A speeding armful of Agnes greeted Liz as soon as she stepped through the door into the apartment.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

"Hey, baby. Are you ready for the park?"

"Yes!"

"You have your sunscreen on already?"

"Yup, daddy helped me put it on."

Liz's heart clenched, as it did every time Agnes called Red daddy. She was sure that eventually the novelty would wear off, but she couldn't help but hope it would last for quite a while longer. She wasn't ready to get used to feeling like her family was whole, perhaps for the first time in her life—getting used to it might mean taking it for granted, and she didn't want to do that, not after everything they'd been through to get here.

"Good girl," she said, ruffling Agnes' hair. She leaned in to give Red a peck on the lips and added, "Good boy."

Red perked up like a puppy at Liz's compliment and she felt a surge of affection for him, this powerful man who couldn't keep his vulnerability buried deeply enough to hide it completely no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't even hide it properly from Ressler, even though he probably would've preferred to.

For so long, he tried to bury his humanity, to be a monster, a sin eater, but the moment he was given the task to take up the responsibility of looking after his little girl, all that effort faded away. Even before he knew she was his.

"How'd it go?" Red asked.

Liz gave a noncommittal shrug. "We can talk once we get to the park."

Red searched her face for a moment, but nodded. Obviously, he sensed something, but if she tried to explain before they left, they'd never get to the park and Liz didn't want to disappoint Agnes.


"The fresh air is nice," Liz said, "even if it's still a little chilly."

She and Red followed Agnes as she sped around the park, hopping from stone to stone, balancing her way along curbs, collecting small rocks and interesting leaves for her stash back at the apartment. Dembe walked along with them at a slight distance, his watchful presence helping to keep Agnes from venturing too far.

"Elizabeth, please. As much as I love making small talk about the weather, the suspense is killing me."

"Cooper agreed to our conditions. I'll update them more on logistics as we work them out, but they know our plan. They didn't put up much of a fight. We should be good to go."

"So they took it about as well as can be expected."

"Yeah. I think… I think they figure I've made my fair share of sacrifices for the cause. If you're OK with me stepping back, then they'll go along with it, since you were basically the one who set the parameters of the deal in the first place. If they can continue the work, it doesn't matter so much how intimately involved in it the two of us are. That was your requirement at the beginning, not theirs."

"All of that sounds great—but I get the feeling there's still something you're leaving unsaid."

Liz took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like an extended sigh, as they continued their trek through the park. "I told Cooper and Ressler."

Red's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened. "You told them…"

Liz nodded. "I'm done skirting around it. They'd be suspicious if we didn't tell them how you got better, anyway. I'd rather they know the truth than have them think you've done something unspeakable to save your own skin."

"I… appreciate that you're willing to put your reputation on the line to protect mine, even though it wasn't really necessary. They expect the worst from me regardless of my intentions. Or my actions, frankly."

"Well, maybe you deserve to have a sin eater of your own once in a while. Not that this was actually a sin. I guess in some people's eyes it could be, but… the way I look at it, it's pretty much the opposite. You and I being together might be unprofessional, maybe illegal, but it's not bad."

Red studied a distant cloud, collecting his thoughts. "If you're comfortable with them knowing, then I am, too. You're the one who would have to deal with consequences."

"I think we're good. I think we've gotten to a place where we're OK. We're already a walking textbook full of exceptions and ethics violations, what's one more? Besides, we make such a good team, how can they argue?" Liz teased, which earned her a small smile from Red. "Although it was a little touch and go with Ressler for a minute there. He told me something interesting."

"What about?"

"About when I was in the coma. You didn't tell me he visited."

"It never came up. Why? Was he trying to stake his claim—"

"Hey," she said, her hand on his forearm. "Don't worry. Even if he's got some kind of secret unrequited crush going on, he knows where he stands. I mean, look at us. No, he told me he watched you taking care of Agnes back then. He said you were sweet."

Red's eyebrows crept up his forehead. "Donald Ressler said I was sweet?"

"Well, not in so many words. But that was the gist of it." She slid her hand down to twine her fingers with his. "Thank you for everything you did for her while I couldn't take care of her. I know it couldn't have been easy. For a lot of reasons."

"It was an honor, Elizabeth."

Liz and Red walked together in companionable silence for a while, hand in hand. Eventually, Agnes dragged Dembe off to the swing set, and Liz and Red kept following the path in a meandering loop while they played.

"What would you have done if I hadn't woken up?" Liz asked.

Red's face fell. "I… I don't like to think about that."

"Well, of course not, but—"

"No, I think you're misunderstanding me." Red stopped walking and tugged Liz toward the shade of a large tree, off the beaten path. He stopped and took both of her hands, staring down at them while he gathered his words. "What I mean is… I wouldn't allow myself believe that it could happen. The last time I thought I lost you, I nearly followed you to an early grave. I couldn't let myself think it was a possibility, because I knew if it happened then there was no undoing it. It wouldn't have been a ruse this time, it would've been real, and I couldn't even begin to entertain that idea or I would've crumbled. So I didn't. Besides, I had Agnes to look after."

"If I hadn't made it—"

"Elizabeth—"

"Please, I need to know," she said. "If I hadn't made it, would you have raised her?"

"Of course I would have," Red said, emphatic, with no hesitation whatsoever. "Elizabeth, if you had died, nothing else would've mattered but her. Nothing else. Even if it would've been selfish of me, I would've done it. Even if she would've been better off with someone else."

"There's no one else she would've been better off with than you."

Red held her gaze for a long moment as he chewed on the inside of his cheek; he looked as though he was fighting back tears. "Thank you," he said, his voice rough. "It means a lot for you to say that."

They'd come a long way from the early days of her pregnancy, when they were both so wounded and defensive. If Liz could do it over, there were so very many things she would want to do differently.

She laid her hand on his cheek.

"I hope you would've found out eventually," Liz said. "That she was yours. I hope you still would've let her help you. If it was just the two of you… she would've needed her father more than anything, for as long as possible."

"I don't think there's ever been a time in my life that I've been more grateful the past is set in stone and I'll never have to know how I would've behaved in that hypothetical scenario," he said, looking so genuinely relieved that Liz was doubly glad their story hadn't ended that way.

She quickly glanced around to make sure there was no one nearby before walking Red backwards until she boxed him in against the big tree, and leaned in to steal a kiss. There was much more heat in it than Liz intended, but he always surrendered to her so beautifully, she couldn't help it, couldn't help chasing every little gasp, every little, stifled moan.

"Mommy and daddy!"

Whoops. Busted.

Liz and Red pulled away from each other and looked over to find Agnes watching them with her head tilted to one side and her hands on her hips. Dembe stood back a ways, not even attempting to hide the smirk on his face.

"What is it, honey?"

"Come play with me!"

"Of course!"