Reese almost felt sorry for Greer, slumped speechless in his chair like a bundle of limp gray rags. Fusco wasn't interested in arresting him. In fact, Fusco wasn't interested in arresting anyone. "Unless you're prepared to press charges over the kidnapping, they haven't done anything illegal," he said bluntly. "I know something was going on here, but I ain't asking questions about it, and if you try telling me I'm sticking my fingers in my ears and going 'la-la-la' real loud."
Reese was worried about Martine and her team, still out there and possibly still trying to find Harold and Root. They decided that the best plan was to simply withdraw and hightail it back to the city as fast as they could. If the local law enforcement ever arrived they would find plenty of interest to them: the front door blown out by an anti-tank round, for starters. But Reese was betting they would never be called. Just in case, he teamed up with Shaw and Fusco to work a little magic removing most of their traces from the scene, recovering his Sig in the process. Joss kept an eye on their dispirited former captors while they worked. Samaritan tried to talk to her via the big screen for a while, then requested that she put in an earpiece to help with communication. It directed her to a desk drawer where some spares were kept, and with a nervous glance at Reese, she put one in. The big screen immediately blanked itself again, and this time stayed blank.
The ride back to the city was a quiet one. Reese drove Carter in her car, while Fusco took his cruiser and Shaw rode the bike back. Carter was apparently carrying on a subvocalised conversation with Samaritan for the first part of the journey. They were nearly at the outskirts when she sighed and removed the earpiece.
"I've asked it for some privacy. It was a little unclear about what I meant at first, but I think I've explained it well enough. We're obviously going to have to work on some appropriate boundaries over the next few days. I certainly don't want to be wearing this thing all the time."
Reese glanced across at her. "Once we've checked in with Harold and Root, we need to talk." He felt vastly unsettled, and not just with this new thing she had to deal with.
"Yes, indeed we do," she agreed.
Xxxx
They entered the den very cautiously, weapons raised. There was a body on the first flight of stairs; Reese stepped over it and continued on a few steps while Carter checked for signs of life. She reported the man deceased in clinical tones. The adrenaline was coursing through him now and he had to consciously fall back on his training as he made his way further down the tunnels and stairs. There was another body just before they got to the station, and his heart was in his mouth as they rounded the last corner. The lights were on, and it all seemed normal enough...apart from two more bodies on the platform.
One of them was Martine.
Harold emerged from the subway car, his face twitching into a small smile. "Thank God you're both safe," he said faintly. "Come in, let's sit down."
Root was nowhere to be seen. Reese tucked the Sig back into its home in the small of his back, and began the familiar ritual of preparing drinks: two coffees and a green tea. Finch sat back at his computer desk, the tension in him seeming to recede a little.
"What happened here?" asked Joss, as she nursed her coffee.
"Well, we were still trying to bore into the reactor's control systems when suddenly Samaritan stopped fighting us," said Finch. "By which it was obvious that you'd inserted the virus successfully. We got the reactor stabilised – at least I presume so, since it hasn't blown up or melted down yet – but then Miss Groves received a message from the Machine that there was a team on its way here. Samaritan had traced our location and given it to them before it developed a conscience."
Reese nodded. "I saw them leave."
Finch continued, "Miss Groves used some of your guns from the store here, John, and took out the entire team as they arrived. She seemed to think they were off their game, which I suppose they would have been since Samaritan was no longer guiding them. That blonde woman was the last one. Miss Groves seemed to take an inordinate pleasure in killing her." He shuddered a little. "There are times when I think she hasn't changed that much after all." He sipped his tea.
"Where is she now?" Reese asked.
"I don't know," said Finch. "She said something about having places to go and people to see, and just left."
There was a long silence.
"John, I'm going home," said Joss at last, draining her coffee mug. "There are four dead bodies between here and the outside world, and something's going to have to happen to them. I'm an officer of the court, and I really don't need to know anything more about what went on tonight. I'm going to have to work hard at forgetting what I do know. I'll see you later, and then we talk, okay?" She shot him a meaningful look, and rose to leave.
After she had gone, Reese sat with the last of his coffee cooling in his mug. "Why did you let her come after me?" he said quietly to Finch.
Finch sighed. "She left me very little choice, John. She told me that if I didn't let her act as backup, she would tell the nearest security camera exactly where we were. So I gave her a spare device and told her to go after Ms Shaw. I'm sorry if that displeases you, but Ms Carter is a grown woman and can make her own choices."
"I don't know how I can keep her safe." The confession slipped from him before he was aware of it. "Finch, if anything happens to her, I don't know what I'd do."
Finch gave him a long look. "But we know exactly what you would do, John. You've already done it. You would grieve, long and hard. But you would carry on. Your friends would help you, you would find meaning and some sort of comfort in your work. And you would remember Joss and allow her memory to inspire you."
He sat swilling the cold coffee around in the bottom of the mug. "I don't want it to happen."
"Of course you don't. But, John," Finch leaned forward and spoke with great emphasis. "Don't be lured into fighting the last war. You've always felt you failed Jessica by failing to protect her. No, hear me out," he said as Reese stirred in his seat. "We both know all the circumstances around that tragedy, and I know in my heart that I'm culpable too. And I could tell you that it wasn't your fault, and your head might agree, but inside your emotions would still beg to differ." He tried to smile and shook his head slightly. "Another of the mysteries of the human heart which I cannot penetrate. But in any case, Joss is not Jessica. If you try to protect her too much, you could lose her in another way. Death is not the only thing which can take someone from you, John."
Reese nodded slowly. "I'd better get home. Joss and I need to talk. And I'll need an early start tomorrow with the lye to get rid of those bodies." He grinned to himself at the horrified expression on Finch's face. He couldn't resist adding, "Unless you'd prefer that we just fed them to Bear?"
"That's altogether enough, Mr Reese," said Finch tartly.
Xxxxxx
It was well after midnight when he unlocked the apartment door. The light in the bedroom was on, so he walked through, shedding jacket and shoes as he did so. Joss was sitting up in bed, talking to thin air. She stopped as soon as she saw him, looking a little embarrassed. "We'll continue this in the morning," she said. Silence. "At 08:00. You may not need sleep, but humans do." More silence. "Exactly. I'll remove the earpiece, and I'll put it back in when I can speak to you again. And please remember what we discussed about privacy." She nodded, seemingly to Samaritan, said "Okay," and took out the earpiece.
Reese watched all this with bemusement. "So how's your invisible friend?" he asked.
Joss ran a hand through her hair. "It's like having a teenage son, though without the hormones and the acne. I'm trying to put some ground rules in place right now, and also trying to get some clearer idea of what it wants from me."
"So what does it want?"
"Right now, a sounding board as much as anything. It's suddenly realised that humans operate within value systems, that there are a variety of possible value systems to choose from, and that different consequences spiral out from the choices made within those systems. It decided within seconds of the virus' insertion that its own value system was flawed, but it hasn't decided yet on a replacement. So it's been asking me questions about how I arrived at my personal values, what I would do in certain situations...it's all very strange."
"Well, I can't think of anyone with a better moral compass to help it decide. I'm glad it chose you, Joss." He was taking off his shirt and pants as he spoke, wondering how to steer the conversation around to the events earlier in the evening. But he didn't need to. Joss came to the rescue. In a way. She sat up straighter in bed, took a deep breath and said suddenly, "So, John, what the hell were you doing, kissing me just so's you could pick my pocket?"
He blinked. "I was protecting you, Joss."
"Yeah, well I don't recall asking to be protected like that." She looked uncompromising. "You said you had my back. You didn't say you were going to wrap me in cotton wool and lock me up, John. And what you did, that was a betrayal, make no mistake."
He sat down on the side of the bed. "I'm sorry, Joss. I didn't see it that way. Truly."
"So tell me. That kiss. Was it real?"
"Of course it was!" The words jerked out of him. "Joss, it was great. You were great-"
"And your hands just picked my pocket all by themselves?"
"Well..."
"Yeah, I thought so." She let the silence between them grow. "John, I love you, but I won't allow myself to be stifled by you. You know who and what I am. If you can't grant me the freedom to be that person, you can just walk back out that door. I mean it."
Her vehemence shocked him. He tried to marshal his thoughts, to explain where that overwhelming urge to protect came from.
"Joss, what do you know about Jessica?" His voice was very quiet.
"I know you loved her. I know her husband murdered her, and I know you went after him later."
"Peter may have killed her, but I was responsible too." He wanted to reach across and take her hands, but he restrained himself. "See, she phoned me a few days before it happened. I told her I'd come for her, but instead the Agency sent me...far away. By the time I got back for her it was too late. I failed her. All I ever wanted to do was protect her, I gave her up because I thought Peter would do a better job protecting her than I could. But it all went so wrong." Funny, after all these years he still got teary thinking about it. You'd think by now all the tears would have been shed, but apparently there was an endless supply...
He took a deep breath. "So here's how it is, Joss. I'll keep on being overprotective, because that's how I am. But I promise I'll trust your intelligence and wisdom and try not to be stupid again. But in return I need you to understand and not take unnecessary risks. Is that fair enough?"
Joss considered this for a long moment. Then she nodded and stuck out her hand. "Okay. And if either of us gets it wrong we talk it through afterwards, right?"
"Okay." He shook the proffered hand.
"And no more handcuffs, right?"
He pretended to think about this. "Aw, Joss. I was really thinking they'd have a place..."
"Don't get your hopes up, John."
He smirked, and drew her in for a kiss.
Xxxx
It was strange waking up the next morning to a Samaritan-free world. Well, not Samaritan-free, really. Joss put her earpiece in punctually at 8 am, and Reese found himself forced to contemplate sharing for a while. He wasn't wild about the idea.
"Never mind, John," she told him briskly when he mentioned this to her, "it's not going to be forever. Samaritan's just a youngster right now, but it's growing up fast and before very long I bet it'll be ready to make its way in the big wide world."
"It better be," he grumbled.
"I tell you what," she replied. "As soon as it's on its feet, we'll take off for a weekend away. Maybe find a cabin in the hills somewhere, just hole up together and spend the whole time playing cards or something."
"I think I'd prefer 'or something' to cards," he told her, smirking.
"Thought you might. It's a date, then?"
"Oh, yes, Joss."
The moment was spoiled, though, as she explained to thin air, "Yes, that was referring to sexual intercourse." Pause. "No. Absolutely not. Privacy, remember?"
Reese sighed, and got up to shower.
A/N: Well, thanks for staying with this story. The next chapter is really an epilogue, but if there's demand I may write some more in this AU. But it's really up to the muse...Thanks again for all the wonderful feedback. Everyone stay safe and happy over the Christmas season!