She waits until Liz is in the shower.
In her head there is an agenda a mile long. It starts with listening to the message on her work cell. How dare he? He should know those phones are monitored. It's an incredibly stupid and desperate move on his part.
And then it strikes her.
She's slept with Liz.
She's fallen for this woman she is supposed to be protecting for another man. A man who was in the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list for two decades.
"What in the actual fuck was I thinking," she hisses under her breath as she picks up the phone. His message is over a minute long. She deletes it and presses her thumb into the lock on the safe next to the bed. She digs out the burner cell and calls him.
He answers on the first ring.
"Everything is fine," she says. "There is no cause for concern."
"How is she?" He asks without a greeting or preface.
"She's okay," Samar begins.
"Where is she living?"
"She was staying in a motel outside of Arlington. I convinced her to come and stay with me for a few weeks, until she can get back on her feet, but I assume you already knew that. She moved in yesterday." Samar says. She also assumes he knows how much time they have been spending together, and that there was an occasion when Samar stayed over in the dingy motel.
"Well. Isn't that cozy. I didn't know that yet," he says. "But it is good you got her out of that motel. Thank you. I'm concerned for her safety."
"I think she is safe here," Samar begins but he cuts her off.
"Listen to me, Samar, I don't have much time. When I did away with Tom Keen I inadvertently activated a protocol that is moving a lot more swiftly than I can explain at the moment. But Elizabeth is most definitely not safe. Even with the protective detail I have around her, she is at risk. I trust you've given her the item?"
"Yes," Samar lies, her heart pounding in her throat as it does when she is panicking but trying not to. Her brain flashes back to when she was captured at the black site in the middle of the Pacific when they went after Braxton. She remembers the chain around her neck and how her feet slipped and slid in her own blood on the block. She remembers the split in her brain; the panic on one side and the numbness on the other.
That is precisely how she feels at this moment on the phone with Reddington as her new lover showers on the other side of the wall. Her brain is splitting. "But she will not even look at it. She knows it's from you," she ad libs helplessly.
"She will have to," he says. "You've got to get her to me. I can keep her safe."
"She won't come," she flounders. "She won't have anything to do with you."
"If she won't come willingly then you will have to make her. I'll have Mr. Kaplan send over a kit in case you need to do some medical coercion."
"I've told you before I will not drug her," Samar whispers into the phone.
"You're whispering, Samar," Red says. "Where is Lizzie right now?"
"She's in the shower."
"Very well, then we will keep our exchange short and sweet. There will be instructions sent to you for a meet up. You will bring her. The rest will be taken care of and you and I will settle our affairs."
"Are you talking about abducting Elizabeth?"
"Abducting implies something nefarious," Red says. "I would like to think of this as more of a rescue mission. She will eventually see the goodness of my ways."
"I am not going to allow you to kidnap her. Do you hear me, Reddington? It will not happen. I will not go along with this."
"It's not a suggestion, Agent Navabi. It is a direct order."
"Last time I checked, I answer to the FBI. I was doing you a favor, and I was happy to do it, but this is above and beyond what I am willing to do, even for you."
"I can send a tactical team to scoop her up. But it would probably be far less traumatic for her if someone she knows and trusts executes this. This will happen one way or the other, and after everything she has been through I would like for this to cause as little disruption as possible. Her safety is imperative. It is the only thing that matters now. The rest I will fix once we secure her protection."
"I think she's planning to kill you." Samar utters in desperation.
"That is something I can live with, as long as we get her someplace safe."
"Give me some more time," Samar begs. "A few weeks. I can help her calm down. I can keep her safe, and then help her move elsewhere without this destructive coercion you have planned. She'll never forgive either of us."
"Agent Navabi, we are out of time. This happens by the end of the week, preferably sooner. Kaplan will be in touch." There is a moment of silence before he says, "You understand what you are to do?"
"Yes," she says. The call dies, but she sits there in bed, holding the phone to her ear for at least another two minutes before she places the phone back in the safe and closes it.
"Samar?" Liz calls from the bathroom. Samar jumps off of the bed, startled. She goes into the hallway, and pushes the bathroom door open.
"Yes. Did you need something?"
"Um. Yeah. I need for you to come in here and join me," Liz says. She pokes her head out from the shower curtain and crooks her index finger at Samar, beckoning her. Samar approaches. Liz takes her face in her wet hands and kisses her. "It's lonely in here without you," she says.
Samar looks at Liz. She looks so happy. Genuinely happy for the first time in weeks, maybe even months. Her brain digs up the image of Liz's face when Samar had told her she was going to plan a baby shower for her. Dark shadows had pressed themselves under Liz's eyes, and Samar had wondered if every woman was so tired when they were pregnant. She had wondered if it was just a myth that women were supposed to have a blessed glow when expecting. She understands now how much Liz had had on her mind- her ambivalence for Tom, her anxiety towards Reddington, her desire for a healthy child that would not know the peril she had endured.
And here she is, at ease, cheerfully inviting Samar to join her in the shower, having traveled through hell and back. How does one become so strong? Samar wonders. Could this be the Warrior Gene allowing Liz to exhibit true resilience in the face of despair.
"Well, what are you waiting for," Liz murmurs. Samar strips her shirt and underpants off and steps into the shower. She wraps her arms around Liz's slick body and holds her close as the water saturates them both. "Mmmmm. You feel so good," Liz says.
"So do you," Samar replies. Her body is responding to Liz's hands as they slide over her back and ass, to the sensation of Liz's breasts pressed against her own. Liz lowers her face and takes one of Samar's nipples into her mouth, sucking and biting it gently and then with increasing pressure. Samar moans. Her lusty noise encourages Liz to take the other breast in her hand. It's not been a full hour since they first made love, and yet Samar feels her knees buckling with desire. Even with the threat of danger and Reddington and discovery of this precious affair imminent, Samar craves more of Liz.
She remembers after she and Saida discovered one another's bodies for the first time. They were so young, so innocent, and so curious. She remembers how they did not want to stop exploring each other, not even to go to school.
So it is now, with Elizabeth, and she can tell that the other woman feels the same as her fingers press into Samar's skin. But then, suddenly, Liz stops.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, why?" Samar pants.
"Your heart is racing," Liz says. "I can feel it under my lips."
"It's just what you're doing to me," Samar says.
"I want you again," Liz whispers.
"Well, you can have me. I'm all yours." Samar kisses Liz, her tongue sweeping into her mouth. She grabs Liz's ass in her hand and clutches it, pressing hard against her.
"Can I touch you now?"
"Yes."
"Show me," Liz pleads, her voice shy and sultry at the same time.
Samar turns so her back is to Liz and reaches back to grab Liz's hands and wrap her arms around her waist, so Liz is holding her. Liz's breasts squish against Samar's shoulders. Samar guides Liz's left hand up to her breast, and then slowly guides her right hand down until it is at the mound between Samar's legs. Liz pinches at Samar's nipple and she nibbles on Samar's neck as the fingers of her right hand move gently into Samar's wet folds. Liz moans, her cheek on Samar's back as she touches Samar for the first time.
"Now what?" Liz whispers.
"Pretend I'm you," Samar says and turns her head to devour Liz's mouth with her own. "Touch me like you would touch yourself."
Liz's fingers slip and slide over Samar, easily finding the erect bundle of Samar's clit and working it in slow circles. She speeds up as Samar moans and writhes in her arms. It is not long before Samar's entire body goes rigid and she gasps, then comes completely undone under Liz's eager fingers. Samar turns and holds Liz, kissing her over and over and giving thanks that the hot spray of water from the shower masks the tears that flow down her cheeks.