I don't own much and I only wish I owned Red, Lizzie and the rest of the Blacklist characters. Please don't sue!
About three hours later Lizzie woke from a half doze on the couch in the den. It took her a moment to realize what had woken her up. There had been the sound of someone stumbling around in the master bedroom. She hadn't planned on being out of the room so long, apparently she was more tired than she had thought. She quickly made her way back to the room where she'd left Red sleeping.
Liz opened the door and quickly entered the room to find the bed and bedroom empty. Where in world did he go? Looking towards the in suite bathroom she saw the door was partially closed. She walked up to the door and called out, "Red are you in there?"
When she didn't hear any response she started to open the door a bit wider. That caused a response from the room's occupant. "Wait, I'll be out in a second."
"You shouldn't be out of bed without help. Is Dembe in there with you?" Lizzie demanded.
Any reply that Red may have made was covered by the sound of the toilet flushing and the slightly unsteady footsteps of someone moving to the sink. When she heard the water turn on at the sink she pushed the door opened all the way. Red turned his head to glance at her as he finished washing his hands.
"You know I'm perfectly capable of using the bathroom by myself. I've been doing it since I was two." Red snarked at her.
"I'm sure when you were two you didn't have a barely treated gunshot wound in your chest." Liz huffed back at him.
Red frowned at her, but conceded the point by saying, "Since you're apparently not going anywhere do you mind giving me a shoulder to lean on so I can sit down?"
Lizzie moved closer to him without a word and allowed him to lean on her as they made their way back to the bed. Red sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. He hated needing help to get back to the bed, but he wasn't sure he would have made it back without it. He slowly leaned back against the pillows and relaxed as much as he could.
"Why didn't you call for one of us to come help you? You could have fallen and ended up hurting yourself worse."
"If you haven't noticed I'm a stubborn SOB that doesn't like to ask for anyone's help. I had no idea where you or Dembe were and I really had to go after all the IVs that I'd been given. Anyway it doesn't matter anymore. Tell Dembe I need to see him. We need to get moved to another location now that I'm somewhat mobile."
As he saw Lizzie about to object he continued, "I'm only going to be sitting in a car while we drive to another location Lizzie. It won't be anymore stressful than my sitting here would be."
Lizzie had to admit what he'd said was true. She also knew he preferred the FBI not being so close to him when they weren't on a case. She wasn't sure when she had started thinking of herself as separate from the FBI. Lizzie opened the door and called down the hall for Dembe. She moved back to Red's side when she heard footsteps heading her way.
"Liz did you need me?" Dembe asked after entering the room.
"He wants to move someplace else now that he's somewhat mobile." Liz said with a tinge of exasperation in her voice.
"How mobile is he? He hasn't even been out of bed yet."
"HE is right here. Quit talking as if I'm not in the room. I have been up and I was fine." Red snarled at them both.
Lizzie turned to face Dembe which effectively turned her back on Red .
"He decided he that he was recovered enough to get out of bed and into the bathroom. I have a feeling he didn't make it in there without incident, I heard what sounded like someone falling or stumbling from the other room. By the time I made it in here he was inside the bathroom. I helped him back to bed, a small fact that he forgot to mention."
Both of them turned to look at Red who was sitting there with a look made up of equal parts bravado and sheepishness. Liz wasn't sure how he managed that look, but it wasn't something she'd ever seen on his face.
After a long moment Dembe said, "I'll contact Mr. Kaplan to see if she feels it would be okay for us to move this soon. The doctor she mentioned sending to check up on him hasn't made an appearance yet. She may want to wait until either she sees him or the doctor does."
"I'll make the decision as to whether I'm ready to move or not. You can either help me and make it easier on all of us or I'll get out of here on my own. You know that I will." Red directed the last statement to Dembe.
Dembe gave a grimace at the memory of the last time Red decided to change safe houses when he was injured. It was almost the same situation as they were in now. He'd been shot and didn't want to wait any longer before leaving the somewhat safe confines of a back alley clinic in Singapore. They didn't have any safe houses in the city and in Red's condition they couldn't check into a hotel. He had been determined to get on his plane and get out of there completely. When Dembe had refused to go against the doctor's orders Red had simply pulled on his bloody clothes and stumbled out of the clinic while Dembe had been resting. When Dembe had woken up it had taken them 6 hours to locate him. He'd managed to take a cab to the airport, but he'd collapsed two hangers away from where their plane was waiting. Dembe had given in and loaded Red on the plane. They'd flown down to Sydney and moved him into one of their safe houses outside of the city.
"Alright, which house do you want to move to?" Dembe asked quietly.
"The little farmhouse outside of Fairfax. It's remote, but not too isolated."
Liz who had been standing there in shock at Dembe's agreement with Red spoke up, "Wait, wait! I thought you wanted to wait until you'd gotten the okay from the doctor or Mr. Kaplan, who I suspect is or was a doctor herself at some point."
Ressler who had just completed his latest security sweep outside heard loud voices from Red's room and decided to find out what was going on. He saw the door to the room was open so he walked in without knocking his presence. Only Red was in a position to see him walk in and when he did he said sarcastically, "Donald, always lovely to see you!"
Ressler could tell that he'd interrupted something. Both Dembe and Keen were obviously disagreeing with whatever Red was saying. He glanced between the three of them before speaking. The last thing he wanted to do was get on any of their bad sides. He'd never seen three more stubborn people in his life!
"What's going on?" Ressler asked to the room.
Red, Dembe and Lizzie continued to stare at each other. None of them made any response to Ressler's question. If he had to put money on who was going to win this battle of wills he's put him money on Reddington. Though he had to admit Keen was a very close second. Since he wasn't getting any response to his question he decided to just watch the three of them to see who was going to blink first. He didn't have too long to wait.
Red swung his legs over the side of bed and moved to stand up.
"Wait!" Lizzie exclaimed in frustration, "Alright, alright, we'll move to another location. Just stay there and we'll bring you something to wear. Dembe could you grab him something loose to wear before you make the arrangements for the next safe house?"
Dembe continued to stare at Red for another moment before he turned and left the room. He quickly returned with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Red frowned at him, but took the items from him without complaint. After dropping off the clothes Dembe left the room without another word. Lizzie had a feeling there was an interesting story behind Dembe giving in to Red's threat to leave without assistance. She was going to get that story from either Dembe or Red later.
Red grabbed the sweatpants from the bed where he'd set them and started to bend down to get them over his feet. He gave an involuntary groan due to the pressure on his wound that moving his arm down towards his feet caused. He hoped no one heard that, he didn't want to give Lizzie any more ammunition to say he wasn't ready to get out here.
Liz turned to Ressler and said, "Could you give us a few minutes while I help him get ready?"
Ressler was a little surprised that she was willing to assist Reddington instead of waiting for Dembe, but all he did was nod and leave the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
After Ressler left the room Liz knelt down at Red's feet and attempted to help maneuver his feet through the legs of the sweatpants, but he rudely yanked them away from her.
"I can't do this myself. I've been dressing myself since I was two." Red snarled at her.
"Apparently you were a very advanced two year old. You could go to the bathroom on your own and dress yourself when most of them were lucky to feed themselves." Liz snarked at him and then sat back with a sigh. It would have just been too easy for him to just accept her help. Now she had to deal with his damn male pride. He'd pass out before accepting any help.
There was an idea, maybe she could knock him out and get him dressed before he woke up. Lizzie could tell she was exhausted if such an outrageous thought actually seemed reasonable. She shook her head looking at him still trying to get his feet through the pant legs and getting more and more frustrated.
"You can either let me help you or I'm going to have Donald come in here and do it. Who would you rather admit needing help from, me or him?" she finally asked him.
Red knew he was being stupid but couldn't seem to help himself. He didn't want to admit that he needed her help with something as simple as getting his pants on, but he knew she'd follow through with her threat to call Ressler in to help. He would never accept Ressler's help even if it meant getting into the car in nothing but his boxers.
"Fine! Lizzie would you please help me with these damn pants.", he had to admit he didn't ask in the most pleasant of voices, but it was all he could do to admit he needed the help.
Lizzie reached down and gently guided his feet through the elastic leg holes and helped him to stand up long enough to pull the pants up around his waist. She grabbed the t-shirt from the bed before Red could grab it. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of the pants drama before he admit he couldn't move well enough to get the shirt on over his head.
Soon enough Red was dressed and ready to go. Dembe had completed the arrangements for the house in Virginia to be ready within the hour. It paid to have an army of servants on retainer for last minute moves such as this one. Now all they had to do was manage to get there without Ressler following them.
"Agent Ressler I will be perfectly safe without the FBI providing security. I'm sure you are aware that I have my own security force in place already. I only allowed you to remain so I wouldn't have to argue with you and Cooper. Agent Keen will be with me so the FBI will be aware of my movements." Reddington told Ressler as they prepared to leave.
When Ressler seemed inclined to argue Lizzie spoke up. "Donald I'll check in with A.D. Cooper twice a day to let him know our status. You know if you try to follow us Dembe will do something to prevent it. Lets just not go through all that and just let Reddington's security do its job."
Ressler didn't look happy, but he realized she was correct. If he continued to resist he was sure Dembe would be able to incapacitate him long enough for them to slip away. He decided to concede gracefully rather than the alternative.
"Okay, just make sure you check in with Cooper or myself every morning and evening. If we don't hear from you we will manage to track you down somehow." he said before climbing into his car and driving off.
"I thought he'd never leave." Red quipped and slipped into the back seat of a new car that had been delivered earlier that morning. Liz walked around and got into the back seat next to Red while Dembe climbed into the driver's seat.
The drive to the farm house was more pleasant than Liz had anticipated. Red had laid his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes almost immediately. His breathing had evened out in sleep and she suspected that if Ressler had been in the car he would have stubbornly refused to show that the simple act of dressing and walking to the car had exhausted him. She reached across the seat and gently placed her hand over his where it rested on his leg. As the car slowed to turn into a narrow lane Red slowly raised his head and feeling her hand on his looked down at their joined hands. When he looked over at her she gave him a small smile, but didn't pull away. He moved his hand enough to give her hand a gentle squeeze.
The house that appeared at the end of the lane was not what she would have called small by any means. But, by Red's standards it was small. The house was two stories with two small wings on either side of the main house. There was a three car garage to the left of the house. The driveway curved in front of the main house before continuing on to the garage and then looping back around to the lane leading back to the road. In the middle of the loop created by the driveway was a beautiful statue of a horse in full gallop, its mane and tail blowing in the wind. Liz had always loved horses like most young girls. Growing up in Nebraska had allowed her to ride whenever she wanted. She hadn't had the chance to ride since she'd left for college.
Liz's attention was drawn away from the statue when the car stopped in front of the main house's front door. She opened her door and exited the car while Dembe opened the car door so Red could exit. While the two of them made their way around the car the front door of the house was opened by Mr. Kaplan. When Red saw her there he gave Dembe an icy look.
"You can't quit giving him the evil eye. When he told me you demanded to leave and seemed to be stable enough to make the drive here I told him I would meet you here. Now get in here so I can take a look at you." she told him sternly.
Liz wondered again about the relationship between the oddly named Mr. Kaplan and Red. She didn't seem like a subordinate and she had no qualms about telling him off when needed. Liz thought there had to be a great story there and this was another story she hoped to wheedle out of Red sometime during their stay. She followed Red who was being closely followed by Dembe into the house. Liz knew Dembe wanted to be close in case Red faltered without it being too obvious. She suspected Red knew exactly why Dembe was so close, but felt as long as no one said anything his pride would allow for the silent support.
Red started to turn to the right into what appeared to be a formal sitting room, but Mr. Kaplan directed him down the hallway on the left and into the second doorway on the left. The doorway lead to a large airy bedroom with another doorway in the left wall leading to its own bathroom. The walls of the room were painted a pale green with furniture of a dark wood. She directed Red to a seat on the bed and it was a sign of how tired he must be that he didn't argue with her. When Liz looked at his face she saw that he was pale and sweaty. Mr. Kaplan quickly knelt and removed his shoes before forcing him to lay back against the pillows.
"Raymond Reddington you are a fool! You couldn't stay where you were for another day. Just don't say anything, I don't want to hear how you are fine!" Mr. Kaplan railed at him even though Red had made no effort to speak. He just looked at her tiredly and let her fuss over him. She pushed his t-shirt up enough to check his bandages for bleeding. There was nothing that Lizzie could see and apparently Mr. Kaplan agreed because she pulled his t-shirt back down. She then reached to the bottom of the bed where a folded blanket lay. She pulled it up and covered Red with it.
"Get some sleep and we'll see about getting something for you to eat when you wake up." Mr. Kaplan said as she shooed everyone out of the room. Red didn't argue and simply closed his eyes and slept.