"Oh my god!"

Liz jumps out of the doorway, accidentally brushing against Red in her haste to get away from the huge, scaly, coiled thing on the floor.

A snake.

A snake.

Why? Why does it have to be a snake?

Red has no way of knowing this but Liz has always been terrified of snakes. Ever since the first time Sam had taken her to the zoo and they had had to go through the amphibian house to get to the dolphins, she had been terrified. She can't help it. She knows it's an illogical fear – she's a trained psychologist for god's sake – and they're more scared of her than she is of them and all that, but it doesn't matter. She just has an ingrained urge to run and hide whenever she sees one of their slithering, sliding bodies.

So, when she sees the poor girl that Red is using that mammal-eating monster to interrogate, Liz wants to help. She really does. But then she sees it slumped on the floor and nope. Just no.

Liz darts down the hall and, damn it, it's a dead end and she doesn't have the presence of mind to try any of the doors so she just presses herself into the farthest corner from that room, trying to make herself as small as possible so that the snake won't see her.

(Yes, she knows in the back of her mind that this is ridiculous, the snake couldn't be less interested in her, especially considering it just ate two rabbits whole but oh, she shivers in disgust and horror at that thought, and no, no, no.)

"Dembe, would you step inside and look after our guests for a moment, please?"

Liz hears Red speak faintly, through the haze of fear clouding her senses, and then hears a door close. She would look to be sure but her eyes are squeezed shut and she can't open them because the snake could be right there and –

"Lizzie."

Liz eeps in terror, her eyes flying open, and she is surprised to see Red standing right in front of her, very close.

"Lizzie, are you afraid of snakes?"

If she hadn't been so frozen in fear, Liz would have rolled her eyes at him. If her fleeing the room wasn't enough of a red flag for him, her cowering in the corner probably should have tipped him off.

Red seems to see enough derision in her face to come to the right conclusion. To Liz's annoyance, his lips twitch, as if he is suppressing a smirk, and then he raises an eyebrow, looking down at her fondly.

"I'm sorry, Lizzie. Had I known, I would have arranged to meet you elsewhere."

He does sound very sorry and the warmth of his voice is surrounding her like a soft blanket. She feels her limbs beginning to unlock.

Liz manages to shake her head minutely, too afraid to move any more. It's not his fault, she wishes she could tell him.

"But really, Lizzie, do you think would I let a snake hurt you?"

Liz frowns, wanting to say that it's not necessarily up to him, he can't control snakes after all, can he? But then Red slowly raises an arm to place his hand on the wall to her left.

"Would I?"

He places his other hand against the wall on her other side, effectively trapping her in the corner.

(He is so close that his cologne is starting to flood her senses, making her tingle pleasantly.)

Somehow, instead of making her feel scared like it probably should, Liz is starting to relax, the chill that had settled in her extremities at the first sight of the snake starting to melt away slowly.

"Lizzie?"

She realizes that he is still waiting for her to answer so she clears her throat as best she can and tries to speak.

"No."

Her voice is quiet and horse, a scratchy whisper, but it's the most she can manage and he's close enough to hear her.

"That's right, I wouldn't." he murmurs, soothing, nodding gently.

Liz feels herself nodding a little along with him, his eyes deep green and strangely hypnotic.

"So, what exactly are you afraid of, Lizzie?"

Liz stops breathing as Red starts to very slowly lean in, closing the small distance between them. But instead of going for her lips, which she might have expected, he smoothly bypasses her face and leans down to her neck. She is frozen again but this time not with fear. Confusion, anticipation, excitement.

Well.

With a shock, Liz feels Red's nose lightly touch the skin under her ear, nuzzling her there. She feels him inhale and with another shock, Liz realizes that Red is smelling her.

Oh.

He hums deep in his throat, his nose skimming down and across her collarbone.

Oh, my.

Liz's eyes start to droop, enjoying the warm tendrils of calm that Red is sending through her body, somehow feeling both very relaxed and deeply excited.

"Don't be afraid, Lizzie." He murmurs and, despite all the distractions, she can detect an undercurrent of amusement in his voice. But, with his warm, good-smelling breath wafting over her face, she can't find it in herself to mind.

"Are you still afraid, Lizzie?"

He's bringing his head up very slowly, so as not to startle her, and she takes the time to ponder the question.

All the cold fear that had overtaken her not five minutes ago is gone, Red-induced warmth in its place. She no longer feels frozen, instead she feels pleasantly languid, sagging a little against the wall.

She's not worried about falling to the floor though, not with Red there propping her up. They're not touching – there's a small, useless inch of space between their bodies – but she feels the mere presence of Red, the power he exudes to anyone close to him, preventing her from sinking to the floor.

So, no, Liz muses, she is not afraid. In fact, she has never felt less afraid, surrounded as she is by Raymond Reddington.

So, as his head finally raises enough for their eyes to meet, she smiles lazily at him.

"No." she murmurs, hearing a little wonder in her own voice.

For a moment, Red just smiles back, his face full of obvious warmth for her.

(And perhaps, on another day, at another time, in another life, she would be comfortable seeing that 'warmth' for the love that it really is but alas. Here they are.)

Liz blinks slowly, taking in all the tiny details of his face. The defined chin, the soft cheeks, the laugh lines…the shape of his lips.

They look very soft.

And before Liz can really think about what she's doing, she's leaning in and lightly touching her lips to his.

And it would have been tentative and soft and perfect but then Red, Red, takes a ragged breath against her mouth and surges against her, all surprise and hunger and one of his hands is cupping her neck and the other her waist and Liz's arms are wrapping around his neck and wow, he is a good kisser.

So Liz spends the next few minutes being deliciously pressed and thoroughly kissed against a wall by Raymond Reddington and she's not sure she can think of anything better and when they finally surface, she has trouble remembering what exactly she was so scared of.

Red pulls back only an inch or so, just enough to look into her eyes.

"Feeling better, Lizzie?" he asks, grinning just a little too smugly at her slightly dazed expression.

She just hums, scratching her nails through his hair.

"Good." He says happily, his hand tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

And then suddenly he's grabbing her hand and tugging her forward and what –

"Red – "

She was so comfortable, why –

"Now you can meet Betsy!"

She can meet –

Oh no.