A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Still working on developing the ability to write Red. He's tricky for some reasons.

Red had booked them at a hotel that overlooked the Mississippi River. It was in downtown St. Louis and was actually a quite pleasant part of St. Louis City. The arch was just a short walk from the hotel, and there was a casino on the main floor.

Dembe had Liz had talked quietly during the plan ride to St. Louis. Red had occasionally entered the conversation, but mostly he read. It was only small talk, mostly just about books Dembe and Liz both had read.

Red seemed to only interject himself once there was a comfortable conversation between Dembe and Liz, as if he was jealous of how easy Dembe found it to talk to Liz.

Now in the suite of the hotel Liz was enjoying the view while Red was getting ready for dinner. They were going to a nice restaurant known as the Mosaic. She had eaten there once before when she had visited the University of Missouri St. Louis to guest lecture in one of her college friends criminology classes.

"This really is a dreadful state." Red said.

"Why do you hate it so much?" Liz asked happy that Red seemed to be willing to engage in conversation.

"Bad experience here once." Red said not telling the story as he often had in the past.

Liz frowned, "Well hopefully whoever caused the bad experience is gone."

"Doubtful. All the reason to make sure we stay downtown and do not go near Dog Town or the surrounding areas."

"Dog Town?" Liz asked confused by the name.

"One of the local neighborhoods."

"Interesting name."

"Ready to go?" Dembe asked walking out of his room.

"Yes. Can we make a stop along the way? I moved the reservations back an hour to ensure we would make it on time." Liz stated.

"Where?" Red asked knowing he must be careful where he went, he was sure there were a few people left in town that would be happy to kill him for having disrupted one of the largest drug pipelines between Mexico and Chicago. He could not help he could move the drugs cheaper and faster. It had almost cost dearly. The gentleman he had taken the route from gave Red a proper beating before Dembe had found him and shot the man, Paul, unfortunately not killing him.

"Lafayette Square?" Liz gave the location of another neighborhood in St. Louis. This neighborhood was one of the areas that had been gentrified, it boarder one of the housing projects in St. Louis city, but had enough police supervision and strongly bonded neighborhood residents that the crime rates were almost non-existent. The house were old brick houses that were all rehabbed to look like the original multi-story houses.

"Whatever for?"

"I just want to see where my contact lives before I meet with her." Liz said.

"I guess we have the time since you moved the reservation." Red said looking at his watch, "Have you seen the neighborhood before Lizze?"

"Not in person." She said.

"Some of the houses are gorgeous. The park has a beautiful pond." Red said having stayed in one of the houses in the late 1990's when the entire sordid affair went down.

"Let's get going than." Liz said taking Dembe's arm, she did it on purpose and she knew it surprised Dembe when she did. Yes she was trying to make Red jealous because he seemed to engage in conversation with her when he got jealous of her attention to others.

Red told her stories of the history of the area as Dembe drove them in their rented black BMW. Liz had no idea where one rented a BMW, but here she was relaxing in the backseat with Red listening to him tell her about the story of the statue that sat in the park of the neighborhood they were on their way too.

"There is a little island that appears when the Mississippi dries up during the summer months. That is where they had their dual." Red continued with his story, a bit more animated than he had been the past month.

Once they got to the neighborhood Liz gave Dembe the address to the house, and he parked down the street turning the car off.

"We cannot sit here for long." Red said, "The police and the neighbors will notice us and come talk. The troubles of a socially cohesive neighborhood."

Liz hoped that the person would appear soon. She had it on good authority that the woman they were waiting for should be getting off work about twenty minutes ago. With the traffic she should be pulling up in the next few minutes.

"Who is this associate?" Red asked watching Liz as she watched the house for signs of life.

Liz did not respond, she was not going to ruin the surprise just yet. As the time crept by, she started to get nervous. What if there was a reason for Red not having contacted this person before? Originally, she thought it was simply Red could not find her, but now she was not so sure. How would she react to seeing Red? How would Red react to seeing her? Was this the right thing? Lizze decided yes it was, she would want the chance if she could have it.

"We need to leave soon." Dembe said noticing the cop car having circled around. It would come back and would come speak to them. It was awkward for three people to be sitting in a car on the road in this part of the neighborhood.

As if on cue, another cop car pulled up behind them.

Liz was happy she had brought her credentials with her. She climbed out of the car, to make sure the cops did not see Red just incase they would recognize them.

"Good evening officers." Liz greeted the two police officers walking towards her.

"Good evening Ma'am. What brings you to this part of town?" One of the officers asked sizing up Liz. She did not look like a drug addict, but suspicious enough to be in a car with two men.

"I'm going to reach into my purse and pull out my credentials. I'm with the FBI." Liz said slowly reaching into her purse and pulling out her credentials. She handed it to the officer, "I'm here on official FBI business."

"We were not informed of any FBI operations occurring." The officer said studying her credentials.

"We are waiting on an asset to come home."

"Any reason you can share?" The officer who seemed to be in charge asked.

"Just need to talk to her. The other two in the car are my partners." Liz answered the officers question before he could ask, "We were hoping not to be too noticeable."

"Since when does the FBI drive around in BMW's?" The officer in charge asked.

"It's one of the agent's personal car. We drove down from Chicago." Liz lied, "Much more comfortable than the cars they have us drive in."

"What is so important you drove down from Chicago?"

"The woman we are waiting to speak to has had contact with one of our top ten wanted criminals. She may have treated him without knowing."

"You are talking about Dr. Harper Jackson?" The officer said pointing at the house Liz had been watching.

"Yes. I doubt she even knew who she was treating. But we wanted to follow up. We have been following this gentlemen for the past year."

"I would say so. She is one of the good people." The officer stated, "She has bandaged up a couple of the local kids who got hurt skating boarding, or doing whatever kids do. She is a gem for this neighborhood."

"Glad to hear it. We just need to speak with her."

"Ok. Well I will let the others know and we will leave you alone than." The officer said handing Liz back her credentials. "If there is anything we can do to help let us know."

"I will officer…I'm sorry I did not get your name."

"Daniels."

"Officer Daniels. Thank you for being so understanding."

"Inter agency cooperation's right."

"Yeah. Sorry for not contacting you ahead of time. We did not expect to spend much time outside."

"No problem. There is Dr. Harper now."

Liz turned to see a car pulling into the driveway. She looked back towards the BMW, but with the tinted windows she could not tell if Red was looking at the person who pulled in the driveway.

Liz walked over to the woman as she got out of her car. "Dr. Lambert?"

"Yes." The woman with short blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes looked at Liz confused.

"I'm Agent Elizabeth Keen with the FBI. I was hoping I might be able to take a few minutes of your time to speak with you."

The woman suddenly looked angry, she clenched her jaw just like Red does when he gets angry. She even seemed to tilt her head in the same way.

"Come inside please." Dr. Harper said with fake politeness.

Liz followed the woman inside. She wanted to introduce the idea and give the woman a choice before she spoke with Red. By now, Red had to know who the woman was, and Liz looked behind her to make sure the car was still there.

Once inside the woman shut the door and did no bother to offer Liz anything to drink or offer Liz a place to sit. "I told that other agent years ago I have no idea where my father is, what he is doing. In fact I have not seen my father in over two-decades. I wish you people would just leave me alone."

"I'm sorry. The other agent?" Liz asked confused as to who may have stopped by to speak with her. This woman was supposedly well hidden from the world.

"I cannot remember." She said, "Maybe Dan, or Don something with a D."

"Agent Donald Ressler?"

"Yes I believe so. He came to me about 3 years ago when I was doing was a resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital."

"He did. I'm sorry he did not make a record of that."

"Probably because you people are supposed to leave me alone." The woman said, "Like I said I have not heard from my father in over two decades. If I had, I would have told you gladly."

"That is actually is not why I am here." Liz said not sure if this had been a good idea after all.

"Than why are you here?"

"It has to do with your father." Liz said, "But I already know where he is."

"Is the bastard finally dead?" Harper asked her eyes lit up with anger, looking extremely similar to Red's. The similarities were uncanny, and told Liz just how strong genetics played a role in shaping the people we are.

"No." Liz was not sure how to proceed.

"Too bad." Harper said meaning what she said.

"Um… Well…" Liz took a breath and looked at the woman, "He is actually not to far from here right now."

"Why aren't you out arresting him? Isn't he in your top ten of wanted criminals?"

"He's number four currently."

"So why are you here talking to me? I already told you I haven't seen him."

Standing in the foyer of the house Liz was not sure how to proceed, so she decided to just say it, "What I am about ready to tell you is classified information. I would lose my job for telling you this, and possibly be imprisoned."

"Ok." Harper said, intrigued by the statement. Curiosity killed the cat, but she was not a cat.

"Your father has been working with the FBI." Liz stated, "With me actually."

"All these years?" Harper said, but then followed up shortly after, "Of course not."

"Just this past year or so." Liz said, "He turned himself in. And has been helping the FBI bring down some really bad people."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Harper asked no longer as annoyed as she originally was. Mostly she was tired after a 24 hour shift with multiple trauma surgeries due to the increase in gang wars in North City St. Louis.

"He did not know I was coming here. He is outside. I thought maybe you would want to meet him." Liz said quickly, "It is what I would have wanted."

"That man abandoned my mom and I on Christmas. We found out he was a traitor. He sold secrets to other nations that got people killed. Why in the world would I want to meet him?"

"My own father was not a great man, and I still wish I could see him one more time. I just thought."

"Did he put you up to this? Is this part of his deal?" Harper was angry again, "My mother told me what happened to her, and how he had asked about me. I hoped I had hidden enough that he would never find me."

"No he did not put me up to this. He did not even know we were coming here. I actually lied to him to get him to come." Liz said. "I just thought."

"You thought wrong." Harper said. "If that is all, I really want to get some rest. "

"Ok. Sorry." Liz stopped before she walked out the door. She pulled one of her business cards out of her pocket, and a pen from her purse. Writing her cellphone number on the back, "If you change your mind I can be reached here. Whenever. Your father is not a complete monster."

"He's not a good guy either." Harper said taking the card from Liz, with the purpose of throwing it away the minute the agent was gone.

Liz left, hearing Harper close and lock the door behind her. As she walked back to the car, she steeled herself. She was not sure what Red she would find when she got to the car. Nor was she sure how she was gong to tell him his own daughter wanted nothing to do with him. She sure in the hell would not tell him the things his daughter had said about him. Or that Ressler had known where the woman was this entire time.

She climbed in the backseat, and was not happy to see another pissed off Reddington.

Red did not even attempt to hide his anger, or lower his voice, "Dembe take us back to the hotel we are leaving."

"Red…"

"No." Red said seething with anger, his fist were clenched at his side, his jaw clenched, and his face twitched with the raw emotion. "You had no right to meddle."

"I was not meddling." Liz said feeling like a child being chastised. "I was trying to help Red."

"No you were meddling. Hoping to get another piece to your precious puzzle." Red said, "Hoping to turn over one more rock."

"Is that a bad thing? For someone to know you?" Liz asked.

"Liz not now." Red said as a warning. He was not sure if he could keep the anger inside. He was upset with Liz and himself for being so stupid not to see through it. No he had not known where his daughter Jennifer had been, despite years of searching. It did not bother him that Liz seemed to be able to find her, actually it did bother him. What hurt though, if he was honest, was he knew that the one thing from his past he clutched onto still wanted nothing to do with him. Liz did not need to tell him the conversations he had with Jennifer. The fact that Jennifer did not come out to the car, or Liz try to get Red to go inside told Red all he needed to know. His own daughter hated him, and she had every right to hate him. More than enough reasons. No he had not been a bastard like his father, beating her and her mother, but in their eyes he abandoned them all those years ago in pursuit of riches. He had betrayed them, his nation, and left them hanging. He doubted his ex wife ever explained to his darling daughter that Red had thought they were dead for years, and when he found out they were not dead, he had searched for them. He had burned down multiple bridges and would have killed everyone on earth just to find them. Nothing had worked.

"I'm sorry Red." Liz said starting to reach out to touch him, but he recoiled away from her. Afraid of what he might do if she touched him. He did not want to be his father.

The rest of the ride was in silence, no one spoke, and the silence hung uncomfortably in the car.

Once they got back to the hotel, Red went to his room. He was trying to arrange to fly out tonight, but his pilot informed him that the jet needed maintenance and it would be late tomorrow before it would be ready to fly.

Dembe and Liz heard Red cussing the poor pilot out over the phone. Than heard him asking to find another plane, it did not matter. Red wanted out of this godforsaken state of Misery.

"Elizabeth." Dembe said, "You should have told him and let him chose."

"Hindsight is fifty fifty Dembe." Liz said, "I really thought he would have been happy to see her."

"And what about her?" Dembe said.

"I thought she'd at least let me explain why he had left, but she didn't." Liz answered. "I was trying to do something nice for him Dembe."

Dembe just shook his head. There was nothing else to say, the best intentions did not always mean the best results.

"I'm going to go down and get something to eat." Liz said, but she had ever intention of drinking.

"Would you like company?" Dembe asked looking at Raymonds closed door and hearing the man cussing the pilot steal.

"Shouldn't you stay here with him?" Liz asked.

"He did tell me to always make sure you were safe." Dembe said. He knew Liz needed his company more than Raymond right now. Raymond would need a few hours to calm down before he was ready to speak to anyone.

"Let's go." Liz said taking one more look at the door, they both heard a phone smash against the door.