He sat in his office. His shared office… with Keen. But she was nowhere to be found. The day had been a bit hectic. Actually, the past week had been. When he found out Red had been shot five days ago, and Liz was with him, he remembered the sense of immediate panic.
Ressler had grown to care for Keen, in a way he had never experienced before as an FBI agent. Sure, he had respected and shared friendships with his former partners. But not like this. He felt an overwhelming sense to protect her. To make sure she was okay… physically and emotionally.
And he couldn't shake the feeling that she was still hiding things from him. Big things. Things that would put her in harm's way. He continued to ask her what was going on. And he continued to be lied to.
When she had abruptly left him and Samar earlier in the day, he knew she wasn't being totally truthful when she said she was going to see Red. For a profiler, Elizabeth Keen wasn't a very good liar herself. Ressler could read when something wasn't right.
He looked over at his phone again and sighed when it showed no missed calls. Ressler had been calling and texting his partner for over three hours after she and Agent Navabi had discovered information on Karakurt. She had yet to respond.
He thought maybe she was with Red. Trying to pry answers out of a man who was as big a mystery as any he had ever seen. Ressler had hunted him…. dedicated his life for 5 years to finding the man who had turned his back on his country for no apparent reason.
He wondered how Liz tied in to all of that. And he worried that the answers she sought, the answers she risked everything to have, would be lethal.
Ressler looked down at his phone one more time and saw nothing. He picked up his jacket and keys and headed out to his car. Something wasn't right. Keen didn't go off the grid too often. When she did, it was because something was wrong.
He sat in his car for about five minutes. Wondering what to do. Even though they were partners, even though they were close, they still gave each other space. Didn't press too hard when one knew the other was hurting. But Ressler was tired of sitting back and watching her suffer with no one to turn to. It was one of the reasons he had brought dinner to her on her birthday. She deserved to feel special… cared for and about.
He started his car and made the decision to drive to her apartment. His nerves calmed down a bit when he saw her car in the parking lot. She was home. He turned off his car and sat there looking up at the window to her place.
He remembered the time, late at night, when she had shown up, unannounced at his front door and wondered if she would be so willing to receive him as he had been to her.
He grabbed the door handle and felt himself freeze when he saw her step out of her building and quickly get into her car. He wondered where, at 9pm, she was going in such a hurry and almost got caught when she drove away right past his car.
He could've just gone home. He could've turned his car back on and decided not to follow her. But Ressler wasn't satisfied. He wanted to know where she was going and who she was going to see. Something told him she wasn't making smart decisions right now in her life. And he was going to help, if he could.
He followed her for about 20 minutes to a mostly abandoned part of town. It had once been full of shops and warehouses, bustling with activity. But now, especially at 9:30pm at night, the area was dead silent.
She sat in her car for a few minutes and Ressler tried calling her one more time. It went unanswered. Whatever Liz was doing, she didn't want to be interrupted. Especially not by him.
When it began to rain hard, he thought maybe she would turn her car back on and head home. Instead, he saw her car door open and she got out.
Ressler watched as she walked up to a door that led to what looked like an abandoned building and stood there. He secretly wondered if Red was in that building. Was she going to see him, to press him for answers? He watched as she finally knocked on the door, soaking wet from the rain.
Ressler sighed. He took in the sight of his partner and cringed. She was going through something awful right now. And it killed Ressler that she felt she couldn't come to him. He looked away now, upset and angry at himself for not being there more for her.
Movement in his peripheral vision make him look up suddenly and he wasn't prepared for the sight that he saw. It was Tom. Tom was at the door. He saw him invite her in, but she just stood there. Wet, in the rain. Not moving.
He watched, dumbstruck, as Tom and Liz embraced. Holding each other in the rain, like they were only two people left on the Earth. He realized he'd been holding his breath and finally took a breath of air. Ressler felt betrayed.
She had been lying to him. She was still in contact with him.
Liz was still in love with him…