Caught in the riptide

I was searching for the truth

There was a reason

I collided into you

Calling your name in the midnight hour

Reaching for you from the endless dream

So many miles between us now

But you are always here with me

Nobody knows why

Nobody knows how or when

This feeling begins just like a spark

Tossing and turning inside of your heart

Exploding in the dark

Calling your name in the midnight hour

Reaching for you from the endless dream

So many miles between us now

But you are always here with me

All inside me I find my way back to you

Calling your name in the midnight hour

Reaching for you from the endless dream

So many miles between us now

But you are always here with me

Two worlds in your hands in your heart

Its one universe

You are always here with me

Raymond 'Red' Reddington let his head loll back on his seat and sighed deeply, safely ensconced in his private jet. He was finally going home. Home to Lizzie. His Lizzie.

Over all the years since the fire he had watched over her. He had seen to her education and health insurance and her material happiness by forwarding large sums of money for her in trust with her adoptive father, his friend Sam Scott Milhoan. When a period of great upheaval and adjustment had come upon her he had placed Tom Keen in her life to be close and watch over her if anyone should make the connection between them and try to get to her. Then it had come time when she was safer with him in her life than she was with him watching her from afar and he had surrendered to the FBI, refused to talk with anyone but her and brought her, little by little, into his world.

Over the following months he had come to know her as a person and had grown to care for her, have a deep respect for her and gradually he began to love her too. She had no idea, of course. She was always far too quick to anger, too fiery to ever consider that he held those sorts of feelings for her. But he did and it was of far more danger to her than the inaccessible memories locked inside her head because all of his enemies could see it. Anslo Garrick, Berlin, Mr. Solomon, and countless others could all see it. He had given up over 20 years of freedom for her.

He had no idea he would fall so quickly and deeply in love with her but now that it had happened he realised he should have seen it coming from the very beginning. Dembe and Kate Kaplan had both shared their unsolicited opinions that he should tell her but he just couldn't do that. If he did it would irreparably change their relationship and their interaction and he knew she would flee from him. He would have to walk out of her life because she would be too disgusted to look at him. He couldn't do it. He was a coward. He was unworthy of her anyway even if he could bring himself to tell her. She was too light, too wonderful a creature for him to ever want to sully her by tying her to him. Yes, they were tied together by the very events of their lives but he couldn't tie her to him like that.

Yet, here he was. Sitting in his chair in the plane, daydreaming about her and of seeing her smile for the first time in two months. He hadn't been away from her for that long in a very long time and his heart ached with her absence. He looked at the time. It would be 10pm for her so he decided to give her a goodnight call.

He dialled and when she picked up gave a sleepy sounding "Hello?"

"Lizzie! Have i woken you? Its only 10pm, isn't it?"

"Agh yeah it is, Red, but i fell asleep on the couch watching a movie."

"Oh what was the movie, Lizzie?"

"Oh, er, just some silly thing about bridesmaids." She lied.

She was hardly going to tell Red that she had been watching a rather kinky movie called Secretary because it had an actor in it that reminded of Red, if he was 10 or so years younger.

"Hah, that bridesmaids is a gas isn't it? I remember watching that during a two day layover in Bermuda while a tropical storm passed over last year. Great fun, Lizzie!"

"Oh, right." Lizzie wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "So, when are you coming back, Red? Its awfully quiet and boring around here without you."

"Oh missed me, have you, Lizzie?" His tone was jovial but he was incredibly curious about her answer.

Dembe looked sideways at him at those words and rolled his eyes, receiving a dismissive wave of Red's hand in response. "I'm used to having you around, let's say that."

"Well, good news then, Lizzie, I'll be back by morning."

"Great, I'll see you at the Post Office then?" "Yes, sleep well, Lizzie."

"Goodnight, Raymond" she murmured, still half asleep. Realising what she'd just done she sat bolt upright and stared at the phone in horror and hung up before he could say anything else.

Lizzie needn't have worried that Red would say anything because she had actually struck him speechless. He was also staring at his phone, but in wonder, not horror. Her sleepy voice saying his name was just the way he fantasised it to be when he dreamed of waking up cuddled all around her body in his bed.

He feigned a yawn and told Dembe that he was retiring to the bedroom, situated at the back of the plane. Dembe and Kate Kaplan shared a glance and both rolled their eyes at one another before smirking. They both knew what effect Elizabeth could have on Red.

Red moved into the master bedroom at the back of the plane and torturously slowly undressed himself while "Raymond" in Lizzie's voice repeated in his head. Once he got over the initial shock he had become instantly aroused and had excused himself very hastily.

Kate and Dembe were probably laughing at his expense but he was far too turned on to really care. He pulled back the covers and lay naked on the bed draping the blankets at about mid thigh level while his impressive erection bobbed about in the open air.

He began at his own head and rubbed the sensitive skin of his scalp below it, moving his hands as if they were Lizzie's. His hands moved lower over the skin of his neck stopping to rub lightly at the spot she had stabbed him with his own pen early on in their relationship before moving lower again to his hair covered chest before moving around through the hair and over each nipple, which peaked at his touch. He rubbed at his stomach, still firm from a life spent in the criminal underworld but also covered by a soft layer that showed his love of good food and drink.

His hand bumped against the tip of his penis as it curved up towards his belly and he wrapped his hand around it sliding slowly down until he reached the base before his other hand slowly travelled the same route down his own body till he reached below his cock to cup his balls. Lizzie's voice in his head repeating his name was bringing him closer to his release and he tugged a little on his balls to prolong it.

He sped up his strokes on himself and gripped a little tighter in his enthusiasm before with a deeply groaned "Oh Lizzie" he came in thick threads on his own hand and abdomen. A

s he came down from his high he lazily rubbed the come around his stomach a little and wondered vaguely what she would think if she'd just witnessed what he'd done.

A small wicked smile curled his lips upward as he wiped himself off briefly before pulling the blankets over himself for a few hours sleep before the plane touched down.

Lizzie awoke suddenly at 6 am to the bed dipping as someone got into it beside her. She sat bolt upright with heart beating wildly and aimed her gun at the intruder. "Lizzie, calm down, sweetheart. It's just me."

Red. Raymond "Red" Reddington had just entered her apartment, made it all the way through to her room and divested himself of shoes, jacket, vest, tie and hat, all without her even so much as turning over in her sleep. "Some FBI agent I turned out to be" she thought while out loud she exclaimed "Red! What the fuck are you doing in my house? In my bed? I could have shot you!"

"Well, thankfully I don't think you have it in you to shoot me, Lizzie." he responded in typical jovial fashion. She glared at him sideways before flopping back down on the bed and sarcastically muttering "I'm not sure you should bet on that when I'm barely awake and pre coffee." Red laughed out loud.

"Anyway, you didn't answer me. What are you doing in my bed at barely 6 am, Red?" He turned on his side towards her, his face becoming suddenly serious "I missed you." he said simply as if breaking into someone's home and then climbing into bed with them was the only logical course of action to remedy missing someone, but then, she supposed, to him it was perfectly logical.

She knew she should have been outraged, yelled at him to leave, but she was touched by his sincerity, his forthright presentation of his feelings. She turned her head to look at him, seeing for the first time that his eyes betrayed his feelings even more than his words.

Lizzie came to a quick decision and as a swirl of strong emotion began within her she huskily replied "I missed you too, Raymond."

Red's eyes got momentarily wider and his breath hitched to hear his name come deliberately from her mouth. He stared at her for a few long moments before he rolled so he was half on her, cradling her shoulders in the circle of his arms leaving her without much choice but to place her hands on his chest. He made no further move and a brief shadow of doubt flickered over his face "You….you want me?"

"Yes, Red." She responded, nodding. His brief smile was a mile wide. "Lizzie, you must be one hundred percent sure. Are you sure you really want this? I will never let you go if our relationship changes like this."

"Red...Raymond. I don't know of anything else I've ever wanted more. If you did let me go I'd hunt you down anyway." His laugh made him look younger as if years of care and worries had dropped from him instantly at her words. She seized the back of his head and drew him down towards her.