A/N Okay, thank you to everyone that is still reading..all of you are amazing.

Frederick Barnes

Kitty

Standing outside the church, she jumps a little to keep warm.

"Hey Kitty." Sebastian says coming up the sidewalk. "Why aren't you inside?"

"Just needed air." she says smiling softly at him. Over the past two months since Red entered their lives, she had missed more meetings than she would have liked but this meeting was important.

"Lizzie, didn't come with you?" Sebastian asks looking around before opening the door to the recreational room under the church.

"No..she's on a date with Red. They're seeing each other." she tells him unable to stop the grin that spreads across her face.

Sebastian swallows hard, "How long have they been together? Last time we talked, I thought she was still fighting it."

"Last week, when Tom showed back up in town." she says forgetting that she hadn't told him about that.

Sebastian turns quickly to stare at her.

"I know. I should have told you but I couldn't...it dealt with Lizzie's job." she says biting her lip.

"This conversation isn't done…." Sebastian mutters as he walks into the meeting room.

"Kitty Kat." a certain voice says when she enters.

Looking to the left, she sees Lizzie, Red and Dembe standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she asks going over and wrapping her arms around Lizzie.

"Did you really think that I forgot what today was?" Lizzie says in her ear.

"No...I just…" she tries to say as her eyes start to water.

"Hey..this is important. We all wanted to be here." Lizzie says pulling back slightly, places her hands on her face and wipes the tears that have split away with her thumbs. "We're your family and…." Lizzie starts to say but is getting emotional as well.

"Sweetheart," Red moves close to Lizzie, she looks and notices his hand resting on her hip as he places a kiss on the side of her neck. "We are are here for you, Kitty Kat." Red says finally looking at her.

She smiles through her tears and reluctantly lets go of her big sister and hugs Red.

"Kitty...we need to sit down." Sebastian says coming over to them.

She nods, wiping her tears and heads over to one of the chairs. She looks back to see Red supporting Lizzie, both of them smiling at her. Dembe just nods, his face serene.

After a few minutes and everyone is seated, Sebastian nods to someone.

"Hello. My name is Shane and I'm an addict. I've been clean and sober for thirteen years. These meeting have been lifelines for me. Without them, I wouldn't be standing here today. Today's meeting is a special one. Many of us are experiencing milestones and after some discussion, I thought it to be wise for them to share. Who would like to go first?" Shane asks looking around the room.

She waits for others to get up and speak, breathing slow.

"One more...You ready?" Shane says looking right at her.

She nods and steps up to the podium, looking out at all those like her and their family members. She locks eyes with Lizzie and blows her a kiss.

"My name is Kitty. I am an addict..my drugs of choice were opium and pain meds, sometimes I even mixed them. I have been clean and sober for...two years, four months, thirteen days and seven hours. I have to count because I know that for many of us it's not one day at a time... every minute, every hour is a struggle. My addiction started when I was a freshman in college, I got hurt and everything was piling on me. I needed to not feel and I fell down the rabbit hole. Luckily, I have a sister and father that love me enough to fight and it's because of them and friends that I am able to stand here talking to you. I did everything that I was suppose to and like many before me, I fell...hard. My sister, my Queen, she..saved me once again. This chip is proof that everything she scarified to help me was worth it…" she's unable to finish as the dam breaks and the tears she has been holding back start streaming down her face.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and Lizzie is standing there, crying as well. Lizzie pulls her into her arms and the two of them stand there keeping each other standing.

"I love you, Kitty Kat." Lizzie whispers in her ear.

"I love you, too…" she whispers.


A Few Weeks Later

She sits in the empty dining room, staring at the wall downing a bottle of water. She was slick with sweat from her run with Hudson. Over the past two weeks she had been training at a private gym nearby that Dembe had recommended but there were those days that just running around the neighborhood made her feel freer and less confined.

She hadn't been surprised when Lizzie and Luli started training with her. Dembe had even helped her create her own personal workout routine and he was also teaching her how to shoot anytime that he was at the Post Office. Ressler was also helping, teaching her about sharpshooting. Aram and a few others were teaching her more about computers.

She might not be an agent or an asset but she was going to be able to protect her growing family any way that she can.

"You do know that it's seven am, right?" Lizzie asks coming into the room, placing her bag on the floor.

"I know. I haven't been able to sleep." she says sighing playing with the three charms on her bracelet.

"Hey..he's gone." Lizzie says looking at the photo of Tom Keen that Kitty had tacked in middle of the wall.

Tom hadn't been seen or heard from since he left the Post Office part of her wonders and hopes that Red had something to do with that. Their dining room had slowly become a secondary hub on trying to figure out who Tom really was. Everything that they knew was on the wall, unfortunately it wasn't as much as either of them would like.

Red had admitted to them that he had hired Tom to look over Lizzie at a distance. Red had been livid when he found out that Tom had begun a relationship with her. He had let him go and Tom was suppose to disappear from her life completely but it seems that someone else had gotten a hold of Tom's leash and that's who they all were trying to figure out.

"I know that Gina was a murderer but taking the fall for Tom? It doesn't seem right...Wait, you're fully dressed and isn't that what you wore last night for your date. You're doing a walk of shame!" she exclaims jumping up staring at Lizzie, excitement running through her on the thought of gossip.

"I am not doing a walk of shame...we fell asleep watching a movie." Lizzie says blushing and not meeting her eyes.

"Really? What movie?" she asks.

"The Untouchables." Lizzie says gnawing her bottom lip.

"And if I were to call Luli or Dembe, they'll give me the same story." she says grinning.

Lizzie releases her lip and looks away, blushing. "Has Hudson gone out yet? I'll take him out."

She feels her eyes go wide. "I know something happened. You are not getting out of this…" she gets stopped by Liz's phone ringing.

"What's going on, Ressler?" Lizzie asks.

She scrunches up her nose, annoyed that she got blocked on gossip. She shakes her head and enters the kitchen to make them a pot of coffee.

"Kitty, turn on the TV. What channel?" Lizzie asks still on the phone.

She turns confused but does it.

This is the scene at D.C.'s Red Line Station. Details are still sketchy, but rescue teams and emergency personnel are arriving on the scene.

"Give me ten minutes." she says rushing upstairs as Lizzie talks with Ressler to take a extremely quick shower and get dressed.


Lizzie

She parks in the first spot she finds.

"Lady! You can't park there!" a cop says coming over as she and Kitty get out of the car.

"I'm gonna find Aram, see if he needs help." Kitty says quickly walking off.

"Officer! They're with me!" Ressler calls out watching as Kitty maneuvers past him.

"What do we know?" she asks walking over to him.

"It looks like a biological attack on the Red Line." Ressler tells her.

"I've never been so happy that I have a car, how many?" she asks taking in the scene.

"Thirty-seven dead. No one survived." Ressler tells her.

"Captain America! Vision found something!" Kitty yells as she and Aram run towards them. Aram is running a little slower, since he is carrying his laptop.

"You need to see this." Aram says holding his computer for her and Ressler to watch. "Transit Authority gave us access to their closed-circuit feeds."

"What?" Ressler asks looking at the computer screen.

"Watch this man with the briefcase. He boards the train at Dupont Circle holding it. Four minutes later, same guy exits the very next station, Woodley Park." Aram says as the three of them watch.

"Where's the briefcase?" she asks noticing it missing.

"This is the hard part…" Aram says showing them the footage of inside the train car, coughing and slowly dying. "He left it on the train. At precisely 6:42am, it started."

"I'll let the evidence guys know what to look for." Kitty says running off.


"I've contacted people I trust at the Agency." Meera tells them.

Kitty looks up from her monitor. Kitty is going through every database that she can, trying to figure out who the guy that left the briefcase is.

"Which one?" she asks knowing that Meera has multiple contacts.

"All of them." Meera states.

"What did you find out?" Ressler asks.

"Nothing. There was zero chatter prior to the attack." Meera states.

"Would that mean..that this isn't a terrorist attack?" Kitty asks confused.

"This is homegrown? Not foreign." she states.

"Looks like." Meera says sighing.

"Where are we on the briefcase?" Cooper asks.

Kitty looks at her with a small amount of nervousness.

"Kitty...tell him." she says.

"I contacted the CDC...and put in a request for them to release it to us as evidence. They said no." Kitty says biting her lip.

"You might not have the right level of clearance. Send another request with mine." Ressler says rubbing the side of his head.

"I did. I tried yours, Lizzie's, Meera's and even yours, sir." Kitty says looking at Cooper. "I got the same answer."

"Which was?" Cooper asks.

Kitty looks at her.

"They wouldn't tell her, so I took the phone and they told me. The briefcase tested positive for trace amounts of radioactive material. It needs to be decontaminated." she states.

"Oh hell…" Ressler states.

"I'm sorry..I tried to explain.." Kitty says.

"Kit..I don't blame you. I blame whoever that man is." Cooper says pointing at the screen.

Feeling her phone ring, she takes it out of her pocket and smiles at seeing 'King' flash on the screen.

"Hello.." she says trying to keep a profession tone in her voice.

Kitty smirks more than likely catching the small change in her eyes.

"Letting me wake up alone was extremely unsatisfying, I did have a whole morning planned. Actually, I had the entire day planned."

"I know. I'm sorry about that." she walks away slightly from the others, closer to Kitty's desk.

"A little snug, don't you think, Martin?" she hears him say.

"Another suit?" she asks trying not to giggle.

Hearing her, Kitty hides a giggle behind her hand.

"Yes, my dear. I have plans coming up with a certain enchanting creature that requires one. However, that is not the reason for my call."

"Do you know who did this?" she asks.

"Yes..do you think you can meet me? In say thirty minutes? Dembe is sending Kitty the location, right now."

"That Red?" Ressler asks her nodding at the phone.

She nods looking over at him.

"If he's got news. I'm going with you." Ressler states.

"I'll be there..with Ressler." she says silently apologizing.

"Joy...see you soon, baby. Love you." he says quickly before hanging up.

Luckily, she was looking down so no one saw her eyes go wide or notice her stop breathing.

"Where are we going?" Ressler asks.

Giving herself a moment to calm down, she looks at Kitty.

"Has Dembe sent you the location?" she asks breathing slowly.

Kitty leans forward clearly noticing something. "Yeah..hey Cap, check your phone." Kitty says with a grin.

"What?" Kitty mouthed why everyone is paying attention to something else.

"He said..love you." she mouths.

She watches as Kitty bites her lips and her eyes go wide. Kitty places a hand over her mouth and taps her feet excitedly.

"Ready to go?" Ressler asks turning to her.

"Yeah..let's go." she says finally able to keep a straight face.


Ressler

It's watching the man closely when it's really noticeable.

The way that he looks at her. The innocent almost touches and always needing to be near her. The way that he speaks to her.

If he was a betting man he would put money on that without a doubt that Raymond Reddington, number four on the most wanted list is completely and utter in the process of falling in love with Elizabeth Scott, FBI profiler, his handler.

He's seen it happen with other assets. He had just suspected that Red was above it.

He has a feeling that he should tell Liz what he suspects so she can figure out how to deal with it. He knows that if he brought it up to Kit, the girl would try to convince her sister to go for it because even he thinks after Tom Keen even Reddington was an improvement.

He has a feeling that Liz might suspect and that's why she always tries to hold herself away from the man. He had noticed that Liz wasn't feeding his ego as much as she usually did over the past few weeks.

"The man you are looking for is Frederick Barnes." Red says placing his hands on the table in front of him.

He's on one side of the table and Liz is one the other but Red is staring right at her. There's a look in Red's eyes that he remembers from when he use to look at Audrey.

"Who is he?" Liz asks leaning her hip against the table.

"Hmmm, a former defense research scientist out of ARPAX in Annapolis. You may not be familiar with his name, but you're likely familiar with his work,biochemical agents such as black phosphorus and paratoxin. However, he was more than just a research scientist. He was gifted, a savant of government-sanctioned mass killing."

"Was? What do you mean?" He asks placing his hands on his hips.

"Around five years ago, he quit his job, sold his house...and entered my world. Selling his creations to the highest bidder, terrorist..me." Red states with a tilt of his head finally acknowledging that he was even there. "What are you plotting, Lizzie?" Red asks clucking his tongue when both of them look over to see her deep in thought.

"He reminds me of you." Liz says seemingly upset.

Red chuckles, "Oh, baby. Never compare him to me. While I'm perfectly comfortable with what I am...Barnes is a special animal. One with the tools and know how to kill thousands upon thousands of people at once. All he lacked was the desire."

Did he seriously call her baby and she not react. Damn, he thinks to himself. He shakes his head trying to ignore the fact that Red is actually human. "What's changed?"

"Good question. Barnes has always been the seller, the creator. If he's willing to use his work...he is the most dangerous man in the world."

He shakes his head.

"Scott, we gotta go." he says moving to leave.

"I'll meet you the car." she says frowning at Red. Probably going to talk to him about that 'baby' slip he thinks with a grin and heads to wait by the car wishing that he could be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

Ten minutes later she finally joins him looking a little flushed.

"What took so long? He try to wiggle out of calling you baby." he remarks as they get into the car.

"I don't think he'll ever call me baby around you again." she says with a smile.


They follow the doctor as she explains that all the victims were killed with Kurz disease. Something neither he nor Liz had ever hear of.

"You are not the only ones. It's extremely rare. Makes it so the veins and arteries harden until the body is starved of oxygen. Normally it takes at least a decade to run its full course."

Dr. Buckner leads them into a tarped off area containing the train station victims.

"Oh…." Liz breathes and he follows her line of sight to see a young boy on one of the gurneys.

"His name was Ryan Demsky, only nine years old. Here on vacation with his dad." Dr. Buckner tells them.

"How rare is this disease?" he asks tearing his eyes away from the boy and steps in Liz's view so she wouldn't have to see him any longer.

"Over the years there have only been a handful of Kurz worldwide however since July we have had nearly six hundred new cases which should be impossible since the virus isn't contagious."

"Our suspect has a background in biological and chemical warfare, is it possible for him to weaponize this disease? Make it more lethal.

"Yes..but he would have to have access to Strontium 90 which was found on the delivery device. He could have used it as an immunosuppressant."


Red

"Strontium 90 isn't something that you can just grab willy nilly. It is a byproduct of nuclear reactors. Toxic. There is only a handful of people in the world that can produce it in sizable quantities." he tells Cooper while Lizzie, Meera, Ressler and Kitty enter the office.

"And you happen to know one." Cooper states.

He scoffs, "I know three." out of the corner of his eye he notices Kitty hip bump Lizzie and smirk at her. "The first was collected by the Russians last month. The second, vaporized in Quetta."

"What about the third?" Kitty asks as she wraps her arm around Lizzie's waist and gives him a Cheshire grin.

"Should be the supplier." he says wondering what on earth is making both his girls look like they are going to collapse in giggle fits. Part of him wonders is Lizzie mentioned his little slip with calling her baby in front of Ressler. Dembe isn't going to let him forget any time soon.

"Reddington. The name." Cooper growls.

"Impossible, Harold. You have no jurisdiction where he operates. However, I've set up a meeting so I should be on my way." he says standing.

"Red…" Ressler starts.

"Oh..hush Captain. The adults are still talking." Kitty says without any bite and a bright smile.

"Are you sure he will know how to find Barnes?" Lizzie asks.

"He knows how to get paid. Shall we?" he says standing and leaves the office with Kitty and Lizzie right behind him.

Once they step into the elevator, Kitty gives Lizzie a nod and suddenly he has arms wrapped around his waist.

"I thought there were cameras." he says as Lizzie kisses him. He wraps his arms around her as her hands slide up his chest and stop behind his neck.

"Kitty found the off switch." she says as he lifts her up off the floor a little.

"Mmmm, I wish you could come with me. All my plans ruined." he huffs as she nuzzles his throat.

"I wish I could but Aram was able to track down an old research partner of Barnes. Hopefully she can help me figure out what is going through his head." she says resting her head on his shoulder as they look over at Kitty.

"Kitty Kat, ever been to Cuba?" he asks wanting to at least make one of their days a little less stressed.

"No...and if I go with you Cooper can't complain as much." Kitty says with a smirk.

"Alright...what is causing the two of you to be so giggly?" he asks loving the mischief in their eyes.

"I might have told her about your little slip." Lizzie says slowly moving away from him.

"What slip?" he asks looking down at Lizzie.

"A certain four letter word?" Kitty says with a grin.

"Baby. Is this still about calling you baby in front of Donald?" he asks reluctantly moving away from her as the elevator starts to slow.

Kitty starts laughing, full belly laughs. "Oh, that is priceless. I didn't know about that one."

That one, he wonders slightly confused

"You really don't have any idea what she means?" Lizzie asks looking a little sad before shaking her head. "You know what don't worry about it. It must have been a slip of the tongue." she quickly gives him another mouthwatering kiss before pulling away as the elevator stops.

He follows behind as Kitty does something with the tablet that she is holding.

"I hate to see her go but love the way she leaves." he says watching as Lizzie nods at Dembe before heading across the street to where Ressler is waiting for her.

"We need to get going if we're going to reach Havana by noon." Dembe says nodding at him and Kitty.

He allows Kitty to enter the car first. When he gets in Luli has her arms wrapped around Kitty's stomach and Kitty is resting her head on Luli's shoulder.

He leans his head back against the back of the seat.

"Bad day, Raymond?" Luli asks.

"All my plans for the day were wrecked. Please say something nice to me." he pouts.

"How about some good news? It's gone on the market." Luli says handing him a folder.

"It's for sale?" he asks a slight tremor in his voice.

"What is?" Kitty asks.

"Something important. Purchase it." he tells Luli closing the folder.


Lizzie

She and Ressler walk up the path. Ressler knocks on the door.

"Yes." an attractive older woman says when she answers.

"Mrs. Forrester?" she asks as she and Ressler each take out their badges.

Mrs. Forrester nods.

"I'm Special Agent Scott. This is my partner, Special Agent Ressler. FBI."

"Oh my.." Forrester breathes.

"We'd like to talk to you about Frederick Barnes." Resslee says.

Mrs. Forrester opens the door and shows them inside.

"Honey, this is the FBI. They have questions about Frederick."

"Anne and I will help you anyway we can." the husband says leading them to the dining room so the can seat comfortably.

"I'm not sure where to start." Anne says.

"Just tell us about him." she says.

"Well..he was brilliant, ahead if his time what we consider fringe science he thought was possible. He loved his work. I..I never understood why he left."

"Did you know of any problems that he might have been having in his personal life or at work?" she asks.

Anne laughs, "We didn't have time for personal life. We worked sixteen hour days."

"Anne was almost living at the lab thanks to him." the husband states.

Anne's smile changes, becomes a little softer. "Frederick was obsessive. Each problem was a puzzle that he needed to solve."

"Do you remember when you last spoke to him?" Ressler asks.

"I think it's been around five years. Is he in trouble?" Anne tells them.

A young boy rushes into the room. She schools her face not to react to the sight of the blackened arteries, just like the victims that are clearly noticeable. She looks at Ressler and he nods having seen them as well.

"This is our son, Ethan." the husband states.

Ethan ignores them and talks quietly to Anne before leaving the room.

She chews at the inside of her cheek. " Do you happen to have a old phone number for Barnes? Anything will help." she says.

"I think so." Anne says standing and heading into the kitchen.

She gets up and follows.

She quietly comes to stand next ro Anne.

"I'm sorry to ask this but does Ethan have Kurz disease?" she asks.

"Yes..Kurz is very rare. How did you know?"

She swallows, hating as the thought of the little boy flashes in her mind. "Because less than two hours ago I saw dozens of corpses infected with a weaponized version of the disease. Barnes released it on the Red Line a little before seven am this morning. He killed thirty seven people including a nine year old boy and pregnant mother."

Anne just looks at her in utter horror.

"I'm having a hard time thinking it's a coincidence that your son is infected with the same disease that Barnes is now using to commit mass-murder."

"Frederick is his father." Anne whimpers out as tears roll down her face and she covers her mouth.

"I'm sorry. Is Barnes aware of this?" she asks.

"Yes. When Ethan was diagnosed with Kurz. We were told it was unreadable. Frederick refused to believe it. He reached out to all his contacts to get research funding. All of them turned him down."

"When was this?"

"Five years ago."

Barnes entered Red's world to get the money for funding, she thinks.

"Did they tell him why?" not looking forward to the answer.

"It's too rare. Small disease means small product." Anne says sighing.

She nods.

After a few more minutes, she and Ressler leave.

"What did you find out?" Ressler asks.

"A motive. Kurz doesn't have enough victims so there's no point to find a cure. He wants to infect as many people as he can to get it on the radar..for his son." she tells him as they get into the car.

"I'm lost." Ressler says.

"The more people that die from it. The more it is talked about."

"Which means it's more profitable to research. God, that sounds insane. But that means the Red Line was just the beginning "


Kitty

She sits in the backseat of Red's car as he goes across the street to meet with the guy that will hopefully get them access to Barnes.

She smiles as she listen to him talking to someone in Spanish.

"I am surprised you got him to agree to the mic." Dembe says not even looking at her.

"There's no way I'm going to let my brother go any place without some sort of protection." she says with a smirk as she loads up a program on her laptop.

"Manny. You look like hell." Red says, his voice joyful and playful.

"Says the devil himself." a man with a accent says.

She hears laughs and the sound of a man hug.

"What brings you my way?" Manny asks.

"You, Manny. And...Strontium 90."

"I knew I should have made him wear an earbud cause yelling at him is zero fun if he can't hear me." she growls wishing that he hadn't jumped right in.

"Of course. You couldn't want drugs or Qassam rockets like a normal Diablo."

Red laughs and she smiles.

"He loves this stuff doesn't he?" she asks catching Dembe's eye in the mirror.

"He loves your sister more." Dembe says.

"I know that and she feels that. He just hasn't said it yet. She thought he said it earlier but he doesn't seem to remember."

"I know." Dembe says nodding.

"Twelve kilos." She hears Red say.

"What are you planning to do with twelve kilos of Strontium 90?"

Dembe's phone starts ringing. He puts it on speaker.

"Buenos."

"I have the funds for the purchase." Luli says.

She had gotten Luli to tell her that she was purchasing a house but that was it.

"I can proceed on his word."

"Good." Dembe says.

"He's almost done, Luli." she calls out.

"Thank you Kitten." Luli says with a purr.

She grins and shakes her head. Dembe hangs up the call.

"I need at least three weeks...and gonna cost six million." Manny states.

"Dude..when Red wants something, he doesn't like to wait.." she mutters under her breath.

"Haha. I need it now." Red says laughing.

"Told you." she says smirking.

"You know he can't hear you." Dembe says laughing at her.

She just sticks her tongue out at him.

"Fresh out. You need to wait."

"Maybe I should get in touch with your buyer and make them an offer."

"You threatening to cut me out?! We're not that good of friends, gringo."

"Are they going to pull their guns and hold them sideways at me?

"Dembe?" she asks wondering why he is still sitting there.

"He's fine, Kitten." is all he says.

She tunes out everything else that is said when she notices that Red has turned on the listening device.

"See." Dembe says pointing as Red crosses the street and joins them in the car.

Red places a couple bags of food in the front seat as Dembe starts the car.

"Well?" she asks.

"I thought you were listening?" Red says with a grin.

She shrugs.

"He should be calling Barnes any minute now."

She looks down at the computer. "Gotta love the devil for timing."

"Start tracing, Kitty Kat."

"I have a location." she says showing Red.

Red takes his phone and dials Lizzie.

"A bottle of beer, a good movie and you in my lap." Red responds to whatever Lizzie asked him.

She just covers her mouth.

"I have a location for you, sweetheart." Red says smiling.


Ressler

He and Liz arrive at the Arlington courthouse to search for Barnes.

He had already updated Cooper on their way there.

Bypassing the metal detector by flashing their badges, they split up to cover more ground.

He pulls the fire alarm to lessen the amount of possible victims and to get extra help if needed.

He's on the second floor when he hears muted screaming. He finds doors locked with zip ties. He's unable to open it as it slowly starts to get quiet on the other side of the doors.

Noticing some firemen, he gets a tank and mask. Plus a way to open the doors.

After making sure no one else is in the hallway. He enters the room.

People are lying on the floor. Black arteries visible like the victims of the Red Line.

Shockingly, he hears terrified crying.

He moves through the bodies to find someone, a young woman alive.

He quickly gets her out of the room.


Lizzie

After being chewed out by Cooper and Ressler telling her that she doesn't belong in the field, she finds a quiet spot and calls Red.

"Sweetheart..your dear sister is trying to corrupt poor Dembe by making him watch this movie called Stargate." Red says and she can hear Kitty in the background trying to hush him.

"Red….." she whispers trying to keep from crying.

"Lizzie..what's wrong?"

"I messed up. Barnes got away because of me. Cooper blames me. Ressler doesn't think I belong in the field because I made the wrong call.."

"Baby...stop. How can I help?"

She laughs softly, "Just hearing your voice is helping."

"Give me the phone.." Kitty says.

"Say please." Red says.

"She'll annoy you til you give it up." she says softly.

She hears muttering then knows that Kitty won.

"Lizzie, don't let Ressler get to you. From what I've heard, Captain America messed up a lot while he was chasing after Red. I'm handing you back to him. I love you."

"Lizzie, we've heard that there was a survivor from the courthouse." Red says when he comes back on the line.

"Yeah..do you think Barnes would go after her?" she asks standing up and slowly making her way to Meera.

"Barnes is a scientist. He is going to want to know why she didn't perish with the others."


Luckily it didn't take much to convince Meera that the two of them should check on the survivor.

"Could we have gotten here before him?" she asks when they see that the young woman is sleeping.

"While I doubt it, Red could be wrong." Meera says looking around the room.

"What's going on?" Buckner asks entering the room and heading right for her patient.

"We have reason to believe that Ms. Rubin is in danger." Meera states.

Buckner seems confused when Ms. Rubin doesn't wake up.

"Who has been in this room?" she asks barely looking at the guard.

"Just the Doc and a nurse." the guard states.

"No one besides me was to have access." Buckner says worried.

"I hate it when he's right. Lock down the hospital. I want every employee identified." Meera says pushing the security out of the room clearly pissed off.

"Is she okay?" she asks coming to stand by the bed.

"I don't know. Help me." Buckner says moving a blanket and rolling the girl on her side.

There's a small amount of blood on the sheets.

"Is that blood?"

"No. That's...someone did a bone marrow biopsy on her." Buckner states.


"He's a scientist. His son is sick and there is no cure." she mumbles as she and Meera stand in the hallway.

"What if he was searching for something by trying to infect people?" Meera states clearly thinking like a mom.

"I think these were experiments, he was searching for something." she says feeling sick to her stomach.

"Like someone with a natural immunity." Meera states.

"Yeah, Elysa's test results came back. She has no sign of infection."

"So he took her bone marrow to what create a cure?" Meera asks.

"If he thinks he has a cure..Ethan." she exclaims and with a small amount of fear she and Meera take off running.


They had just barely made it there in time.

Now Ethan was being loaded into a ambulance to make sure there were no consequences of Barnes drugging him.

She had taken the shot this time before Barnes could inject his 'cure' in his son.

Unfortunately part of her wonders if she should have allowed him the chance but she remembers everyone else that has suffered for his 'cure'.

She watches as Barnes is loaded into the corner van. She looks across the street and breathes a sigh of relief to see Red standing there.

Quickly she crosses over to him.

"I see that Barnes is no longer with us." he states nodding to the van.

"I couldn't let him give what he thought was a cure to his son. What if he was wrong?" she says moving within arms reach of him.

There was too many eyes around for her to wrap her arms around him and bury herself in his scent.

"While his methods were unorthodox. A man that's willing to burn the world down around him to protect the person they love, that's a man I understand."

She reaches out and places her hand on his wrist and takes a breathe. The one thing that today has shown her is life is short and fleeting.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" she asks leaving the 'in your bed' unsaid for the moment.

"Yes." he says opening the car door and she joins him.

"Do you think Luli would mind staying with Kitty? It's bad enough that I left her alone last night." she asks leaning her head on his shoulder and cuddling into him the instant Dembe starts driving.

"I have a better idea. Why doesn't Dembe go collect her and Hudson after he drops us off. There's someplace I want to show the two of you tomorrow."

"I'd like that." she says breathing in the smell of cigars.


Red and Lizzie

He leads her inside as Dembe pulls away. She holds his hand as he brings her right to his bedroom.

"Would you like something to sleep in?" he asks wanting to get her comfortable.

"One of your shirts." she says softly.

He starts to turn to get her one when she reaches out and grabs his hand.

"Red..wait." she whispers.

"Hmm?" he questions.

"Kiss me."

Two simple words stirred his emotions. He stepped in close to her and pulled her against him. He knew the buttons of his shirt and vest were digging into her skin. Slowly her mouth opened under his, allowing him a deeper taste of her as her hands ran up his arms, stopping on his shoulders, her nails digging in.

Reluctantly, he broke off the kiss and embraced her tightly.

"Lizzie.." he breathlessly whispered.

"Raymond.." she whimpered against his mouth.

The sound of her saying his name went straight through him. He framed her face with his hands and slowly placed light kisses on her eyes before covering her mouth with his own.

Slowly she moved her hands to the buttons of his vest, quickly undoing them and started on the ones on his shirt.

He placed his hand over one of hers, trapping it over his beating heart.

"Lizzie…" the question was clear in his voice.

"Please…" she whimpers.

He felt her breath on his neck. He tilted his head to give her better access and was rewarded with her talented mouth biting and licking the flesh at the base of his neck.

Pure desire flooded his body, racing like a current through him until her every touch felt like a surge of pleasure. His body urged him to act, but his love for her and need to allow her control won out.

Her nails raked down his chest, when had she fully undone his shirt he wondered, before resting on his belt buckle.

She had awakened his emotions, his very soul and he knew there was no turning back. He belongs fully to her.

Slowly, she moved her lips down his torso so until she was kneeling in front of him.

His hands found her hair and gently pulled her back up so he could kiss her again. While the thought of her mouth on him nearly undid him. He wanted to make this last. He grasped at the edge of her shirt seeking to divest her of it, silently asking permission.

Her arms raised in the air and he pulled back to watch as her skin was revealed to him, inch by inch.

He hummed his approval at the beauty of the woman before him and gently smoothed his hands from the top of her jeans up to her ribs, then around to her back to release her red lace bra.

"Are you sure?" he asks once more.

She smiles softly and nods.

He slowly removed the bra, raising goosebumps on her flesh as his fingers trailed along her arms and let it fall from his fingers to the floor.

"You're exquisite, my love." he whispers as he drops a kiss on shoulder.

Her hands were on him again, followed by her lips once more tracing a path down his torso. This time as she sunk to her knees, she gazed up at him as she released him from his slacks.

"Lizzie…" he hissed her name as she takes him into her mouth.

It's not like she hasn't done this to him before but tonight seems different and he's not sure why. Reluctantly, he pulls her to her feet before he embarrassed both of them.

"I thought you liked…" she says softly confusion clear on her face.

"Very much so however I want to last." he says moving his hands under her ass and picks her up forcing her to wrap her legs around his waist.

He lays her on his bed, following with her since she refuses to let go.

"Red?" she says softly as she scratches at the skin she can reach and he nibbles on her neck.

"Hmm?"

"Make love to me."

He stops and looks at her. She rolls her hips underneath him and drags his mouth to hers.

"This feels too good to be true. I'm sure that I must be dying somewhere dreaming this." he whispers against her skin as slowly they remove the rest of their clothes.

"This isn't a dream." she sighs as his hand runs down her body.

He moved slightly down before settling himself between her legs, his fingers caressing her skin softly.

He ran his lips up the inside of her thigh and groaned as her scent overloaded his senses. He let his tongue trace a path to her core and inhaled deeply before he tasted her.

She writhed and moaned as he alternated between tongue fucking her and stroking her with his fingers.

He brought her to the edge twice and eased her back down before he began a full on assault. He could hear her chanting his name between curses and affirmations, body shuddering and jerking in an orgasm that he sustained for what seemed like an eternity.

He crawled up to her, kissing along her body. He rested himself against her core, teasing her to bring soft moans from her. He smiled as she finally opened her eyes and met him with a smile of her own. He kissed her breathlessly.

She whimpered and said something into his neck.

"Lizzie?" he asks moving his head slightly to look her in the eye.

"I love you." she tells him again.

Wordlessly, he pushed into her, just to the head and withdrew slightly.

"I love you." she whimpers again.

"I wanted to tell you first. I love you." he says as he slides fully into her.

She whimpers as he begins to move each of them whispering their love to the tempo of his thrusts. He heard her breath catch as he filled her, felt her heart race beneath his lips and shuddered as the intimacy of the moment enveloped both of them.

He kissed her thoroughly, then sped up his movements and watched the pleasure play across her features. He found an angle that made her body twitch beneath him and held it. Her heels urged him to thrust harder, faster. She clutched at his arms and back, grasping for a hold as he drove into her. He could feel her body tense and knew she was close.
She chanted his name as she reached her climax, body trembling and jerking beneath his.

He felt her tighten around him and knew he couldn't stop his own climax. He continued to thrust into her, his movements becoming erratic until he found his own climax calling her name. He held his weight off of her, but stayed close not wanting to break contact.

Reluctantly he moved away from her and entered the connected bath for a towel.

He took care of them both, discarded the towel and gathered her into his arms, He pulled her body flush to his and secured his arm around her middle.

He kissed her softly and pulled her back into his arms as they slowly fell into a deep sleep.


Dembe

He scrambles enough eggs to feed the houseful as Luli enters the kitchen.

"How did you sleep?" Luli asks.

"Fine...once the moaning stopped." he said with a straight face.

"I never knew Red could be so vocal." she says with a smirk as Kit comes in with Hudson right behind her. A little out of breath from her run. Hudson collapses on the floor staring up as if blaming him for all the running he just had to do. he grabs a piece of sausage off on of the plates near him and tosses it down to the tired dog in slight apology.

"Okay, this neighborhood is amazing. Think Red will let Lizzie and I stay for a few days." Kit says as he hands her a bottled water from the fridge.

"Umm...morning." Liz says as she comes in wearing one of Red's dress shirts and a pair of boxers that he knows belong to Red.

"How do you like your coffee, Liz?" he asks as she sits down next to Luli. Even though this wasn't the first time she stayed over it was the first she stayed long enough to eat in the morning.

"Light and sweet." Liz says with a smile.

"Red still sleeping?" Kit asks stealing a mushroom off the plate of veggies for the omelettes on the counter near the stove.

"I saw that." he says slipping into his native tongue.

"Saw what?" Red asks, fully dressed save a vest, when he enters the room.

Red comes over and kisses Kit on the cheek before moving around the table. Red has Liz stand, moves to his spot at the head of the table, sits and has Liz sit in his lap.

"So have you told her finally?" he asks still speaking that none save Red will understand.

"That I love her. Yes." Red says kissing the side of Liz's neck making her giggle.

"Okay, not fair speaking in a language we don't know." Kit says pouting.

"Sorry…" he says adding some of the veggies to the pan.

"Maybe you should teach me." Kit says jumping up and sitting on the counter on the other side of him. Her eyes bright and mischievous.

"Not wise." Red says in the language.

"If not everything maybe just the swear words. I would love to bitch put Fury and Captain America without them knowing." Kit says trying to charm him with a playful smile.

"Be strong, my brother." Red says as Liz curls against him.

"She's stubborn." Liz says with a smile.

"Relentless." Luli says with a knowing smirk.

"Enchanting." he mutters freezing. He turns to look at Red.

Red just narrows his eyes and he glances over at Luli, who looks at him in confusion. Luckily, no one else had understand him.

"One condition." he states looking at her.

"What?" Kit asks with a grin.

"You teach me to beat Red at chess." he says with a grin.

Red laughs.

Liz smiles, "What's the plan for today?"


Kitty

Dembe pulls to a stop in front of a house. It was just the four of them since Luli had things to do.

"Red?" Lizzie asks as all of them get out of the car.

They enter and Dembe disappears instantly.

"It seemed bigger." Red says as they walk the first floor.

"What is this place?" she asks looking at Lizzie in confusion.

Red swallows looking right at Lizzie. "I raised my family here...until they were taken from me." Red says.

She wraps her arms around herself.

Lizzie moves to Red and wraps her arms around him.

"How?" Lizzie breathed.

"I don't know. I came home and everything was destroyed, blood everywhere. I had empty graves done so I could at least be able to visit something." Red says looking at a door frame.

He moves away from Lizzie and pulls away some of the boards exposing a growth chart.

She moves over to Lizzie, both of them crying. Dembe enters the room.

"Time to leave." Dembe says.

"Alright." Red says his voice rough. He holds out his hand and Lizzie grabs hold as the two of them walk out.

"He's never going to step foot in this house again, will he?" she asks following Dembe out.

"No one will." Dembe says.

They get into the car.

"That was a goodbye." she states as Dembe drives away.

"Yes." Red says pulling Lizzie close to him.

The car pulls away and shortly after, there are several explosions behind them. She looks out the back window her eyes wide.

The house is engulfed in flames.

Red drops a kiss on Lizzie's head and doesn't bother to look back. He just closes his eyes and seems to breathe a sigh of relief.