Part Three

She watched the scene play out on the cameras, the audio filtering through. The angles showed every inch of building frustration and all the signs she knew too well had once belonged to the man she loved. Reddington has always known how to get under Tom's skin and vice versa, the two men never quite trusting each other and ready for the other to slip. It had taken Tom as far as to dive headfirst into an investigation that he'd had no business going at alone. All the secrets that were kept over the years made everyone a little less trusting though. It had made her husband feel he needed all the answers before even bringing it to her, and it had ended with him bleeding out on their living room floor while Liz fought for consciousness.

It had been two years now, and they were facing another secret with an answer just out of their reach. As Liz watched the exchange over the cameras, Reddington's expression was what pushed that hope she had tried to keep in check back to the forefront. It the way he had said her husband's name. She was desperate to stop that hope from growing though. Not until she knew for sure.

"Looks like you got him back."

Liz looked up, startled by the unexpected voice. Aram lingered there, his expression a physical manifestation of his tone, and the sadness that had weighed on him the past few months seemed to have deepened somehow. She knew that feeling. She'd been there, and nothing anyone said could lift it. It dug in deep and burrowed its way inside a person until they felt hollow. Until they were left wondering exactly what they were fighting for. It was the feeling that she wasn't ready to find herself drowning in all over again.

"We don't know that."

"Have you seen him?" he asked, attempting a lighter tone.

"I can't risk it, Aram," Liz answered quietly. "Not until I know for sure."

"I know, but the rest of us can see it. I'm happy for you." She watched him cringe, the back half of his statement not sounding nearly as convincing as the first. Aram pulled in a deep breath. "I should be happy for you."

"I get it."

"I want to be," he pressed. "Really."

"I know." She tried for a smile. "Did you get anything from the aliases while Ress and I were gone?"

Aram shook his head. "No. I don't think I will at this point. Reddington probably got her fresh ones… She's gone." There was no more respect or adoration in his voice when he mentioned Reddington's name. So far he was living up to angry promise that he'd never forgive the other man for his part in Samar's leaving. He worked with him in as far as the Task Force needed him to, but he was colder than Liz had ever thought Aram could be.

"That doesn't mean you won't find her."

"She doesn't want me to find her."

Liz opened her mouth, searching for the right words for that one, but there weren't any. There hadn't been before she left for Bonn and there weren't any now. Samar was gone, and until the Mossad chose to call off the hit, she would stay that way. Hidden away just as much to keep the man she loved safe as to protect herself.

"Keen?"

Ressler rounded the corner behind Aram and Liz hoped that she didn't look as relieved as she felt with a distraction. Any distraction. "What's up?" Her partner paused there, his gaze locked with hers and a fear started to take hold. "Just say it."

He held out a thin packet. "The labs are in."

The fear didn't dissipate with the words, but curled in on itself, winding around with the stress that she'd tried her best to ignore and forming up a knot in her stomach tight enough to make her feel physically sick. It took a moment for Liz to force herself to her feet and take the packet. It felt heavier than it had any right to be for its size, and it took a long moment for her open it.

He'd been left alone again after Reddington had left. The older man hadn't bothered to add anything to his muttered name. Tom had expected something at least. Anger, denial… something, but instead Reddington had turned on his heel and left him alone in the box without another word.

Tom had waited and hoped that it would lead to something - at the very least a visit from Cooper or Ressler or Samar - but no one came, and eventually he slid down the side of the thick glass to the box's floor and sat heavily there until the sound of the doors opening finally drew his attention some time later.

Liz stride into the room and Tom was on his feet in an instant. Her gaze was fixed on him and there was a determination in her eyes that reminded him just how much he'd missed her. He pressed a hand against the glass, but he hadn't expected the box to open. Tom stepped back, the glass pulling away. He didn't dare move towards her.

He didn't have to though. As soon as the door was open enough Liz sprang forward and Tom felt a breath of relief rush out of him as her arms went around his neck. He pulled her in, holding on tight. He could feel her fingers tangled in the material of his shirt at his back and the way her dark hair tickled his nose as he pressed a kiss to the side of her head. She pulled back, but before he could say anything she was guiding him down into a kiss. Tom sank happily into it, a laugh escaping him as he shifted his hold on her and lifted her up, her feet off the floor.

Liz didn't break the kiss, only shifted a little so her fingers moved through his hair - shaggy and longer than he usually kept it after being held so long - and he felt her smile against his lips as one finger brushed against an old scar hidden there.

She finally pulled back, still smiling, and he set her down. Tom leaned in so that his forehead touched hers. Part of him wanted to ask if the results had come back that quickly or if it had something to do with what he'd said to Reddington. Neither question made it from his lips though. They didn't matter. Not right now. "I've missed you so much," he confessed softly.

"It's funny," she murmured, "I was so scared that they were trying to use you against me - that it was all a lie - that even when the test results came in I kept thinking about everything they could have done to fake them. How they could have…." she pulled in a struggling breath and a strained chuckle escaped on it as she reached back up to the scar just past his hairline. "They couldn't have known about this."

"Who would have thought you pegging me with a coffee cup a decade ago would be what convinced you?" He couldn't quite keep the amusement out of his voice. before he ducked down to steal another kiss.

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you," she whispered, only barely pulling away.

"Something tells me you have your reasons."

She nodded and Tom saw her expression tighten. Whatever she had been through in the past few years had been as hellish as his own and it weighed on her.

"Why don't we head home, grab Wing Yee's on the way, and I'll fill you in?"

The yes nearly rolled off his tongue before he stopped, his gaze snapping past her to where Reddington and Ressler stood speaking in the doorway. "Liz, there's something I need to-"

"I know."

He blinked hard. "What?"

"I know that Reddington isn't…. c'mon. It's a long story."

She took his hand and Tom let her lead him out of the box.

Getting back to the apartment had taken longer than either of them had expected. Reddington didn't bother saying anything further, but Cooper had stopped them on their way out. The man had looked at him like he'd seen a ghost, and Tom remembered that Liz had told him in Bonn that Cooper had been the one to identify him… or who he had thought was him. The assistant director shook his head, smiling, and clapped Tom on the shoulder, welcoming him home. Even Ressler had seemed almost relieved with the results of the DNA test that had been run. Aram had lingered back, and Tom couldn't help but notice the fact that Samar was conspicuously missing and added that to his growing list of questions.

He hadn't realized just how hungry he was until he and Liz grabbed the Chinese food to go to take back to the apartment, and it took more self control than he would have liked to admit to stay out of it until they got there.

"I'm kinda surprised you didn't move," he admitted as they walked in.

Liz made a small, noncommittal sound. "We paid it off when we bought it so it just… stayed here while I was in the hospital."

"How long?" he asked quietly.

"A while. After I got out, and after I was…. ready, it was my crime scene. It just didn't make sense to sell it."

"Yeah, because that's a totally normal reason to hold onto a place," he teased lightly and followed her to the table.

"I followed the trail to a US Marshal names Ian Garvey. He's dead." Tom watched her swallow hard and he reached over, his hand brushing hers as he started to unpack their food she had carried in. She pulled in a breath, continuing. "Found my sister."

"Jennifer?"

She nodded as he laid the food out and they both took a seat. "We turned the investigation towards Reddington. You left a nice trail to follow."

"Did my best."

"Would have preferred to have followed it with you," she said, her voice sharp.

He reached out. There were reasons he'd held onto the information he did know as long as he had, but those didn't matter now. Right or wrong, it couldn't be changed. "I know. I'm sorry."

Liz nodded and took his hand, holding on tight and she blinked tears back. "Found the answer, sort of, and nearly got him killed in the process. We…. have an understanding." She broke her chopsticks apart. "Samar's gone."

"Dead?"

"Almost. She's in hiding. The…. Mossad put out a hit on her through the Umbrella Company."

Tom cringed. "They're brutal."

"Yeah. Aram's taking it hard."

Tom shuffled a bite of food in and savoured it a moment. Definitely better than what he'd gotten used to for the last couple of years. He met Liz's gaze as he swallowed it down. "You said Agnes is safe, but you didn't say where she is."

"With your mother. I was going to bring her home, but the Cabal-"

"I thought they were gone."

"Not all of them. They're the ones we're fighting against."

"And that's how you found me?"

"Yeah…. They've been playing the long game with us."

"Maybe longer than you thought."

She met his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"They never called me Tom or even Keen. It was always Hargrave." He watched the understanding of what that could mean settle into her expression and he tried for a smile. "It's okay," he promised. "We'll get them."

She nodded and reached out for him again. "I know, I just…."

He pulled her hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss to it. "How long have you been up?"

"Uhh…"

"Yeah, me too," Tom chuckled. "What do you say we get this cleaned up, I'm going to hop through a much needed shower, and then we get some sleep? We'll tackle how to save the world from the shadow organization that may have been after both of us since we were kids tomorrow. What do you say?"

He watched Liz's strained expression slowly melt into something like a shadow of the smile he'd always loved and she nodded. He stood, pressing a kiss to her forehead before grabbing what he could of their leftovers to put in the fridge.

She kept expecting to wake up from the dream. First when the labs came in, then on the way home, and again when she slipped into the shower behind him, the water splashing down on them both. She hadn't, though, and Tom had turned those dark blue eyes and quirked little smile on her and Liz had pulled him into another kiss. Another way to prove to herself that it was him and he was there. Two years of thinking that he was dead, but now she had him back. If his reaction to her joining him in the shower was anything to go by, he'd missed her just as much as she had him.

Liz toweled off her wet hair and slipped into her sleeping shorts and one of his old t-shirts. He didn't comment on it, but she thought she saw him smile when he saw it. In the morning they'd regroup. It was dangerous to reach out to Scottie right now, and both of Agnes' parents wanted to make sure that they didn't endanger either their daughter or Tom's mother by reaching out too soon and leading the Cabal right to them. For that night, though, they were together and they were as safe as they could expect to be in the circumstances that they found themselves in.

The only time that she'd really slept in their bed since he'd been gone was when Jennifer had stayed the night. Liz had tried to offer her sister the bed so she could camp out on the couch, but the older woman had misread it and had turned her down every time. Liz hadn't been able to voice that she couldn't get a good night's sleep when every time she rolled over she expected to find her husband sleeping next to her. That night she would. That night and, hopefully, every night that would follow.

"What?" Tom chuckled, paused halfway to pulling the covers back.

"I've just missed you."

He nodded, accepting that, and crawled in. She slipped in just a moment later, meeting him in the middle of the bed, both tucked under the sheet and comforter. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised, close enough that she could feel his breath. "Ever again."

"Promise?"

He kissed her forehead. "Yeah."

Liz nodded and felt Tom's arm snake around as he rolled onto his back, pulling her with him so that she was comfortably tucked against his chest. For the first time in what felt like forever the tension slowly started to ease away and she let her eyes slip closed. She had found him, even without knowing that she should be looking. She'd found him and he'd found his way home to her. Theirs was a story that seemed to constantly defy the odds that they were put up against. Faced with the Cabal, she need that. She needed him.

Tom's long fingers worked their way through her hair in a soothing way and she felt herself relax against his chest, the sound of his steady heartbeat easing her towards sleep.

End.

Notes: Life has been absolutely crazy lately... this chapter should never have taken this long. Here it is though, and I hope you enjoy the fluffy ending.

This afternoon I'm hoping to do some editing on my pilot script and who knows? Maybe even jump into working on my next multi chapter fic this weekend? We'll see how that goes. I don't have a title for it that I'm sold on yet, but the gist of it is that Tom loses around 10 years of his life after a procedure gone wrong while Liz sleeps in her coma. He goes back to his life with St Regis and Liz lives hers thinking he's dead. Stuff happens, and imagine that: the Keens get tossed back together. I don't know when I'll start posting it. My first priority has to be to my scripts and the fellowship apps I have coming up, but hopefully soon-ish. At the very least, I think it'll be a summer project over the Blacklist hiatus.

Feel free to drop me a line if you want to hear anything more about the new fic or even my pilot project I'm working on. Always happy to chat :D

I'm over on Tumblr, you can send a PM here, or I have an email address at takadasaiko6 at gmail