Two seconds. For that time Elizabeth felt nothing but the warmth surrounding her and she was happy in the comfortable sleepiness that clouded her mind, keeping her eyelids heavy, and her breathing slow.

Unfortunately the joy only lasted until the first memory hit her, after which they all came rushing in, rushing her in waves and making her more awake as each image, sensation and thought invaded her and wiped away any sense of happiness that she could have felt. Her eyes opened wider and assessed her surroundings, taking notice of any threat or change in the bedroom besides the man sleeping next to her. She was less confident than the day before of the decision she had made but knew very well that she had no other choice. Finding that Tom was not who she believed he was made her world crumble, nothing could be taken for granted and no one could be trusted leaving her with a horrible sense of isolation. For somebody to be able to trick her as much and for as long as Tom did was terrifying, and yet strangely comforting.

She had told Tom she wouldn't let her career get in the way of they forming a family, and she had meant that. However when she was taken into the "Blacklist", she found herself not wanting to go home, and would stay in the office as long as she could working on every lead and check up. She hardly paid attention to her director's advice of going home, and looked forward for the late hours she spent with Meera and Donald; silently working and wonderfully coordinated, they were a team. She had known for a long time before Tom's revelation that a family is not what she needed but to find herself, and despite how much she loved him, Elizabeth could not picture Tom in her life.

She checked the clock on the night table and was disappointed to see that despite the bright light coming through the window it was only 5:25. It would look suspicious if she got up so early, so she stayed seizing those minutes to try and come up with a plan, but failed.

Her mind was swirling trying to make sense of everything; Who was Tom? What was he doing? She suspected his job was either very important, or his life would be threatened if he was discovered, otherwise he wouldn't have kept on with the charade. It was likely that he needed something from the box (the why eluded her but it didn't make it any less possible) and when he found the gun missing he figured she had found it, so he covered it by clamming ignorance.

She didn't do the logical thing of asking how he had found the box because she knew he would have no answer, after all there was no reason for a man with a recent surgery due to a stab wound on his torso to lift a heavy and brand-new carpet up to the middle of the room and then stress himself even more by pulling the hatch open. She had known the truth from the moment she saw her husband standing with the box at his side.

As her eyes went back to the alarm clock she was surprised to see it was now 6:48, time to get up. With one arm she slid the sheets and with the other she propelled herself up, swinging her feet out of the bed and on the wooden floor. She spared a glance to Tom but he was still asleep, so she went downstairs and prepared breakfast.

Walking through the living room she felt unease, something was wrong. She stood for a couple of seconds examining the room until she remembered; Poli. The friendly dog should have followed her when she got up but he was at their friends house, after all the commotion with Tom she had asked Mina to take care of the dog since both of them would be out, so Mina took him with them for Poli not to be alone for too long, he was very attached to people.

When she got to the kitchen the small windows let sun rays to filter in, causing her to blink until her eyes adapted. She prepared coffee and looking through the cabinets she found a bag with sliced bread. She opened it and took a slice, checking it from its two sides to see if it had gone bad but no green spots were visible. She did the same with three more others and put them to toast, two slices were left but she threw them anyway, they would go bad at any time now. Preparing the two coffee mugs Elizabeth began to wonder when was the last time she had had time to do things calmly; they were always running from one place to the other, always eating out or the left over's that hadn't gone bad just yet.

At first she had no problem with that, after all it meant that she had many things to do than to take her time with trifles, however during the last five months and way before the Blacklist, she had begun to get tired of all of it, she wanted to enjoy the little things like buying fresh coffee from that little store eight blocks from the apartment instead of the two pound bag Tom buys in the supermarket, she craved for those moments during study when she would go to the park and sit with her books reading the assigned material, but most of all she missed shopping. Ever since she bought an October edition of Vogue out of mere curiosity when she was 19 she had been hooked with that strange world. She loved seeing the strange clothes and accessories as well as the make up products. She was not superficial like most people would think of a Vogue aficionado, she had a unique taste and was proud of that but it was an aspect of herself that she never showed to others.

Lying against the kitchen counter with the mug pressing on her lips she heard Tom getting up and continued with her breakfast. He kissed her softly in the forehead and she suppressed the shiver running down her spine. He began eating as well and they talked about the day and errands that needed to be done, all the heavy talking done the night before. When the time came, Tom showered and headed for work, kissing her this time on the cheek.

Alone in her house she went upstairs to take a shower. Opening the dresser she picked up a black pair of trousers, a cream color satin blouse, her favorite blazer which fitted her nicely and a pair of heeled booths. After the shower she got dressed and headed to work.

She needed to do something, and fast.