Five minutes later and the dot was now almost close enough to identify with confidence. However, despite the fact that Red knew in his head that it was indeed Lizzy down there, his heart wouldn't let him believe it. He brought out the small pair of binoculars he'd found in the cabin he'd been living in and, with a trembling hand, he brought them to his eyes.

The figure down on the valley floor was definitely her. Pulling the binoculars away for a moment, he gazed down on her with his naked eye, drinking in the realisation that she was alive. And not only that, but she had found him. Then something occurred to him, something he'd not yet clocked as he was too overwhelmed with relief to notice before. Hurriedly he looked through the glasses again. Yes, she was definitely limping. And not only that but her face bore the signs of having been in a fight. She had a darkness around one eye and although she was still too far away to know for sure, Red thought she had a split lip as well.

Returning the glasses to his pocket he got to his feet and started to head on down the hill towards her. He was walking carefully at first as the loose rocks up there were just begging to trip him up. However, once he had made it past them to the grass he quickly broke into a jog that just as quickly became a run. He needed to hold her in his arms right now.

As he got closer to her, he saw that she had spotted him. At first she had stopped dead and just stared but upon recognising his familiar silhouette, she had altered her course slightly to head towards him. Her limp meant that she couldn't go any faster even had she wanted to.

Red ran straight up to her and took a gentle hold of each of her shoulders. For a few seconds he just stared into her eyes, drinking in the sight of her alive. And then he pulled her close and held her as tightly as he dared. Her arms came up around him too and they stood like that for about a minute before Red realised that Liz was crying. He pulled back from her and looked into her now watery eyes.

'Oh, sweetheart, don't cry'

Liz laughed and reached her hand up to his face, running her finger along the top of his cheek.

'I'll stop if you will'

Looking down at the dampness on her finger, Red smiled. He had had no idea he'd been crying too. But he didn't care. He couldn't recall the last time he'd felt such happiness and relief and hope. Waiting out here in the middle of nowhere for someone he was about ninety-nine percent sure would never come was not something he could envisage himself doing for long without going crazy. He pulled her back into his embrace and they continued just to stand there together for some minutes.

Eventually curiosity got the better of them both and they started talking all at once. Questions flew out of both their mouths simultaneously and neither heard what the other had said. They both stopped abruptly and laughed at themselves.

'I tell you what, sweetheart. Come back to my current safe house', Red said with a wink, 'and we'll get you some food and water and maybe a wash. Then we can talk about all this….', he finished with a flourish of his arm, indicating the 'world' around them.

'Sounds good. I've not eaten much for some time'

'I can see that. You're emaciated, my dear. Well, I can help you with that. Follow me'.

Red turned and headed back to the other end of the valley, although he had Liz's hand firmly in his grip as he walked. He wasn't letting her out of his sight for some time. And he definitely didn't want to stop relishing the feel of her skin under his fingertips.

It took them quite a while to get back to Red's shack due to Liz's limp. Along the way, he established that she had been in a fight a few days earlier, battling with some looters in a shop about twenty miles from here over the last few packets of chips that had been in the storeroom. The limp had come from earlier, her leg buckling under her as she had run from a gang of thieves who were intent on stealing whatever she may have had on her. Thankfully, her falling had actually saved her from them as she had disappeared down behind a car out of sight and they had run past.

Once back inside his dwelling, Red helped Liz to sit down on the bed that was in the front room of the shack. He then hastened off to find her some water and an apple. There were fruit trees aplenty nearby as one of the local farms had had a bountiful orchard. As Liz bit into the apple, Red looked around for what else he could offer her immediately. He had cooked up a batch of potatoes the previous night (again ransacked from the farm) and brought her a bowl of cold mash.

'Mmm, thank you Red. This apple and cold slop is genuinely the nicest thing I've eaten for weeks'

Red laughed and sat down next to her, 'I'm glad you like it. It's not my finest cuisine, however. I caught a fish this morning I was going to cook for dinner. And it's huge so there'll be plenty. And I need to go check some of the traps I've set. With any luck, we may have a rabbit or something for tomorrow'.

Liz's stomach rumbled at the mention of meat and they both laughed at its timing. Leaving Liz to finish her food, Red went off to find something he could clean her face with. Returning with a cloth soaked in the water he had boiled for drinking, he sat back down next to her and started to rub gently at the dirt and dried blood that was on her face. After a few minutes, she looked much better and he sat back and smiled at her.

'Well, that'll do for starters. I'm afraid I have no amenities here to offer you in terms of a shower or running water at all. But there is a well at the local farm so water itself is not an issue. And there's a decidedly antique bathtub in the other room. I'll boil up some water so you can at least have some kind of a wash'

Liz smiled at him gratefully. Even though she had gotten used to being filthy and no doubt stinking to high heaven, the idea of a bath sounded blissful to her.

Red started the fire going in the fireplace and placed the water over the logs in a kettle. He then turned and looked at Liz questioningly.

'So, you found my note then? Which one, may I ask?'

'Which one? Oh, of course, you left more than one….. the one in your Bethesda apartment. It was the only place I went to look for you. How many did you leave?'

'Ten. In your old house, your apartment, a few of my safe houses you'd know, the Post Office….. It was all I could think of in terms of communicating with you. I'm so relieved you remembered exactly where I meant in terms of this place. It was potentially the safest locale I could think of. I needed somewhere remote in terms of towns nearby but also not too far from DC. And the arrest you made here was memorable enough that I was confident you'd find your way back okay'

'Ha! Yes, that was one for my autobiography. Finding this place was okay at first. I just followed the roads out of DC. But when I got nearer, there were fewer signs. I just had to kinda direct myself by instinct. Thankfully I remembered those wind turbines on the next hill otherwise I'd have been walking in circles for days'.

Red beamed at her, so happy that his plan had worked. And that Liz had had the nous to find this place without a map or a compass. He had managed to drive here by avoiding the major roads and taking the back ways but he had had the benefit of a road atlas. His car was now safely hidden under some branches about thirty yards from the shack.

'So if there's a farm nearby, why aren't you staying there? This place is kinda….. Cosy?'

'Yes, it is rather. However it's much safer than a farm or some large building that may draw people. Anyone seeing this shack may well decide to come investigate further but it's so dilapidated that there's a good chance they may not. And of course, hidden away in these trees, I'm hoping it won't be spotted at all if I'm lucky'

'That makes sense. But the farm has food?'

'It has orchards and obviously this is the best time of year for such things. There were also some potatoes and carrots to be salvaged. Sadly all the animals had starved by the time I got here….. Poor things couldn't get out of their barns. However, my survival training has kicked in rather surprisingly well. My traps are catching plenty and the fishing rod I found at the farm is wonderful. I've not failed to make a catch once!'

Liz smiled at him, enjoying his pride in his achievements. Seeing him again and seeing him healthy and safe was something she really hadn't dared hope would come about. Although she had kept telling herself on the way here that if anyone was going to make it work in this new world it was Raymond Reddington.

Suddenly her exhaustion caught up with her. That and her first full belly for months. She sighed and lay back on the bed, realising that she was going to fall asleep even if she tried not to. Closing her eyes, she pulled her legs up onto the bed and relished the softness of the mattress beneath her.

Red walked over and moved her plate away, reaching down to the foot of the bed to pull the blanket there up over her. Just as he had placed it gently under her chin, her hand reached out and grabbed his wrist.

'Red, would you lie with me? I… I just wanna enjoy being close to someone safe again after all this time. I think I need that'

He sat down on the bed next to her wordlessly, toeing off his shoes. Turning towards her he lifted the blanket and moved beneath it so he could lie next to her. Gathering her in his arms, he tucked her head under his chin and rested the side of his head on the top of hers.

'I think I need that too, Lizzy'.