Sir George Hammington

Chapter 1:

Ressler's speech echoed in Lizzies head as she drove down the streets of Washington D.C.. Was she really that annoying? She knew that they both have had a rough couple of months but it still sparked a fling of sadness, like she was being rejected. The thought of her feeling sad over Ressler's little outbreak outside of the deer hunters house made her giggle slightly. Since when was Ressler kind to her? Well there was that time when he found her at the Stewmaker. Also the time when she went over to his place because she didn't know where else to go, he did let her sleep over after all. But still. And since when did she care?
She let out a deep sigh as she parked her car outside of her motel room. Tom was gone now and she was tired of all of the trashy motel rooms but she still couldn't see her moving into an apartment, or back into their old house for that matter.

…

Ressler sat down on his sofa with his hand clenching around a small orange bottle. He had promised Liz to quit, he even threw his old pills out, but the compelling feeling of how easy it was to get new ones had been too strong for him to ignore. He still remembered how satisfied his body felt when he swallowed those small white pills. It was too hard to ignore, especially since the never ending pain in his whole body screamed after the Oxy whenever he didn't follow his drug schedule.
He had made a quick call to his doctor as soon as he left the office making up a story about how he had once again injured his already damaged leg. His doctor hadn't even asked any further questions knowing that Donald was a FBI agent and he really did seem to have bad luck concerning sustaining injuries way too often for his own good.
He popped the cap off and poured out a few pills into his hand. He swallowed them slowly, embracing the bitter taste now spreading in his mouth. He could already hear his body thanking him.
"Sorry Liz" he whispered out into the air. Don had no idea why he had said that. I don't have to apologize to my coworker. She has no reason to decide what I should do or not do. But his brain didn't seem to agree on that since it kept bothering him with flashbacks the whole evening. Keen telling him 'it is' after that horrible day in the fake hospital, the walk through the woods outside the Stewmaker's cabin and when she looked into his eyes with pain while flashing his jar of pills after the Mombasa cartel case. She's just my coworker. No partner. Dammit Ressler she's more than that.

…

"Ressler! You're late, again" It was Cooper, yelling across the war room as Ressler left the elevator. "Red is here and we have a new case" Cooper continued in harsh but somewhat milder tone.
Ohh for God's sake, of course Red was there. He was probably the one pointing out that Ressler wasn't there, that son of a bitch.
Liz looked up at him. He could feel her eyes burning through his skin. Please Liz, forgive me.
Ressler could almost hear as the gears in his head turned searching for a reasonable excuse to why he was late, again.
"Sorry sir, my alarm didn't go off"
Ohh Ressler now you screwed it up didn't you? Every agent has that annoying natural alarm in their head. Cooper knows that.
Cooper, to Ressler's surprise, just gave him a small nod before he turned around and walked over to where Lizzie, Red, Samar and Aram stood discussing the case.
Red looked up as the sleepy agent walked towards the group that AD Cooper now had joined.
"What a pleasant view to see that you're alright Don, you almost got me worried there for a while" Red said with a small smirk on his face. Ressler just snored in reply while rolling his eyes at the older man.
"Anyways back to business, Sir George Hammington is in town. Lizzie and Aram will brief you, I have to go meet up with a coworker of his now" Red continued while placing his fedora back on top of his almost bald head. Reddington then turned around and walked towards the elevator with Dembe following a few steps behind as always; he was like a little loyal puppy, always there when needed and he never left Red's side.
As Aram started explaining the new case with excitement Ressler had a hard time keeping track of what the agent said. He was in no mood for another one of their crazy targets. Not only wasn't he in mood for running after violent criminals today but he could still feel Liz's eyes scorching his side. He didn't even dare to glance over to where she stood and he definitely had no spare energy to talk to her about the pills. Not today. Not any day.

"Agent Ressler, are you okay?" it was Aram. "You look feverish today."
"Uhh I'm okay, just a little tired, stressful week you know." Aram just nodded and continued his briefing of Mr. Hammington. Sir it was, ahh right.
"So Red gains what from this case?" Liz continued ignoring Ressler's clearly miserable state.
"Allegedly this Sir Hammington has some kind of black book that Red wants" Samar answered from across the war room. Ahh a client list seems reasonable.
"And exactly what do we get from this case?" Ressler spit out angrily. He wasn't exactly fond over this whole 'Reddington working with the feds to expand his imperium' deal they had.
"According to Mr. Reddington this blacklister is responsible for a dozen kidnappings in the last few years only and no one really knows who he is or how long he has been doing these kidnappings for hire jobs." Aram stated, nervously looking up at Agent Ressler in fear of a retort of some sort.
Agent Ressler was an extremely good agent, Aram knew that, but he was scary, especially today. He seemed like he could flip at any moment. The angry and annoyed look at his face didn't exactly calm Aram down either. But it wasn't only that the agent seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed, it was something more; Ressler basically radiated frustration. Something was wrong.
"So how do we catch this Sir George then?" Ressler continued.
"Oh yes, right, here are your flight tickets and-"
"Flight tickets?!" Ressler interrupted sounding awfully close to shooting the next person that opened their mouth.
"Ehh, yes you… you and agent Keen will… Ehh-"
"We're going to Los Angeles" Liz continued seeing how terrified Aram looked.
Great we're flying across the whole damn country, of course.
"The flight leaves at 7 pm tonight." Agent Navabi added.
"I guess we have to start working then" Ressler said looking over to Liz who had finally stopped glaring at him with suspicion. At that queue they all dispersed in different directions and Ressler gave a final sigh of relief as he walked towards his and Keen's shared office. It was already 11 am and he needed his next round of pills before he started shaking in front of the whole office. He opened his top drawer only to remember that he was out of pills. He had taken his last three before leaving en route for the office. Great. What am I supposed to do tonight?