Snowed in
*Swish*
Fucking Reddington….
*Swish*
…Stupid dead end leads…
*Swish*
…Piece of shit wipers that…
*swish* *Hooooooooooooonk*
"Hey, Asshole! Your car has blinkers, fucking use them!" Donald Ressler shouted as he fought to correct the skid caused by the sudden swerve he'd had to make.
*Swish*
…Fucking snow…
He was a good driver… no… he was a great driver. Aced every driving class he had to take during his training but, even he had to admit, driving in these conditions was a bitch! The east coast was being pummelled with what the forecasters were calling the worse snow storm to hit the area in decades. Snow had been falling steadily for hours and the city was already blanketed in a covering a couple of inches deep. With darkness falling and the temperature dropping, conditions were only going to get worse. All he wanted was to get the evidence they'd collected dropped off at the post office and then get home before the inevitable road closures took effect.
"Sorry Navabi" He murmured, as out of the corner of his eye, he saw his partner reach for the handle above the door.
"That's okay" she replied, her grip on the handle relaxing when she realised he had the vehicle back under his control. "Hey, you think we are going to have a problem when they see we've brought the evidence in with us?" Her head nodded towards the back seat and the array of computer equipment scattered across it.
"Look, we froze our asses off all day waiting for that SOB to show, no way in hell was I gonna babysit this shit all night until the evidence team show up. Way I figure, most everyone will have left by the time we get there, we dump the stuff in the evidence lockers and go home. With any luck we'll have a few days break, what with the weather and all, before we have to deal with it."
"Well I never" A wide smile broke out on Samar's face as she shook her head "Agent 'by the book' Ressler hoping for a snow day to get him off the hook. Wonders will never cease!"
Donald chuckled as he nodded in agreement. He'd been called way worse than 'by the book' and hell, she was right, he was hoping for a snow day…or 4! Work had been full on for the last few weeks, Reddington keeping them all constantly on their toes with his seemingly endless list of bad guys. As for his home life…he couldn't keep the grin from his face as he contemplated the idea of a few un-interrupted days at home…just me and my girl. This would be, he mused, their last chance for some quality alone time for quite a while.
"Yeah, and it might also get me out of the midnight supermarket run. Not even Liz and her crazy cravings can argue with a couple feet of snow!"
Snowed in
30 minutes and at least half that amount of expletive filled rants at incompetent drivers later and Ressler pulled the car into his usual parking bay at the post office. Tired and pissed off didn't come close to describing his mood and the sight of Cooper's car still parked in its usual spot only served to make it worse. So much for the drop and make a quick getaway plan. He grumbled and muttered to himself as he and Navabi climbed out of the car and opened the rear door ready to unload the evidence they had collected.
"Ressler, Navabi, glad to see you made it back in one piece. No sign of the UNSUB I take it?"
Ressler turned to see Harold Cooper striding towards them. "No sir. We waited all day." He replied and froze our asses off…fucking Reddington and his dead end lead. "You headed out?" he asked, hoping that Cooper wouldn't pick up on how desperate he was for the answer to be a yes.
"No, just grabbing a sweater, we old folk tend to feel the cold more" Cooper said with a chuckle as he opened the trunk of his car and pulled out the desired item of clothing. "Talk to me about this evidence."
Biting back a growl and wondering just how the older man always seemed to know everything Ressler gestured into his vehicle. "Just some laptops, a couple hard drives one phone and some thumb drives."
"It was all in this bag and had been dumped outside the building" Samar added to the explanation as she rounded the vehicle with a sports bag in hand. "We decided to collect it before the weather got too bad, who knows what damage has already been done."
"Good call." Cooper nodded "Just make sure everything is logged properly before you leave."
Doing his best to hide a scowl Ressler nodded. He'd be lucky if he made it out of the place before midnight. It looked like he'd be walking home. Fucking Reddington. He wasn't sure why he was blaming the guy for this part of his current predicament, even he couldn't control the weather, but he needed somebody to blame and Reddington was as good a guy as any for that. "Well we'd better get this stuff down there." He said turning back to the car. "This weather isn't going to get any better so the quicker we can get it done…"
"It still coming down out there?" Cooper asked, ducking down a little to see if he could glimpse outside of the garage. "I think I'll go and have a look, assess the situation. I'll see you two down there." He gave the two agents a nod and then took off for the exit.
Samar had already begun placing the evidence back into the bag so Ressler helped her with the last few items and then took the bag from her hands. After grabbing his coat and throwing it over the bag he closed the door, hitting the fob to lock it as he followed his partner towards the elevator.
Once they were in and Navabi was pushing the control to take them down to the war room he turned towards her. "Hey look, once we get all this crap dumped, you should head on out before they start shutting the roads down."
"I'm a big girl Ressler, I can handle a bit of snow. I'll stay to help, the two of us will get it logged quicker and then we can both go home."
"Yeah, I know you can handle it but my ma will never forgive me if I passed up the chance for a little chivalry." He flashed her a rare (during work hours at least) smile and nodded. "Trust me, you do not want to have to walk home in this. Besides you live further away than I do so…hey on second thoughts why don't you just crash at our place tonight? Liz is home so if you leave now she'll be there to let you in."
As he spoke the elevator had reached their floor and Samar reached down to lift the door for them to exit. As soon as the war room was revealed she let out a small gasp and then turned to her partner. "I don't think that plan is going to work."
"Why not?" Ressler asked then turned as she nodded her head towards the large open plan room. "Liz? What the hell?"
Snowed in
He closed the gap between himself and his girlfriend in a few large strides, dropping the bag of equipment on the nearest table before taking hold of her upper arms. "What are you doing here? Are you okay? Is there something wrong?" as he fired questions his eyes raked across her, paying particular attention to her currently large belly. "Is it the baby? Is there something…."
"We're fine" Liz cut him off, raising a hand and placing it on his cheek. "We're both fine." As she reassured him she used her other hand to lift his and place it on her bump, smiling when she instantly felt the baby beat against it. She knew it was stupid, and totally not possible that the baby recognised Ressler's hand but still, she liked to think he or she knew he was there. "Jellybean wants to say hi to daddy." She added in a whisper.
He couldn't have kept the smile from his face if somebody had offered him a million bucks to do so. Just hearing Liz say the word daddy in reference to him made his heart beat a little faster and a sense of peace to instantly wash over him. Pissed off? Who's pissed off? Feeling the baby, his baby, kick against his hand filled him awe every single time. After all the crap they'd both been through the past few years, the fact he and Liz were in this place, together and more happy than they'd ever been before was something he was thankful for every single day. "Hey Bean" he murmured as he rubbed his hand in a circle eliciting another movement in response. "As much as I love feeling you say hi, your mommy should know better than coming out in this weather." He lifted his eyes from her belly and looked into hers. "Sweetie, what were you thinking driving in this snow?"
"I was so bored at home. There is nothing to do…at all! " Liz replied as she lifted her hands to loosely grasp the lapels of his jacket, keeping him as close as she could "And then I remembered we had that cake from Mrs Kapinsky and I thought you guys could all do with some cake right, because you know….cake! And I didn't drive."
"Tell me you didn't walk Liz!" Ressler grumbled, fixing her with a firm stare.
"Of course I didn't walk" Liz replied with a good natured roll of her eyes.
"Then how….."
"Donald, how good of you to join us."
"Reddington" Ressler practically growled as he watched the older man descend the staircase and head in their direction. "What the fuck…Sorry…what the hell" he amended when he saw Liz wince "were you thinking bringing my heavily pregnant girlfriend out in this weather."
"The lady requested a ride, who am I to refuse." Reddington answered as he placed a hand on Liz's shoulder. "Plus I assume you know by now that she's not one to take no for an answer." He added with a smirk. "Besides Dembe is a terrific driver. He has driven in all kinds of terrains all over the world. I'd trust him with my life."
"It's not your life I'm worried about!" As he replied Ressler noticed Liz wince again. He raised his eyebrow at her in silent question and was relieved when she replied with a small nod and smile. He moved his hands around her waist and gently nudged her closer into him, causing Reddington's hand to drop. If he was honest he could admit that, though they weren't going to be best friends any time soon, he had a grudging respect for the man and knew that he would do anything and everything within his power to keep Liz safe. "And it doesn't matter how good a driver Dembe is when the roads are full of Assholes who don't know shit about driving in the snow."
Surprising Ressler, Redddington nodded in agreement. "You are right Donald, we shouldn't have taken the risk of bringing Lizzie out. Of course the weather wasn't quite so bad when we left, but still... I'm sure between us we can get her home safely and in one piece."
"Ressler, you should leave now. I'll log this evidence." Samar walked over to the table and patted the bag that he had dumped there. Nodding over at the young man sat at the next desk she added "Aram has offered to stay behind with me and then escort me home when we're done."
"You sure?" Ressler asked looking back and forth between his partner and Aram who both nodded their consent. "That's great, thank you. Sweetie, you set to go?" He asked, turning back to his girlfriend. A frown marred his features when he noticed that she seemed unfocused, like she had drifted off into a world of her own. "Hey, everything okay?" He lifted a hand and placed it on her neck, his thumb tenderly stroking her cheek. "Liz?"
"Huh" His ministrations quickly brought Liz's attention back to him "what? No, yeah, everything's…I'm fine"
Not at all convinced by her quick reply he brought his free hand up to mirror the other, stooping slightly so he could meet her eyes directly. "What's going on?"
"It's nothing, just a little backache."
Almost instantly upon hearing her last word his hands lowered and he began to gently rub her lower back. "That's normal right?" he asked, proud of himself that he only sounded slightly panicked.
"Totally." She exclaimed, reassuring him and to a certain extent herself. This was all completely new to her too and for the last 8 and a half months each new twinge or ache or strange feeling had her thumbing through her well-read copy of 'what to expect when you're expecting'. She had definitely read in there about backache during the third trimester. "It's absolutely normal. Now what were you asking before?"
Ressler kept his eyes trained on hers for a few moments, reading in them that she was being honest with him and there was nothing going on with her that was out of the ordinary. "I was just checking if you're ready to go."
Liz nodded and told him that she would be once she had her coat which she had left upstairs in the break room. Muttering light heartedly about slave drivers he let her go and headed across to the stairs which he took two at a time, as she said her goodbyes to the few members of the team that were still there. Quickly locating her jacket he grabbed it along with the Tupperware she'd brought that was now empty of cake… Nice of them to save a slice! Leaving the break room he walked past Cooper's office just as he was entering from the other direction.
"Ressler, we have a situation."
Snowed in
As he descended the stairs Ressler noticed Reddington, Samar and Aram all gathered around Liz who was sitting it the chair Aram usually occupied. He assumed they were all discussing the development Cooper had just informed him of. A 'state of emergency' had been declared, and all roads in and around the city had been closed to traffic to keep them as clear as possible for emergency vehicles and snow ploughs. He had already decided that he and Liz would bed down here at the Post Office for the night. There was no way he would have her walk through the blizzard in her condition. He just hoped she didn't put up too much of a fight against his decision. He really was too tired to argue.
Liz began to speak as soon as he reached the group "Ress, we have a situation."
He couldn't help but chuckle over her words being the same as Coopers. "Yeah, I know, Cooper told me. Look, we'll just stay here for the night. We have water and food and…."
"Don, my water broke!"