A/N: This was intended to be a short story but had ended up long- my bad!

Please read, enjoy and review!

Keen and Ressler headed back to their shared office after finally catching the latest blacklisted. He slumped into his chair while she rooted through the small freezer they'd recently put in there. She fished out a bag of peas and walked over to him. He turned his chair to face her, as she sat on the edge of his desk. "This is going to be cold. But that needs ice." He nodded quickly and watched her with one eye as she lent forward and placed the small bag of peas against his other eye. She heard the sharp intake of breath come from him and laughed lightly. He reached his hand up to take the bag from her, their fingers lightly skimming across each other's as he did so. She rose from his desk and made her way to her own, sitting down and opening a case file there. He shifted in his seat and opened a file from his own desk, reading through the report. They spent the next hour in silence as they completed their paperwork. The sharp ringing of Ressler's phone interrupted them both. He clicked a button and held the device up to his ear.

"Ressler… oh hi… what?! No that was meant to be next week… but… what am I supposed to do? I can't… no… I'll see what I can do… still for a few days? Okay, I'll see you later… bye." Throughout the call, he continued to cast glances over at Liz, who was trying to not seem interested in the conversation. Ressler let out a frustrated sigh and rose from his seat. He walked over to the small freezer and dropped the peas inside. He turned and left the room without saying another word. Liz sat there bemused by the man. She watched through the window as he headed up the stairs and into Coopers office. She frowned a little before shrugging the whole situation off and continuing with her paperwork. She hardly noticed when he came back into the room. She decided not to ask. If he wanted her to know what was going on, he would tell her. The clock hit 5:30 and Liz sprang from her seat. "You heading down to the garage?" For the first time since he returned, the room was no longer silent. She nodded at him as an answer as she started to check she had her belongings. "I'll head down with you." She could tell something about him wasn't right, but she couldn't place it. She searched his face, noticing how the bruise around his eye was really coming in.

"Ressler. Are you okay?" She asked, a concerned look on her face.

He froze, like a deer in headlights. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well. That call, darting up to Cooper. Your eye looks bad. And you're leaving at the same time as everyone, not 3 hours later." She tried to lighten the mood. It had worked. He laughed a little.

"Yeah, Keen. I'm fine. Just ready to relax after today. And not exactly like I can read all the paperwork properly with this." He pointed to his eye. She laughed with him as the both picked up theirs coats and headed out the door of their office. They made it to the garage without speaking any further and headed separate ways to their cars.

- - - - - THE NEXT MORNING - - - - -

Liz rushes into their office flushed. She was almost late. Again. She put her coat and bag down and noticed Ressler's empty desk. He wasn't in yet. Which meant he was an hour and a half later than normal. She headed into the war room and stood by Samar and Aram, as they gathered for their morning brief. Cooper came in front of all the agents and provided them with tasks and deadlines. Liz was barely concentrating on what he was saying. She wondered where Ressler was. "…and finally, Agent Ressler is taking the remainder of this week off. As you all know, he was due to be off next week, but has requested to extend that to now too. Since he never takes his vacation days, it was allowed at last minute. But please remember to try and book days in advance." Cooper finished his briefing and headed up to his office. Liz stayed and caught up with Aram and Samar for a few moments before heading to her office. She completed all her case files by the end of the day and headed out. She wanted to check on Ressler. This has been the first day since she had met him where he had taken any days off. Let alone extended time off. She headed to his building, parked her car and walked inside. Making her way to his door. She knocked lightly and waited. She could her voices the other side of the door but couldn't identify anything being said.

He opened the door slightly, his head ducked down. Liz froze. He was wearing sweats, a plain T-shirt and his hair was wavy on the top of his head. He moved his head up and quickly recognised her. He stepped out the door and pulled it close behind him. "Liz? What are you doing here?" His eye was worse than when she had seen him yesterday, making his cheekbone match the dark shade of purple.

"I wanted to check you're okay Ressler. And bring you these. Which I'm glad about now." She smiled and handed him a small bag of frozen peas. He laughed lightly and pressed them to his eye.

"Thanks. But seriously. What are you doing here? I know you didn't come all this way to give me peas at 8 at night." He raised his good eyebrow at her. Liz bit her bottom lip briefly before responding.

"You're right. I was worried about you. You got a phone call yesterday that you seemed really cagey about and now you've extended your vacation. It's just not the Ressler I know." He sighed. He opened his mouth to speak, but was beaten to it by a voice inside the apartment.

"Donnie? Donnie? Where are you?"

Footsteps approached the door and Ressler froze. Liz blushed as she stepped back slightly. "Wow. Ressler I'm sorry. I didn't know you had company. I'll leave you alone. Enjoy your vacation." She turned on her heal but stopped in her tracks as he spoke.

"Liz wait. It's really not like that I promise. It's just…" Just then the door behind him opened to show an older woman with long dark blonde hair. "Liz, this is my mom. Mom, this is Liz." Liz turned back on her heels and looked at the two. She could certainly see a resemblance.

"Hi, nice to meet you!" Liz took a step closer to the pair.

"Liz. This is the girl you've told us about, right Donnie?" She patted his chest, Ressler's cheeks turned bright red. He ducked his head to avoid Liz's eyes. "Come inside! Have some coffee!" The older woman turned and walked back into the apartment, leaving Ressler and Liz in the hall awkwardly.

"She didn't mean that the way it sounded by the way." He picked his head up and briefly looked into her eyes. She held a neutral expression. "Obviously I cant tell her about our actual work, but I can tell her stories of some of it, you know." His voices trailed off at the end of his mumble. She took a step closer and rested her hand on his bare forearm that had once held peas to his face.

"I get it, Donnie." She smirked at him.

"No. No. You cannot call me that!" She raised her eyebrows higher at him and the smirk turned into a full blown smug smile. He sighed heavily in defeat. "Just not at work okay?" She nodded. "Wanna come in?" He pushed the door open further and followed her over the threshold.

Donald's mother was sat on the sofa with a man. Liz could only see the back of his head, but immediately noticed his hair was dark. Ressler appeared at her side and followed her gaze. He gently grabbed the crook in her elbow and brought her further forward into the room. Once they were level with the sofa, Ressler cleared his throat, causing the man to turn and look at them. He rose from his seat and Liz saw how tall he was. Ressler put his hand on Liz's shoulder as he spoke. "Liz, this is my older brother, well half brother Nathaniel, or Nate. Nate, this is my… my partner Liz." She glanced at him quickly, questioning his hesitation. Nate reached his hand out and Liz shook it.

"Nice to meet you Liz. You the one keeping lil' Don here out of trouble?"

She looked over at him quickly again and revelled in the blush on his cheeks. "Something like that, yes." His hand dropped from her shoulder. She turned to face him slightly, leaning closer in to him, so she wasn't overheard. "Ress, do you want me to leave?" Her eyes searched his and he immediately shook his head. She reached forward and delicately hooked her pinky finger around his. Giving it a gentle squeeze.

Ressler squeezed her finger back and turned to quickly grab her a coffee. The four of them sat around the living room talking and sharing stories for an hour.

"Oh would you look at the time! We'd best be heading off!" Ressler's mother rose from the sofa as did Nate. "Liz, it was lovely to meet you. Now we can put a face to the name! Keep safe dear!" The older woman started to move through the room.

"Thank you! And you too Mrs Ressler!" The woman cast a smile back to her. Liz remains still as Ressler helped the two to the front door.

"Bye Donnie. Be safe. And look after her. She's a pretty one!"

"Thanks, mom."

"Bye Donald. Thank you again man. I really appreciate this."

"No worries. I'll see you in a few days." Liz watched as he hugged his family goodbye. He turned back to her and stayed by the door. "You heard that, didn't you?"

"Heard what? That your mom thinks I'm pretty?"

He ran a hand over his face as he walked closer to her. Now or never Donald. He thought to himself. "I mean, she isn't wrong." He looked up at her with his eyes, his head dipped down. She was too good at staying neutral. As he reached the spot next to her. "Would you like another drink?" She nodded lightly. Ressler turned to head to the kitchen when a small voice grabbed both of the attentions.

"Daddy? Daddy?" The voice was tired and slightly broken. Ressler looked over to Liz quickly before heading towards the spare room. She allowed him a few moments the followed him. She reached the doorway as he crouched beside a bed, occupied by a small child. "Where's daddy?"

"Hey bud. Daddy's just left. You know that trip him and granny had to take?" The small child nodded. "You get to stay with me while they make it. Isn't that fun?" Another nod. The child let out a big yawn. "Wow buddy, still tired? Come on, get some more sleep. It's just me and my friend in the living room if you need anything, okay?" There was a very faint yawn and nod and Ressler rose from his spot. He froze when he saw her in the doorway.

They both moved away from the bedroom and into the living room. He grabbed two beers on the way through

"Your brother, Nate. Tell me about him." Liz said as they sat on the sofa.

"What do you wanna know? Interested in him?"

"Intrigued, more than interested. There's only one Ressler I'm interested by. Is that his kid?"

Ressler's eyes opened wider in shock. He coughed lightly to clear his throat. "Yeah, That was Jacob."

"You two don't look like brothers."

Ressler let out a small laugh. "Because I'm ginger and pale and he has dark hair and olive skin?"

"Well… yeah." They both took a swig of beer.

"We have different dads, well biological dads. His dad was some Portuguese man mom hooked up with on holiday, 4 months before she met my dad. Nate never met his biological dad, but my dad raised us both, saw us both as his own. Just a shame he inherited all of his dads genes."

"How old is he?"

"39, he was 7 when I was born."

"And Jacob?"

Ressler smiled at her. "He's 4."

"Ress, you never told me you had a brother. Or a nephew!" She sipped her beer and looked at him.

"We were never really that close, until Jacob was born. He moved away when I was 14, not long after dad died. But he wants Jacob to know me."

"That's nice." Liz said softly as she placed her hand on his forearm. "And so, Jacob's staying with you for a few nights?"

Ressler turned his body slightly to look at Liz better. Her hand remained rested on his arm. "He got a call from one of his ex girlfriends saying that it was his turn to look after their kid. He swears he didn't know anything about it, which is why mom is going with him, to speak to her. But from what I can remember, it was a girlfriend he moved in with when he left, and they were together for almost 6 years. But she was 5 years older and wanted the whole 9 yards, kids, marriage and a townhouse. It freaked him so he left, would have been about 15 years ago. I mean, telling any 24 year old you want everything is only ever going to make or break a relationship."

"So this kid, would be about 15 now?" Ressler nodded. "Wow, do you think he knew?"

"Nah. He wouldn't of left if he did. He would always say, as much as he loved our dad, he wished he could at least meet his own. I don't think he would have abandoned her and pretended to know nothing about it all this time."

"Understandable. Why did you not tell me any of this before?"

"To be honest Keen, I'm not sure why I'm telling you it now. I don't share my personal life, with anyone. My mom doesn't even know that I was shot in my leg all those months ago."

"Ress, that's not personal. That's serious." She tightened her grip on his arm.

"If I told her, she'd worry. It saves us both a lot of stress if she knows as little as possible."

"Ressler! She's your mom!" He laughed lightly and leaned further back into the sofa cushions, facing her still. He offered her a small smile, suggesting there was more behind his reasoning which he wasn't willing to go into. "Why did you never tell me about your family?"

He closed his eyes for a moments, and then looked into her eyes. "Two main reasons Liz. The first, is that I want them to be safe. If no one knows about them, they can't be used to get to me. I lost Audrey, I am not prepared to loose my mom or Nathaniel or Jacob because of this job." His voice shook towards the end of the sentence and looked away from her, taking a deep breath to try and steady himself.

She squeezed her fingers around his arm again, a silent sign of support. He cast her a quick smile, as his eyes connected with hers again. "What's the second reason?"

Ressler moved his hand to cover hers. "Because of you Liz." Her eyebrows furrowed together and she tilted her head slightly. "I always feel bad. You lost Sam, who was everything to you. And I'm here trying to keep them away from me."

"Ressler. You don't have to worry about that. I get it." She smiled softly to him, and he returned it kindly.

"Anyway, Keen. Let's lighten the mood, yeah?" She nodded, he glanced quickly at the clock and saw it was only 9:30. "Wanna watch a film?"

"Sure. Do you mind if I use your bathroom?"

"Course not. Have you eaten?" The both rose from the sofa and headed in the direction of the kitchen. Liz shook her head. "Bathrooms the door straight ahead of you that way." He pointed down the hall way and headed into the kitchen. He returned to the living room and sat just off centre of the sofa. Liz walked back in and saw the table. While she had been in the bathroom, Ressler had prepared her a sandwich and placed it on the table for her. He saw her looking at the plate. "You don't have to eat it if you aren't hungry, but it's there." She sat next to him, closer to him than before.

She lent forward and picked up the plate, taking a bit. "This is really good. Thank you." She smiled at him and continued to eat, whilst he flicked through the movie channels. She finished the food and placed the plate on the table, leaning back into the cushions. She rolled her head to the side slightly and watched him. "I never realised your hair was like that." She didn't mean for the words to come out, but they did. Her voice was soft. He turned to look at her and cast his signature grin in her direction.

"Yeah, that's intentional."

"Do you straighten it?"

He laughed. "No! I just comb it when it's damp and it stays straight. And the gel helps." He chuckled lightly again. "This is a good one!" He said, selecting the movie. He put the remote down and leant into the sofa, his arm falling to the space between them.

Liz smiled at him then looked at the screen. "Oh yeah! I like this one!" She twisted her body to face the screen and she dropped her arm down. It landed against his. They both tensed at the contact and then relaxed into it.

After around an hour of the movie, Ressler stretched out. His arms moved to rest across the back of the sofa. Liz immediately missed the contact of his arm against hers, but soon felt the heat radiating from his arm on to her shoulders. She quickly glanced over to his face. She thought her actions through and hesitated. She took a deep breath and decided to do what her mind was screaming at her to do. She shifted her body slightly, pressing her side into his, slipping her shoes off and pulling her legs onto the empty space beside her. She rested her head against the inside of his shoulder. Ressler froze for a second, he looked down at her and was shocked by how comfortable she felt against him. He moved his hand from the cushion to drape over her shoulder. His hand landed just at her elbow, and he mindlessly drew circles against her skin. He used his free hand to pick up a small cushion and placed it behind his head.