The Envelope 31
"Happy Birthday Donald," Reddington said as he walked into Donald Ressler's front door.
"Thanks," Don said as he looked over the man's shoulder at a catering truck unloading. "What's going on?"
"Your surprise party," Reddington said. "Surprise."
"Excuse me?" Don asked with a chuckle.
"Agnes wanted a surprise for your 40th birthday," Reddington said. "The big 4-0 deserves a moment of levity, don't you think Donald?"
"Wait, you're throwing me a surprise party? One that you're telling me about?" Don asked with a smirk.
"I was never good at surprise parties, shocking for a man with so many secrets, isn't it?" Reddington said as he sat down on the couch and reached toward Christopher who was crawling toward him. "She thinks that yours should be a surprise as well, but, with security and, honestly, you have a lovely yard, I thought I would bring it to you instead of inventing some scenario where you come to a hidden location. Knowing you, you are likely to shoot one of the party-goers thinking it's an ambush."
Don chuckled and leaned against a wall crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at Christopher pushing himself up onto Reddington.
"He's really crawling so much better now," Reddington said with a smile.
"He's a little terror," Don said. "He's so quick I can't take my eyes off him."
"Hello Christopher," Reddington said to the little man who showed interest in him then quickly lost it for a toy he could crawl away to.
"So, a party?" Don asked.
"Small affair, I don't take you for the sit down formal dinner type, so I have a barbeque planned," Reddington said. "I've invited some of your friends from work, your mother and brother will be here shortly. Myself and Dembe. Nothing too extravagant but I have hired old catering friends and they have been smoking ribs for this occasion."
"Wow, thanks," Don said, surprised by the effort the man had gone to for him. "Agnes is at…"
"Dance rehearsal all afternoon for the upcoming performance, yes, I know," Reddington said.
Don nodded, the man knew their schedule, of course he did.
"When you pick her up, take her to the park for a half hour and then come home, the surprise will happen then," Reddington said, shifting in his seat.
"Looks like you've got it all planned," Don smiled at him.
"How are you feeling about the upcoming sentencing hearing?" Reddington asked Don.
"I don't know, worried that they won't give her much time," Don said. "Usually when someone pleads out they get a reduced sentence. That, and the fact that her defence agreed to hold the trial in DC to mitigate the burden on my family…that will go a long way too. But, uprooting the kids to live in Georgia for the trial was not an option."
Reddington nodded. After Donald's emotional speech and the media turning on the defendant, she had pled guilty to second degree murder and the court had accepted it. Now all that was left was sentencing.
"Well, the one benefit to this is it's over," Reddington said. "I'm glad, for your sake, you convinced me to not pursue this in my own way. I do find her in jail less satisfying, but I feel you will find it more satisfying."
Don nodded.
"I know you are trying to find out if Lizzie knew Donald, and I'm not sure it's a pursuit that is going to bring you any satisfaction.," Reddington said as he met the young man's eyes.
"I need to see all the pieces," Don said simply as he walked up to Christopher and took the TV convertor out of his mouth and handed him a toy instead.
"Well, I have a couple of pieces to share, and I'm not sure if they are a birthday present or another riddle for your birthday," Reddington said as he sat back in his seat.
Don nodded and sat down in the chair and looked at him.
"When Lizzie told me she was pregnant I said 'I assume Tom is the father' and instead of responding yes, or of course Tom is. Her response was 'I haven't told him yet'. I hadn't thought much of it, thinking the 'him' was Tom, and also thinking that her non-answer was an answer. I should know better, double-speak being the conversation of my trade, but I didn't catch it and I thought that may be meaningful to you."
"Thank you, it is," Don said.
"Donald, I'm not sure if your goal is to find out that Lizzie did deceive you or did not, what would bring you the greatest happiness?" Reddington asked.
"You and are both know that there are too many…clues, conversations, hints…whatever, to indicate she knew nothing," Don said. "I guess what I'm trying to piece together, or understand, is when did she know, why didn't she say anything, and what was the point?"
Reddington nodded.
"Another time that I can remember was when Agnes was about Christopher's age," Reddington said as he remembered.
"Hello dear Agnes," Reddington said as he walked into their apartment and looked at the little girl in the high chair.
"You came just in time for the messiest part of the day," Liz chuckled as she went to get a cloth to wipe Agnes' face.
"Tom home?" Reddington asked.
"No, he's out," Liz said, wiping Agnes' face. The baby was not pleased.
"Do you remember this Dembe?" Liz asked him.
"Everywhere but their mouth," Dembe said with a smile.
"The walls, the floor," Liz said smiling as she bent down to pick up more food from the floor. "I think it's a 80/20 split. 80% everywhere, 20% in her mouth."
Both men laughed at her joke and Reddington stepped back and looked at Agnes, tilting his head to the side.
"She's awfully fair," Reddington said as he assessed her. "Lizzie, Agnes is looking more and more like Donald Ressler everyday," he chuckled.
Liz dropped a mug in the kitchen and it shattered into pieces.
"Sorry, apple sauce on my hand, it slipped," Liz said as she crouched down to pick up the pieces.
"I guess all babies have that look of wonder that Agent Ressler has every time his world is opened up a little but more," Reddington said dismissively. "I have a case for you."
"I said it as a joke," Reddington said. "I didn't suspect you and she were involved at all, not with Tom in the picture."
"We weren't when Tom was in her life," Don explained. "But that weekend she spent at my place, was just before she went on the run with you. The timing…"
"Was not ideal for her to return to a romantic relationship with Tom," Reddington finished for him.
"I'm surprised you weren't following her," Don said.
"I had someone follow her from time to time," Reddington said. "But she had asked me to back off and I, mostly, adhered to that. You were listed as a place she visited often, but nothing indicated it was for anything but work. Despite what I saw in Uzbekistan, I assumed you two had not taken anything further based on how you were around me and her involvement with Tom."
Don nodded and rose walking over to a bookshelf and taking an old album off the shelf. "When I look back at pictures of Agnes when she was a baby, she looks just like me."
He handed Reddington the book, open to a photo from the 1980's of a baby that could have passed for Agnes or Christopher holding a ball and smiling.
"How I didn't put it together…" Don said as Reddington looked at the album.
"Donald, you weren't looking and therefore didn't see," Reddington said. "None of us did. My joke was honestly a joke, in no way did I think Agnes was your child. But her reaction, dropping the mug when I said that, I should have picked up on that as well."
"It's like we all had pieces to the puzzle but not the final picture," Don said. "Aram said something similar."
"What did Aram say?" Reddington asked.
"He said one day over lunch he and Liz got talking about parenting styles, she was still considering adoption then, and he spoke mainly about his parents and their liberal upbringing of him. He said I walked by and made a comment about getting back to work. Afterwards, Liz asked what kind of parent Aram thought I would be. Aram said I'd coach the baseball team, expect good grades, and be incredibly protective of my family. Liz laughed and said she agreed. Then she asked if, with everything that happened with Audrey, Aram thought I would quit the task force to protect that family. Aram said yes, I would take a management job because my goal above all else would be to keep my family safe. That I would never let anything happen to them or place them in any kind of danger."
Don met Reddington's eyes.
"He was right," Don said. "I've applied for Cooper's job."
"I know," Reddington nodded. "Wise choice as a single parent. And with him retiring, a wise choice for the task force as well."
Don nodded.
"So, you think she was assessing whether having a child with you was even possible?" Reddington asked.
"I think adoption was her easy way to clean this up," Don said. "If she was with Tom but thinking she was carrying my baby, adoption was an easy answer. But she couldn't do it, so she went forward with Tom thinking Agnes was his to save everyone the drama."
"Do you think you and she could have continued to work together on the task force in the same capacity if you knew she was pregnant with your child, or the mother of your child once Agnes arrived?"
"No," Don said definitively.
Reddington nodded, he knew the answer as well as Donald himself.
"I would have been over-protective of her, I already was, and I thought she was carrying Tom's kid," Don said. "If I knew that was our child and she was placing him or her in danger, or herself in danger as the mother of that child…there would have been fights."
"So, the task force…"
"I'm not sure," Don said honestly. "But I know for damn sure Agnes wouldn't have been living with a nanny while she was in a coma, or living with Scottie while she was at the cabin…I'm just wondering why, after Tom, she didn't come clean when she could have. I could have helped with Agnes, it could have been less stressful, less work…"
"Maybe she needed you too much to risk losing you," Reddington said. "Because you can kid yourself all you want Donald, but telling you that Agnes was yours years after she was born, after everything, it would have destroyed any relationship you and she had. Maybe she prioritized that over honesty."
Donald sat back in his chair and took that all in.
"You have to go pick up Agnes," Reddington said as he leaned down and picked up Christopher, who had found another TV convertor to chew on.
"Yeah," Don said as he rose and took the convertor from his son. "Thanks for this."
Reddington handed Don a squirming Christopher. "All I'm saying Donald is that only Lizzie knows when she knew, why she hid the information from you, and what her reasoning was. She's gone now, so those answers, the true and clear answers to your questions, are with her. You can piece together all of our memories and stitch them into a quilt to wrap around yourself if that would make you feel better, maybe give you some peace," Reddington said as he walked toward the kitchen. "But in the end, I think it's clear she loved you. And love, Donald, is the most important factor in all of this. All the stupid choices we make along the way, the hearts we break and mend back up, the things we omit…in the end, there was still love at every turn."
Reddington disappeared into the kitchen and Donald heard him calling out directions to the caterer as he shut the door behind him and walked into Don's yard.
To be continued…