Hei there :D If you're reading this, great, I'm proud of you and would give you a cookie if I knew where I could send it to. I'll be completely honest, I'm suffering from minor writer's flu, (like writer's block but it also makes me absolute rubbish at writing when I finally get an idea.) so I apologize in advance if this is crummy. I'm new to the fandom kinda, as in, I haven't written for it yet. However, I will do my best, my very very best to improve the character's and whatnot, but I wanted to put this out here. So, I hope you enjoy, and HAVE A NICE DAY AND SMILE bc smiling is worth it and good days are fun.

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I Thought You Outgrew Hide and Seek?

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Elizabeth Keen didn't exactly enjoy the feeling of gun barrels pressed to her temple.

Yet, she found herself more and more privy to the experience the longer she worked with Raymond Reddington. Quite frankly, she really was becoming desensitized to the sheer panic that typically accompanied one when they were faced with the threat of a bullet in their brain; for Lizzie, it was replaced simply by counting down the seconds until Red walked into the room, and the gun was removed from her head. This particular time, they had been chasing Lawrence Howard, an especially nasty arms dealer that Red had been adamant about getting rid of.

It had been going well enough, too, until they finally raided the warehouse that Lawrence had currently occupied. Donald and the S.W.A.T. team had gone around the back, Lizzie and Meera going through the front. As the pair made their way through the labyrinth of hallways that made up the warehouse, somehow, because that's just her luck, Meera and Elizabeth had gotten separated. Steadying the arm that held her gun, LOzzie made her way to the door at the end of a hallway, counting to three as she took a deep breath and kicked the door open. Stepping in quickly, Elizabeth assessed the area in front of her and found no signs of Lawrence. She jumped as the door across from her opened and was simultaneously grabbed around the waist.

Grunting as her gun fell from her hand, Liz cursed under her breath as she felt herself being pulled against the hard planes of undoubtedly Lawrence's chest, his gun now at her temple. She further rolled her eyes as Red stepped in to the room, his signature smirk adorning his face. Upon realizing that Howard had been behind the door, Lizzie mentally kicked herself for making the rookie mistake.

"Tsk tsk, Lawrence." Red sighed, slowly making his way to the end of the table in the room.

"I thought you were done chasing me, Raymond." the man laughed deeply.

"Ah, yes…and I thought you outgrew playing hide and seek," Red sighed,"but I can see that you haven't."

"Well, I wasn't expecting visitors, you know?"

"I suppose. See, typically men open the door for women, and I couldn't help but notice how you did the polar opposite. Why, Agent Keen probably got her feelings hurt." Red kept his voice level, but his eyes were searching Lizzie's, looking for signs of pain or anxiety.

He was pleased to find none.

"Well, I apologize." Lawrence breathed into Lizzie's hair, "I wouldn't want a nice lady like yourself to be sad."

Lizzie squirmed at the feeling of the man's breath on her neck, the action not going unnoticed by Red, who bristled at the sight.

"Alright, that's quite enough chatting." Red sighed, leveling his gun at the man's head. "Lizzie, darling, could you please scoot your head to the right a bit? I don't like messes."

Before she could register the words that came out of his mouth, Red had fired, and she felt the weight holding on to her drop to the ground with a yell of pain, in his shoulder. Red pulled her away from Lawrence as he walked over to the man on the floor, shaking his head. Liz covered her mouth as Raymond suddenly shot the man in the knee, resulting in another cry of pain as he tilted his head.

"Was that necessary?!" Liz cried, her eyes going wide.

Her question was left unanswered while Red knelt down and pushed on the man's knee for good measure, seemingly satisfied with the yelp that followed as he stood up.

"You know I don't really handle it well when people feel the need to have a firearm to your head, Lizzie." he sighed, walking over and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Red, you didn't have t-"

"Are you okay?" he interrupted, running his hands down her arms and back up again.

She scoffed at this, "Yes, I'm fine. But Jesus, you are maddening."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "I"m aware of this."

Elizabeth watched as he picked up his hat off the table and made his way over to the door.

"Where are you going?" she questioned, turning to face him.

"I suppose that Donald and friends will be able to handle this from here. So, I am off to do business, which, as you know, can be very demanding."

Elizabeth smirked at the man as she crossed her arms, "Ever the busy little criminal, aren't you?" she joked, "When will I see you again?"

"Soon enough, Lizzie. Soon enough."

With that, Red disappeared through the door behind him, leaving her by herself. A few seconds later, she was met by Donald coming through the door, his eyes taking in the situation and holstering his weapon. Lawrence let out a moan as he reached for his knee, causing both agents to look down with a degree of sympathy on their features.

"Red?" the man sighed.

"Yup."

Donald nodded at this and stepped out of the way for the medics and examiner to come in. The two agents made their way outside, sliding into their SUV.

"I don't understand that man." Liz breathed.

Donald's eyebrow raised at this, "Care to explain?"

"It's just, he's always so calm, but as soon as anyone at all immediately threatens me, he's vicious. I'm in danger every day and he's fine, but it's like if he sees it or there's a particular instance, he's brutal."

"Well Liz, I mean, come on." Donald laughed, "Don't be surprised, that's just who he is. Don't you know that?"

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" she lightly have Donald a shove on the shoulder with a chuckle.

"Just look at Kornish, that's case in point, really."

"How do you figure?" Lizzie mused, looking out the window.

"Well, Reddington did turn him into Jell-O for touching you."