Chapter 18 – Baby Blue

A/N: A stalwart hero, a spirited heroine, snarky sidekicks, talking villains, secrets, lies, dying speeches, a very long wedding and not one, not two, not three, but a whole flotilla of ships set sail in this tale! Thank you to everyone for your reviews and special thanks to carolinagirl919 for inspiring two fics with her Working Man/Woman Challenge on the POI Discussion Forum!

This last chapter takes place approximately a year later.

Patrick Simmons didn't raise his head. "About time you showed. There'd better be a good reason why you dragged me all the way down here – I don't wanna hear that you used some of my time on another client."

"Your lawyer's not here, Patrick - he suddenly had some more important business across town," Antonia said, as she entered the conference room. "In fact, this section of the building is empty. It's just the two of us." Her dark eyes gazed sardonically at him. "I'm here to deliver a message to you."

Simmons snickered. "So, the bitch sent another bitch to bark at me. Say whatever you gotta say from Ms. Carter-Reese," he sneered, "and get the hell out. I'm not gonna curl up and die like Quinn did."

"This message isn't from Jossy – it's from me." Before he could react, Antonia leapt across the room, knocking Simmons' chair backward.

Simmons' scream died in his throat, as her heavy paw pressed against his throat.

"Quinn died before I could get to him, but he did me a favor. Made the rest of your crew scared. Scared men get careless. And careless men get dead."

Simmons shook his head. "You – YOU killed them? You were behind the 'Burton Hurtin'? " he gasped out.

Now a national news reporter based in Chicago, Maxine Angelis Donnelly, or MAD, as she is now known, anchors a series of primetime specials focusing on lurid crime stories. One of her most popular segments centers around the 'Burton Hurtin' – a series of calamities that had befallen Quinn's men since they were arrested, including heart attacks, strokes, falls and anaphylactic shock from an allergic reaction. Even the expected violent deaths were unusual – one man was killed by his wife during a conjugal visit and another had had his head bashed in by the arthritic old trustee who delivered books to the cells.

While there were a few who knew who Charlie Burton really was, the rest of the world remembered him as a gentle and kind English teacher who had died senselessly so many months before, and rumors had spread that his death had triggered some sort of curse.

One of MAD's panel of experts had joked that "Burton had put a hurtin" on Quinn and his men with his final breath, and the 'Burton Hurtin' became part of common lore.

MAD gleefully tracked each death on a garishly bright chart in her television studio and bookies were doing brisk business taking bets on who, when and how the rest of Quinn's men would meet their fates. Several were now in psychiatric holding, their psyches shattered by the specter of death constantly looming over them.

Antonia's muzzle twitched with amusement. "Patrick, Patrick – you of all people should know that a threat can be much more powerful than the actual act itself. A few whispers here and there did the trick – your guys did themselves in. Forgetting to take their meds, not checking to see if those homemade cookies had nuts in them, mistakenly sending a letter meant for a mistress to a wife, and insisting that Twilight was the best book ever written – well, that was justifiable homicide."

A ghost of a smile danced across Simmons' lips, then he shrugged. "Is this supposed to scare me? Make me trip and fall down a flight of stairs? Cause me to overdose on cacao? Well, I don't scare, and I don't get careless. So, like I said before, if you're done barkin', bitch, get the hell out."

Antonia's razor like teeth flashed. "Oh, I'm done barkin', but I haven't delivered my message yet. And this message has some bite in it. When word gets back about what happened to you, the rest of your pathetic crew will take themselves out."

They shared a look of understanding, then Simmons nodded. "Go for it."

The fight was short, brutal and utterly merciless.

A few minutes later, a stray dog made her way out of the building. She looked up at the sky, winked, and then continued on her way.

XXX

Harold Finch had been holding the photograph in his hand for some time.

The Machine never said if a Number was a victim or a perpetrator, but Finch sensed that this cruel and evil man who would have killed them all on that night not so long ago was going to be a victim.

The Coach was a man of reason. He'd considered his options, made his decision and made his peace with it.

"Harold – are you ready?" Grace said. She was cuddling their baby Leila who they had adopted a few months before via Nurse Abbott. The little girl cooed and stretched out her arms for him.

He slipped the photo of Patrick Simmons in the shredder, watching it turn into bits of confetti, without a shred of guilt.

"I'm always ready for my two favorite girls," Finch smiled. He took a gurgling Leila into his arms and they left the office.

XXX

"Sorry I'm late," Antonia murmured, touching her muzzle to Bear's. "I had some trash to get rid of."

"Mama, Mama!" Their four puppies, Carl, Carla, Charles and Charlotte, who had been frolicking on a patch of grass with Darren McGrady, Fusco's son from his first marriage, Lee, and Fermin's son, Jorge, rushed over, their childish voices causing Zoe Morgan Fusco's miniature Pinschers, Rupert and Savannah, to gaze at them with a mixture of bewilderment and envy.

Antonia's eyes softened as she nuzzled their brood, then both parents gently nudged them back towards the patch of grass, where they resumed playing with the three boys.

Bear's ears twitched at his mate's explanation for her tardiness, but this was not the time or place to find out what she had been up to. "You are just in time for the big reveal, Antonia."

She settled down next to him and their tails twined together as they watched a helicopter approach Machine High.

XXX

"You're doing fine, Joss. Just ease up on the throttle a little bit."

Brow crinkled in concentration, Joss maneuvered the helicopter in front of the Machine High chapel. Several men, including Fusco, Collier, Travis and Fermin, steadied a large rectangular box as it touched the stone plaza and unhooked it from the gleaming machine.

Following the Cafeteria Lady's directions, Joss then flew the copter to a little copse of trees, smiling softly as she landed it in a small clearing.

"You did great, Joss!" Leaping out, Reese vaulted to the other side of the machine, sweeping up his wife in his arms and lifting her out of the helicopter.

The Auto Shop teacher gave him that look. "John, I'm pregnant, not an invalid."

"I know. I just like holding both of you." He kissed her. "Have I told you how beautiful you are, Mrs. Reese?"

"You have been slacking a bit, Mr. Reese – it's been at least an hour," Joss smiled.

"I'll have to work on that." He kissed her again, then gently set her on the ground, and hand in hand, they headed towards the Machine High Chapel.

When they arrived several minutes later, there was a beehive of activity going on. Tables and chairs were being set up and enough food and drink to feed a small army were being laid on the tables. Music was playing and a warm summer sun shone on the guests.

"Monica - Ms. Jacobs - has assured us that the new buildings will be finished on schedule," Finch noted to Fermin's wife, Maria, whose toddler, Jocelyn Regina, was jiggling a mobile hung over a carriage holding the triplets Jesse, Hannah and Cole, their plump legs kicking up and down in delight as they watched the colorful mobile swinging back and forth, all under the watchful eye of Samantha Collier-Groves-Shaw.

"Harold has great admiration for our School Board Head," Grace tilted her head at her husband fondly. "I'm just glad I met him first," she teased.

The Coach patted his wife's arm. "She is quite dynamic. With all the new students, we're bursting at the seams."

Everyone gathered around as Reese uncrated the box Joss had flown to the campus.

There was applause and oohs and ahs as the Cafeteria Lady revealed a scale rendering of the entire Machine High campus, every building executed in exquisite detail. A smaller box sat in the center, where the old library used to be.

"It looks too good to eat," Amy Enright gushed, rubbing her swollen belly while her wife Madeline looked on indulgently, "Almost!" she added to laughter from the group.

Reese held out his hand to Joss and together the two lifted the box in the center.

The Charlie Burton Daycare Center glowed in the sun.

Bear nodded approvingly. "I see there is a mini obstacle course, John."

Reese nodded. "Your pups are growing by leaps and bounds, Bear. We'll need to keep them busy while their parents are working."

"Wait," Sameen called out. "The building is frosted blue – does that mean –"

"Yes," Joss cried happily, "John and I are having a boy!"

There were hugs and kisses, handshakes and congratulations, happy howls and barks.

"Have you picked out a name?" Lisa McGrady asked shyly, while her husband touched her own gently rounded belly.

"Taylor Henson Reese – he'll have both of our mother's maiden names," Reese said proudly.

As the Cafeteria Lady placed his hand on his wife's belly, the baby suddenly kicked.

"Joss?" Reese whispered, his voice filled with wonder.

He had never felt the baby kick before.

Joss intertwined her fingers with his. "He approves, John. He approves."

They gazed at each other until Fusco called out, "Carter, Wonderboy! Quit makin' goo-goo eyes at each other and come eat!"

The baby kicked again, and laughing, the Reeses went to join the celebration.

XXX

In a nondescript government facility, the Machine added today's footage to a continual stream of data that it maintained about its assets. To the human eye, it would be a blur of images, but to the Machine, every moment was clear and distinct, and as it did every night, it reviewed all the footage, from the moment it became sentient, to this evening.

The Machine watched the DeHonds reading to their pups, the Finches clapping as their daughter sat up by herself for the first time and the Reeses decorating the nursery for their son.

It changed the name of the footage from My Assets to My Family and began watching it all over again.

A/N: As Anthony did on the show, Antonia was the one who provided the final judgment for Simmons.

Leila was the littlest POI in Baby Blue, but the title of this chapter refers, of course, to Taylor.

Rupert was one of Zoe's former clients and Savannah was the name of the exotic dancer she used to get Reese into Rupert's apartment in High Road.

I named the Ordonez's daughter after Joss and Regina Vickers, the Secret Service agent who helped get Fermin's wife and son from Cuba to the US in COD.

Jesse was Collier's brother, Hannah was Root's childhood friend and Cole was Shaw's partner.

The names of Bear and Antonia's pups honor both Charlie Burton and Carl Elias.

And yes, we did have a baby bonanza in this chapter – the Charlie Burton Daycare Center is going to fill up quickly!

Thanks again!