Perp-Loving Cop-Hater 5
Author's Note: This chapter was the MOST fun to write. I hope you enjoy it.
Let me know what you think!
DDDDDDDDD
Lisa and Ressler had been right, only a few people from Milly's side had shown up at the venue for the reception and those that did, quietly left after the meal. Her parents had come for the meal and, as much as Kevin represented everything she hated about the legal system, she had admired his effort to thank her parents in his speech, introduce them relatives they wouldn't know, and tell them how much he loved their daughter. They seemed un-moved, but at least he tried. As for Milly, she seemed…stoic. She looked like she wanted to enjoy her reception but had too much going on in her brain to actually enjoy it. Liz could see the woman was overwhelmed by the enormity of the steps she had taken; a husband a child on the way, but also by her family's behaviour. It looked like Milly was not going to be part of their lives in any real way in the future and Liz was sure that was messing with her head.
The rest of the Doyle's seemed to either not notice, or were making a valiant effort to have the wedding reception be as normal as possible. There were sweet speeches at dinner about Kevin growing up and Milly growing up from his family and her friends. There was a cake cutting, toasts to the happy couple, and the band played a sweet country song Liz had not heard before for their first dance as a couple. After Milly's people had left, Liz noticed that the music got louder, the guests drunker and the party rowdier. The band would play country music for about 45 minutes and then the DJ would come on for about the same. Liz had to admit, Kevin and Milly were right to have both. The band played music that the older people, and Milly, seemed to like and Liz found herself being dragged up to line dance by Don's mom several times as she fumbled through the steps with all the women that seemed to know all the dances. Most of the time she laughed and just tried not to knock anyone over. What she liked most about line dancing was that each time a dance was finished Ressler greeted her with a new drink and a kiss that got a little more intense with every dance. Neither of them were drunk because between the enormous amount of food they ate and the exercise of dancing most of the night, they had worked off or absorbed the alcohol. They were both in that happy alcoholic place of energy, laughter, flirtiness and fun.
And, as for the non-line dances, Ressler was, as Lisa said, a very good dancer. On their fourth slow dance where he easily guided her around effortlessly, he explained that his aunt Cindy used to own a dance studio in Detroit and his mother had put him in for lessons. When he got older and taller his aunt hired him and that was how he had leaned to dance. He demonstrated the waltz, foxtrot, and tango for her when he got a few more drinks in and Liz had to say, it was dead sexy.
"I can't believe I have known you all these years and not known that you could dance like this," Liz said as they danced slowly together, not any particular dance this time.
"I am a man of many hidden talents," Ressler smiled at her.
"You know, you are awfully graceful on your feet when running after a perp," Liz chuckled. "And I have seen you pivot quite beautifully around a corner…I should have known!"
He chuckled with her and said nothing.
"Sam tried to enroll me in dance lessons once, I think it was jazz, and I just stood at the back of the room with my arms crossed in my leotard and refused to do anything. After a few weeks, he got a refund," Liz said with a smile. "Now, as I fumble through line dancing with your mom, I wish I had participated."
"Is that why Agnes is in ballet?" Ressler asked. "Correcting the past?"
"Maybe," Liz snickered. "That way, one day, when a man waltzes her around a dance floor at a wedding she won't be terrified of stepping on his feet or tripping over her own."
Ressler laughed.
"I kinda got forced into it as a child," Ressler said as he looked at his mom dancing across the floor with Maurice. "But then grew to love it."
Liz followed his line of sight and then looked back at him.
"What are you thinking?" She asked.
He huffed and turned them around a little. "That I need to listen to my mother more often."
Liz chuckled.
"Why this revelation?" Liz asked.
"She keeps telling me how important family is and I get…caught up with work or my own life and…"
Liz waited and when he said nothing, she prompted him.
"And?"
"And she's right," Ressler said. "I use work as an excuse to not attend things and as much as me and some of my family members may be worlds apart in our lives, political beliefs, or…well, they're my family and I love them, and I shouldn't put them off for a case that will be there when I get back."
Liz swallowed hard. She didn't have much family anymore and had been really enjoying being with Ressler's family this weekend. Even when growing up, Sam wasn't big int family and her aunt June was the closest she had, and she was even gone now. Her two cousins lived in Mexico and Texas, and she hadn't spoken to them in years. She liked the warmth, love and comfort of Ressler's family, despite, as he put it, their lives being world's apart. They were good people, people who obviously loved each other and would do anything for each other. She never really had that. Except for Reddington, really. And even then, he always seemed to have other motives.
"Make a fresh start then," Liz said as she looked into his eyes. "So you missed 3 weddings? Big deal. Say 'yes' to everything that comes from now on. Book the tickets and the hotels, take some time or a weekend and go to whatever crazy event the Doyles or the Ressler's got goin' on."
He smiled down at her and nodded. "You're right."
"I know I am," she said sarcastically.
"You and my mom are a pair," he snickered.
Liz thought about her earlier conversation with Lisa on the patio and knew she needed to speak with him but wasn't sure if a wedding was the best place to do that. The dance ended and he took her by the hand to a table where his parents were sitting and they sat down with them.
"You two have been up for every slow song," Lisa said as she watched her son reach for his beer across the table. "He show you what a great dancer he is?"
"He has shown me a few dances," Liz smiled as she took a drink of water.
The DJ played the first few notes of a song and all of a sudden, all the men in the room seemed to yell, call each other and run quickly to the front of the room on the dance floor. Liz saw Hugh dragging Kevin, who seemed to be beat red an embarrassed to the front of the pack right in the middle of everyone.
The notes stopped as the men started to gather, and Ressler took a big drink from his beer before he kissed her on the side of the face sloppily and said 'gotta go' and joined the other men.
"What's…?" Liz asked.
"It's a tradition," Lisa said. "A kind of filthy one."
Liz looked at the men gathering at the front of the room, wrapping their arms around each other, some with beers still in their hands, all laughing, and the notes that started this whole thing started again. Ressler was in the thick of it, his one arm around his uncle Craig, and his other around another cousin Liz couldn't name. Maurice was up there too, gathered in a small group of men on the end laughing.
"What's…?" Liz asked.
"You'll see…" Lisa chuckled as a few women joined their table.
"This bed is on fire with passionate love, the neighbors complaining about the noises above, but she only cums when she's on top!" The group of men sang loud and raucous.
"Oh my god," Liz covered her mouth and laughed.
Lisa leaned over. "I'm so glad Milly's family is gone, this would have sent them over the edge!"
The lyrics continued with men singing to the crowd loudly, some even started to can can kick, other's turned and twirled about, and still others pumped their arms in the air with beer spilling over everyone and everything. Ressler was singing and laughing with the rest of them, part of the group that was his family, and enjoying every minute of it. His face was beet red.
"They do this for all weddings?" Liz asked.
"Since the song came out…I want to say 15 or 20 years now," Lisa snickered. "Wait, it wasn't at Maurice and my wedding, so not 20 years…"
Liz watched the song continue with men failing badly at making the high notes and not seeming to care. Everyone in the entire reception hall was laughing as the song started to come to a close and with the final drum solo all of the men seemed to gather around Kevin smacking his back, kissing the side of his face, messing up his hair, or any other male congratulatory gesture they could think of before they broke and went back to their tables, wives, girlfriends, or the bar for another drink.
Ressler walked toward her, his face still red as a tomato but all smiles. He leaned over and kissed her forehead as if nothing had happened to interrupt their conversation and sat down.
"The dessert buffet should be out soon," he said as he looked at Liz and his mother, who was handing Maurice and him a napkin to wipe beer off themselves.
"That just happened…" Liz smirked at him.
He shrugged.
"I can't…Don…"
"It's a tradition," he said as he wiped his face and looked down at his suit for any other beer that had landed on him.
"It's some tradition…" Liz chuckled as she shook her head. "You know, I like your family more every minute."
He laughed.
"So, how did that happen as a tradition?" Liz asked.
Ressler wiped at some beer on his shoulder and said nothing.
"Wasn't it Fred's third wedding?" Maurice piped up.
"Oh, I think you're right," Lisa said as she smiled at her husband. "The boys had had way too much to drink. You and Robby were sick for days…weren't you supposed to be in Europe but had to delay?"
"Uh, yeah," Ressler nodded.
"You and Robby started this?" Liz asked, her eyes wide.
"Technically it was Robby and me, and a bunch of others followed along," Ressler said. "My aunts were mortified."
"I was as well!" Lisa said. "Imagine your two boys up there with a bunch of their teenage cousins singing about sex and cross dressing!"
"Robby loved that song when it came out." Ressler said with a smirk. "And I was too drunk to say no."
"Then it became a thing," Lisa shrugged. "At every wedding after that, the crowd got bigger and bigger, then the dancing and kicking…and…didn't your uncle Art put on a dress one time?"
"Yeah, he did," Ressler said with a chuckle.
"And now, it's like a right of passage for the groom," Maurice said.
"I really like it," Liz smiled as she placed her hand on Ressler's knee. "Who knew you had it in you to start a kinky all-male choir singing traditon?"
Everyone at the table laughed and Ressler shook his head.
"I'm going to get some air and try and get this beer smell off my suit," Ressler said as he stood. "Care to join me?"
Liz smiled and stood taking his hand.
"We're going to go for a walk on the grounds ma," Ressler said.
"Take your shawl, the temperature may be hot in here after all that singing and dancing, but it can get cold outside," Lisa said as she handed Liz the wrap she brought with her for the wedding.
"Thanks," Liz said as she took it from her. It was moments like that that Liz missed having a mother who looked out for you like Lisa seemed to do, even though she wasn't even her child. She loved that Lisa pulled her onto the dance floor and encouraged her to try, that she spoke with her like a woman but also a mother, that she didn't seem to judge Liz's drunkenness that first night and had said she liked her even more after it. Liz just loved his mom.
They walked hand in hand from the reception and the night air was warm and slightly sticky. Liz considered going back inside to leave her wrap but decided it wasn't worth the trip and just carried it over her arm.
"I should have warned you about the song," Ressler apologized.
"Why?" Liz asked, surprised.
"I guess because, like the drinking, it's a Doyle tradition you wouldn't have known about until it happened," Ressler said with a smirk as they made their way down a stone pathway.
"I liked the surprise," Liz said as she snuggled in closer to him.
"Good," Ressler said.
"Any other Doyle traditions I need to know about?" Liz asked.
"Nothing that would affect you," Ressler hedged.
"Why do you say that?" She asked.
Ressler smirked as they started to walk a path toward the 9th hole. "Just that most Doyle's are knocked up when they get married. Not all of them, but many."
"Really?" Liz asked, surprised, but also unsurprised.
"I am not sure Moira was, or my mom," Ressler joked. "But my aunt Patty was huge when she got married."
"Wound up Aunt Patty?!" Liz clarified.
"Oh yeah," Ressler nodded. "She wasn't like that when she was younger. My uncle Craig asked her to marry him as soon as they found out, and she took a long time to say yes. Was thinking of raising Kevin on her own. She was a bit of a partier…"
"Aunt Patty?!" Liz asked, shocked.
"Yep," Don nodded. "My mom didn't like her and thought her brother could be a dad without them getting married, but they eventually got married and Patty settled down once Kevin came along."
"Jesus Christ, Aunt Patty," Liz sighed. "I think that's more shocking than your all-male Laid choir."
Ressler laughed as they continued to walk in silence for a while, they were following a path until it seemed they were quite far from the clubhouse and Ressler stopped to turn them back around.
"We should probably head back," he said as he started with her back down the path they had just walked.
"You don't want to do the entire course?" Liz asked him.
"It's quite a distance, Liz," he said. "I think we've done…half?"
Liz looked at his boyish face in the moonlight and the dim lights coming from the green and smiled. She needed to stop thinking and analyzing and worrying and start feeling and acting on those feelings.
Liz pulled him against her and kissed him soundly. Surprised by her action he was caught off guard and it took him a while to respond, but when he did it was amorous. She pulled him by the hand off the path and toward a copse of trees and shrubs.
"What are you doing?" He chuckled as he followed her.
"Finding some alone time," Liz said with a grin.
"I can barely see you…" Ressler said as she pulled him away from the lights and toward a patch of grass that seemed to be surrounded by trees and bushes.
"Get closer then." Liz said, her voice sultry and cutting through the night air.
He pulled her closer and kissed her passionately as they slowly lowered to the ground.
"Wait," he said as he shrugged off his suit jacket and laid it out for her to lay on as they continued to kiss.
Liz pulled back from his kiss at one point, quite a while later, and looked at his face, outlined by the moon but the features not discernable.
"My heart says you," Liz sighed as she laid with her head back on the grass and her body on his jacket.
She couldn't see his face but could tell he was a little confused by his lack of response.
"I need to stop talking my way out of this," Liz said as she ran a soft hand down the side of his face. "I need to listen to my heart and my heart says you are for me."
She heard him swallow audibly.
"Liz…" he started. "I love you. I don't know what you…"
She swallowed hard this time and lifted her head to kiss his lips softly.
"I love you too," she said as they parted.
And, when her head went back down his mouth followed, as did his hands finding their way up her dress, her hands the belt buckle on his pants and clothing started to disappear.
"Tell me you have a condom," she said, out of breath as he worked her over with his hand.
"Liz, I didn't…I didn't think we'd…" he started, honestly to explain that he had hoped they would get closer this weekend, but never imagined they would be doing this.
She sighed. "I haven't been on the pill since Tom."
"Shit," he said, his forehead dropping to her shoulder.
"Jesus Christ," she sighed, her body screaming for him.
It took them both a moment to register that although they were prepared for this emotionally, they were not prepared practically.
"How about we get to know each other," he said, his voice low and sexy, as he pulled her panties off her legs and started to slide down her body, "and then, when I've been able to visit a store, we get to know each other more…"
Liz's breathing got heavy as she felt him reach his target.
Time seemed to stand still for the next hour, but the buzzing of his phone as they lay naked and satiated on his suit jacket with her wrap over them, did not. He reached into his suit jacket pocket and checked his messages.
He texted something back quickly as Liz lay in a haze of sexual satisfaction before he put back his phone and wrapped an arm around her waist, settling back in next to her.
"What's going on?" Liz asked him, her voice barely audible. Her throat was dry from all her moaning.
"My mom wondering where we are," Ressler said quietly.
"Oh shit, do they need to leave?" Liz asked, her voice thready.
"I told her to not worry about getting us home, I had Kevin's truck," Ressler said.
"What do you mean you have his truck?" Liz asked, turning her head to look at him.
"I left my watch in it this afternoon and he and Milly have a car taking them to the resort a couple of hours away where they are staying for their honeymoon," Ressler said. "At the reception, he asked me to take it back to his mom's for when they get back in a week."
Liz nodded and kissed his nose.
"Okay, good," she breathed heavily. "I don't want your parents to worry but, I kind of feel like I couldn't hold myself upright just yet."
Ressler chuckled a low and deep laugh and pulled her a little closer. "Yeah, I'm feeling a little that way too."
They lay in silence for a long time, cuddled under her wrap and he willed himself to stay awake even though his body was telling him it was time to sleep. Although he had started with her, she had taken over with him, and then he had finished with her. Their time together had been, despite the lack of traditional sex, one of the most erotic experiences of his life and his body felt as if every need had been satisfied.
He must have fallen asleep because he woke to Liz kissing her way across his chest, it was still dark outside, and he was a little confused for a moment as she climbed on top of him.
"Liz…?" He asked, feeling her close to him.
"There's a reason why there's Plan B," Liz said as she kissed her way across his jaw. "Are you okay with that?"
He nodded silently and, before he knew it, they were making love.
If Don thought their last experience was earth shattering, these next ones came incredibly close as well. And a few hours later, they found themselves dressed, walking across the green as the sun was rising, having spent the night making love. He was carrying her shoes by the straps and had her wrap over his arm, and she walked beside him with his jacket on and her arm wrapped around his waist, her body cuddled into his. They hadn't spoken much, but both individuals seemed to be in a good place after what had transpired overnight.
They saw a grounds keeper and waved at him as he looked back at them with a smirk before he continued with his duties.
"How are we going to sneak in with those creaky stairs at your aunts?" Liz giggled as they got to Kevin's truck and Don got it started.
"We're grown adults," Don said. "I think we just walk in and go to bed to get some sleep. I'm exhausted."
Liz exchanged a cheeky look with him.
"Then we need to head to a pharmacy…none will be open yet," Liz said with a nod.
He nodded as well.
"There's usually a brunch, so we're only going to get a few hours before Aunt Patty's house is a zoo," Ressler said. "After brunch we can take this truck into town ad get to a pharmacy."
Liz nodded.
They pulled into his Aunt Patty's driveway and parked Kevin's truck before walking inside.
"Look what the cat dragged in?" Aunt Patty's voice called out from behind them as they started up the stairs.
"Hey Aunt Patty," Ressler turned and looked at her. It was then that he noticed a couple of twigs in Liz's hair and reached to quickly pull them out.
"You two enjoy the wedding?" Patty asked as she approached.
"Yeah," Liz nodded. "You did a great job, and everyone seemed to have fun."
Patty smirked at them.
"You find your way around the golf course Donnie?" Patty chuckled.
"Uh, yeah, nice place," Ressler nodded as his face turned red.
"Well, get some sleep you two, everyone will be here about 10am."
Don and Liz nodded and started back up the stairs. Don thought he heard his aunt muttering something about him being a Doyle but couldn't quite make out exactly what she'd said.
To be continued…
