Red swept into Liz's kitchen the next morning, freshly showered and entirely too chipper for his own good, especially considering how early it was and how little he must have slept. He was without a doubt much more chipper than either of the other occupants of the room—caffeine hadn't had nearly enough time to work its magic just yet on Liz or Jess.
Red didn't need any stimulants that morning, no. He was high on life and possibilities.
"So," he said, clapping his hands together, "who wants eggs?"
Jess, who was nearly dozing in her coffee mug, jolted completely awake again and groaned. "Oh god. Can you keep the volume down a little?"
"Hangover?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised curiously.
"Ugh. I wish," she said, and buried her head in her arms on the island.
Liz reached over and rubbed Jess' back in soothing circles. "She stayed up all night watching CNN, hoping there'd be more information about the whistle-blower."
Red pulled an exaggerated guilty face that Jess thankfully couldn't see and Liz had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing. He reached out for a brief, gentle pat on Jess' shoulder to get her attention and she peeked out at him from her arms. "Have you eaten anything since dinner?"
"Nothing but that ill-advised half bag of stale Doritos at one in the morning, no."
"Oof," he said, with a sympathetic wince. "How about I whip up a nice, nutritious breakfast for everyone so at least you won't be running on fumes before the day even starts?"
"I doubt you'll manage 'nutritious' from our fridge…"
"Eh, I'll do what I can," he said. "If you're gonna feel like crap anyway, might as well feel like crap on a full stomach."
Jess lifted her head and blinked up at Red slowly. "You know, I like having you around." She elbowed Liz. "Why didn't you find him sooner, huh? Think of all the petrified breakfast burritos we could've been spared over the years."
Liz rolled her eyes and turned to watch Red cook while she nursed her mug of coffee, occasionally pointing him in the direction of a specific dish or utensil from her and Jess' hodgepodge of a collection. In what seemed like no time at all, he carried three steaming plates of food over to the island and set them out in front of them.
"Dig in," he said, picking up a fork and waiting expectantly for them to do the same.
Whatever it was that he concocted looked like a mess, but it smelled amazing. Jess took a dubious bite, and her eyes quickly lit up.
"OK, this is more delicious than it has any right to be."
Red shrugged off the compliment. "Improvisation is one of my strong suits. I did end up using about half of everything in your fridge to manage it, though. I'm gonna have to pay my dues and restock everything for you guys."
"Don't worry about it."
"Please. It's the least I can do after upending the last few weeks of the semester for you. I'm sure I've caused more of a disruption to your studies than I could possibly pay back with a fridge full of food."
"You've only been here a couple days. That damn whistle-blower disrupted my studies more in the last twelve hours than you have and I doubt he's gonna pay to fill up our fridge."
"I insist," Red said, and Liz was sure that she was the only one who could hear the strain in his voice, see the tiny muscle twitch under his left eye.
She was grateful for the silence that settled over the three of them as they ate. There was enough to worry about just with Sam's visit coming up without throwing the awkwardness of Jess' newfound but unknowing obsession with Red into the mix.
"So, what do you want to do today? I think I have a boxed set of CSI dvds buried somewhere in my old footlocker if you're up for a marathon. I'll even let you poke fun at their magical high-speed forensic test results if you want."
"Are we gonna be able to commandeer the television from Jess?"
"Forget what I said before, Liz, can we send him back?"
Liz returned the favor from earlier and elbowed Jess in the ribs, playfully flipping her off.
Red let out an amused huff of a laugh. "Before we get sucked down the rabbit hole of crime solving wish fulfillment, I'm gonna need to make the trek back to my hotel at some point. As much as I've appreciated your hospitality in lending me clothes, I really need to wear something that wasn't designed by a misguided, colorblind gift shop owner. For my sanity, if nothing else," he said. "I can go on a quick grocery run while I'm out and replenish what I've used up."
"We could go together," Liz offered. She was surprised to find herself excited at the prospect—she usually hated shopping for groceries, because she didn't really have a knack for cooking and she was sick to death of most of the quick, pre-packaged meals they had down at the local supermarket after eating so many of them over the last four years. But if their time in the hotel gift shop was anything to go by, she didn't think grocery shopping with Red would be anywhere near as boring as it usually was.
"If you'd like to, sure."
"Yeah. Who knows? It could be fun."
"All right. We can swing by my hotel while we're out so I can pack up some of my clothes, and maybe shave."
"Do you really have to shave? I like the scruff." Liz put her hand on his stubbled cheek and ran her thumb over his jaw.
"You like the scruff, you like me in these horrid sweatpants… If I don't watch out, I'm liable to let myself go under your bad influence."
"Oh, my bad influence, huh?"
"Sweetheart, out of all of the many little devils sitting on my shoulder, you are my very favorite. I haven't gotten the urge to steal a car just for the thrill of it in years. Never was very good at it," he said, wistful. "But don't worry—you're also one of the few angels on my other shoulder." He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
Jess' attention bounced groggily back and forth between Red and Liz as she attempted to follow their banter. "For some reason, I always feel like I'm missing half a conversation when I listen to you guys." She stood and put her plate in the sink. "Whatever. You two juvenile delinquents go have fun being awake at this ungodly hour, I'm gonna go back to bed."
"Don't you have work in an hour?"
"I'm calling in. International conspiracy, you know," she said. "Besides, the eventual caffeine crash is going to be spectacular. Trust me, they won't want me there."