"So,"—Ressler wrinkled his nose and squinted at Liz—"you lived with Reddington for three months. How did that work?"

Liz sighed. She really needed to find herself a new drinking buddy. Ressler was too chatty and, after he got a few beers in him, much too curious for his own good.

"It wasn't completely horrible," she said. "We were on the same page about a lot of things. And he never left the toilet seat up, so that's a plus."

"Do you miss it? The companionship?" Liz eyed him warily, mentally adding 'entirely too perceptive' to her list of reasons not to drink with Ressler. He shrugged. "I'm not gonna judge you for saying yes. Loneliness is a bitch."

She relaxed infinitesimally, taking a sip of her beer. "You're a good guy, you know that?"

"Hey, if I can't help a friend through a bad breakup, what use would I be?"

Liz snorted. "Tom and I didn't exactly break up."

"I wasn't talking about Tom."

Her stomach dropped and she narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you—"

"I don't know if you noticed, but you guys used to stare at each other all the time. You don't do it anymore. You barely even look at each other and when you do, you both look really fucking sad, if you'll pardon my French." Liz's expression fell. "Yeah, kinda like that," he said, pointing to her face. "So how did it happen?"

"You're nosy tonight."

"I like to live vicariously. Besides, I'm not gonna judge you for it either. I'm starting to understand that you gotta take whatever you can get in life."

"It's a long story," she said, avoiding his eyes. "And personal. Not just for me."

"OK, I get it, you don't like to kiss and tell." He drained the last of his beer and motioned for the bartender to bring another. "Do you think he's in love with you?"

Liz's brows furrowed and she sighed again, curling in on herself. "Probably."

"For what it's worth, I think he has been for a while."

"Did everybody figure that out before I did?"

"Probably. I mean, the guy kinda turned his entire life upside down just for the chance to work with you. For all he knew, you were gonna refuse. What was it that made you realize?"

Liz blushed and pursed her lips. "Nope, sorry, I'm not gonna answer that."

"Fair enough." Ressler watched her, a thoughtful look on his face. "Do you love him?"

She was silent for a long while, running her thumb through the condensation on her bottle. "I shouldn't," she said at last.

"That's not a no."

"No, it's not," she whispered; she didn't trust her voice not to break.