A/N: I feel like this chapter got away from me a little bit. I just kept adding to it until it got so long, I decided to split it in two parts. So here's the first one, and I'll have the second one up later this weekend. As always, thanks for your wonderful reviews!

Peter drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and glanced at El. She was looking out the passenger window, even though it was dark and there was nothing to see out there, and didn't say anything. She had been like this for most of the night, despite the fact that they had gone to this hip, new live-cooking restaurant she had been talking about for weeks. They were almost back to her apartment now, and Peter was beginning to worry. During the entire drive, he had been trying to figure out what he might have done wrong, but he kept coming up with nothing.

He wasn't bragging or anything, but things between them were good. More than that, actually. They had been seeing each other for almost six months now. Peter had no idea where the time had gone, but every minute he spent with Elizabeth felt like an eternity and at the same time not nearly long enough. Work still got in the way every now and then, especially for him, but Elizabeth was being gracious about it. And she was up for a promotion from assistant manager to manager, so she was working just as hard.

Maybe that was it. Maybe something had happened at work. Or maybe he should have said something about their six-month anniversary coming up. Or maybe he still had no idea how to deal with women. Probably, because Peter didn't care one bit about other women. He only cared about El. So he decided to man up and just take the plunge.

"Are you okay, honey?" he asked carefully. "You seem a little… distracted."

Elizabeth slowly tore her eyes away from the window to look at him, while Peter prayed this wasn't going to blow up in his face. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin the night," she said, reaching out to put a hand on his thigh.

Peter sighed in relief, but it was short-lived, because the troubled look on El's face was still there. "You didn't," he quickly reassured her. "I just thought you'd be more excited about going to this restaurant."

"I was! That's why I didn't say anything earlier," Elizabeth said, only worrying Peter more.

"Didn't say anything about what?"

Elizabeth sighed. "Before you came by to pick me up tonight, I went through my mail and read a letter from my landlord. Apparently, there's water damage in the basement and they've found some kind of mold in the walls. They can't tell how extensive the damage is just yet, but they'll probably have to knock down some walls and replace parts of the foundation, so we all need to vacate our apartments as soon as possible and stay somewhere else for a while."

Peter wasn't sure what he had expected, but that wasn't it. "Can they just kick you out like that?" he wondered.

"Well, I guess no one actually wants to stay in a possibly structurally unsound apartment," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Right," Peter said, parking the car in front of that very building. It didn't look like something was wrong with it, but he knew one wouldn't be able to tell from the outside. And of course he didn't want El to live some place where there was even the possibility of her getting hurt.

They got out of the car, even though Peter was now wondering if they should just get back in and drive to his place.

Suddenly, El grabbed his arm and stopped them on their way towards the front door. "Um, honey, do you remember when I told you about Josh calling me the other day?"

Peter was still reeling from the apartment news, so the sudden change of topic to her ex-boyfriend caught him even more off guard. "Yes, you said he called about one of his clients who might be interested in doing an exhibit at your gallery," he said slowly.

"Yes, he also tried to apologize to me," Elizabeth confessed.

"Apologize?" Peter repeated, his expression becoming guarded.

"I think his girlfriend broke up with him, which is something that never happened to him before, and it might have taught him a lesson or two," Elizabeth explained quickly.

Peter couldn't have cared less about what happened to that guy as long as he stayed away from El. "Are you saying just because his girlfriend broke up with him, he thinks what? That he can get back together with you?"

"Something like that," Elizabeth nodded, and when Peter immediately bristled with anger, she added quickly. "I thanked him for the apology, but since I don't think the gallery would be a good fit for his client, I also told him goodbye, and I thought it would be okay."

"But?" Peter prompted.

"But he's here," Elizabeth finished.

Peter whirled around in the direction El was facing, and sure enough he spotted a guy who seemed to have been waiting in a parked car and now had gotten out and was hovering there, not sure whether to approach since El wasn't alone.

One of the first things recruits learned at Quantico was to keep a cool head and their tempers in check, so they could stay in control of any given situation and not charge blindly ahead and accidentally hurt others or themselves. Peter had always been a reasonable guy and had easily excelled at that exercise.

But right now, he desperately wanted to reach for his gun and blast that guy's head off. Or even better, punch him in the face. To feel his nose break would be even more satisfying. In any case, the thought that this guy had been lurking in the dark to catch Elizabeth alone on her way home made Peter seethe with anger.

"He won't be here for much longer," he hissed.

But Elizabeth stopped him again. "Honey, no, I'll talk to him. And I want you to stay here."

"El…" Peter protested.

She put a hand on his chest to placate him, but it was her voice that did the trick. "Please, Peter." He could tell that she was serious about needing to do this, and he knew it wasn't wise to push her.

He huffed to express his annoyance, but he gave her a curt nod and let her go.

When Elizabeth walked purposefully towards her ex-boyfriend, Peter followed, unbeknownst to her, just enough to stay within earshot. He loved her enough to respect her wishes, but he also loved her too much to not stay close.

Seeing that Elizabeth was approaching him, Josh met her halfway, and when they came to stand under one of the street lamps, Peter could see him more clearly. He had seen a picture of the guy before, but he really was extremely handsome. With a face like that, no wonder he thought he could get away with everything.

Peter was glad to hear that Elizabeth's voice sounded unimpressed when she asked, "What are you doing here, Josh?"

"I wanted to talk to you in person," he explained unnecessarily while rubbing his gloveless hands. It had gotten cold at night lately, and who knew how long he had been sitting in his car waiting. Then again, even frostbite was too good for this guy.

"I'm sorry, but we have nothing to talk about anymore," Elizabeth said firmly.

Josh took a step closer, which made Peter curl his hands into fists, but he forced himself to stay put. "I told you I'm sorry…"

Elizabeth wouldn't even let him finish. "I appreciate that, and I really hope you'll find someone, Josh, and that you'll treat them better, but it won't be me."

"Because of him?" Josh asked, nodding in Peter's direction. Peter ducked his head a little, worried El might turn around and see that he was closer than she had wanted him to be.

But she stayed focused on Josh. "Yes. Among other things."

"You can do so much better than him, Liz."

Peter tensed, not because of the insult, but because the nickname reminded him of the intimacy that Elizabeth had once shared with that man.

"You mean with you?" she asked.

"Yes, with me. We were so good together, Liz. You remember that, right?" Josh reached out for her with his hands, but Elizabeth took a step back.

It was nearly impossible for Peter not to intervene.

"I remember. I also remember how you made me feel like a fool for not figuring out sooner that you were cheating on me. You say you've changed, and I hope that's true, but I would never be able to trust you the way I trust Peter. Not that it's any of your business, but I love him. So if you really still care about me, just walk away, Josh, and find your happiness with someone else."

Apparently, this was everything El had been meaning to say. So when Josh didn't respond right away, wordlessly processing what she had said, she finally turned her back on him, willing to put an end to this.

Josh wasn't so smart. "No, Liz, wait…" he began and grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him.

He never got any further than that because Peter had reached the end of his tether. When El stumbled a little, surprised by Josh's hand on her arm, Peter was in his face in an instant. He was careful, though, not to touch Josh because then he would have ripped him to shreds.

"You have five seconds before I have you arrested," he snarled.

"You think I believe you'd actually call the cops?" Josh said dismissively, but he let go of Elizabeth and took a step back, so Peter wouldn't tower over him.

"I don't need to call the cops." Peter showed him his badge, which he always had on him, even on date night.

Josh paled when he realized that he was dealing with a federal agent. "There's no law against talking to my ex-girlfriend," he still tried to defend himself.

"But she asked you not to contact her again when you called her, and you came here tonight to ambush her anyway. That's stalking. And then you grabbed her when she tried to leave. That's assault. And there's an FBI agent as an eye witness. Do you need me to spell that out for you, or are you going to get the hell out of here?"

Josh glanced at Elizabeth one more time, but even though he tried to hide it, he was clearly worried that Peter might not be bluffing.

He wasn't. He might have been exaggerating slightly, but that wouldn't stop him from having Josh thrown into jail for the night. Clearly, he wasn't the kind of man who would do well behind bars.

"Fine, I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into, Liz," Josh said before beating a hasty retreat.

Peter turned around and put an arm around El. "Come on. Let's get inside." They had been standing out here in the cold for long enough. He really wanted to get El back inside. Her apartment might not be structurally sound, but at least it was free of her ex-boyfriends.

Once they were through the door, Peter quickly walked up to the living-room window that faced the street.

"What are you doing?" Elizabeth asked.

"Making sure he left," Peter replied, feeling satisfied when it looked like he had. "Where's your phone?"

"Why?" Elizabeth asked again, this time crossing her arms across her chest, which should have stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm getting you a couple of agents to sit outside in case he comes back," Peter went ahead and grabbed the phone when he spotted it.

Elizabeth snatched it right back out of his hands. "No, you're not. I don't need a bunch of trigger-happy FBI agents outside my home. The one I have in it is more than enough."

Finally, it registered with Peter that those words hadn't sounded like a compliment and that Elizabeth didn't look happy. "El…"

"I asked you to let me take care of this," she reminded him pointedly.

"I did!" Peter insisted.

El pursed her lips. She didn't even need to say anything. That look alone was terrifying enough.

"He wasn't listening to you, and he was hurting you. El, you can't expect me to just let him do that to you," Peter pleaded with her.

She held his gaze for a few seconds, then her stance softened. "Fine, but you're still not getting me a protection detail. You're the only FBI agent I want protecting me."

Peter couldn't help the smile on his face when she said that, but he also furrowed his brow. "What about when I'm at work?"

"He's not a psychopath, Peter!" El said, sounding exasperated again. "He's a cheater, and he's very full of himself at times, but he's never hurt anyone physically."

"His juvie record says something else," Peter disagreed.

The deep frown on El's face told him he had just made another mistake. "What? How do you even know that he has a juvie record? He never told me that."

"I guess that's not something you talk about to impress women," Peter shrugged.

"Then how do you know about it?"

Peter sighed. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Lying wasn't an option, but he had a feeling that the truth wouldn't go over well either. "I did a background check on him."

Elizabeth stared at him. "Are you even allowed to do that? You're not investigating him for anything." She almost sounded worried, which Peter hoped was a good sign.

"I'm allowed as long as no one finds out or calls it an abuse of my powers."

El shook her head. "Why would you risk that? Before tonight there was no reason to think he'd do anything."

"I did it months ago with the rest of them."

El's eyebrows shot up. "The rest of them?"

Peter froze.

"Who else did you check out?"

He didn't dare answer right away.

"Who else?" Elizabeth prompted.

"Everyone," Peter confessed. "Everyone of importance in your life. But El, I wasn't snooping or planning on using any of the information, I was only looking for warning signs. I just wanted to make sure you were safe." He reached out for her, but she took a step back and held up her hands, almost exactly as she had done with Josh earlier, which hurt more than anything else.

"Did you check out my family, too? Did you honestly think they would hurt me?"

"Of course not. But it's not about that. Everybody can lament a catastrophe after it's happened, but the really good agents step in and prevent it from even happening by being proactive and covering all their bases…"

"My life is not just another one of your cases, Peter!" Elizabeth interrupted him, too upset to fully hear him out.

"I know that. You're not another anything, El. There's only you. For me, there's only you. That's why I need you to be safe." Peter wanted to push more, to explain more, but he was afraid to.

Still, he thought he saw El's anger cave a little. "So do I. I need you to be safe, too. What insurances do I get that you'll come back to me when you go out there with your gun and your badge and people shooting at you?"

Slightly confused by the turn this argument had just taken, Peter hesitated. "Do you want to run background checks on everyone in my life, too?" He didn't quite dare to make the joke but didn't know what else to say.

Elizabeth huffed and shook her head. "I want you to trust me the way that I trust you."

Her words echoed what she had said earlier to Josh, and Peter had a feeling that his had all been blown slightly out of proportion because a part of her was understandably upset about her ex after all.

Peter made another approach to get closer, and this time, she let him take her hands. "I trust you, El. Checking out Josh was about not trusting the rest of the world to be as kind and forgiving as you are. But I trust you. I…" He paused. "Move in with me."

"What?"

"I mean, temporarily – while your apartment is getting restructured," Peter clarified nervously when he noticed the surprise on El's face. He could have sworn this was what she had wanted earlier. Then again, a lot seemed to have happened since then.

"Are you sure? There's no timetable for how long this is going to take," she said cautiously.

The last of her anger seemed to have faded from her eyes, so Peter pressed on. "I love you, El. I didn't mean to be overbearingly protective, but if you'll forgive me, I'd like nothing more than for you to stay with me while your apartment is getting fixed. It's the best insurance I can give you that I'll always be coming home to you."

Finally, the smile that had eluded him for most of the night returned to her face. "Coming home to you sounds nice," she said softly while weaving her fingers through his. "Yes, Peter, I'd love to temporarily move in with you."

Peter answered her smile with one of his own and leaned in to finally kiss her but halted. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?"

"You will be once you've carried all my boxes over to your place." Elizabeth patted his cheek, smiled, and then disappeared into her bedroom.

"Boxes? As in plural? How many are we talking exactly?" Peter called after her.

All he got in return was a laugh.

Somewhat helplessly, Peter stared at his closet. This wasn't something he usually spent a lot of time on, but this morning, getting dressed proved to be a little more challenging. Eventually, he just gave up.

"El?" he called.

"Yes, honey?" The sweetness in her voice told Peter that she already knew what he was going to ask.

"Do you happen to know where all my shirts are? Or socks, or anything, for that matter?"

El appeared in the doorway. "Yes, I moved them over to the dresser."

With a frown on his face, Peter looked over his shoulder. He didn't even know he had a dresser, but sure enough, there it was. There was even a framed picture of the two of them, taken at the FBI Family Day this summer, as well as other knickknacks neatly arranged on top of it. He must have missed that when he came in late last night.

"Do you like it?" Elizabeth asked, following his gaze.

Peter was pretty sure there was only one right answer. "Um, yes," he said, and he really did like the photo. He had been sitting on a bench, and El had wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, surprising him. The smile on her face was mesmerizing, and he looked as if it had just dawned on him that he was the luckiest guy on the planet.

It reminded him to treat with caution when he asked, "What was wrong with where everything was before?"

Elizabeth smiled sweetly. "I brought a few more clothes over, so I moved a few things around."

"More clothes? How can there be anything left?" It felt to Peter as if she had brought nothing but clothes. Dozens of boxes full of them.

"You do like the way I look, don't you?" El countered, leaning against the door, looking as lovely as ever in a long cream-colored sweater that hugged her small frame in all the right places.

"That feels like a trick question," Peter pointed out.

El's blue eyes bore into him. "It's not."

"Then yes, of course, I do. You know that," he said quickly. "I just didn't realize you needed so much space to look good." He paused. "That came out wrong. I mean, you always look good – with your clothes on or without them."

El rolled her eyes. "Honey, just stop talking and get dressed," she said, turning around to leave.

With two quick steps Peter caught up with her, and he grabbed her around the waist. "Or maybe you should get undressed with me," he suggested in between kissing his way down her neck.

Her surprised laughter was music in his ears, and they spent the time they would have had for breakfast in other more enjoyable ways.

When they were both getting dressed again – Peter helping El to close a necklace in the back of her neck and El turning around to straighten his tie – she asked, "Will you be home for dinner tonight?"

Rather than answer her right away, Peter just stood there, taking it all in.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.

"This is all very domestic, isn't it?"

El bit her lip. It was cute when she worried like that. "Is it too much? I know we said this was going to be temporary..."

That new dresser didn't look very temporary to Peter. But he kept that thought to himself and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Nope, I like being domestic with you."

"In that case, I'd like you to be home by seven, so we can have our first dinner together since I moved in," El said with a slightly mocking smile.

"Would you also like me to take out the trash?" Peter asked, matching her tone.

"Of course. And remember to pick up the dry cleaning like I asked you to."

Peter frowned. "You never asked me to pick up the dry cleaning."

"Just checking," Elizabeth chuckled, gave him a kiss, and then slipped out of his arms into the kitchen.

Peter followed her, and all kidding aside, he really did decide to take out the garbage bag and put it in the hallway, so he wouldn't forget it later. Just to be on the safe side. Something inside the bag caught his attention, though.

"Those are my socks!" he said, a hint of indignation in his voice when he looked at El, who was leaning against the kitchen counter with a steaming mug in her hand.

"Oh, honey, they had holes in them," she replied, unfazed by his tone.

Right, Peter dimly remembered thinking that he should get new ones. But now a little suspicious, he spotted something else, too. "What about that tie? That tie was perfectly fine!"

"It had green polka dots on it and matched none of your suits," Elizabeth said, not sounding sorry about that one either.

"What about this tie? And this suit?" Peter asked, pointing to what he was wearing right now. "Am I allowed to go into work like this?"

"Honey, I threw out an ugly tie and a bunch of old socks. It doesn't mean that I don't think you look sexy, even while you're standing in the kitchen, obsessing over the garbage bag," Elizabeth told him amidst barely contained laughter.

Peter dropped the bag. "Sexy, huh?"

"Yes, but honey, you did just touch the trash," El said, shying away from him when he tried to reach out. "Here, have a drink. It'll make you feel better about losing that tie."

She chuckled and handed him her mug.

Unable to really be upset about her teasing, especially when her eyes sparkled with so much joy, Peter took a sip. He almost spit it back out, though. "Urgh, honey, this is not coffee."

"No, it's green tea. It's good for you."

Peter made a face. "Tell me you didn't throw out the coffee, too."

Wordlessly, El reached behind her to offer him a second mug. To his relief, this one smelled like coffee and tasted like it, too.

El shook her head when she saw the look on his face while he drank it, but she smiled and took back her strange tea.

Things were definitely going to change with El moving in, Peter realized. He would probably have to surrender his entire closet and all his kitchen cupboards, not to mention the shelves in the bathroom, to her control. Actually, he probably already had.

He didn't really care as long as he got her in return.

Well, her and a cup of coffee in the morning.

Peter closed the door behind him with a thud and absentmindedly dropped his keys before he remembered how late it was and that he wasn't the only one living in this apartment anymore. He couldn't keep waltzing in here as if there was no one he could wake except maybe the neighbors.

He took more care hanging up his jacket and taking off his shoes, but he saw that the lights were still on in the living room anyway. When Peter walked in, his eyes went to the dinner table first, and he moaned. He had called Elizabeth earlier to tell her that he probably wouldn't be able to keep his promise to be home by seven. Still, she seemed to have held out hope because the table was set for two with an elaborate dinner that looked untouched. Peter could only hope that it wasn't a bad sign that their designated first dinner together since moving in had met such a sad end.

With a sigh, he turned to look for El. She had fallen asleep on the couch, using a book she had been reading as a pillow, which looked rather uncomfortable. Peter crouched down next to her and caressed a strand of hair out of her face. "El, honey…"

She stirred and brightened when he came into focus. "Oh, hey."

He helped her sit back up. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I wanted to wait up for you."

Peter glanced at the dinner table again. "I'm so sorry about dinner." He should probably copyright that sentence.

El simply shook her head. "Are you okay? You sounded a little… off on the phone earlier."

He had tried to hide it from her, but she knew him so well by now. Usually, that made him happy, but tonight he wished he could shield her from it. Since he couldn't, he dropped down on the couch next to her and ran a hand over his face.

"Yeah, it's been one hell of a day." As soon as Peter had left the apartment after the great morning he'd had with El, everything had taken a turn for the worse. He should have just stayed in with her. "I tried to get home earlier, but I got stuck with OPR."

"OPR? Isn't that your version of internal affairs?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes shining with concern. "What happened?"

Peter hesitated. He really didn't want to burden or frighten her, but at the same time, he felt the overwhelming need to unburden himself by sharing this with her. And he could tell from the look on her face that she wanted him to. "I shot someone today."

El inhaled sharply and covered her mouth with one hand before pushing her shock aside enough to reach out for him. "Are you hurt?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Peter assured her quickly and squeezed her hands. "No agents got hurt." Not seriously, anyway.

El looked at their intertwined fingers and took another deep breath before meeting his eyes again. "How did it happen?"

"Hughes brought me in on a taskforce to take down this gang who's been circulating fake watches, real quality work, going for 500 a pop. He went undercover to make the bust, a couple of other agents and I were providing backup. But somehow, someone had tipped them off. They saw us coming. One of them pulled a gun on me, and I had to take the shot. It all happened way too fast."

El struggled not to allow her worry to get the better of her while she listened, both fear and relief reflected on her face. To her credit, her voice sounded firm when she said, "Then you clearly didn't have a choice. Why did OPR investigate?"

"Well, obviously somebody screwed up something. They had to make sure it wasn't any of us. Plus, it's protocol when we're forced to discharge our guns and use lethal force. Everything needs to check out. And then they put you through another psych eval. It's a lot more bureaucracy than it looks like on TV."

"I'm so sorry, honey," El said softly, putting a hand to his cheek.

Peter relished her warmth, then took her hand and brought it to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. "It was either him or me, and I really didn't want it to be me."

That's what it all came down to. And while the life he had taken today weighed on him, sitting here with El made him realize that he would make the same choice all over again.

"Do you need anything?" El asked. She straightened up a little and looked determined to make this better for him, ignoring her own fears. Peter loved her all the more for it. "I can heat up dinner," she offered.

"Thanks, honey, but I have everything I need," he told her, managing a small smile. "Dinner looks amazing, though. Sorry I missed it. Guess I need to work on being a good roommate."

"It's okay. I invited my other boyfriend to eat with me," El joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Peter gladly followed her lead. "Other boyfriend, huh? What happened to him?"

El shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. "It didn't work out. My heart belongs to another."

"Yeah, who's he?" Peter asked, leaning in.

"He's this wonderful, loving, very, very brave man," Elizabeth replied, any traces of humor gone.

Peter smiled before gently catching her lips with his own in a tender kiss that righted his world again. Then he rested his forehead against hers. "I'm really glad you're here, El. I love coming home to you."

"I love you coming home to me," she replied, her voice catching a little when she wondered how close they had come to him not coming home at all.

Peter pulled her into his arms.

It would do both of them good tonight to just hold each other.