Pairing: Red\Lizzie
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, I just like to borrow them.
Chapter 1: The Beginning
The Reddington House - Washington DC
Lizzie woke up when her alarm went off, she turned onto her side feeling the coolness of the sheets hit her naked body. Subconsciously she knew that meant her husband Red had a business call early in the morning. She started to open her blue eyes; she saw a note on her husband's pillow. She reached over to grab the note from her husband, she saw his neat handwriting. She began to read the note to herself.
"My Lizzie,
Sorry I'm not there this morning to wish you luck on your first day as an FBI profiler. I'll make you dinner tonight, I shouldn't be too long with this deal. I'll call you later my love.
With all my love,
Your husband Raymond"
Liz looked at the note and shook her head softly. She took his note and placed it on her nightstand next to the bed before she got up from the bed. She made their bed quickly before she went into the bathroom to grab a shower. She took a quick shower because she was starting to run late for her first day. After she walked out of their luxurious bathroom she got dressed to get ready for work. "Hopefully Ray and his team can stay away from my job for a while." She spoke out loud to herself knowing that she was there by herself. She looked down at her rings and smiled softly thinking about her husband. She knew that she had to take them off when she had to go to work, she just took going to work as like an undercover job that would last for the longest time. She reached for the chain that Red had bought her for the job previously because she had decided that it would be best if no one other than Red's closest friends knew that they were married. She didn't want anyone snooping around her personal life and found out that she was married to the Concierge of crime which would probably leave her without a job. She slipped off the rings and slipped them onto the chain that Red had bought for her.
Post Office/Black Site Facility
Red walks into the Post Office and walks up to the young African American female clerk. "Good Afternoon, I'm here to see Assistant Director Harold Cooper." He said
She looks over at Red. "Do you have an appointment?" She asked him.
"No, tell him that Raymond Reddington is here to see him." He nodded at her before he walked off to the center of the room to discard his suit jacket along with his fedora. He knelt to the ground and laced his fingers together behind his head as he waited for Harold Cooper to come. 'I hope Lizzy saw the note, I sure hope she's not pissed about this.' He thought to himself as he saw Harold Cooper himself coming into his sight.
Holding Cell
"Raymond "Red" Reddington attended the Naval Academy. Top of his class. Graduated by the time he was 24. He was being groomed for admiral. Then in 1990, Reddington's coming home to see his wife and his daughter for Christmas. He never arrives. This highly respected officer up and disappears from the face of the earth until four years later when classified NOFORN documents start showing up in Maghreb, Islamabad, Beijing. These leaks were traced to Reddington. This guy's an equal opportunity offender, a facilitator of sorts, who's built an enterprise brokering deals for fellow criminals." Ressler explains to Cooper as the agents were placing a tracking chip into Red's arm.
"Ouch." Red said feeling the tracking chip
"He has no country. He has no political agenda. Reddington's only allegiance is to the highest bidder." Ressler said to anyone who was listening.
"They call him something in the Papers." The tech that placed the tracking device in Reddington's arm blurted out.
"The concierge of crime." Cooper announced
"He's online." The tech said as they looked over at Red
"You must have many questions, so let's begin with the most important one. Why I'm here. Remember the 1986 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, the abduction of the six foreign nationals from the French consulate in Algiers in '97, or the 2002 breach of the Krungthai Bank in Bangkok? You see these events as unrelated. I can tell you one man is responsible for all three. His name is Ranko Zamani. You want him. I want him. So let's say for the moment our interests are aligned." He looked into the camera and smiled softly
"You have my attention." Cooper nodded at Red for him to continue
"Were you wrong?" Red looked right at the camera that they had on him so that the other agents at the HUB could see and hear what was going on in that holding cell. Which meant that his dear wife Elizabeth was there watching.
"I was wrong."
"Yes, you were wrong. At least it's not the first time. Familiar territory. Now, I'll give you Zamani, but first –" Red was interrupted by Cooper before he could finish his thought.
"No "but firsts." You don't decide anything." He fought back quickly
"Agent Cooper, you've overestimated your authority. I said I'll help you find Zamani, and I will. But from this point forward, there's one very important rule: I speak only with Elizabeth Scott." He kept his composure knowing that he was excited to see his wife and actually work with her. He didn't give a damn about the other people at this fake task force.
"Who the hell's Elizabeth Scott?" Ressler asked
Lizzy watched Red speak from up at the HUB. 'Damn that man, I'm going to have to find my way to his holding cell and start with the acting. I'll call Dembe after work if Red is still here to figure out why the hell would he do this.' she thought to herself not paying attention to anything that was happening around her in the room.
Aram looked over at Liz "Are you Agent Scott?" He noticed that she looked new and he didn't know her.
"I am; and you are?" She politely asked
"I'm Agent Mojtabai, it's really nice to meet you. Do you mind if I show you where the holding cell is since Mr. Reddington only wants to speak to you?"
She tried to hold her blush in from the statement that Aram had just said out of his mouth. 'He only wants to speak with me because I'm Mrs. Reddington.' She thought to herself before answering him. "Sure, thank you."
Aram leads her to where her husband was being kept.
"Agent Scott, Agent Motjabai." Harold gained his attention to the two agents that came into his site.
"Yes, sir." Liz looked at him
"Harold Cooper. Assistant Director of Counterterrorism." He introduced himself to Elizabeth
"Yes, sir. I know who you are, sir." She said in a respectful tone
"Is there anything else, sir?" Aram asked Cooper
"No there's not. I would like to speak to Agent Scott for a few minutes."
"Yes sir." He walks away to leave them 'to talk'.
"So, uh, can you tell us what's going on?" He focused his attention back to Liz.
"I wish I could. I can tell you that I've been vetted by the agency like everyone else, you know, same background checks, psych profiles. I'm sure OPR's trolling my digital footprint right now, and I can tell you what they'll find."
"What will they find?" He asked, curious about why Reddington wanted to speak to her only.
"Nothing. I have no history with Reddington." She lied to his face to be able to keep her cover up.
"They tell me today's your first day as a profiler."
"Yes, sir. I was reassigned from New York. I graduated from Quantico last month."
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
"Do me a favor. Profile yourself."
"I'm sorry, sir?" She asked not fully understand why her employer wanted her to profile herself
"Who are you? What is he looking for? Profile Elizabeth Scott."
"Oh. Okay. Uh Um, well, I've been with the Bureau for four years. I was the head of the Mobile Emergency Psych Unit in New York. We worked murders, extortion–" She was interrupted by Cooper.
"Read your résumé."
"Of course. My colleagues call me "sir." They think I'm a bitch. Like most kids who raised themselves, I can display narcissistic behavior. I can be withdrawn and disconnected. Uh, I have a deep yearning to understand and relate to the criminal mind. I'm board certified in forensic psychology, and yet I operate under the delusion that I can rewrite my past by having kids of my own."
"Do you find it odd that Reddington surrendered himself the day you started working as a profiler?" He asked as if he really wanted answers about the couple
"I think that it suggests he was waiting for me." She told the truth because of the note he had left her on his side of the bed this morning. 'I wished he didn't wait here for me to show up. I wished he was somewhere else around the globe with Dembe, Luli, or Mr. Kaplan. Well I guess I'll confront him about it when I see him at home or whenever he comes home.' Liz thought to herself
"Why you? Specifically."
"Because I'm new and he thinks I can be easily manipulated. The man obviously doesn't know me very well." She lied again trying very hard to keep up with the cover by lying so much and she hoped that Assistant Cooper wasn't playing along.
He looked at Liz "If you need anything, remember we're right here."
She walks down from the observation deck to the floor of the facility. A chair awaits her. Reddington is cuffed wrists and ankles to a chair inside a containment unit, the 'orange box' bullet and blast-resistant door of the unit swings slowly outward, then the unit is pulled clanking backwards, leaving only the platform which forms the floor of the unit with the cuffed Reddington. She tried her hardest not to run to him and have him un cuffed so that she could hug him close to her body.
"Agent Scott, what a pleasure." He smiled softly at his wife
"Well I'm here."
"You got rid of your highlights. You look much less … Baltimore. Do you get back home much?" He asked in a teasing way knowing that they just had a mini vacation together before she had taken the job and why she dyed her hair.
"Tell me about Zamani." She asked her husband in a serious tone to warn him that she wasn't in a joking mode.
"I haven't been home in years." He joked around with her a little bit more as he was getting off topic.
"Why involve me? I'm nobody. It's my first day. Nothin' special about me." She asked as if she didn't know him; also she needed to keep up with the game that her husband was playing.
"Oh, I think you're very special… Within the hour, Ranko Zamani will abduct the daughter of U.S. General Daniel Ryker. There'll be some kind of diversion, communications will be scrambled, then he'll grab the girl. He wants to be out of the country within 36 hours. If you don't move quickly, she will die. That's what I know." Red smirked at his wife
"And how do you know this?"
"I have my ways Lizzie, don't push me for answers so fast."
"And I'm supposed to believe a most wanted criminal?"
He chuckled at his wife softly. "Of course not sweetheart, I'm dangerous and I'll do whatever I think is necessary. If I actually want to become a better man and given a second chance, it's you."
She tried so damn hard to keep the blush from creeping. 'Damn him.' She thought for a second before forcing herself back into reality. "I'll be back in a few hours." She turned around and walked out of the room
Red kept his mouth shut smirking as he watched his wife leave the room leaving him alone again.
Hours later after the girl went missing, Liz was standing in front of the box that was keeping her husband away from her.
"Where's the girl? It's been four hours. Your people haven't made any demands." She asked Red, trying to mentally tell herself that he was still arrested by the FBI and there was nothing she could do.
"My people? I told you Zamani would take the girl. I told you that's all I knew. This is in your hands now." Red teased her slightly as he gave her insight before the event took place.
"I need your help Reddington." The chills ran down her spine as she said her legal married name out loud. She secretly knew she was going to hear about that later.
"How about a trade? You tell me and I'll tell you. Tell me about the scar on your palm. I've noticed how you– stroke it."
"There was a fire. I was fourteen." She started to explain even though he already knew everything about the fire and her scar.
"May I see it? Is a child really what you want?" He looked up at her as if he really wanted to smirk softly at her knowing that she always wanted a child but he knew that they would have to wait for a few reasons.
"How on earth – ?" She questioned him again, keeping her cover up. Sure they have talked about children but he would always say 'let me think about it.' She knew they were testing each other to see if the other would crack but both of them never budged.
"Let's just say I know how to get information, Lizzie."
Eight hours later - The Reddington House
Red winded up getting an immunity agreement with Assistant Director Harold Cooper of the FBI. He was able to go home that very night. He knew Liz wasn't going to be happy with him; he could tell that when he first saw her after he had turned himself in.
As soon as she pulled up to go grab the Chinese food, she slipped her rings back on the proper finger. She needed her favorite comfort Chinese food after a very stressful day at work. It's not every day that your husband surrenders himself to the FBI. The ride back to the house was quick, she made decent time considering the time of day it was. When she arrived shortly at their home she saw the black Mercedes in the driveway. She let out a soft sigh as she wondered how long he had been home for.
Red was sitting in his tan recliner chair that he always sat in at night when he was having his nightly scotch. He saw the headlights shine in the window of the living room. He had sent Dembe home about a half hour ago. Red didn't want to feel like Dembe had to watch over him all the time.
A few minutes later she walked through the door and called out his name. "Ray?"
Reddington drank the last of what was the remainder in his glass. "Living room my dear."
Lizzie placed the takeout on the kitchen counter before she walked over to the living room. "Why the hell did you think it was a brilliant idea to visit me at work?"
He looked up at her. "I just thought that you would enjoy a visit from your husband at work, that's all."
"I don't know if I should be mad at you or kiss you right now. You have no idea how hard for me it was to see you all chained up like that. All I wanted was to let you out of that damn container and make out with you right then and there but I couldn't. Cooper believes that we didn't know each other until today. If he ever finds out that we're husband and wife, he'll probably be furious that I lied to him about the most important thing."
The older bald man set down his glass on the small table beside his recliner. "I think you should kiss me darling." He paused for a second to let out a small smirk in her direction. "I don't think Harold Cooper would care about who you're married to. I believe if you would've let me out of the box; people would be asking questions especially if we started making out."
Liz looked at her husband for a while. She was still pissed off at him for going to her job and not letting her know that he was going to be there. "I literally can't believe that you went to my work without telling me. I thought you had a business deal to go to earlier this morning?"
"I did have a business meeting this morning before I stopped to visit." He told the truth
"What business meeting was it?" She asked as his wife and not as an FBI agent
"Harold and I made an agreement, not too sure if you heard about that sweetie." He changed the subject as he didn't want her to know that he met with Zamani just hours before he turned himself in.
"What does Director Cooper have to do with the business meeting you attended Red?"
'Oh shit she called me Red, and she only does that when she's either at work or when she's mad at me.' He thought to himself as he felt like her eyes would burn a hole into his forehead. "He had nothing to do with my business meeting my love, we agreed on an immunity agreement. I can walk free and have my freedom if I give him and the task force a list of criminals that are more dangerous than I."
"So he agreed with that? How do I know that Baz or broke you out of the containment box?" Lizzie asked as her skills of interrogation were showing.
"If Baz, Dembe or Mr. Kaplan broke me out, the alarms would've gone off and we would've been surrounded by guns everywhere." He looked up at her smiling. "So I see I'm not going to create any delicious culinary dishes tonight." He said as he smelled the Chinese food she had brought home for dinner.
"Sorry babe it's nothing against your cooking but I felt like Chinese tonight." She began to walk over to the takeout "Do you want any?"
"No thank you Lizzie. I'm not hungry at the moment but when I am I'll get some." He watched her move through the rooms of their house gracefully. Red closed his eyes lightly as the events of the day were finally getting to him, he wouldn't fall asleep but he needed to rest his eyes.
She looks over at him after she gets her food. "I love you Ray."
He hummed lightly with his eyes still slightly shut "I love you too sweetie."