um... to be honest, i didn't expect everyone to want this to continue, so i really have absolutely no plot. but i will try to continue this... hopefully finish it (unlike some of my other fanfics). i'm soliciting ideas for this story line - haha.

-NJ

Liz opened her eyes slowly, afraid of her surroundings and her memory.

She vaguely remembered seeing Red in the hospital. It was so distant, she had to question whether it happened or she imagined it happened. After all, her memory hasn't been the most reliable source for her.

She didn't recognize the room. The birds outside the window singing joyfully, the sheets that felt like satin against her skin, and the throbbing feeling in her head told her that she was on foreign grounds.

But the shirt she was wearing. That was similar. It smelled like him.

She groaned as she struggled to sit up, hearing faint sounds coming from another room farther down the hall. Liz looked around for any sign of the time or for some indication that he was somewhere.

"Red?" She tried to yell, but it came out as a whisper. She reached up and touched her throat gingerly, moving her hand up to her face, feeling for any damage or abnormalities. When she was satisfied that her face felt okay, she slowly made her way out of the bed.

The moment her feet touched the floor she was suddenly aware of the warm fuzzy socks and her bare legs. As she walked through the bedroom, she realized the extent of her injuries from the pain alone. Not only was her head throbbing with each heart beat, there was a faint pain in her lower abdomen, her left leg naturally moved with a limp, and the bandage wrapped around her arm wasn't unnoticed.

Reaching the doorframe, she called out to Red again, hoping this time her voice would travel. But still, nothing more than a whisper.

"Agent Keen?" Dembe came from around the corner. "What are you doing up?"

"I was," she tried to clear her throat, hoping it would come out louder, "looking for Red."

"Mr. Reddington hasn't returned yet." Dembe moved closer to her and reached out. "Let's get back to bed and when he returns, I will let him know you are awake."

"Thanks Dembe." Liz gave up fighting him. It was no use. He was just a difficult as Red sometimes.

Once she was settled back in, what she presumed was Red's bed, she got comfortable for a long wait.

"Do you need more pain meds? Are you in pain?" Dembe asked concerned. "Ray left everything here and told me to give you whatever you needed."

"Red was here?" She moved to sit up, although strained with the movements she succeeded in propping herself up against the headboard.

"How do you think you ended up in bed in the first place? In his clothes? I certainly would never do that. With all do respect, you still belong in a hospital."

"He removed me from the hospital early?" She spoke out loud to herself. She vaguely remembered anything of the last few days. She was working a case, the location was still lost, then there was an explosion of some sort and then she wakes up in a hospital and he's there. Now she's in his bedroom, wearing his clothes in his bed. "When…"

"I don't know. He gave me direct orders to protect you and watch you until he returns. He said you might be out for a few days. He was hoping he'd be back before you woke up."

"How long have I been out for?" She wondered out loud.

"Almost four days since the hospital. You were in the hospital for almost a week. You woke up after the third day asking for Ray. You were still pretty much out of it at that point; you refused to see anyone until you got to see him. I think your partner, Donald, made the call to Ray. We came back as soon as we could to get to you. By the time we showed up, you had been in there for six days. Ray refused to have you in there for another night, he made the arrangements and I brought you home that night. Ray stopped by briefly to help you settle into bed but then he took off to take care of business."

"What business? What exactly happened to me? Do you know where my phone is?"

"I am not sure what happened." Dembe stood to retrieve her phone. "All I know is that he'll be back soon, he always is."

"Thank you Dembe." She smiled warmly at him.

"Do you need anything for the pain?" He asked still standing next to her bed.

"Not yet. It'll probably knock me out again. I want to stay awake for a while."

"You should call him." Dembe turned to leave the room. "He would love to hear your voice."

"Yeah," she smiled again, "I'll give him a call."

She was running, but she felt like she was running in slow motion. She couldn't get away and she couldn't find a safe place to hide. She could hear his footsteps behind her. She heard the gun go off, but she kept running; faster and faster, she tried to move as quickly as she could. Another gunshot. She ducked out of fear and habit. Another gunshot. And then she was on the ground; shocked and confused she pushed herself back up and tried to run again only to fall on her face. She began crawling, frantically pulling herself forward. The tears were falling freely, blurring her vision and making it hard to think straight. He was towering over her body now, snickering and pointing the gun to her face.

"Gunshot to the thigh will drop 'em every single time." He laughed loudly. He aimed the gun at her forehead and pulled the trigger.

"NO!" Liz sat up in bed. She was breathing heavily and sweating through his shirt. Shivers ran through her body when she realized she was having a nightmare. She reached over to grab her phone off the bedside table to check the time. It was very late, past midnight.

She took a couple of deep breaths to try and steady her rapidly beating heart. Just when she was almost back to a relaxed state, she heard voices coming from somewhere in the house. The bedroom door was left open, and it was still dark in the hallway. She got up and slowly made her way to the door. The voices were silent again. Was it her imagination? It was possible that she still had some medicine in her system, maybe that was making her crazy. She turned to make her way back to the bed when the hallway light lit up the floor where she was walking. She was trying to convince herself that these hallucinations and dreams were all side effects of the drugs.

"Dembe?" She called out.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Raymond Reddington stood in the doorway of his room. Liz didn't miss a second before she hurried across the short distance to him and threw herself into his arms.