The Voyeur 6

Author's Note: Our duo struggles with twenty-four hour observation of their newly-outed relationship. This is a short chapter to pick up with some changes they decided to make in their lives in the last chapter and the toll this is taking on them both.

Let me know what you think!

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"So, you and Ressler seem to go on a lot of walks," Aram said absently as he sat eating lunch with Liz.

"Hmmm?" Liz asked, looking up from her phone.

"Just, uh, you go on a lot of walks," Aram smiled at her uncomfortable. "I was reading the case report from the weekend with Samar and…"

"Oh," Liz sighed as she put down her fork and wiped at her mouth.

"I, uh, didn't…sorry, did I…?" Aram stammered.

"No, it's fine," Liz sighed as she got up to rinse out her salad bowl.

"Liz," Aram said as he stood. "I'm sorry, I…"

"What did you do now?" Samar asked as she walked into the lunchroom and toward the fridge

"I, uh…" Aram started.

"Nothing," Liz said walking back toward the table with her rinsed bowl. "It's fine Aram."

Samar took her lunch from the fridge and looked at him knowingly.

"I mentioned that she and Ressler take a lot of walks," Aram said with a guilty shrug.

Samar looked toward Liz and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I know," Liz said, closing her eyes for a moment and then looking back at them. "Look, I know that you need to read the report. It's just hard being the person it's written about. It's…uncomfortable…"

"What's uncomfortable?" Ressler asked as he walked into the room with a sub in his hand.

"Jesus," Liz sighed, grabbing her lunch bag. "Nothing."

Ressler furrowed his brow and watched her walk out of the room.

"Did I just miss something?" Ressler asked them.

Aram and Samar exchanged a look.

"You better go talk with Liz," Samar suggested.

"How about one of you tell me what just happened," Ressler said as he dropped his sub on the lunch table.

"It's my fault," Aram said stepping forward. "I mentioned that you two take a lot of walks, that Samar and I were just reading the weekend report…"

"Shit," Ressler said under his breath.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking how hard this must be knowing that everything you two do is being reported and I should have been more sensitive to…"

"Yeah, let's do that next time," Ressler said, a little pissed.

He turned and walked out of the lunchroom in search of Liz. He found her in the women's washroom, luckily, on her own.

"You'll get written up as a perv if a woman walks in here," Liz chuckled as she wiped at her eyes. She was leaning with the back of her hips against a sink blowing her nose.

"Come here," he said, ignoring her comments and only seeing that she was upset.

She walked toward his open arms and buried herself in his chest.

"Now I'm the one acting like the child when I was chastising you not 10 days ago that…" Liz sniffled.

"I think we get to take turns losing our shit about this," Ressler chuckled low and deep. "You get today."

She laughed against his chest.

"I get tomorrow," he said with a smile as he rubbed her back. "Deal?"

He felt her nod against him.

"And we do walk a lot," Ressler said softly.

"Because then I can burrow into your side," Liz smiled within his embrace.

"I thought it was because you were trying to get your steps in," Ressler snickered.

"That too," she conceded with a sigh.

He swayed slightly back and forth as he held her.

"I'm sorry," Liz said softly.

"For what?" Ressler asked, his forehead wrinkling.

"Over-reacting," Liz said, pulling back to look at him. "I shouldn't have…"

"Aram needs to remember that it's not some other person he's reading about," Ressler cut her off. "He wouldn't appreciate you casually bringing up how much time he spends gaming or how his date stood him up. He needs to remember that as well."

"He didn't mean anything bad," Liz said, meeting his eyes.

"I know," Ressler smiled down at her. "But everyone needs to remember that it's hard enough being scrutinized, we don't need to hear about it casually."

Liz swallowed hard and nodded.

"I emailed my notice to my landlord, you're stuck with me now Ressler," Liz smiled at him.

He winced, "Oh, really? Man…"

She saw the smirk escape his lips and smacked at his chest.

"Can I move you in tonight?" Ressler asked, pulling at her hips and smiling down at her.

"I think I'm going to have to move it if I'm going to pack everything by the end of the month," Liz chuckled. "I'll have to put a lot of things into storage…"

"You let me know what you want," he said grinning widely. "If you like your couch better we'll throw mine in storage. Same as anything else, don't think you need to move into my place and store all of your things, let's figure out…"

"I like my bed better," Liz interrupted.

"Really?" He asked surprised.

"It's cozy. Yours is a little hard," Liz said.

"Maybe it's just hard when you're around," he whispered and teased.

She softly chuckled.

"I like your sofa," Liz smiled at him and ignored his lewd comment. "And I have some pictures I'd like to put up…"

"Okay, let's go to your place tonight and decide what comes and what goes to storage and then we'll do the same for mine tomorrow night. Then we can start taking things from both places to a storage locker and…"

"And move in together," Liz grinned ear to ear.

"Yeah," he smiled down at her. "Let's do that."

She looked over her shoulder and leaned in and softly kissed him before she pulled back.

"I love you," she said quietly.

"I know," he smirked.

She looked at him offended he had not said it in return, and he started to chuckle.

"I love you too," Ressler said. "And you know it."

She turned with him and started to walk from the women's washroom. "You know how I know it?"

He shrugged.

"Because I'm still hungry and you're going to let me have a few bites of that Turkey sub you left in the lunchroom…"

He chuckled. "No food gets past you Keen."

She laughed with him.

To be continued…