1

"Lizzie?" She hears Red calling for her. She kicks the bathroom door shut with her foot and turns back to the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach. "Lizzie?" she hears a soft knock at the door.

"Go away," she calls out, dry heaving. She couldn't even throw up anymore, she didn't have anything else in her stomach. The door creaks open with a gasp and Lizzie turns to see Red staring down at her. She was half undressed, having got as far as pants and a bra before the overwhelming need to throw up came over her.

"Thought I told you to go away," she grumbles turning back to dry heave.

"Do I ever do what you tell me to?" he asks, taking a step into the bathroom to stand behind her. He pulls her hair away from her face and rubs her back. He grimaces as she dry heaves again. "You okay?" he asks.

"Yeah, just a stomach bug. I'll be fine," she leans back against Red. He places his hand onto her clammy forehead.

"Doesn't seem like you have a fever." He untangles himself from Lizzie and stands, helping her up. He guides her toward their bedroom and helps her sit down on the bed. "I'm going to call Harold. Tell him you are feeling under the weather."

"No, its fine Red. Really. Feeling a little better right now. Will you get me some crackers please?" Red nods before walking out. She could hear him rummaging through the cabinets in the kitchen. He returns handing her a few crackers.

It had been over six months since the incident with the fulcrum, where she handed it to him and walked out. Thinking that everything was over between them. She had seen the looks on both Ray's face as well as Dembe's and knew it was over. That because she had waited so long to tell them, that they weren't ever going to forgive her. But Ray had ended up forgiving her and they put the whole thing past them. She hadn't heard him mention it to her again, so she didn't know what he had done with the Fulcrum and she didn't want to know. It was out of her hands and she was thankful for it.

"Just wanted to remind you that I will be out of town for a little while this morning. I'm going to meet a contact for our new blacklister, who is being quite elusive," Red says giving her a kiss on the side of her head.

"Will I see you tonight?" Lizzie questions, cocking her head to the side to stare at him.

Red nods. "Yes. I should only be gone an hour at the most. How about I swing by the Post Office and take you out to lunch?"

Lizzie sighs. "Yeah, I should be there. Unless Cooper has us off doing something else. I have a stack of paperwork a mile long. So does Ressler. Dembe going with you?"

Red smiles at her concern. "Of course. He keeps me out of trouble." Lizzie starts laughing at that while Red frowns at her. He gets up, gives her a quick kiss on the top of her head before walking toward the door. "You sure you're feeling okay?" he watches Lizzie take another bite of cracker and wave her hand at him.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm feeling better already." Red nods his head once before disappearing from view. She sighs and puts her hand to her stomach. She knew what it was before actually knowing was it was.

"I love you," came from the other end of the apartment before the front door opens and closes.

"Love you," she says to herself. Red knew she was keeping something from him. It was only a matter of time before she broke down and told him.

~*~ TBL ~*~

Red and Dembe walk into the post office later that afternoon. His meeting that morning had not gone all that well. His contact was not forthcoming with the information, so Red was going to need something else to lure their ever elusive blacklister out. He takes a look around, noticing Aram behind his computers with Samar standing over his shoulder. They were both engrossed in whatever was on the screen in front of them. He turns to where Ressler and Lizzie's office was but noticed Lizzie was not in there. Only Ressler, with his head down. Paperwork most likely. Lizzie said they both had a lot. Red turns and walks toward Harold's office, opening the door and walking in. Dembe standing in the hall outside keeping a watchful eye on things.

"Harold," Red says cheerfully.

"Can I help you?" Harold asks looking up from his paperwork.

"Looking for Lizzie. Can you tell me where she is?"

"She took the afternoon, something about a doctor's appointment. She told me you were off talking to a contact about the next name on the list."

"What doctor's appointment?" Red asks, perplexed.

Cooper shrugs. "I don't know. I didn't ask."

~*~ TBL ~*~

Lizzie sits in the waiting room of the doctor office. She sits back, taking a look around. All the offices she had been to looked the same. The same pale walls, soft music playing, green plastic chairs. There was a polar spring's water system in the corner and in the opposite corner a small basket full of kid's toys. A TV in the upper corner was playing the news on mute.

"Elizabeth?" Lizzie jumps up from her chair and walks toward where the nurse was waiting. "Elizabeth Scott?"

Lizzie nods nervously. "Yeah, that's me."

"Alright, here you go," the nurse hands Lizzie a small cup. "When you are done, just leave it there. Then we are just going to get you set up in a room. The doctor will be in, in a few minutes." Lizzie nods as the nurse leads her down into an exam room. "Here is your gown. Get undressed down to your underwear." The nurse takes her leave at that moment. Lizzie sighs as she starts getting undressed then slides the uncomfortable gown on. She pulls herself up onto the exam table, the paper crinkling underneath her. She rubs her hands up and down her arms, trying to get some sort of warmth in them.

Lizzie sighs again as she waits. She wanted Ray with her, but she needed to do this on her own. She wanted to do this on her own. She wanted to make sure she really was before she told Ray anything. He was probably going out of his mind worrying about her. She had turned her phone off as soon as she left the Post Office.

The door swings open as the doctor walks in. "Ms. Scott?"

"Yup, that's me," Lizzie says, giving the doctor a once over. She looked young, but looks could be deceiving.

The doctor launches into a series of questions: how far along she thinks she is, when was the date of her last period, does she smoke, drink? Lizzie answered as best as she could with all the questions thrown at her. "The urine test confirmed it. We are going to draw a little blood. A blood test will be more accurate."

Lizzie nods in understanding. She had done her homework before coming. She hoped Ray wouldn't be too mad that she hadn't told him. But she had to know for certain before she said anything. This was huge. She knew Cooper tolerated their relationship because they still worked as a team, but to bring a baby into this. She wasn't sure how well this was going to be perceived.

"You can get dressed. I will have the nurse bring you over to the room. It will be really quick. We should have the tests back in a day or so. You can pick up prenatal vitamins at any pharmacy," The doctor said, scribbling on her clip board.

"Is there anything I should avoid? I have a high stress job," Lizzie asks, concerned.

The doctor nods taking a look over her file on the table in front of her. "I would say take it easy. You will still be allowed in the field. But once you reach a certain point, I would suggest you take a desk job. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Yes, the urine test was positive, but I would really like to wait for the blood test. What sort of exercise do you do?"

Lizzie smiles thinking of the main exercise she took part in, the exercise that got her in this situation. "Running and a little yoga."

"Well, don't just stop. The worst thing you can do is just stop. Yoga is definitely good. You can keep that up."

"Okay, thank you," Lizzie says, shaking the doctor's hand as she walks out. She quickly gets dressed, leaving the uncomfortable gown on the table. She pokes her head out of the room and sees the nurse.

"You ready?" The nurse asks, leading Lizzie towards the other side of the doctor's office. She hands another nurse a clipboard while the new takes one takes a look at the file, her file. She points to a chair.

"You can just sit there. Relax," she gives Lizzie a big smile. "Have you eaten anything today?"

"I tried. Just ended up coming back up," Lizzie grimaces remembering this morning, hunched over the toilet.

The nurse smiles apologetically. "Yeah, that's the only thing that stinks about being pregnant. The morning sickness. But by month 4, it should start wearing off. Unless your one of the ones that lasts the whole time."

"God, I hope not. I cannot imagine that every morning," Lizzie shudders.

The nurse makes quick work of drawing blood. Lizzie watches as blood flows through the tubing and into the small container they were going to store it in. She blinks once before the nurse switches it out for another one. The nausea coming on quick. Lizzie leans back in the chair and closes her eyes.

"Are you okay?" the nurse asks quietly.

"Just a little nauseous."

The nurse finishes quickly, placing a piece of gauze and tape over the small wound where the needle had been. "Here," Lizzie opens her eyes to see the nurse handing her a small packet of crackers. "We have some small juice boxes. Let me get you one. We need to get your blood sugar up."

"Thank you," Lizzie says taking a small bite of the cracker. She didn't know how she was going to be out in the field if she couldn't even watch her blood get drawn.