The Lost Child

Summary: When Finch's sister-in-law becomes the next "Person of Interest" and it becomes fatal, Finch is stuck raising his brother's daughter, Brandilyn.

Finch watched in shock as the number flashed across the screen. He had cut all ties with his family 10 years earlier. Who would have thought that his family would come back this way? After his brother, Peter, had died at the ruins of the Towers on September 11th Peter's wife, Alicia had also gotten scared and ran away with 3-year-old Brandilyn, Brandi as the family called her. Brandi was small for her age and called Finch Uncle Harry. She had the most beautiful, cherubic smile and would look up with him with the most soulful brown eyes as he held her or she would sit on his lap.

Finch felt the blood siphone out of his veins as Alicia's picture that had been taken with Brandi flashed across the screen. The picture had been taken two weeks earlier at the Central Park Zoo by a camera. Brandi looked like Peter and himself with a pair of glasses on and chin-length brown hair. She had a huge grin on her face as she watched a pair of monkeys which belonged to her mother.

"Who's that Finch?" John Reece's voice broke through his thoughts. Finch blinked hard. He had never told anyone about his family and now he'd need Mr. Reece to protect Alicia and Brandi.

"It's our next number, Mr. Reece. She's my brother's wife, Alicia. The girl is my niece. I haven't seen Brandi in ten years. After Peter died on 9/11 Alicia ran and took the baby with her. I heard she went to Queen's and that was it. Alicia is the person of interest, Mr. Reece," Finch said as he felt a mist in his eyes as he looked at his niece.

"You want me to protect her, Finch?" Reece asked.

"Yes. Don't tell Alicia that I sent you. Also, if you can, bring Brandi here. I can protect her while you protect Alicia," Finch said, turning the computer off.

"What do I tell a young girl? Her mother might have told her to be careful about strangers," Reece said as Finch limped to the water cooler and drained a cup.

"You're right, but I can't allow Brandi to be hurt if someone is after her mother. I owe it to my brother to keep Brandi safe at all costs. I will tell her who I am once you bring her here," Finch said, scrubbing his face wearily.

"Okay. I'm going. I'll bring your girl to you. I just hope your sister-in-law understands that I kidnapped her daughter for her own good. What does Alicia do?" Reece asked, picking up his gun.

"She's a detective like Detective Carter and Detective Fusco. She and my brother were a team until he was killed. So it stands to reason that Alicia made a lot of enemies," Finch said.

"Okay. I'll go now. Maybe I can get Lionel to help and Carter," Reece said as he walked out the door. Finch thought of his brother, Alicia, and Brandi. Finch was the youngest and Peter had taken care of him when he was a boy and their parents had died in a car accident. Then when they had gotten to be adults Peter had been the only one who understood that his brother wanted to be a scientist and Peter's family had become Finch's family. Harold Finch had become a second father to his niece. He absolutely loved spoiling his only niece and she would spend the night when her parents were on assignment or Peter wanted to have a romantic dinner with Alicia. Maybe now he could dote on Brandi again. He just hoped that she wouldn't give Reece a hard time.