Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blake Danger, codename Falcon, had lots of regrets in his life. Forsaking his life of peace for one of paranoia, betrayal, and death, joining Steel Cove, inevitably joining Halcyon… There were many things in this life that he wasn’t proud of. He had managed to avoid much of the brunt of the hell that was this line of work, as he was mainly a getaway pilot, but he wasn’t safe from the bitter taste of betrayal.

Here he was, the day before Christmas, in a safehouse in Ontario, guarding a Halcyon scientist named Rivera. A wonderful day to reminisce. He paced around the house, idly checking the ammo of his gun.

It was a custom Raven, a gift from a friend. Rose.

“This is OC-7,” he said as soon as the call picked up. “She’s dead. Made a call though.”

The person on the other side of the phone said something he couldn’t quite remember. All he could pay attention to was his elevated heart rate. He had done this before, in Steel Cove. He betrayed and shot his commanding officer. He was no stranger to this type of stuff.

So why was he so terrified?

“Understood. We’re near the docks. I’ll dump her in Erie. Nobody’ll find her down there.” He hung up the phone, letting out a shaky breath as his facade dropped. “Shit.”

He took a deep breath, blinking a few times to bring himself back to the present. No good spacing out, especially in a place like this.

His radio buzzed from his belt, and he picked it up, listening as someone on the other side checked in on him.

“Everything’s fine on my end, over.” He clipped the radio to his belt again, and began his rounds again. As he was holstering the Raven again, he passed by another Halcyon agent - mid length brown hair, tied into a ponytail. Casually scanning over her, he quickly assessed she wasn’t a threat. It was stupid, assessing one of his subordinates as a threat, but paranoia got you far in this line of work. He almost let his eyes drift away from the woman a moment too soon, though. 

He watched as her eyes went wide for a split second, sight trained on the custom Raven.

The gift from Rose.

The gift that she had gotten from that freelancer, Finch.

That freelancer who was currently infiltrating this safehouse in Ontario, who was two feet away from Blake with a gun at her waist and a notoriously quick trigger finger.

If he wasn’t wearing sunglasses, sunglasses that obscured the recognition that surely flashed in his eyes, he had no doubt he would’ve been shot dead then and there. He had no doubt that Finch was here to kill him-

No. She likely had no idea that Blake was Rose’s killer until just now. She was here for a different reason.

She had joined Phoenix, and was trying to steal Rivera. She was the only important thing at this safehouse, the only one unique to this place.

He walked past, letting out a sigh of relief that he was still alive as soon as he turned the corner. Peeking his head from around the corner, he watched as Finch climbed the stairs, probably looking for the control room. Blake hesitantly followed. He would die if he didn’t make a move here.

“Shit,” Blake muttered, dropping down to one of the nearby benches. He stared at his pistol, two shots fired. Two shots at the bottom of the lake, where they’d never be found.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Rose asked. “Why did you tell me that Halcyon found out?”

“You’re innocent,” Blake told her. “As innocent as any of us can get.”

“I saved Jackdaw.”

“You wanted no part in this war,” Blake fired back. “That’s why you tipped off Steel Cove. You didn’t want anyone to have those servers.”

“...you knew about that?”

“Former Steel Cove. I know the only reason they would’ve gone there is if they had a tip. And the only other option was a random Phoenix operative who wanted out, but I sincerely doubt that was the case. Most of those guys are content to do Phoenix jobs. Only reason someone would want out is if they had a personal stake in it,” Blake told her. “Shame that your Freelancer is too good at her job.”

Rose suddenly got a pensive look on her face. “...I hope Jack gets to her in time. I hope she doesn’t die because of me.”

“She won’t,” Blake told her. “God willing, Wren bites the bullet too.”

“I thought you liked Wren,” Rose asked with a wry grin.

“He’s got a stick up his ass,” Blake replied. “Guess being a sociopathic con artist does that to a guy.”

“Guess so,” Rose conceded. “Falcon… thank you. For saving me.”

“Killing you didn’t sit right with me,” he told her.

“Are you…”

“I’m sticking with Halcyon,” he told her. “There’s not a way out, not for me. If I disappear without dying, it’ll bring more attention to your death. They might suspect you actually lived.”

“Why go through with this for me? Why not just kill me and be done with it?” She asked.

“Like I said,” he told her. “Killing you doesn’t sit right with me, Rose.”

“Rachael,” she corrected. “You saved my life.”

“Wow, I get the honor? Me and who else?”

“Wren, Jack and Finch,” she admitted. “Wren only calls me Rose though. Never even told me his name.”

“...Blake,” he reciprocated.

“...thank you, Blake. I don’t think I can repay you for this.”

“You can repay me by laying low and retiring. If you pop up again, we’re both screwed.”

“Yeah… here.” She handed Blake the custom Raven, and his eyes widened at it.

“Are you sure?” He asked. “This is all you have of Finch.”

“When you see her again,” she told him, “And it will be when, because Jackdaw will not fail - give her this back. And tell her I said sorry.”

“Should I tell her you’re-”

“Don’t risk it,” she said. “Like you said, if I pop up again, we’re both screwed.”

“True…”

“You should be getting back now, Blake,” she said. “And I should be carrying on with dead person activities.”

“Are you ok with leaving things like this?” Blake asked as she turned to walk away.

“...I’m not leaving things like this,” she said. “Once this all blows over, and Halcyon collapses from the inside… let’s grab something to eat. Jake’s Pizza. My treat.”

“Ha, ha. Very funny Rachael,” Blake said, smirking as his gaze fell down to the custom Raven. “Don’t die.”

“You neither,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m not joking about Jake’s Pizza, either. You better be there.”

He stepped up to the control room, unholstering his gun and pointing it at the door. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, quickly entering and locking the door behind him.

The locking sound of the door alerted Finch, who had her back to Blake. The custom Raven was pointed at the back of her head.

“Hands up or you’re dead.”

“...shit,” she said, letting out a breathy laugh as she slowly raised her hands. “Hey, Falcon. Switched from evac to executions?”

“I’m not here to kill you,” he said. “I’m just here to talk.

“Big talk from the guy with my gun,” Finch told him, turning around slowly. “I’m not blind, I saw it in the hallway.”

“I know. For a master thief, you would be an awful poker player.”

“Sorry if I had a visible reaction upon seeing my best friend’s murderer holding the gun I gifted to her personally,” Finch bit out. “Wanna explain why I don’t have a hole in the back of my head?”

“Like I said, I just wanna talk,” Blake told him.

“You have a gun pointed at my head.”

“If I didn’t, you would’ve shot and killed me by now. No cameras, no witnesses, and you have a grudge? I’d be stupid to think I’m leaving this room alive if I don’t have a gun pointed at your head,” Blake told him. “I’ll give you a minute to talk to whoever the hell is on comms with you.”

Finch rolled her eyes, before nodding. “Fine. Jackdaw, they got me. Same asshole who killed Rose.”

Blake could practically feel the rage from the freelancer’s comms. So Jackdaw was her mission director? Not surprising, the man always gave a personal touch to Phoenix operations.

“Yeah, he’s got a gun pointed at me. Specifically my gun, if you were listening to that conversation earlier,” Finch said. “Yeah, dead to rights. Tell Sparrow I said sorry.”

“Alright, give me the comms,” Blake told her. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Gotta go. Think you’re being interrogated next. And Jackdaw… sorry. Mission failed.” She took the comm out of her ear, and tossed it over to Blake. He caught it, placing it in his ear.

“Hello, Jackdaw.”

“If you don’t release that operative right now I will raze that safehouse to the fucking ground,” the man said coldly.

“I see where Wren got it from,” he pointed out. “Though he was far less emotional. Seems Rose got that part.”

“Quit it with the quips. What do you want?”

“For you to go dark for a few minutes. I just need to ask a few questions in private. If I like the answers, your operative goes free.”

“And I’m supposed to trust you wont kill her the moment you’re done?” Jackdaw asked.

“Not like you can do anything either way,” he said.

“I could give a tip to the TRU,” Jackdaw told him. Shit. He could do that.

“And guarantee Finch’s death? It’s in both of our best interests if she walks out of here alive, then. Plus, you wouldn’t want the TRU to take whatever you’re here for,” Blake reasoned. He knew they were here for Rivera, but if he played off that he didn’t know what they were here for, he could put that under the guise of what he was interrogating Finch for.

“...I don’t trust you.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to not tip off the TRU and doom your operative,” Blake told him.

“Fine. Five minutes.”

“That should be enough.”

“One second longer, and the TRU is getting tipped off,” Jackdaw threatened, before comms went dark. Falcon took it out of his ear, gun still pointed at Finch, and placed it on the table.

“I’m gonna need to radio in that everything is alright on my end,” He explained to Finch. “I need you to not make a single sound, or else you’re screwed.”

He watched as her confusion grew. “...what the hell are you doing?”

“Pointedly not killing you,” he said, pulling up his radio. “Falcon checking in, everything’s all good where I am, over.”

“Checking in, all good on my end too, over.”

Placing the radio down, he pulled out his phone dialing a number. Finch rolled her eyes.

“You’ve got five minutes, and you’re using your precious time to phone a friend during an interrogation?” She asked.

“What I do is none of your concern,” he told her as he prayed for the phone to pick up. Finally, it connected, and he let out a silent sigh of relief.

“You’ve reached the Monaco Bird Preservation Sanctuary, how may I help you?”

“Jackdaw got Finch.”

“Fuck!” Rachael shouted into the phone. “Blake, this is the first time you call since we split, and that’s the first thing you say to me?!”

“Should I have started with small talk while I’m pointing a gun at her?” He asked, fighting the smirk despite the utterly terrifying situation. Finch was obviously trying to understand what was going on from Blake’s side of the conversation alone.

“She’s in the room with you?! Start with that next time! Shit, what does she know?”

“Nothing. Neither did Jackdaw,” he told her.

“...you’re asking if you should tell her I’m alive.”

“I am,” he said. “She’s probably gonna kill me the second I lower this gun if I don’t, but…”

“But telling her would jeopardize your sacrifice. Shit. How loyal is she to Jackdaw?”

“Can’t tell. I assume very. Came in here to break Horizon out most likely.”

“...Shit,” she muttered, audibly pacing.

“How much trust do you have?” He asked.

“I trust her with my life. I don’t trust Jackdaw.”

“You don’t think he’d let you go if he found out?” Blake asked.

“He’s not who he used to be, Blake. Blinded by revenge. I’m scared that’s Finch, too.”

“You think she’ll lose her drive when she finds out though?” He asked again, making sure to word what he was saying so that Finch couldn’t figure out who or what he was talking about.

“Can you just kill me or ask me questions already?” Finch piped up. “Half your time is up.”

“...that was her,” Rachael muttered. “Ask her why she’s doing this.”

“Finch,” Blake asked, turning his attention to her. “Why are you doing this?”

“Does it matter?” She asked in return. “Money, revenge, politics, why do you give a shit? My reasons are my own.”

“Did you get that?”

“It’s revenge,” she said quietly. “Fuck. She’s going down the same path as Jack.”

“Do you think it’s too late?”

“...I want to believe it’s not. But if I’m wrong, I get sucked back into this again. I can’t get sucked back into this.”

“Two minutes,” Finch said in a singsong voice. “Two minutes before the TRU comes to turn this place to ash and rubble. Might wanna let me talk to Jackdaw again.”

“We’ve got time,” Blake said calmly, readjusting his aim. “If we do tell her, we have two minutes to let her fully digest that before Jackdaw gets back on comms.”

“We can’t tell her. Not enough time.”

“I can try and get more time without Jackdaw.”

“He wouldn’t take kindly to that.”

“Only other option is to let her run herself into the ground.”

“You shouldn’t talk about people like they’re not here,” Finch pointed out. “You’re making it very obvious you’re talking about me. What, did you get my mother’s phone number?”

“...we have to tell her,” Rose said. “I don’t want her to become like Jack. I don’t want her to fall into this- this cycle of killing and revenge, for a woman who’s not even dead.”

“I’ll get Jackdaw back on and ask for more time,” Blake resolved. “Stay on the phone, stay quiet. ”

“Got it, Falcon.”

“Finch,” he said, grabbing the freelancer’s attention. “Get Jackdaw on comms. Tell him we need more time.”

“What, so you can make more calls on my time?”

“I need to tell you something he can’t hear,” he told her.

“Why not?”

“It’s not for his ears. It’s for yours only.”

“I’ll just tell him after. That’s how this works.”

“Information is power, Finch. You’d do well to not give it up so easily,” he said, tossing her back the comms. She caught it, putting it back in her ear.

“Piss off, Falcon,” she muttered, turning it back on. “Jackdaw, I’m back. Still alive. Apparently we need more time in the dark. No, I don’t know what for, he spent most of his time on a call. Don’t try and trace it, you’ll alert the alarms, then I’ll really be screwed. Let me handle this, Jackdaw. I’m a professional. If I don’t send a signal every minute, I’m dead.”

She took the comm out, placing it on the table. “We’re good?” Blake asked.

“Dark again. Every minute I send a signal. Not talking, morse code,” she said, pointing at the comm. “If I don’t, he assumes I’m dead. Now we have as much time as we need.”

“Good. I’m keeping the gun trained on you solely for my own safety. Once I’m sure you won't attack me, I’ll put it down. I don’t intend to shoot you unless you make me,” he told her.

“No sudden movements, got it. You wouldn’t guess it by the job, but I actually don’t have a death wish, so I’ll do my best,” she replied as he placed the phone on the table that separated them. “What’s this?”

“Phone,” he said, placing it on speaker. “You can speak now. Jackdaw’s gone.”

“...Hey, Finch.”

Falcon could’ve blinked and missed the gun being drawn on him, as Finch stared at him with cold eyes.

“You’re a different kind of fucked up, you know that?” She asked. “And I thought Wren was the sociopath.”

“You could’ve written a manual on the shit wrong with Wren,” Rose mused. “Finch, put the gun down. You too, Falcon.”

“I’m not putting down the only thing saving me from an early grave, Rachael,” Blake told her.

“Oh, don’t worry, this gun isn’t gonna kill you,” Finch muttered. “I’m going to rip you limb from limb you psychopathic little-!”

“Finch!” Rachael interrupted. “It’s me.”

“You killed Rose,” she said, ignoring the phone. “You killed her, dumped her body in a lake god knows where, took the gun I gifted to her, and have the audacity to pretend like she’s alive?”

“How the hell would I even fake this?” Falcon asked. “ Why the hell would I even fake this? Me not shooting you instantly is putting me at a massive risk, and the only reason I did is because Rachael would fucking gut me if I laid a finger on you!”

“Get her name out of your mouth you little shit,” Finch growled, gun still trained on Falcon.

“Jesus Christ- Finch, we were supposed to meet up at that beach in San Diego, but I got held up in Toronto and couldn’t give you the tour. I spent three hours trying to convince you to use the thermite to bore a hole through the ground of Cincinnati Trust into the vault, then had to do hostage negotiation with a cop who had clearly never done it before. Hell, I told you my name in that shooting range that you told me to keep your Raven in!”

“...Rachael?” Finch asked, lowering the gun slightly and turning to the phone. Blake let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“Geez, took you long enough to get it through your thick skull!”

“You died. Jackdaw told me you died, he buried you, there’s a grave - I mourned you!”

“...I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I should’ve contacted you, but- ” she sighed. “I wanted out. I needed out of this goddamn war, needed out of the assassination attempts, of the espionage, of the betrayal. ”

“So you left without saying anything?”

“Had to fake my death,” Rose said, wry smile evident in her voice. “I can’t… I didn’t want to fight anymore. Halcyon and Phoenix are just gonna keep tearing each other apart until everyone I cared for was dead. The only reason I’m alive is because the director didn’t think Wren had the heart to kill me without hesitation, so put Falcon onto it instead.”

“Wren is dead,” Finch said, tapping a pattern into her comm. Letting Jackdaw know she wasn’t dead, probably. “Jackdaw shot him in the head.”

“...probably karma. I’m gonna miss that psychotic bastard, though,” she said. “Like a brother I never had.”

“He shot me in the back,” Finch told her.

“Never said he was perfect,” she replied. “Plus, if he was still alive, he sure as hell wouldn’t be for long after that. I would’ve come out of retirement to blow up his house.”

“You do care,” she said, and Blake had to try and not tear his hair out at the lovesick smile she had on her face. “Why not say anything though? It’s been… it’s been so long.”

“Trying to schedule a meetup when you’re on the run can be challenging, especially if you have no way of communicating with a person and they’re pretty much the right hand to a guy who you want to think you’re dead, ” Rose explained. “Couldn’t really waltz up and say, ‘hey Finch, didn’t actually die, please don’t tell Jackdaw!’ Even if I could track you down, the chance that something like that worked without anyone finding out is slim.”

“...shit,” she said quietly. “So you don’t like Jackdaw?”

“Once this whole thing is finished, if he’s still alive, I’ll give him a call,” Rose told her. “But for now… I want nothing to do with this war.”

“So why talk to me?” Finch asked.

“One, you would’ve murdered Falcon if I didn’t do anything. And he saved my life,” she told her. Finch hesitantly lowered her gun, holstering it yet still keeping an eye on Falcon. Falcon did the same, relieved that he was no longer under the threat of death. “Two, I missed you. You’re my best friend, Finch, and my operative. I felt awful about disappearing without a trace, but I didn’t have any other choice. I messed up and my cover was blown. You got caught in the crossfire. I’m sorry.”

“...I won’t tell Jackdaw you’re alive,” Finch said after a moment. “But I’m going to keep fighting.”

“Finch. Please. Don’t. Quit while you’re alive.”

“As long as Halcyon is still operating, you’re not gonna be able to live in peace,” Finch said. “Neither of us will. If Halcyon isn’t brought down, we’ll be on the run for the rest of our lives. I don’t want that.”

“I don’t want you to turn into Jackdaw, consumed by revenge and too paranoid to live,” Rose told her. “And I don’t want you to become like me, trying to take down Halcyon because of some moral crusade.”

“Is it so much to ask that I just want to take down Halcyon so that we can rest?”

“...Please don’t die,” Rose said quietly. “Finch, get a burner for this phone and this phone alone. Falcon, write the number down and give it to her.”

“Got it,” he said.

“Rose… Rachael. Don’t be a stranger, alright?” Finch said quietly.

“Never. Stay safe, alright? Don’t get killed.”

“I’ll talk to you soon,” Finch said. “I’ve gotta finish this mission though.”

“...call as soon as possible,” Rose said, before hanging up. Finch took a deep breath, taking in all the information.

“You saved her,” Finch said once the call was over.

“Never was good at following orders,” Falcon replied. “Your goal is to get Rivera, right?”

“Yeah,” Finch confirmed.

“Don’t let me stop you.”

“You should probably go off the grid. Run from Halcyon,” Finch said. “Fake your death in this house.”

“Why?” Falcon asked.

“TRU tip,” Finch said. “We’re planning on letting them raid the place after we get Rivera.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll go off the grid. Maybe try and meet up with Rachael, watch her back.” 

“I’ll tell Jackdaw I got an edge and killed you.”

“You’re alright lying to him like that?” Falcon asked.

“I’m already lying to him about Rachael’s survival, from this point on,” she told him. “What’s one more lie?”

“...thanks,” he said. Then he pulled out his Raven, handing it to Finch. “I’ll figure something out. You focus on your mission.”

“Falcon,” Finch said as he turned to leave. “Good luck.”

“...Blake,” he said.

“Blake, then,” she corrected. “Don’t die.”

Chapter Text

"Today, we're finishing Rose's work, the only way she would approve of. We're raining fire down on Halcyon."

Finch lay against the terminal in the elevator, breathing heavily as it rose back towards the surface. Bombs planted, unable to be disarmed - and all it had cost was several bullet holes in her. Checking her doomsday watch, she wiped away the broken glass from a stray bullet, checking the time left until the bombs exploded. Just under a minute. She should get up to the surface in that time.

“-id? Kid? You there?” Jackdaw’s voice came over her comm, the static of reconnecting causing her to wince.

“Can hear you loud and clear,” Finch muttered, pushing herself up onto the terminal and placing a finger to her comm. “What the hell was that supersoldier?”

“Project Onyx, if Rose’s old intel is right,” Jackdaw said. “How close are you to the surface?”

“I’ll make it up in time,” she told him, checking her watch again. Thirty seconds, she had enough time-

The elevator jerked to a halt, and she stumbled.

“What was that sound?”

“The elevator stopped!” Finch bit out, dragging herself back to the terminal, pushing through the pain of several bullets embedded in her body. 

“Can you hack it?” Jackdaw asked, worry seeping into his voice.

“...not in enough time,” she admitted, looking at her watch. Twenty seconds. “Sorry, Jack. Couldn’t get out in time. Mission successful.”

Sliding down the edge of the terminal, she let out a shaky breath as blood seeped through her clothes and into her aegis armor. Silence from her comm. Fifteen seconds left.

“Jackdaw?”

The elevator began moving again, far faster than it should’ve been. Static buzzed in her earpiece, causing her to wince at the sudden noise.

“Oh please, you thought I’d let my favorite operative die that easily?” Rachael’s voice came through the comm, half obscured by static. “Funny thing, Halcyon never thought to get rid of my backdoor into their facilities after I died.”

“I’ve never been happier to hear you in my life, Rachael,” Finch said lightly. The whole world started feeling light. The blood loss was getting to her. Ten seconds left.

“It’s Rose. We’re on an op, remember?”

“Op, right… which op?”

“Hang in there, we’re getting you out,” Rachael told her. “Once you’re up there, Falcon will come and pick you up. Just need you to clear the landing.” Five seconds.

“Rose I can’t stand,” Finch said. “Blood loss.”

“Oh shit-”

Whatever happened next was deafened by a colossal explosion from beneath her. Ringing filled her ears as she tried to focus on what was happening around her, and felt the elevator start to shudder from the force of the explosion. She gripped her rifle tightly in her arms, bloodsoaked finger grazing the trigger. Finch felt the world go dark as flames crept up besides her, the only things she could hear being a blaring alarm, the ringing in her ears from the explosion, and distant gunfire. A small smile spread across her face as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Not a moment after her eyes slipped shut, she was ripped back to the realm of the living, panting and coughing. The ringing of her ears and the alarm of the facility was replaced by the blades of a helicopter beating against the air as it flew through the air. Pain coarsed through her body, causing her to groan.

“Holy shit that worked,” someone above her muttered, holding an empty syringe. She dropped it into a nearby open medkit, placing two fingers against Finch’s neck. Searching for a pulse, most likely. “That’s some mission impossible shit.”

“What did you inject me with?” Finch asked weakly, staring up from the floor of a helicopter.

“Adrenaline, to get you conscious enough to transport,” she said. Finch narrowed her eyes as she tried to make sense of who she was looking at. She looked familiar, very familiar. Short black hair, shades-

“Rachael? You dyed your hair black?” Finch asked, realizing who she was looking at.

“Yeah, being on the run does that to ya,” she said.

“What helicopter are we on?” She asked.

“Falcon and I got wind of this op and staged a rescue mission,” Rachael told her. “And by ‘got wind’ of it, I mean got alerted that ten minutes away from us there was a raid on a Halcyon base.”

“Convenient…” Finch muttered, feeling darkness creep into the sides of her vision.

“No, just been tracking you to make sure you don’t die- hey, don’t you lose consciousness on me!” Rachael grabbed her cheeks, lightly tapping them to try and keep Finch conscious.

“Sorry, sorry. Helicopter rides make me sleepy,” she said quietly.

“No, that’s the blood loss speaking,” Rachael told her, pressing a cloth to one of the bullet wounds. “Falcon, how close are we to the nearest Phoenix base?”

“Five minutes out,” Falcon shouted from the cockpit.

“Fuck, she’s not gonna last that long.”

“I’ll be fine, Rachael, I’m tough,” Finch said quietly. She could barely hear the deafening roar of the helicopter.

“We’re still on the op, codenames- ah, who gives a shit,” Rachael muttered. 

“Keep her talking, if she goes under again it’ll be harder to make her wake up!” Falcon shouted again.

“Hey, Finch, I told you my real name, right? What’s yours?” Rachael asked, taking her sunglasses off. It was getting hard to hear her.

“...Joanne,” she said quietly, before giving a weak laugh that morphed into a wet cough.

“That’s a nice name,” Rachael told her. “Thank you.”

“Only two years too late,” she said quietly. “Plus, I prefer Finch at this point.”

“Oh? How come?”

“Half of your codename,” she said. “And it doesn’t sound like a name from the 1900’s.”

Rachael scoffed. “You’re stupidly sweet when you want to be, you know that? Did you steal that line from a movie or something?”

Finch reached up weakly, taking one of Rachael’s hands off her cheek and entwining their fingers together. “You think my one liners are movie worthy? I’d be blushing if half my blood wasn’t in my armor.”

“You’re not in your armor,” Rachael told her. “Had to take it off to patch you up.”

“My point is that there is not enough blood in my body to be blushing,” Finch said, blinking harshly. “How close are we to a doctor? I wanna sleep.”

“You can sleep soon,” she said. “Once we get you patched up and safe, and we’re sure you won’t die, you can sleep. Blake, how far out?”

“Three minutes, keep her conscious!”

“I’m trying dammit!”

“Rose, can you get off my leg?” Finch asked, doing her best to stay awake. “I think it fell asleep.”

“I’m not on your leg- wait, which leg?”

“Left, just below the knee. Numb up until just beneath the kneecap, where there’s a weird pinching sensation,” she explained.

“... shit, that’s the leg that got stuck under rubble,” Rachael muttered. “Finch, I’m not on your leg.”

“...fuck,” she muttered, lifting her head slightly to look at her foot in a makeshift splint that she could not feel in the slightest. “I can’t feel my leg.”

“We’ll deal with it when we get to the hospital,” Rachael said, moving to block her sight to her leg.

“I kill people as my day job, Rose, I can handle a messed up leg,” she said. “Even if it is my own.”

“You’re already on the verge of passing out, I’m not taking that risk.”

“I’ve seen worse,” she muttered, vision swimming. “On the other hand I’m feeling woozy…”

“Oh shit- don’t you dare pass out…” Rose shouted, voice trailing off as Finch drifted into unconsciousness.

The next time she woke up, the searing pain across her entire body had been replaced by a dull ache, and she was in an uncomfortable bed with scratchy clothes all over her. There was a steady beeping from a machine next to her, and her head felt full of cotton. She could hear two people arguing just outside the room, just barely loud enough that she could hear if she strained her hearing.

“...faked your death to get away from me?!” An older man argued.

“You know damn well why I did it, I wanted out! And Phoenix wasn’t a way out!” A younger woman argued back. “It wasn’t personal.”

“I made you a grave, I told the kid in there that you were dead! I grieved for you! You better believe it was personal!”

“You also faked your death,” she fired back.

“I was being hunted by Halcyon, you just wanted out of Phoenix,” the man told her. “Which you could’ve just asked.”

“I betrayed you!”

“Your heart wasn’t in it, you wanted out, and you still refused to betray me to Halcyon. I don’t give a damn if you called Steel Cove to intercept those servers at that lakehouse, you were trying to avoid it getting into Halcyon’s hands.”

“I was trying to get it out of everybody’s hands,” she corrected. “And that failed.”

“Thanks to your favorite operative in there,” the man said. “You got a good one, I’ll say.”

“Don’t change the subject. I fucked up, and faking my death was the only way out of Halcyon. I just wanted to stay away from Phoenix as well.”

“Could’ve sent a card. Wouldn’t have tracked you down,” the man said gruffly.

“I should punch you again,” she replied, sounding equally as grumpy. “You would’ve. And I would’ve had to explain all of this.”

“I just want to know why I had to think you were dead for almost two years,” he asked. “And why did you decide to come back now.”

“Couldn’t let my favorite operative die,” she said, the wry smile evident in her voice.

“That’s not it,” he said. “You’ve seen operatives die. She’s special.”

“No shit, Jack, didn’t gather that from my dying words being me begging you to save her?”

“You weren’t actually dying.”

“Nothing would’ve changed if I had been,” she said. “Unless Falcon shot me in the head and killed me on the spot, which he wouldn’t have been able to without aiming and giving me time to fight back, I would’ve called you.”

“You seemed to have your death planned out,” Jack said calmly.

“I assumed there was a chance. Falcon actively covering my ass was a new one though.”

“I thought he died in Toronto.”

“Finch lied about that and we faked his death.”

“Motherfucker, she knew you were alive.”

“Found out in Toronto.”

“Jesus, Rose, a card would’ve done,” the man gruffly said, pushing open the door to Finch’s room. Jackdaw walked in, nose slightly bruised from what looked like being punched in the face. His eye went wide upon seeing that Finch was awake. “...sorry if we woke you up, kid.”

“How long have I been out?”

“Shit, she’s awake?” Rose asked, poking her head into the room.

“About a day. What’s the last thing you remember?” Jackdaw asked, approaching the bedside and sitting down.

“Helicopter ride back. What happened?”

“We dragged you out of the rubble of the elevator and onto Falcon’s helicopter, he flew us to a nearby Phoenix safehouse to get immediate medical attention, then we took you to a Phoenix owned hospital to get you better care,” Rose explained.

“Is being in a hospital safe?” Finch asked.

“We’ve got people patrolling the place,” Rose told her.

“We both know that means jack shit if you’re sneaky enough or have enough body armor,” Finch told her.

“We were going to transfer you later today if you hadn’t woken up, unless your condition suddenly deteriorated and we couldn’t move you,” Jackdaw told her, before gesturing to her lower body. “Plus, we couldn’t do that in a backwater Phoenix hideout.”

“Jesus, Jack…” Rose muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Have some tact.”

“What do you mean, ‘do that’, what happened?” Finch asked, sitting up.

“Look, Finch, you got trapped under some rubble, and-” Rose started.

“We cut your leg off,” Jackdaw told her bluntly.

“Are you capable of not being an asshole?” Rose asked, turning to him.

“You cut my leg off, ” Finch asked.

“Just beneath the knee,” Jackdaw confirmed. 

“...guess you’re retiring me then?” She asked after a moment.

“You don’t see me retiring and I’m missing an eye,” Jackdaw told her. “But yeah. I’m sending you back with Rose.”

“Shit. Can’t even be there for the downfall of Halcyon?” She asked, a joyless smirk emerging on her face.

“Kid, you caused the downfall of Halcyon. Their finances are in the ground, along with most of their operatives and any trainees,” Jackdaw told her.

“We did pretty good,” Finch muttered. “Hell of a bomb.”

“Hell of a bomb,” Jackdaw agreed, before pulling a duffel bag off his back and planting it on Finch where she lay in her bed. “Here. Retirement gift. Open it.”

“If this is a shit ton of money from that bank from San Francisco, I’m putting you in a retirement home,” Finch muttered as she opened the duffel bag. Several wads of cash were in it, and she glared at him.

“Look underneath it,” he told her. She obliged, digging out a prosthetic leg.

“Shit, Jack…”

“It’s temporary, until we can get you a better one, but it’ll let you walk for the time being.”

“You got me a bunch of money and a prosthetic leg for my troubles?”

“Half a million for now. Once Halcyon is dealt with, the remaining finances will be split between you and Sparrow after severance packages,” Jackdaw told her.

“What, not planning on keeping any?” She asked.

“I have what I need to live out retirement,” he said with a shrug. “Now, lemme grab the doctors, and we can get you discharged.”

“Could I also have something for the pain?” Finch asked as he stood.

“Ask the doctors,” he said. “I’ll give you two a few minutes before telling them you’re up.”

He walked out, shutting the door, leaving just Finch and Rose.

“How are you feeling?” Rose asked.

“Like I could run a mile,” Finch said sarcastically. “...why’d you come and save me?”

“You’d rather I just let you die there?” Rose asked, poking her cheek.

“You jeopardized your freedom for me,” Finch said seriously. “You put yourself in a position where you could’ve been in danger from Halcyon-”

“And it was worth it to save your life,” Rose said seriously. “Who cares if Halcyon tries to assassinate me, you living was worth it. Besides, I covered my tracks.”

“You shouldn’t have taken that risk,” she told her.

“You should let me give a damn about you,” she fired back. “For god’s sake, Finch, you nearly died! You would’ve , if I hadn’t helped you, and you wanna tell me that was a mistake?”

“You could’ve died, for real this time. You still might! We don’t know if they saw you!” Finch argued.

“Who gives a damn if they saw me. I don’t care if they kill me because of this, I saved your life, and that will always be worth it,” Rose said sternly, shutting down any argument. Finch was quiet for a moment.

“...Geez, Rose. I dunno what to say.”

“Rachael. We’re not on an op,” she corrected.

“I like calling you Rose,” Finch said. “Part of my codename is in yours.”

“That was just a coincidence.”

“A nice one.”

“...at least call me Roselin. Rose reminds me too much of playing double agent. And use my actual name at least sometimes.”

“Got it, Roselin.”

“Sounds much better,” she said with a smile. “Quit it with the formal tone, though. I’m no longer your mission coordinator.”

“Don’t wanna boss me around anymore?” Finch asked playfully.

“Never said that, just said you don’t work for me anymore,” Roselin corrected, smirking. “You want me to call you by your name?”

Finch frowned. “I’d prefer Finch, honestly. Don’t like my actual name. Probably wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t think I was going to die.”

“Well, I appreciate it anyway. I won’t use it, though.”

“Thanks,” Finch said, smiling warmly. “What’s the plan after I get discharged?”

“Based on what the doctors say, you come with me and Blake off the grid if you’re discharged. We’ll help take care of you until you’re able to move around on your own,” Roselin explained.

“...you’re really too kind,” Finch said quietly. She had a sad smile on her face and tears gathering in her eyes, which she furiously wiped away. “I don’t think I really did anything to deserve this.”

Roselin placed a hand on her cheek softly. “I asked nicely and you melted through the floor of a bank and into a vault for me.”

“We’re really screwed up in the head, huh?” Finch asked, laughing through tears.

“Yeah. Who cares, though,” Roselin said with a warm smile. “That’s what being in the game does to you.”

Finch smiled, glancing out the window. “It’s ten years, as of yesterday’s op. Ten years since the job that sucked me into all of this.”

“What was the job?” Roselin asked, sitting next to her on the hospital bed.

“Stealing twenty million in gold bars from some armored trucks,” she admitted, turning back to Roselin.

“And you stayed in the game after twenty million?”

“We couldn’t fence it,” she explained. “Series of betrayals and inter-team murder, and I’m here, and Harvey’s rotting in prison.”

“Shocked he’s not dead,” Roselin said.

“Was thinking about killing him,” Finch admitted. “But I didn’t want to become like him. A paranoid murderer who can’t trust anyone. I would rather be betrayed and killed, than to become like him. Plus, that way of living isn’t sustainable. Eventually you betray and manipulate everyone who could ever be close to you, and you’re left with nothing and nobody. I think that if I killed Harvey, I would’ve killed Falcon in that safehouse.”

“Sounds like Wren,” Roselin muttered with a chuckle. “He used to be like that, before Halcyon. Think he realized the same thing you did, and decided to rely on an organization that needed him.”

“He was a perfect fit for Halcyon,” Finch scoffed. “Prick.”

“Sorry for talking about him,” she apologized.

“It’s fine, you two were close. I’m just still a bit hung up on the whole ‘trying to murder me’ thing from a few years ago. That stuff gets old after the first time.”

“I can only assume it would. Betrayal is exhausting,” she admitted. She wrapped her arms around Finch, pulling her into a tight hug.

“It really is,” Finch agreed, leaning into the hug. “I don’t want to do that anymore. Betray people for just a bit more money, shake their hand just to stab them in the back the next day. For what, for money?”

“We’re free now,” Rachael murmured quietly into Finch’s head. 

( Who would we be if we’d never joined Halcyon?

Would we still be criminals? Outlaws?

Was there ever another path for us?

Several months later, on October 18th, 2017, halfway across the country in a remote safehouse, a phone rings. 

We didn’t always do the right thing.

Actually… we almost never did.

The phone is picked up. “Hey, Monaco Bird Preservation Sanctuary, what can I do for you?” 

Whoever was on the other side of the phone said something. A single sentence.

Maybe we got what we deserved. Maybe we didn’t. 

Do we still deserve a happy ending, after all we’ve done?

Was this what was supposed to happen?

“...it’s done,” Rachael muttered, placing a hand on the table to brace herself, making sure she didn’t fall over from shock. “It’s finally done.”

We got what we wanted in the end.

Freedom. Like birds released from a cage.

“Finch! Finch, it’s done! Jack did it!” She said, running out of the room with the phone.

Was it worth it?

Did we make a difference?

Finch sat at the edge of a lake, a lake that would’ve had two gravestones, had things gone slightly differently. Rachael sat flush next to her, tears of joy streaking down her face, as the sun set over the water.)

Chapter Text

“ Merry Christmas, San Diego, ” Finch muttered over comms. “ What a spot for a honeymoon.”

“I’m not sure how you talked me into this,” Rachael muttered, tugging at the collar of her guard outfit as she pulled a large jacket over it, obscuring the disguise. It was really uncomfortable.

“ Robbing this joint was your idea, let me remind you, ” Finch told her.

“I suggested coming to San Diego for the beaches, the bank was just a bonus,” Rachael corrected. “Anyways, I was asking how you talked me into being in the field again.”

“ Think it had something to do with the fact that every other step from me is a clank, ” Finch reminded her.

“It’s not that noticeable with shoes,” Rachael muttered, before waving hello to a random passerby giving her a weird look. “Ugh, forgot how annoying doing this in public was.”

“ Rose, I doubt I could sprint as easily as I used to be able to with a metal leg, no matter how advanced a prosthetic it is. I’m not running it through a field test, either.”

“You’re a far better operative than I am,” she muttered. “This could’ve been solved with a brick of C4 and body armor, you know.”

“ Oh, it definitely could. But like hell would I let you stick up a bank on your own. On our honeymoon?”

“Stop calling it that, we’re not married,” Rachael scoffed.

“Oh please, we’re sharing the bed back in the hotel, we may as well have gotten married.”

“Jack would be pissed if he thought we didn’t invite him to the wedding.”

“He doesn’t need to know.”

“He doesn’t even know we’re dating, because somebody thinks that the shovel talk will involve waterboarding,” Rachael teased.

“ You weren’t there when he met Mike,” Finch muttered.

“Sofia’s boyfriend?” Rachael asked.

“I had to talk him down from the shovel talk he wanted to do. Mainly because it would probably scare him off, because the man has no idea that all of Sofia’s friends are highly trained operatives that are all in the FBI’s top ten most wanted list,” Finch regaled. Rachael nearly burst out laughing, having to curb her laughter as she snuck into an alleyway behind the bank, pulling her jacket off to reveal the guard disguise.

“Holy shit,” she snickered. “How did that go?”

“Had to convince Jack to take his gun off his person for the first time in god knows how many years so that Mike didn’t run for the hills. He’s actually a pretty cool guy. Invited you and I to a New Year’s party, by the way.”

“That sounds delightful actually,” Rachael said as she fiddled with the lockpick in the door. “Any idea what to bring to the party?”

“Probably just a bottle of wine, or something. Something light.”

“Wow, indulging in alcohol,” Rachael muttered as she finally got the door open. “What would Jack ever say?”

“ Something along the lines of ‘good job applying the skills you learned from your-” Finch started.

“Oh, shove off, I get it, the lockpicking lessons were useful,” Rachael interrupted. “Get off your podium. You could’ve done it ten times faster.”

“ I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. You’re better at hacking than I am, anyways.”

“I didn’t know you could hack,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“I know how to connect a server to whoever’s directing the op, who probably has someone who can hack it. That’s the extent of my knowledge.”

“Useful skill set. Not one you really need anymore, though.”

“Neither is how to properly deploy C4, yet I still know that.”

“True,” Rachael muttered, entering the camera room. “Hold on, gimme a moment.”

“Wha- hey, what are you doing in here-” The guard watching the cameras said, standing up. As he reached his full height, his eyes widened as he was staring down the barrel of a gun.

“Hey. What’s the vault code.”

“I-I dunno! Only the manager knows!”

“Always the manager. Oh well. Knock ‘em. And patch me into cameras, too.”

Rachael obliged, smacking him over the head and watching as he crumpled to the floor. She checked he was still alive, and after guaranteeing he was, stuffed him in a corner. Quickly pulling out a USB and sticking it into the computer that controlled the cameras, she let Finch watch through them, before taking the USB out. Now she just needed to get to the manager.

“ Does this count as a first date? ” Finch pondered aloud as she made her way to the main floor.

“You talking me through a mission does not count as a first date,” she muttered, walking past another guard. “If it does, then our first date was actually at a New York penthouse.”

“We weren’t dating when I kidnapped Ryan Ross.”

“You broke me out of prison, might as well have been,” Rachael said as she stepped into the manager’s office. She pulled out her pistol, sneaking up on the manager who had his back turned, rearranging a bookshelf in his office. 

“Uhh, excuse you, that exfiltration was purely business. Same with the other operations,” Finch explained as Rachael tapped the manager on his shoulder, watching as he turned around to stare down the barrel of a gun. 

“Oh, sorry, our last bank robbery was strictly platonic, but this one? Sending me head over heels, love,” Rachael said lovingly as she held a gun to the man in front of her. “Code to the vault, please.”

“Who are you?!” The manager asked. “Please, don’t hurt me-”

“I won't, just give me the code to the vault.”

“Wow, flirting with me while you hold up the manager of this bank? Trying to make him jealous before you bankrupt him with insurance fees?” Finch asked as the manager scribbled out the code on a piece of paper. 

“Here, the code, just please don’t-” the manager started, before Rachael smacked him with the butt of her pistol.

“Got the code.”

“And traumatized a bank manager in one fell swoop,” Finch said. “Get down to that vault, and let’s get outta here-”

Several gunshots echoed out. Rachael looked towards the source of the sound - the lobby. Silence for a moment. Then Finch groaned.

“I swear to god, if someone else is robbing this bank in fucking San Diego on the same day as us…”

Rachael peeked around a corner. “Someone’s definitely robbing this bank in fucking San Diego,” she muttered bitterly. “It’s worse than that, though.”

“...don’t fucking tell me-”

“They’re using thermite,” Rachael confirmed.

“They stole our fucking bank robbery strategy!” Finch shouted. “Shit. They’re melting into the vault. Get that box and get out, quick!”

“They’re gonna get the cops called on me!” She bit out angrily. Running to the stairs, she quickly made her way to the vault. She punched in the code, unlocking it and tugging it open.

“I’m checking news coverage, they’re negotiating with cops currently. How many did you see?”

“Four of them,” Rachael relayed, going to the deposit box and drilling a hole in the vault lock. 

“Cams show three. One of them is in the back, probably coming down to the vault.”

“Gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” Rachael cursed as the deposit box swung open. She grabbed the files she was looking for, along with a USB. “Got the files and the USB stick. What was on it again?”

“Personal details of a fake id for an old Halcyon agent that popped up. As well as a good chunk of his funding in that USB,” Finch explained. “Planning on mailing the documents to the FBI. And the USB, after we drain the money.”

“Harsh,” Rachael said quietly, checking around the corner carefully of the vault. She saw as one of the robbers entered the room, and she quickly hid back in the vault.

“Vault’s open,” he said sternly, getting closer. “Probably were in the middle of a transaction when the alarm sounded, and the manager and customer fled out through the basement. Wish we checked it before we set the thermite, though.”

“He on comms?” Finch asked. “Don’t answer that. Kill him and get out. Don’t try and knock him out, he’s too heavily armed to risk it.”

The man stepped into the vault, lowering his rifle as he looked around. “Thermite probably has a few minutes. I’ll try and get the box open and get out before it comes down on me.”

Rachael pulled out her Raven, shooting the man in the back of the head and calmly exiting the vault as his body dropped to the floor. “Got it, I’m getting out.”

“Not dressed like that,” Finch said. “You’ll get flagged and searched instantly. Worse, they’ll take you in as a witness. Run a background check on you. Then you’re really screwed.”

“What else do I do? Just killed one of their guys, haven’t got long until I need to kill the rest. Then the cops close in on me,” Rachael hissed.

“Lemme think, lemme… Find a cop in the building, take their outfit, use it to sneak out once they get caught.”

“Do you know how hard it’ll be to get a cop outfit?”

“Any better ideas, they have snipers on you!” Finch said sternly. “Fuck, looks like their evac plan might just be a car. These guys are amateurs.”

“Cop leaving the scene is still pretty suspicious. They got snipers on the alleyway?”

“They probably do. I think poking your head out to check is suicide.”

Rachael turned back to the vault, to see the ceiling melting in, and rubble falling on the fallen bank robber’s corpse. “Time’s up, vault breached.”

“Cops are probably filing in too. Act hostage, see if you can’t get a cop alone in a room where you can steal his outfit.”

“Got it,” she said as she left the vault room, going back upstairs. Sneaking back into the main floor, she looked around, seeing several dead SWAT officers and a single bank robber, watching the entrances and firing out. She quickly grabbed an officer, quietly dragging the corpse into the back. She gave a small wave to a hostage, shushing them as she dragged the body back. “Could’ve probably shot the robber.”

“Bad move, they’re holding SWAT off.”

“Would’ve made me feel better about them ruining our score,” she said.

“Oh, I would’ve done it in a heartbeat. Still a bad move. Let them take the fall, you were never there,” Finch said simply. “More SWAT entering, prepare for gunfire. ”

She heard the gunfire almost immediately as she changed into a swat uniform, praying that the bloodstains and bullet holes in the outfit weren’t too noticeable.

“Ok, uniform stolen.”

“Perfect. Now just walk out with the rest of the cops once they catch the robbers. If possible, put a new vest over any damage to your current one.”

She tucked her raven into her uniform, careful to hide it. Then, she waited. Waited for about five minutes, until the three guys began to run out the back door. Right towards Rachael.

“Change of plan,” she said as she hid, letting them run by. “I’m chasing them and ducking into an alleyway.”

Several SWAT members followed them a few seconds after, and Rachael joined in behind them, keeping pace as they held pursuit. After a bit of chasing on foot, she ducked into a nearby alleyway, letting the commotion pass her by. A beat of silence passed.

“We did it,” Finch said.

“Holy shit, I forgot the thrill of being in the game,” Rachael cackled. “Ha! Oh, how I love wrenches being thrown into plans.”

“I’m never being the mission coordinator again. That last bit was awful.”

“Control freak,” Rachael teased.

“Sorry if I enjoy knowing if you’ll make it home safe.”

“You’ve pulled worse stunts,” she said. “Plus, I’m fine.”

“I know, just… I worry about you. There was no alternative exfiltration, because we weren’t planning on needing one.”

“Hey, it won't happen again,” Rachael comforted her as she changed out of the SWAT uniform. “It was a messed up turn of fate that screwed us over, but I ended up fine.”

“Yeah… just get back fast. Don’t think I’ll calm down properly until I see you in person.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes,” she said as she pulled her coat over her guard uniform, covering the spots where the SWAT uniform’s blood had soaked in. She pulled on a baseball cap and some shades, and began making her way over to their hotel room.

“Ok. I’ll see you then.”

“I’m not getting off comms until I’m back there,” Rachael told her. “And neither are you. You’re on edge after that, understandably so. Not leaving you alone while I walk over there.”

“...thanks, Rachael.”

The walk back took only about eight minutes, though maybe that was because Rachael was rushing a little bit.

As soon as she got back to the little hotel room they were using as their base, she opened the door and was instantly greeted by Finch tightly hugging her. She smiled, hugging her back and slowly moving the two back into the hotel room, shutting the door behind her.

“You weren’t followed back?” Finch asked, her voice muffled by Rachael’s shirt.

“I wasn’t,” she answered, an exchange that had happened three times since she left the alleyway.

“Sorry, I’m just… worried,” Finch muttered. “It’s dumb. I know you’re here and alive. I shouldn’t feel like you’re going to disappear and die at any given moment.”

“I’m tough, Finch. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

“I know,” she said, pulling her face out of Rachael’s shirt to look up at her. “But I still worry.”

“And that’s alright,” Rachael told her, brushing some of the hair out of her eyes and pulling her back into the hug. “Hey, wanna just sit on the couch and watch shitty hallmark movies?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Finch said quietly.

Three hours and two movies later, Rachael was stuck under a sleeping Finch, who was draped across her. The room was dark, and Rachael was glad that Finch had actually managed to fall asleep. After the events of the day… It was a big ask to have Finch asleep at all, let alone quietly.

Finch got nightmares sometimes. Rachael wasn’t sure what of, as she never really talked about it. She just assumed it was something about her, as Finch would always spend the aftermath not letting Rachael out of her site, usually not even sleeping until her exhaustion finally won over her hypervigilance.

It wasn’t like she was alone. Rachael had her bad days. It’s just that Finch had them more frequently, and Rachael was used to having bad days. Bad days for her were pretending just to survive, putting on a mask around everyone you know, even people you love, for fear of betrayal at any given moment. Bad days made her think of her time as a double agent in Halcyon, fully aware that even just the inkling of her true motives would lead to everyone around her turning on her.

She was used to having bad days. Every day for eight years was a bad day. She just didn’t become vigilant and on edge, like Finch or Jack, when having bad days. She slipped into an old mask, slipped into Rose again. 

Rachael’s bad days never led to nightmares. They led to the calm acceptance that she might not wake up the next morning.

She was shaken by her thoughts by her phone ringing, which she quickly picked up and checked. Sofia was calling her. Rachael managed to separate herself from Finch without waking her up, stepping away to answer the call so as to not wake her up.

“Sofia, hello?”

“Hey Rachael! How’s it going?” Sofia asked, usual playful joy in her voice. Rachael let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding - this wasn’t a call for help, or an alert that her cover had been blown, just a friend checking up on a friend. Maybe she was having a bad day too.

“Alright, how are you?”

“Pretty good. Heard you were in San Diego,” Sofia asked casually. She got the underlying message.

“Can you believe they hit the same joint as us, on the same day, at the same time?! ” Rachael hissed into the phone. “Talk about unlucky.”

“So you were there. Jack owes me fifty bucks,” she said. “What made you do it?”

“Love of the game,” Rose joked. “Actually though, we needed documents on an ex Halcyon agent that were in the bank. And a USB of bank records. Was supposed to be a clean, in and out op with no altercations. And it would’ve been, had four bank robbers not shown up at the same time.”

“Ah, shit. Glad you two got out unscathed though.”

“Relatively,” Rachael muttered, glancing over at FInch. “Hey, Sofia, you’ve helped Jack out with his paranoia and stuff, right?”

“Yeah, his PTSD? He’s been making pretty good progress, doesn’t jump to shoot anything that moves as much anymore. What about it?”

“How did you help him?”

“...is it Finch?” Sofia asked after a moment. “Almost dying kinda does that to you. I speak from experience.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think it’s from that. I think it’s from thinking I’m gone, or dead, or something,” Rachael said quietly, eyes trained on Finch. She was still fast asleep.

“You were presumed dead for almost a year and a half, and she cares a lot about you,” Sofia reasoned. “That’s probably why.”

“Any ideas on how to help?”

“You being in a lot of danger, such as caught up in a bank robbery, probably set that off. Generally just try to avoid setting off any triggers, and help talk them through it if they’re ever having an episode. Also, be patient with them. Help them work through it, don’t just tell them it’s in their head,” she explained.

“That… actually helps a lot. Why do you know so much about this?”

“Jack deals with this type of stuff often. It’s best to keep it in mind so I can help him.”

“That makes sense,” Racheal said. “...thanks, Sofia.”

“No worries. Finch is my friend, I want her to be in the best hands possible. Which are yours,” she told her. “Really, you’re good for her. She was always kinda moody after that bank robbery, but seemed a lot better after leaving that safehouse about three years ago. I think finding out you were alive helped her a lot.”

“Yeah… I’m lucky to have someone so devoted to me,” Racheal said quietly.

“Which is why I’m going to tell you, again, to shoot your shot with her,” Sofia finished.

“...we kinda started dating. I think.”

“That fails to inspire confidence in me.”

“We talked a bit about it the other night, and she kept saying things about how this was our first date, but-”

“I’m going to stop you there as that sentence has genuinely caused physical pain in my body,” Sofia interrupted. “She has admitted that you two went out on a date.”

“It was a bank robbery that she was helping with over comms,” Rachael said sternly. “Hardly a date. We were planning to go to the San Diego beaches tomorrow, but that might be off the table.”

“Have you talked about it at all further than that,” Sofia asked.

“...Finch called this our honeymoon and made jokes about us being married.”

“I hate you two,” Sofia muttered. “I get that now is an awful time to do it, but please say something sometime soon. Especially if you’re coming to our New Year’s party. I cannot stand to see you two pine over each other again. Last year was bad enough.”

“We were hardly that bad.”

“You two did not separate for over an hour after the movie we were watching ended.”

“We were comfortable,” Rachael defended.

“Jack noticed and asked me about it. Jack. ”

“Jack’s been on my ass about this since he found out I was still alive.”

“Blake even knows.”

“He’s former Steel Cove, no shit he’s observant. The fact that he knows based on the probably three times I’ve seen him in the past year though...”

“He’s not blind, which is the only prerequisite to knowing about you two.”

“Alright, I get the idea, we were pretty bad… I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow.”

“Thank god,” Sofia muttered. “You’re coming to our New Year’s party too, right?”

“Obviously. Assuming Finch is ok to go, which she should be by then, we’ll be there.”

“Great! I’ll let you two lovebirds get back together now, I’ve gotta go. Bye, Rachael!”

“Goodnight Sofia,” Rachael muttered, rolling her eyes. She placed her phone in her pocket, going back towards the couch. As soon as she sat down on the couch again, Finch latched onto her, burying her head in the crook of Rachael’s neck. She smiled warmly, placing a light kiss on her head, before wrapping her arms around her and slipping into sleep.