primary_asset | (no subject)

Technically they're working, but on a day as nice as today, John doesn't think he can be blamed for enjoying himself more than he usually does when he's undercover. Nearly everything in his life is far more enjoyable when Karen is there with him, but work is still work, and he would always rather just be spending time with her than working.

Today, though, it's better than it usually is, because it really is just like spending quality time with her. They're in the park, the sun is high, the air is warm, and the man they're keeping under surveillance hasn't actually done anything wrong, which might be a first for John in Darrow. They're here to keep an eye on him because John has heard there are some people, some criminals, who have an idea to go after this man's young son. The rumour is that the attack would be for ransom and John has a strong feeling that's most likely.

The man and his pretty young wife clearly have money, though they're not over the top about it. They're still here, after all, playing in the park with their son, the little boy squealing as he goes down the small, toddler sized slide. He's cute and happy, the family is clearly enjoying their time together, and John hates the idea that anyone might want to hurt them over a bit of money. They're well dressed, the car they drive is expensive without being flashy, and John knows this man has not only earned every cent he has, but puts a significant amount of his income back into the community.

He's a good man who doesn't even know he's a target. This is good work.

Leaning toward Karen, John is about to ask her if she's noticed the green car idling across the street from the park, but just as he does, there's a loud pop from nearby. His hand is on his gun in an instant, but before he draws it, he sees where the sound has come from. A couple not far away are opening champagne, sitting on a blanket with a picnic spread out, the both of them laughing and kissing, even as they try to pour their drinks.

Between them on the blanket is a ring box, a simple diamond set in rose gold resting inside. The sight of it makes him smile, even as his chest tightens.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

John smiles, returning the kiss, closing his eyes for a moment and letting them just be who they are in this moment, too. They might be working and he knows they have to avoid any real distraction, but if he's going to kiss her, he's going to do so properly.

"I love you," he echoes in a soft voice, smiling as he presses another kiss to her temple.

A second chance was never meant to be in the cards for him, but he's glad he hadn't been too stupid to take this. Wherever she may be now, Carter never would have forgiven him if he had made a mess of this.

"Nice of that couple to bring this subject up for us," Karen says with a quiet laugh, nodding absently in the direction of the couple who'd gotten engaged a few minutes before. It would have come up at some point, she's sure, especially if they were both already thinking about it. Still, it's an amusing catalyst, too, and a very different turn of events than she expected when they left their apartment today. At the time, she hadn't expected there to be anything out of the ordinary about it. That makes its own sort of sense, though. With their lives and this place, nothing is ever really typical.

She's grateful, too, that nothing has happened to the family they're watching, though that's entirely for their sake. If the two of them had been interrupted just now, it would have been for a good reason. They do good work. It's nice to feel like she can actually help in some way.

"Very convenient, really."

"Very convenient," he agrees. "If Finch were still here, I might accuse him of orchestrating the whole thing."

It does make him a little sad to think his friend won't be here to see the rest of this second chance they both had. All he can do is hope Finch is making the most of his somewhere else, finding his own brand of peace instead of burying himself in the Machine and in his work. John can relate to that, it's why he and Finch had worked as well as they did, but if he can find contentment and still do the work, he likes to believe Finch can, too.

"He loved you, too," he says after a moment. "Harold. He knew we could be good for one another, but he knew a lot of things about me before I ever did. We spoke about it once, before Darrow, about wanting a normal life. I know he wanted me to be able to have one."

"I mean, he basically set us up when we were being stubborn and oblivious," Karen says, biting back a laugh. Part of her thinks maybe she shouldn't make light of it when, at the time, it felt awful having feelings for him that she was sure couldn't be returned, half-convinced they'd almost kissed on New Year's and she'd missed her shot and equally so that she'd imagined the moment they shared that night. It is all pretty amusing in retrospect, though, the two of them foolishly dancing around each other for months, feeling the same way the whole time.

Her expression softens after a moment, though, and she nods a little. It means more to her than she would have expected, knowing she would have had Harold's approval. Normally, she wouldn't give a shit about things like that, but with as important as he is to John, it makes him important to her, too.

"He was a good guy," she says, sure that he'll know as well as she does what an understatement that is. "I'm glad I got to know him while I did."

"So am I," John answers. "And I hope he got to have that life he wanted in going back."

He doesn't know if it would have been possible, not when the only woman Finch ever would have wanted was Grace and when she believed he was dead, but John, in his strange way, is an optimist. If there's a way for Grave and Finch to have found each other again, he likes to think he would have done anything to help make that happen for them.

"Did he ever tell you about Grace?" he asks.

"I don't think so," Karen says, shaking her head. It's been such a long time now, and she never got to know Finch as well as she would have liked. Most of what she knows is from John, and all of that has only made her wish she could have found it out from Finch himself. It's nice, though, to know that he supported this. From the beginning, it's just sort of seemed right, even before they actually became a couple. It would have anyway, but she's sure the time they all had together helped with that, too.

Idly, she laces her fingers through his. "Who's Grace?"

"His fiancée," he says softly. It isn't his story to tell and he doesn't know all the details, but he figures Karen should know. In Darrow, she had certainly been Finch's closest friend besides himself.

"When Finch was working on creating the Machine, it repeatedly directed him to a woman painting in the park. Grace." He smiles faintly. "I think that might have been Finch's first indication the Machine had become more than what he had anticipated. It was trying to set him up."

The smile fades a little and he squeezes Karen's hand. "But the people who wanted the Machine wanted everyone associated with it dead. There was an explosion on a ferry, it's how he was injured, why he limped, and he used the chance to fake his death. To protect her."

Karen nods along slowly. It makes sense with what she knows of Finch, and it makes her a little sad, too. He shouldn't have had to give up the woman he loved because of circumstances like those. But as angry as she knows she's been in the past when other people have tried to decide things for her safety without telling her, she can't blame him for making a decision like that, sacrificing his happiness to try to help as many people as he could. From what she can tell, he helped a lot of them, too.

"No wonder he wanted you to be able to have a normal life," she says thoughtfully, expression a little bittersweet. "Because he gave his up."

Such a thing hadn't been possible in New York and they had both known it. Finch might have wanted it for John, but they never would have taken steps to make something like that happen. Between his assignments and Samaritan coming after them, it had just been too dangerous. Iris was proof enough of that.

But in Darrow, the story is a different one. He can have something here.

He smiles over at Karen and says, "I like to think he'd be pretty pleased with how things have turned out here. He and Carter both." He barely ever speaks of Carter, still pained over her death, but he knows she would be proud of him.

"I hope so," Karen says, smiling in turn. It's nice to consider, even if she only knew Harold, and not as well as she would have liked to. Of the people in her own life, aside from Frank, who makes for less of a hypothetical when he's here in Darrow and acquainted with John himself, aware of their relationship, she can't think of many people whose opinion on the matter would actually have meant something to her. Ellison would have been thrilled just for her to be seriously involved with someone at all. Ben Urich, if he were still alive, would have liked John, probably for the same reasons he liked her.

"I think we've done pretty alright for ourselves, all things considered."