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Previously: Just when Elizabeth wanted to take one step further in the row, two strong, male hands twisted her arms behind her back and she felt cold metal close around her wrists.

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She knew immediately that it was Red. She hadn't imagined his presence, he was real. The smell of this cologne was unmistakably his, no one else she knew wore that cologne. She was sure it was rare and veeery expensive. She inhaled deeply, she had missed his scent as much as his touch. Without a word, she let him drag her into a room, although she followed his movements only reluctantly. Red kicked the door so that it slammed shut.

The moment he spun her around she remembered she had a big plaster on her right cheek. In a split second, he had turned her around and pushed her up against the wall with her wrists pinned next to her head in an uncomfortably tight grip.

Red had wanted to be angry with her, to show her who was in charge, but soon after he had pinned her wrists to the wall, he noticed that she was tilting her head a little so that he couldn't see the right side of her face. There was definitely something wrong.

"Lizzie, look at me."

There hadn't been a single word spoken between them until now. Hearing his voice made Elizabeth's heart almost burst of joy. But she didn't want him to see her new scar.

"Look at me."

"I am looking at you." she replied quietly, avoiding eye contact.

He took both her wrists in one hand and lay a finger on the side of her jaw, forcing her to look at him directly. When he saw the bloody plaster on her cheek, his anger subsided almost immediately. He cupped her jaw and stroked over her right cheek affectionately.

"Lizzie...sweetheart, what happened?"

No answer.

"Come on, you can tell me." he promised in a much gentler tone than she had expected.

"Red, it's nothing." she whispered.

"Tell me, Lizzie."

"I can't."

She sounded nervous, afraid, much different than when he had last seen her. Before he could reply, she spoke again.

"Red...could we please not talk about this here?"

He studied her for a long while before answering. She looked kind of...broken? Like something terrible had happened that she didn't want to talk about.

"Of course, Lizzie. Let's go to a hotel."

xxxxx

During the ride to the hotel they didn't speak, but Red could practically hear the wheels running in her head. Usually, he was the master of patience, but Elizabeth was the only person who sometimes crossed the line and tested his patience until she had pushed him over the edge. It was dangerous when that happened, and she was well aware of this. Nevertheless, she sometimes seemed to provoke a fight.

As soon as they were sitting on the couch in the hotel room, she started stroking over the scar on her wrist nervously. She felt him watch her, felt his intense gaze on her, felt how close he was to losing control.

Elizabeth knew she was in trouble, he wasn't happy with her for running away. She just wasn't sure how he would react. Like the cold bastard who made her feel his anger or would he hug her and tell her everything was ok? She could tell that it was one of the rare moments he was impatient. Finally, she looked up to him.

"Look, Red...I really can't tell you how this happened because that would make you even more...upset."

She decided to use the word 'upset' instead of everything else she saw in his eyes...

"I don't care. I am furious with you, anyway. Now tell me how you got this cut on your face and what you've been doing in the past week." he growled, boring his dark eyes into hers. She looked away again, unable to meet his eyes.

"Look at me, Elizabeth!"

Oh no. 'Elizabeth'.

She sighed and obeyed. She had to tell him, there was no way out. Red gave her a burning look, but she somehow managed to hold his gaze. A long moment of silence passed by. And then another. She felt alone on her side of the couch. It seemed as if they were miles apart, although there were only a few inches between them. It was weird not to touch him when they were this close.

"Red...when I tell you how I got this cut, please...please don't freak out." she begged, suddenly feeling tears burn in her eyes.

He glared at her. Somehow, he had an idea what she was about to say.

"I started missing you the moment I ran away...and when I fell asleep that night, I felt that I needed something to distract me."

She looked at Red; his face didn't show any emotion, so she continued.

"I, um...I slept with other men. Four times." she whispered.

Now the tears were running down her cheeks, but he didn't make any attempts to comfort her. At first sight, his eyes were blank, but she knew how well he could hide his anger behind this mask.

"The last guy tried to persuade me to come home with him. When I refused, he...he beat me up and..." she hesitated. "...And then he c...cut me with a sheet of glass across my...my cheek..." she trailed off; her voice shaking from her heavy sobs. "I'm...I'm so, so sorry for...all of this. Please, I'm sorry!"

Elizabeth continued apologizing, he just watched her without the slightest hint of emotion.

Red didn't know what to think. Should he be angry with that guy for hurting his Lizzie or should he instead be angry with her for cheating on him? He would have never thought she would cheat on him. She loved him and she certainly had no idea how much he loved her. He felt cold rage burning in his heart. How should he react? Normally, he always knew what to do, was always in control. This time, however, he was clueless. He wanted to kill the man who had hurt her...and secretly, he wanted to slap her left and right for cheating on him, but he would never do that. Not again. The one time he had slapped her had been during the interrogation all those months ago and later, he had deeply regretted hitting her. God, he loved her so much, but this time, she was really making it hard for him not to explode. She had stolen and read his file, so she knew about his violent streak.

He had to go for a walk. Alone. Now. Instead of doing something he would regret later, he decided to say what would hurt her most.

The look in his eyes had changed. It wasn't the calculated coldness she knew so well, no, it was hot anger, paired with the way he looked at people before he shot them. She had seen him kill people in gunfights on undercover missions, it was terrifying.

Red got up from the couch and grabbed the collar of her shirt roughly, then placed a finger under her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"I am disappointed of you, Elizabeth."

He let go of her, slammed the door behind him and locked it from outside. She wouldn't go anywhere since he had taken her bag with him.

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When he left and the door slammed shut, Elizabeth yelled after him to come back and how sorry she was, but he left without a word. She knew he would come back, he wouldn't leave her, sooner or later, he would return and they would have another conversation about what had happened. She grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it across the room.

Disappointed. DISAPPOINTED?! If he had said he was angry or furious or...whatever! But 'disappointed' was unexpected. It hurt. God, how it hurt. I know I shouldn't have ran away in the first place, and I certainly shouldn't have cheated on him. I just hope he forgives me one day...I'll do anything he wants if it helps to earn his forgiveness sooner...The way he reacted was weird. I thought he'd either yell at me or hold me in his arms, telling me everything was gonna be ok...This quiet rage is scary.

She took a shower and went to bed, crying into her pillow. Hours later, when she was already asleep, Red returned to their hotel room. He had calmed down a little and lay down beside her. She woke up when she heard him open the door, but she didn't say anything, just pretended to sleep so that she didn't have to talk to him. She would face him again tomorrow, now she needed to rest. Nevertheless, she didn't complain when he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him.

xxxxx

The next morning when she woke up, he was stroking over her hair, apparently he had been watching her sleep.

"Good morning."

"Morning, Lizzie."

"Um...listen, about what happened yesterday. I just wanted to-"

Red cut her off. "Shh, Lizzie. You don't have to apologize. Come here, sweetheart." he said, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head.

He still was angry, and disappointed, and she really did deserve a lesson, but not today.

"It's me who should apologize. What did I do that made you run away?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"It wasn't you. It was...the entire situation. Being followed wherever I go, having a couple of FBI agents watching me on my business trips, the feeling of not being free to do what I want...everything. I realize that it will get worse now that I'll get a tracking chip, but please, believe me when I say that I never wanted to leave you. And I understand if you wouldn't want to forgive me so soon. I love you, Raymond."

He watched a single tear escaping her left eye and kissed it away affectionately.

"I want you to understand that I am angry with you for...certain things, and you will be punished for it, but today, it doesn't matter. I'll call Cooper and tell him that we will be back in a few days."

She nodded and buried herself deeper in his arms.

"You know...If you would have said you were angry or upset for...um, what happened, but 'disappointed' really hurt."

"I know, sweetheart. I intended to hurt you with this and I will not apologize for it because you deserved it."

"Hmhm... understood. But again, I'm sorry for running away, for getting myself in danger and for..." she couldn't say it, "Forcheatingonyou." she whispered quickly in one word.

Red held her tight and kissed her hair. He wanted to be cold to her and punish her with ignorance for weeks, but he just couldn't bring himself to hurt her more, so he held her in his arms and whispered soothing words in her ears as he continued kissing her gently. They lay in bed for a long while before they called room service for breakfast.

Hours later, he decided that it was time for him to remove the bloody plaster on Elizabeth's cheek and take a closer look at the cut that most likely would become a scar.

"Red, no. I don't want you to see this." she protested.

"I have to. Sooner or later, I will see it, anyway. Now hold still, taking it off will hurt a little."

He stroked his thumb gently over her cheek as he removed it with the other hand quickly. What he saw was a red, dirty, uneven cut, bigger than he had thought.

"Gosh, Lizzie. It got infected. I'm going to kill this bastard!"

She shook her head, it was impossible to find the guy who had done this and actually, it didn't matter to her.

"Lizzie, sweetheart, look at me. Who did this to you?"

"I don't know his name. I met him in a filthy bar, I don't care. Just forget it."

"No, no, no. I will find him and make him pay. No one hurts you without being punished."

She described him to Red, who promised her to find and kill him. She caught him staring at the cut and her eyes filled with tears immediately.

"You...you don't think I'm pretty with a scar right in my face, do you?" she sobbed.

"Of course you're pretty. Beautiful. It doesn't matter if there's a scar on your cheek or not. I love you, Lizzie. We just have to disinfect that."

xxxxx

Later that day, Red told her that he would go and find the man who had cut her. She had no idea how he had done it, but three hours later, he came back to their room, told her he had killed him and that she shouldn't worry about it anymore.

"You're an FBI agent! You can't just walk around and kill random people!"

"I can kill random people because I'm an FBI agent. All I had to do was provoking him into trying to shoot at me and then shooting back faster." he replied casually, as if it would be totally normal for him to risk his life for her.

"I don't understand you. You could have been dead!" she yelled, suddenly angry.

"Lizzie. Calm down. No one will ever find him, I made sure he disappeared."

"How?"

"I can't tell you and I won't."

She stared at him for a few seconds. "Fine. I won't ask again."

"Good, now let's pack our bags. We have to get going."

"Alright."

Elizabeth didn't want to fly back yet. She would get a tracking chip implanted into her neck as soon as she arrived there...

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TBC

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