I opened and closed my mouth several times as I stared at Reese before turning away, walking as quickly as I could back towards the main street. I couldn’t be here, not with the man I had almost killed; however indirectly. The overpowering sense of guilt I felt as he watched me without showing the slightest bit of apprehension at being alone in a deserted alley with a part of the team that hunted him was too much for me to bear. I felt as though, if I stood there with him watching me as though I was someone he could actually trust for much longer, I would lose the little bit of sanity I had left. By rights, he should have made his move to take me out by now; and I was certain that despite his recent injuries, he was more than up to the task. So why was he just standing there as though we were about to engage in a normal conversation?
As I continued walking out of the alley, I fought to remain in the present instead of getting lost in my regrets. It wouldn’t do to be distracted in case Reese suddenly changed his mind and did attempt to exact his revenge. I didn’t want to hurt him again, but it wasn’t as though I could go down without a fight. Not that I would stand much of a chance against him; if his dealing with the other man who meant to assault the young woman earlier was any indication.
I was almost to the street when he grabbed my arm; not roughly, but with just enough strength to cause me to stop and turn back to face him. He opened his mouth to speak to me, but I cut him off before he could say anything.
“Look, I don’t want to hurt you again, but if you try to kill me I won’t really have much of a choice.” I looked up at him as I spoke, hoping to show him that I was being truthful and not just pretending to care about his safety to save my own skin; and I was shocked to see that his eyes didn’t hold the menace and anger I had expected. Rather, they held a look of understanding, as though he knew, on some level, that I had never intended to kill him that night at the parking garage; despite my involvement with the man who wanted him dead.
He continued to look at me for a moment with a curious expression on his face before saying:
“What makes you think I want to kill you?”
I paused for a minute before answering, trying to figure out if his confused tone was genuine, or just a ruse to get me to let my guard down. After deeming that he didn’t appear to be toying with me, I responded:
“Why wouldn’t you? I almost did the same to you.”
“Mark Snow has a way of…persuading people to do things that they wouldn’t under normal circumstances” he told me, and I noticed his mouth twitch up into what could only be described as a self-mocking grin as he released his hold on my arm and stepped back slightly.
“I still should have been able to sense something was off long before we even came close to catching you, though” I protested. For some indescribable reason, I didn’t want him to let me off the hook this easily. I had formed an alliance with Snow of my own volition, and I could not deny that I had pushed off my mind’s alarms at several “signs” that had cropped up throughout our time together. In my mind, that could never be excused, no matter how much the man in the alley with me seemed bent on ignoring it.
“I’m going to hazard a guess that he fed you some line about you being a perfect candidate for the job; and how your skillset would be a great asset to his enterprise?” he asked me, that same look of self-mocking still etched in his features.
I fought back the surge of shock that coursed through me as I heard the words leave his mouth. I couldn’t help but remember Snow saying those things to me, almost verbatim; and I wondered at how this man who knew nothing about me could have nailed this particular part of my life so exactly. Swallowing my trepidation at yet another person having knowledge of my life before I even met them, I asked him:
“Did he give you the same story when you joined? Is that why you eventually left?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes” he said, his eyes going flat as he shifted his gaze to meet mine and continued to speak “Only I did far more for him before I realized just how bad he really was. Hence why I have no desire to kill you. I know just how cunning he can be; and I can’t deal out justice to you when I’ve done far worse.”
I blinked a couple of times as I reasoned through his explanation. I now had a seemingly logical answer to why he didn’t want me dead; but I found several other questions crowding my thoughts to take that one’s place. I opened my mouth to throw another one at him, but he spoke first, saying:
“I’m all for continuing this conversation Miss…” he paused, looking at me and waiting for me to give him my name.
“Gerard. Natalya Gerard” I supplied after a moment’s hesitation, figuring that if I didn’t give him my real name, he’d just find it some other way.
“Well, Miss Gerard, as I was saying; I’m all for continuing this conversation, but I think we should find someplace a bit more…enclosed than our current location. How would you feel about grabbing a coffee?”
I stared at him, unsure of how to proceed. I wanted to learn more about him, that was certain, but I still couldn’t get behind the fact that he seemed as if he trusted me already. What made matters even more confusing was the fact that I found myself similarly trusting him; even though my past experiences were thrusting evidence at me that I shouldn’t lest I find myself dealing with another Snow. I shrugged that feeling aside, deciding that if I had come through the debacle with Mark unscathed, I could afford to risk entering another situation with someone that was, at least for now, less threatening. Besides, we shared something through our mutual experience with Snow; something that made me believe that Reese wouldn’t yank my chain deliberately, and in the end it was this knowledge that persuaded me to agree to his proposal.
“Sure, I could go for a coffee. It’s not like I’m sleeping tonight anyway” I told him, earning a slight smile from him before he gestured for me to exit the alley.
We moved together into the flow of human traffic on the sidewalk, and he placed a hand lightly at the small of my back to guide me towards our destination; his other hand never quite leaving the back of his suit jacket, where I assumed a gun was hidden. As we made our way down the street in silence, I risked a few glances up at him; and wasn’t surprised to see his eyes scanning around the street, on high alert for any hint of a threat to either one of us. For reasons unknown to me, I couldn’t be bothered to do the same; despite all my training that would indicate that I should be mimicking his actions. I felt…safe with this man, even though I was at a loss to explain why. Even with the knowledge that Snow had gained my trust just about as quickly as Reese did, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this scenario was different somehow. I could only hope that I was right; that Reese could be trusted, and that I wasn’t headed down yet another path based on lies and deceit.
I kept moving, blind to the world while deep in my thoughts until I realized that I could no longer sense Reese by my side. I came to a stop, turning around quickly, when I saw him standing next to a door of what I noticed was a late night diner; attempting to suppress a smile as he observed me.
“I wondered when you were going to stop walking. You really should be more observant, you know” he said with a small laugh, holding the door open for me as I made my way back to him and entered the diner. My face flushed a bit as I followed him to a booth in the back corner of the room.
“I’m sorry, I just…I got lost in thought” I said, taking the seat in the booth opposite him, and crossing my arms in front of me on the table. I didn’t know why it mattered to me, all of a sudden, what kind of impression I made on him. I just knew that it stung like hell that he may, through my own actions, be led to believe that I was just some gullible damsel in distress who would fall for any line she was given, and that couldn’t even maintain awareness of her surroundings in case she needed to defend herself.
He jolted me out of my thoughts once more as he said “I understand. You’ve had to take a lot in within the last few minutes.” The understanding (and, did I see kindness?) that was evident in his eyes as he looked at me quelled any fear of his disapproval; and I prepared to jump back into our previous conversation with new-found confidence. I found myself stopped short, however, when he brought up a hand to silence me as a waitress approached our table.
“What can I get the two of you?” the young girl asked us, eyeing Reese with uncovered appreciation. I suppressed a laugh at her open flirtation as he responded to her question.
“I’ll just take a coffee, black please” he told her, turning then to look at me.
“I’ll do the same” I told her, watching as she moved away before turning to John and making to pull out my wallet from my back pocket as I said “I can cover this.”
“No need” he said, smiling at me before continuing “We’re already covered. A friend of mine has a running tab here that he’s given me free reign to.”
“What kind of friend?” I asked, my curiosity ignited once again as I leaned forward on the table to get closer to him.
He chuckled at my question before turning the tables on me.
“If we’re going to play the game “twenty questions”, I think you should at least give me a fair chance to ask some of my own.” he said, smiling at me as I huffed at his evasive technique.
Begrudgingly, I admitted to myself that he had told me something about himself last before our journey here, and I figured that acquiescing to his desire for information on me would hold more possibility of cementing his trust than shutting him down. Besides, he would probably research my background on his own if I failed to come forward with it first.
I took the cup of coffee the waitress handed me upon her return to our table, taking a sip before setting the cup down and shifting in my seat to get more comfortable.
“Where would you like to begin, Mr. Reese? This has the potential to be a quite detailed story”
Click here to visit the official POI website 'CBS:POI'.
Click here to register and post POI fics 'Register'.
Click here to read the latest POI fics 'Recently Added'.
|