FOUR

Lizzie closes the door behind her and walks down the stairs. She looks around but doesn't see Red. "Red?" she calls.

"In the back," he calls back. She walks out and notices Red standing at the fence that separates the yard from the canal. She notices a glass on the table and chair set that decorated her veranda. She can see smoke coming from him and notices a cigar in his hand. She walks behind him and runs her hand up his back and lays her head on his shoulder.

"Have you heard anything back from Dembe?" she asks.

"No, but that just means he's on the trail. We will find him Lizzie. When that time comes, you cannot be there."

"He's my son! I need to come with you… I need to…" Tears spring to Lizzie's eyes. He places his cigar down and wraps his arms around her.

"Your job is to protect this little life," he tells her, running his hand over her stomach. "I will take care of finding our little Ray. I will bring him back safe and sound. Do not worry, Lizzie."

"What'll happen then?" she asks, wrapping her arm around his waist. He keeps his own arm around her and they turn to look out over the canal.

"I don't know sweetheart. Would you have me if I decided to stay?"

She sighs. "I don't know. I've just lost my husband. I've just lost Don… I don't know if I could… Maybe after some time, but I couldn't do it right now. I would like for you to be in Ray and Hope's life. She adores you so much already, and she isn't one to accept people pretty quickly. She took to you incredibly quick. She asked me why she didn't look like Don; why her and Ray didn't look like him. It forced our hand. We had planned to wait until they were a little older, so they could understand a little better. I had a few pictures of us tucked away – from that first week when you first brought me here… we took those pictures together."

"I remember. Some of those were not appropriate at all, Lizzie."

She giggles. "You should have seen the look on Don's face when he stumbled across those. He was horrified."

Red laughs. "Well, I'm sure he would be. What did he say?"

"He said he saw more than he ever wanted to when it came to you. Then he proceeded to tell me that he wanted us to take our own pictures just to get our pictures out of his head. It turned out to be…"

"Stop right there," he tells her. "I don't want to know any more than that." She giggles again. "How did the kids react?"

"Um, I don't think it quite sunk in to be honest. I gave them both a picture of the two of us. I told them that even though you weren't there, weren't in their life, that you still loved them. And even though Elijah was their father in every way, you were still their father biologically."

"Hell, Lizzie, how did two five years old understand that? I couldn't even understand that."

"Don and I explained it so that they would understand. That's how Hope recognized you when she walked into the living room this afternoon."

He nods. "Tell me about your wedding to Don. You looked beautiful and happy."

"It was pretty spur of the moment actually. JJ was about two years old…"

~*~ 2 Years Previous ~*~

Lizzie sat on the veranda with two-year-old Josephine Jane – or JJ as they both called her – curled in her lap. Don walked out from the house and saw the twins playing in their little plastic cottage.

"Hey," he remarked as he dropped a kiss onto Lizzie's head. "How's she feeling?"

"Still a little out of it. She had a fever when I checked about an hour ago. How was work?"

"Tiresome."

Lizzie laughed. "That's what happens when you go into private security." He took a seat next to her and placed a black velvet box on the table. "Don?"

"Take a look." She took it and slowly opened it.

"Oh. Don," she remarked before tears sprang into her eyes. She looked down at the ring in the box. A circular stone sat between a few smaller stones that were placed in the band. The band itself was silver instead of gold, something she had told him she preferred. She looked up to see Don down on one knee in front of her. "What? Oh my God."

"Lizzie, I love you. So very much. You are my other half, my best friend, my confidante, my everything. Please, please tell me that you will become my wife. Will you marry me?"

Tears were falling down her cheeks in waves. "Yes. Yes, I will," she cried out. He sighed in relief, happy that she had said yes. He had hoped she would say yes, but at the same time he was apprehensive, knowing she had been married before and it didn't work out. "Don, come here," she said. She got up and placed JJ into a pack 'n' play that was next to the table. She then turned and wrapped her arms around him, bringing his face to hers for a kiss. "When do you want to do this?" she asks. "When do you want to get married?"

"When do you want to do this?" he asked back.

"As soon as possible. I don't want to wait. I want to marry you as soon as possible. We don't need anything fancy. I only have a handful of friends, as do you."

Don nodded his head at her train of thought. "We could have the reception at that restaurant. They have rooms for reservation and stuff."

"Or we could just rent a small hall or something… maybe have it catered."

"Yeah, but then we'd have to get decorations or something," Don remarked.

"That's very true. We should just look into renting a room at the restaurant. Would you look into that tomorrow while I head to that stationary store? I'm sure they have some invitations. We should…" she trailed off as Don silenced her with another kiss.

"Listen, hun, I understand that you've done this before, but let's take our time. I know you want to get married as soon as possible, and that's fine. I have no problem getting married whenever you want. Let's just enjoy this," he grabbed her left hand where her new ring gleamed. She smiled brightly at him while wrapping her arms around him.

"That sounds like a good plan," she remarked while kissing him again. They broke apart as JJ started to cry. Don let go of Lizzie and leaned over, picking up his daughter and snuggling her. Lizzie placed her hand onto JJ's head and smiled. "Looks like her fever is starting to come down."

"Mama!" Lizzie looked up as Hope called to her. "Mama! Ray!" Both adults turned to see Ray running for the fence they had recently installed to keep the kids away from the canal.

"Raymond Samuel!" she called. He stopped and turned, looking at her innocently.

"Looks exactly like his father," Don commented, while he shook his head. Lizzie laughed. "Seriously, though. He has the exact same look. He gets the exact same twinkle in his eye when he gets caught doing something he's not supposed to. I bet that if you walked over to him right now, he would have that little mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He's pure Reddington in toddler form."

Over the next few days, they got their little wedding together. They each invited their closest friends to the wedding, and they rented a room at their favorite restaurant for afterwards. They had gone together to look at a number of wedding bands and had each found something they both liked.

Everything was coming together nicely, except for the dress. That was one thing she still had to tackle and she just wished she had someone she was really close to, to go shopping with. Don had noticed his fiancée's mood and finally got the reasoning behind it out of her.

He then placed a discreet phone call to Dembe, asking if he could 'borrow' Samar. Dembe had questioned him and when he found out the reasoning he told him 'congratulations' before telling the younger man that he would get right on the matter. Don was glad that Lizzie would have this opportunity to see her old friend.

He had made an appointment for her to head to the bridal boutique that Lizzie wanted to look at, and when he finally dragged her there, they were both pleasantly surprised to see Samar and Aram waiting for them. It was like a family reunion with lots of hugs and tears. Don had left at that point, telling them he had to get the kids and that he would meet them later.

"Kids?" Samar questioned.

"Oh, yes," Lizzie said, eyes lighting up at the thought of the kids. She pulled her phone out and then found the picture she wanted. It was a picture of JJ, standing there with Hope and Ray on either side of her.

"Oh, Liz, they are…"

"Julie. It's Julie here," she interrupted Aram.

He nodded his head. "Yeah, Julie. My bad. They are cute."

"This little one looks exactly like…"

"Yeah, Raymond Samuel and Hope Meera." Aram smiled wistfully at the mention of their deceased partner's name. "Twins. They are his. JJ is mine and Eli's."

"Wow! They are all beautiful," Samar remarked after a brief pause, handing the phone back to Liz. They chatted for a few minutes before one of the workers walked over then lead them over to a rack of dresses. Amazingly enough she had found a dress very quickly, and just half an hour later Lizzie walked out with a smile on her face and a garment bag over her shoulder. She led Samar and Aram to her vehicle before texting Don.

~*~ TBL ~*~

"Mama! Mama! Mama!" JJ called from Don's arms when she finally saw her mother. But before she could take JJ from her, Ray jumped into her arms.

"Ooh," Lizzie said with a chuckle. "Hello, handsome."

"Hi mama!" he said happily. Don walked over with Hope hiding behind him. JJ grinned and looked at Aram.

"I JJ," she said to him. "You?"

Aram pointed to himself. "I'm Aram."

"Ahram?" she questioned.

"Aram," he said again.

"Ram!" she cried out happily as she held her hands out to him. Samar smirked at his helpless expression. "Ram!" she cried out again. He took her from Don and she grinned as she touched the facial hair he had. She turned to look at Don. "Daddy, Ram!"

"Yes, sweetheart, Aram."

They spent a fabulous dinner together, reminiscing about the days at the Post Office. Ray had taken a shine to Samar, and she absolutely loved it. She told them it was like sharing a meal with the real Red.

~*~ TBL ~*~

The day of their wedding was a gorgeous day. Lizzie had been worried since it had been raining nonstop the past few days. But that particular morning, the sun was shining and it was going to be a beautiful day. Samar and Aram had forced the two apart the night before, telling them that if they wanted to do a traditional wedding, then they were going to do it traditionally.

So now, Liz and Samar were getting ready. Liz slipped the dress on and turned to look at herself in the mirror. It was nothing fancy, but it suited Liz just fine. It was short with an intricate lace design all over. Samar had curled her hair and did her makeup to give her a natural look.

"You look beautiful," Samar remarked before she threw the lipstick tube onto Liz's dresser. "You know, I always assumed you and Reddington would be here."

"If he had stayed, we might've been. Even if he did stay, I honestly don't know if it would've worked. He was dead set on clearing my name. He wanted to make it possible for me to go back to the states if I wanted to. If he ever manages to clear my name, I don't know if I would want to go back. My life is here now. The kids have friends here. It was right before he brought me here, it was actually the catalyst for him bringing me here. We attended this function… this gathering… where he was going to talk to a contact. I almost got us killed because I couldn't remember the alias he had given me. They were all starting to blend together, and I almost got us killed because I was exhausted and I didn't remember. I broke down in our hotel room after and I told him I didn't want to continue running anymore. He told me he would give me a new name and someplace safe to live and that he was doing all this to clear my name so I could go back to the Post Office… back to the FBI. And then I looked at him and said something like 'I wonder, if I go back… back to being Elizabeth Keen… would you, Aram or Ressler trust me? Would you always be second guessing me? Trusting the things that came out of my mouth?' I mean, it didn't take long for you guys to believe I did all those things."

"For what it's worth, Aram never thought you did any of those things. He was on your side the entire time. Me? Yeah, I thought you were guilty. But, I didn't know you as well as they did. Ressler, he was on the line. I think he was chasing you so hard because he wanted to protect you. You've never talked about any of this with him?"

Lizzie shook her head. "No. We decided to start fresh. Leave all the baggage behind."

"Well, that's good at least. I'm glad that you guys don't have that hanging over your head. But you know, maybe you should talk to him about it… just to clear the air."

"Maybe, I'll think about it. Now, what time is it?"

"We have to leave in a bit. I'm gonna get dressed and pull my hair back. What about Hope and JJ?"

Lizzie jumped up and ran out the door while calling for the girls. She didn't find them in their rooms so she headed downstairs. She skidded to a stop in the kitchen only to see Don kneeling down getting and JJ dressed. He looked up and gasped.

"Wow, Liz, you look incredible. I mean, you are beautiful… perfection…"

"What are you…? You're not supposed to be here. We were supposed to meet at the beach."

"I know. But I had forgotten something in the office and so I ducked in really quick, but then I saw the girls weren't dressed and so I decided to let you ladies do your pampering thing and helped by getting the girls dressed."

"Where's Ray?"

"With Aram. He's demanding to see Samar. Are you two ready?" Liz nodded her head and kneeled down to help Hope fix her hair.

"Donald Ressler!" Samar scolded. "You are not supposed to be here."

"It's fine," Liz said. She looked the girls over before she nodded. "They look good. Okay, let's go."

Don scooped JJ up and then held out his hand to Liz. She took it before holding her hand out to Hope. They then walked out the door and across the street to the beach. They could already see their friends waiting for them. They had set out a few folding chairs for the guests. They arrived at the site where they were getting married and Don ran up the aisle to where Aram was standing. Samar then walked up to where she was to stand next to Liz. She pointed to Samar and told Hope and JJ to go stand with her. The two girls held hands and headed up the aisle.

The ceremony was short and sweet. They had decided to recite traditional vows instead of writing their own. Finally, the time came where the minister proclaimed them husband and wife. Instead of waiting for more of the minister's words, Don brought Liz's face to his. Their friends all clapped and cheered, while Aram whistled. Samar laughed as the girls started jumping up and down and cheering. They probably didn't know why they were cheering, but it was cute to see.

Eventually they all left the beach and headed to their cars before heading to the restaurant. It was a festive and cheerful affair. The food was good, and the conversation amazing. At the end of the night, Samar pulled Lizzie aside and handed her a key card.

"What's this?"

"It's from Aram and I. We got you a room for the night. This is our gift to you. We will take the kids to your house. We have a plane to catch tomorrow night though. So we would like to spend some more time with you before we leave."

"Oh, Samar, I can't…"

"Yes, you can. You deserve to have the night with your husband. Don has the keys to our rental and we have yours." She pushed Liz towards where Don was standing. Lizzie grinned while walking towards her husband. She turned back towards Samar. "Hey, Samar," she called. Samar turned just in time to catch Liz's bouquet.

"Um…" she croaked out, as her eyes went wide. Aram chuckled before leading her towards Liz's car. Liz wrapped her arms around Don and sighed.

"Husband."

"Wife."

"Let's go," she said, giving him a kiss and walking over to the passenger side. They both got in the car before heading off towards their hotel.

~*~ TBL ~*~

Liz cried as Samar wrapped her arms around her. She was losing her friends all over again. They were heading back to parts unknown to help Red with whatever pot his hand was in this time. They never talked about what they were doing and neither did Liz or Don ask. They were just thankful that they were able to spend this time together.

"We will see each other again," Samar said while choking back her own tears.

"I know. I know. It's just… It was really good to see you guys again. You get used to seeing someone day in and day out and then to have everything ripped away, it's hard. Especially when you know me, the real me. All of our friends know us as Elijah and Julie. You know Don and Liz and that's really nice."

"Well, I think Mr. Reddington may be able to clear your name sooner rather than later, so there's that. If that's any consolation," Aram interrupted.

"I'm not sure, but thanks," Liz shrugged. She wrapped her arms around Aram as Don gave Samar a hug.

"Ram! Ram!" JJ ran into Aram's legs, wrapping her arms around him. "No leave. No leave!" She begged. He picked her up and gave her a hug. "I have to little one. But don't worry. I will be back again."

"When?" JJ tilted her head to the side in question.

"I don't know."

"Samar! Samar!" Ray calls. Samar crouched down and opened her arms, welcoming the little boy into them. Ray wrapped his arms around her.

"You leave?" he asked.

"Yes, I have to go. I have work. But do not worry. I will come visit again."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She tickled his stomach and he laughed while trying to push her hands away. She then placed Ray on his feet and stood up.

"Hey, you guys. Next time you see Red and Dembe… will you give them both a hug, or something? Tell Red I miss him and his bear hugs."

"Bear hugs?" Aram asked.

"He will know what I'm talking about. It's an inside thing."

Samar nodded her head before walking out the door. Aram put JJ down and walked out after her. They watched as their friends got in their car and started to drive away.

"Bear hugs?" Don asked, breaking the silence. She chuckled before she shook her head. "Why don't we…" he trailed off as a loud crash echoed through the house and Hope's scream followed after. "Never mind. Rain check?"

"I'll hold you to that," she remarked as she shut the door and followed Hope's cries up the stairs with Don following close behind.