chapter 2

Red was alone with his thoughts for three more days before Lizzie finally showed up on the front porch of the small cabin Red had owned for God knows how long, according to him. Liz remembered him telling her about a very nice lady from Great Falls, Michigan who had given it to him. Red had helped her with a money laundering operation she was trying to take over after her husband's untimely death.

Red's cabin was gorgeous, wedged serenely between massive green and brown dotted hills, and a lake that reflected the sky. The cabin stood at the end of a fenced off, very long private driveway, tucked off in the back of hills on the edge of town. Hopping out of the back of the pickup truck she had hitched a ride in for the past three hours, she hopped over the red rusted fence and down the dirt road, eager to see Red again.

Not that long ago her whole life had been turned completely upside down by Red. At the time she had furiously kicked and screamed as he systematically destroyed everything she thought she understood, everything she had worked so hard for. Knowing what she knew now, about Tom, about the cabal, her mother … her father… her whole life as she knew it had been a lie.

Red was the only one in her life that had not lied to her. She realized the instant she shot Tom Connolly, the kind of man that Raymond Reddington really was. That day she was finally able to relax around him and truly let her guard down. Lizzie wished the price hadn't been such a mammoth weight on her shoulders. Being on the run alone was hell, when she wasn't running from place to place, she was waiting; hiding from people she had grown to care about. People who now had to hunt her down because of what she had done. Right now, she could see no way out of this, but she was certain that Red knew more than she did, and if he said he was going to try and clear her name, she could trust that it was the truth.

The road went on for three miles back up into the hills toward the cabin, just a small dusty road lined with spotty sections of shrubs, grass and small trees across the landscape underscoring the violently colored sunset that she was slowly walking toward. From a distance she could see the house , just a small rustic log cabin with a front porch. A light on in the front window made her stop abruptly. Lizzie had become paranoid over the past few weeks and had to remind herself that she was expecting someone to be there.

After a long pause, she decided to walk around the cabin first, to check the perimeter. She rolled her eyes at herself when she thought that. . Lizzie knew the truth behind her hesitation. She wasn't ready to see him yet. . She could still see the look on Red's face that day. That was a look that she never wanted to see again. It looked like the whole world had broken in his eyes.

Making her way around to the back of the cabin, she felt a chill run up her spine as she heard a twig snap behind her in the near distance. Thinking fast she pulled the gun out of it's holster, attached to her jeans, and turned the safety off.

"

Well hello to you too… would you mind putting that away please?" A familiar voice came from behind her and instantly her shoulders dropped and her stomach tightened.

Turning around she saw him, standing there in a light grey 3 piece suit, blue tie and white fedora with his usual detached smile, his eyes lit up as his gaze finally reached her face though, and as quick as it was, Liz caught it. As the realization set in, she stopped thinking for the first time in a month and ran purely on instinct.

Before Red knew what was going on, he felt her warm body pressing against his; her arms wrapping around his waist. His Lizzie was finally here, her face buried in his chest. The shock lasted only moments before he reciprocated. Holding her as tightly as his arms would allow, entangling his fingers in her hair.

Breathing her in for a moment, everything around him vanished. Red couldn't hold her close enough to satisfy the almost too painful longing that had built up within him. At that moment, she was safe and in his arms, she could hate him for the rest of her life if she chose to right now and he wouldn't care so long as she didn't leave his side again. After what seemed like an all too brief moment, he began to loosen his grip on Lizzie as he could feel her body finally start to relax for what he assumed was probably the first time in a while.