DARK ROADS & OPEN DOORS

A/N: So I owe many of you an apology for not updating this sooner. I'm dead set on completing this fic, and the end is in sight now. I'd like to thank everybody who has read, favourited and reviewed this fic so far and hope you continue to let me know your thoughts on the journey these two have taken thoughout.

For those new to this fic, I'm going to reiterate that this was started after S1E2 so should be considered AU.

CHAPTER 21

The days following Lizzie's return to work had flown by in a blur of e-mails and catching up on paperwork. Now, she sat in a cramped surveillance van parked up well away from the club where the heavily armed team were to take down Izzah Ahmedi, with Ressler; she could feel the nervous energy radiating from him, and the tension in the van was becoming stifling. Liz wasn't exactly relaxed either, though the bust wasn't the main stress for her; she hadn't heard from Red in over twenty-four hours and knew he had to sever all contact while he was embedded in Lacerta's operation. She hadn't slept the night before and was running on caffeine and adrenaline when she had arrived at the Post Office hours before; worried that Cooper would call her out on her obvious tiredness, she was relieved to find everybody else in the same wired state. After another ten minutes of waiting around and listening to the team getting themselves into position over the radio she took off her headphones and heaved a heavy sigh. Ressler continued to stare resolutely at the screen in front of him, though he was intentionally avoiding having to look at her she could tell – he wasn't blinking.

"Whatever it is, just ask me," Liz said, exasperation in her tone. She wanted to clear the air as he was evidently stopping himself from saying something. After a long moment he took his own headphones off, keeping half his attention on the screens as he turned slightly to speak.

"What's going on, Keen?" he asked bluntly. She could always rely on him to cut to the chase, which made her realise how much she missed Red's flowery language and cryptic non sequiturs. "With you and Reddington," he quantified. "You've been holed up in that apartment building with him for a while now. I'm under no illusions of whose bed you're sleeping in, especially after New Orleans."

Liz frowned. "I thought the FBI couldn't bug the place?"

"I don't need a bug to know what's plain to see, Liz." He fixed her with a look. "You know it's dangerous to be carrying on with him like this."

"I've been in danger since Red turned himself over to us, and before that if I'm to believe what he's said on the subject."

"Your husband," Ressler stated, not needing to ask.

Liz nodded. "Ex-husband. And yes, Tom. Red thinks-"

"What does he think?" he interjected testily. She knew she had to keep Ressler on side if she had any chance of pulling the wool over the Agency's ever-present eyes, and deflecting wouldn't get her anywhere with him.

"My apartment was broken into," she confessed. She was taking a chance, she knew, and Red would be livid if he knew what she was doing.

"What?" he exclaimed, eyes widening at the information. "When?"

"A few days back." She shrugged. "They were looking for me."

"And you didn't think to report it?" he demanded to know.

"I didn't know who it was," she reasoned, though the implication of who it might have been hung in the van.

"You didn't think it was the FBI?" he asked, looking a little hurt on behalf of their employer.

"I didn't," she assured. "Red wasn't so sure." Ressler huffed a laugh, apparently convinced.

"Figures," he said, smirking. "Is he looking into it?"

"He has people trying to turn up intel while he's on this case, yes."

"And Dembe is still close by?"

She nodded. "My own personal escort."

"If you need anything, you call me, okay?" He turned back to fix his attention on the bust, shaking his head. "You should've said something," he muttered before moving to pick up his headphones again.

"You can't say anything about this, Don," she implored, picking up her own headphones.

He gave her a long, measured look, mulling over her request. "I won't," he said eventually. "You have my word."

They sat watching the black and white screens, listening to the team's radio; the squad assumed their agreed positions without issue and mercifully there was no sign of any unexpected danger that could jeopardise the mission. Liz prayed that the whole thing would be over sooner rather than later, recent events having drained her; she couldn't be seen falling asleep in the van, snoring on Ressler's shoulder. Both Liz and Ressler jumped as the team around the back of the building broke down the door to the club and started their sweep, both fumbling for the volume controls to their headphones as orders were barked across the team. A barrage of shots were fired inside the club and both FBI Agents drew their weapons before exiting the van, moving to the cover of the buildings opposite the club, knowing the squad inside had the place covered should a gunfight erupt on to the street. Liz was thankful for the roadblocks they had set up at either end of the street; while too early in the evening for the clubbers to be out, the road wasn't the quietest in the city at any time and they couldn't afford civilian casualties.

A field medic burst out of the door nearest Liz and raced across the street, moving around to the back of the club; without the radio feed from the surveillance van neither she nor Ressler knew what was going on. Together they moved back to the van and Ressler joined the radio conversation, Liz at his shoulder, requesting an update. She watched a satisfied smirk cross his face as he slipped the headphones off and looked up at her.

"Ahmedi is down but stable; three fatalities, none of ours. The area's secure. Wanna go in?"

Liz shook her head. "I think the guys have it. We should head back to the Post Office and wait for her arrival; there's nothing more we need to do here." Ressler nodded and advised the team to deliver Ahmedi to the Blacksite. Liz rapped on the blacked out partition to signal their driver to return them to the Post Office before taking a seat, considering that if Balcescu was taken down as swiftly as Ahmedi the finish line could be in sight.

Cooper greeted Liz and Ressler on their arrival and took them to one side for a brief update before he left them to attend to Malik who was approaching him with purpose; she cast an enquiring glance over at Liz, pleased by the nod she received in response. Aram rose from his laptop to greet Liz and Ressler.

"Ahmedi's being taken to Room Two. Balcescu's squealing in One," he imparted, almost gleefully. Ressler snorted at Aram's excitement.

"Have we had any updates on Reddington?" Liz asked, immediately bringing her tech-savvy colleague back down to Earth.

"Uh, no. We're assuming he hasn't had a chance to make contact while he's with Lacerta. We're expecting news of Ahmedi and Balcescu's arrests to reach them quickly." Liz's stomach knotted at the thought of Red possibly being accused by Lacerta or worse, not being given the chance to talk his way out of it as he usually did; she felt sick and was thankful when Ressler ushered Aram back to his workstation to talk about something, casting a concerned look at her over his shoulder. She had to get a handle on herself, especially while she was in the office; it wouldn't do her any favours to have her emotions plastered all over her face whenever anybody mentioned Red. She knew he wouldn't be at the Blacksite when she returned, but the dread she felt wouldn't leave her and approaching Aram's screens the sensation only intensified.

"Where is he?" she asked in a measured tone.

"His chip," Aram stated. "It's not registering."

"Get Cooper," Ressler ordered Aram. "If Reddington's off grid we need to be looking at contingency ASAP." Once Aram had scurried away he turned to Liz. "Everything is going to be fine," he assured.

Cooper had released the team for a few hours, although they were all reluctant to leave; they saw the tension in Cooper and knew he was concerned that the entire operation was about to head South and their best asset potentially lost. Liz had stared at Aram's screens, willing Red's chip to register but knowing that it wouldn't. Ressler had led her out of the building to Dembe's car, advising she should be taken home.

The drive back had been silent, but she could feel Dembe's concerned gaze. He remained quiet until they were back in the apartment, standing in the kitchen; Liz leant against the counter while Dembe made coffee for them both.

"You must trust in Raymond's ability to come out of any situation unscathed," he advised, setting a mug down beside her. He stood there until she met his dark eyes with her own anxious blue ones. "He will be fine."

"But what if he isn't?"

"One thing you should learn from him, if nothing else, is that 'what ifs' are a waste of time. Things either are or they aren't." Dembe shrugged before pushing away from the counter. "It can help to look at things that way," he said, exiting the kitchen.

She wrapped her hands around the mug and sipped at her coffee, suddenly feeling very tired. She dismissed the idea of a nap, knowing she wouldn't get any sleep; her mind kept turning over the possible outcomes of the situation, finding more negatives than positives. Her phone buzzed and she fumbled to retrieve it from her pocket, sloshing coffee on the countertop as she set her mug down. It was Cooper; Red had managed to get a message to Aram and the interrogation of Balcescu had provided useful intel that he had Agents working on. Liz found she only had a moment to feel affronted that Red hadn't got a message directly to her before her phone started buzzing; she looked at the screen, hoping to see Nick's Pizza calling, but instead answered to Cooper.

"Agent Keen," he greeted.

"Sir," she returned. "I just got your message."

"Reddington needs more time; Lacerta's security has been strengthened, no doubt as a result of Ahmedi and Balcescu disappearing at the same time. He's insisted we wait for him to tell us when to move in. He's projecting forty eight hours until we next hear from him." Liz's heart sank; how was she to deal with not knowing what was happening to him for two days? "Agent Keen, are you listening?"

"Yes, Sir," she recovered. "Are we standing down?"

"Consider yourselves on call; I don't think you're needed here right now. We have people working on the intel from Balcescu, though Ahmedi hasn't given us anything - we're still working on her."

"Feisty, isn't she?"

"You can say that again," he agreed dryly. "I will be in touch if anything changes."

"Thank you, Sir." She hung up to see a message from Ressler, asking whether she'd received Cooper's message; she responded with a simple 'Yes' before heading into the living room with her coffee to sink into the couch and attempt to relax. She smiled as she heard Dembe talking to Hudson in Red's office, no doubt catching up on the admin that wasn't getting done while the Concierge of Crime was underground. Leaning back into the embrace of the couch, she closed her eyes only to be interrupted by her phone again. Ressler. Again. The team were heading out for the evening; the general consensus being that Red wouldn't be in touch until he said he would be, and they could all do with unwinding for the night. Heaving a deep sigh she rose from her seat and padded into Red's office, dropping her cellphone on the desk beside the papers Dembe was reviewing. He looked up at her in question. "I'm going for a nap – can you screen my calls until I wake?"

"Of course," he acknowledged with a smile. "Sleep will do you good." With a yawn and a nod of agreement, Liz exited to the bedroom. She threw herself down on the bed and drew the blanket up from the end of the bed with her feet, pulling it up over herself and snuggling into the pillows. She soon drifted into a fitful sleep, tossing and turning in the large bed.

She woke to find Dembe standing over her, holding her phone.

"Wha- what's happened?" Liz asked, sitting up and running a hand over her face.

"Nothing," he said. "Luli is on her way over; I thought you might like somebody to talk to. Your friend April called too – I said you'd call back once you'd awoken."

"Oh. Thank you, Dembe," she said, accepting her phone from him with a small smile.

"Would you like some more coffee?" he offered. She shook her head in response and he left her alone in the room. Yawning, she looked up April's number and hit the call button.

"Hi April, it's Liz."

"Yeah, it's been crazy at work. I needed the sleep."

"Dembe?" She laughed. "As far as I know he's single, but I'm not sure he's looking."

"You're terrible!"

"Things with David are fine. He's away on business at the moment; he has some loose ends to tie or something."

"No, I'm fine. I just miss him being around. It's silly really, he'll be home in a couple of days."

"Yeah, I'm definitely up for getting together some time." She listened as April reeled off her calendar. "Tuesday sounds good," she said. "Okay, it's a date!" With a few last comments she hung up the call and rose from the bed to search for some more comfortable clothes; she'd rumpled her work suit by napping in it and if the rest of the team were doing their own thing for the next two days then she would do the same, if only to stop herself from constantly thinking about Red. She knew she was kidding herself though, no matter what she did she'd be worrying; she wouldn't be able to relax until he was in front of her, until she could touch him and feel the warmth of his skin beneath her fingers. As she pulled on a pair of jeans she heard Dembe at the intercom and assumed Luli had arrived. She selected a t-shirt and headed into the bathroom to freshen up before greeting Red's assistant, feeling better for having company than she thought she would. Realising there was nothing she could do about the shadows under her eyes, she ran a brush through her hair before leaving the bathroom and heading down the hallway.

"Hey, Luli," she greeted with a smile.

"Hey, yourself," Luli shot back good naturedly, moving further into the room to seat herself on the couch as Dembe excused himself back to Red's study. "I heard you apprehended Ahmedi and Balcescu," she said.

"Yeah. Both takedowns went fairly smoothly. Ahmedi wouldn't talk but Balcescu spilled some valuable intel," Liz responded, sitting on the couch also.

"I'm glad it went well enough. Raymond was concerned for you; I think if he'd had his own way he would've kept you from it."

Liz snorted. "I was in a surveillance van, hardly in any crossfire!"

"True. He didn't say anything to Agent Cooper anyway. He respects your career, you know." Silence fell between them; Liz wasn't sure what to say back to Luli – she'd never considered what Red truly thought of her FBI career, other than it being convenient. "So what're your colleagues doing with their downtime?" Luli prompted, effectively saving the conversation.

Liz shrugged. "They're all going out tonight to celebrate the captures, but I can't stop worrying about Red. This whole thing isn't over yet."

"You should go," Luli encouraged. "Don't worry about Raymond. He can handle himself." Seeing Liz was uncertain she pushed a little more. "Come on, what else are you going to fill your time with? Dembe's hardly a wild child."

"But-"

"Listen, if there's any news I'll be in touch with Dembe. He'll be wherever you are, keeping watch as per Raymond's instructions, so you'll know straight away."

"Okay," she relented.

Luli sat back and rubbed her hands together. "Great. So... what are you wearing?"

Liz threw her hands up in exasperation. "I literally have nothing." It was true. All of the clothes she might have considered were still at the house and she didn't have any desire to return there.

"Actually, you do have one thing," Luli supplied with a sneaky smile, standing from the couch.

"What's that?"

"Access to Raymond's money." She fished her purse from her bag and showed the cards inside.

Liz stared at her a moment, unsure if she was being serious. "Are you suggesting-"

"I call it my corporate card." Luli waved her purse toward the front door. "Come on, get your shoes on. I'll wait in the car."

"Luli," Liz began to protest as she hopped on one foot, pulling on one of her boots, "I couldn't possibly-"

"You can buy lunch if it helps you feel better," Luli called over her shoulder before disappearing through the door to the stairwell.