Chapter Twenty-Four

Jacob felt the sting of a bullet graze his shoulder as he shoved Liz behind a desk for cover, grabbing for his own weapon as he did. He had hold of her collar, directing her roughly, and they both ducked down.

"Please tell me you have a plan."

"Anytime, Ress," Jacob growled, the comm buzzing obnoxiously in his ear, but other than that he didn't receive a response. He cursed lowly and returned fire. "Where does that door go?" he demanded, motioning to the far wall.

"I don't know. This is the only room they brought me to."

Jacob nodded, running through possible solutions. There were four men and Berlin in the room. He had taken one down just after they had ducked for cover, but it was difficult to get an idea for where they were coming from while they were behind the desk. If he could just-

The thought was caught off as one of those men rounded the corner. Jacob didn't have time to respond as his wife kicked out, a resounding crack coming from the man's knee and he went down. Liz grabbed for his gun and he was dead a half a breath later. She turned towards him. "I'm willing to fight our way out if you are."

"Ress would have started in the second he couldn't reach me."

"I'm not waiting," Liz snapped and ducked out from their spot.

Jacob growled irritably as he popped up over the desk and took one of the guys down. Liz had another one downed, and that left Berlin.

Who was nowhere to be seen.

Jacob straightened, looking around and keeping his gun level. He heard the distant shouts of FBI from the entrance and he finally lowered his gun, motioning for Liz to do the same. She didn't at first and he took a step towards her. "Hey, we don't know who you are. Don't give them a reason to shoot you."

Liz bristled and lowered her weapon, her face finally relaxing a little into an expression of worry rather than adrenaline fuelled aggression. "Jacob…"

"Don't you dare run, Liz. If you try, all bets are off."

She stood there stiffly, staring at him. "Would you shoot me?" she asked, her voice more curious than accusing.

"For all I know you could try to shoot me," he snapped back, Vienna playing through his mind. After all the nights he'd woken from that nightmare and she had comforted him, it was bizarre to think she might have staged the whole thing.

Pain flashed through his wife's eyes. "This was never about hurting you, Jacob."

"Well you did a fantastic job for not trying," he snapped as the door opened and he leveled a glare in Liz's direction.

She dropped her weapon and kicked it away. FBI agents filled the room, led by Ressler. Two of them stood at Liz's side and cuffed her. Her eyes never left Jacob as he watched them do it. "Are you going to ask me?"

"Ask you what?" he answered, watching her carefully.

"If any of it was real."

"I know the answer," he lied, but she had always been able to see through him where others couldn't.

A small, sad smile tilted her lips. "I don't think you do," she murmured as they led her out.

"Hey," Ressler greeted and Jacob tried to focus on his friend rather than the sick feeling working its way through him. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he managed, pushing the emotions down. "They taking her back to the Post Office?"

"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry we were a little slow to get in. We got a call saying Cooper was in a hit and run on his way over. They had to rush him to the hospital."

"Damn," Jacob breathed. "Any idea who?"

Ressler frowned and Jacob had a feeling he knew what was coming. "They're holding Liz as a possible accessory. Reddington may still be able to talk her out of it, but… We don't know. She'll spend the night in the box at least under heavy surveillance."

"And me?"

His friend frowned. "I'm sure there'll be questions, Jake, but they're not looking at you. There's no reason for them to."

"My wife is a spy, Ress. There's plenty of reasons to."

"We're going to figure this out."

"Guess we're going to have to."

"Will you go home if I tell you to?"

"No."

"Didn't think so." Ressler heaved a sigh. "Let's see what kind of mess this is going to turn into."

Even the best laid plans always had a kink or two in them, and this had hardly been a best laid plan. It had been born of desperation to get Elizabeth away from immediate danger before the more long term danger took notice. Reddington didn't have the proof yet, but his suspicion was that Berlin was an attack dog set on him by the Cabal. He would have to have a chat with Alan. Preferably one that didn't include him hanging from the ceiling of a former black site.

The Post Office was in as close to chaos as Reddington imagined it could get. He was let in, per the usual, but stopped before he could make his way to where he could see Elizabeth cuffed inside the box. "I'm sorry, but no one is allowed to speak with her without the lead agent's orders," he was told, but for the life of him he couldn't seem to find out who the lead agent on the case was. Likely either Donald or Phelps, but both men were still cleaning up the mess that the Berlin fiasco had turned into. That was something else that Reddington needed to deal with, but not before speaking with Elizabeth.

"The infamous Raymond Reddington."

Red stopped in his tracks and turned, quirking an eyebrow at the dark haired man that stood with a condescending expression plastered across his face. "And you are?"

"Special Agent Walter Martin. I've been sent in from the DC office to temporarily take over while Assistant Director Cooper is in the hospital. I've been debriefed on our… arrangement with you."

"Oh good. Please call your goons off then. I need to speak with Mrs Phelps."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Excuse me?"

"Ms Rostova is being held and will be questioned. Berlin is still at large and she can provide invaluable support if she chooses to."

"Harold Cooper assured me that-"

"Harold Cooper is in the hospital after being caught up in a hit and run on his way to the poorly laid out scheme that you and Agent Phelps put together. Don't worry. As soon as he walks through those doors he'll be questioned about it as well."

Reddington snorted. "As I was saying, Agent Cooper assured me that my assistance would provide me a moment with Ms Rostova," he pressed, Liz's birth name leaving his tongue half a second slower than the rest of his sentence.

"Sir, Agent Ressler is on the line for you," an analyst called over.

Martin frowned, glancing to the box where Liz sat cuffed to a chair. "I'm here on orders, Reddington. I don't like this arrangement nor do I approve of it. People like you belong in a deep, dark hole somewhere. That woman too, but it is what it is. Make it quick, because when I'm done, we're escorting you either off the premise or to an office to wait until we know more about what's going on. Am I clear?"

"Something tells me that you're rarely clear in your intentions, Agent Martin," Red answered cheerfully before sidestepping him and moving towards the box. If Martin responded to the quip, he didn't hear it, and Liz looked up as he moved closer to her. "Hello, Elizabeth."

"Reddington," Liz answered, her voice steady and her gaze unreadable. "Where's Jacob?"

"Your husband is handling the case that he's been thrust into. I'm afraid you'll have to settle with me for now."

She tilted her head a little, trying to get a read on him. Reddington continued to smile. "I thought you might have some questions," he prompted after a moment.

"And you'll just tell me?"

"Perhaps. It depends on the question. Please do remember that we are very likely being recorded at this time." He glanced up and gave the camera a small wave.

"Berlin said you knew my birth mother."

"Katarina Rostova. Yes, I knew her."

"How?"

He frowned a little. "For the time being, that is not important."

"You've been… using my husband. Were you using him to find me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Reddington sighed, but didn't answer. There was no telling how deeply into the FBI the Cabal's reach went. If they had access to the audio feeds, there was no reason to give them anything more than they already had. He'd hoped that perhaps some of her questions would be ones that he could answer, but she didn't seem inclined to throw any softballs that afternoon.

"Am I on your blacklist?"

That caused the criminal to chuckle. "Goodness, it does sound like Agent Phelps tells you a bit more than he should. That's likely to land him in trouble."

Her expression darkened immediately. "Jacob doesn't have anything to do with this. He didn't know anything about my identity." She looked up at the camera, glaring. "Do you hear me?"

"Patience, Elizabeth. They'll give you a chance to have your say. Him as well, I'm sure, but he'll have Agent Ressler in his court as he often does. Those two are quite amusing, aren't they?"

Liz turned a questioning expression on him. "What do you want, Reddington?"

That was the question, wasn't it? He had been so determined to be near her. He had held back for just the right time to reveal everything and then it had fallen apart. Circumstances weren't idea, but he had made less favourable than these work. "I wanted to make sure you were alright," he confessed softly.

Liz bristled. "So you didn't have any intentions of answering my questions. Fine. No, I'm not alright. I want to see Jacob. I need…" A heavy breath left her. "I need to see him. I'll tell them whatever they want to know as long as I can speak with my husband."

"That won't be happening just yet," Martin said from behind. "Until he's been cleared, he won't be meeting with you."

Reddington glanced back. "I am aware that you're new here, Agent Martin, but things happen a certain way. This team-"

"Doesn't belong to you, Reddington. It's time someone reminds you of that. Agent Thompson here will escort you out of the Post Office. Don't go far. We may have questions."

"I'm sure you will," Reddington answered with a smile. He allowed the young agent to escort him, and Dembe met him in the garage above.

"How is Elizabeth?"

"Rattled, though she's doing her best not to show it. Agent Cooper's hospitalization couldn't have come at a worse time. I need you to get the florist on the phone for me. It's time Alan and I had a chat on my terms."

He hadn't slept in nearly forty-eight hours. The hunt for Berlin was in full swing and Jacob had thrown himself into it. Somewhere along the way he was called and alerted that the FBI was on route to his home to look for clues. The fact that they had Liz in custody didn't seem to matter. They wanted to know everything and their entire life was up for grabs. He wasn't able to get away immediately, but he had a pretty good idea what to expect, even if he didn't like it.

Hudson was a nervous wreck by the time he got there and there were agents everywhere. They were turning his life more upside down than it had already been. Jacob was a private person, and to have them crawling through every inch of his home set him as on edge as the dog was.

"Agent Phelps, I'm glad to see you here. You're a difficult man to track down."

Jacob turned numbly from where he'd been watching everything. "And who are you?"

"Walter Martin. I'll be filling in for Agent Cooper while he's recovering."

"Any word on him yet?"

"He sustained multiple injuries. There's a list, but they do expect him to make it."

"First bit of good news all day," Jacob sighed.

"I understand that this has likely been a trying day for you, but I've set up a full debrief for first thing tomorrow morning. We'll need to assess exactly where you stand in all of this."

"Shocker," Jacob grumbled. "Listen, I have a job to do. Berlin is still out there, and until we have a better idea what his plan is, I really can't be tied up in protocol. I'll give you the report, but the only reason I'm not out there with my partner right now is because these idiots decided to rip my home apart." A box in a man's hand caught his eye. "Hey, leave that one, would you?"

"Part of your job is to get everyone on the same page as you with this. We have Rostova. Berlin is just a matter of time."

Jacob shot the other man a look. He was a paper pusher out of the DC office that somehow had the clearance to be in the middle of all of this. He didn't like it, but most of all, Jacob didn't trust him. Granted, his trust threshold was pretty low at that point.

"Agent Phelps? We've just about wrapped it up here."

"Great, you want to get out of my house?" he snapped, regretting it immediately. "Sorry, man. It's been a long couple of days. I just need some sleep, so…"

"Eight AM tomorrow," Martin called over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Jacob watched as they cleared everything out, taking what they believed might have to do with the case. The door shut behind them, the sound the last one that seemed to be left save his own breathing. It left him feeling empty, the void threatening to swallow him up as he stood in the front hallway of the townhouse he and Liz had bought when they had first been married. It was quiet in the wake of the chaos, and that quiet rattled him deeply.

Everything reminded him of her and in that, reminded him of what she'd done. Pictures remained on the shelves where as her laptop had been taken as evidence. They hadn't touched the book she'd been reading while they had taken the pile of papers that she had been in the middle of grading from the computer desk. Jacob ghosted through the house, finding reminders in every room and pieces simply missing. Whatever they thought was connected they had taken. Her rings had been the first, though his own still rested on his left ring finger.

Jacob closed his eyes, pulling in a breath he hoped would steady him. It wasn't helping, though, not in the wake of everything, and all at once he ripped the ring off his finger and threw it across the room. It clattered against the wall and onto the floor, but it wasn't enough. He needed to fill the silence in some way.

By the time he was done everything within immediate reach that reminded him of her was on the floor or thrown halfway across the room. Framed photos lay broken, the table overturned, chairs scattered, a bookshelf toppled, and even that stupid lamp that they had bought together on their first night in the new place lay toppled on the ground. Jacob stood in the dining room where he'd ended the outburst, his breathing hitched and his entire body trembling under the strain. Even after all the noise he'd made, he was still left with the silence that followed. It wasn't going to stop. She'd left too big of a hole to fill so easily.

Hudson gave a low whine, butting up under Jacob's hand. "Yeah, buddy," he whispered softly, his voice cracking just a little as he sank back against the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen and the dining room, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor. "Me too."

Audrey had needed an explanation by the time Ressler wrapped things up and decided to drop by his partner's house to check on him. She deserved one, he knew, but what he could tell her he wasn't sure. Finally he had settled on admitting that Jake and Liz seemed to be having trouble, he didn't know the whole story yet, but that he wanted to check on Jacob before heading home. It wasn't the whole truth, but it was enough to get the point across, and she had given her full blessing and told him just to call and let her know if he decided to stay. That had seemed a little farfetched until he actually got there.

Jacob didn't answer the door, nor did Hudson come running as he always did. Ressler could see just enough to see that the agents were gone and the lights were turned out, so he dug into his pocket and pulled out the spare key that he'd been given but so rarely used. The door eased open and he moved to the second one. The lights were off, but he could see the destruction that he was pretty sure the FBI hadn't caused. They tended to leave things disheveled, but not shattered on the floor. "Jake?" he called quietly, careful not to step on the broken glass in the hallway. He looked down and saw Liz and Jacob smiling back up at him from the photo of their trip to Boston a year after they'd gotten married. Liz's smile looked so carefree and Jacob… Jacob looked happy.

A strange sound echoed softly across the wooden floors, something of a thumping, and Ressler followed it to where he found the man he was looking for. Jacob sat staring straight ahead, leaned against the half wall that stood between the dining room and the kitchen. The table was overturned and one of the chairs entirely smashed. Hudson lay next to his owner, tale thumping against the floor as he looked up and offered Ressler a soft whine.

"Jake, you okay?" Ressler murmured. The better question might have been to ask how bad he really was, but the older man wasn't sure he was ready to ask that, nor was his partner ready to tell him. Hell, Jacob hadn't even acknowledged him yet, even after the question was voiced.

Ressler pulled in a breath, moving carefully to the dark haired agent's side and knelt down. There was dried blood on his hands, as if he had cut them in his rage, and his blue eyes were staring unfocused ahead. He startled a little when Ressler reached out, and pain that echoed in every inch of his expression as he finally turned towards his friend. "Ress?"

"Hey, buddy," Ressler greeted softly. "You did a number on this place."

Jacob's gaze drifted out over the destruction and he shrugged. "Guess so."

Any other time, this would have been the moment that Liz stepped in to handle the situation. Ressler had never been the best at comforting, and Jacob wasn't exactly the easiest person to know how to approach it if he were. Jake locked things down so tightly that when they finally broke free… well, Ressler supposed this was what happened. It had never been this bad, at least not since Ressler had known him, and he was at a loss as to what to do for him. All he knew was that something needed to be done.

"Let's get you up, huh? Did that Agent Martin get ahold of you?"

Jacob mumbled something that Ressler didn't quite catch as he hauled him up, but he thought it was an affirmative. He hoped it was. "You've got a debriefing at eight tomorrow morning. You should probably get some sleep before that."

He didn't receive an argument, nor did Jacob fight him as he helped him slowly up the stairs. The younger man didn't say or do anything other than give the barest of efforts in following Ressler's directions. It was slow moving, but he finally got him up and Jacob halfway fell into the bed on top of the comforter, Hudson hopping up with him and curling up protectively. His hands weren't bleeding anymore, and Ressler wondered just how long his partner had been sitting in the dark like he'd found him. He got them cleaned up as best as he could, wrapping up the right one that had a gash along his palm that looked fairly shallow. Through it all, Jacob didn't say one word.

Ressler pulled in a breath, worry creeping up in dangerous levels. He wasn't sure what to do next. This wasn't a physical injury that he could get him help for, and he certainly wasn't equipped to help his partner work through the emotional trauma of finding out his wife had likely never loved him. With all Jacob had been through over the years, Ressler knew that Liz was one of the last people he would have expected to betray him. He'd let her in, past all the safeguards, and he had trusted her. The trust that Ressler knew that he had in him was what made his next move so important. He didn't dare go outside of that very small circle of trust for help, not even to Audrey.

"I'll be right back, okay?" he murmured and Jacob didn't stir. Slowly he made his way back down the stairs, looking around until he remembered that his partner's phone had been shattered in his wife's escape attempt. Ressler snorted at the thought and looked through the drawers until he found an address book, hoping that the number was current as he dialed it into his own cell.

The phone rang once, twice, and the lateness of the hour nearly had him hanging up after the third ring, but a sleepy "Hello?" came through from the other end.

"Kelly? Hey. It's Don Ressler. I… Something's happened with Jake." The call had been a bad idea. He knew that Kelly wouldn't let it rest with a simple explanation that Liz left. She would need it all, and the woman had a sixth sense for lying. There was no question that, even if it hadn't been filed as such yet, the situation with Masha Rostova was highly classified, but Ressler was at the end of his knowledge on how to help his friend. Some things were more important.

TBC

Notes: I really wish the show would give us a glimpse of the aftermath of something. With Jacob, specifically, but honestly they leave out the aftermath of a lot. (Liz barely got a chance to react to when Luther Braxton kidnapped her and she was forced under hypnosis.) They've talked about the fact that Jacob's story in the show is, at least in part, him 'becoming a real boy' and 'building a soul'. I hope that as he does that, we get a glimpse of how his near-perfect control slips when those emotions that he hasn't had to deal with start slipping through and he has to face them. Until then, I'll just have to settle for my AU in which he's had at least a little more emotional experience than in the show.

And, by the way, I just need to have a fangirl moment and say: BLACKLIST IS BACK ON THIS WEEK! Ahem.

Also (because these are apparently very lengthy notes this time) FFN has been freaking out with reviews lately. I get them in my inbox, but I can't seem to access them on the site itself. It's very odd, but I AM getting your reviews, so thank you all for sending them through :D

Next time - Jacob speaks to Liz, Reddington and Alan Fitch have their chat, and Samar is tasked with finding out exactly where Jacob's loyalties lie.