The taste of his lips. The weight of his body on top of hers. His warm breath on her neck. His hands on her thighs. The way he moved, the way he said her name, the way his eyes were fixed on her. The smell of his cologne, his soft skin, the tone of his voice when he groaned in lust—

"Lizzie?"

Nothing.

"Lizzie? Are you home?" Reddington kept knocking and by now he actually began to worry. He had just decided to pick the lock to see if she was alright when the door opened and Lizzie looked down at him kneeling in front of her with a picklock in his hand.

"What the hell?"

"I….." He got up and straightened his clothes while she looked at him waiting for an explanation. "….got you a bagel!" he said holding a pastry bag in front of her face. "Can I come in?" But he was already in, and Lizzie didn't even know exactly how he always managed to find his way into her motel room without her protesting.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" Reddington asked, trying to find a clean plate for the bagel in what was supposed to be the kitchen area of her small and chaotic motel room. "It's half past 12!"

"Yes, I…" The taste of his lips. Her eyes widened as she remembered flashes of the dream she had been having.

"Lizzie? Are you okay?"

"I think I should take a shower," she said, trying not to look at him.

"Sure, I have all the time in the world today— it's my day off!" he said with a smile on his face and tilting his head to one side.

"Your day off?" Lizzie said searching for fresh clothes and at the same time hiding her underwear underneath the bed so he didn't see them.

"Sure. Isn't it yours as well?"

"It is. I just didn't know that criminals took days off. Can you even afford that?"

"I employ myself, Lizzie, and I always assure I get paid leave."

"Right!" she said and couldn't resist a smile. The way he said her name. "Okay. I really need to take a shower now!"

"A cold shower," she said to herself when she entered the small bathroom.

After 10 minutes she dared to leave the bathroom, her hair still wet, wearing shorts and a tank top. It was summer after all and had nothing to do with Reddington being there. He sat at the table while the bagel rested on a clean plate opposite of him.

"Did you… clean up?" Lizzie said, looking around the room in disbelief. Her bed was made and the few dishes were washed and dried.

"Just a bit." He said, and pointed at the empty chair. "Sit. Have your bagel! It's camembert, lettuce, and some kind of delectable honey-mustard mayonnaise whatever sauce. I've never had anything like it. Trust me, it's delicious! I got it from that little place in Brooklyn. This little corner shop called Maggie's Bagels! Maggie is a master with bread!"

"You got this in New York?"

"Yes"

"Today?"

"Well, as opposed to you, Agent Keen, there are people out there who have already got some things done today!"

"But it's your day off!" she said, taking a bite of the bagel and immediately groaning in disbelief at how good it tasted.

"It's my day off! So I could fly to New York and get you a bagel!"

"You seriously want me to believe that you flew there, just to get me a bagel?"

"Okay. I admit it. You got me! I am not that selfless! I did have a bagel myself!"

She rolled her eyes and her mouth formed the word "why?"

"Why not, Lizzie?"

"Right. It's your day off!" she said imitating his voice, then taking another bite.

"Now that we've established that…. What are we going to do with all our free time!?" he said, leaning back in the chair and watching her eat.

"Is that why you're so casual today?" she asked, and thereby completely ignored his question.

"Pardon?"

"No three piece suit, no tie, not even a hat! What's going on?"

He was really just wearing black trousers, a grey long sleeved shirt — of which he had unbuttoned the first two buttons sometime within the first 20 minutes he's been in her motel room — and a black jacket.

"Is this your holiday outfit?"

"Not exactly. I'd say it's my summer outfit!" he said looking at her with a cheeky grin.

The way his eyes were fixed on her. Lizzie finished the last bite of her bagel and resisted the urge to lick her fingers whilst trying to block any memory of the dream she had earlier.

They were quiet for a while and Red became uncomfortable. He felt like she didn't want him there and he thought of himself as the biggest idiot. She was probably looking forward to a day without him and here he was with this stupid bagel.

"Well, I'm gonna leave you to it then, Liz." He said and stood up from the chair.

"No!" she said louder than intended and without realizing she moved, found herself standing right in front of him.

"You want me to stay?" he said confused and still standing very close to her.

His warm breath on her neck.

"Yes. Please. Stay. Sit." She stuttered and that was when she knew that she had lost. There was no fighting it anymore. "I gotta tell you something, Red."

"Okay." He made an acquiescing gesture and sat back down at the table.

She didn't know how to start, what it actually was she wanted to tell, or even what she thought should remain secret.

"Lizzie?"

"I…. What I'm going to tell you is rather personal."

"I'm all ears!" Red leaned forward and put his elbows on the table not taking his eyes off Lizzie which didn't make it easier for her to open up.

"I've been having these dreams—" she struggled but at the same time wanted so desperately to tell him. "Actually it's more like variations of the same dream over and over again."

"Aha!" Red leaned back again, not daring to think which direction this may lead.

"It started a couple of months ago. The first time I had this dream it started with Tom being here in this motel room."

"Hm!" Red said rather disappointed.

"He was about to tell me something about you, then you stormed in and shot him."

With a big grin on his face he didn't even try to hide the pleased tone in his voice, "Sounds like something I would do."

"Then you…. You came closer to me,I was still in bed, and you came over and you asked me… you asked me who I really wanted."

"Who… you really wanted?"

"Yes. Anyway… next time I had this dream it started the same way. Tom was here. He wanted to tell me a secret, you stormed in but this time…" She hesitated and glanced quickly to his excited eyes, making her regret that she even started this conversation, but there was no going back now. "…this time Tom shot you."

"Now, I really liked the first version better." Red said with a smirk on his face that wasn't quite enough to call a smile.

"I had another dream this morning."

"Did you? Who got shot this time?"

"No one. Tom wasn't even here to begin with. It was just you and me."

Red's mouth was open but he couldn't say a thing; he knew for sure that what he suspected she was implying, was correct. "A… and…. And what…?" he found himself stammering like he had in the 4th grade.

"And we were having sex." Liz said, took a deep breath and closed her eyes, too afraid to open them again.

Red swallowed. "Oh that's a dream I know. Was it any good?" He was so glad he had his sass back right in time.

"I don't know."

"Then it wasn't."

"I don't know, because you woke me up by knocking on my door like a lunatic."

He felt his upper lip twitching while he was trying not to succumb to the voice in his head that constantly told him to kiss her. "I truly apologise for having interrupted your subconscious intercourse with me." He kept staring at her, and this time she didn't look away but held his eye contact.

"If you wanna make up for it…", she surprised herself by the insinuating tone of her voice and became even more flustered than she already was.

"Excuse me?"

"You've asked me what we were going do with all the free time we had today. I have an idea. A few ideas actually."

Red cleared his throat, stood up and headed for the door. "You are joking, Liz, right? You must be!"

She walked over to him and put her hand on his chest for support as she got on her tiptoes to kiss him. It was a soft kiss. Her lips touched his and neither of them seemed to move for an eternity. Just as Liz began to think this was a bad idea and wanted to back off, he finally came to his senses and wrapped his arms around her to pull her against his chest. He pressed his lips on hers and the soft kiss turned into a passionate one. The taste of his lips. It made her feel weak in the knees. The taste of his lips. She was still on tiptoes when she unbuckled his leather belt and started pulling him towards her bed, still kissing him. The taste of his lips.

Reaching the edge of the bed, he broke the kiss taking a couple breaths of air to ask, "Are we sure we want to do this?"

"I am sure, but your question implies you are not!"

"It's just… I don't know what you're expecting, but… underneath the fancy clothes, I'm just an old man, Lizzie."

"I know. And I happen to like that old man!" she said with all seriousness.

This actually made him laugh a bit and in the same way relax. He gathered all his courage and kissed her again while taking his jacket off and throwing it somewhere. In any corner of the room. He didn't even care anymore that they were in a shady motel room with a half-heartedly furnished kitchenette in the corner and clothes just lying on the floor due to lack of a closet. This wasn't at all how he had imagined this would happen, but this didn't make it any less perfect.

She was about to pull his shirt out of his trousers and unbutton it completely when he stopped the kiss yet another time. "You should know, Lizzie-"

She interrupted him by putting a finger on his lips. "Whatever it is you think you need to tell me about yourself, I'd really appreciate if I could find it out for myself, Raymond."

He stopped breathing and looked at her unbelievingly. "That's the first time you called me Raymond!"

"Is it?"

"Yes!" he said putting all the weight of the world in that small little word to show her how much it meant to him.

"Raymond." She said again.

He let her take his shirt off, indifferent to what she might think about his scarred body.

The taste of her lips. The weight of her body on top on his. Her warm breath on his neck. Her hands on his chest. The way she moved, the way she said his name, the way her eyes were fixed on him. The smell of her hair, her soft skin, the tone of her voice when she groaned in lust.

All of that was real now.