A/N: Just a fun little something I thought up.
All mistakes are mine.
As in all my stories, there is no Tom anywhere to be found.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Wish I did but I don't.
"My God! What. A. Week!" Elizabeth exclaims as she flops down into her office desk chair.
"Tell me about it. They're just getting harder you know it?" Ressler said as he too sits down in his chair across from her.
Elizabeth had to agree. The days at the Post Office were getting longer and more stressful with each new Blacklister that Red brought to them. Today they had finally took down number 77 on Red's list.
Demyan Brinhov. A 24 year old Russian hardware engineer and computer programmer. Demyan had been on the FBI Most Wanted List for the last three years but they had never been able to track him down. He was wanted for computer fraud and cyber-based terrorism. The United States weren't the only country gunning for him either. Canada, the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan and Ukraine were all wanting to a have a little face to face chat with him
Demyan was a very smart young man. Over the last three years he had been able to steal over $19 million in the US alone, and over $100 million worldwide, by transferring money from various banks and accounts from both private citizens and companies. Once the money was gone, it was gone. He moved the money through so many accounts and channels in such a small amount of time it was impossible to locate him. Even poor Aram couldn't track him down. At first.
Demyan had a pretty good racket going for him. Until he made the mistake of stealing from Raymond Reddington. Overnight, in a span of 44 minutes, he was able to hack into one of Red's Swiss bank accounts and steal a little over $70 million. Red was a little upset to say the least. Now to be fair, Demyan didn't know he stealing from the FBI's Fourth Most Wanted Man. He thought it was just another plain old bank account.
Red had called Lizzie that next afternoon to meet him at an old warehouse about 40 miles outside of downtown Washington D.C. He had requested that she also bring Aram with her. To say Aram was "a little nervous" was an understatement. When they got there the building was full of young college aged men and women huddled over various computers. He had gathered up every known high profile computer engineer and scientist from coast to coast along with a few "known/unknown" hackers and programmers.
When Red had told Lizzie someone had stole money from him the night before she tried her best not to laugh. She really did. But the thought of someone getting the best of Red in the middle of the night while he was sleeping was just to funny. Red was not amused.
That had been five days ago. Red was as focused as she had ever seen him. He wanted his money back. Finally Aram and Alanna, a young 29 year old computer scientist born and raised in Massachusetts, who graduated from MIT and now made her living as an independent contractor, were able to track Demyan down. He was living in a beautiful beach house on the Hawaiian Island of O'ahu. He won't be living there anymore.
"You know it wouldn't be so bad if everything wasn't done with computers. Computers and the internet make our job 100 times harder." Ressler said with a frown.
Elizabeth couldn't help but laugh. "That's true, Grandpa. What happened to the good old days when criminals would just rob banks with the get away car parked outside?"
"Haha very funny." Ressler replied. "What are you doing for the rest of the evening?"
"Relaxing. I'm going to go home, soak in the tub with a glass of wine and then catch up on some TV. My DVR must be packed full by now." Elizabeth said as she stood up from her chair. "You?"
"Seeing Audrey." Ressler said with a smile as he too got up from his chair.
Elizabeth smiled at him. She was really happy her friend and partner was so happy in his personal life. At least one of them had a personal life. She had been so busy working since Red came into her life that she hadn't been on a date in months.
After they both gathered up their stuff, Ressler walked Elizabeth to her car and wished her a good night with a hug. As Elizabeth drove home all she could think about was a nice, evening alone with nothing to do. Which is why she frowned when she saw the four door black Mercedes parked outside her house.
Elizabeth sighed as she parked her car and got out. Dembe was standing in front of her front door keeping watch.
"Hello Dembe." Elizabeth said walking up to him. No need to be rude to him. He's just doing as he's told.
"Good evening Liz." Dembe replied softly and with a small smile. He stepped out of her way and opened her door. After she walked into the house, he shut the door behind her. Elizabeth walked into the living room and tossed her coat and purse onto the couch. She saw Red's suit jacket laying on the back of one of the chairs and his black fedora hat sitting on her coffee table.
"Red?" Elizabeth called out not seeing him anywhere.
"Out here Lizzie." She heard. She walked passed the dining table and through the kitchen before seeing Red sitting outside on her back yard patio, his back to her. She walked to the sliding glass door and opened it. Hudson raised his head from it's spot on Red's lap to look at her.
"Good evening Lizzie." Red said looking at her with smile. She saw he was sitting on her wooden swing, a lit cigar in one hand and a tumbler of what looked to be scotch in the other. On the small attached table next to him was another glass, a bottle turned so she couldn't see the label and a crystal ash tray. All three which she knew he had brought himself.
"What are you doing here Red?" Elizabeth asked as she took the seat next to him.
"Enjoying this beautiful night with Hudson here." Red replied smiling as he looked down at the dog half a sleep in his lap.
Some watch dog Elizabeth thought as she looked at the pair.
"Pour yourself a glass Lizzie. This is one of the best bottles I've opened in awhile." Red said as he brought the cigar to his mouth.
"I don't drink scotch." Elizabeth said.
"I know but please try this. I think you will like it." Red said as he moved slightly to pour her a glass himself. "Just try it."
Elizabeth frowned but accepted the glass. She brought the glass up to her lips and took a small taste. Damn him. It was good. She said nothing as she brought the glass back down but Red's smile got even bigger as he watched her.
"See. I knew you would like it." Red said taking another puff of his cigar.
"I didn't know you smoked." Elizabeth said, refusing to acknowledge how good the scotch was.
"I love cigars but good lord are they bad for you. Only on special occasions do I have one. I'm very strict about that." Red replied. "And today is a special occasion if I've ever heard of one. Another Blacklister down and I got all my money back. Good day."
"All your money back and then some. Don't think I don't know about you having Alanna take a little more then your share." Elizabeth said with a raised eyebrow.
"Just a little compensation for my emotion and mental pain and distress." Red said looking at her with a very cocky look on his face.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and leaned her head back on the swing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Yes I agree. It's been a long and very stressful week. It's nice to just relax." Red said softly.
"I was planning on relaxing. Relaxing in the tub and then watch a little TV." Elizabeth said with her eyes still shut.
"I don't watch much TV but I enjoy a good soak." Red said with a grin.
Elizabeth opened her eyes and gave him a side eyed look. She was curious though.
"What do you do to relax? I mean you lead a very stressful life every single day. What do you do to unwind?"
"I do lots of things. I wasn't kidding about a good long soak in the tub. I also enjoy acupuncture, Zen meditation, half time breathing, sitting in a sauna and having a hot stone massage works wonders. My favorite is this." Red said looking at her.
Elizabeth frowned. "This? What are we doing?"
"Nothing. We are doing nothing." Red said with a smile. "Lizzie nothing is more relaxing to a man than sitting with a cigar, a glass of scotch and a beautiful woman by his side doing absolutely nothing."
Elizabeth looked at him for a moment before smiling back at him. She then took another sip of her drink, closed her eyes and laid her head back against the swing. Maybe he's right she thought. This is relaxing.
The End!
A/N: Review!