A/N –Takes place several months after 1x10 and AU after that. Red is still evading arrest and Ressler's returned to work a month after the events of 1x10 and is nearly fully recovered.

This is hopefully going to a multi-chapter story if people are interested in what I am writing. Keen and Ressler have so much chemistry and I love writing them together. Any comments are greatly appreciated as always, it is always good to know what works. This chapter is setting up the story and therefore there is limited Ressler/Keen interaction.

There is definitely a lack of Keen/Ressler fanfiction out there at the moment. Something to keep us going until next week, anyway I hope you enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Blacklist (otherwise Tom would be killed off already)


Liz looked around the conference room that was filled full with people, she took a sip from her coffee mug. Meera was sitting flipping through her file, speed reading the contents; Aram with sitting, brow furrowed, typing quickly on his laptop and Ressler was dispensing files to everyone whilst Harold stood at the front of the room ready to commend everyone's attention. Her phone vibrated in her bag, she reached down and received the phone before the rest of the room could react. She quickly glanced at who was phoning her. Tom. She sent it to voicemail before replacing the phone in her bag.

"New case everyone," stated Ressler as he handed out the remaining files before moving to the front of the room to join Harold. Liz picked up the thick file flicking to the first page, the she saw a picture of a middle aged man, business like with greying hair.

"Alexander Krayevsky," Harold disclosed. "Head of the Chicago crime family with ties to the Russian mafia. He has been linked to a drug trafficking and prostitution. He has also suspected of being involved in a string of high-profile murders, namely, politician Julianna Young and base-ball player Javier Lopez. He is untouchable, we suspect he has paid off police enforcement officials and has government-players in his pocket."

"This morning his number two Viktor Tolstroy was found with a point-blank bullet hole in his head," Ressler continued as he held up the picture of the body of Viktor Tolstroy. "It was staged like a suicide but no suicide note was found and forensics have stated that the blood splutter is inconsistent with suicide."

"His number two is gone, making him more vulnerable than ever," pointed out Meera.

"Our thoughts exactly," said Harold Cooper. "At the moment we have no hard evidence against him."

"If he is ever going to slip up and make a mistake, it is going to happen now," added Ressler as he placed his hand on his hips. "And we are going to be there to nail him."

"The plan is to infiltrate the criminal network by sending two agents undercover to gain information to bring Alexander and his criminal network down and to gather evidence that can be used to prosecute him and bring him to account for his actions," explained Cooper. "This operation is going to take place in Chicago and we have the full co-operation of FBI branch in Chicago."

"Who are going to be the agents undercover?" Aram asked as he briefly looked up from his laptop.

"That is still to be decided," Cooper replied as he made eye-contact with Liz who was sitting silently. "I will let you know in due course."

"Look at the files that you have been given on Krayevsky," instructed Ressler. "Malik can you ask your CIA friends about his Russian connections and how concerned we should be? Aram, you look into his offshore accounts. I want to know where his money is coming from and where it is going too? Anything that looks suspicious, I want to know about it!"

The FBI agents began to stand up indicating the end of the briefing and Liz took this as her sign to leave. She gathered the file she had been given by Ressler and her coffee mug which was empty. Cooper and Ressler were talking in hush voices now at the front of the conference room so she turned to leave.

"Keen, can you stay behind?" Harold asked as the rest of the agents exited the room. Liz sat back down at the table, dumping her file and mug on the table. Ressler went over to the door and closed it gently before sitting at the table across from her.

"The plan is to send two agents undercover," said Cooper. "And we want you to be one of them."

"Me," repeated Liz, her eyes switched from Cooper to Ressler whose face was as stoic as ever.

"I want you to prepare a detailed profile on Krayevsky," explained Cooper. "And from your profile, we can determine his motives and therefore we can anticipate his actions to stop him covering out his business. We also need you to gather information about his wife who we suspect knows a great deal about his business and could be an asset to the FBI."

"What about Meera?" Liz replied, she had been undercover once and reluctantly. She had little to no experience, surely someone with more experience would be better qualified to undertake the assignment. Who would the other person be?

"Malik's future with the FBI is uncertain," stated Ressler. "Red has evaded arrest and therefore the CIA feels that there is no longer any need for Malik to remain with the unit. Look, Keen, Krayevsky is responsible for the mutilation of several victims and not just the ones that we know about. He is responsible for the vast majority of drug related crime in Chicago. He uses kids to do his dirty work, only last week a thirteen year old boy was shot as a result of a drug trade gone wrong. He needs to be stopped, Keen, and this is our best chance."

"Ok," nodded Liz. Ressler always played the guilt card on her because he knew it would work. Sometimes she thought he would actually make an excellent profiler. "Who will be undercover with me?"

"I will," disclosed Ressler as he meet her eyes hesitantly.

"Ressler, will be sent to hopefully take the place of Krayevsky's number two, Viktor Tolstroy. He will get infiltrate Krayecsky criminal network and hopefully he will be able to obtain information and gather evidence on exactly what goes on in the gang, who is in the gang and exactly what their roles are."

"Your role is to get close to, Crystal Krayevsky, Alexander's wife of five years," added Ressler as he slide across a photo of a thirty year old women, platinum blonde hair, designer everything, perfect without a hair out of place. "We suspect that she knows a lot about what is going on in the operation, we went you to know what she knows. We think she can be turned into an asset, she had provided some information to the local police before. We will need to take down Krayevsky and his gang."

"The bureau has a house two doors down from the Krayevsky's that was seized because it was bought from the profits of organised crime when a money launderer was arrested. You will go undercover as Donald and Elizabeth Meller who are newlyweds. Donald will be a crooked ex-police officer who is currently exploring the security avenue and Liz is an event planner."

"You want us to be married," Donald coughed as he caught Liz's eye quickly. Her cheeks turned a faint shade of red.

"Yes, here is the marriage certificate," confirmed Cooper as he received the document from his folder. "You were married two weeks ago and are just back from your honeymoon in Costa Rico. And here are your covers, memorise them. Aram will be responsible for creating an online identity for the both of you. Any questions?"

"No, sir," replied Liz and Donald in unison as they stood up. Liz went to exit the room, Ressler held the door open for Liz before exiting sharply after her. They walked silently back to their offices. Ressler went to enter his office but hesitated and turned towards Keen.

"I didn't know we would be undercover as a married couple," explained Ressler, who was wringing his hands nervously. "I just wanted you to know that. I don't want it to be awkward between us."

Liz's gaze softened, so much had changed between them since they meet. Ressler finally trusted her and she had so much to thank him for, namely, saving her life. She had silently told him not to give the code to Anslo Garrick, shaking her head silently but he gave it anyway. Maybe he didn't see her, she was a profiler as she could account for everyone's actions, every one of his actions, but not this, this was the one thing that she couldn't explain.

"It's my job," replied Liz looking at him directly, not wanting to break the intensity of the gaze between them. "It's what I choose to do."

"And Tom what does he think about this," said Ressler, grimacing as he mentions his name. He is not a big fan of Tom, especially after the whole Gina business, there was definitely something off about him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was definitely something that set him on edge.

"Tom understands that this is what my job entails," said Liz quickly as she finally broke her gaze with Ressler. She fiddled with her wedding and engagement ring nervously.

Liz was packing her suitcase full of clothes. She had no idea what she would need, she know the FBI would be supplying designer clothes and other items which at some point had been owned by criminals and confiscated by the FBI. She looked through her jewellery box packing some of her more classy pieces, a necklace that one belong to her gran, diamond bracelet which she had been given by her father on her sixteenth birthday and never really saw the light of day. Hudson was sitting on a bed, watching her eagerly.

"You don't have to make me feel guilty too," sighed Liz as she sat on the bed and cuddled into him before placing a kiss on the top of his head. She reached other to her bedside cabinet and picked up the photo of Tom and her on their weekend break last year. They were both so happy and carefree, now she was miserable and her marriage was falling to pieces. Red's words were constantly in the back of her head: Lizzy, be careful of your husband. Was he playing her or was he trying to protect her? She glanced down at her wedding rings, a sign of being fully committed to another individual. Was she fully committed? Did she know the real him? She shut her eyes, trying to block out the thoughts that were creeping into her mind: Tom and Gina, Tom laughing at her.

When she had finally finished her packing, she closed the suitcase and dragged it down the stairs. Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, glancing into the living room where Tom was sat watching some baseball match. She took a deep breath before entering the living room.

"That's me off," said Liz as embraced herself to what she was sure would be an argument. Tom's back was to her, he stood up and turned off the tv, an eerily silence echoed through the room.

"You're really going?" Tom asked in disbelief. His words sharp, each one piercing the remains of their relationship and the little common ground they had left.

"Yes, I'm going."

"Look Liz, I know I can't stop you from going but you need to stop this," said Tom firmly, his eyes hardening. "This job is slowly destroying you and you know the sad thing is you can't see it yourself. You're not the same person you were when you started this job."

"Maybe that's a good thing," replied Liz as this conversation started to sound like every other that occurred between them in the last couple of months since Red had left.

"Of course you would say that," laughed Tom before sighing and running his hands over his face.

She couldn't do this anymore, they were both in the same place and neither could get past it. She was becoming more miserable as each month went past, she was spending longer each day at the blacksite. She stayed longer beyond the hours she actually need to work, once her paperwork had been completed and if they were no longer on an actual case, she would browse through the cold cases or read the latest psychology journals or forensics journals. She was now competing with Ressler for the title of being the last person to leave the office. She would come home to find Tom asleep on the couch as a result of him attempting to stay up to wait for her. At first, there would be a dinner sitting out cold on the table but after a couple of weeks he knew to never expect her home for dinner. Then after the first month, he gave up attempting to wait up for her and he would be asleep in his side of the bed. She would get changed and slide into her side her bed. He was lucky if they even had a conversation between them and if they did exchange words it usually ended in some sort of argument.

"I got offered a teaching job in Nebraska," admitted Tom as if trying to elicit some sort of reaction with Liz.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Liz said, shaking her head slightly.

"You would have to be here for me to tell you Lizzie," snirked Tom. Ok, well maybe that one was a blow to close to the bone.

"That's not fair," snapped Liz, eyes blazing wildly.

"I get your job is important to a lot of people," admitted Tom reluctantly. "I understand that I am just a teacher and lives aren't at risk if I actually go home on time, but you can't let this job define you. You always said that your family was to going to come before your job. Do you still stand by that?"

"Tom…" Lizzie begged silently, her eyes glossing over.

"Listen Lizzie, you are going to have choose whether you want to continue doing this job or start a new life with me in Nebraska were we can actually have a life together," reprimanded Tom as he emphasised the word together. "We could go back to the process of adopting, we could have the life we wanted before you had this job? I am lucky if I see you for five minutes every day, how can we have a marriage based on that?"

"Your making me choose?"

"Liz, I am not going to stand by and watch you destroy your life," stated Tom, his eyes softening. "You can't ask me to do that."

"This is what I want," replied Liz, trying to make him understand. "For the first time in my life, I feel like I have found a purpose and I am somewhere where I belong. I feel that what I do finally matters and that I can help others. I can stop bad things happening to innocent people. Instead of attempting to rewrite my past, I can rewrite people's futures. Tom, I need you to understand this."

"And I do understand but I guess I've got the answer to my question," surmised Tom, admitting a small laugh to himself.

"I guess so," said Lizzie firmly, as she looked down at her wedding rings. She slide them gently off her finger, she felt her eyes glistening with tears. She walked over to Tom and placed them in his hand. His hand remained still even as she removed her hand. So she placed her other hand over his to close his hand to encase her rings. She placed a small kiss on her cheek, before she turned and wiped her eyes with the back the wrists to stop the tears that were threatening to fall when falling. She quickly wrapped herself in her coat and dragged the suitcase out of their house. Her ring finger felt empty but she felt like a huge burden had been lifted from herself.

She saw Ressler getting out his car, dressed in jeans and a causal shir. She took a deep breath, trying to regain her composure. Ressler quickly walked up the steps, greeted her before taking her suitcase from her before she even had the chance to protest. He carried it down the steps before placing it in the boot of the car. He shut the boot, before coming round to open the car door for her.

"Thanks," she replied as she slid into the car attempting to muster a smile but failing miserably. Ressler shut the door behind her before walking round and getting into the driver's seat of the car. He placed his keys in the engine, before turning to look at her. She blinked rapidly attempting to retain the tears in her eyes, he looked like he was going to say something but luckily Liz's phone vibrated violently in her pocket. She looked down at her phone, Tom, once more she sent his call to voicemail, however, Ressler saw this too.

"Listen Liz, we still have time before our flight if you need a moment," Ressler said softly, dropping his normal stoic gaze.

"It's fine, Don," replied Liz as she looked away from him. She couldn't take any kindness from him at the moment as otherwise there would be no stopping the tears that would fall from her face.

They drove in silence for the remainder of the journey. Ressler kept glancing at her silently, opening his mouth several times and closing it quickly before any words attempted to escape. Almost as if he was afraid of her reaction if he did engage her in conversation. They reached the airport and Ressler parked the car. He sat momentarily in the car as if attempting to figure at what to say to her. When he did finally talk to her, she expected him to ask her about Tom but it was about their covers instead.

"We have to come up with a story of how we met right?"

"How we met?" Liz repeated as she tried to pull herself together and not let the randomness of the question throw her.

"That's what they always ask couples, right?" Ressler reaffirmed, as he nervously wring his hands together. "That's always a good ice breaker when you meet other couples. What do people ask you and Tom?

"Me and Tom," said Liz as she looked away from him. "I guess so."

"So how did we meet?" Ressler pushed Liz for an answer.

"We should probably stick as much to the truth as possible," Liz replied whilst not fully contemplating the question.

"A criminal brought us together as he refused to work with anyone but you and forcing us to work together," suggested Ressler with a small smirk to his eye. Liz turned to look at him with her full attention for the first time.

"How about we were introduced through your job as a detective? We couldn't stand the sight of each other?" Liz said bluntly, Ressler glanced over at her and raised his eyebrow at her quizzically.

"All that unspoken, sexual tension and you couldn't keep your hand off me?" Ressler added, as a small smile flickered across the features of Liz's face for the first time that day.

"I think it was more like you couldn't keep your hands off me," Liz quipped back.

"I almost forgot," said Ressler as he patted his jeans as he attempted to remember where he put the box.

He open the box and handed her a simply, platinum band along with a diamond engagement ring. He slid the rings onto her finger so it was once more contained a wedding set.

"Let me," said Liz as Ressler attempted to jungle the box in his right hand and his own matching wedding band. His gaze never moved from her face as she slid his ring onto his finger.

"So it's official for the next couple of weeks you are my wife."


A/N – Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!