He walked into the Post Office the next morning to find it buzzing with activity. Various eyes on him as he made his way off the elevators and walked towards his office.
He saw her sitting down at her desk, their eyes meeting through the blinds. He stopped for a second and turned to look at Aram pacing over to where he stood.
"Agent Ressler", he said hesitantly. "Did you get my text last night?"
He shook his head apologetically as he saw Agent Keen leave her desk, standing in the doorway looking over at him.
"Yeah, Aram, sorry about that. Everything is fine. Just had to go over an update with Cooper on a new case we're working on."
He watched as she leaned against the doorway, her eyes never leaving him. He felt his face start to turn red at the way she was looking… staring. He vaguely heard Aram still talking to him in the background.
"Ok, good. Because a few of the agents said things seemed tense and that Cooper shut the blinds which is never a good thing."
He shook his head in agreeance and licked his lips as he saw Keen smirk and turn back around to go sit down at her desk
Aram's eyes turned around to see what had captured Ressler's attention as he walked off and headed towards his office.
He walked in, putting his briefcase down and took his suit jacket off to hang over his chair.
He looked over at her, his face not giving in to the effect she was having on him.
"Morning, Keen."
She smiled and looked up at him briefly before looking back to her paperwork.
"Good Morning, Ressler."
He sat down at his desk, staring over at her as she went back to working on whatever it was she had been doing before he arrived.
Her lips were parted, biting on the pen she was holding in her hand, and his mind started racing back to thoughts he need not think at work.
He watched as she twirled the pen around in her mouth, biting and sucking on it in a way he'd never seen her do. She felt his gaze on her and looked over at him.
"Keen…. This isn't a game." He said, his voice shaky as she took the pen out of her mouth and held his gaze.
"I know." She said sternly. "I'm tired of playing one."
His breath got choppy as he watched her walk over to his desk and sit down.
"Liz…", he said as she put her hand next to his, touching it slightly.
"You told me to think it over, Ressler. To make sure it's what I really want."
She leaned in close to his face, whispering in his ear.
"You are what I want, Ressler."
He could feel his heart get louder in his chest as they stared at each other.
He looked over to see Cooper walking hastily to their office and cleared his throat, prompting Liz to get up and walk back around to her desk.
"Agents Keen and Ressler… good to see you this morning. I'm going to need you two in my office for this case review soon."
They both looked at each other and sighed.
Cooper turned and started to leave.
"And grab some coffee… It's going to be a long day."
…
He watched as Keen gathered up her things from her desk across him, their day finally done. She was stuffing papers in her briefcase, her head down and focused.
He glanced at the clock on the wall.
8:23pm
"You coming?" She asked lightly, as she stood in the doorway.
Ressler awakened out of his fog and quickly lifted his bag and suit jacket from the chair and nodded over to her.
He tried to tell himself that he wasn't nervous. He tried to tell himself that he knew what was going on in Keen's mind. But he didn't. He couldn't.
He followed behind her carefully, watching as she stepped on the elevator and pushed the button to go up.
She moved to the opposite end as him, a far cry from their encounter the previous day.
He saw her look down awkwardly, the memory still fresh in her mind as well, and followed her lead as she stepped off and walked down to the garage.
Liz felt him behind her as she walked over to her car. Ressler was strong, confident. But today, in this moment, he wasn't sure what to do. She could feel the uneasiness from him and turned around to speak once she unlocked her car.
"I didn't take your words lightly." She said as she watched him stop a few feet from her.
"I went home last night and thought about what this means. For me. For you."
She stopped and watched his face, as he nodded to her.
"I won't lie and say I'm not scared. That we might be making a mistake." She paused.
"But it's a mistake I'm willing to try. If you are, Ressler."
He looked deep in her eyes and stepped closer to her.
"I am, Liz." He said softly as he watched a slow smile spread across her face.
"I know it's been a long day but would you like to come over? I can stop and grab a bite to eat on the way." He said nervously, hoping his intentions weren't misconstrued.
She nodded and got in her car to follow him.