Thank you for the lovely comments on my last CaReese story. It motivated me for this one. Hope you will enjoy it as well. :)
The ringing sound Joss doorbell made her heart skip a beat.
Dang it, pull yourself together. It's nothing more than a favor you're doing the two men like plenty of times before, she reminded herself, nervously tucking an imaginary strand of hair behind her ear. It wasn´t that she hasn't grown accustomed to these kinds of unusual requests that sometimes even overstepped her legal and moral boundaries as a detective. Knowing about the good intentions of the idiosyncratic duo, it was hard to turn them down. While lately she sometimes even voluntarily took the baton to help, she, however, suspected that this evening would give her a special kind of challenge.
"Detective Carter, may I ask you a favor? Mr. Reese could use your help tonight?", the seemingly eccentric billionaire had contacted her.
Reflexively shifting her gaze to the desk drawer in which she kept her gun while on office duty, she had assumed a mission to watch John's back or at best get the chance to arrest some criminals.
"Please just tell me that whatever you have planned will take place after I close. I'm starting to have a problem with the number of excuses I have about my solo duties", she tried to get the actual fact across as jokingly as possible.
"Don't worry Detective. The event you are going to accompany Mr. Reese to won´t be during your office hours. Please have a nice dress ready."
For a moment wondering what Finch was referring to, Joss frowned.
"Since when am I supposed to do New York's criminals the service to stun them while getting arrested?", she asked, no less confused.
"I´m sorry to disappoint you but I doubt there will be an arrest tonight, Detective. In fact, you are only intended to provide John with a cover I arranged for you both. The event in question is a gathering of couples of dissimilar origins, lifestyles, religions, or beliefs who have managed to cross this barrier to a successful life, if you want to call it that. Our current target, about whom we have yet to learn more, is among these people. So, Mr. Reese needs someone on his side who will act on this counterpart."
Suddenly confronted with countless feelings that she had been repressing with every fiber of her consciousness since the kiss they shared, she was unable to fight the double-edged feeling inside her.
"Are you still there, Detective?", Finch asked into the resulting silence.
"Yes... I am still around... sorry", she tried her best to keep up the appearance of a momentary distraction.
"Listen, maybe it's better to ask someone else. I don't know if it's a good idea to mention my name in this context."
Hoping the excuse would sound plausible enough, she nervously shifted her position.
"Don't worry, I've already thought of that. You'll find a hint in your mailbox that one of the suspects your department is looking for is among the guests at the event", Finch stole her thunder.
"I better not ask how you got this list", the Detective in her showed up again.
"That would be very accommodating. As for the rest, I've just forwarded all the details for tonight. John will pick you up around seven thirty", Joss heard the last instructions before the billionaire cut the line, not giving her the chance of further objection.
A second ring, which snapped her back to reality, let Joss take a deep breath. While the evening was basically nothing more than a job, it was far too easy for her to dress up for the occasion. In the past hour she had put on a subtle make-up for a black velvet dress, which emphasized her curves.
What the heck am I doing here? What am I even hoping for?, she had asked herself looking in the mirror, which gave her a surprisingly happy result.
In the end it was John she was spending the evening with - a friend, nothing more as his silence about this kiss that probably was nothing more than a momentary confusion had proved.
A relationship with a vigilante, what a nonsensical idea anyway. As if this man isn´t causing me enough trouble already, she tried to rationalize her pounding heart about the upcoming reunion, to no avail.
While she has seen him as a potential threat in the beginning, over time he had admittedly become her closest confidante. In addition to helping each other with matters of service, she cared for his well-being as he cared for hers. Despite their opposing worlds, it was this kind of common understanding of things and situations in which they had built the foundation of their unusual friendship.
Fighting another wall of emotions that clearly were beyond anything friendly, she should have seen the warning signs sooner. Besides the quality of their conversations that had become more and more personal over time, it was also the way she now secretly enjoyed their meetings. While it drove her insane at first when he suddenly appeared next to her without a warning - a fact that gave her half a heart attack more than once, by now she couldn't help but smile at the cheekiness she had grown fond of. Unlike most other people, John was always there. After Beecher's death, he hadn't pushed her into anything, but always offered her a sympathetic ear. With his one-of-a-kind way of being, which for some reason she couldn't escape, he captivated her in ways she wasn´t able to describe. Injured by a bullet, it would have been easy to arrest him when they first met in person, and yet... she helped him escape. A year later, with a bomb vest strapped to his chest, she couldn't bear the thought of losing him. She was willing to stay at his side; a fact that, if he hadn't mentioned her son, she would have put into action without hesitation. It were those moments that she had refused to give any meaning to... until this day. Since then, she hasn't been able to ignore the pounding of her heart whenever she saw him... whenever she heard his voice... whenever she thought of him.
Nonetheless, they both kept quiet about the shared moment. Wondering if he even regretted the kiss, her stomach clenched hurtfully.
Maybe I´m giving it all too much importance. Maybe we both let a moment of weakness mislead us to a fantasy world that wouldn´t stand a chance in real life, she mused, knowing that her attempt at a rational explanation of her feelings would be as successful as trying to extinguish a fire with gasoline.
With one last deep breath and the hated feeling of a stupid schoolgirl having a crush on the coolest, yet unreachable classmate, she finally opened the door.
"I already thought you stood me up", John greeted her in his typically teasing way. Noticing how his gaze scanned her body, she had to admit that the man in the suit didn't cut a bad figure either.
"Maybe I just wanted to see if you would gain unauthorized access to my apartment again", she alluded to the earlier kidnapping of his partner.
"Don't worry, tonight I'll be a gentleman."
"Are you sure you know how to do this? Usually the only Gentleman attitude I may recognize as such is when you are gracious enough to only shoot one kneecap instead of two", Joss tried to pick up on their common sense of humor as a safety zone.
"If that´s what it takes to convince you about my qualities I leave the gun in the car to knock out any attacker with a good old classic punch."
Not being able to control her mimic at what he just said -at the underlying message?-, John offered his arm in a perfect gesture.
Swallowing once more, Joss instantly knew that this evening she would risk the wings that kept her flying way too close to the sun.