She was tired. Tired of staring at nothing. Tired of not knowing anything new. They hadn't been back at the post office long but Lizzie felt anxious. This case…it was wearing on her. Not that any of the cases Reddington brought them were easy. It's just that this seemed more than she was ready to cope with right now. Lizzie had never been one to have many people close to her. So, those she did have, she held extra close. Perhaps that's why this blacklister…. The Soulless got to her so.

"I gotta get out of here." She half startled herself and certainly jolted Ressler back from a daze. "I'm gonna go talk to Reddington, see if he can't speed this process up." She told him, standing and grabbing her jacket.

"Yea, good idea. I'll call you if Aram pulls anything from the laptop" he grabbed her wrist as she walked by and she just looked at him.

"Hey, we'll get this guy Liz." Ressler tried to reassure her. She nodded and walked out.

She was slightly frazzled that he could tell she was on edge. She had made it half way up the elevator before she snapped out of it. She shook her head and pulled out her phone. She dialed the number quickly and waited.

"Dembe, it's me. I need to talk to him." She didn't even give him time to say hello. Liz realized she would need to learn to be kinder to the man.

"Lizzie! To what do I owe the pleasure?" She didn't bother cutting him off, enjoying the greeting and realizing her heart pounded slightly faster. They had been working on the blacklist well over two years now. Admittedly they had become quite close and Lizzie found herself longing for his company. Especially now.

"Can we meet? We lost him, I need to clear my head and hear what else you may know." She waited for the answer she knew would come.

He gave her the oh-so-familiar chuckle she'd grown to love, even if it was generally only when the FBI had made a mistake.

"Of course! What DO they teach you agents these days?!" She knew he was shaking his head at them.

"We managed to get the computer, Aram is going through it now. I just can't wait. I need to do something" She sighed a sigh of defeat.

"Well, as luck would have it Lizzie I am pulling up to the post office as we speak. What's say we go for a drive?" with that he hung up.

She exited the building and saw the black Mercedes pulling in. Dembe parked and got out to open the door. "Thank you Dembe, you're too kind" She patted him on the forearm as she slid in. She thought she caught a small smile from him as he shut the door.

"So, Lizzie, tell me what happened."

She spent the next five minutes telling him the events of the past few hours. How they had tracked The Soulless to the safe house and how he had eventually escaped out a window and down the fire escape. She tried to chase after him but he hit her in the head with something. At that Red moved the hair from her face gently and examined the wound quickly. His eyes caught hers and they held each other's gaze for a moment, his hand still holding her chin slightly.

"I'm glad you're ok." Was all he said. He sat there as they drove through town and was silent. She was sure he was thinking about something important when he began to chew on his lip. Lizzie let out a long dramatic sigh and then almost shouted.

"I hate this!"

Red cocked his head at her slightly. She had caught him off guard. He took a quick mental note, yet again, of how often that happened.

She went on "I mean I can't deal with just sitting around waiting for someone else's family to be murdered. How can anyone live with themselves?!" She sounded so deflated.

He eyed her and realized how this case was affecting her. Those that she had, she held very close and this... Soulless human thrived on taking just that away from his victim's. He was hired to prove a point and that's exactly what he'd do, by completely eliminating the target's family. Then leave the target alive to suffer the pain of true loss.

Red grabbed her hand and turned to face her.

"We will find him Lizzie and we will stop him." His tone was low, rough and very serious and yet, loving? He squeezed her hand and began stroking the back of it with his thumb. She sat and simply enjoyed the touch and comfort he brought her.

Just as she had leaned her head back and closed her eyes the shrill sound of a phone jolted them open. It was hers. Trying to be subtle, she carefully flipped the phone open without giving up his hand.

He noticed. He always noticed when her touch was deliberate...and when it wasn't. What she did to him, there aren't words. He listened as she answered the phone, hoping it would be a lead, if for Lizzie's sake alone.

"Hey Aram! Tell me you've got something?" She was listening; Red couldn't make out the other end of the conversation.

"Ok, have you sent agents? Great, I'll meet them there! Thanks Aram!" Red waited as she hung up. He was anxious. She flipped the phone with the snap of a finger and smiled.

"Aram found an encrypted file with a list of contacts. He was able to trace one and they seemed to have had contact with this creep. They just sent him an address, we think it may be for a meet." She informed him

"Well do tell sweetheart, what's the address?"

"Oh, 2822 28thst in Woodley park."

There was an audible screech of tires and her head hit the back of the seat as Dembe accelerated rather insanely. Red dropped her hand and his eyes went dark. It was the face he makes when he goes into protection mode, fight mode. She occasionally pitied whoever was the cause of that look because she knew what followed. Not this time though, this time, death could follow quickly.

"What's wrong? You know this address?" Nothing, he just stared forward.

"Ray?" She touched his hand ever so slightly and that brought him back.

He shifted in his seat and unbuckled her seat belt, which may not have been the safest move with Dembe's rapidly increasing speed.

"Would you mind sliding this way?" was all he said. She was confused and just stared at him. He grabbed her upper arm with one hand and inner leg with the other and pulled. The motion alone got her to move but she was still dumbfounded. With her now rather snug next to him, and more importantly out of the way, or perhaps not more importantly, he leaned across her. Red pulled on a strap in the seat she had just moved from and the bottom portion folded forward revealing three guns.

Lizzie half chuckled, half shivered at the sight, and at his closeness. With him leaning, he was practically on top of her. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she needed air.

"Here I thought you just wanted to sit by me." She didn't even find herself funny.

The words, yet again caught him of guard as he was stretched across her grabbing his favorite gun and silencer. He paused and looked at her, realizing how near to her he was. Her grinned that damn irresistible grin and simply said "Always Lizzie."

He then handed her a gun and she eyed it carefully. Knowing full well she had one of her own he quickly shut the seat, snatched back the gun and handed it to Dembe.

"Where are we going?" She almost whispered it this time. She hadn't missed the erratic driving from his dear friend or the look on Red's face now.

"Lizzie, the house we're going to. The place you think the soulless is headed. It's not a meet; it's his next target. Lizzie its…." He paused as if trying to figure out how to proceed. He looked up at the front again.

"It is where my family lives."….