A/N There are parts of this chapter I'm unhappy with and other parts that I have no idea where they came from. Red and Lizzie are inching their way closer and closer to an intimate relationship. I suspect it might just happen in the next chapter. There, that is the hook to make you come back for the next chapter. Sort of like what TPTB did to the Daddygaters in Berlin Part 2 when they showed the scars on Red's back.

Disclaimer - I still don't own the Blacklist, but I'm willing to accept it as a gift if anyone wants to give it to me.

Red had spent an hour after Ressler left on the phone. Lizzie didn't ask who he was talking to, she wanted some deniability should something happen in payback for the bug that Red had found. She wondered when she just let whatever Red decided do go by her, as if she wasn't a federal agent. When he finally came back into the living room area he still looked angry, but she could tell he was trying to tamp it down in front of her.

"I'm sorry Lizzie I needed to reallocate some of our intelligence assets to research a new lead. I'm now yours for the rest of the day." Red said jovially with the first genuine smile she'd seen on his face all afternoon. "What would you like to do?"

Lizzie had a few ideas, but she realized that wasn't what he meant. I mean after all they had never even kissed yet. They would also need to wait for anything strenuous until after Red had healed a bit more.

"I don't know. I can imagine you must be going crazy staying in the house. Is there somewhere safe for us to go? I know you have a squad of men located all around the perimeter of the farm. Did you want to pull some of them off to guard us if we went out?" Lizzie really didn't know what Red did when he wasn't working.

Red was still smiling at her as she tried to figure out what would be safe for him, not for her. She still didn't realized how much danger she was in. It wouldn't sink in until after the first time someone tries to grab her and force him to do whatever they wanted to get her back. She was his weakness and he was the one that brought all kinds of danger into her life.

"I don't think we need to leave the farm itself. How much of the farm have you investigated while you've been here?" Red asked.

Liz had to admit the question surprised her. It wasn't a working farm and all she saw was empty fields behind the house. There were what looked like paddocks in the distance, but she assumed they belonged to some farm that backed up to Red's fields.

"I haven't done more than walk around the outside of the house and through the gardens, which are beautiful. I've walked down to the road and then walked for about a mile in each direction. I always had a visible companion walking either in front, behind or across the street." Liz paused for a moment realizing there might be a reason for the question, "Why do you ask?"

Red moved to the door facing the fields to the rear of the house. He grabbed a fedora off of the hat rack next to the door. He motioned Liz to go through the door first and he followed closely behind her. He set off at a moderate pace to the little dirt road that Liz had thought belonged to a neighbor.

"Red where are we going?" Liz didn't want him wearing himself out, but understood his need to get out for a bit.

Red just gave her a small smile and placed his hand in hers. He gave her hand a quick squeeze and began to talk about a subject that made him both sad and happy.

"When my daughter was very little probably about 2 years old. We were at a friends house and they had a horse, well they actually had a horse and a pony. They had a daughter about 5 years older than my daughter. My friends daughter loved to take Grace out to see her pony. She was only allowed to ride her pony if her father was riding his horse. Grace didn't really care about the pony, but she adored the gelding that my friend would ride. Obviously, we couldn't have a horse in the house we lived in, so I would bring her stuffed horses or porcelain horses every time I came home after a deployment. I was never gone for longer than three months at a time after Grace had been born. She soon had a huge collection." Red paused his story long enough to open a gate. This gate blocked a shorted dirt track that lead to a large barn that was hidden from view of the house by a line of trees.

"When I was home I would take Grace for a daddy/daughter day on the weekend. Every time I asked her what she wanted to do she said she want to go see horses. We'd pile into the car and I just drive until we ran across a horse farm. No one could say no to her when she asked to pet the "pretty horsey". It was during one of these trips that we saw our first horse funeral. I had to explain the concept of death and why we bury dead things under the ground to a three year old." Red stopped talking put kept walking towards the barn.

"Did she understand that all things die, people, horses, dogs, birds, insects?"

"Yes, she understood it. She was an exceptionally bright child." Red said rather smugly.

"I didn't tell her what I'd learned from the owner of the farm. The horse was too old to race and as a gelding he couldn't be put out to stud. It was a small farm and they didn't have the resources to feed horses that aren't racing. They had put the horse down after trying to find a buyer for it for six months. All Grace knew is that a beautiful animal wasn't going to be running around the fields anymore. She made me promise that as soon as we could find a place big enough for a horse, we would find one of those retired race horses and bring him to live with us."

They had closed the distance to the barn. Red pause at the door to the barn before finishing his story.

"I wasn't able to find the house with space for a horse before she disappeared on Christmas Eve. When I found this place I knew it was exactly what Grace wanted. I bought this house about twelve years ago and made good on my promise to her." with that Red swung the door open and motioned her to enter.

What Liz saw inside made her mouth drop. There appeared to be twelve stalls in the barn, six on each side. Inside each stall there was a horse. As Red approached the first stall he paused to give the neck of the coal black horse a few pats. The horse playfully butted Red in the chest.

Red gave a bright happy smile.

"This is Boldly Goes. He is the first horse that I rescued from the short life that would have been his with his old owner. His previous owner was a kind soul. He only had a string of 5 horses and they were all racing. Boldly was one of the five and he'd started losing all his races. The previous owner had to stop racing him, they were not winning enough to recoup the entry fees that he was shelling out. I was lucky enough to contact him on the day he was going to call a man from the local slaughter house. Can you imagine this magnificent animal being killed to make dog food?" he asked her rhetorically. He could tell by the look on her face what her answer would be.

"I brought him here and hired a groom to take care of him. None of these horses here are ridden very often. I know how to ride, but I don't really like to ride alone. If you decided you want to take one for a ride just ask Manny and he'll be happy to saddle one up for you." Red saw Lizzie's eyes widen in excitement. What was it about girls and horses? It looked like they never outgrew it.

"Are all these horses that you rescued?"

"Yes, after I rescued Boldly I decided he need some companionship. I put word out to all the local stables that I was interested on obtaining another horse, preferably another gelding. The thought was they would be more likely to sell or kill geldings. The call came about a week later and I've been rescuing old race horses since. I don't have room for any more. When one passes away I rescue another one and bring them here. I think Grace would be happy that this place exists." Red finished with a sad smile and watery eyes.

Lizzie found herself strangely touched that he would share a memory that was obviously so precious to him. Red never spoke about his daughter. She knew it was because it was so painful for him to speak about Grace.

"Thank you for sharing this with me." Liz said quietly as she wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head underneath his chin.

As Red returned the embrace he knew that Lizzie understood exactly what he was sharing with her. This minuscule attempt to keep a piece of his daughter alive, even if it was only the memory of her. His hold on her tightened for a moment before he released her.

"The horses were only a part of the reason I wanted to show this to you. This barn and the house behind it are all owned by me obviously, but under a different name. Its ownership seems much more straightforward than the house we just came from. It was amazingly difficult to make it seem that an older couple bought this property fifty years ago." Red said as he linked his hand with hers and started walking down the aisle between the stalls.

Liz stopped at every stall along the right side of the barn to pet the heads peaking out of the immaculately maintained stalls. She'd have to ask him to introduce her to this Manny that was taking care of the horses. In all the time she'd spent at this house she hadn't seen anyone around the barn, no truck parked near the barn, nothing.

"Our friends at the FBI would have no reason to think that our elderly neighbors are anything more than soft hearted racing enthusiasts that keep old race horses. Of course, these same neighbors are always on vacation and their house is empty most of the time. The FBI is unlikely to have put any surveillance equipment here or in the house."

Red grabbed Lizzie's other hand and turned her to face him. "I realized when I was talking to you about sharing a bedroom earlier that I may have been presumptuous." He slowly reeled her in until she was in his arms again.

"After all, we have never even kissed yet." he said softly.

Liz smiled as she reach up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I think we should remedy that, after all we could hardly share a bed without sharing a kiss first."

With that decided Red leaned in slowly and placed his lips against hers. He gave her an almost chaste kiss. This was not at all what Lizzie expected from him. She decided to show him that she was willing to go a little further. She moved her hand to cradle the back of his head and pulled him back to her. Her kiss started tenderly, but their passion ignited into a bright flame. As they shared open mouthed kisses their moans filled the air of the barn. They broke apart after what seemed like forever and also like no time at all had passed. The sound of their panting breaths replaced the sound of their moans.

"I'm glad we've got that out of the way." Liz said with a smile after catching her breath. "Now I think it's okay for us to share a bed tonight."

Liz wished that Red was healed enough that they'd be able to do more than sleep That would happen soon enough. She'd really like to move to another safe house. The last thing she wanted to be worried about was that the house might be bugged. She'd experienced that already with apple man and never wanted it to happen again. With Dembe gone for a few days she knew it was unlikely that they'd be changing houses.

Red suspected that their thoughts were flowing along the same lines. It was going to be a form of torture to be in the same bed with Lizzie and not being able to make love to her. He was glad she had escaped from the ambulance when Garrick had captured him. Garrick wasn't a stupid man and he would have quickly determined that he could use Lizzie to extract his revenge against Red. Fitch would never have allowed Garrick to kill him and that would have forced him to get his revenge some other way.

"Do you want to head back to the house? I'm feeling a little tired. Maybe we could take a nap before dinner." Red had a broad smile on his face and wriggled his eyebrows lecherously. Lizzie's laugh pealed through the barn as pushed him towards the door.

"If you are a good boy and behave yourself we'll see about the nap."

They exited the barn and walked hand in hand back to the house.