A/N: My sincerest apologies if this is as crappy as I think it is. RL demands my undivided attention, so no sleep. I graduate in a few hours with my PhD (so i haven't had real sleep in a long time), stats consulting and my research has bounced me around Earth the past month (not complaining free travel is awesome), and learning disabilities with exhaustion = crap usually. But on the bright side RED is finally awake!

Despite her best efforts Liz drifted off to sleep on the comfortable futon. She somehow managed to find a position that had her legs stretched out in front of her too the floor, her head resting on the arm of the futon. It was half between laying and sitting, and yet she was comfortable. It was a pained scream that woke her from this comfortable position.

Her eyes snapped open and she reached to her holster getting ready to pull her gun. It only took seconds for her to get her bearings and realize where she was. Quickly to her feet she rushed towards the stairs where she heard muffled voices. Taking the steps two at a time she made it to the top and was outside of the room she had left Red in a matter of seconds.

"What is going on?" She asked heart racing in the excitement.

Dembe and Harper were standing over Red. Dembe holding Red's legs down, while Harper had a hand on each of his shoulders trying not to aggravate his injuries.

"His temperature is too high." Harper said, "We are using ice packs to lower it."

By Red's attempt at thrashing it was clear he was not enjoying this experience.

"What can I do to help?"

"Help me hold him down so he does not hurt himself." Harper said indicating that Liz should go to Raymond's uninjured side.

Liz held his shoulder feeling the heat radiating off his body.

"If we cannot get his temperature down we have to take him to the hospital." Harper said using her free hand to reposition the icepacks into Red's armpits and on his neck again. It was a last ditch effort, having already changed the antibiotics once to something stronger, she was not sure what more she could do. His stiches seemed fine. They were not red and had no indication of infection. Yet his temperature was raising.

"How long does he need the ice on him?" Dembe asked worried about his brother.

"A few more minutes." Harper replied checking the monitors again.

Red's eyes opened, but they were unfocused. He started to mumble, "I'll be good. I won't do it again. I'm sorry dad."

No one said anything as the older man below them begged some unknown figure to let him up, to remove the ice. Each person avoided looking at Red and looking at each other. This was something they all knew Red would never tell another soul freely, and only under his delirium was it coming out.

"How much longer?" Liz asked.

"Not much longer."

Liz started to try to comfort Red, "Shh it's ok Red. You just have a fever. We are trying to reduce it."

"Lizze…" Red's rough voice whined.

"Yes. Red it's me. It's fine. Just try to relax."

"Can't." Red spoke in a pained weak voice.

Harper sighed in relief when she saw his temperature was lowering slowly. She looked down and saw the bloodshot eyes of her estranged father on her. "Jennifer?"

She did not know what to say, he looked confused to see her standing over him.

"Are you alive?" Red croaked confused about the person standing before him.

"I'm alive." She said, "Go back to sleep." Her voice was soft when she spoke the words. Her heart almost broke when she saw the relief on his face when she confirmed she was alive, and a few seconds later he was asleep again, the pain medicine she had administered earlier taking him back under.

"He's asleep we can let him go." She said to the others removing her hands.

No one spoke for a few minutes, they each watched the temperature indicator on the heart monitor as it slowly lowered to an acceptable temperature. Harper removed the ice packets and pulled a thin blanket to cover Red's naked body.

"Does he need to go to the hospital?" Dembe asked already trying to figure out the best way to make sure Red and all involved would be safe a trip to the hospital was required.

"We will know in a half hour. If his temperature stays down than no." Harper said. "I'm going to clean and redress his wounds. Why don't you go shower and change."

Dembe still had his bloody clothes on. He gave into her suggestion knowing that there was not much he could do right now for Raymond.

"What can I do to help?" Liz asked.

"I called in a stronger antibiotic. Do you think you can take my car and go pick it up?"

"Yes." Liz said unsure if she should leave when Dembe was in the shower.

"He really needs a stronger antibiotic now."

"I'll go get it now." Liz prioritized his immediate needs over the probability that whoever was after Red knew where they were.

After Liz left the room Harper pulled back the blanket just enough to revealed Red's wounds. Grabbing her kit she gently cleaned around the stitches with a strong antiseptic. Now that she was not working frantically to preserve his life, she noticed the scars etched on his torso. He had many different scars, some looked liked knife wounds, while others were burns. The burns were in even rows, which made her think they were not by chance, but likely due to torture. What had her estranged father done to warrant being tortured? Who tortured him? There was evidence of other bullet wounds too. His life had not been as easy as it had appeared to be than. He clearly had been in similar circumstances as now, which explained his bodyguards field medicine knowledge.

Finishing her fingers gently pushed the tape against his skin to hold the clean gauze over the wounds. Once down, she pulled the thin cover back over him. Heat was radiating off his body, and yet he was shivering. She prayed to a god she did not believe in that the infection wherever it was would give in and let the antibiotics clear it away. It was this disturbing thought that made her realize she cared, even though she did not want to care about the man who abandoned her, she cared.

Dembe returned to the room in clean clothes Liz had gathered when she returned the bloodied car to the hotel.

"You look exhausted." Harper said, "Why don't you go rest in the other room. I need to stay with him for awhile to make sure his temperature stays down, and change the antibiotic over when Liz gets back."

"Liz left?" Dembe asked.

"To go get the antibiotic I called in earlier." Harper said.

Dembe was uncomfortable with Liz venturing out on her own, but he trusted her skills enough to make it back. Raymond would have been furious if he knew though.

"Go rest." Harper said, "After you get a few decent hours of sleep I will let you take over again."

"I will rest when Liz gets back." Dembe said leaning against the wall to leave Harper the chair to sit in.

"Fine." Harper stated moving over to the chair to sit.

They stayed just like that for about ten minutes before the silence annoyed Harper. "How long have you known Raymond?"

"Awhile." Dembe answered taking his eyes from his friend to look at Harper.

"How did you meet?"

"Raymond saved me." Dembe said, "And saw to me when I needed help."

"So you help him now because of that?" Harper asked.

Dembe did not like talking, especially about his past, but he also hated being rude, especially to someone who had been kind enough to open her home to them and save Raymond's life, "No. I help him because he is my brother. "

"So you care for him and he cares for you?"

"Yes."

"What does he do? I know he sold secrets, but he had to do more than that to get to number for on the FBI most wanted list."

"His business is not for me to discuss with you." Dembe stated not willing to tell Red's daughter about illegal dealings.

"Does he have a thing for Liz?" Harper asked, "She seems to care for him much more than an FBI agent should."

"He has looked after her wellbeing." Dembe answered clearly not enjoying the conversation, but it did not stop Harper from talking.

"Has he ever spoken about me or my mother?"

"Not often." Dembe said, not mentioning that on some of the darkest nights Red had spoken of his family. Those dark nights usually came when there the hope of finding out what had happened to his family was wiped away by a dead end lead.

Harper had many more questions, but she knew Dembe would unlikely answer most of them. Instead she shifted gears, "What does a bodyguard for the number four on the FBI most wanted list do for fun?"

"I read." Dembe answered.

"What types of books?"

"Classic fiction." Dembe had got his love of reading from Raymond who had encouraged it when Dembe had been younger.

"What is your favorite?"

"I do not know. There are too many good books to choose from."

"Do you have a family?"
"Other than Raymond, no."

The back and forth of question and answered continued until Liz appeared with the new antibiotics.

"Did you have any trouble?" Dembe asked her when she walked into the house.

"None. No one followed me."

Harper switched out the antibiotics, and crossed her fingers hoping this would work. Dembe, true to his word, went and rested as soon as he was sure the house was secure.

Harper grabbed a medical journal out of her study and sat in the room with Red. She did not spend as much time as she had hoped reading, instead she found herself looking over to the sleeping form of her estranged father. The questions she had swirling around her head, she would never get answers for because she would never ask him. He did not deserve the chance to explain himself. Once he was healthy enough she would leave him to recover, only check on him to change bandages, and once he could move she'd kick them out of her house. She realized she would likely have to move again, change her name, if she wanted to truly get away from him.

The first indication she had that her estranged father was waking was the occasional jerk of his fingers. The second was an increase in his heart rate, she attributed it to pain, but she wanted to wait for him to wake up before she tried to increase the dosage on his pain medication. When she heard the gasp, she set down her medical journal and walked over to the side of his bed. His eyes were shut, but his face was clearly contorted in pain.

She was not sure what to call him, Raymond? Reddington? Red?

When his eyes opened she saw the familiar orbs from her childhood looking at her. Now as an adult she saw the pain in them, both physical and mental anguish.

"Jennifer?" It was a question, as if he was not sure she was really there standing over him. Had he died? It did not feel like he was dead. He had always pictured death like a light bulb. One second you are full of life and the pain that comes with life. The next you have burnt out, turned dark, and whatever pain there was would be gone.

There was both physical and mental pain right now. His arm ached with a white-hot pain shooting down from his shoulder to the tip of his fingers. Each breath felt like someone was poking him with a knife. Taking his own assessment he deduced he had broken ribs, and something was truly wrong with his arm as he could not seem to move it.

"It is me." She said awkwardly. "Can you give me a rating on your pain from 1 to 10, 10 being unbearable."

He tried to swallow what little salvia he had in his mouth, as his throat felt like it was bone try. "Five." He lied of course, he could not be weak in front of his daughter.

"Liar." She called him on it, "The only way this is going to work is if you tell me the truth."

"Nine." He answered his brain was still a bit foggy and he just now realized he was not in a hospital. "Where am I?"

"Dembe and Liz brought you to me severely injured. You were shot twice. I fixed the wounds and we transferred you to my house."

No. Dembe was not that stupid, he had to know any contact with Red would put Jennifer in danger. Red tried to sit up, but his arm would not cooperate and help him push up. He tried again this time using one arm. Why was he so weak he could not push himself up much? The pain was excruciating, but he learned a long time ago how to work through the pain. He was able to push himself a bit off the bed before Harper saw what he was doing and gently put her hand on his good shoulder to push him back down.

"What are you doing?" She snapped having turned around only for a few seconds to get additional pain medication.

"I need to leave." Red said feeling a fool because he could not even muster enough strength to overpower her gentle push on his good shoulder. Laying back down he panted the pain was horrible. If he took small breaths the pain was a bit less, but still too much.

"I'm giving you some more pain medication. You have quite a tolerance." Harper said inserting the needle directly into his arm and pushing the plunger down. "You need to remain relatively still for now. You have two chest tubes. I do not want you undoing the work I did."

"Where is Dembe?" Red asked anger in his weak voice.

"Resting."

"Please go get him." Red asked the fist on his good arm clenching.

"Why so you can yell at him?"

"I need to speak with him."

"It can wait until he wakes up." Harper said noticing how her estranged father jaw was clenched shut, pain or anger or both? Both she thought as she saw his face twitch. He clearly was not used to people telling him no. "And when he wakes up, if you think you are going to get away with yelling at him think again. I have a nice sedative here that will knock you out quickly. I will use it to prevent you from doing any more damage to yourself or undoing any of my work."

"Those idiots put you in danger by asking for your help."

"Those idiots saved your life." Harper snapped back at him.

"Jennifer, each second I am here you are in danger."

"My name is Harper now." Jennifer snapped, "And I am sure between your body guard and the FBI agent we are safe."

"No you are not." Red said, "The man who ordered me death will come after me. If my body does not show up in the morgue, he will know I'm alive and he will find me."

"What did you do to piss him off?" Harper asked as she started to prepare the sedative she had spoken of previously. Her estranged father was clearly agitated and it was showing in his vitals.

Red did not answer the question, instead his eyes turned to the door where Liz stood.

"You are awake." Liz said from the doorway.

"He just woke up." Harper said turning back to Red with the needle.

"Don't you dare stick me with that." Red snapped trying to look around her body that now blocked his view of Liz in the doorway. "Agent Keen we need to talk."

Harper did not listen, she moved over to his bad arm and smiled at him, "You need to rest. This will help you."

"Keen what in the world made you think this was a good idea? You promised me you would make sure she was safe and that she would not be compromised by me being here." The pain was there, but now anger overtook any pain he felt. If his body did not feel so heavy, he'd of been off the bed in Lizzie's face screaming right now.

"She's right here you don't need to yell." Harper said pushing the needle into the IV where Red could not reach her with his good arm, "And I invited them. It was that or you would likely died. Do you really want to die? Because that is what will happen if you leave here now or if they had not brought you here."

Red glared at Liz unable to bring himself to yell at his Jennifer even as he watched her inject the sedative into his IV. He fought the sleep and pleaded with Liz, "We need to leave now…wake Dembe we can make it out of town."

"Just rest." Jennifer said her hand moving to his good arm to gently rub it in a reassuring way, "Everything will be fine. No one will find you here."

Red's eyes closed against his will as the drug took him back under into sleep.

"I knew he'd be upset." Liz said, "I should have warned you."

"It's fine." Harper stated. Her own internal dialogue was running in circles. Part of her hated the man in the bed, but another part of her was touched by his concern for her. His willingness to die instead of put her in danger. He had cared about her, and maybe just maybe he had not abandoned her and her mother. No, she told herself, he had abandoned them, her mother had told her many of times. This was just an old man who regretted that choice. Better to get him stable enough to survive a long car ride so that they could all leave her life. "You should go rest some more. He's going to be asleep for awhile."

"Do you mind if I cook some breakfast?"

"Sure. I might have some eggs or something in the kitchen." Harper could not remember the last time she went grocery shopping.

"If not I'll go shopping once Dembe wakes up. If you want something just make a list and I'll pick it up." Liz was trying to make their stay as unobtrusive as possible. It truly was kind of Harper to offer them her home to allow Red time to recuperate.

Harper nodded in response still looking down at the figure of her estranged father.

"I'll leave you alone." Liz said before taking her leave. Secretly, she smiled because she could see that Harper clearly cared for Red. Maybe, just maybe, Liz's attempt to do something nice for Red would work out after all.

Red was clearly still agitated in his sleep as his jaw clinched and unclenched over and over, along with his fist.

"Relax." Harper said her hand on his forehead feeling the remaining heat from the slight fever he had, "Everyone is safe. You are in a safe place."

"Doesn't exist." Red mumbled stuck somewhere between sleep and consciousness.

"What doesn't exist?" Harper asked confused.

"Safety."

Thanks for making it through that crap.