Just Another Number? Chapter 4: Insomniac
"I've got eyes on Collier," John murmured "He's heading for her apartment now"
"Find out what he's searching for, John, there's got to be more to this than her just thinking everything is being watched.... I'll keep digging in her files" Harold informed the ex-spy.
"Fusco, How are you two doing?"
"Miss artist is asleep now, I don't know how well she's been sleeping though." the Detective whispered.
"How so, Detective?" Finch cocked his head, and paused his typing.
"She almost looks scared."
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Collier rifled through Y/N's apartment, tossing papers, flipping furniture and tearing out drawers.
"Don't you know it's rude to be in a lady's apartment without her permission?" John teased, gun pointed at Peter.
"I'm looking for the truth, what's your excuse?"
"I'm protecting the innocent." he set his jaw as they locked eyes.
"Innocent? Hah!" Collier rolled his eyes "We know she has files that prove she isn't innocent."
"You find anything like that, Finch?" the taller inquired.
"I just found a series of encrypted files buried under art files, I'm decrypting them now. I'll let you know what I find" Harold responded.
Collier lunged for John easily getting deflected by the older man and stumbling under his own momentum, he recovered a moment later and clocked the taller in the jaw. The hit sent John back a few steps giving Collier room to draw his gun and hastily shoot, catching Reese in the shoulder and stumbling him.
"Mr. Reese! Are you alright?" the gunshot startled the tech savvy man.
"Fine, Finch." John was able to shoot Collier in the thigh before he took off again causing the ex-operative to curse and slump back against the floor.
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Y/n woke up a few short hours later with a kink in her neck and alone in the small room. For a moment panic rose in her throat like bile and she shot out of the chair, taking a breath when she found John in the kitchen. The man looked up when he heard her startled breath.
"We wouldn't leave you alone," He soothed as he began to remove the bandage on his wound.
She hadn't initially registered that he was shirtless.
E/c eyes landed on the angry looking puncture and she willed away the blush to look him in the eyes once more.
"I can give you a hand... if ya want I mean." she brushed a hand through her sleep mussed hair as a minor distraction for herself while John mulled over her words. Steely eyes roved over the various supplies on the counter and his mind wondered to trying to contort and clean the exit wound beneath his shoulder blade before finally nodding.
"... I'd appreciate it, Y/n." He offered a genuinely sheepish half smile as she nodded and stepped closer to peel the gauze off of his shoulder with a small hiss at how it looked. "Squeamish?" John raised a brow.
"Not horribly, but this looks painful," She responded, reaching for a rag and the alcohol "I'm sorry in advance, John." Y/n tried her damnedest to be gentle while she cleaned away the dried blood, apologizing once again when he let out a puff of air through his nose.
"I've had worse," he half joked trying not to focus on the warmth of her touch (despite her fingers being cold). Y/n let her eyes wander a bit as she grabbed the new roll of medical tape and sure enough the man before her had various scars littered across his skin, some a harsh pink against his usual complexion and others faded and softened with age. It pulled at her a bit to see the proof of the 'worse' on this caring person before her and she shook her head slightly to bat away the thought. A small yawn pulled from her lips as she secured that patch of gauze while he chuckled
"Oh, excuse me," she laughed lightly "if you want to turn around I can get that side, please." John wordlessly did as she requested trying to keep any wincing to a minimum as she used the alcohol once more. Y/n tried to focus on the task at hand, but it was hard to ignore the feeling of John's eyes on her.
As he had suspected the bruise on her cheek had bloomed an angry deep purplish red color that covered a large area and no doubt hurt. He tilted his head slightly as he quickly glanced to see if she had any other injuries, he was limited due to the sweat pants and tank she wore, but from what he saw she looked otherwise alright and moved his gaze back to her face. E/c caught his blue for a moment and she paused.
"That looks pretty sore, we should get some ice on it next." John murmured, looking down to the tile when she went back to what she was doing.
"I've had worse." The smile could be heard in her playful tone as she finished up and gently pat his shoulder before going to wash her hands. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shirt back over his shoulders before going over to the freezer to look through it.
"Here," He pulled a bag of peas out and wrapped it in a hand towel before passing it to Y/n who huffed and shook her head with a smile "It'll help take the swelling down." She cocked a brow at him and crossed her arms "I won't tell anyone, you can still be tough" he teased making her crack and let out a laugh.
"Fine, but how am I supposed to read with a pile of frozen vegetables on my face? Bear was hoping we could continue where we left off." John began to button up his shirt and glanced to said canine who was happily asleep under the table then to the clock, it was rather late by this point.
"I think he might be right," He nodded to Bear Bond as he snored lightly "You need some rest." Y/n paled a bit at his suggestion and shifted slightly. "That's alright," He murmured startling her and thinking for a moment "I suppose I can take a turn reading." he offered, shocking her. "Can't leave Bear hanging, can we?"
"I-I... I mean, uh, sure if you want to" Y/n looked like she had been caught in the headlights and looked everywhere but at John. "Lead the way then." She nodded wordlessly, patting her thigh to wake Bear up.
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They had settled onto the love seat, Y/n in one corner of it and John in the other intending to leave a respectable amount of space but Bear decided that that was his spot and sandwiched between them. John opened the red book to begin on the next tale at a relaxed pace and soon found he had eased into it. The tension Y/n seemed to have been holding onto since the moment they had met started to melt a bit and she too began to relax and just listen to his voice. John glanced up when he noticed she had laid her head back. "Keep goin' I'm just resting my eyes," she mumbled, sleep obviously beginning to pull at her but he continued on.
A little while later Y/n was fully asleep, curled up with Bear as far on top of her as he could get and snoozing quietly. John stretched lightly not wanting to get up and risk the exhausted artist and opted for lounging back himself .
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Needless to say when Fusco came in for his turn to keep an eye on things he got a nice picture of the three of them.
Lucky for him he got his phone into his pocket before John opened his eyes.
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