Kate was suddenly awoken by a strange feeling of lack of air. She opened her eyes and not only saw someone towering over her but that the person's hand was covering her mouth and nose while the other one was pinning her two hands down. Even if the initial reaction was panic, simply because it was unexpected, the need for survival kicked in. She harshly bent her knee up, sending it smack on the side of her assailant's head. He keeled over and let go of his hold on her temporarily but not long enough for her to scream out. He grabbed her from behind as she tried to scurry off the bed in the opposite direction. He threw her in the direction of the desk and everything that was on it, came crashing to the ground as she slid across it and fell.

Raymond woke up in a startle. He could hear a commotion in Kate's room. He immediately went for the connecting door and opened it on his side.

"Kate! Open the door!"

The man lifted Kate from off the floor. Kate had grabbed the phone and hit him on the side of the head with it.

"Raymond!" she yelled out as she headed for her side of the door as it was the quickest of options. Her gun was in the safe and she knew she had no time to recuperate it. She was about to unlock it when the man grabbed her again. Raymond heard her scream. He ran out of his room and met up with Dembe in front of Kate's room.

Kate could feel the cord of the telephone line dig deep in the skin around her throat. She tried to hold it away as she could but the man was strong. She tried to free herself using her legs, but it was useless, she was slowly starting to lose strength and oxygen.

Still struggling to free herself, she heard the door of the room being kicked in. Dembe turned the light on and Kate saw the look of disbelief in Raymond's eyes as well as concern.

"Lionel, let her go!" Raymond said pointing his gun. Kate suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu. This scene seemed to remind her a lot of the airport scene. Was it going to be like that every time a name would pop up on Reddington's list?

Lionel Sacco didn't budge. "I'm sorry Reddington but I have orders."

"You double-crossed me. Who sent you?"

At first Kate thought that these were the kinds of questions that could be asked when she was safe and not slowly suffocating but then she knew why he was doing what he was doing. Reddington had no desire to let Lionel live and obviously you couldn't ask a dead man questions and hope to get answers.

"You know who sent me."

"Falcone. Where is he?"

Lionel smirked. "Where he's always been. Don't take it personally Red, but Falcone has way more to offer than you."

"I doubt that", said Raymond as he shot Lionel. Kate removed the cord from around her neck. She turned and looked at Lionel. He was still alive. Dembe grabbed Kate as Raymond towered over Lionel. He looked at Kate. "Go."

"Now you see Lionel, I'm not quite sure that Falcone had way more to offer you than I did. I could have offered you a life."

As Dembe sat Kate down on Raymond's bed, she heard the shot. Even if there was a silencer, it was recognizable. Raymond, closed the light and the door to Kate's bedroom and arrived in his. At first he paid no attention to Kate.

"Call Francois, he's got one hour to clean up before the hotel starts getting busier."

Dembe nodded and left the room. Raymond put his gun down on the desk and walked over to Kate. He knelt down in front of her and whereas she thought he would make eye contact first, instead, he let his fingers trail on her throat along the marks that the cord had left.

"It seems as though your graceful neck, is very coveted. And I don't appreciate that those who have allowed themselves to indulge in touching it, before me, have done it so brutally."

He knew he wasn't being entirely truthful. Not all the men who had touched her neck had been brutal. He knew that Jacob had beaten him to the pole. But Jacob was no longer an obstacle.

With those words, Kate's heart started to accelerate. It was obvious now that he had feelings for her, that he was attracted to her. She too felt something, she always had. The minute he had barged into that meeting room and his hand and lips had touched hers, something had happened that she couldn't explain. In the past, she'd had physical contact with other men but that didn't entail that an attraction was in play.

So why now? Why with him? He had a lot of things in common with Jacob, she was also attracted to and couldn't and wouldn't deny. But there was something else about Raymond. He was intriguing, older, bolder, stronger than any man she had ever met. He was good-looking, refined, protective. And he was a criminal. So many pros and one con but at that particular moment she wasn't able to say for how much that con weighed in the balance of things.

He finally dared his eyes to meet hers. With one glimpse at them, he knew she had made sense of what he had said. Luckily, even though he wasn't at a loss for words, Dembe walked into the room. Raymond stood and walked over to talk with him. Kate in turn rose and moved closer to the mirror on the wall and looked at her neck.

Raymond watched her as he listened to Dembe. He realized that her hands were shaking as she in turn trailed the marks. He thanked Dembe and closed the door behind him. He walked back towards Kate.

She turned in his direction and when he stopped in front of her, he gently took her trembling hands in his. They stood like that for a couple of minutes until he felt her hands steady within his. He let go of them as gently as he had taken them. He stared into her almond-shaped eyes. He needed a sign, that he wasn't going down the wrong road. Not because he was afraid of rejection, but because he didn't want to hurt her. Upon his stare, her eyes softened.

"Thank you Raymond." The softness in her voice, the way his name softly emerged from her lips, it was like listening to an angel singing. That was the sign he had been waiting for.

He placed a hand on her cheek.

"I can't. Not tonight. Not like this."

He removed his hand delicately from her cheek. He knew what she meant. She didn't want him to think that she was doing it because he had saved her again. He hoped it was also because, she wanted it to happen under very different circumstances. He respected that.

"I will wait for as long as it takes you to be ready. I want to know you Kate, I want to be with you. I am a very patient man."

She nodded without saying a thing.

"You should try to get some rest. We have lots to do tomorrow morning", he said as he shifted his eyes from her to his bed.

He watched as she headed for 'his' bed and settle down, unfortunately without him. He walked over to the arm chair and sat down in it and that was something she respected.