Title: all things entwined
Rating: G
Summary: "If you could change anything…"
AN: Originally posted on my Tumblr (adaughterofzion) and I thought I'd post it here as well. Please let me know what you think.
-'-
Liz stands at the edge of the boat, hands loosely clasping the rails as she takes in the serenity of her surroundings. There's nothing but the cool breeze whipping through her hair, the low hum of the engine, the sunset on the horizon, the warmth of his gaze on her back.
It sends a wonderful thrill down her spine that she no longer ignores.
She doesn't turn around, closes her eyes as she inhales the salt of the sea, "If you could change anything…"
Liz doesn't finish her sentence.
Doesn't have to.
She feels Red approach. Close.
But not close enough.
He's testing the waters.
And it's times like these that cause her heart to both melt and shatter. That this hardened man who has made a successful career out of cheating, lying and killing, can still be so human.
Unsure, unsettled.
Uncommonly considerate.
He has freely given her the keys to his resolve and has asked for nothing in return.
What many have labelled Red is an exquisite juxtaposition to what she knows him to be.
Liz then turns to him.
And his eyes are tinged with awe, his lips with joy.
Liz smiles back while Red takes a step forward. Then another.
And another.
Until the only thing separating them is her unanswered question.
Liz looks up at him, watches a multitude of emotions play on his face. She knows that Red's careful choice of words isn't because he's debating whether or not to give her morsels of truth, but because he's still growing accustomed to being wholly honest with her.
She waits.
Red leans forward, his breath ghosting across her cheek, his forehead warm against her own, "I wouldn't."
The corners of Liz's lips curl into a shy grin, "Nothing?"
"Not a thing."
"Why?"
Liz knows why.
But she likes to hear it.
She isn't the same person she was all those years ago. Eager and more than a little starry-eyed. She has scars (they both do) from their time together working through the Blacklist. Some on the surface and others (most) that are so much deeper, the only healing balm being the one standing before her.
His hands then envelope hers, his lips gliding across her temple before he leans back to look her in the eye and utter the simple truth she loves so dearly to hear, "I would do it all over again, Lizzie. I wouldn't change a thing."
Red's sudden embrace would be crushing if Liz hadn't been holding him just as tightly.
He continues, his voice low and heartbreakingly honest, "In the end it brought me you."
Liz releases the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, smiles as his words wash over her.
She touches her forehead to Red's, her lips a hairbreadth away from his.
With hands and destinies entwined, they breathe in one another.
FIN
