FIC: "Watching the Watcher," John Reese/OFC, Person of Interest
Title: Watching the Watcher
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Person of Interest
Self-Lover: John Reese/OFC
Spoilers: Jessica is mentioned, but nothing specific
Words: 2,204
Date: Day 1
The post to suggest future pairings/stories!
Warnings: Mentions of attempted rape.
Summary: The latest person of interest is well aware she's being watched. She just doesn't care.
She wasn't easy to lose, even in a crowd. Close to John's height, in a green overcoat with brown hair flipped over the collar, she exuded a presence that made people step out of her way. After she left work, she window-shopped and browsed through outdoor markets on a meandering journey home. He checked in with Finch at regular intervals, keeping him apprised of their errands, but so far the only threat he'd identified was the risk of boredom.
Chloe Lawrence was a fashion designer who seemed to spend very little time designing anything. In the day since her number popped up, she'd spent a grand total of eighteen minutes in her office. On the subway, John stayed a good twenty feet away from where she sat at all times, sometimes using her crossed legs or bouncing high heel as a landmark to make sure she hadn't moved.
When he shifted to the other side of the car to let an elderly man pass, Chloe looked up and met his eye. She smiled in a way that implied she knew exactly who he was and what he was doing. Uncharacteristically flustered to have someone confront him that way, John returned the smile with the bare minimum of social politeness before twisting to look out the window at the blur of lights in the darkness between stations.
They returned to the street and Chloe headed for home. "Finch. You there?"
"Always, Mr. Reese. Has a complication arisen?"
"Hard to say. I may have been spotted."
"May have been?"
"I'll keep you updated."
"I would appreciate it."
He had staked out Chloe's apartment earlier. It was across from a shorter building and, from the right vantage point he had a perfect view into her spacious living room. He broke away from following her and took the fire escape up, taking position where he would be inconspicuous. Chloe's living room was decorated with lots of reds and oranges, and the walls were dark beige. The scheme was enough to make him feel warm despite the cool breeze cutting through the canyon between buildings, and he flipped up his collar as Chloe arrived home.
She took off her overcoat to reveal a wrap-around blouse and black skirt, and she walked to the window and stared outside. She rested her hands on the sill and, for a moment, she looked directly at the spot where John was concealed. After a moment she stepped back from the glass and undid her blouse. The two halves hung open to reveal a black brassiere with white lace along the cups.
John retreated one step but kept his head turned toward the window. Something like this was bound to happen eventually, given their methods of surveillance; he was just surprised it hadn't happened earlier. He couldn't exactly go away and come back. If something was going to happen to her, it was bound to happen within a day or two of the Machine providing her number. That was how it had always worked in the past, and how he assumed it would always work. They were coming up on thirty hours of quiet.
Chloe shrugged out of her blouse and turned away from the window, reaching up to unhook her bra. She pulled it off, lifting her hair with both hands before letting it tumble back onto her shoulders and rest against her spine. She walked out of the living room, down a short corridor that he knew from his brief, uninvited visit led to the bedroom. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mr. Reese? Is everything okay?"
He had almost forgotten about Finch. "Fine. Just caught a chill."
"I've been trying to find out why anyone would want to hurt a fashion designer, other than perhaps anyone expecting her to actually spend time at work. So far I haven't found anything incriminating in her financials--
Chloe returned to the living room and Finch's voice faded to the background. She had removed her skirt and now stood in stockings and a garter belt. Her panties were sheer enough that she might as well have not bothered. Her breasts were small, with nipples that looked like they had been teased to erection with ice. She walked back to the window, placed her palms against the glass, and began to move her hips from side to side as she slowly scanned the roofs across the street.
"--posing as a potential client, but no one has anything bad to say about her..."
"Finch, I'm going to need a few minutes." He took out his earbud and pressed tighter against the wall. There was no doubt that Chloe knew she was being watched, and now John found himself thinking back on all the times during the past day he thought she'd caught him. A glance over her shoulder, the smile on the subway. Once he had been trapped by a red light and hurried to catch up only to find her stopped at a newsstand to look at magazine covers. He'd thought it was just a lucky break when she left without buying anything, but now he knew.
She'd been waiting for him to catch up.
John straightened his back and rested his head against the wall. This was wrong. It was so wrong he didn't know where to begin listing the reasons. He balled his hands into fists and rubbed his thumb across his fingertips, steadying his breath before he looked back. Chloe was still doing her dance, now turned sideways with her hands against the flat of her belly and her back arched to show off the curves of her chest and rear end.
It didn't hurt that, from a distance, she looked like Jessica.
He moved one hand to the front of his pants and pressed his palm against the bulge that had appeared there. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he stepped out of his concealment.
Chloe's eyes continued to scan for a moment, but then they registered the movement and locked onto him. Her eyes widened and she pursed her lips in a kiss before lifting both arms over her head. She spun to give him a view of her whole body, then bent forward with her ass toward the window. She slowly rose, dragging her hand up her leg as she watched him over her shoulder.
When she was standing straight again, she turned to face the window fully. She put her hands over her crotch and tilted her head to the side, her bottom lip pushed into a pout. She shrugged and raised an eyebrow.
John swallowed and unzipped his pants. He pushed his underwear out of the way and quickly freed his cock. The cool breeze was not exactly friendly, but the show so far had given him enough plump to avoid embarrassment. Chloe licked her lips and made a show of mouthing the word "Wow" before she pushed her panties aside with the thumb of one hand, pushing the fingers of her other hand under the sheer lace.
Her legs were spread slightly and she hunched her shoulders as her arm began to move. John braced his shoulder against the rough stone of the wall and stroked from base to tip, watching Chloe as she turned masturbation into a dance. John brought his hand to his mouth and licked the palm, closing his eyes as he gripped himself again. He imagined it was Jessica's hand, and a smile rose on his face.
When he looked again, Chloe had one hand pressed against the glass. She rocked her hips against an invisible lover, her eyes open and her face turned toward John. Even at a distance, he could see the color rising in her chest and throat, the pink that was now spreading from her nose to her ears. John moved his hand faster and lifted his chin.
He grunted when he came, careful not to get anything on his suit as he tucked his cock back into his pants. Across the street, Chloe was finishing as well. Her head was thrown back, her lips parted in what would otherwise have looked like a grimace of pain. After a few sensational jerks of her shoulders, she seemed to collapse against herself and sagged against the glass. She opened her eyes and focused across the street.
John smiled, and she winked at him. She blew him a kiss and, when she could walk, pushed away from the glass and crossed her arms over her chest. She waved her fingers in farewell and turned away, swaying her hips to ensure he was watching her. The living room light clicked off, and John put his earbud back in as he walked away from his hiding spot.
"Finch."
"Mr. Reese. Is everything all right there?"
"Fine." He opened the stairwell access and headed down. "I just had to take care of something. Chloe's in bed for the night. I'll pick up surveillance in the morning." Of course, if he wanted to keep an eye on her overnight... no. Exhibitionism wasn't an invitation. No sooner had the thought formed in his mind did he step out of the stairwell exit and into the alley. On the street facing Chloe's building, he saw two men dressed in rumpled suits. One of them looked hopped up on something, and the other was craning his neck up toward the sky.
No... not the sky.
"Sometimes she just does the dance. But man, oh man, did I not tell you? Lady is just asking for it."
The hopped-up guy glanced suspiciously at John, who gave no indication he was paying attention as he passed them. "Let's just go, then."
"No. We'll wait 'til she's in bed. There's a fire escape on the other side of the building." He laughed, making a sound that John could only compare to a cat choking on a bottle cap. "Hell, man, when we're done, she'll probably thank us and pour us a drink."
John stepped around the corner. "I think I found the threat, Finch. Give me a few minutes..."
#
Chloe stretched, writhing in her luxurious sheets for a moment before she forced herself to sit up. After her shower, she dressed and put on makeup, deciding whether she how long she would spend imprisoned in the office. She had a few designs that needed to go out by the end of the month; might as well take care of that. On her way out of the apartment, she passed the window and glanced across the street where her mystery watcher had been the night before.
In her mind, his name was Rafe, and he was a firefighter by trade. She grinned at her own fantasy as she picked up her purse and headed out.
Downstairs, she was shocked to see police tape blocking the alley that ran alongside her building. Ever since moving to New York, she hadn't been able to get used to that. One of her downstairs neighbors saw her looking and took that as an opportunity to share the gossip.
"Found a couple of bad eggs on the fire escape this morning with some zip ties. They both had boxes of condoms in their jacket pockets. Police say there were rapists looking for a way inside someone's apartment."
Chloe's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. What happened? Did they--?"
"Police don't think they got into any apartments. No one's reporting anything." She smiled. "They're saying it looks like they missed one of the steps and went a-tumbling down one after t'other. Broke quite a few bones in the process. Weird thing is, the zip ties they brought were used to hold 'em to the fire escape ladder. Almost like Batman or something."
"Yeah. Almost." She said goodbye to the neighbor and headed out, giving the police a wide berth. When she stopped on a corner and waited for the light to change, she became aware of a presence behind her. She nearly turned around, but he put a hand in the small of her back and very softly said, "Don't."
It was him. It had to be.
She kept facing forward. "That was you. Wasn't it?"
"I was in the right place at the right time."
"Thank you. If they had... gotten in." She shuddered at the thought. The light changed and they started across the street. "I'd only have myself to blame, I guess. Last night wasn't exactly the first time I'd--"
"There's nothing wrong with exhibitionism. It's not a request to be taken against your will. Keep your kink. Just find a safer way to explore it."
"That's good advice. I'll take it to heart." She wet her lips. "So should I be looking for you to be hanging around from now on? Maybe next time I'll draw the curtains and let you have a front-row seat for the show." There was no response from him, so she glanced over her shoulder. The mystery man was gone, faded into the ever-present crowd of pedestrians.
She felt disappointed, but she supposed his work was done. She sighed. "Goodbye, Rafe." She scanned the crowd once more and then continued her walk to work.
Author: geonncannon
Fandom: Person of Interest
Self-Lover: John Reese/OFC
Spoilers: Jessica is mentioned, but nothing specific
Words: 2,204
Date: Day 1
The post to suggest future pairings/stories!
Warnings: Mentions of attempted rape.
Summary: The latest person of interest is well aware she's being watched. She just doesn't care.
She wasn't easy to lose, even in a crowd. Close to John's height, in a green overcoat with brown hair flipped over the collar, she exuded a presence that made people step out of her way. After she left work, she window-shopped and browsed through outdoor markets on a meandering journey home. He checked in with Finch at regular intervals, keeping him apprised of their errands, but so far the only threat he'd identified was the risk of boredom.
Chloe Lawrence was a fashion designer who seemed to spend very little time designing anything. In the day since her number popped up, she'd spent a grand total of eighteen minutes in her office. On the subway, John stayed a good twenty feet away from where she sat at all times, sometimes using her crossed legs or bouncing high heel as a landmark to make sure she hadn't moved.
When he shifted to the other side of the car to let an elderly man pass, Chloe looked up and met his eye. She smiled in a way that implied she knew exactly who he was and what he was doing. Uncharacteristically flustered to have someone confront him that way, John returned the smile with the bare minimum of social politeness before twisting to look out the window at the blur of lights in the darkness between stations.
They returned to the street and Chloe headed for home. "Finch. You there?"
"Always, Mr. Reese. Has a complication arisen?"
"Hard to say. I may have been spotted."
"May have been?"
"I'll keep you updated."
"I would appreciate it."
He had staked out Chloe's apartment earlier. It was across from a shorter building and, from the right vantage point he had a perfect view into her spacious living room. He broke away from following her and took the fire escape up, taking position where he would be inconspicuous. Chloe's living room was decorated with lots of reds and oranges, and the walls were dark beige. The scheme was enough to make him feel warm despite the cool breeze cutting through the canyon between buildings, and he flipped up his collar as Chloe arrived home.
She took off her overcoat to reveal a wrap-around blouse and black skirt, and she walked to the window and stared outside. She rested her hands on the sill and, for a moment, she looked directly at the spot where John was concealed. After a moment she stepped back from the glass and undid her blouse. The two halves hung open to reveal a black brassiere with white lace along the cups.
John retreated one step but kept his head turned toward the window. Something like this was bound to happen eventually, given their methods of surveillance; he was just surprised it hadn't happened earlier. He couldn't exactly go away and come back. If something was going to happen to her, it was bound to happen within a day or two of the Machine providing her number. That was how it had always worked in the past, and how he assumed it would always work. They were coming up on thirty hours of quiet.
Chloe shrugged out of her blouse and turned away from the window, reaching up to unhook her bra. She pulled it off, lifting her hair with both hands before letting it tumble back onto her shoulders and rest against her spine. She walked out of the living room, down a short corridor that he knew from his brief, uninvited visit led to the bedroom. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mr. Reese? Is everything okay?"
He had almost forgotten about Finch. "Fine. Just caught a chill."
"I've been trying to find out why anyone would want to hurt a fashion designer, other than perhaps anyone expecting her to actually spend time at work. So far I haven't found anything incriminating in her financials--
Chloe returned to the living room and Finch's voice faded to the background. She had removed her skirt and now stood in stockings and a garter belt. Her panties were sheer enough that she might as well have not bothered. Her breasts were small, with nipples that looked like they had been teased to erection with ice. She walked back to the window, placed her palms against the glass, and began to move her hips from side to side as she slowly scanned the roofs across the street.
"--posing as a potential client, but no one has anything bad to say about her..."
"Finch, I'm going to need a few minutes." He took out his earbud and pressed tighter against the wall. There was no doubt that Chloe knew she was being watched, and now John found himself thinking back on all the times during the past day he thought she'd caught him. A glance over her shoulder, the smile on the subway. Once he had been trapped by a red light and hurried to catch up only to find her stopped at a newsstand to look at magazine covers. He'd thought it was just a lucky break when she left without buying anything, but now he knew.
She'd been waiting for him to catch up.
John straightened his back and rested his head against the wall. This was wrong. It was so wrong he didn't know where to begin listing the reasons. He balled his hands into fists and rubbed his thumb across his fingertips, steadying his breath before he looked back. Chloe was still doing her dance, now turned sideways with her hands against the flat of her belly and her back arched to show off the curves of her chest and rear end.
It didn't hurt that, from a distance, she looked like Jessica.
He moved one hand to the front of his pants and pressed his palm against the bulge that had appeared there. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he stepped out of his concealment.
Chloe's eyes continued to scan for a moment, but then they registered the movement and locked onto him. Her eyes widened and she pursed her lips in a kiss before lifting both arms over her head. She spun to give him a view of her whole body, then bent forward with her ass toward the window. She slowly rose, dragging her hand up her leg as she watched him over her shoulder.
When she was standing straight again, she turned to face the window fully. She put her hands over her crotch and tilted her head to the side, her bottom lip pushed into a pout. She shrugged and raised an eyebrow.
John swallowed and unzipped his pants. He pushed his underwear out of the way and quickly freed his cock. The cool breeze was not exactly friendly, but the show so far had given him enough plump to avoid embarrassment. Chloe licked her lips and made a show of mouthing the word "Wow" before she pushed her panties aside with the thumb of one hand, pushing the fingers of her other hand under the sheer lace.
Her legs were spread slightly and she hunched her shoulders as her arm began to move. John braced his shoulder against the rough stone of the wall and stroked from base to tip, watching Chloe as she turned masturbation into a dance. John brought his hand to his mouth and licked the palm, closing his eyes as he gripped himself again. He imagined it was Jessica's hand, and a smile rose on his face.
When he looked again, Chloe had one hand pressed against the glass. She rocked her hips against an invisible lover, her eyes open and her face turned toward John. Even at a distance, he could see the color rising in her chest and throat, the pink that was now spreading from her nose to her ears. John moved his hand faster and lifted his chin.
He grunted when he came, careful not to get anything on his suit as he tucked his cock back into his pants. Across the street, Chloe was finishing as well. Her head was thrown back, her lips parted in what would otherwise have looked like a grimace of pain. After a few sensational jerks of her shoulders, she seemed to collapse against herself and sagged against the glass. She opened her eyes and focused across the street.
John smiled, and she winked at him. She blew him a kiss and, when she could walk, pushed away from the glass and crossed her arms over her chest. She waved her fingers in farewell and turned away, swaying her hips to ensure he was watching her. The living room light clicked off, and John put his earbud back in as he walked away from his hiding spot.
"Finch."
"Mr. Reese. Is everything all right there?"
"Fine." He opened the stairwell access and headed down. "I just had to take care of something. Chloe's in bed for the night. I'll pick up surveillance in the morning." Of course, if he wanted to keep an eye on her overnight... no. Exhibitionism wasn't an invitation. No sooner had the thought formed in his mind did he step out of the stairwell exit and into the alley. On the street facing Chloe's building, he saw two men dressed in rumpled suits. One of them looked hopped up on something, and the other was craning his neck up toward the sky.
No... not the sky.
"Sometimes she just does the dance. But man, oh man, did I not tell you? Lady is just asking for it."
The hopped-up guy glanced suspiciously at John, who gave no indication he was paying attention as he passed them. "Let's just go, then."
"No. We'll wait 'til she's in bed. There's a fire escape on the other side of the building." He laughed, making a sound that John could only compare to a cat choking on a bottle cap. "Hell, man, when we're done, she'll probably thank us and pour us a drink."
John stepped around the corner. "I think I found the threat, Finch. Give me a few minutes..."
#
Chloe stretched, writhing in her luxurious sheets for a moment before she forced herself to sit up. After her shower, she dressed and put on makeup, deciding whether she how long she would spend imprisoned in the office. She had a few designs that needed to go out by the end of the month; might as well take care of that. On her way out of the apartment, she passed the window and glanced across the street where her mystery watcher had been the night before.
In her mind, his name was Rafe, and he was a firefighter by trade. She grinned at her own fantasy as she picked up her purse and headed out.
Downstairs, she was shocked to see police tape blocking the alley that ran alongside her building. Ever since moving to New York, she hadn't been able to get used to that. One of her downstairs neighbors saw her looking and took that as an opportunity to share the gossip.
"Found a couple of bad eggs on the fire escape this morning with some zip ties. They both had boxes of condoms in their jacket pockets. Police say there were rapists looking for a way inside someone's apartment."
Chloe's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. What happened? Did they--?"
"Police don't think they got into any apartments. No one's reporting anything." She smiled. "They're saying it looks like they missed one of the steps and went a-tumbling down one after t'other. Broke quite a few bones in the process. Weird thing is, the zip ties they brought were used to hold 'em to the fire escape ladder. Almost like Batman or something."
"Yeah. Almost." She said goodbye to the neighbor and headed out, giving the police a wide berth. When she stopped on a corner and waited for the light to change, she became aware of a presence behind her. She nearly turned around, but he put a hand in the small of her back and very softly said, "Don't."
It was him. It had to be.
She kept facing forward. "That was you. Wasn't it?"
"I was in the right place at the right time."
"Thank you. If they had... gotten in." She shuddered at the thought. The light changed and they started across the street. "I'd only have myself to blame, I guess. Last night wasn't exactly the first time I'd--"
"There's nothing wrong with exhibitionism. It's not a request to be taken against your will. Keep your kink. Just find a safer way to explore it."
"That's good advice. I'll take it to heart." She wet her lips. "So should I be looking for you to be hanging around from now on? Maybe next time I'll draw the curtains and let you have a front-row seat for the show." There was no response from him, so she glanced over her shoulder. The mystery man was gone, faded into the ever-present crowd of pedestrians.
She felt disappointed, but she supposed his work was done. She sighed. "Goodbye, Rafe." She scanned the crowd once more and then continued her walk to work.