Promise To Trust Him

"I'm not comfortable with this."

There it was. She'd come right out and just said it. She had to or Liz was certain the anxiety was going to pull her apart. She had enough to worry about without Tom going into a situation that - by both his own and Red's admission - could get him killed with one small misstep.

Her husband looked up from the computer and the files that he was using for his research. "I thought you were going to try to get some sleep? We'll have to head over to the Post Office here in a couple of hours."

"I can't sleep," she answered as she padded across the room, her sock-covered feet silent against the floor.

Tom sighed as he leaned back in the chair at the counter, rubbing at his eyes. After a moment he blinked hard, a small tell that she recognized as his attempt to pull himself out of the focused state for his cram session. His expression softened as he tried for a smile, his voice gentle. "What do you need?"

Liz chewed at her bottom lip before reaching out to wrap her arms around his shoulders from behind. He leaned back into her, a sigh escaping him, and she tightened her hold just a little. "You, me, and Agnes. Safe and free."

"I'm doing everything I know how to make that happen, Lizzie," he answered softly. "If Reddington is right, this will lead us to McGrath, who will lead us to Kirk, who will lead us to Agnes."

She risked a glance at the files that Tom had spread out across the counter to study. There were maps and a detailed history of a man that may not have ever existed. Willem Eckervelt. Ex military with tours in the Middle East, a couple of minor infractions, and one hell of a service record. She had no question that he could learn it, but he had only been given a few hours to learn everything Red had handed him before he was supposed to go to the meet. That left countless places for mistakes, and mistakes would get him killed. She couldn't lose them both.

"Liz?"

She blinked hard, pulled from her thoughts, and Tom reached up to touch her hand, his long fingers lingering against her knuckles and she felt her emotions sway dangerously and he tighten his hold. "You want me to walk you through it?"

"Could you?"

Her husband gave her a small smile and Liz listened as he began to walk her through the cover. He glanced at the notes as he spoke every now and then, but for the most part he seemed to be reciting most of it from memory already. Little details, pieces of information, and as he spoke she could see a shift. Somewhere in there she loosed her grip on him and he looked up at her. For half a moment, she could have sworn she was looking at someone entirely different.

"What?" Tom asked hesitantly and suddenly Liz was looking at her husband again.

"Sometimes I forget how good you are at that."

His lips quirked at the corners. "You're not half bad yourself. You nearly had me fooled at the FBI offices this morning and I was in on it."

Liz rolled her eyes and reached out for his hand that he was quick to offer her. She brought it to her lips. "Fooling him this morning and fooling Red's contacts are different, Tom. What if… This is a lot here. With no time to prepare."

He shrugged. "I've worked on a tighter schedule before."

She nodded and pulled in a deep breath, trying to push back the worry. "I know, and you'll be wired. Ress and I will be right there if anything goes wrong with back up just-"

"Liz. Lizzie, stop." She blinked, meeting his eyes and found his gaze serious. "Listen, if we're going to do this, I'm going to need you to trust me."

"I do trust you," she answered automatically and s smile tilted his lips as he shifted and stood. Liz found herself looking up at him even as he bent, pressing a careful kiss to her lips. She felt her eyes flutter closed as his fingers ghosted along the side of her face and her own laced together behind his back as she wrapped her arms around him.

When they broke, he swallowed hard. "Babe, I need you to trust me to do this job. It could go smooth or I could hit a snag, but I can't be worried about the Feds blowing my cover, okay? I need to be able to focus or it'll get us all in trouble. Can you promise me to trust me to do this job?"

Liz realized what he was asking and she leaned into him, pressing her cheek against his t-shirt. He gave her time, his fingers working through her dark hair in a soothing motion. "Only if you promise to come home to me," she murmured after a long moment.

He kissed the side of her head. "Always."

She pulled in a deep breath and nodded. "Then I promise to trust you."

"And you won't jump in the middle," he urged gently.

"And I won't jump in the middle," she acknowledged.

Tom pulled her closer. "I'm pretty good at this stuff, Liz."

"I know. Just let me worry over you a little, would you?"

He chuckled at that and Liz sighed against him. He was good, and she knew that, but it still worried her. Agnes was missing and she was sure she couldn't take anything happening to him too. She wondered in passing if this was what he felt like every time that he knew she was going into a dangerous situation and couldn't do anything to stop it or protect her, but he always trusted her to come home to him. She had to at least try to give him the same in return.

Notes: So, this is my 100th one-shot for this little series. You'd think that the Keens had taken over my writing or something...

And how awesome was this last episode? Mr and Mrs Keen spy action, Liz admitting that she can't lose him and him comforting her, and even Ressler dropped Tom a compliment.

We also have the third episode of the Keen Minds Podcast up on YouTube, SoundCloud, and iTunes. If you're listening to it, I'd love it if you'd drop us a note on one of those!