Agnes 23
Author's Note: Things get complicated in my little AU world here.
Let me know what you think.
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"Lizzie," Reddington said as he snapped his phone shut. "We need to talk."
She and Ressler both looked across the kitchen at him and then reflexively both looked at Agnes who was doing a puzzle at the table while they dried the dishes.
"Bianca?" Liz asked as she nodded toward Agnes.
Bianca, who was sitting at the table with Agnes nodded and they left the room following Reddington into the laundry room/mud room down the hallway and shutting the door.
"The hospital won't call until the morning, but the results are in from the verified FBI sample," Reddington said.
"And?" Liz asked.
"Tom wasn't her father," he said. "And his levels match the earlier tests so he probably couldn't father children."
"Jesus Christ," Ressler said as he wiped at his brow. "How is that possible?"
"It's entirely plausible but…" Reddington started.
"When Krilov spoke with me, he said he had altered my memories two years before that, that was when I would have got pregnant with Agnes," Liz said. "I looked at a calendar and the timing is uncanny."
"Did he say that Agnes was involved?" Ressler asked, not knowing the specifics.
"No, just that we needed to make an immunity deal to get that information and information about your memory session," Liz said. "We didn't make the deal."
"I know," Ressler said. "And I made sure he couldn't play games with people's brains again."
"Who is Agnes' father? How did she come to…?" Liz asked.
"I have Agnes' DNA analysis and a team of some of the best hackers out of a small prefecture outside of Tokyo where the school is entirely devoted to a technology-based education and where some of the best individuals are hired by government organizations to hack and protect their information," Reddington said. "They are checking her DNA against every known DNA database in the world, as we speak, and looking for matches, even familial matches that can narrow it…"
His phone rang and he answered it, turning away from them and walking out the door.
"Do you honestly think that nine months before Agnes was born someone sexually assaulted you? And Krilov was hired to wipe that memory?"
"I think the Cabal was involved, possibly Berlin, and I'm hoping not Tom…"
"Tom may have been an ass a lot of the time, but he loved you and would never allow someone to sexually assault you," Ressler said, clearly.
Liz nodded and they looked out the door, Reddington had been gone a long time.
"Even if we find the man, do you honestly think he's going to admit to sexually assaulting me?" Liz asked.
"No, I can't imagine he would," Ressler sighed. "Do you think…and I know this is weird, but could you have thought you were sleeping with Tom, like I thought I was in a car with Hitchin and I wasn't, but it was someone else?"
"Maybe?" Liz asked. "Whoever he is, I want details of how Agnes happened, so I know, so I can…process it. Whatever 'it' may be."
Ressler nodded. "I'm sorry this happened to you Liz, I can't tell you how much I wish Tom was her father."
"I know," Liz said as she stepped into his embrace. "I think he thought he was…he never said to me that he was infertile, and I'd think that may be something…"
"I don't think any man really knows until he tries to have kids and…" Ressler started.
"But we never did, it was always about adoption with us," Liz said. "We never explored just having a kid. I was always on birth control, and we actually used condoms most of the time."
Ressler sighed.
"Did you and Audrey talk about kids?" Liz asked.
He swallowed hard. He hadn't told anyone, not even her parents, about the pregnancy test. He assumed her parents found out she was pregnant from the coroner, but they never spoke about it.
"Audrey was pregnant when she died," Ressler said quietly.
"What?!" Liz asked as she pulled back.
"I haven't ever….you're the first person I've ever told," he said softly, not meeting her eyes.
"Don…" Liz sighed.
"We weren't trying, but we also weren't really doing much to prevent it either," Ressler explained. "I think we were just so happy to be back together and looking toward the future that if a baby just happened, then it wasn't going to be an issue."
She nodded. He was a great father to Agnes and would have been a wonderful father to any child he had with Audrey.
"Is it hard for you with Agnes, if Audrey was expecting, I mean…the two kids would have been only a year apart?" Liz asked him.
"Yeah, they would have been about that," Ressler nodded. "But no, I love Agnes and I actually haven't thought about the baby much, it didn't really exist yet, not in a real tangible way."
Liz nodded.
Reddington had been gone a while and she pulled away from Ressler. "I'll see where he is."
She walked outside and heard Reddington asking over and over again, "are you sure?" before he said, "check it again".
"Check what again?" Liz asked as she approached him.
He looked at her both perplexed and somewhat annoyed and walked farther away from her speaking more quietly in his phone.
Liz looked at him confused, why he was acting this way she did not understand, but he was Reddington, and she should be used to it by now.
The door opened behind her, and Ressler came out with a jacket on and one for her in his hand and stood next to Liz looking at Reddington.
"What the hell is he doing? Who is he talking to?" Ressler asked, annoyed as Liz put the jacket on over her wool sweater.
Liz shrugged. "He walked farther away from me so I wouldn't hear."
Ressler wrapped an arm around Liz's shoulder, and they stood in the wind waiting for the elusive man. Reddington finally turned and seemed headed back for them while still speaking on his phone. Reddington snapped the phone shut and stood before them.
"What did you find out?" Liz asked him, annoyed that whatever secret little game he was playing was starting to get to her.
"Are you playing a game, so you get to visit them?" Reddington asked his voice loud.
"Excuse me?" Liz asked him affronted.
"You can't be so stupid to think I wouldn't figure it out, Lizzie," Reddington said as he stepped closer to her, his anger clear, and Ressler stepped between them.
"Why are you acting this way toward her?" Ressler asked defensive.
"Because the two of you have sent me on a wild goose chase," Reddington said as he met Ressler's eyes. There was fire behind Reddington's and Ressler was shocked for a moment.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ressler asked him as he stepped closer to Reddington to intimidate him.
"Of all people, Donald, I always thought you would take responsibility…"
"Can you just spit out whatever it is you are dancing around?" Liz asked him, her voice commanding from behind Ressler.
"You've known all along that Donald is Agnes' biological father and you both have been…"
"What?!" Liz snapped.
"Excuse me?" Ressler asked at the same time.
Reddington was taken aback by their outbursts which seemed confused and genuine.
"You two were involved almost seven years ago?" Reddington asked, his voice still loud.
"We worked together, that's it," Ressler explained as he met Red's eyes. "There is no way I am her…"
"We didn't sleep together back then," Liz said as she stepped out from behind Ressler and her eyes darted wildly between Reddington and Ressler.
"This is a joke, right?" Ressler asked.
"I assure you, Donald, it is not," Reddington said as he looked at the two of them looking at each other confused. "Which is why I need to make another call."
"Wait, you can't just say that and…"
"There was a familial match to your mother in Detroit," Reddington said. "She is on one of those Ancestry sites and several other family members of yours also came up with similar DNA threads which lead me to you, unless you have a cousin Lizzie was involved with or something?"
"What the hell are you saying?" Ressler said, alarmed.
"Explain," Liz demanded.
"The Bureau keeps a DNA database on all agents in the field so they can rule out any accidental DNA versus real DNA at a crime scene," Reddington explained. "I got my people to hack into that, more secure, database and low and behold, Donald's was a match, which explained the ginger phase Agnes went through…."
"Agnes is mine?" Ressler asked, overwhelmed. "But how? I know Liz and I did not have sex almost 7 years ago and…and…"
"I sense it has to do with the memory wipe or wipes, as the case may be," Reddington said appraisingly as he leaned back on his heels. "Which is why I need to make another call."
"What now?" Liz asked, still trying to wrap her head around what he'd just said.
"I will get a verified paternity and maternity test based on both of your DNA stored at the FBI to conclusively say you are the biological parents of Agnes," Reddington said. "And, then we need to unravel how the two of you were involved."
"But we weren't," Ressler said clearly.
"Agnes is evidence you were," Reddington said, and he watched Don's face go white. He knew exactly where the young man's head went in that moment, and it was not a good place.
Reddington walked away from them, and Liz and Ressler stood looking after him, not meeting each other's eyes. They had no sexual history that would lead to Agnes, and all the possibilities they spoke about, of possible sexual assault, also didn't fit. Ressler would never take advantage of a woman or hurt her. And, if he had been placed in a state where he did, wouldn't they know when they started sleeping together? Wouldn't something feel off or wrong or scary about it? It never felt like that. Liz always felt safe in his arms, loved, cared for, and protected. But DNA didn't lie, so where did that leave them?
Reddington walked back toward them again while speaking.
"I will…yes, bring whatever equipment is needed…" he hung up the phone and looked at them appraisingly. "I know this is possibly the last thing you want to do, but I'm going to need to ask you to explore some memories from seven years ago so we can find out…"
"Absolutely," Ressler said his voice a little weaker. If he hurt Liz, even without his knowledge, he couldn't ever live with himself.
Liz nodded carefully.
"And we need to get Donald's DNA to the hospital so they can look at it against Agnes' for her illness," Reddington said.
Ressler suddenly felt like he may vomit. Not only may he have sexually assaulted Liz, his lack of wilful participation of it aside, he now could be responsible for Agnes' illness as well? He couldn't imagine either of those nightmare situations coming to life until this moment.
Ressler turned his head and met Liz's eyes and didn't know what to say. He hoped she wasn't scared of him or worried that he…
His thoughts stopped when she launched herself into his arms with a thump. He held her tight, and they said nothing, they just held each other in the cold while Reddington walked back into the house. It was dark outside and there was light snow on the ground and the lights from the house were the only thing that identified the two people huddled together on the cold, dark night, clinging to each other for dear life, shocked and scared by the news they had just received.
"We will figure this out," Liz said, her voice muffled in his shoulder. "I love you and nothing will change that."
He nodded back, hoping she was right, and pulled her against him just a little tighter.
To be continued….