A/N - Ok, honesty hour. I'm freaking out about this chapter! I did a thing, but I don't know if I should have. I don't know if it is too OOC, if it is too fast, or even if it makes sense with the rest of the story. but, what the hell, I just did it. Please comment!

He entered the room and closed the door behind with a thud that startled her. It had been 2 hours since the conversation on the living room and she was starting to think he didn't do what he had to and was now dead. Her hair was up on a bun and was sitting on the bed, wearing a t-shirt for pajamas. She had taken a shower and tried to look as if she wasn't desperately worried about him. The tv was on but she wasn't watching it. Her face was covered in tears. She jumped off the bed and went to him. His face was bruised, and he looked tired. She carefully touched the wounds, and he twitched with the pain.

"What the hell happened?" she said, worried.

"There was more than one test." He said, flinching when she touched the side of his body. She reacted, scared, and then moved him to an armchair next to the bed, then carefully raised the t-shirt to see what was going on. He had a very nasty bruise on the side of his chest, and she was worried he had a broken rib.

"What?" she stuttered, tears coming back to her. It was her fault they were in this crazy situation. She didn't know why Ressler was there, but whatever happened to him now, it would be her fault.

"After I got the information from that guy" they crossed looks, and it was clear he didn't want to talk about that. "they tested me for reliability. They wanted to know if I was resistant to what I had just done. So a big guy entered the room and started to rough me."

Liz covered her mouth and stepped back. She took a deep breath, and looked scared, and he hated that look. He didn't move, and they stood on this position for almost a minute when she broke the silence.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered, afraid someone would hear them. He was undercover, she knew that, and she would protect that secret, even though in normal circumstances it would be a great opportunity to make him back off his hunt for her.

He didn't answer. Thousands of things were going around in his head, and he even felt a bit dizzy. In his mind, he could hear himself saying, "Elizabeth Keen, you are under arrest for the murder of the Attourney General of the United States, Tom Connoly, and acts of terrorism." But he dreaded that picture. Instead, he decided to be honest with her, and tell her everything. If they were both there with the same enemy, they might as well work together.

"Charles McGann is with the Cabal. His name is on the ledger, several times. We were concerned you and Red would look for his help, as it did happen. Where is Red?"

"I don't know. Something about Dembe. He truly trusts McGann" she said, and then thought that Red didn't really trust anybody. But does he know of McGann's connection to the Cabal? Would he leave her there unbeknownst if he did? There was no way to talk to him, and she hated him a little bit more for that.

"McGann's file is clean. Red's work, of course. We need something to take him in and question him about the Cabal. So I went undercover."

"You? why not Samar?" even Liz with this story of him not being able to convince undercover. Look at me! I'm all fucked up, and they didn't kill me! I just had to nearly kill a man to prove myself, goddammit! His look explained everything, and she didn't say anything anymore.

He flinched again trying to find a comfortable position. She felt sorry for him.

"Why don't you try to take a shower?"

"I should go. I wasn''t supposed to be here. There's a room where I can be, sharing with another guy, apparently. They might have a bathroom there."

"I have a bathroom here. Just use this one." She insisted, feeling that he wouldn't have any kind of treatment if he went away. She didn't want him to go away, to be honest. He looked at her and, feeling her concern, agreed.

"Ok. Can you help me?" and he put his hand up for her to help him get out of the armchair. She then helped him to remove his t-shirt, and it all became intense for a moment. As the fabric left his face, he saw her face really close to his and all he could think of was the kiss they had shared a few weeks ago. She was holding his hand with her right one, and the discarded t-shirt with the other, and the closeness made her close her eyes and breathe deeply. She threw the t-shirt on the floor, and looked up to meet his eyes. They were really close, closer than what Ressler would consider acceptable due to the fact that she was a hunted criminal. Hell, she was his partner! She was Liz! Why was he still thinking of her as something she was not?

He shook these thoughts off his head and was about to move towards her when she touched him in the rib, and it hurt. He growled with the pain and she stepped back, scared.

"sorry! Sorry, sorry!" she was far away again, and the moment was over. It was for the best, he thought, even though his instincts were begging for her.

"I'll just…." He said, moving towards the bathroom, going against himself. She agreed, and went towards the other way, head down, as if she was ashamed. He just went straight to the bathroom and closed the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

He left the bathroom a few minutes after and was feeling better. The shower had really helped and he even found some painkillers in there, and the pain in his rib was wearing off. His hair was wet, and so was his bare torso. He was wearing the jeans, but had his feet bare too. Liz was sitting on the bed, watching old music videos on vh1. He looked at the radio clock on the bedside table and saw that it was 2:10am. The sky was completely dark out the window and the corridor was completely silent.

"Yeah, it's completely silent here at night" she said, reading his thoughts. She was glad that he was there, although all battered and bruised. It was actually common to see Ressler like that, and she laughed at the thought. He looked at here confused.

"It's nice to have you here." She confessed, and he felt warm inside. Even though it would be hell if anyone at the FBI knew that she was there and he hadn't called her in or anything, and wasn't even planning on doing that, it was really nice to see her like that. It was different from the other times, when she was running from him, or even at the gala, where they danced together. For a moment he could close his eyes and imagine they were at his apartment, sharing Chinese food and talking about whatever subject throughout the night.

"Are… are you hungry? I have a mini fridge and lots of stuff here. " she moved out of the bed, and went to the cupboard next to it where she had some snacks. He denied it and just pointed to his t-shirt, on the floor. She picked it up and took to him, coming too close, again.

This time, it was too hard to ignore the feeling. Her big blue eyes were so scared, so different from what he was used to see. He wanted to erase all this for her, protect her and make it go away. The effect of the painkillers gave him some renewed courage, and he just moved towards her, pulled her up and kissed her.

A few seconds passed for him to realize what he had done, and he started to step back when she grabbed his head between her hands and kissed him back. With this sign of permission, he put his hands around her waist and brought her closer to him, until their bodies were touching completely.

Whatever was going on at this point in their lives completely vanished as they kissed. Her hair was still moist from the shower but they fell in slow motion when he untied it from the bun, and she grabbed him by the waist, being careful not to touch the bruise on his rib; in a single movement, they fell together on the bed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The tv was still playing old songs with strange videos, the sky was still dark. The corridor was still silent and Liz was still a fugitive. But if there was something that was completely changed from now on, that was their relationship. With the woman comfortably lodged on his arm, Ressler used the other hand to rub his eyes, still trying to figure out if it was real or not. It was a weird image, them together on a bed, and of all circumstances, in a criminal's house, undercover. The weirdest of the situations, and he thought that absolutely no one in the FBI could know about that, or his career would be ruined. She moved next to him, and his career concern vanished. He turned to kiss her on the forehead, and she chuckled.

"What the hell happened here?" she said, ironically. They met eyes and for that moment all the weirdness of the situation was not there, just her. She smiled as a sign that yes, she thinks it's weird too, but she's fine with it.

"We're in big trouble, Keen. Big, big trouble." She laughed out loud, and the sound of her laugh brought weird sensations to his stomach. Something he had just felt for Audrey. Hell, is he in love with her?

"Imagine the faces in the FBI if they found out Special Agent Donald Ressler found one of the top wanted criminals and, well, slept with her?" she was still laughing, and he laughed too.

"I'd be working in the post office for real" he played with the name of his task-force.

The laughing stopped, and she asked, serious.

"what now, Ress?"

He caressed her arm, which rested on his chest. "Honestly, I don't know. I'll go on with the plan, and try to find something against McGann. I think you should try to contact Red, to get you out of here."

"So you're not taking me in, then?"

He took a deep breath before answering this one. "I can't. You're safer with him, Liz, I know that, and it's time I stop going against the reality of it all. The Cabal is deep within the bureau, and if I take you in I'll get the laurels for putting a needle in your arm. I thought that maybe we could use the system to our advantage, give you a fair trial, use our resources to prove your innocence, but it's not how it's going to happen. They will give simply put you in death row and forget about it. and I'm just wondering it, they might just shoot you on sight."

"Or use me to bring Red in, and then kill us both. That's what they want, Ress."

He knew that. They wanted Reddington, and she was the perfect bait. That's why they had to stick together, running, and from now on he would use his investigation to help them, instead of standing on their way.

He moved away from her and stepped out of the bed, looking for his clothes. She sat up and stretched, covering herself with the sheet, and then turned on the lamp on the nightstand. The alarm clock showed 4:45.

"I better go. God knows what they would do if the new guy was found on your bed. We need to keep in good terms with this guy, until we find something useful against him."

"we?"

"well, what do you say of some undercover task, Agent keen?" she smiled, hearing him calling her that felt good. She brought her legs up and hugged them, felling drowsy.

"It would be nice if it was true"

"Try to find Red. In the meantime, we follow the plan, you're here hidden, and I am one of McGann's men." He finished wearing his clothes and shoes and went around the bed, towards the door. First, he stopped by her and gave her a kiss.

"Do you think it will all be over soon?" she asked, and tears were visible in her eyes. He kissed her on the forehead and hugged her head.

"I hope so."

And then he went out, closing the door behind him. She turned the tv and the lamp off, and then went to sleep.