rose_griffes | Person of Interest ficlet: Debt (Det. Carter, Zoe Morgan)

One of those light-bulb moment fics--when I remembered that Zoe Morgan had a gun hidden under her couch.

Title: Debt
Fandom: Person of Interest
Characters: Detective Carter, Zoe Morgan
Rating: G
Summary: Carter gets a warning just after gaining a new partner.
Warnings: uh, guns?
Word Count: over 500
Spoilers: technically through 1.06, though this is an episode insert for 1.05

Note: This is set before we meet Zoe Morgan in the show timeline. Morgan has enough connections on her own to figure out that something is up with Fusco's transfer, even without a connection to Reese yet. Mostly written because I wanted Zoe and Joss to interact.

She comes to this civilian-run place sometimes instead of going to the police firing range. Lots of ex-Army here--a crowd with a familiar feel to her--and they won't talk to her about work. This time of day there's almost no one else here anyway. Carter is just finishing a round when someone else walks into the room. It takes her a moment, but she recognizes the face, if not the casual plain clothes.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Joss removes her shooting muffs. May as well get this over with, she thinks. "Ms. Morgan," she says as the woman approaches.

"Detective Carter."

"What a surprise to see you here." Surprise, maybe, but not a coincidence. She's interacted enough with Morgan to know that nothing is a coincidence when it comes to her. "You got a permit for that firearm?" Carter asks, gesturing toward the gun case.

Zoe Morgan, with her carefully-cultivated feminine image, had never struck Joss as the type to own a gun. Her weapons were usually less tangible, but Joss should have known better than to make that kind of assumption.

Morgan ignores her question. "A word, detective?"

Joss shrugs. "I'm listening," she says. She puts down the muffs and reloads her weapon.

"Your new partner, Fusco. He's a dirty cop."

Carter doesn't say anything in reply. She's heard the rumors, but she's not going to share police business with Morgan, not without a damn good reason. Something in her face must have given her away, though, because Morgan's expression relaxes an imperceptible amount... like she didn't want this to be new information to Joss.

"What you probably haven't heard is that someone pulled strings to get him partnered with you."

Joss looks away for a moment, stung by this revelation. She thought--hoped, really--that the move to the Homicide Task Force would mean less politics. Instead she's finding herself increasingly at odds with her captain, and now this. Whatever this is.

Turning back, she asks, "Why?" She hates that she has to ask Zoe Morgan for information not related to a case, hates the crack in her voice as she asks it.

"I don't know," replies Morgan, her voice quiet but convincing. "All I can find is that someone pulled strings, but not who or why." Morgan pauses and then adds, "I figured I owed you one after the whole Jansen affair."

"You didn't owe me anything," Joss tells her. "I was doing my job."

She looks at Morgan, who in turn looks at her. Finally Morgan nods and says, "I know." With that she turns and starts walking to the far end of the shooting range, gun case in her hand.

Joss puts on her earmuffs again and fires the round in her gun. Normally she'd stay and shoot another round or two, but now all she wants to do is go home and see her son. The questions don't stop running through her mind as she cleans up. Why does someone want Fusco working with her? Who had the kind of leverage to get Fusco up to HTF and partnered with her?

Joss finishes checking her weapon and stowing it in the case. Time to go home. She takes a last look at Morgan, waiting long enough to see her take a few shots. The woman has good stance and a confident grip.

Bull's-eye each time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

<3 <3 <3 <3

ahem.

*tries for something less coherent*

I love all of the layers this adds to the show (ok, maybe not layers, but). OH ZOE. OH JOSS. Oh, how I want Carter and Fusco to find out they're working for the same person now.

*big grin* Y'know, I like my own ideas (or I wouldn't write them), but this one made me WANT TO JUMP UP AND DOWN WITH GLEE. Because it does add something--layers, whatever--to that whole aspect of Carter's storyline.

This is excellent. I like how the various conspiracies and secrets all interact in different ways.

Thank you!

Interesting, making Zoe the vehicle for that information.... nice ficlet.

I keep wondering how long they're going to string that compartmentalization out on the show.

Thanks!

I keep wondering how long they're going to string that compartmentalization out on the show.
Yeah, I was hoping we were heading toward some openness, but with Fusco's move back with HR, I'm not so sure.

HEEEEEEE! awesome

I'm now imagining Carter's face when she figures out Zoe is also a part of this. "Is there ANYBODY in this city who doesn't know these two?" lol

Thanks!

While I was writing this I kept debating having Zoe know the information because she knows Reese versus knowing the information because she senses a disturbance in the ambiguously-evil Force (that she didn't cause)... I finally went with the latter, just for the timing, but if Carter ever finds out about Zoe's connection with Reese, she'll probably assume the former. And it will be a very interesting revelation, yes.

Great idea, well executed. I love the idea of Zoe being the agent of Carter's learning about Fusco.

I think canon could play this reveal for either comedy (Fusco and Carter realize Reese has been manipulating them and decide to pull a joke on him) or tragedy (Carter inadvertently exposes Fusco's dirty connections, leading to his death). Either way would work for me, although I enjoy Fusco thoroughly and want him to stay.

Thank you!

I'm not sure this show will ever go for straight comedy--sarcasm and banter, sure. So I'm guessing tragedy or anger will be the route they go.

Excellent! I could totally see this happening. :D

Thank you! I think I'm making it personal canon until the show tells me otherwise. ;-)

Oh, how fun! I hadn't thought of Zoe & Joss interacting before now, but it really does make sense that A) Zoe would question Fusco's change and B) would want the other woman in a man's world on the show to know what she'd found out.

Thanks! I was so excited to think of some semi-plausible reason for these two to interact that I managed to write this in a remarkably short period of time (for me). I'm glad you enjoyed it!

This was intriguing, and now I want to see some on-screen interaction with the two of them. I think that Zoe maybe feels like she owes Carter for the Jansen thing (was that in canon?) even if it was her job and filling Carter in on Fusco is her way of balancing her internal scales. And yeah, them both being women in a man's world probably plays into that as well.

(I actually prompted Carter/Zoe, "shades of gray" for the latest smallfandomfest, which I thought might amuse you. Because yay pretty crack pairing.)

I totally made up "the Jansen thing" as something I could use for Carter and Morgan to have met in the past. Heh. And at some point I knew what the Jansen thing was, but since I didn't need to explain it for this, I've since forgotten.

I think that Zoe maybe feels like she owes Carter for the Jansen thing (was that in canon?) even if it was her job and filling Carter in on Fusco is her way of balancing her internal scales. And yeah, them both being women in a man's world probably plays into that as well.

Oh, that's what I had in mind, for sure. Even though Zoe has uses for easily-"bent" cops, I think she would appreciate a straight arrow as well.

Thanks for commenting!

(I actually prompted Carter/Zoe, "shades of gray" for the latest smallfandomfest, which I thought might amuse you. Because yay pretty crack pairing.)

*laughs* That's a difficult pair to make, because Carter hasn't gotten nearly morally gray enough yet. So I can't quite see her getting involved with anyone from Reese's world. (And I love Carter/Reese, but for that pairing to be plausible for me, there's a lot to work around there as well.)

Given what Zoe does for a living, I agree that she'd probably appreciate Carter's moral code. At some point she might need a honest cop, if nothing else. (I'm sure she already has a few bent ones in her contact list :)).

"Legacy" is the ep that made me start to see Carter/Reese as a possibility, but yeah, to get Carter actually romantically involved with Reese and still be herself would take something pretty major. I'd be interested in reading that, but I really don't want to see it in canon (banter, flirtation, subtextiness, sure. Actual text not so much.)

Zoe would be an even tougher match. The moral code issues are definitely still there, and the fact that she's a woman means Carter as a cop could have personal safety issues (lack of backup, stuff like that) and might also have sexual identity issues thrown in as a bonus. I just think it'd be interesting to see someone fictionally explore that territory, especially since PoI has basically no femslash that I'm aware of.

Person of Interest ficlet: Debt (Det. Carter, Zoe Morgan)

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