Spoilers for "Many Happy Returns" 1.21.

Disclaimer: Person of Interest isn't mine, but a girl can dream, right? :)

A/N: I don't agree with Friedrich Nietzsche's stance on many things, but I've always liked the quote below. That wonderfully tense scene in the car from 1.21 (and Jim Caviezel's fabulous acting) made me think of it right away, and the result was this fic.

As always, I thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for His incredible mercy and grace.

"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Friedrich Nietzsche

He Who Fights Monsters

Harold Finch was a cautious man, both by nature and necessity. It was a trait that had saved his life more than once.

And, though he had not been lying when he said that he respected Mr. Reese's privacy, he would admit that the other man's personal history had been subject to an extreme form of scrutiny. After all, when dealing with dangerous men, particularly those of Mr. Reese's caliber, certain precautions were in order. Such men had spent a great deal of time looking into the proverbial abyss, and it was impossible to come away from that without being irrevocably changed. The results of those changes were often unpredictable.

Nonetheless, Harold had needed someone willing to perform the less savory aspects of his work, and Mr. Reese fit the bill perfectly. He was competent and calculating, but he did not lack a conscience, nor was he mentally unbalanced (though, admittedly, his actions had made Harold question the latter more than once).

Overall, Mr. Reese was fiercely protective of innocents, far too curious for an ex-CIA operative familiar the value of secrecy, and he had a subtle but wry sense of humor that seemed to crop up at the most inopportune times.

He had also, slowly but surely, become not only a colleague, but a good friend.

Regardless, it would be foolish to deny what Mr. Reese was capable of, and Harold had never tried. He was too practical, and perhaps too jaded, to do so.

When circumstances warranted it, Mr. Reese was, quite simply, a killer. A very efficient one at that. Yet, it was one thing to be aware of what lay beneath Mr. Reese's deceptively mild persona, and something else entirely to witness it firsthand.

Maybe that was why it came as such a shock when Mr. Reese demanded he leave the car.

"Get out."

The command was low, laced with steel, and something else, something colder that was enough to make Harold look at the other man in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Mr. Reese turned to face him. "Leave the laptop, now, Harold, and get out."

His tone was almost flat, carefully measured, and his face was oddly expressionless, but his eyes…

Harold scrambled automatically for the door, his fingers fumbling for the handle and his back protesting the harried movement before he found himself outside once again. He watched still in shock as the car peeled away down the street, the taillights quickly fading in the distance.

He knew he needed to hurry, needed to find a way to stop Mr. Reese from killing a Federal Marshal, however tempting it might be to leave the despicable man to whatever fate awaited him at Mr. Reese's hands. But, for the moment, Harold simply stood there on the sidewalk, the street oddly silent, the evening air suddenly chilly.

He should have known, should have expected something like this.

Yet, he was shaken just the same.

Because, for just an instant, he had stared into the proverbial abyss, and in his friend's too-dark eyes, that abyss had stared back.

Fin

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, and please let me know what you think!

Take care and God bless!

Ani-maniac494