Author's note: italics is flashbacks.

She looked around his place. "So this is where John Reese, vigilante, lives huh?" she said, taking an appreciative glance at the roomy apartment. It had a nice color hardwood floor, not so dark to give the place a depressing mood. It was surprisingly homey, she had always figured wherever John went to lay his head wouldn't be this-this warm.

"You sound surprised."

"Because I am," she assured as he popped the cork out of the first champagne bottle before pouring them some in his glasses. He handed her one, their fingers brushed, a spike of awareness shot through her, their eyes connected and not for the first time this night she wondered what she was doing. "Thank you." She mumbled out.

"A toast," he spoke after clearing his throat.

"To…"

"To the downfall of HR."

"I'll drink to that." They shared a smile and their glasses clinked together.

She and John slept together, and a slight dull ache between her legs was a reminder, as if she needed one, of the wonderful morning she just had. A smile spread across her lips as she moved slowly out of her car, remembering how slow John had entered her, trying to allow her to adjust to his size which now she was grateful for, then not so much. She hadn't slept with a man in a while, hadn't wanted to, she had been too involved in the hell that had become her life and bringing down HR to worry about a man. That is until John Reese. She walked to her apartment determined to try to go on with her day and not dwell on everything that had happened last night, then this morning, but the smile on her face couldn't get wiped off. So she didn't even bother to try, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt this happy.

She unlocked the door to her place, grateful her son was at a friend's place for the weekend. Surely explaining to her teenage son why she was out all night, with stubble burn on her face and quite possibly across her body, and a stupid grin on her face would be mortifying for them both. She entered her quiet apartment locking the door behind her. Today she had a day off; all her days off were filled with following Terney and other members of HR around gathering evidence to bring them down. Today would be no different, the only difference today was that she was going to start a little later.

She needed to take a bubble bath first. Yes, a nice long soak should calm the thundering in her heart, ease the ache that John caused between her legs, and relax her nerves for tonight. She showered at his place at his insistence, he had already left, and the urge to snoop around his place to learn more about the man had been high. But ultimately she refused to allow her curiosity to overtake her. He trusted her in his place, to be alone without him around, and she wasn't going to do something that would jeopardize that level of trust he bestowed upon her. Getting John's trust was almost like getting a declaration of undying love, it wasn't something he gave easily, and she felt honored she received it. She trusted him fully, even if she didn't always agree with things he did, she trusted him. Shown him that trust, she had always wondered if he felt the same, and now she knew that he did.

She made her way to her bedroom. Pulling clothes off slowly, her eyes caught the mirror on her vanity. Images of John caressing her breasts, her stomach, then going lower between her legs assaulted her, and she felt the ache intensify because she was growing aroused. She forced the images to banish from her brain as she yanked her hair into a bun at the top of her head not wanting to get her hair wet. She grabbed her pale pink satin robe before moving to the bathroom. She ran the water to get a nice warm temperature, before grabbing her favorite lavender scented bubble bath pouring some in. She watched as the bath filled with bubbles, when she was happy with the temperature, and the amount of bubbles she stopped the water. She slid the robe from her naked form before climbing in.

Instantly a sense of relaxation hit her as she settled her head against the headrest in her soaker tub. She hadn't been totally honest with him this morning, which upset her now, but then it had been done out of self-preservation. She froze when Shaw had been questioning them, he appeared to not remember much of their previous night, so she played along that she hadn't been able to either. However, she remembered everything, every wonderful minute. She didn't have as bad of a hangover as he seemed to have. She hadn't drunk nearly as much as he had last night.

She had lied because it had been intimate between them last night. For the casual observer they would have said nothing happened, they didn't kiss or have sex, but for them, for where they were in their relationship it had been huge. The more he drank, the looser his lips became and the less alcohol she drank. She just listened to him, adding a comment here or there, they talked, laughed, joked, and connected. She felt like she was on a date with John rather than two friends at his place enjoying themselves after a night of saving a person and learning more about HR's plans. She basked in his ability to open up to her, thanks to a little alcohol. She knew she should have told him to stop, that he wouldn't be happy to know how much he told her, but she couldn't make a peep. She couldn't stop him if she tried. He knew so much about her, she wanted to know more about him.

"You're beautiful you know that, Carter."

"You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk."

She remembered the way they stared at each other during that moment when he slipped and called her beautiful. His eyes had slid down to her mouth, she licked her lips, praying he would kiss her even knowing he was inebriated, but he hadn't. The moment was gone, and she had felt stupid. In her haste to get up to leave, to get some space between them, was when she realized she had enough of a buzz of her own to make her stumble a bit. He offered her his place to crash and she was grateful, seeing as it had been already past one in the morning.

He was so gentlemanly with her. He had helped her to his bed, even inebriated he could walk fine which irked her then and still did now. He got loose lips, but his movements were still precise, while she felt lightheaded and ready to fall over even with only the slight buzz going. She had thrown caution to the wind after his 'beautiful' comment, and undressed in front of him all the way down to her bra and panties enjoying his gaze on her to see his reaction. John's blue eyes were glassy from the alcohol, but it didn't take away from the warmth in his unblinking gaze. He motioned to the couch, telling her he would sleep there, and she had suggested they were adult enough to share his king sized bed. After all they were just friends, what was sharing a big bed big enough for four between just friends. He had slid her a cute boyish grin in agreement. Then, in his drunken stupor, he undressed to his birthday suit, climbed in next to her, turned the lamp off before pulling her to him possessively and promptly fell asleep.

She had been shocked to say the least, she got to see everything John Reese had to own. She had stared, he hadn't noticed he was too busy climbing in beside her, but she memorized how he looked naked. Her mouth had filled with an access amount of saliva, and when he pulled her against him, she had struggled to remain a good girl. She deserved some damned award for not taking advantage at touching his body or rolling over lifting his comforter up and gaze to her heart's content. She just laid there quietly listening to his breathing, feeling his skin against hers, and slowly fell asleep herself.

Joss shifted in the water as the image of him naked couldn't seem to be wiped from her brain as her body responded to it. The dull ache between her legs was still there, but the tingle of arousal was more prominent. She sighed as this morning's antics filled her brain. This morning had blown away all of her wildest dreams, he had been everything she ever imagined and more. She had fantasies of them together like that here and there for a long time now. She had always been attracted to him even though she never dared to think she would let him in on the fact. She would always awaken from those dreams feeling unsatisfied and even more alone because she didn't ever believe she would get to experience it for real.

But experience it she had. His mouth was wicked and he damned well knew how to use it. He knew how to go down on a woman and the thought of experiencing it again made her squirm in need. The feeling of his mouth between her legs, the feeling of him holding her down while he made her scream in ecstasy, made her relaxing bath less relaxing as she tensed. She slid her hands from their spots lying on the edges of the tub into the cooling water. She brushed her hardening nipples. Yep the relaxing bath was shot straight to hell.

"Joss, stop."

His plea of her name to get her to stop from making him climax in her mouth had been sexy. It was a gruff but low command, like his voice had forgotten how to work. She hadn't wanted to stop. He was so damned responsive to her, she couldn't recall a time when a man was quite that responsive to her. She didn't really enjoy giving a man a blow job, she'd done a few, but only because the man asked her and wanted it. She didn't enjoy them mainly because the man controlled it and not all that pleasurable for them both, she just found it boring. But not with John, she had been the one to take the initiative to go down on him. He hadn't asked like normal men, she had wanted to do so. Pleasuring him with her mouth had been a new form of foreplay for her, she grew wetter as he moaned and allowed her total control in that moment. She had the most vulnerable part of him in her mouth, loving it and bringing him closer to the edge, and it had been amazing. It had been so damned empowering to bring him to the brink, the idea of stopping had no appeal whatsoever. His sexy moans as his cock throbbed in her mouth was so damned hot the urge to touch herself to orgasm the moment he did in her mouth had been overwhelming. But he wanted to be inside her and she couldn't say she hadn't wanted that either.

She shuddered in the water as she strummed her nipples, squirming as her body was crackling alive. She was going to give John an honest to goodness blow-job someday soon. She longed to trail her hand between her legs and settle the new ache he was creating without even being here, but she stubbornly refused to do so. She opened her eyes and forced her sexy thoughts away. She stood up in the tub, the water running down her body back into the bubbles and remaining water. She climbed out and grabbed a towel to dry off as she grabbed the tub plug. The gurgling sound erupted as the bathtub slowly emptied of bubbles and water.

She had a long day ahead and thinking about this morning would have to be on the back-burner. She needed to follow and gather more evidence against HR before she had to head home and change to meet up with John tonight. She walked out of her bathroom and decided to get her ass in gear.

"So when you were eight, you played basketball and football?" Joss murmured as she sipped her drink. He nodded as he yawned. She knew she should feel bad for taking advantage of his loose lips but she couldn't. She was learning information about him straight from the source, without being in a dire situation. "So tell me John, who was your first crush?"

He snorted out laughter which she shared in. Having John in this sort of mood was a rush. "You don't want to know."

"Yes I do, come on, tell me yours and I'll tell you mine." He gulped down the rest of his champagne, she immediately grabbed the champagne bottle to fill it up again. They went through the first bottle quick, she had a buzz going but she was sure John was nearly plastered. It took him a while though, he could hold his liquor quite well, but even he couldn't stop from feeling the effects of nearly drinking an entire second bottle of champagne himself.

"Okay." He turned his entire body towards her on the couch so that he was facing her. He sat on his knees looking down at her. He looked disheveled, his hair was sticking up from running his hands through it, his suit jacket was off, his dress shirt unbuttoned at the top, it wasn't tucked in his pants, and both of their shoes were off. He looked so damned sexy, rumpled like this, he was so relaxed, and he had a smile on his face.

"So, who was it?"

"Promise never to say a word to her about it," he stipulated and she shrugged, not really understanding how she could tell someone she never met anything, but she agreed. "My very first crush was on Wonder Woman," he said before taking a big gulp of champagne he didn't even seem to realize had been refilled without him actually physically doing it.

"You and every other little boy in the world, John," she teased. "Who was your second?"

"Mrs. Henderson."

"Who?"

"My third grade teacher, she was my girlfriend, though she just never knew it." He gave her a shy smile, which made her grin back at him. "But no fair, I already told you two crushes and you promised to tell me who was your very first crush."

"No laughing." She pointed her finger at him and he made a motion across his chest. She smiled, he was so utterly cute when he had too much to drink.

"You have my word, Joss, no laughing,"he said solemnly. She nodded, remembering a more serious moment when he gave her his word.

"My very first crush was on Bill Cosby," his lips spread into a smile and she could see he was trying to desperately not laugh, even in his drunken state he didn't want to break his promise. She sighed. "You can laugh." He did immediately when she assured him he could and she shared in it.

"So John, how did you get into the military?" she asked, determined to find out as much information as she could before the man got tight lipped again.

"That's a long story,"

"We got time."

"So Reese, you were really late." They sat together in his car on a stakeout of their new number. "I mean I had gotten a chance to break into the new number's apartment and Finch had gotten a job at his own company as the I.T. guy, all before you graced us with your presence."

"Shaw, do me a favor."

"Depends on what it is."

"Be quiet."

"So you nailed her, didn't you?" obviously she couldn't do his favor.

"So this new number, Gary Bruno is a computer engineer, why would someone want to kill him?" he asked, completely ignoring Shaw.

"Way to go Reese."

"For what?" he feigned ignorance.

"For nailing your officer like you've been wanting to." He felt her smirk, rather than saw it. "Finally got off your ass and did something about your need to bed her."

"You know you're more invested in my love life than me. Can we drop it?"

"You know your non-answer tells me you banged her."

"Listen Shaw, I can assure you I will never tell you if I sleep with a woman or not," he said with a hard glare at her. He didn't wish to tell her or anyone anything. He was like Finch, he was a private person.

"I'll just ask her." She shrugged as if that wasn't a problem.

"Joss, won't tell you anything."

"Oh Joss won't?" he refused to admit he just made an error in calling her 'Joss' in front of this rather irritating new addition to their cause. "She's a woman, I'm a woman, she'll tell me."

"No she won't."

"Well, if there isn't anything to tell than why does it matter if she will or not?"

"You know what?-go ahead and ask her." He decided to call her bluff since she thought she knew everything, anyways. Shaw didn't say anything, she just merely smiled and they worked in silence.

His mind strayed to this morning and he smiled. It had been the best sex he ever had. She blew every dream he ever had of her, of which he had many over the past couple of years of knowing her, they how grown in number of dreams as they became closer and closer friends. He had a particular erotic dream of her chasing after him back when she thought of him as nothing other than the man in the suit, where she caught him and instead of arresting him she had her wicked way with him.

Joss's body was almost made for him, they had fit together so perfectly. She felt heavenly and he wanted nothing more than to have a repeat. But he wasn't sure if that's what she wanted and they were going to go to Stone Creek to discuss it. He had plans of getting a real date from her, he knew she had a lot on her mind with bringing down HR, and helping him with their side work with the numbers, but he hoped they had enough room for their 'whatever it was between them.'

He had always been attracted to her, had been since the day he met her, but he valued her as a friend, afraid of losing her so he didn't pursue anything beyond that with her. He shifted a little when memories of this morning plagued him. The way she tasted as he took her with his mouth, the way she orgasmed around him, clenching him tightly; the way she cried his name in the throes of passion, and how beautiful she looked as she came.

"Reese?"

"Hmmmmm?"

"You know, if you are gonna try to tell people that you didn't nail your officer you might not want to think about your sexcapades because your erection is calling you a damned liar!" He looked down and she snorted with laughter. He shifted a bit. "Reese, you can't hide your erection unless you want to take your coat off, but it's too late, I've already seen it."

"Not a word."

Their eyes connected, he glared hard at the woman to keep her mouth shut. "Whatever you say, Reese," she agreed. He was glad when she was true to her word and didn't make any comment. They went back to work. However, his mind was on anything but work. Since initially waking up this morning and believing Joss couldn't remember last night, he didn't believe that was the case anymore. He had a slight hangover, but he could clearly recall drinking most of the alcohol last night. His glass was always filled by her while she barely sipped hers. He hadn't thought of it much at the time, then again this morning it hadn't bothered him, but now it did. She lied this morning about not remembering what happened last night, but what he couldn't figure out was why? Did she want to save face, thinking he couldn't remember so she pretended she couldn't, like he had done to her, or did she not want to remember everything he told her? It hurt to think she didn't want to remember things he opened up about, but he didn't think she would pretend like he had. She was honest almost to a fault.

"Hey, why the brooding, Reese?"

"What?"

"You had this dopey smile on your face and erection pressing your pants up, and now...well, let's just say you've deflated."

"Will you stop looking at my crotch,"he growled, she shrugged. "It's nothing."

"It's got to be about your officer. For fuck's sake Reese, tell her how you feel so I don't have to deal with your emotions. Men and their emotions, ugh, it's so damned irritating. Emotions on a man makes my sex dry up." He made a face growing tired of this woman.

"I'm sorry, Shaw, for not being a cold, non-feeling robot like you."

"You banged her and you want to bang her again and again, but you're not sure if she wants the same. Well I can guarantee you, Reese, any woman that comes into contact with you wants to nail you in the worst way, except me of course, you have too many emotions for my liking, but you are hot." She gave him appreciative glance before her gaze slid down to his crotch. "Plus, with an erection the size you had must mean you pack a pretty big gun in your holster."

"Please stop talking." Sometimes he couldn't get the damned woman to breathe a word, and now, about his sex life, he couldn't get her to shut up.

"Fine by me," she seemed satisfied that she'd annoyed him to the point that she had. He decided to ignore her for the rest of the stakeout and concentrate on figuring out what to do when he met up with Joss tonight. Should he confront her about her lie that she couldn't remember and demand to know why she did it? Or should he just let it go?

She eyed herself in the rearview mirror, making sure her lipstick was immaculate and her hair perfect before she climbed out of her car. She wanted to make sure she was looking good in hopes of convincing John to come back to her place for a repeat of this morning. She felt nervous for some reason. She was never nervous around him before. But this time it was different, they weren't just friends anymore. They slept together and had to figure out what to do about it. She walked up to the front door of Stone Creek seeing it was twenty minutes before seven. She groaned inwardly, way to go at not looking pathetic. She walked inside hating that she arrived so damned early looking like a desperate loser. She hung up her coat on the rack before fixing the imaginary wrinkle on her tight blue dress. She chose it because it accentuated her curves it dipped low to give John a nice look at her breasts, but not so much to be considered over the top. She felt beautiful in it and more than ready to make him eat his heart out.

She moved further into the pub and then froze. He was already there, sitting and waiting for her. He was nursing a drink, his eyes on the window beside him, and she wasn't prepared for how gorgeous he looked. Since this morning he looked even more devastatingly handsome, and she wanted even more of a repeat of their early dalliance. His eyes slid from the window as if he could feel her eyes on him. Their eyes connected and they stared at one another. She could see the way his eyes widened, taking her in. She moved closer to him, feeling like she was walking in slow motion, his eyes taking her all in, and she noted the way his pupils dilated and his breath quickened. Oh yes, he was indeed attracted to her as much as she was to him. She slid to sit across from him.

"Hi, John."

"Joss," he greeted gruffly. His eyes were on her breasts before looking away as he took a big gulp of his drink. A waitress happened her way over, she ordered whatever he had.

"Listen," they both began and both paused when they spoke at the same time. "Can I go first?" he asked.

"Sure." he smiled softly at her. He took a moment as if collecting his thoughts, and his boyish smile slid from his face.

"If you regret this morning, I understand."

"What?" she blinked a few times, out of everything she had possibly figured him to say that had not ranked on the list.

"I said if you regret what happened this morning, I understand. We don't have to allow it to change our friendship." She stared at him. How in the world could he think she regretted this morning? But before she could reassure him that she didn't regret it, he went on to speak some more. "I lied to you this morning. I remember everything we did, everything we talked about last night. I told you things I never told anyone, I flirted with you quite a bit, you undressed to your bra and panties almost in a challenge, you asked me to sleep beside you, and I got naked in answer to your challenge." Her mouth dropped open. "I know it might not have been a challenge, but at the time it seemed like a good idea thanks to alcohol. I did drink a little to much, but you know that because I remember you filling my glass up a lot last night."

"I'm sorry for lying." She felt ashamed for lying to him and he figured it out. She had all the intentions of telling him the truth tonight, but he beat her to it. What she found interesting was he seemed to have been trying to do the same thing as she had. They both had been trying to protect themselves after the soul seeing conversation they shared the night before.

"Don't apologize when it's me that owes you an apology."

"For lying, John, it's okay, I lied to you too. We can both agree it wasn't our best idea at handling the night before." He nodded, she saw sadness in his blue eyes and for the life of her she couldn't figure out why. She wasn't mad at him that they both lied, as she saw it both of them were doing some self-preservation, it was only natural.

"No, for telling you so much about myself."

"Oh." She looked down. Now she felt sad. He regretted opening up to her. She had been hoping he wouldn't have minded that he shared with her what made him who he was.

"I mean, why else would you lie about not remembering last night." She looked up at him. Okay he lost her again.

"Um, what do you mean, John?"

"You lied this morning about not remembering last night because you wished I hadn't opened up so much to you."

"What?"

"I'm sorry for making you so uncomfortable that you had to lie that you forgot last night." That was why he was sorry about opening up to her, that it caused her to be uncomfortable to lie about it? It wasn't because he regretted it, but because he thought she hadn't wanted to know so much about him? She smiled as she felt relief fill her. She slid a hand onto his, drawing his gaze from his drink.

"I didn't lie because I was uncomfortable that you opened up to me, John. I lied because I thought you didn't remember the night before, so I was worried if you knew I remembered you would have asked me what happened and I would have to tell you. I plied you with alcohol to learn more about you, I was worried you'd regret telling me about yourself and I guess I felt protective of you opening up to me. I lied because I didn't want last night to be ripped away from me. It wasn't because I regretted anything you told me."

"It's not?"

"No," she assured him. "John, I don't regret last night and I sure the hell don't regret what happened this morning." Their eyes connected.

"Neither do I."

"Good. You're my friend, John, but I don't want just your friendship anymore." She danced her fingertips across his smooth skin on the top of his hand. She looked at their contrasting skin, his was a nice ivory color, her's was a deep rich brown tone, and they meshed together so beautifully. "I want you,"she blurted out deciding to go for it all, to hell with the consequences. His eyes bore into hers, his face masked not giving anything away to her. Then he smiled softly.

"I want you too." She shared in his smile. She grabbed her glass holding it up.

"A toast." He eyed her with dancing eyes before he picked up his drink with his free hand and held it up.

"To what?"

"To seeing what our future holds together."

"I'll toast to that." And their glasses clinked together. She was sure this was going to be one hell of a roller coaster ride and she was going to love every minute of it.

Author's note: Well that's all for this twoshot. I liked it because it was easy going, nothing too angsty other than John thinking she regretted him talking to her.

Thank you for reading, not sure when I'll have anymore coming I have to finish everything that all sort of stalled to a stop because of certain circumstances. And once again thank you Elaine for being a wonderful friend and reading/proofing this for me :)