Christmas and the Gang

A/N Written for the Blindspot Holiday project 2019 on Tumblr, only just getting around to posting it now. This is set during the two-week time jump between 2.10 and 2.11. I'm sure it makes no sense that Christmas would fall during that time but the show's own internal timeline is so messy I feel like I can take liberties too…

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Nothing like spending Christmas with your family, Jane thought as she sat on the cold concrete floor outside of Roman's Zero Division cell. Especially when neither of you remember anything about the holidays, what it's all meant to be about.

Jane suspected that holiday celebrations hadn't been a big part of life with Shepherd, she certainly hadn't had any Christmas-related memories pop through. And Roman seemed to be just as much at a loss, though he appreciated the gifts and the take out roast turkey dinner she'd brought him.

But now that the present opening was over they had run out of things to talk about and the terribleness of spending the holiday in a stark concrete bunker was settling in all around them. Roman seemed a bit fidgety too, nervous about her presence.

"Don't you have something better to be doing on Christmas Day?" he asked, giving her a skeptical look.

Jane shook her head, genuinely had nothing else planned that day. The rest of the team was spending the holidays with family; everyone seemed to have relatives in town that year. She was happy that they were all getting a chance to spend time with their loved ones. They deserved it after how hard it had been, especially since the ambush that left so many agents dead.

Terrible waves of guilt still crashed within her whenever Jane thought about what had happened. How it had all been her fault, caught out by Sandstorm's mole. She felt so horrible for Patterson, tortured by someone she loved. And for Reade, who was still recovering from his leg wound. Weller too, even though he hadn't been there for the raid. The guilt he had felt about not being there, being played by Sandstorm. Jane knew it was all on her, that none of this would have happened had she never come up with this plan, erased her own memory.

So of course she didn't have any plans for Christmas Day, the only family she'd ever known probably lost to her forever. And although the environment sucked, at least she had Roman to spend time with. Even if she was just drawing while he read a book, she liked being there, trying to connect with him. He was her only family now, all that she had.

Just then her phone chimed an alert and Jane pulled it out to see that it was her FBI locator app going off, indicating a target on the move, just outside the NYO office. There was no information from Patterson attached to the search though and they weren't actively trying to locate anyone.

"What's that?" Roman asked curiously.

"I don't know," Jane replied. "I'm being given a target to catch but we aren't working on anything right now."

"Are you going to go?" he questioned. "Shouldn't you ask Weller about it before you follow a random signal?"

He had a point, Jane thought. But it was Christmas day and Kurt was busy with family along with everyone else. Also the target was still nearby and she was the only one at the NYO. It was up to her to find out what it was about.

"I don't want to bother him if it turns out to be nothing," Jane said. "I'll go investigate first and if I need back up I'll call it in then."

"You just want something to do that isn't sitting in an underground bunker. I don't blame you, you should be out with your friends," he commented. "So go, if it turns out to be something then at least you'll see them on Christmas."

That was sad, she thought. But true. That the only chance she had of seeing the team on Christmas was if they were called in on an emergency.

"Okay, I'm going," she declared, ready to do anything other than sit around and mope. "I'll see you later Roman. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Jane," her brother replied sincerely.

Jane left the NYO building and started following the tracker uptown. Her quarry looked to be on foot so she walked as well, far enough behind that she wouldn't get made.

It was strange following a signal that she knew nothing about. Jane tracked it for miles and miles until she was in Central Park, amidst families all celebrating Christmas.

Finally, her target had stopped moving, seemed to be staying among the many people ice skating on a large rink in front of her. Jane stared at the crowd of skaters and realized that she had no hope of finding an unknown subject out on the ice. Especially since she wasn't sure if she knew how to skate and had no reason for even chasing this person.

She was about to give up the search, glad to have at least gotten some outdoor exercise and entertainment, when a familiar figure caught her eye. Jane turned her attention back to the ice rink, stared at the object of her interest.

It was definitely Assistant Director Kurt Weller, skating with his nephew and his sister. Even from that distance she could tell that he was laughing at Sarah, who was rather wobbly on her skates.

Jane stood there staring, thinking that it couldn't be a coincidence. The city was huge and the tracker had led her to exactly where Weller was. But it didn't make any sense. She was sure that Kurt had not set it up, would not want her at this family outing.

She felt like a creep even watching them from the edge of the rink and had just turned to leave when a familiar voice called out her name.

Jane turned back, felt like she had been caught spying. But then again, it was Christmas. And now at least she would get to see Kurt for a minute, although the circumstances were odd.

Weller was just skidding to a stop in front of her, wearing a slightly confused smile

"Jane," he repeated, a bit out of breath from hurrying over. "Hey."