Wait Part 2
Author's Note: One shot? Ha!
Let me know what you think.
WWWWWWWW
Ressler sat on the uncomfortable chair outside of her cell and watched her sleep. She was curled up with his jacket as a pillow and a thin blanket over her body.
'What the fuck had they gotten themselves into?' Was the thought that kept going around and around in his head as he sat there all night.
The guard must have been suspicious of them with him personally supervising her intake, hugging her as she cried, and now sitting on a shitty chair outside of her cell all night. But she hadn't said anything, only brought him hot coffee twice and watched Liz for him while he quickly visited the washroom. When the door opened again, Ressler wasn't surprised to see her.
"My shift's almost done," she said as she handed him another warm cup of coffee. "I thought I'd bring you another before I left. Valdez is the next supervisor and she's not bringing you coffee."
Ressler softly chuckled. "Thanks Rita."
She leaned against the wall and looked at Liz sleeping and then her eyes drifted toward the man in the chair.
"You work together?"
Ressler nodded.
"Friends?"
"She's my best friend," he admitted, and it struck him he'd never said that to anyone before but, somehow, Keen had become his best friend without him noticing.
"Ahh," she nodded.
He looked at her with knitted eyebrows.
"You are the first arresting officer to hug a detainee," she smirked at him.
"As much as it was my job to bring her in," Ressler said, sitting back in his chair. "I didn't relish it. And it doesn't make her any less my friend who I want to keep safe."
She nodded.
"She didn't seem particularly happy about the pregnancy," Rita noted.
"No, she wasn't," Ressler said as he shifted and looked at his coffee.
"She's not married?" Rita asked.
"No, divorced," Ressler said, thinking explaining Liz Keen's marriage was going to take longer than was left in this woman's shift.
"So, it's probably a one-night stand," Rita huffed.
"Probably," Ressler said, knowing that it had just been one night. One night he questioned for months afterwards.
"That's tough," Rita said. "But she's not the first to arrive pregnant. A lot of drug dealers use their pregnant girlfriends to carry their stash because the police don't suspect them. One woman dealt out of her baby's buggy while at the park watching her other two kids play and singing to her baby who was overtop of a shit ton of coke."
"Wow," Ressler said.
"She'll figure it out," the woman said as she pushed off from the wall. "But if she does decide to have the kid and Mr. One Night Stand doesn't pony up, her kid, unfortunately will go into the system. That always breaks your heart."
Ressler swallowed hard and nodded.
"But I hear through the grapevine she may have friends in high places," Rita said with a smile. "She may not be with us for long."
"Why do you say that?" Ressler asked, turning in his chair to look at her as she walked out.
"You're here, aren't you?" Rita smiled at him. "I hear you're a big shot at the FBI. I'd think guarding her in prison is below your pay grade, best friend or not."
Ressler smiled at her and watched her leave.
He drank his steaming coffee and watched Liz sleep.
She had come to his apartment a fugitive and he had not arrested her. She had killed the attorney general and instead of reading Liz her rights, he had let her into his apartment. And once inside, she'd told him about losing Leo Andropov, about the pieces of the puzzle she'd put together in the last couple of days, about her innocence. And he wanted to believe her, wanted to trust her, wanted to work with her. Instead, he had patched her up and talked with her about how he would contact Reven Wright and they would work with her to figure this out. Instead, he had told her he had a job to do and that she would be safer in the system. She nodded her head in agreement and asked if they could wait until the morning, it was past midnight, and she was pretty scratched up and tired. He'd looked at her tired face and had just spent the last 20 minutes cleaning various cuts and scrapes on her body and patching her up. He got that she was done for the night, so he nodded his head in agreement and went to his bedroom to find her some clothes to sleep in.
But, when Liz came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso and started to kiss the back of his neck while her fingers lightly trailed across his pecs, he lost all train of thought. Ressler turned in her embrace and saw her standing before him in just a pair of black lacy panties. His brain took a moment to catch up to the scene in front of him that was so different than anything that had happened between them before. She was kissing him before he even knew what was going on, and his body reacted automatically, his arms went around her bare back, his mouth responded to hers, and his lower half came alive.
She walked him backwards to his bed, pulling his shirt over his head, undoing his pants as they walked, and they fell onto the bed together with him taking the impact of her body on his as he sunk into the mattress. For the first part of the act, he was at her mercy, her hands and mouth were everywhere, making him moan, call her name, and writhe underneath her ministrations. When he finally realized that what was happening between them was real, Ressler started to take charge more when he flipped them over. His efforts made her pull at his hair, call out his name, and call to whatever god she believed in. Ressler was in awe of her, Liz's glow, her beauty, her ecstasy. If he thought her gorgeous normally, in this moment seeing her come undone, she was the most beautiful he had ever seen her.
After the act was complete, he fell asleep with her body draped over his, her hand resting solidly on his left shoulder and the knowledge that they needed to have a discussion about what happened in the morning. But that discussion didn't happen because Liz Keen was gone when his alarm went off. She had snuck out of his bed in the dead of night, leaving a one-line note explaining that she needed to do this her own way. She also asked him to continue to believe in her innocence. He swore when he realized what happened and punched a wall. He had been duped by the oldest trick in the book. She was the siren that distracted him from his duty, she had used his obvious feelings for her, his obvious attraction to her, to get away. She had never intended to work with Reven, sex with him was a means to an end, a way to distract him long enough so she could escape. He was a fucking patsy.
That knowledge, that he would never allow his feelings for her to get in the way of his job, had propelled him forward in the coming weeks as he tracked her and Reddington down. He was angry with her, angry and hurt that she had used him. And he was angry with himself more than anything. That he had wanted her so badly, that he'd let his better judgement take a backseat to sexual need and desire. Which is why he'd tackled her when he arrested her, why, besides the one hug as she had a breakdown, he had treated her kindly but professionally. Why he agreed to guard her, because of all people, he knew what she was capable of, and he wasn't falling for any of her tricks twice. But now, things had just got a whole lot more complicated. Their one-night stand, the one night when she'd used him to escape, had turned into a child. Their child.
"Ressler?" She asked as she sat up groggily.
He got off his chair and stood at the bars.
"You seemed to sleep well," he said as he watched her stretch.
"And it looks like you didn't sleep at all," Liz said as she looked at him concerned.
"I have plenty of time to sleep when this is over," Ressler said, trying to not make a big deal of her comment. "I promised I would keep you safe and I'm doing just that."
She nodded and got up, unfolding his jacket and handing it to him through the bars.
"Thank you," she said as she met his eyes.
He swallowed hard and nodded.
"We should talk," Liz said.
"We should," he said agreeing.
"Are we on camera? Mic?" Liz asked.
"Only camera," Ressler said. "Budget cuts."
She chuckled softly.
"About that night…" Liz started.
"Liz, I know you…I know what happened was a means to an end," Ressler said, wanting to get ahead of anything she may say and let her know he wasn't hurt. He was, but he didn't want her to know that.
"It was," she said.
He felt like his heart fell to his knees at her words. He thought she'd at least try to deny it.
"But it doesn't mean I didn't want it to happen," she said as she scratched at the bar and didn't meet his eyes. "I wanted that for, I'm ashamed to say, too long."
He looked at her confused.
When she heard no response, she looked at him and saw his confused expression.
"Ressler, I have been looking at you like I wanted that to happen since…well, probably a few cases in," Liz chuckled softly. "I was married, and you were a gentleman, but…but I wanted you. And certain aspects of our lives kept that from happening."
He furrowed his brow. This was not how he expected this conversation to go.
"I was married to Tom, you and Audrey were back together, then you were mourning her loss…"
"Liz, I don't understand," he said.
She gave him a soft smile.
"Ressler, I knew I was about to go on the run to prove my innocence and it may be months before I saw you again," Liz said. "The situation and the timing was, incredibly, incredibly wrong, but my feelings, my attraction, my…want, that was true. That was me, wanting one night with you so I wouldn't regret not having that before I left you for a long time."
Ressler swallowed hard and looked at her for signs of obfuscation. There were none, and his brain, just like that night, was taking a bit longer to process this surprise.
"And now I'm pregnant, and in jail, and the cabal will want me dead as soon as possible," Liz said. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I'm putting you through this."
He stepped a little closer to the bars.
"You aren't getting killed, I will make sure of that," he said clearly.
"What are you going to do? Not sleep for the next few months so you can be by my side?" Liz chuckled.
"If I have to," he said determinedly.
She smiled at him.
"Ressler, I think we need to come to the conclusion that I'm going to jail, and at some point, they're going to kill me. If not before trial, afterwards," Liz said sadly. "Our baby isn't going to make it because I'm not going to. Maybe it'd be better if we set up an appointment."
Ressler swallowed hard. He was raised catholic but thought the church was wrong on many fronts and forcing any woman to have a child against her will was one of them.
"I will support whatever you decide," he said robotically. "But know that I want this baby, with you, Liz. But I also don't think, under any circumstances, these in particular, I have the right to ask you to carry the baby to term. And know Liz, pregnant or not, I will protect you and keep you safe. Even if we set up that appointment, that doesn't change anything about this."
She swallowed hard and nodded.
"I'm a prisoner with a bounty on my head Ressler," she said with a sigh. "Not exactly mother-of-the-year material."
"We would figure it out," he said with an assurance he didn't really feel. "But, honestly, it's your choice."
She nodded and reached over to his hand with one finger and caressed it.
"Thank you for not making this harder," she said softly. "I will think about what you said."
He nodded and swiped his thumb across her one finger.
"My feelings for you are real," she said softly. "I just have the shittiest timing."
He chuckled softly and when the door started to unlock, they pulled apart. The guard walked in with her breakfast and a sour expression on her face.
To be continued…