AN: Inspiration certainly works in strange ways. I couldn't bring myself to continue this fic for months and then the season finale happened and well, here we are. This story is slowly but steadily coming to an end, with about two more chapters to go. But i have a lot of other ideas for the hiatus so don't fret. I would like to thank everyone for sticking with this story, for re-reading it and commenting and all that jazz. I hope you enjoy this chapter. A review would make my day.

Lyrics: "You" by Keaton Henson


If you must leave,
Leave as though fire burns under your feet

She noticed it immediately.

How something inside of him snapped, how his eyes turned dark, how all the hope vanished from his features and how desperation and hatred took its place.

She noticed it, witnessed it while panic loomed within her. And she couldn't do a thing to stop it.

Red stormed inside while the phone lay abandoned on the floor, ordered for a car and prepared to leave the cabin right away. To hunt Tom down, that's what Liz presumed, but he never explained.

And when his hand grabbed the gun off the table, when he reached for the door handle, when all seemed lost, that's when he heard a thud.

When he turned around he saw Liz lying on the floor. Completely still.

If you must mourn, my love
Mourn with the moon and the stars up above

She wasn't alone. With her eyes still closed, she could hear the rustling of papers and someone sighing deeply. A soft blanket covered her body, granted her the illusion of safety, and despite the tension in her neck she felt surprisingly rested. Opening her eyes took more effort than she anticipated, but when she finally managed, when her surroundings came into focus, she spotted Red sitting in a chair by her side and Tom's file scattered next to her legs. He seemed preoccupied with the documents in front of him, completely unaware of Liz's gaze studying his profile. He looked tired, exhausted even, and that deep lingering sadness that he had rarely allowed to emerge to the surface was clearly visible now. She wondered how much loss a person could endure. She wondered if she was strong enough to save him. He looked so broken.

"We have to stop meeting like this," she said softly and Red looked up to find her smiling at him. There was such comfort in her mere presence, such consolation.

"Lizzie." Her name leaving his lips was all relief and warmth. He gathered the papers and put them on the floor, focusing his attention on her. "You scared me earlier."

"I have no recollection of what happened."

"You fainted as I was about to leave."

"To kill Tom?"

He said nothing. Instead he moved closer to the bed, a desperate urge to touch her suddenly overcoming him, and gently tugged some loose strands of hair behind her ear.

He had forgotten about Tom the instant he saw her body on the floor. Dembe and Mr Kaplan had helped him to carry her upstairs, make sure she was alright, and while they tried to figure out what exactly had taken place earlier and how they could have missed Tom's intentions and Daniel's kidnapping, Red had stayed by Liz's side. Had watched her steady breathing. Held her hand for a while, before his unrest grew more intense and he had to turn to Tom's file for distraction.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

"No Lizzie, you're fine. These things happen, especially after long recoveries."

But that wasn't the question that truly worried her. It was something else entirely.

"So if I hadn't fainted, you would have gone after him?"

He hesitated for just a moment, then nodded determinedly. The truth was, however, that he couldn't stand the thought of Liz seeing the person he was capable of becoming. A person dictated by rage and vengeance, relentless and unforgiving. It had been a reflex almost, an attempt to escape, the way he had rushed past her before she could catch a glimpse of the malice in his expression. He would never let her see him like this. He couldn't forgive himself for scaring her. Chasing Tom, putting an end to all of this, finding Daniel, saving him, holding on to the mere possibility of him being alive, of Tom tricking him, it was taking its toll and cruelly so. But losing Lizzie, losing her trust, losing her light, well, that would destroy him irrevocably.

He was shaken from his thoughts when he felt her fingertips ghost along the back of his hand. "The phone call," she inquired. "You think Tom killed Daniel?"

"I don't know. He certainly wants me to believe that."

She remained silent for a few moments, allowed him some space. He was struggling, she could tell, and he would never want her to take any risks. Not for him. But what he didn't understand was that she had made her decision long ago. She would stay with him, be with him. And help him to eliminate Tom.

"I'm coming with you."

"I can't allow that, Lizzie."

"I know you, Red, and I know you won't wait any longer. I'm surprised you're still sitting here, to tell you the truth. But whatever you say, I am coming with you."

And it was then that he reached out for her. He ran his hand up her arm, cupped her cheek. With demons in his eyes, an amalgamation of impossible anguish and despair, something she had never seen in him, something that made her stop breathing, with a burden that seemed to crush him, he leaned in and kissed her. Sweetness and tenderness and nothing else. And she wanted to scream at him- this is who you are, Red- and make him come to terms with it- you are not a bad man- but all she could do was savor it and hold on to him and drink him in. When he pulled away, she could hardly stand it. His voice ignited an ache within her.

"Lizzie, listen to me. I wreak havoc wherever I go. I destroy the people around me, pull them down, tear them apart. I won't do this to you any longer. Don't you see? I will burn you."

She had expected this, had prepared herself for it. But she wouldn't make it that easy for him.

"Red, we have walked through fire and made it out alive." She paused and turned his head towards her, leaving him no choice but to look at her. "Listen to me. I am not going to let you do this to yourself. This is not your battle. We are in this together, okay? Do you hear that, Red? We are in this together. And we will find him."

"I am not going to put you in any more danger."

"And I'm not going to let you leave by yourself. You're all I have, Red. We are stuck with each other, don't you know that?" A wistful sigh escaped him and she knew she had succeeded. And when she repeated them back to him, those fateful words, we're gonna make a great team, he could only accept her proposition.

"Come to bed," she told him.

As he got up from the chair and walked towards the door, he turned around once more. "I will be right back," he said. "I promise."

If you must fight,
Fight with yourself and your thoughts in the night

Liz was half asleep when she heard him enter her room a few minutes later. She listened to his footsteps as he approached the bed tentatively, could feel the heat of his body as he lay down next to her. She moved closer, waited for his reaction, but sensed how he was caught up in his own thoughts.

"You can still turn back from this, Lizzie." A whisper in the dark, a final attempt to make her change her mind.

"I know. But I don't intend to." He still hadn't touched her. "Red, what happens when all of this is over?"

"That's your choice, Lizzie."

"I don't think I can go back to how things were. The task force, the FBI. I want-"

"What, Lizzie? What do you want?"

And then he felt it. Her hand reaching for his, their fingers intertwined. Her soft lips, all promise and confirmation, all desire and trust and, dare he say it, love.

"You. I want you."