The Price He Pays

It had been incredibly stupid to go, but he had hoped to smooth things over with Reddington. The job offer was hanging open from Berlin's people, tempting him to jump over and exchange information for safety and a chance to stay close to the woman that he had proposed to. The money was exceptional - that would be the selling point for Bud - but Sam had asked him to reach out to his old friend before utterly betraying him. It has been a favour for his almost-father-in-law.

One that left him aching and sore.

Liz thought he had been out in Vegas for his bachelor party, and thankfully she disliked his 'brother' Craig enough that she would immediately blame him for the limp that Tom couldn't quite get to go away. Thankfully he was not an easy bruiser, or the story would have gotten a lot more complicated than it was going to be already. Craig was an idiot, but he could go with the story easily enough.

Tom felt his body protest the nearly thirteen hour trip from Paris to Vegas where he had switched planes and gone immediately to Lincoln where his fiancé was waiting for him. His knee, stove up from the flights, nearly gave on him as he started down the aisle of the plane, bag slung over one shoulder. He steadied himself, though, and managed to ready a sheepish sort of look when Liz noticed. Because she would notice. She was clever and observant, and he wouldn't have her any other way.

He managed to straighten his back and get his knee to work for the most part by the time that he got into view of his fiancé who was sitting just on the other side of the security check with her father. Liz turned, her expression lighting up when she spotted him, and Tom felt certain he had made the right decision. If it took putting his life on the line to stay with her, he'd do it.

Liz was up and had her arms wrapped around him as soon as he crossed the line to the other side of security. He returned the hug, buring his nose in her hair and relishing in the closeness, choosing to focus on that rather than the pain that her tight grip was causing. Finally she pulled back, the grin still plastered across her face. "I missed you," she told him and tipped up on her toes to kiss him. "How was the party? Anything you need to fess up to?"

"My brother is an idiot?"

"We knew that. Please tell me you have photographic evidence. I am not above blackmail."

He snorted a laugh and repositioned his bag over his shoulder. "We had a no cameras policy the whole time. They took my phone to make sure of it."

She shot him a look. "It's not you I don't trust, babe. It's Craig."

"I always knew you were a good judge of character," he chuckled, turning his attention to her father. "Sam. Missed you there."

"I figured I'd let you kids have your fun. I've already made claims on your evening for that beer I promised." His gaze swept over the younger man briefly. "If you're up for it."

"Sure," Tom answered with an easy grin and wrapped an arm around his fiancé. "You getting nervous yet?"

"Why, are you?" she teased him back as they started walking, but he didn't get a chance to answer before she slammed to a stop, nearly sending him tumbling when his knee protested. "Are you limping?"

"No?" he offered with the sheepish smile he had been saving back.

Liz's expression shifted between furious and worried. "Babe, what did Craig get you into?"

"It's fine. I'm fine. I just had a little too much to drink and so did he."

"I love how you think you're getting away without the details on this. Do you need to go to the doctor?"

"No, I'm okay."

"We have the rehearsal and everything tomorrow. Are you going to-"

"Babe, I'm fine," he stressed.

She was eyeing him carefully. "What happened?"

"Maybe not in the middle of the airport?" Sam offered and Tom swallowed his sigh of relief. "You have bags to pick up?"

"No, I have everything with me, thanks."

They started out towards the parking lot and Liz had her arm looped through his. "I'm going to kill Craig," she grumbled. "If you didn't give him a black eye, I might."

"Not before the wedding, butterball," Sam said easily from just ahead of them.

"After then," she agreed and Tom felt a real smile perk his lips. He didn't have it in him to feel bad for Craig. He'd probably done something to deserve a tongue lashing from Liz, and as long as she thought that her fiancé's stiff movements were caused by the man that played the part of his brother, there was no stopping her. Liz was fiercely protective. Yet another thing he loved about her.

The conversation quickly turned to wedding preparations as they drove to the home that Liz had spent her high school years in. She went on and on about flowers and arrangements and guests. Her bachelorette party wasn't a lot calmer than Tom's fake one, but she promised with a big grin that nothing too scandalous had happened. He smiled and laughed at all the right moments, but he was running on autopilot by the time they got there.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Liz asked again as they walked through the door, and her expression was fixed as worried.

"I'm just tired. We really didn't sleep."

"Go put your stuff down and get some sleep until Dad takes you out."

"Don't you need help with stuff?"

Liz rolled her eyes playfully and kissed his cheek. "All the hard stuff is put together. Anyway, Dad's been looking forward to it. Don't want you falling asleep over your beer."

Tom chuckled and finally agreed. After being redirected to the other end of the hall by a very persistent Aunt June - it was, apparently, bad luck for them to stay in the same room before the wedding, so she was determined that he would stay in the guest room - he tossed his bag down to the old bed and halfway collapsed against it, not bothering to pull back the comforter. He was nearly asleep when a knock came at the door and he stifled a groan, expecting June checking ng to make sure he had gotten to the correct room. Instead, Sam poked his head in. "Hey, kid, don't you look like hell?"

He smirked. "You should see the other guys," he said very quietly and glanced behind him, but Sam shrugged.

"June took Lizzy to get her nails done. They'll be out all afternoon. What happened?"

"Reddington doesn't like being double crossed."

"What did you tell him?"

"I didn't tell him anything. He didn't even show. I flew all the way to Paris and he couldn't be bothered."

Sam snorted, leaning against the wall. "Sounds like Red. Didn't expect his boys to rough you up, though. I never would have pushed you to-"

"My decision, but it'll get back to Bud now." Tom cringed as he sat up. "He's going to be pissed, but I can spin it. It'll turn out okay."

"You can still go," Sam said softly. "Red fired you. You don't have to make an enemy of him by siding with his."

"I do if I want to keep Liz safe. Your old buddy is an idiot. I could have played a double agent for him and kept her safe and helped him. I thought he'd take me up on it when he asked me to fly out."

"I didn't realize that's what you were offering. Hell, kid. You're playing a dangerous game."

"Story of my life." He stretched his leg out, fingers exploring the damage done to his knee through his jeans. "You have any ice?"

Sam nodded without a word and left the room. Blue eyes flickered to the spot he had vacated and Tom wondered if he should run. Sam and Reddington were old friends, and while Sam had made it very clear that as long as Tom continued to love his daughter and put her safety first... Well, there was no guarantee that he would be okay with this. He had just admitted to out and out betraying the man who Sam considered a close friend.

"There are a lot of things Red and I disagree on," Sam said as he came back in, offering a bag of ice to his daughter's fiancé. "One of those things is you. I think you do your job better with your feelings for my daughter. He...doesn't."

"Yeah, he let me know," Tom groused, wincing as he placed the bag over his knee. His gaze flickered up. "Sam, I've been honest with you. More honest than most people I come across."

"I'm not selling you out, Tom. My little girl loves you. You do what you think is necessary to keep her safe. Red's a big boy. He'll take care of himself."

"Thank you, Sam."

"You're about to be family. I know you don't have a lot of experience with that, but... Well this is what it looks like. Got it?"

Tom stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say at first. Finally, he swallowed hard. "I'll keep her safe."

"You better."

"I will. No matter what."

Sam nodded and turned, not bothering with anything further, and left Tom to try to wrap his mind around the conversation. He would protect the woman he loved with his life, forming up and fighting against whatever enemies were necessary. He had already made peace with that. What he hadn't expected was for Sam to support him quite so strongly in it. He'd never known quite what a father was supposed to look like, but he was pretty sure Sam was it. If he and Liz ever had kids, he hoped he could be half the man that Sam had turned out to be.

Notes: I feel like my timeline might be off a little, but it keeps shifting in my head. I know that Tom betrays Red sometime before the wedding, but they've been married two years when Red shows up in person, so I find it difficult to believe that he would have known what was happening with Tom and Liz long before the wedding, and if Tom was going to convince Bud that he wasn't emotionally involved and that it just made good business sense to jump ship over to Berlin, that would have happened almost in tandem with Red firing him, or Bud never would have left Jacob on the assignment.

Also, I just really really really love the idea of Sam being fond of Tom.