Disclaimer: We are coming really close to the end of this little journey. The property used in this work belongs to everyone over at CBS and I'm only using it strictly for mine and others entertainment. Thanks for the help SWWoman.

Chapter 16 - Of The End

It took only an hour to get what she wanted. After the confrontation in front of the entire station, Joss felt stronger than she had in days. It also helped that her friends cared about her vendetta as much as she did. She put Terney in lockup and as confirmation, asked for his shoes. He of course denied it and demanded a lawyer. He tried some stalling tactics until he made another mistake.

Because he had been standing up for quite a bit of time, he chose to take a seat on the bench. She remembered from all her time of knowing him that he had a habit of crossing his legs when he sat. After only a minute, he did exactly what she expected.

As he lifted his leg to lay it on his knee, she could see clear as day the bottom of his shoe. She smiled inwardly as she got the confirmation she sought. She just turned around and left, only to be stopped by Raymond.

"Hey where the hell are you going Carter? You're the one that put me in here. At least have the balls to look at me when it turns out you made a mistake."

She stopped in her tracks before making her way back to the cell. Her eyes were harboring an anger that even Raymond himself became afraid to unleash. She ended up speaking a hushed, warning tone.

"I know exactly what I'm doing and I know that I didn't make any mistakes this time. You weren't the shooter that killed Bill, but you helped try to ruin a good cop's name. You aren't going anywhere or getting out of this one. Enjoy your talk with the lawyer." She turned away and headed back upstairs, leaving him to contemplate his future.

When she got back upstairs, she noticed the looks from her colleagues. She didn't let it bug her though as she went back to her desk to collect her things.

"So it looks like you had a bit too much fun there," Fusco said.

"Well it's not over yet partner. We are going to bring the whole organization down tonight."

"So you and Wonderboy are going after the big cheese, huh? What do you want me to do to help?"

"Just wait for my call. This will all be over soon" she said with a determination that she hadn't felt in a long time.

Collecting her personal items, she headed out of the station after talking with the Captain about a possible big takedown. Once she was outside, she began scanning the street until she found a familiar face.

She smiled as she approached John and his car which were parked a bit further down the street. "Well it's good to see that you don't keep a girl waiting long." They smiled at each other before he opened the door for her. After she got inside, he closed the door and made his way over to the other side. The cold weather barely affected him as he made his way inside.

He started the engine and started driving to their next destination, understanding the magnitude of this next move. Along the way, he began to tease her to try to ease the tension. "You know, you really are sexy when you are playing a good cop."

She laughed quickly. "So you heard all that huh. Did you enjoy the fact that I was playing good cop, bad cop or the part where I arrested him?"

"I'm a bit jealous that Terney got to enjoy you putting the cuffs on him. I distinctly remember all the times that you threatened me with the same treatment."

"Who's to say I won't?" she said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"I will hold you to that." Before long, he was pulling up to the block, making sure not to be seen by the guard that he recognized when he had tried to get in before. He shut off the engine and looked over at Joss.

"You okay?"

"Not until this is over" she said serious as she looked straight ahead at the building. "So it's safe to assume that Alonso is in fact still inside?"

"Yup Finch managed to confirm that we also have some familiar friends inside too."

"Carl and Cal?"

"Yup."

Joss reached into her holster and pulled out her gun. "Good thing I came prepared."

"Actually…" John reached to the back seat and pulled a couple of things from a duffle bag that he brought with him. "I brought these for you." He handed her a bulletproof vest that would be issued to the military, a modified silenced 9mm pistol, and an earpiece to match his.

She gratefully took them. "Wow, you sure how to make a girl feel special and it's not even my birthday. First this tracker and now all this! You really should let me know when your birthday is," she commented as she began to strap the vest on over her shirt. She had planned on equipping her standard issue one once they got to the place.

"So how does this work?" she asked, referring to the earpiece.

"Simple, just connect it to your phone and program what number you want it to autodial to when you tap it."

"Oh okay, I'll definitely want Lionel on standby because I won't know what the hell we're going to run into when we get inside."

He watched as she began to do what he told her. He never realized how dark it was until the light from her phone lit up her face. Seeing her basked in such a soft light forced him to control his breathing and focus on the task at hand. If they weren't on a mission to take down HR's leader, he would have had her in the back seat in moments. For now, he just sat controlled in his seat waiting for her.

She searched through the menus on her phone and messed around with the settings until she managed to get everything done. "Got it" she said triumphantly. She moved to put the earpiece in but was stopped by John.

"Let me do it" he offered. He took the piece, deliberately lingering his touch on her. He then pushed back her hair and gently inserted it. He pulled away but not before saying "Perfect fit." Watching her, he saw the grateful look on her face.

"Thanks for all of this John. If it hadn't been for you…"

"Don't worry about it" he interrupted before planted a soft kiss on her lips. Pulling away quickly, he saw her smile.

"We should probably get this over and done with before we get lost in other things."

"Agreed."

They exited the car and stepped into a pretty serene environment. The weather had seemed to quiet down since the rain and now it had just become colder.

Getting to the edge of the building, the two began to act as a unit once again as they had back at the warehouse. They could trust each other which was essential for this to all work. They hugged tightly to the brick wall, blending into to the point of being invisible because of their dark clothes.

They crept slowly and watched the man as he continued to stand there uninterested. John had taken point while Joss covered him because with the resistance they would more than likely to encounter, he would be able to take care of it more efficiently. Their breathing became more controlled, more sync with each other. They would perform as one. It was something that had been imprinted on them when they were under constant threat during their tours of duty.

They were barely touching as they came up on their target, who had at this point chosen to have a smoke. When he tried to light his cigarette, John struck with lightning precision. He first struck him in the back of the right knee, bringing him down to his level. He then, with pinpoint accuracy, hit the nerve in the back of his neck to render him unconscious.

As the body crumbled into a heap, Joss couldn't help but find herself impressed. She would have to ask for some lessons later.

Looking back at her to confirm that she was still with him, John gave her a familiar hand signal which told her to take position on the other side. She did so quickly while remaining crouched. They continued to act together as they both reached for the doorknob. The element of surprise would hopefully still be on their side. As they pulled the doors open, they quickly rushed inside, being sure to slow it down once they were in to prevent any noise.

John had seen the layout of the area which he would continue to take point. They continually moved slowly, being sure to constantly keep scanning for any sort of movement around them. The doors they passed didn't pose an obvious threat since they were shut.

Once they passed the second door, they continued on. Focusing on following him, Joss nearly jumped as she felt something hard press against her head.

"Hands up" the voice said roughly as she did what he said. John immediately turned around to confront the ambusher and aim his gun. The coward quickly cowered behind her as he removed the pistol from her hands and threw it to the side.

"Stand" he ordered, pressing the gun harder against her temple. She saw the steeled look in John's eyes as he began to formulate a strategy.

"Now Joss, why can't you ever play nice?" the voice taunted.

She of course recognized it immediately. "Well it's not in my nature to frame a good cop's name for my own benefit Cal." She felt his free hand move over her body, checking for hidden weapons. She had to do her best not to squirm because was the only one that she wanted to touch her like that.

Cal then looked over her shoulder to acknowledge the man that was with her. "And who the hell are you? You've been helping Joss here getting into more trouble than she needed to?" He pressed the barrel harder again to emphasize his point. "Are you supposed to be FBI or CIA?"

He then thought about one last possibility. "Or maybe you are this mysterious guardian angel that has kept her alive this long. Joss maybe you can tell me before I blow your pretty little head off right in front of him." He pulled the firing pin on the pistol, waiting for her answer.

Joss wanted to throw Cal off his game. He was in control of the situation. In order for John to get her out of this, she would have to shift it back to him. In reality, she was afraid of what she was about to say out loud to infuriate Cal. She feared that if she told him what she had been thinking, that John wouldn't believe her, passing it off as a heat of the moment thing to save her life. She also feared that she would be finished off before John can react.

She closed her eyes to collect herself. When she opened them again, she looked at him with what he could interpret was the truth from her face. She then began to speak from the heart. "He's someone that I love and care about with all my heart." This remark nearly caused Cal to drop the gun. John tried to muster the strength not to let his emotions take over just yet. He had to remain focused.

Cal grew more frustrated. "You're joking right. What the hell is wrong with you?" He placed the gun back to her head again, but she could feel his control disappearing. "What the hell does this guy have? I've never even met the guy before and he looks like nothing."

"He's a good man that understands the meaning of protecting people better than most cops I know." She was telling the truth. In reality, she had wanted to wait until this was all over to tell him the truth. She struggled for a while now with how to tell him her feelings, even before he saved her from the waters that night.

"You really are just a tease aren't you Joss. I did all the right things. I asked you out and you accepted. You let me into your home and let me kiss you. You give me all the signals that you wanted more and when I try, you turned around and refused."

John watched as the two were engaged. Being wrapped up over her words to him, he barely registered that her right leg was inching to the side, exposing his for a disabling shot. She needed a bit more time to give him a chance.

"It's because I never felt like I trusted you. I'm not going to have sex with just anyone."

"From the sounds of things, it looks like you already whored yourself out to this white boy."

"Say what you want…" her leg finally moved out of the way "but he's better than I'd ever imagined" she uttered before John finally got his chance.

The sound of the silenced bullet ripped through his leg, causing him to grunt as he hit the ground, not sure what was going on. The wound was in no way fatal but it would hurt like hell in the morning. Before he could get his bearings, John disabled him using the same technique as before.

Joss was on the floor near the door where she spotted her weapon. She leaned over to pick it up and checked to make sure everything was in order. Putting her back to the wall, she saw John next to her, his eyes filled with worry.

"Are you alright?"

"Never better, thanks for helping me out again. I guess I should've paid more attention." She took some breaths to calm down her pounding heart.

He held her hand. "It's not your fault. I'm just glad that you are okay."

"John about the stuff I said…" he silenced her with a small kiss.

"Tell me everything when this is done okay?" He understood that her words were real. There would be a time and place to tell her what he wanted as well.

"Gotcha." He pulled her back to a standing position, double checking her to make sure she wasn't lying earlier about being OK.

Satisfied that the situation with Cal was rectified, they took the positions as before. Before moving forward, Joss decided to get help. "John I'm going to phone Fusco okay?"

He halted his position as she tapped the earpiece to patch the call through.

"Detective Fusco" he answered.

"Partner, it's me. Time to make the big bust."

"Alright Carter, I will be over there with every cop in the station in about ten" he told her before she ended the call.

She raised her weapon to a ready position, indicating to John that she was ready to go. The hallway remained quiet despite the little incident. The darkness from outside continued to flood through the windows from everywhere except one door. There was the clear golden color under the frame, indicating that there was an active light source inside.

They took their positions again. With hand gestures and silenced lip moving, John asked Joss what she wanted to do. After going over the scenarios, she decided to go for the element of surprise. It was likely that there was at least one other person in the room and if they did things properly, there would be no resistance.

She placed her ears to the hard wood door, beginning to block out the rest of the world to focus inside. It was as if she could see through the walls as she could hear different elements in the other room. She could hear the creaking of the floorboards, the wind blowing against the window, and some typing on the other end that was opposite of the door.

She returned to her world, nodding her head and confirming her findings to him. They stood up and she took point. With John behind her prepared for any surprises, Joss took her black boot heel and kicked the center of the door. The force was so hard that it knocked the door off of it'\s hinges, impacting the unfortunate person on the other side.

Alonso stood up in utter disbelief as the duo walked into his office. John looked under the remains of the door to find that it was ironically Carl, the last member of this trio. There was no need to worry about him since he got hit pretty hard on the head by the door.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" Quinn yelled as he began to reach for his gun under the desk.

"Hands up Quinn" Joss commanded.

"Do you have any idea of the consequences if you do this?" He threatened as he did as she said.

"You are under arrest for the murder of Bill Szymanski and for running a criminal organization. You are going to be stopped NOW!" Her emotions were in overdrive as she knew they would once this happened.

"You don't have any evidence against me. You just waltz in here and break down my door. Do you know how much I can take you for once I get my lawyer?"

"How are you going to defend yourself against this?" John asked as he pulled out his phone. Searching the files, he played a sound clip. The conversation that Quinn and Cal had earlier filled the air as his own words implicated the truth.

"You put an illegal wiretap. I will make sure that you will lose your badge." Despite the situation, Alonso refused to back down.

"Not if it's from an anonymous source" John said as he stepped forward. "I've warned you and your associates that if you ever did anything to put her life in danger again, I would make sure you all would regret it." John's ice cold blue eyes caused Alonso to step back in fear of his own safety as Joss continued to watch.

"You are going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble too buddy."

John smiled as he inched closer "How am I going to do that if I was never really here. I'm not really a cop after all.

Quinn chose to make a move and reached for his last resort. He had enough time to reach for the grip of his gun before he felt a massive pain in his waist. John had been waiting for him to do something stupid and when his wish was granted, he took pleasure in making Alonso suffer.

Joss stepped closer with her gun still aimed at him. "You aren't going to buy your way out of this one. "You, Cal, and Carl can get reacquainted with your buddy Terney in lock up." Joss stood next to him as John locked his hands together with zip ties.

John saw that she was still aiming despite the fact that Alonso wasn't a threat anymore. Putting his gun in the back of his pants, he put a hand on her wrist. This action caused her to look at him, seeing that he shifted back to the vigilante again. She just couldn't believe that it was over, afraid that it was all a dream.

"It's okay Joss, you got him" he said gently.

Joss inched the gun down until it was to the side of her. John could see the relief in her face and walked over to give her a hug to comfort her. "You did it" he whispered in her ear. He heard a small sniffle coming from her and knew that she was trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill out.

The sound of wailing sirens could be faintly heard in the distance. He reluctantly pulled away from her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "When you are done with everything, come back to the loft okay?"

"It might be a while. There's going to be a lot to process and I'm going to have to hand over evidence."

"I'll wait for you" he reassured before he left out the empty door frame.

Joss watched him as she could hear Alonso continue to try to act tough. "You have no idea what you and your boyfriend are in for."

She turned her attention to him, giving him a satisfied smile. "Now Alonso, that's not true. If I have it my way, you won't be going anywhere for a long time." She then moved around and casually took a seat at the edge of the desk as she waited for backup to arrive.

A/N: There is only one more chapter left:( I'm pretty sad that this is all coming to an end but I have to say that I am so happy to have gotten this out there and to see everyone enjoy it so far. SWWoman, thanks for looking through all of these chapters. I'm glad to have you as a beta^^