Notes:
Spoilers for all seasons, up to and including Season 8.
She saw it.
At the end, she saw his face.
And Liz couldn't do it. She could not kill Raymond Reddington, even if he had asked for it, even if she hated him, even if she loved him.
He understood, and told her so.
Then there was noise. Then there was pain. She didn't know what those two things meant at first. Not until she started to fall and Red started to shoot. After that she couldn't see what was happening because her brain burst with color and life and sound. Memories. She was remembering everything, her entire life, all of it. Beginning to end. And one thought came to her clearly, the thought that she had never imagined someone's life could really flash before their eyes. But it did.
The world flooded with Agnes. God, Agnes. She remembered Agnes and smiled. Liz, she was proud to be that girl's mother.
Mother….
Liz's mother. She would never see her mother, not again, not in this life. Please, please, let this not be it, let this not be the end, let me see her, oh let me see her, it's not fair to go this way, just let me see her, just once, let me see her face, and then I'll go. I promise I will go.
Red. He was there. He was always there, all the time, right in front of her, looking into her eyes. And she looked into his, and she saw them. For the first time she saw them. Clearly.
Oh.
Oh, her mother's eyes. They were the same. The very same. Not the color. But the look in them. The…the love. They were her eyes—his. His, his, his. He was…he was…. Liz never knew. But now she did. And now she could go. And now she did. He held her as she went, and the last thing she felt as she faded was his kiss on her cheek, and the last thing she thought was that…that….
She saw it.
At the end, she saw his face.
