The Post Office was still full of Agents when Cooper ordered Liz, Meera and Aram home for the night. The three had been out for lunch but apart from that, nothing interesting had happened and Liz was glad for the change of scenery. The three of them had reached the car park, bid farewell to each other and made their way to their respective cars. Liz saw both Aram and Meera drive off but she stayed stationary in her car. She stayed sitting there nearly an hour not only thinking about her partner but thinking about her marriage as well. She and Tom barely saw each other as it was yet she was off work far earlier than usual, sitting in her car avoiding home. Things hadn't been the same since Liz found the box full of passports, money and the gun. Even though Tom had been cleared by the bureau months ago, she still couldn't shake the feeling of mistrust from the back of her mind, and Red's constant warnings to be careful of her husband were not helping matters. But it wasn't just the mistrust that was causing a rift between them at the moment. A week ago today was when they were supposed to be welcoming their daughter into their home, but the revelation from Liz the month before had put a stop to that. Liz wanted a baby, she really did but both she and Tom knew that they couldn't commit to a baby when they were barely committing to each other and now the rift was bigger than ever.

She realised now that she had been slowly falling out of love with Tom for a while and as much as she tried to deny it and fight for her marriage, when Tom suggested they needed space, it had been a welcomed relief. The more she thought back to that day, the more she started to think about Ressler and his offer to rough Tom up for her. It had been a shock; she and her partner were not as close as they were now at that point and she couldn't help but inwardly smile at his offer. The memory of that day was quickly followed by many others, all of which involved words of comfort or actions that saved the others' lives. Even though she wanted to go home, take a long, hot bath and relax, the desire to check on Ressler overwhelmed her. Aram had kept an eye out all day but as far as they knew, Ressler hadn't moved and Liz wasn't entirely sure whether that was a good thing or a bad. She knew Tom wouldn't actually be expecting her home anytime soon; she hadn't called and let him know she'd got off early, so she made the last minute decision to take a detour on her way home.

It didn't take Liz long to reach Resslers apartment, she hadn't been there before and didn't know where he lived until she'd sneaked back into the blacksite and looked up his file. An abuse of her position yes, but she wasn't going to get his address another way so she didn't feel bad about snooping. Walking up to the building she tried to work out what she would say to him if he opened the door. She had told herself she wasn't going to go chasing after him but she cared too much for him to let him go through this on his own. In no time she found herself standing outside his front door, knocking and calling his name.

"Ressler? Are you in there?" She repeated the knocking another couple of times before drawing the conclusion that he just was not home, that or he was just point blank ignoring her. She didn't believe he would intentionally ignore her and that was a small comfort to her.

"Don?" She called one last time before pulling her notepad and pen from her bag and writing him a note.

Don, I know you're going through a hard time and I know you said you wanted space and I'm sorry if what I've said or done has made things harder for you but I'm worried about you. You're my friend and I want to help you through this if I can and if you'll let me. You don't have to go through this alone and I just want you to talk to me, please. Just… let me know, okay? I don't want things to be difficult between us but if you really don't want my help that's fine, but I will always be here for you x

Again with the damn kiss! What was wrong with her? She thought about it for a minute and decided to just leave it. If she crossed it out, it would draw more attention to the fact that it was there. If he just left it, there was a high chance he'd just gloss over it. So she left it, folded the note and shoved it in the minute gap under his door.

As she drove towards her own apartment, her mind still partially focused on Ressler, she pondered whether or not Tom would be home. Part of her didn't want him to be there but she knew they needed to talk. It was clear as drove up their road that Tom wasn't in after all; there were no light coming through the living room window. It wasn't until she went to the kitchen that she found his note scrawled on the back of a take-out menu informing her of his whereabouts.

Liz, out for drinks tonight. Don't wait up. T.

Sighing with relief, she poured herself a large glass of wine and headed to the bathroom for her long awaited bath.

He ached. He ached all over and he didn't have the energy to do anything about it. He wasn't sure how long he'd laid there awake but when he finally looked round to his alarm clock it read 08.34. Well, that was a surprise; he'd slept the whole night! He'd slept for close to twenty-four hours yet he still felt exhausted and Jesus did his head hurt. He rolled out of bed and headed to use the bathroom. He needed something for the pain in his head but upon searching the bathroom cabinet he discovered that he didn't actually have anything for a headache. "Shit, now what am I supposed to do?" he muttered to himself. He was just about to close the cabinet door when he spotted the small, half full bottle of powerful pain medication he had left over from when he was shot. If he remembered correctly he would have to eat before taking these and they would make him drowsy.

"I only need one… will it really be so bad? I don't exactly have another option." He whispered to his reflection.

Ressler walked to the kitchen with the pill bottle in his hand and made himself some toast. He didn't even bother to butter the slices before ramming them down his throat, barely chewing them in his desperation to line his stomach ready for the meds. Pulling a bottle of water from his refrigerator, he popped a pill into his mouth and swallowed it down with a large gulp of water. He knew he'd have about twenty minutes before the drowsiness started to kick in so he decided to take a shower and clean himself up a bit.

Half an hour later he stepped out the shower and pulled a towel round him. Water was dripping from his hair as he made his way through his apartment and just as he reached the hall closet to get another towel, he spotter a small, yellow, folded piece of paper at the bottom of his front door. He instantly noticed untidy scrawl that belonged to his partner and as he whispered her words out loud, he couldn't help but smile briefly to himself. He had been a right jerk to Liz the day before and she had every right not to want to talk to him but the fact that she had come to his apartment to check up on him made him feel warm inside. He remembered her telling him that she'd texted him and that prompted him to actually find his phone, and find it he did, wedged in between the cushions on his couch. Opening Liz's text, he couldn't help it when the brief smile returned to his lips.

Hey, just wanted to check how you were doing? I didn't say this earlier, but I'm here if you need me, day or night, don't hesitate to call, okay? X

He truly appreciated now all that Liz had tried to do for him over the last week, and he owed it to her to let her know he was doing okay. Hitting the reply button he typed a message back to her before going to grab some more water.

Liz… I'm the one that should be apologising, not you, you've done nothing wrong, you've only tried to help me and I've been an ungrateful dick. The truth is, I'm in a really bad place right now and knowing I've got you to help me through it is keeping me going. I said that I might go and see Audrey's family so I'm going to phone them soon. I promise you that I'll call if I need to. Thanks Keen, I really mean it x

Like Liz, the kiss at the end of the message was unintentional but it was too late because he'd already sent it. It was gone nine in the morning so she would already be at work, probably in a debriefing and unable to check her phone. True to his word, once he'd grabbed his water, he settled onto the couch to make the very difficult phone call to Audrey's parents. Dialling the number, he paused before pressing the call button.

It rang four times before there was the unmistakable sound of the handset being picked up

"Hello?" It was Ross Bidwell, Audrey's father.

"Mr Bidwell, its Don, Don Ressler. I wasn't sure if it was too early to call but I… I wanted to see how you were?"

"You have some nerve! How dare you call this house? My daughter is dead, and you ask me how I am?"

"Mr Bidwell, I –"

"No, NO!" Ross screamed. "Don't you dare! You are the reason my little girl is dead." Resslers breath caught in his throat as Audrey's fathers words cut through him like a knife. Audrey's family blamed him for her death. He blamed him for her death but everyone who he'd spoken to over the last week told him that it wasn't his fault. Mr Bidwell's words had hurt, but at least he was being honest. "We thought it was bad enough when she came home and told us she'd left you but I was glad. You were bad for her, disappearing for undercover operations to chase a man you could never catch, leaving her in the lurch and worst of all? Putting the job before her. No, what was worse, was when she came to us three months ago to tell me and her mother that she'd broken off her engagement to a truly wonderful man and gotten back together with you." The last word was a snarl and Ressler closed his eyes to it.

"Mr Bidwell, please, I'm sorr–" he tried but Ross cut across him.

"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME YOU ARE SORRY! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! No father should have to go through the heartbreak of receiving the phone call telling them that their daughter is dead. That wasn't even the worst day of my life, no, that day was the day I buried my little girl and you couldn't even be bothered to turn up." Ressler froze. "Tell me Donald, did you love her, did you love my Audrey?"

"Yes, I did, of cou–"

"THEN TELL ME WHY YOU MISSED HER FUNERAL? If you loved her you would have been there to say goodbye, you should have been there. If you loved her then it would have been you speaking in front of us, not Robert. No, Robert truly loved my Audrey but you… you didn't. YOU are the reason she's dead. You may not have physically killed her," Ressler heard the man's voice falter. "But you… you as good as pulled the trigger to the gun that did. I never want to hear your voice again, do you hear me? I NEVER WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN!"

The line went dead before he had a chance to respond. Try as he might, he could not stem the fast flowing tears that were falling into his lap. Bidwell's words just reaffirmed what he'd been thinking; he had been responsible. His head was no longer working and the drowsiness was pulling at him and he didn't think he could keep awake any longer. He was right, no sooner had he collapsed on his bed he was pulled into a deep slumber once again.

Liz and the team were in the middle of a personnel meeting when her phone beeped loudly. She reached for it automatically, and once she knew it was from Ressler, she opened the message, well aware that all faces were now on her. A full blown smile lit her face as she read his message.

"Agent Keen, care to share with the rest of us what's made you so happy this morning?" Cooper's voice snapped through her.

"Just been updated on a close friend. Everything's fine and I don't need to worry." She smiled at Cooper. She knew he would guess exactly who had just contacted her and that was confirmed when he smiled back at her.

"Good. That's good. Now, let's continue shall we?"

"Audrey… stay with me sweetie, stay with me.

Please stay with me.

Keep your eyes open, sweetie. Come on, stay with me… please…"

"AUDREY!"

Ressler jolted awake from his nightmare with such force, he threw himself off the bed. Hitting the nightstand on his way down, he let out a gasp of pain before thumping to the floor. He laid there for a while breathing heavily, his head spinning as his eyes tried to focus themselves. He was shaking as he remembered the nightmare that has awoken him. He had been back at the road with Audrey bleeding out in his arms, willing her to stay with him. He has been so tired that he wasn't able to wake and the memory had played over and over until the effects of the medication wore off. His body had started to regain mobility and he's started to thrash around until he'd finally thrown himself to the floor.

There was something trickling down the side of his face and when he touched his fingers to it, he felt the warm, sticky substance that was his blood. "Fuck." He groaned in pain before heaving himself into a sitting position. It felt like the room was spinning. Glancing at his clock, he noticed it was now 16.54. He needed to stem the bleeding from the wound on his head – and fast. He was feeling weak again - blood loss and lack of food (therefore energy) were definitely not a good combination. He needed help – and fast. There was only one person he wanted to help him right now. Reaching to his nightstand he grabbed his phone and dialled her number.

"Liz… it's me... I… I need you."