Finch looked at her curiously.
"What exactly do you need from me, Joss?" Now was not the time for formalities. They both cared deeply for John and wanted him safe… and out of prison.
"I know I can't just take John's swab from the lab; I'm going to have to switch it with someone else. Also, if I'm going to break into the FBI evidence lab, I'm going to need one of those devices that puts the camera on a loop, a gadget to read the numerical printouts that will tell me which one is John's, and whatever else you think I might need," Joss replied neatly.
A soft smile curved Finch's lips. This just might work. "I think I can help you with that," then they put their heads together to come up with a plan.
John lay on his bunk with his back against the cinderblock wall of his cell, legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, staring at the bars that separated him from the rest of the world… separated him from Joss. On the outside, he looked calm, his face expressionless. On the inside, he was in turmoil. He had to find a way out and… then what? If he escaped, he would never be able to go back to the life he had before. He could never see Joss or Taylor again. He couldn't help Harold with the numbers, either, because it would put Harold at risk. He would have no purpose.
Harold. He had come to mean a lot to John, and he couldn't imagine not ever working with him again. John would lose a dear friend because he was reckless and let himself become content, oblivious to his surroundings, not heeding the warnings that Harold and Joss had given him. Now he was in a place where he couldn't do anything because if he did, he would lose everything. He was going to have to completely depend on Joss and his friends to help him get released and he hated it. He hated feeling helpless. He hated feeling like his friends were in danger of losing everything because they were helping him.
Joss kept saying John was a good man. Did a good man let other people fight his battles? No. She almost had him believing her. He loved her dearly, but she was wrong. He wasn't a good man. Hadn't been for a long time. The darkness that always seemed to be just at the edges of his mind began to expand, taking over his soul until he felt like he was drowning in it. Conventional lives, normal lives, were for other people, not him. He was destined to walk alone. Hadn't he proven it, time and again?
John pulled his knees up and looped his arms around them, casually lacing his fingers together in front. He continued to stare at the steel bars… contemplating. The darkness grew deeper, his soul was dying with each tick of the clock.
John didn't know how they did it, but they had managed to keep his identity hidden until the seventy-two hours were up. The Warden said his DNA didn't match, which was curious, but he would ask questions later. He just wanted to get out of there and back to his life.
As he walked through the barred door, the first person he saw was Joss. It took every ounce of willpower he had to not react to seeing her and he could tell she was struggling too. The other three guys were already standing in line, waiting to be processed out.
Just as the cuffs were taken off and he was about to walk over to join them, Donnelly came sweeping in, in that flamboyant way he had. He demanded that John and the rest of them be put back in their cells, citing that they were unlawful enemy combatants. While being cuffed again, he heard Donnelly tell Joss that he wanted her to interrogate them because she was a Senior Interrogator in the Army, and she was the only person he could trust. Donnelly wanted her to start with him.
They briefly looked at one another. The small sliver of light that had been cutting through the darkness overwhelming John was snuffed out like a candle in the wind. Joss watched him being taken back and cursed the powers that be for destroying a good man like John. She had seen the darkness in his eyes, and that, even more than him being back in prison, sent a shiver down her spine. She had seen that look before… when they first met. When he was a bum who had just been burned by his government and had lost the woman he loved. His eyes were empty, dead.
John was losing hope and Joss couldn't let that happen. They would get through this… somehow.
John and Joss had sat across the table from each other as they played a dangerous game. Each had tried to hide the longing they had for each other, but the strain had been hard on John and Joss. She tried to softball her questions to Mr. Warren, but with Donnelly in her ear trying to direct her interrogation, that had proven difficult. She knew she had brought out some difficult memories during the interviews she had with John. With her back to Donnelly, she had tried to smile, show John comfort in some way, letting him know with her eyes and face that she still believed in him, still loved him.
The questioning seemed to go on forever. John was trained to withstand physical and mental torture, but this was different. Someone he loved had been forced to participate in his suffering, and in turn he had suffered even more. Joss didn't deserve this. She wasn't trained in duplicity. She was a good, honest woman who was not accustomed to lying. She shouldn't have been put in this position. Then, after all the mind games they had to play, and the mental hoops they had to jump through, he had been put in the prison yard to be physically tested by getting beaten. He knew she had watched every blow, every kick that he had endured, but he had endured it. That's what he was trained to do.
Finally, after all of that, John was released. Joss had been able to pin The Man in A Suit on someone else and now John was being set free. He finished dressing as Donnelly watched every move he made. He knew Donnelly still believed was the man he was looking for and John would have to be careful a while. He knew he would have to stay away from Joss, but right now, all he could think about was holding her in his arms and saying thank you for everything she had done for him in that interrogation room.
John Warren gave Donnelly one last look then turned, walked away, and didn't look back.
As he anticipated, Joss was waiting for him on the boardwalk, standing quietly at the railing, looking over the water. John walked toward her then placed his hand on her lower back when he reached her. He felt her intake of breath, as if she had been holding it and needed air. She turned in his arms and wrapped hers around his waist pulling him to her. His lips descended on hers in the gentlest kiss and she tasted as sweet as he remembered. They broke apart and he smiled down at her, grateful to have her in his arms again.
"Waiting for someone?" he asked teasingly.
"No one in particular," she teased back.
They both relaxed against each other as the stress and worries of the past several days seemed to seep out of them.
"Fusco didn't want to celebrate my release?"
"Finch has him tied up with something."
"That should prove interesting," he replied with a chuckle. Joss joined him in the humor, and it felt good to laugh again. They began walking toward the end of the walkway, holding hands and speaking softly to each other.
John stopped and took her in his arms again, looking deeply into her eyes. "I couldn't have made it through this without you. I'm sorry you were drawn into it, but I'm not sorry you were there." She smiled at him and nodded her head, unable to speak at the moment.
They started walking again and Joss asked the question that she really wanted an answer to. "Was any of it true?" she asked cautiously.
"Most of it was. I changed the names and places to protect the innocent, but mostly… yes." She already knew about his Army career and his induction into the CIA. She also knew about New Rochelle, and she had an idea of what he had done while in the CIA.
"I thought as much," she paused then turned to look up at him. "Come home with me tonight. Taylor would love to see you and…" she grabbed the lapels of his coat, pulling him to her, "I miss you in my bed," she enticed him seductively.
John wrapped his arms around her and sighed. He would love nothing more than to go home with her, but it was too dangerous. The desire in her eyes was breaking his will to stay away.
"Come on, John. My car is parked right over there. We can be home in twenty minutes," she continued to coax him as she pulled on his coat, walking backwards.
Home. It seemed like such a foreign concept for him. John hadn't had a real home in years. He had his loft on Baxter, but he couldn't really call that a home. As he looked down at her, the longing while they were at Rikers evident in her eyes, he caved.
"Okay. But just for tonight. We've got to cool things off until Donnelly stops watching us," he said breathlessly just before his mouth crashed down on hers. He wasn't gentle this time. He was hungry. She was just as hungry for him as she returned his kiss.
When they finally broke apart, he released her and they walked the rest of the way to her car, got in and went home.
Little did they know that the shadow that had been hovering over John's mind and tickling his sub-conscience was about to overtake them all….
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