Authors note: So for the sake of my story and to try to speed things along Sam has died a few years before this story. I'm sorry if any of you were hoping he was alive or something would happen to him but I decided it was best for where this story was going and would be less complicated if Sam were already passed away. Also in the tv series Tom and Liz share a car but also for the sake of the story they each have their own. Oh and they don't have a dog in my story either (Maybe Liz will beg Red for a puppy in a later chapter lol)
Usually she ate something from a small cafeteria that was at headquarters, or drove to some fast food chain down the road and brought it back to work. She never recalled ever driving all the way home for any reason during work, she always had too much paper work to do and it would be a waste of time. Tom was having his teachers meeting, not to mention today was a grading day so he was expected to be at his office all day calculating grades. So it was a big surprise to see his car parked outside their home.
She curiously opened the door and stepped inside.
"Tom? You here honey?" She stood silent and heard a shower running upstairs. Hmmm how odd, she thought. Why was he home? And taking a shower when he probably already did this morning? She tried to calm her nerves but she could sense a sinking feeling rising in her stomach.
Moving towards the stairs reassuring herself that she would just pop inside the bathroom and see what was going on she was about to raise her foot to step on the first step, her hand paused in midair to rest on the banister when something from the other room caught her eye.
She should have let it go, and just went to see what Tom was doing home early. After all, there was that saying right? Curiosity killed the cat? And Elizabeth should have known by now that her curiosity always lead her to answers, whether they were answers she wanted or not.
There on a table was a vase of roses, a red ribbon tied around the vase and a small card peeking from among the flowers. She smiled, perhaps this was Tom's way of apologizing for the increasing distance between them. She brought the blossoms to her nose and inhaled a small breath. They smelt magnificent.
She sat them back down and inquisitively eyed the small card. Picking it up and flipping it over she recognized Tom's hand writing. But that's not what made her heart-break, there, in her husband's hand writing was another woman's name.
The words written in front of her eyes blurred together but she had read them never the less. It was romantic words of affection expressing gratitude toward another woman for their delightful nights and how much he missed her and was thinking of her. There was no other explanation, Tom was having an affair. There was no excuse for the types of things he was writing to another woman, they couldn't be interpreted another way. And red roses? Why would he give some other woman red roses?
She placed the card back where she retrieved it from and slowly backed away from the vase of flowers. As she made her way to the front door and frantically tried to put her shoes on and leave before Tom came down stairs or detected someone was in the house she could hear laughter floating down from upstairs. Her head snapped up to look up the stairs as not only the recognizable laughter of her husband reached her ears but laughter that was defiantly female.
He brought another woman into their home? Into their shower? Had they used their bed beforehand as well? Elizabeth opened the front door and silently shutting it before she ran to her car, trying to hold down her stomach contents. In a daze she opened her car door, barely registering that she had even left it unlocked, and started the car, speeding out of the drive way.
When you hear about these things happening the wife or husband usually went to their family, or to friends for support and security. But as Elizabeth drove down the road not knowing where she was going she realized she had neither. Her adoptive father Sam had died a few years ago, and any friends she had were also friends with Tom.
She pulled into the parking lot of a random park and turned off the car, resting her forehead against the steering wheel and took in deep breaths. The pain that she knew should be there actually wasn't as bad as one would think it should be. She felt deceived and irate, especially that Tom disrespected her enough to bring another woman home while she was at work. But any grief or tears that a wife who just found out the man she loved and was married to was having an affair never came.
She knew her and Tom had had issues, and there was that suspicious box with passports, money and a gun. But she had chosen to ignore it. She didn't want to believe that the man she married wasn't who he said he was. That he lied to her. She was a profiler, she was a FBI agent, yet someone she had lived with just pulled the rug from under her feet.
Lightly banging her head against the steering wheel and letting out a small growl she corrected her train of thought, no she knew, she saw the signs, and she just chose not to see. She wanted the perfect life, her career and a husband with children. That thought made her laugh. At least she and Tom hadn't had any children, what a mess that would have been. But ever since Reddington entered her life, everything having to do with adopting a baby had been put on hold.
"I can give you the one thing you have always wanted. I can give you what you want most in this world..." Reddingtons words resonated in her mind. If he was serious about being with her would he give her a child if she asked? But he was married once upon a time and had a child of his own already. True she didn't know what happened to them, but his file said he abandoned them. Would he do that to her as well?
Reddington. He knew about Tom, at least he said he wasn't who he said he was. Was him having an affair the only thing he meant? He hadn't mentioned her husband or the box in quite some time, not since the day she had tried to demand answers from him. And then everything went to hell with the soul mate voodoo and it was just pushed aside.
She felt a wetness on her face and reaching to touch her cheek recognized they were warm tears. Ah there are the tears. She had a husband that she didn't know, and was cheating on her, a crazy job she had been assigned to when she was only a newbie and Raymond Reddington a most wanted criminal insisted that they had some connection and were meant to live happily ever after like some fantasy fairy tale.
Oh and the undeniable fact that she was attracted to said criminal, that was her life in a nut shell. She half laughed, half sobbed. Her life was crumbling around her ears. What was she supposed to do now? Taking in a few deep breaths and wiping the tears from her face she stare in the mirror. You can do this Elizabeth. You are a FBI agent, you're strong and no one gets the best of you.
She needed to decide what she was going to do about Tom. If she turned him in the FBI would question her as well, and then what if he was cleared and it happed that he was some criminal? And if she confronted him about it on her own what if he did kill someone and didn't have a problem disposing of her as well? Or the third possibility was he had nothing to do with the gun or the box but there was the fact he was having an affair. She also needed to speak with Reddington about the budding relationship between them.
She felt like banging her head against the steering wheel again but harder this time. There was one person she could trust, only one person who would know what to do. She had no family and no friends she could trust, but him she could confide in. Even though her brain screamed that she shouldn't get him involved she recalled what he had texted to her earlier today.
Oh darling what you fail to admit is that I am your private life now
She snorted in amusement as she reached into her bag and pulled out her phone. Could she do this? Could she lower her walls and trust someone one last time and take the chance that Reddington was playing her as well? She stared at her phone screen in profound thought. So far he has only given her bread crumbs, half-truths, and encrypted answers. But lied to her out right? That's something he has never done.
In fact as of late he has been even more honest with her, and wasn't it his move to say they needed to talk? She supposed she had little choice, her only hope was that she could find some sort of reliance in him in all of this madness. Dialing his number and bringing her phone to ear her she waited as it rang and clicked when he answered.
"Lizzie, where are you?"
Authors ending note: So I know you were all hoping for Red and Liz to finally have their talk and it might be cruel of me to prolong it another chapter (Very sorry!) but we needed some Tom drama and I kinda wanted Tom already starting to be out of the picture before Liz can admit her feelings for Red and be willing to try a relationship. Not that I don't love the stories some of you have written where Liz says "Screw you Tom" and sleeps with Red anyways, but I can't bring myself to make Liz just cheat on her husband without cause like him cheating first or being a bad criminal.
Next chapter will be all Red, Liz and Lizzington feelings I promise. Please review and let me know how your liking the story line, I love reading what you guys think and take everything you say into account :)
