Then.

The first time Jimmy meets John Wick, he's off duty.

There's a bar just outside Little Russia – an Irish Style Pub, open all hours – and it's Jimmy's favorite watering hole. On alternate Thursdays, sometimes one of the local youngster bands stop by to jam a few songs up on the stage. Sometimes there are trivia nights, or amateur comedy. It's a quiet place, friendly to cops for the most part – and the shepherd's pie is hot and filling on nights when you can't find it in you to cook.

On this night, the tables are filled and the bar is crowded. Jimmy ends up rubbing elbows with the wall on one side and a tall bearded man on the other; dour, sour, and contemplating the bottom of a glass of neat bourbon.

They exchange nods – two men, tired after a long day.

Now.

The Winnebago tilts dangerously as it careens around the corner, Manfred swearing under his breath as he fights against the steering wheel.

Creek is sitting up front with him in the passenger chair, her younger brother holding on to one of the benches in the back next to her angry father. It is a tense situation, made worse by Mr. Lovell's dislike of Manfred, and the revelation that vampires are real.

"We're almost at the church," Manfred chants to himself as he floors the gas, sending the vehicle down the road. "Aw, fuck-!" He almost spits - up ahead the path to the chapel is blocked by the vampire's bus, and a large group of them are milling about in front of it. They can hear the hissing even over the whine of the Winnebago's taxed motor.

"Change of plans-" Manfred grits out. "We're going to my place."

"Oh my god," Creek gasps lowly, catching sight of something out the side window. "Mr. Wick's out there!"

Then.

Jimmy meets John Wick's aftermath in that same bar three weeks later. He's taking statements from shaken witnesses beside caution tape and a smashed front window.

"It was crazy, man," one says, hands shaking and eyes wide. "A fucking pencil-! Shit!"

The bar does not reopen.

Now.

John stops as Manfred's Winnebago slows, and makes sure to visibly shake his head while locking eyes with Creek. He keeps up the stare until he sees her nod, and the vehicle picks up pace again.

The vampires have noticed him, now.

"Hey there, man. You some kind of bum?"

John stares at him in stony silence as the bloodsucker approaches, some others taking the opportunity to sidle closer and begin circling him. The question is understandable - he's wearing the tattered remains of his tactical suit, the collar of its overcoat flipped up high to offer some protection for his neck. He's not sure how well the armor will stand up to their teeth, but presumably better than it performed under a weretiger's claws.

The overcoat also affords him the element of surprise.

A vampire directly behind him lunges at his back, and crumples as its kneecap disintegrates under the impact of a bullet, the gun firing a second time through another's eye in the same moment he pegs the downed one with the sharpened end of a broom handle concealed in the folds of his coat. He gets the second through the heart before the rest realize what he's doing and they tackle him in a flurry of blows and hissing snarls too fast for him to match. He's near enough to human to be out matched by the creatures' base abilities, but a grim expression twists his features from an impassive mask and into a triumphant snarl.

In a battle of attrition, he always wins.

Then.

Jimmy's introduction to the underworld of the police involves a cop on the take, a mob hit gone wrong, and a potted plant. (He will never look at ferns the same way.) Before the sheer unbelievability of the previous twenty-four hours can sink in, he finds himself being pulled aside by his supervisor in the precinct, and being given The Talk.

It boils down to two key points. One – mutual non-interference. The Underworld stays clear of police and civilians, and the police stay clear of underworld business. (Gangsters and organized crime are still fair game – they weave their criminal webs around the lives of those the police serve and protect. But when they fight amongst each other, policy is to stand back and let those chips land where they may.)

The second point is less official, and a recent localized addendum. Stay out of John Wick's way.

Jimmy is shown a photograph of a man with dead eyes and recalls a sad stranger trying to find meaning in the bottom of a glass.

Now.

John lies slumped against the side of one of the low red-brick buildings scattered up the main road, a dark streak of blood leading from the middle of the street. He's missing an eye, and half of his face sits torn and loose over his skull where a vampire's claws had raked across.

He'd been out of bullets by then, the stake he brought reduced to splinters and tossed aside. He had to pin the vampire down after dislocating both of its arms and knees, before twisting its screaming head clear off. It had taken more than he'd anticipated out of him – fortunately the remaining leeches had taken that act as their cue to retreat and regroup.

(A stake to the heart wasn't the only way to kill them, despite what Fiji had said. Most things needed their head attached to function, and vampires prove no different.)

Down the street towards the chapel, there is a flutter if wings somewhere above him and a bright flash of light. It's warm, the glow of the sun in the middle of the night.

The anguished screams and smell of charred flesh on the night wind brought him some peace of mind as his sorry state sent him into unconsciousness – it seemed the sun-crystal plan had worked.

Then.

It's coincidence (or maybe bad luck, Jimmy thinks) that starts putting the beat cop in and around areas where Wick has swept through like a force of nature. He calms witnesses, takes statements, and gains fifteen pounds in donuts and cheap coffee. Later, he starts to think it's by design. Perhaps by having a man on the street 'in-the-know' it keeps others from bumbling well-meaning nose first into the pointy end of a deadly pencil.

…That case still gets to him sometimes – the shepherd's pie had been really good.

It's a car accident that puts him face to face with Wick for the second time. It's surreal, Jimmy scribbling down this underworld boogeyman's implacable commentary of events as a paramedic bandages the cuts on his stoic face. A true coincidence – apparently Wick had been grocery shopping when the elderly driver had a stroke, lost control of his vehicle, and slammed his sedan through the front door of the shop. Even hitmen need to eat – who knew?

Jimmy's heart practically stops in his chest when Wick blinks slowly after his almost robotic recitation and tilts his head in recognition. "We've met before."

Now.

"Oh dear," Joe sighs, as he comes across John Wick's body.

The reverent had fought and fought hard to buy them all as much time as possible – the distraction John had provided had done well in enabling many of the townspeople to reach the safety of the church without incident.

"Were you anyone else," Joe grimaced, shaking his head sadly, "you'd be dead."

Wick's broken body twitches, and both eyes flutter open to latch onto Joe who crouches down to meet the mangled man's gaze.

"...Plan... worked?"

"Yes. Thank you, John Wick," Joe states solemnly as he reaches to help the other man to his feet. "The time you bought made the difference for more than a few families."

Wick doesn't reply, though the ravaged man's step comes easier, and he slowly begins to mend. He bares his bloodied teeth in what passes for a smile.

Then.

It's an odd friendship.

Most everyone Wick knows are affiliated with the Underworld in some way, or with organized crime. Somehow, after a string of meetings continues to pile up, Jimmy the cop and John the boogeyman become friends.

John suspects Winston's well-meaning manipulative fingers behind it.

They talk football and beer (bourbon for John – the man's taste is very specific) and cars.

It's surreal, but somehow natural.

Jimmy tugs at the collar of his tuxedo. Of all the things, he never figured John to get married. Even less, for him to end up as his best man.

"Shit, man," Jimmy sighs. "How am I more nervous about your wedding than you are? It's just not fair."

John smiles – since Helen, John has been actually smiling, which is something that still freaks Jimmy out – and shrugs. "Just lucky, I guess."

Later.

When dawn comes there is a tangible sweeping of relief through the town. There is time taken to tend the wounded and bury the dead. John takes the full day and the following night to recover.

Joe thinks on his conversation with Emilio.

I'm fallen, he had said. I come to you as a neighbor and a friend.

And I, Reverend Sheehan had told him, patiently. Will listen to you as a reverend, hear your confession and keep your secret.

Now, after Manfred has proven himself in the face of adversity; after John has fought to the death to protect the town; and after each of the Midnighters has pulled together to survive and win in the face of evil... he feels guilty. The veil between realms that runs through Midnight is fraying, and soon all hell will be breaking loose. He knows this because he had seen it before; Chuy, his husband, also knows.

Now, the reverend knows... as well as Joe's intentions to flee when things go bad.

I'm fallen, he had said. He wishes he had the courage these people do, to fight. To stay. But the weight of that burden is only lightened by the strength the town has shown, even as it is weighed further by his own selfishness. However small it may be, he's starting to have some hope.

Perhaps they will survive, after all.

Notes: This concludes episode 3 of the show. Some things I did not touch on - Lemuel's past is just one of them. Please let me know if it feels like there's some missing moments - I wrote most of this on the train while really tired.

There is a small skip between this chapter and the last - during the events of the show Creek was away from her phone when the call to gather at the church went out. Manfred drove over to her house to fetch her and her family. Her dad was being difficult because he's not one of the Midnighter's in the know, and hates Manfred on principle so Manfred knocked him out to bring him along. So that's why they're all driving together.