Disclaimer: Not mine. CBS and the producers own the rights to everything. Lucky bastards. Credit to SWWoman for catching my mistakes. Enjoy.
Chapter 7 - Close Call
John and Joss were long gone by the time her back up had arrived. When she hung up on Fusco, he swore to himself before assembling a few men and women to head out. They had arrived at the disclosed park in a delayed fashion due to the heavy traffic as a result of the snow causing cars to be more cautious.
Arriving at the park, Fusco cordoned off the area and began a search. Each officer knew of the situation but didn't know the identity of the officer in danger. Fusco chose to leave Carter's name out, if only to avoid any questions for her when she managed to get back to the station.
The darkness made things difficult. One of the officers mentioned that it appeared that the lights were turned off manually. Equipped with flashlights, the men and women began a grid search to more efficiently conduct things with their limited vision. Lionel played along, being sure to take the route that would lead to the bridge.
He had gotten a call while he was on his way from Finch. He was relieved to hear that Carter had gotten out of there thanks to their mutual friend. He also informed him of the location of the attacker. Fusco would be sure to ask the guy a few questions once he was finished counting his stars.
It was becoming almost impossible to see, though, because of the lights being disabled. Just then, a nearby policeman yelled out, "I found the switch for the lights" before pulling the breaker up and illuminating the park once again.
"Nice one" Fusco praised. They continued on their task, now with the lighting aiding in their task.
A few feet down, Lionel spotted the bridge that had been pointed out to him by Finch. Just as he was told, he spotted a guy dressed in all black on his back near the railing.
"Hey, I've got someone here" he yelled out as he made his way over to the down perp. He pulled his gun out, anticipating a fight if the guy happened to regain his senses when he got close.
He held his pistol out in front of him. When he got close to the guy, he tapped him in the arm with his foot but got no response. He heard the other officers coming up behind him as he flipped the guy over to put the cuffs on him.
"Where's the victim?" a police woman asked.
"Well by the looks of this guy, I would say that they managed to get away. Let's give them some time before we get around to finding them and asking them questions.
Everyone agreed and someone helped Fusco dragged the guy to the cruiser. He couldn't help but laugh at the state of the perp. He saw that the damage was done, especially to his face. He had plans to interrogate the little princess once he woke up and get some answers. He wasn't expecting much, but maybe Finch could dig something up from whatever information he could manage.
Just as he was carrying him along with assistance, he felt the vibration of his phone, indicating that he had a new message. He handed the guy off to another cop before looking down.
The message read Meet me around the corner Detective. Knowing who it was from, Fusco told the officer to put the guy in his car while he checked something out.
Making his way to the designated area, he turned the corner to see none other than Finch standing next to what looked like Carter's car.
"So what do I owe the visit?" he greeted as he got closer.
"I am simply here to remove Detective Carter's car from the scene as to avoid any questions about her whereabouts. I'm also going make sure to relocate Mr. Carter to his grandmother's home until further notice."
"It's really that bad huh?"
"This man's attempt on Detective Carter's life may have been brought on by the Szymanski case that we have been looking into for a few days now."
"So what do you need?"
"I would like to see if it is possible if you could get any information from him. I understand that Mr. Reese dealt with him and has disabled the man for the moment."
"Yeah, the guy's going to be hurting for about a month after what Wonderboy did to him. I will see what I can do."
"Thank you. I will leave you to your work."
Harold maneuvered around and slipped into the driver's side. Fusco watched as he drove away, making sure that he didn't draw any unwanted attention.
They had thrown the guy into Fusco's back seat when he got back and he got inside. Everyone else got into their cruisers and all headed back to the station. He hoped that Carter was being taken care of because from the looks of this guy, she really did piss some pretty dangerous guys.
The loft was greeted with the sound of dripping water as John opened the door. He was carrying Joss bridal style while she was still wrapped in his jacket.
After he had managed to get her out of the park, he knew that the next thing he needed to do was take care of her until she woke up. He made sure to ease her body heat up, not wanting to shock her heart from a large heat source too fast.
Getting her in the front seat of his car, he had cranked the heat up not just for her, but for himself too.
He had a hard time keeping himself from crashing as he made his way through traffic to get to his apartment. His eyes would only leave Joss' body for a millisecond. He hadn't seen her in weeks and to see her like this stirred something indescribable in him. He had to be discreet enough to not be pulled over for barging through traffic in a panic. If he lost any time, she made not have made it.
It was a miracle that he found the streets to his loft empty, letting him make up for any time that he may have lost.
Once he closed the door with his foot, he made his way over to the bathroom to try to warm her up. Going inside the door, he sat her up on the toilet and then went over the shower. He knew that it would be impossible to get her to shower, especially since she only had the drying clothes on her back. Instead, he opted to just blasting hot water out of the head and allow the air temperature to rise. It was going to be slow, but it was the better way to go at the moment.
Once the air began to become a bit stuffier, he turned his attention back to her. She was still in the same unconscious state that she was when he pulled her out of the water, but the color was coming back to her skin. He breathed a sigh of relief that all she would need was some rest. He had his fair share of injuries and judging from the bruise he saw on her neck, she would be awake in a few hours.
Now there was just the matter of making her a bit more comfortable. He peeled the jacket away from her and put it on the edge of the sink. He would deal with all of the wet clothes once he got her into bed.
He gulped as he looked at her in her work clothes. He couldn't believe that he was afraid to do this despite his good intentions. Maybe it was because he knew that she would lash out at him for doing this.
He leaned over and began slowly unbuttoning the rest of her blouse. As he revealed more of her skin, he smiled as he saw the caramel color returning to it instead of the freezing blue that it was before he got her into the car.
Making short work of the buttons, he opened the shirt up. He then held her in one arm as he draped the sleeve over each arm. Piling it along with his jacket, he tried not to stare at her too much in her black bra. It hit him hard at that moment that he hadn't seen a woman this intimately since Jessica.
Shaking this thought out of his head, he moved on to the next step of removing her pants. After pulling her shoes and socks off her feet, he tried to balance her upright. He used one arm for support as he did before and undid the top of the jeans.
He did his best to not make more physical contact with her then what he really needed to.
Lowering the zipper, he let the pants drop down. He then eased her legs one at a time out before allowing her to sit back down. Once he was done with this task, he set off to his next. He gathered up their clothes and headed out of the bathroom. He headed over to a washer and dryer set that came with the apartment. He started the machine and put the clothes inside to be cleaned up. He wanted her to have some clean clothes for when she woke up.
For now, he went over to his clothing closet and grabbed one of the many dress shirts that he had obtained over the course of working with Finch. He proceeded to head back to the bathroom, making sure to grab a large towel from the linen closet before going back inside.
The air was quite a bit thicker at this point, but it provided the constant heat source that he was looking for. Making his way back over to her, he was disappointed to say the least that she still had not woken up.
John took the towel and patted her down gently, drying the small patches of water that still remained despite his efforts to keep her warm and dry. He then ruffled her hair with the large towel, founding it quite endearing to him to see her like someone that just woke up and took a shower. He just wished that the circumstances were just that. He repeated the process with her shirt in reverse as he slipped it on her body then buttoning it up.
When he was done, he took a moment to brush the rumpled locks away from her face. Examining it, he saw and felt that her temperature finally returned to almost normal.
He turned off the shower before reaching for Joss's body. He made sure that the shirt proved a barrier for his hands as he slipped them under her knees and neck. The shirt was big on her and it stopped just above her thighs. He was probably going to take some heat from her in the morning over her state of undress but as long as she was okay, he didn't mind.
He brought her over to his large mattress. He had not made the bed earlier, so the comforter was still towards the edge of the bed. He was able to ease her down onto the mattress with ease, noting a small change in her facial expression. She seemed more relaxed than she had been since he got to her. He tried to talk to her again.
"Joss, can you do me a favor and don't kick my ass too much when you wake up?" He reached down and pulled the comforter up to cover her body, stopping just below her neck. He brushed her cheeks with the back of his hands slowly. Assuring himself that she would be alright, he decided to let her get some more sleep.
As he went over to the couch to settle in for the night, his mind couldn't help but wander to what had happened tonight. He had quite a bit more concern over the case than usual because the machine wasn't able to save her friend, yet it managed to spare her a similar fate with only a few seconds to spare.
There was no turning back the clock. The only thing John could do now was sit here and wait for her to wake up to discuss her involvement in the case. What had she been up to warrant this hit on her?
He laid back on the couch and before he slept, he thought about the other issue that was irking at him. He needed to accept the fact that he had been intentionally trying to avoid her as much as possible until they were ready to talk about what happened. It was a cruel thing to do since they were friends, but he found that he just wasn't prepared to tackle the issue just yet.
He would have to wait until all of this died down before they got around to talking. He took another look at his mattress, seeing her buried under the comforter. Watching her breathing normally, he decided to get some sleep too. Settling on the cushion, his eyes drifted shut in a matter of minutes.
A/N: Well everyone, I have made my return and I bring updates as gifts. Thanks SWWoman for the betaing again. You are just awesome. Just to reassure everyone, there will be no more little breaks like that in the future. The updates will be on schedule again so cheer and rejoice. Also be sure to mark on your calenders Sept. 24 because that is when S3 will start. I can't wait.