The Voyeur
Author's Note: This is an AU story that I thought I'd have a little fun with. This is an Audrey, Agnes & Tom-free zone. Audrey and Tom are dead and cute little Agnes didn't happen. I'm thinking this is a 2-3 parter so keep an eye out for the other parts in Random Keelner. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.
WWWWWWWW
Don stood in his kitchen in some track pants and a t-shirt. He threw out the empty milk container when there was a knock at his door. He glanced toward the bedroom, closed the door over, and walked toward his front door. He looked through the peep hole and sighed. He opened the door keeping his body standing as a barrier between the intruder in the hallway and his place.
"Red," Don said as he looked at the man standing there.
"Donald," Reddington said with a nod.
"Where's Dembe?" Don asked as he looked over the man's shoulder.
"Downstairs," Reddington said as he motioned with his head indicating he expected to be invited inside.
"What can I do for you?" Don asked him, not moving. "A little early for you, isn't it?"
"It's not a conversation for the hallway, Donald," Reddington said as he motioned with his head again. "May I come inside?"
Don sighed, looked over his shoulder for a moment, and allowed the man inside.
Reddington walked into his living room and looked around. Don followed him and stood in front of his bedroom door with his hands on his hips.
"So, what do you need to discuss?" Don asked him.
"I need to talk to Lizzie," Reddington said.
Don furrowed his brow,
"I'm not part of a telephone chain," Don said.
"No, are not," Reddington said.
The two men stood silently looking at each other.
Reddington walked slowly toward the kitchen and noted the two cups of coffee cooling on the counter.
"Donald, I am sorry I disturbed your morning," Reddington said softly as he met his eyes. "She's been avoiding me, and I have some important information to share."
Don knew he saw the coffee cups, knew he may have had surveillance on Liz or him or both of them, and knew from the way Reddington was looking at him that he knew Liz was in his bedroom. But, despite all of that information, he was not relenting.
"I'll let her know to call you," Don said with a nod. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get ready for work."
Reddington, nodded and took two steps toward the exit when the bedroom door opened behind Don and both men looked toward the woman that appeared at it in her jeans and an oversized t-shirt that was obviously Don's.
Liz leaned her hip against the frame and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Reddington," she said coolly.
Don stepped away from the door and let out a cleansing breath before he moved toward the kitchen and away from Liz glaring at Reddington.
"I'm sorry to disturb your morning," Reddington said as he took his hat off and held it with both hands.
"No, you aren't," Liz said. "You could have tracked me down at the Post Office, you know I'm there every day. But you chose to come here. Why?"
Reddington met her eyes and sighed.
Don carried a coffee mug to her and handed it to Liz who took it from him, grateful.
He stood next to her, taking a drink of his own coffee, and looking at Reddington.
"Lizzie, there's a case…" Reddington said.
"Great, we'll meet you at the Post Office in…?" Liz said as she turned to look at Don for a time.
"Forty minutes," Don said.
"Lizzie, it's a case I think I should discuss with you and Donald privately first," Reddington said as he met her eyes.
"Forty minutes, Reddington" Liz said before she turned and walked into his bedroom shutting the door firmly behind her.
Reddington sighed. Don almost felt sorry for him in that moment, Liz was mad at him and coming here this morning, thinking it was a move to become part of her life, their life, was the wrong one. Raymond Reddington rarely made a wrong move, so Don knew he was desperate to make up with Liz.
He walked Reddington to the front door and gave him a tight smile as he opened the door for him to leave.
"Donald, I want you to know that I am happy for you and for Lizzie, and for the embarrassment that is about to occur, I truly apologize," Reddington said before he put on his hat and walked down the hallway toward the elevator.
Don watched the man leave, his mind working overdrive about the embarrassment that Reddington could possibly be talking about. Him finding out they were sleeping with each other? That was not common knowledge, but it wasn't something he or Liz were embarrassed about or regretted.
Don shut the door and heard the shower going in his washroom. He walked into his bedroom and toward the washroom and inside, his shoulder leaning against the steamy washroom wall as Liz showered behind the glass door.
"Liz, maybe you should consider talking to…" Don said.
"I am not going to play his passive aggressive games," Liz said from inside the shower.
Don sighed and stood looking down at the floor, waiting for her to continue.
She slid the glass door back a few inches and her head popped out and he looked at her.
"I know you think he feels bad about what happened, but why come to your apartment, in the early morning, but to catch us or…or embarrasses us…or, what? Hold this over our heads?"
"I don't know Liz," Don said as he shifted and re-crossed his arms. "But there's more to this, I can sense that he was honest when he said he thought we should talk in private."
Liz sighed and met his eyes. She had sensed that too and let her anger get the best of her.
"Well, we won't know now," Liz sighed.
"Next time, maybe hear him out before you…"
"Act out?" Liz smirked at him.
"Yeah, something like that," Don said as he took a step toward her and kissed her softly on the lips.
She smiled against his mouth.
"I better go get some clothes on," Don said as he stepped back from her.
"Or you could…" Liz said as he grabbed his shirt and kept him from going further.
Don gave her a wicked grin.
"We said 40 minutes and it's a 20-minute drive," Don noted.
Liz reached with her other wet hand toward his sweat pants and pushed them down over his ass. Don's laugh became a low, deep, rumble as he shucked off his shirt and stepped into the shower with her.
Fifty-five minutes later, Don Ressler and Liz Keen walked into the post office. He with wet hair and she with damp hair pulled into a bun. The war room was quiet, the only personnel inside were Aram, Cooper, Samar, Reddington and Dembe. It was odd for it to be so empty at this time of day.
"Who is being passive aggressive now?" Don whispered into her ear as they walked toward Reddington and the rest of the task force who were looking at them with wide eyes.
"What's going on?" Don asked, confused.
Liz smacked his arm and pointed to the large screen at the front of the room with them kissing passionately on it.
Don looked at the screen and his face scrunched up in shock.
"Thank you for joining us," Reddington said. "Fifteen minutes ago, I told the task force about our next blacklist case. He calls himself the Voyeur. And he has targeted Donald and Lizzie."
"What the hell?" Don asked as he walked to the computer and clicked on the image to take it off the screen.
"I didn't know you were involved," Cooper said.
"No freaking clue," Aram added.
Samar just stood smirking.
"Was this necessary?" Liz hissed at Reddington while Don turned six shades of red.
"You are the latest target of a blacklister that has been systematic in his take down or the blackmailing of important government officials, politicians, CEOs and even the occasional gangster."
"What's his interest in us?" Don asked. He wasn't even going to deny what everyone seemed to already know.
"That I do not know," Reddington said. "But I was hoping to glean that bit of information from the two of you."
Liz huffed, he wanted to remind them that they could have known about this when he came to Don's this morning.
"Does he have any other evidence that you are aware of? That could point to…" Don started.
"He has plenty of evidence," Reddington said as he pointedly looked at Donald. "You two have been involved for months, and he was gathering from the very beginning from what I can tell."
Don and Liz exchanged a quick look.
"I recognize that this is uncomfortable for you both," Cooper started. "I cleared the post office of everyone but us. But we need to get to the bottom of this. I don't like that someone is watching my agents and keeping files on them. Where did you get a copy of what he has collected?"
"A friend of a friend," Reddington said, ambiguous.
"And it's from this Voyeur?" Cooper asked. "If you can acquire this evidence, how do you not know who he or she is or where they are?"
Reddington chuckled. "I have one of the best hackers as an employee. He found the information on a dark web server, it was not supposed to be found. Donald and Lizzie are meant to be kept in the dark until the Voyeur makes his move."
"This is private information," Don said, annoyed with the man.
"And it's also a blacklist case," Cooper said clearly, "But out of respect for you and Elizabeth I have cleared the post office. But we need to investigate."
Liz looked at Reddington annoyed.
"Why now?" Liz asked him. "You have known about me and Ressler for months, and now…why?"
"I'm sorry, you knew they were involved?" Samar asked Reddington.
"He has Liz followed," Don said as he met Reddington's eyes. "We knew you knew because of that."
Reddington nodded, he was sure they had known about his own surveillance.
"So, none of your people observed this Voyeur while they were being voyeurs for you?" Liz asked annoyed.
"There were no reports of strange activity," Reddington said. "And based on the file, I would watch what happens in your apartment because it looks like he may have cameras in there, or at least he did in September."
Don's head snapped to look at Red.
"Excuse me?" Don asked.
"Nothing in the file indicates anything in your apartment Donald, which is why I came there this morning…"
"Wait, you three have already spoken this morning?" Aram asked.
"I wanted to give Donald and Lizzie the opportunity to see the file privately before it was evidence," Reddington said.
Don turned and gave Liz a dark look.
She looked at him apologetically. All of this could have been something they would have been far more prepared for, had Liz not been so knee-jerk in her reactions to Reddington.
Aram then remembered that Ressler and Liz frequently arrived to work together. And today, it looked like they both had wet hair…
Liz leaned into Reddington and asked quietly. "Is there anything explicit?"
"I have those on a separate drive, only Tadashi has seen them," Reddington whispered back as he handed her a drive with all the images and videos on it.
Liz nodded and stepped away from him and nodded at Ressler.
He sighed and closed his eyes.
"Shall we?" Reddington asked as he nodded to Aram. "The first image by date Aram."
Aram looked to Ressler who was looking pointedly at his shoes with his hands on his hips and then to Liz who nodded her consent.
An image went up on the screen of Liz sitting on a park bench with her head on Ressler's shoulder and their hands entwined.
"This one is dated April 3rd," Aram said. "There's also a note about the collection of the copy of a receipt from Tarem's?"
"We went there for dinner," Don offered, his voice guarded.
"Was that the beginning of your relationship?" Cooper asked him.
"No," Don said. "But it doesn't matter, because that's when the evidence started."
Samar looked at him and felt sorry for him. He was a man that valued his privacy and now, that was getting thrown out the window.
"There is another set of images from April 5th," Aram noted. "You two…uh…walking and cuddling."
He didn't click on them for everyone to see, something Don was grateful for.
Don sighed loudly and turned and walked away from the group a few steps.
Liz nodded to Aram and a video started of them sitting in a car talking, then Don leaned over and kissed her before she got out and went inside with a bag slung over her shoulder.
"May 23rd, and a note about a…" Aram stopped talking.
"A hotel in New York," Don said from the back of the room, not facing them. "The Knickerbocker. It will also coincide with us both calling in sick on May 20th."
Aram cleared his throat. "Yeah, there's a note about trying to access your HR files to get the Friday confirmed as either a sick day or vacation day."
"Is this necessary?" Liz asked. "He has evidence, shouldn't we find him instead of go through the obvious."
"If you were any other victims, we would question you about…" Samar started.
"We aren't the victims," Don said through gritted teeth. "Nothing has happened yet, therefore…"
"We need to catch him being the Voyeur," Cooper stated.
"There's a pattern to the images," Reddington said.
Aram scanned the dates.
"About once a month he appears to be in town," Aram said. "There are images and video from April through November. All within a few days of each other. He appeared to be in town gathering intel on you June 8-11, July 18-20, August 4-6, September 4-7, October 21-23, and November 15-18."
"Say the dates again," Liz said.
Don turned and looked at her confused.
"Uh, April 3-5, May 23-24, June 8-11, July 18-20, August 4-6, September 4-7, October 21-23, and November 15-18." Aram repeated.
"There's no pattern to the dates," Liz said as she looked down at her phone. "Some weekends, some weekdays, beginning of the month, middle of the month, end of the month."
Don walked up beside her and looked over her shoulder as she scrolled through the months. He leaned over and scrolled to August and the dates coincided with another trip out of town.
Twice when they were being watched they had went away, New York in May and his cabin in August. All the other images and video would be from when they were I DC.
"Pull up August 4-6," Don said as he looked at the larger screen.
On the screen was a long lens shot of them sitting by the fire pit laughing. Don nodded and Aram started to click through the rest in that dated file.
"It's at your cabin," Liz said as she watched images of them come up. Them hiking in the woods, Liz carrying a mug to Don who was chopping wood, them sleeping.
"Wait, stop," Don said as he walked toward the screen. "He was right at the window."
Everyone looked at the image of Liz sleeping across his chest, the both of them unknowing their image was being captured.
"Apparently the Voyeur doesn't always stay far away," Reddington quipped.
"Apparently," Don said through gritted teeth.
"Next one Aram," Liz said and an image of her wading into water that Don was standing waist-deep in was on the screen. Although she was covered from about the crack of her ass downward, it was obvious she was naked.
"Take it down," Don ordered.
Aram accidentally clicked next instead of exit and it clicked to an image of them facing each other, arms and bodies entwined, kissing passionately, possibly having sex in the water, their bodies covered by the water to their arm pits.
"Aram!" Don snapped.
"Sorry, I mis-clicked," Aram said as the image disappeared and the screen went black.
Don wiped at his forehead and walked from the room.
"Just give us a second," Liz said as she followed after him.
Reddington, Cooper, Dembe, Samar and Aram were left standing in silence.
"This is incredibly uncomfortable for them," Samar said.
"For all of us," Aram added.
"None of us would want our private lives…exposed to those we know, even those trying to help," Dembe said.
"How long have you known they were involved?" Samar asked Reddington, pointedly.
"I had an inkling in the spring," Reddington said. "Late nights at each other's places, the occasional sleep over. All of it could be explained by their close friendship, the cases they were working….but I knew when May happened and they went away. Colleagues and friends do not go away for romantic weekends in the big apple"
Everyone nodded.
"Aram is there anything else risqué that we should just let them look at on their own?" Cooper asked.
"Uh…" Aram said as he disconnected his computer from the larger screen and started to click through them and look uncomfortable. Samar walked up next to him and watched the images.
"Many innocuous ones that demonstrate a romantic relationship, but…oh…" Samar paused. "Most are okay, but some are definitely not."
"Take the file and analyze it for any digital features, we don't need to look at any more images to know they were being watched," Cooper said before he turned to Reddington. "Did you see all of the images and videos?"
Reddington shook his head in the negative. "I saw a sprinkling of them, and Tadashi has some in a file I've already given to Lizzie. He searched for any digital identifiers and found none, so you don't need to bother Aram."
Aram removed the file from his computer and held it waiting for Liz and Ressler to return.
"I knew Donald would find this most difficult," Reddington said.
"Did you?" Cooper challenged him. "Because it seems to me that you could have…"
"I tried this morning," Reddington said. "Lizzie would have none of it, she's still mad at me for…"
"I'm not sure showing up to a man's apartment in the morning, unannounced, would get you the best response," Cooper said. "And, I sense, you knew that as well."
Liz and Don returned to the group. Neither of them looked happy or relaxed.
"Tomorrow is December first," Liz said. "Based on the pattern, he's going to show up at some point this month, we don't know when."
Don stood next to her with his hands on his hips. "Are you prepared to place surveillance on us to catch him being the voyeur?"
"I think that is an excellent idea," Reddington said. "Harold, perhaps you and I can work out a schedule between your people and mine?"
Reddington and Cooper left for his office and Aram sat watching Liz and Ressler, still taken aback that he hadn't noticed their relationship.
"Thank you for your discretion and I'm sorry that you have been brought into this," Liz said to Aram and Samar.
"It's creepy thinking he's been following you for months," Samar said. "It would throw anyone off. Especially two people who are trying to keep their relationship quiet."
Don met her eyes and knew Samar understood how uncomfortable all of this made him.
"It's complicated with us working together," Don said. "It's not that we didn't trust you, it's that…"
Don looked at Liz and gave her a small smile.
"…it's that we wanted to keep our work and our personal lives separate," Don continued.
"Well, I certainly didn't know," Aram said. "Mission accomplished."
"Aram…" Liz started.
"No, I do understand," Aram said as he met her eyes. "I just thought our relationship extended beyond work."
"It does," Liz said as she met his eyes. "But this…"
Liz pointed between her and Ressler and watched his face go from pal to pink in a few seconds.
"It's really special. And so much of my life, our lives, is public…we wanted this just for us," Liz said with a soft smile. "I'm sorry if we've hurt your feelings not yelling it from the rooftops."
Aram let out a small chuckle.
"Your personal life is no one else's business," Samar said. "I understand the need for discretion and the desire to not taint it with all that we deal with on a daily basis. I understand that more than you know."
Liz and Ressler both nodded.
Liz nodded with her head toward their office. "I'd like to look at everything he's got."
Ressler nodded and walked with her to their office, opening the door to allow her access and the two of them sat at her computer and put in the drive to see what else was there. They were quite shocked at what they found.
To be continued…