Liz's head throbbed and her heart raced as she tossed restlessly on the couch. She knew those last few shots had been a huge mistake. Clearly her tolerance for alcohol wasn't what it once was. She replayed her conversation with Emma Knightley over again in her mind. A chatty drunk? What on earth did I say? she thought. I'm so stupid. Neither Tom nor Ressler had wanted her to take this assignment. Tom and she had fought loudly over it to the point they had woken Agnes. Yet another in a long list of ways that they didn't see eye to eye. Ressler had expressed his disapproval more quietly, as was his nature, but she had felt it radiating off of him as he had dropped her off at the hotel to meet Margot. He'd insisted on being her point of contact for this mission. She glanced at her watch. 4 a.m. She was supposed to have checked in with Ressler hours ago. I wonder if he's worried, she thought. She rubbed her temples, willing the pounding in her head and her chest to subside.


Across town, Ressler was wide awake staring at his own ceiling. He picked up his phone and stared at the blank screen once more. Where the hell are you, Liz, he thought as he rolled over and pounded his pillow into submission. He'd stayed up late, expecting to hear from her and as the hours passed, her silence had made him more and more anxious. He'd slept fitfully for an hour or two but something had woken him up and he'd been unable to get back to sleep since. With a groan of frustration, he slid out of bed and padded into the kitchen for a glass of water. He took his drink into the living room and stood staring out at night sky and the lights of the city. Daybreak was still a couple of hours away. Where the hell are you, Liz, he repeated to himself.

Finally, the first fingers of daylight flickered on the walls of Emma's living room and Liz got up and staggered into the bathroom. Her eyes were red and puffy in the mirror. She stumbled back into the kitchen in search of a glass of water and found Emma seated at the counter.

"Did you get some more sleep?" Emma inquired "You look like hell."

"Not enough," Liz murmured as she filled her water glass. "Strange couch and all..."

"Mmm... Emma replied. "By the way, who's Tom?"

Liz froze and was grateful her back was turned away from Emma. She composed herself hastily and turned around, eyeing Emma over the rim of her water glass. "What are you talking about?" she asked as cooly as she could manage.

Emma gave her a knowing smile. "No need to play coy. You were rambling on about him a bit last night. How you fight all the time, how you don't think you love him anymore. Sounds like there may be a messy breakup in your future."

Liz felt her heart pound as she stared at Emma. If she had talked about Tom, what else had she spoken about? Before she could think of a response, Emma continued.

"He sounds like a dolt. You're probably better off without him. Anyway, pull yourself together - we're meeting Margot in thirty minutes."

Liz gripped her water glass speechlessly as Emma disappeared into her bedroom.


"She'll make contact, relax," Samar said as she watched Ressler pace nervously around the war room.

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all. This was a stupid idea Reddington had, sending her in like this" Ressler snapped.

"It's her job, remember? Especially now that she has her badge back. " Samar replied.

"Yeah, well, if we don't hear from her soon we need to figure out where she is and get her out of there."

Just then Ressler's phone buzzed with a text from the burner phone Liz had concealed near Margot's hideout. "Meet me in the park in an hour."

"Thank God," he murmured, relieved, as he held up the phone to show Samar. "Let's go."


For the second night, Liz found herself awake and restless, staring at the ceiling at 4 a.m, except this time, she hadn't had enough alcohol for that to be the reason. She was hyper aware of every noise in the small house, the hum of the refrigerator, the ticking of the clock on the wall - even some cats fighting in the distance outside. She'd slept for a couple of hours but some noise had jolted her awake and she hadn't been able to quiet her mind since.

Get out before the honeymoon phase ends. Liz tossed restlessly onto her back and covered her eyes with her arm. Emma had been talking about Reddington, but her words had unwittingly hit closer to home when it came to Tom. Liz had spent the past several hours replaying all of their recent arguments in her mind and it all boiled down to one very uncomfortable truth: the only thing holding them together was Agnes and suddenly, Liz wasn't sure that could or should be enough. She rolled onto her side and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. What was I thinking? She'd known that getting back together with Tom was a mistake but she'd done it anyway and told herself it was for her daughter's sake. Having grown up without a mother, she wanted desperately for Agnes to have a stable home with two parents - but at what cost? What kind of life am I setting her up for? she thought, as the tears flowed more freely. And, if she was being honest, being with Tom at the time had felt somehow safer than the thought of being alone and raising a child by herself. But now? I'm not so sure, she thought. She remembered Tom's face as he had fingered his old passports. How he couldn't throw them out. We want to live in different worlds, and that's the problem.

Sleep remained elusive and by 5 a.m the first sounds of the birds outside prompted Liz to get up of the couch and make her way into the bathroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes had only deepened. Time to pull it together, she thought as she reached for some makeup. You gotta get this job done first.


A few hours later, Ressler watched uneasily as Liz exited the park after their second meeting. After a few minutes, he got up and walked the couple of blocks to the Suburban where Samar was waiting.

"How did it go?" Samar asked as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"She's going to Hong Kong. The Harem's gonna pull off the heist there," he replied curtly.

"Hong Kong? We don't have jurisdiction there?"

"Yeah I know. And worse - Emma Knightley has figured out Keen's FBI. I don't like it. I don't like it at all." He stared out the window as Samar maneuvered the vehicle into the street.

"Did you tell her your concerns?"

"Yeah. She was insistent."

Samar couldn't help but notice the tension radiating off of her partner as he clenched and unclenched his fingers. He was clearly wound up like a spring ready to uncoil.

"Is it worth talking to Reddington? Trying to call it off?"

Ressler shook his head. "No, Liz said to trust her. I think we got to do that. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though." He pursed his lips in frustration.

When they arrived back at the Post Office, they found Reddington waiting in Cooper's office. They de-briefed both men on Ressler's conversation with Liz and her plans to travel to Hong Kong.

"I'll reach out to Main Justice and see what assets we have in Hong Kong who may be of assistance," Cooper said as they concluded their meeting. Ressler followed Reddington down the stairs as he prepared to leave.

"Why are you doing this?" he said to the criminal's retreating back. Reddington turned around slowly and gazed at Ressler with a mixture of bemusement and irritation.

"Why am I doing what, Donald?" Reddington replied evenly.

"Why are you keeping Liz embedded in the Harem when you know at least Emma Knightley knows who she really is." Ressler snapped. "And now she's off to a foreign country where we don't even have jurisdiction."

Reddington stared at Ressler wordlessly for a moment and then shrugged. "I'm not going to explain my motivations to you, Donald, except to say as insofar as recovering the WITSEC list, our interests are aligned. You should know me well enough by now to know that if I truly believed Elizabeth was in more danger than she could handle, I would not allow this operation to proceed. You should have more faith in your partner - which, by the way, how's that working out? Are you and Agent Keen finding...common ground once more?" Reddington smirked.

Ressler glared at Reddington and turned to walk back to his office. Reddington called after him, "you know, Donald, some time away in an undercover operation may be just the thing Elizabeth needs."

Ressler spun around. "What are you talking about?"

Reddington placed his fedora carefully on his head. "I find that we often have our greatest moments of clarity when we are removed from our own environment and placed in situations that make us...uncomfortable. Sometimes seeing the lives of others and the choices they've made causes one to re-examine one's own choices, to question the wisdom of certain actions or relationships. One can only hope that Elizabeth may experience such revelations. Good day, Donald." Reddington turned and made his way to the elevator, followed closely by Dembe whose face remained, as usual, entirely impassive.

What the hell is he talking about now? Ressler thought as he made his way back to his office.


Nearly 24 hours later, Liz huddled under a blanket on the return flight from Hong Kong as she sipped a glass of Chardonnay. Nothing about the mission had gone as planned and she was absolutely exhausted even as she was simultaneously relieved that her time with the Harem was over. She'd managed to catch a few hours sleep on the plane as her body had finally taken over but it still wasn't enough. She couldn't get the image of Emma Knightley out of her mind. If Reddington found her, would he kill her like he had Mr. Kaplan? Leave her son motherless? Liz couldn't think of Mr. Kaplan without her heart aching. Tom had barely flinched when she'd told him what Reddington had done. In his world, these things made sense. But Liz felt responsible and the knowledge that the woman who had always been so kind to her had died because she tried to help her was more than she could bear to think about.

Liz stared out the window into the black sky. The only visible lights were the blinking ones on the wings of the airplane. She wondered how Tom would react to her return. Ressler had told her on the phone before she'd left Hong Kong that they had kept Tom generally apprised of her situation in very general terms. Only now that the mission was concluded had he learned that she had traveled halfway around the world. Bet he'll have something to say about that one, she thought. But she had things to say too. If there was one thing this mission had clarified, it was that she had to stop fooling herself. Time to stop pretending that everything's ok when it's not, she thought. Time to be honest. Eventually the wine and the steady hum of the aircraft had their desired effect and Liz drifted back into a restless sleep.

Finally, her flight landed in DC and Liz gathered her small bag and made her way off the aircraft. She felt stiff from the long flight and desperately wanted nothing more than a shower, a warm meal, and her own bed. As she emerged into the terminal, she scanned the waiting crowd of drivers for a sign bearing her name since Cooper had said he would arrange for her transportation home from the airport.

"Keen!" A familiar voice broke through the crowd.

Liz turned and saw Ressler pushing his way through the crowd towards her. She felt tears well up in her eyes at the sight of his familiar, reassuring presence and she blinked rapidly in an effort to conceal them and tried to plaster a smile on her face. Her efforts were not entirely successful as his expression quickly turned to one of concern.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked as reached for her bag. "Rough flight?" Liz nodded and looked down at her feet, suddenly not trusting herself to speak. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Ressler continued, "Reddington found Emma Knightley and retrieved the WITSEC list, so the mission was a success in the end."

Liz stopped and froze. Ressler continued for a couple of steps before he realized she was no longer beside him and turned back.

"Hey, Keen, what's wrong? ... Liz?" Suddenly, it was all just too much and Liz reached a hand out to him blindly as the tears streamed down her face. She couldn't get Emma's face out of her mind and the knowledge that she was probably almost certainly dead. Ressler dropped her bag at their feet, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close as she sobbed. He patted her back absently and murmured reassuringly as she clung to him.

As he held her, her brain registered the familiar woodsy scent of his aftershave and the damp wool of his overcoat as she buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, eager to shut out everything around them and just focus on his solid, comforting presence. Finally, she pulled back and blinked at the bright lights of the airport. Ressler took his finger and gently wiped the lingering tears off her cheeks as he reached into his pocket for a handkerchief and handed it to her.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked gently.

Liz shook her head. "Not yet. I know you must have lots of questions. But not yet. Soon." She looked up at him, willing him to understand.

Ressler cleared his throat. "Whenever you're ready. It's ok. You want me to take you home?"

"Not yet," she replied slowly. "I want to try to see Reddington first."

Ressler raised an eyebrow, but picked up her bag and took her elbow and gently steered her towards that door. "Whatever you say," he said as he held the door open for her and they stepped out into the cold night air.


Thirty minutes later, they pulled up outside the same restaurant where Liz had seen Reddington talking to Emma Knightley days earlier. Dembe had indicated when she'd called that this was where they would be.

"I'll wait here," Ressler said as she moved to get out of the car.

"You don't have to do that," Liz replied, "I don't know how long I'll be. You go ahead home. I'm sure Dembe can drive me."

"I'll wait," Ressler said firmly. "Go." An hour later, Liz slid back into the passenger seat next to him. He could tell immediately that she seemed more at peace than when she'd left him.

"How did it go?" he asked carefully.

Liz held out a small thumb drive. "I got the list. And apart from that, it went...well, I guess. I'm sorry I was such a basket case earlier."

"No need to apologize." Ressler said evenly. "You want to tell me what it was all about?"

Liz shook her head. "Not yet. I know that must be frustrating to hear. I will tell you, but I need a little more time first, ok?" She looked at him imploringly.

Ressler stared into her eyes for a moment and then nodded. "Home?" he asked simply. He heard Liz take a deep breath as if she were steeling herself for battle. "Yes."