Elizabeth Keen was the one who started it all. She started it the moment that she saw Raymond Reddington and decided to look past the Concierge of Crime and just see the man, Red. She started falling hard and fast for a man that made sure to always keep himself just out of reach. A man who let her pull and push him around as misunderstanding after misunderstanding led them in circles around each other. A man like Red needed a subtler language, a language of actions not of words, a language were there could be no misunderstandings.
Lizzie starts by sitting closer to Red when they meet to discuss blacklisters. When he enters a room she lets herself follow the pull of gravity his body has on hers. And now when he comes back from business trips she follows her instincts and lets her hands roam his body looking for any sign of injury before finally just resting one hand on his cheek as she looks into those beautiful green eyes of his. And now he lets her, lets her run her hands on him and make sure he's safe as long as he gets to look into the bottomless depths of her blue eyes.
Red gives Lizzie that because he needs it just as much as she does. He feels his need for her attention like a physical ache in his body. A craving that he's sure can never truly be sated. Having her full attention on him soothes him in ways he didn't think were possible after everything that he has been through. Ways that make him have hope that he can be more than the monster that he let the world turn him into. That maybe if he can keep that light alive even so close to his darkness then he can be saved. So he starts bringing home little bits of beauty home. A bit of beauty to feed to the light to counteract every ugly thing that feeds the dark.
Lizzie starts finding gifts all around her house. Some days she'll open her closet and see a whole new section completely devoted to Guayabera dresses. Other days she'll open the fridge and see that a five star dinner is waiting for her. She laughs for an hour when a week after she sets noodles on fire she gets free cooking lessons. She can't stop crying when she gets the massage coupon a year after the Stewmaker incident. She hadn't told anyone it had never healed right. She decided to make up for all the missed apologies and thank you's she should have been giving him.
Red is not a man that is comfortable with being thanked, or apologized to. People almost always do both of those with a very specific agenda in mind. And yet here Lizzie is doing both. She already knows that if she asked he would set the moon and the stars on a string for her but here she is apologizing to him. He never expected to be anything other than a monster in her eyes. Wasn't surprised any of the times she called him exactly that. But this, this kindness, is new. Like the sunlight was forcing its way into the cave, leaving no other option but to embrace the warmth. So as he knocked on Lizzie's door that's what he aimed to do. Embrace any warmth that she thought him worthy of.
"Red. It's always a pleasure to see you," she smiled up at him as she opened the door.
He pauses. Just stares at her face as he wonders where all his previous courage seems to have gone now that he is finally in reach of what he wants most in this world.
"Elizabeth, I just want you to know that I-"he stops midway through misreading the amusement on her face as laughter at him. As he turns away she grabs his elbow and gently guides him back. With her other hand she grabs the nape of his neck and pulls down his head until they are looking each other directly in the eyes.
"You silly man, I know, I've been saying the same thing back to you for just as long" she whispers as she waits for him to make the final move.
"Lizzie I love you" he finally says before leaning down to close the distance between them. And in that moment he finally feels salvation. And in that moment she's finally found home.