9.
Liz woke slowly, her mind almost refusing to come out of sleep. She was curled up at Tom's side, forehead pressed against his bare shoulder and it took a moment for her to realize that he was the one that had woken her up. His muscles were tensed and he was making a terrible gasping sound like he couldn't quite pull enough air into his lungs. She blinked hard, trying to pull herself out of the dredges of sleep. "Tom?" she whispered, propping herself up on her elbow and finding his face contorted in pain, despite the medication that he'd been given to help him sleep. "Jacob," his real name tumbled from her lips as the fear started to sink in.
Her hand went to his face, trying to get him to settle down, even as she called out for help. She looked up as the door flew open and saw a familiar face. She didn't question it, though. She didn't have time. Anyway, it was typical for Red to have convinced someone he decided that he trusted to stay close if he needed them. "He can't breathe," she managed, eyes meeting her ex boyfriend's and his expression was all business.
"Get out of the way, Liz. I need room," Nick said sternly and she piled off the bed as gently as she could manage without jolting Tom any further than was necessary. He was still gasping, but he'd gone pale now, his eyes squeezed shut and he was trembling under the effort to get air down his throat and into his lungs.
She watched Nick check what he needed and Tom fought as he felt hands on him. Liz resisted the urge to reach out immediately, biting her lip as the doctor spoke in a surprisingly calm voice. "Tom, I need you to hold still," he said and one hand pressed against the other man's uninjured shoulder. He continued to fight, though, and Liz wondered what must be going through his mind to make him lash out when he seemed barely able to get enough breath in to do so.
Nick's dark eyes flickered to her. "Liz, I need you to keep him still. This is going to hurt him, but it'll help in the long run."
"Babe? Hold still for Nick. You have to hold still and he's going to help you," Liz whispered and leaned over, pressing a kiss to his clammy forehead. She wasn't sure that he'd even heard her until he began to relax ever so slightly and she slipped her hand into his.
His eyes snapped open as the doctor jabbed something into his chest and Liz felt him tighten his grip considerably, her fingers aching at the pressure, but she didn't dare let go. Instead she held on tight, offering the only encouragement she could in that moment in which she didn't trust her voice. After what could have been bare moments or hours, Nick finished the procedure and Tom's eyes fluttered open, rolling over to focus on the doctor first. "That's got to suck," Nick said roughly. "Feel better?"
"Yeah," Tom managed, his gaze drifting over to Liz and she tried for a smile as the small greeting tumbled from his lips. "Hey."
"Hey, babe," she murmured back and she squeezed his hand. When he smiled back, she looked up at Nick. "What was that?"
"Air trapped in his chest. Hurts like hell, but I released the pressure." His gaze drifted down. "You should feel better soon. From that at least."
Tom nodded and she found him looking at her again with a bit more clarity in those blue eyes. "What've I missed?"
"Nothing that I know," she told him. "I fell asleep in with you."
He nodded, accepting the answer, and he seemed to sink just a little deeper into the bed, as if it had become more comfortable and was ready to swallow him back into sleep. Nick cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'll be around if you two need anything. Apparently the money was a downpayment on some sort of a retainer."
"Told you," Tom huffed softly and Nick rolled his eyes and shook his head before turning and leaving them alone.
Liz chewed on her bottom lip a moment until after she was sure he was gone, gaze drifting back down to her ex husband who held onto her hand without feeling like he might break it. His face was much more relaxed now, as was his breathing, and she felt relief sweep through her. She swallowed hard as she eased back into the bed with him. He sighed, shifting just a little closer to her sleepily.
"To- Jacob?" she corrected herself.
"Mm?"
"Justin Masterson came to see me."
His eyes flew open and she instantly regretted choosing that moment to tell him as he tried to sit up. She caught him at an awkward angle, pushing him back down as gently as she could. "Stay down, you idiot," she groused. "I'm fine."
"Liz," he managed, her name coming out more as a cough, and the hand that had pushed him back down into the pillows came up to the side of his face while she waited quietly for him to be able to say more. Finally he pulled in a deeper breath and refocused on her. "Did he hurt you?"
"No. He said Red made a deal. He said you... They think you're dead." She should have waited to tell him, but they were in a precarious position right now, still learning how to trust each other again. She would have wanted to know if their places had been switched, so she had told him. It had made perfect sense for all of five seconds.
Tom loosed a shaky breath. "First good news. They won't be watching for me."
She didn't like the sound of that line of logic. "You won't be doing anything for a while. Nick read off a list of injuries and you-"
"I'm a quick healer, you know that. I'll be up in no time."
He looked tired even as he spoke, his eyes half closed again and she wondered if he even knew how badly he was hurt. He was on a fairly heavy dose of painkillers and various other medications and might not be able to tell the extent of the damage that had been done to him. Truth be told, Liz wasn't sure either. She just didn't want him trying to jump back into the action and doing more damage or worse. "I know," she said at last. "And I know how stubborn you can get."
His lips quirked up at that and Liz looked over as the door opened again. Instead of Nick, Red stood there. His expression was carefully blank, likely not wishing to spark a fight with her. Her anger was still boiling pretty hot at the situation, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. They needed to work together on this. Red hadn't killed him - in fact he had likely saved his life, even if it was because of him that Tom's life had been in danger - and if Liz started in on him now it would only encourage Tom's distrustful attitude towards him.
"If I could have a word with Tom, Elizabeth?"
The request startled her, because he was asking her to leave. She turned to find a pair of tired blue eyes watching her. "It's fine," he promised.
She nodded wordlessly and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before standing from the bed. As she passed Reddington she looked up. "You know, if he were anyone else you'd respect the lengths he goes to to protect me. If we're all working together, you guys need to give each other a chance."
Red frowned a little, but nodded. She touched his arm briefly as she left, hoping that leaving them alone together was the right decision.
Tom watched her leave, and his gaze remained in the door for several moments after she had. Reddington found himself in a very uncomfortable position after having finally gained Elizabeth's trust and faith in him. He still had it, he was sure - or she would have lashed out with more ferocity than she had at the day's events - but he was sharing it with a man that he'd much rather not have anything to do with.
Elizabeth was allowing them to hash things out, likely hoping for some sort of reconciliation or truce between them. She had seemed mostly calm, even if still upset, when she left. The whirlwind of emotions that Lizzy was feeling likely were threatening to pull her under. It was, in part, once again Tom Keen's fault. If he had simply stayed where he was supposed to none of this would have happened. It was time they came to an understanding for her sake.
"That was exceptionally foolish, Tom."
Blue eyes blinked hard. "Seriously? You shove me through a hole and I fall three stories down and that's your lead-in?" he snapped, his voice a little raspy. Red had given Nick leeway to do what he needed to for Lizzy's injured ex husband, but even the medication that he was surely on didn't seem to keep all the pain away. After speaking to Nick on the subject of those injuries, he couldn't say that he was surprised.
Finally, Reddington snorted. "You should have never been there. You had no reason to-"
"I'm done with half the story and hoping not to get shot because I don't know the other half! I can't protect her if I-"
"While the fact that you think you know even half of my plan is terribly amusing, that doesn't change the fact that you are a pawn in it. It's what you're good at - well, supposed to be good at - Tom. Be a good little soldier, take your orders, and let me worry about the rest."
"I don't work for you," the younger man growled, finally managing to stubbornly get himself propped to his elbows.
Part of Red wanted to respect him for his determination. Lizzy was right about that. He would have, if he were anyone else, but Tom Keen had a long way to go to work up to anything akin to respect in his eyes after what he'd done. So, instead, he handed him a flippant answer and a veiled threat. "You most certainly do not. I'm not paying you a dime. You're only here because Elizabeth wishes it."
The two men glared at each other before Tom must have hit his limit and he sank back against the pillows again. When he spoke, his voice was weaker than Reddington expected it to be. "I can't help her if I'm constantly second guessing you. I'm never going to trust you completely, and I get that the feeling is mutual, but she..." He closed his eyes briefly, wincing and cringing as he tried to gain control. "But she has to get out of this aliveā¦. or there's no point," he finished breathlessly.
Well, at least they had one thing they both agreed on. Really, that was the only thing holding this terrible little alliance together. This man - this failed operative of the Major's - was only there for Elizabeth. He loved her, Reddington knew, even if he hated to acknowledge that Liz loved him too. They weren't good for each other, necessarily, but being apart wasn't any better for her. The light that had come back into her eyes - a brief little flicker, but it was still there - reminded him of a conversation they'd had a lifetime ago when she'd delivered her then-husband to the task force while they tracked down Gina Zanetakos. She didn't want to face all of this without him. Apparently she still didn't, and Red had a difficult time denying Lizzy something she thought she so desperately needed. He had done it enough. "You have no reason to second guess me. Lizzy's welfare is my top priority," he murmured, pulling a chair up to the bedside and sinking into it.
"You were going to trade me in to the man that wants to kill me," Tom managed. "I have plenty of reasons to distrust you."
"I made Bill think I was handing you over. You have caused me a great deal of pain and trouble during my dealings with you, Tom Do you really think I'm going to let anyone else have the pleasure of ending you?" Reddington sighed, crossing one ankle over a knee and watching the meaning behind the words slowly make their way through the drug induced fog. He wouldn't let anyone else kill him because the damage he had done was too great by this point, but he wouldn't end him either because Lizzy wouldn't want that. She had forgiven a lot over the years, but Tom was the one that she always seemed willing to fight back for, no matter how angry she was at that moment. Twice, he'd found himself on the receiving end of Elizabeth's very dangerous protection of the man. Once he'd had a pen jabbed into his neck, the second time a gun drawn on him as she positioned herself between he and her ex husband in her hotel room. She had made her choice and he would either have to learn to live with that or it would destroy everything that he had built with her. "Anyway, do you know how expensive Nicholas is? I'm not one to waste money."
Surprisingly enough, Tom choked out a short laugh. "Fair enough," he murmured, gaze a little blurry. One glance over at the machines showed that he'd been given another dose of medication recently. He blinked after a moment, forcing himself to look up. "I'm not an operative anymore, Reddington. I'm here for Liz. I need to know what's happening if I'm going to help protect her."
Help. That was interesting. Reddington wasn't quite sure if it had been a slip due to the drugs or if he was finally acknowledging that he couldn't do it by himself. "You're not doing anything until Nicholas clears you to do it," he said after a moment. "At this point, if you do something foolish and get yourself killed because you're not well, I'll be the one who takes the blame." He rolled his eyes a bit with the last statement, and when Tom didn't say anything in return, Reddington knew that he was close enough to sleep that telling him any of the plan would be lost to the fog. It would wait, but as much as he hated to admit it, Tom was earning the right to know. He stood, straightening his suit. "For now, as far as Bill is concerned, you're dead and his and my deal is still on. It's bought us time, which is what it was originally meant to do. Once you're on your feet we'll discuss your part."
Tom watched him for a moment before he gave the barest of nods. He seemed to be trying to stay awake for the conversation, but was quickly losing that battle. Reddington turned abruptly and without another word, starting for the door. Lizzy had said that he would respect anyone else that went to the lengths Tom did, and it was partially true. He hated the younger man's methods, but he was willing to do what was needed to keep her safe. That, in the end, was what mattered.
Gina stormed through the hall, students scattering out of her way as she moved, fury rolling off of her in a way it rarely did. They had kept her from the meeting, and now she knew why. Bill had indicated that he wanted Jacob alive. She had been certain that for all of the bluster about his betrayal that the Major would remember all of his years of loyalty. He'd break Jacob of his attachment to that idiot girl and that would be that. She hadn't expected it to be a pleasant experience by any notion, but she had been certain Bill wouldn't kill him.
Gina hadn't miscalculated on that level in quite some time.
"He's in the middle of-"
She blew past the operative that had been put on guard duty. Bill had pulled an uncomfortable number back out of the field for this fiasco, and if she didn't know better, she'd think the Major was slipping. Losing control. It didn't instill confidence in her.
McCready looked up from his desk, shooting her a glare as he repositioned the phone on his ear. Gina stood straight, arms crossed, and waited impatiently. By the time he finished the call she was nearly shaking. "I heard a rumour, Bill."
"The kid's dead, Gina," he said with a shrug. "Reddington's hand, not mine."
"You were supposed to bring him in," she hissed, taking a step forward.
"And Reddington took that out of my hands. You know as well as I do that Jacob brought this on himself. Three times he's betrayed me for that bitch."
"So take her out," Gina growled.
"Watch your tone. I don't think you appreciate the place we're in, Zanetakos. We've got the Cabal on one side and Reddington on the other. Unless you have some way of knowing how this is gonna end, I would keep my trap shut if I were you. Phelps is gone. You want to bring all of us down with him?"
"No," she ground out.
"Good. I'm not saying that we don't handle our business. We've got to be careful about this. Is your head on straight or are you useless to me?"
Gina squared her shoulders. Bill wasn't an idiot, he knew exactly why she was reacting as she was to Jacob's death. They'd grown up together and they'd worked together. They had been lovers off and on for years, in and around various missions until Elizabeth Scott had come into the picture. Jacob and Gina had been as close as two of the Major's operatives got. No one really talked about it, but Bill knew. He knew exactly what Jacob meant to the woman that didn't form attachments like that. "I'm with you."
"Good, because this can't come back to us. Reddington thinks we're pulling out."
"Are you sending me after the girl?" Gina asked tightly.
"Not if you get caught," the man that had raised her answered with a shrug. "Just don't get caught."
"I never do," the blonde answered as she turned and walked from his office. She was going to make Elizabeth Keen pay.
Notes: Sorry for the delay guys! This week got a little crazy.
Next time - The task force comes together to set up their plan, Liz asks Jacob about the necklace he wears, and Aram comes into the plan.
