Don't Go

"Did you get a chance to follow up on the name I mentioned?"

Liz looked up at him, noodles half shoved into her mouth and chopsticks held loosely in her hand. Tom nearly laughed at her, the sensation real and welcome, but decided that it was probably safer to simply let the edges of his lips quirk up and pull on every ounce of his training to keep the amusement out of his eyes. She had proven that her propensity to chunk things in the general vicinity of his head when provoked was not one of the traits lost in the chaos of the last year and a half.

"Go ahead and laugh, jerk," she said when she finally managed to choke down her food. "It's not my fault you picked the moment I took a bite to ask a question."

His smile broadened and he raised his hands in mock surrender. "Take your time," he chuckled, but yelped as her boot collided with his shin under the table. "Really?"

"Don't be a baby. I barely touched you," Liz answered as she shoved another bite of noodles in around her own smile.

It was nice to see it again. It was still more hesitant than it had ever been before between them, but every time they met it took a little less time to start working down their walls. Tom had a particularly difficult time with it, because he wasn't sure there was anything real behind his own protections. He had played someone else for so long that trying to find himself in it all was proving a challenge that he wasn't sure he was up to. Having Liz there steadied him. She was like an anchor to a reality he thought he could accept.

"Yes, I did look into it. First glance it didn't look like it had any connection to the case, but between what you told me and what Red had to input-"

"Did you tell Reddington where you got the initial information?" Tom asked, failing to keep all the bite out of his voice.

Liz looked at him, her eyes serious. "He already knew."

"Does your team know?" He would prefer they knew over Reddington, but if he had his way they would keep it entirely between them. He didn't like outsiders. They always brought trouble. They brought complications.

"It's kind of a don't ask don't tell sort of situation. Most of them still don't trust you."

Tom shrugged, plucking his glasses off to clean them. When he returned them to the bridge of his nose and Liz came back into focus she was smiling at him, but it looked a bit forced. "You don't have to wear them for me, you know."

He blinked at her, mind running through what she meant by the original statement.

Her smile turned a little more strained and she motioned to his glasses. "If we're going to keep meeting like this, I want to know you, not whatever projection you think I want."

"I need new contacts," he said by way of explanation, and when she kept staring at him with a studying sort of look he shrugged. " I wear contacts when I'm working because it's a pain to fight with glasses. You've never worn them, but it sucks to get punched in the face with glasses on."

That pulled a choked laugh from her and she rolled her eyes. "Who says you're not getting punched in the nose today?"

"Hoping not to. Never know around you," he teased and his own smile felt a little more relaxed.

"Don't give me a reason then," she joked back.

"Masterson?" Tom asked, bringing her focus around to one of the Major's undercover operatives that he was nearly certain was involved in a case they were working. Reddington only knew him in the vaguest sense, but Tom had gone through the program with him. He was vicious and he was precise, a master of death and skilled in interrogation. He was known for being able to pull information out of anyone, even if they knew they were going to die. Even if it was their last breath. As an operative, Tom had a lot of respect for him, but as a potential threat to Liz, he would do whatever was necessary to end him. If that meant playing nice with her team and Reddington... Well, some things were just worth a little discomfort.

"We're following up on him as a person of interest."

"Lizzy, we had a deal, remember? I give you the name and you keep me in the loop. This guy is dangerous."

"They're all dangerous. That's the job, Tom." She paused, tilting her head a little to the side. "You worried about me?"

He snorted. "I know how hard you fight."

"I do fight hard. And I have a feeling you'll know every step I take on this if I tell you or not."

"That might be true."

Liz nudged him again under the table, but she didn't look put out. As long as she was safe, he didn't care how it happened. If she wouldn't tell him outright he could find other avenues for the information. They both knew that.

"I need to get back to the Post Office here in a few," she said as glanced at her watch. She started to dig into her purse, but Tom was already pulling cash out of his wallet. Liz eyed him for a second. "I thought you said you basically aren't working?"

"Well I'm not lazing around," Tom answered indignantly.

"Not getting paid, I mean."

"The private sector pays a bit better than public. I've got enough saved back until I figure out what's next."

"So you're helping because you're bored?"

"I'm helping because it's you," Tom said seriously and Liz's mirth settled into a small smile.

She reached across the table and the man who had chosen to remain Tom Keen felt his chest tighten as her fingers touched the back of his hand. "Thank you. I'll let you know how things are going when I can."

He knew he hadn't proven himself to her yet - he wasn't sure he ever could in full - but she had taken a leap of faith in him. It had been a long time since he'd felt that need to have one person believe in him. It was dangerous, but he couldn't help but take the risk.

"Keen?"

Liz's hand instantly drew back and Tom blinked, looking first at her startled expression and then back to see Donald Ressler standing on the sidewalk with his to-go order in one hand and looking every bit the federal agent that he was. His lips turned downward at the sight of his partner's ex-husband having lunch with her and Tom kept his own expression entirely blank, even if he didn't break eye contact. As much as he disliked the man, Liz was fond of him, and he'd be damned if he would be the instigator of any fallout that caused her trouble.

That was the reason that needed to back his decisions, he reminded himself. Lizzy. His natural inclination was to manipulate the situation. He could make Ressler look like the bumbling cop he really was - these were exactly the kinds of people he had been running circles around his entire life - as plain as day for her to see, but that wouldn't help her. If he was going to choose her, he needed to keep making that choice, even if it required him to do things he didn't particularly want to do. Even if it went against everything he had been taught as an operative.

"Well, I guess there's no question who your informant is," the agent said as he leveled what he must have thought was a intimidating glare in Tom's direction.

Liz sighed. "It's turning out to be good information."

"Until it blows up in our face," Ressler said as if Tom weren't sitting right there.

The younger man's jaw clenched in irritation. "It's good intel," he said tightly. "I have absolutely nothing to gain by sending Liz into a bad situation."

"I'm still not sure why you're not off playing spy wherever it is you go," Ressler grumbled.

"What I do isn't really your concern, Ressler. The information is good."

"Maybe, but why bother?"

"Hey, guys. Can we not get into a knockdown outside of the Thai place? That'd be great," Liz said, her voice tight and when Tom looked around she was eyeing him like he'd started it.

He raised his hands, waiting until she nodded before he reached for the baseball cap he'd dropped on the extra chair. "Watch this guy, Liz. He's good. He'll lead you down more rabbit trails than not." He would have preferred going with her. He had never liked sitting home and playing the part of the terrified husband. Or the terrified ex-husband, as it stood now.

"Anything specific we should know you haven't told me?"

"You can't reason with him."

She paused and turned to look him directly in the eye, causing Tom to stop mid-movement. They had caused each other unconscionable levels of pain, but there was something in her that drew him closer every time he tried to break away. He loved her, and if she would ever feel as strongly about him again, he couldn't be sure. He just knew she needed to be safe. No matter the cost.

"Give me a few days and I can dig up the details of what he's doing so you don't have to worry about loose ends. Don't go out of your way to keep this guy alive, Liz."

"Tom-"

"He'll kill you first chance he gets, that's all I mean."

"I've got her back," Ressler said testily.

Blue eyes narrowed and Tom's jaw clenched a little in effort to keep it shut.

Liz offered him a small smile. "Told you you were worried about me. You better be careful, Tom, or I'll start picking up on your tells."

She already knew far more than he should have been comfortable with, but she knew that and Ressler didn't need to. "Be safe. I'll be in touch when I have the information."

He was already turned and walking away when she spoke. "You too. I don't get the impression they're your biggest fans anymore."

Tom's lips perked. "No. The Major isn't a fan of being double crossed," he said softly. He forced himself to walk then. He had to let her do her job. He hadn't gained enough trust back to work closely with her in this, but if he could provide the information she needed, he'd keep her safe, and that was all that mattered.

He hadn't heard she was going in until it was too late, and by that time she had already walked into it. Elizabeth Keen had been taken from the scene to the hospital and Tom Keen was furious. He was angry at Masterson, but that hardly mattered anymore. The man was no longer among the living. He was angry at the man who had put him down, not because he had, but because he had done so too late. Most of all, he was angry at himself for not following his instincts and shadowing her there. He'd promised to give her space and his good intentions had gotten the woman he'd given everything for injured.

By the time Tom burst through the doors of the hospital he was fuming.

"Keen," a voice called before he even had a chance to get to the desk to ask about her. He turned, finding the blond man he was so angry at standing there. He looked like he had gone a few rounds himself as he stepped forward.

"You said you were going to keep her safe," Tom hissed, feeling his control slip and rock dangerously. "You were supposed to watch her back. Where the hell were you?"

Ressler stood his ground. "The information you gave her was outdated. He wasn't working alone."

"Who was with him?" Tom demanded, stopping himself just shy of latching onto Ressler's jacket. If he got his hands around the man nothing would stop him from doing his damndest to put him through the floor.

The agent seemed to relax just a little, as if he were fairly certain Tom wouldn't attack him. Tom wasn't so sure. His information was from a trusted source still deep within Bill's organization. He would never have handed a potentially uncertain lead to Liz. It was begging for trouble for them both.

Ressler studied him carefully. "I think you already know that. Your little girlfriend-"

"My what?"

"Drop the act, Keen. Gina Zanetakos was there."

A cold sense of dread swept through him and Tom blinked hard. "Gina?"

"That's what I said." He paused, running his hand through his hair. "You'll excuse me if I don't trust you. You supply the information the moment Reddington goes off the radar so that he can't confirm it and your little girlfriend shows up-"

"She said she checked it with Reddington. You know what, that doesn't matter. Is Liz okay?"

"Are you not listening to me? You-"

"Elizabeth. Is she okay?" Tom bit out. Gina had been after her and he'd been stupid enough to trust her. The fact that they had a longstanding truce between them - regardless of outside loyalties, that had been the understanding - and the woman that he had known since he was fifteen had gone back on that was problematic at the very least. She had never liked Liz, he knew, but Gina knew him better than most and he'd thought that, even is she didn't understand it, she would get over it. They'd known each other too long for her not to, or at least he thought they had. Maybe he really was slipping.

"She took a bullet to the shoulder, but she will be," a new voice said and Tom's gaze flickered over to a tall Middle Eastern woman. She was watching him with a calculated look, but not quite judging the situation yet. "We're waiting for her to wake up."

"Is anyone with her?"

"I was about to head back there."

Tom watched her carefully as he spoke the next words. "What room is she in?"

"If you're not worried about Reddington taking your head off when he gets here," she answered with that look that was still seizing him up. She wasn't FBI, that much was certain. Mossad, maybe? He could see that.

"I need to make sure she's okay," Tom assured her.

Her look shifted to approving, but he wasn't quite sure why.

The woman, who hadn't bothered with an introduction, waved Ressler off and motioned for Tom to follow. He did so, crushing the feeling of being led into a situation blind. He was following a person he didn't know on faith that she was telling him the truth that Liz was back there. For all he knew, they really did think that he'd set her up and were about to arrest him, but simply wanted to get him away from the crowd of people that were sitting in the waiting room before they did so. They blamed him, and as they turned the corner and he saw Liz lying against the white sheets of the hospital bed, eyes heavily lidded and arm positioned so it would strain the work that had already been done on her injured shoulder, Tom blamed himself too. He really had been an eager fool to prove himself and it had cost her.

"Hey you," she said drowsily.

"Hey," Tom answered softly and entered.

Liz's eyes shifted to the woman. "Samar?"

"Everyone's outside. I'll let them know you woke up on us." Her dark gaze shifted to Tom and then back to Liz. "You okay?"

"Yeah. It's fine."

Samar nodded and turned, leaving the two people that had once been married alone, and Tom swallowed hard. "I'm sorry."

"I'm guessing your contact left something out, huh?"

"I never meant for this to happen."

Her lips thinned and she reached her uninjured arm out. Tom took her hand as gently as he could, pulling it up and pressing a kiss to the back of it without thinking. He froze, eyes flickering up to find her staring back, her expression guarded but not quite accusing. "I know," she said at last, squeezing his fingers.

Relief swept over him and he remained next to her, her hand in his, and he looked over the bruises that had already begun to form on her face, the way her arm was limp in the sling, and he felt his anger begin to boil again.

"Tom," Liz called, voice breaking through his thoughts. "I'm okay. Really." He blinked and she offered a tired but real smile. "Will you stay for a bit?"

"Yeah, of course." He reached back, pulling the chair up closer to the bedside and took her hand again when he was seated. "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me to."

Liz snorted. "Or even when I do. You're really bad at goodbyes, you know that?"

"I usually don't bother with them."

"Then don't," she whispered after a long moment, and with the way her lids were slipping closed again, Tom thought that she might have received a dose of painkillers.

"Don't what, babe?" he asked softly, leaning forward to hear her answer.

"Go."

She was drifting off to sleep then and didn't see the conflicted look in his eyes. He'd done this to her. This job had done this to her. All he wanted was to keep her safe, and he hadn't done that, no matter how hard he tried. He had betrayed people he hadn't dreamt he could have turned on, and he had - mostly - walked away from the only business he had ever known. He had turned his own world upsidedown as much as he had hers, and now he had to make sure not to take her down with him if he fell off the edge. He would stay as long as she let him, but he had to be more careful.

"I love you," he whispered the soft confession and kissed her hand again. She was in this mess with or without him, and he wouldn't leave her to the wolves. He had to make sure she was safe, no matter the cost.

Notes: I really hope that the show takes these two in a direction that they can end up working together. One of my top wishes for Keen2 right now is to see them do an undercover assignment together. I think it'd be a blast.

Sadly, no plot bunny has bitten me for that yet, just a want and wish.

As always, please let me know if you have requests! I'm working my way through the list :D