Hope this chapter is okay, took me ages to write because I felt I needed to put so much in to it! Please review, it gives me the motivation to keep on writing!

"Because he admitted it to me."

She broke down, crying uncontrollably in to her hands, her body shaking. Ressler froze and watched on as his partner fell apart in front of him. He couldn't believe that he had sat there and actually been rooting for Reddington to be innocent when it came to the death of her father. Had five years of chasing him to the four corners of the Earth and the past ten months of working along side him and getting to know exactly how he works not taught him anything? Ressler honestly thought that ever since he had handed himself in, and most likely before that day, when it came to Elizabeth Keen, Reddington did all in his power not to hurt her, not to do exactly that and destroy all aspects of her life. Never, in his time working with her, had Ressler seen her so broken before, sure he'd seen her cry and he'd been there to comfort her after her ordeal with Stanley Cornish. But he'd handed her off to an EMT at the first available opportunity, not wanting things to become awkward between them. This was different. This was her left broken after the ultimate act of betrayal and this time he would be there for her as long as she needed him.

"Liz..."

Ressler shifted along the couch until he felt her leg pressed up against his own. Her body continued to shake as he threw his arm around her shoulders and tugged her gently, encouraging her to lean against him. She fought it at first but gave in when he tugged that little bit harder and eventually her head found his shoulder after a few minutes. He rested his cheek against her hair as he silently comforted his broken partner. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before the shaking of her body seemed to calm down and the tears that were flowing from her eyes started to slow. Ressler felt Liz pull away from him slightly and he let her. He reached over her to grab the box of tissues she'd placed on the arm of the couch and handed them back to her. When Liz looked up to him and gave him a silent thanks, it was then he saw how red raw her eyes were from crying. Ressler pushed himself up from the couch and walked in to the bathroom, grabbed one of the spare face cloths from under the sink and rinsed it with warm water before going back to the living room and handed it to Liz.

"This will work better than the tissues, and it'll be kinder to your face." He took his seat back next to her as she wiped her face with the cloth; it was such a simple gesture from him but he knew it would mean a lot to her. He wasn't used to being the one that had to take care of her wounds (physical or otherwise), it was always the other way round between them.

"Thanks. Sorry I- I'm such a mess. I didn't mean to come here and unload all of this on you, I just n-"

"Needed someone you could trust and be honest with. I get it, Liz, you don't have to apologise. I'm just returning the favour from when you were my shoulder to cry when... when Audrey died." It had been a few months now since his girlfriends death but it still wasn't the easiest subject to talk about.

"Yeah." She folded the face cloth and pressed it against her face again. "I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't be around Reddington anymore, not after this. Too much has happened this time. All I ever wanted was to have a normal life and look at me; a failed marriage to an imposter and a completely dysfunctional relationship with a notorious criminal. I feel like I have nothing left."

Well that stung a bit and Ressler wasn't entirely sure why. "Hey, you have me, you have the task force, you can start again."

She smiled sadly at him. "I know I do. But if I was to refuse to work with Reddington, hand in my resignation and leave, there'll be no task force. Meera will go back to the CIA, Aram will go back to where ever they brought him in from and you... you..." She wasn't sure what would happen to him.

"I would go back to trying and failing to catch Reddington. Not the greatest but there's no guarantees on that happening. We've done so much in the last ten months, saved an untold amount of people and put God knows how many behind bars, it's your choice what happens next. You know we'll all support you in whatever you choose to do."

She took his hand and squeezed in lightly. He squeezed back and neither let go. There hadn't been much physical contact between them unless necessary but it didn't feel strange or awkward, it felt normal.

"It's something I'm really going to have to think about isn't it?" He nodded and she sighed. "He killed my father and he's the reason Tom was put in my life. I'll never be able to forgive him, never. But I know that if I cut him off, keep him away, then I'll never come to know the truth. I just don't know... Damn fucking bastard!" She slammed her head against their intertwined hands.

Ressler felt sorry for Liz; she'd been through so much in her life and Reddington had made things so much worse. When he'd first met her on her doorstep the morning Reddington handed himself in, it looked like she had the perfect life; a husband that loved her, a baby on the way, starting a new job that she was destined to love, only for it all to be ripped apart the moment she had been forced to meet with the criminal.

"Sleep on it. You don't have to make a decision now, think about it over night and decide in the morning. We have a lot to do tomorrow with your house and everything. See how that goes and then make a decision on whether you can do it. But right now, I want you to tell me about the cameras you said were in your house."

Liz froze briefly before turning to face Ressler. She finally released his hand and they both noticed the loss of warmth from it's removal but neither of them mentioned it. She grabbed another tissue from the box and wiped the few remaining tears away before starting to attempt to explain about the cameras planted in her house.

"They'd been in there for months. I watched all the footage and it only started when Tom returned from the hospital so they must have been planted whilst he was at physio or something. God, Ressler, there was camera in every room. The guys who set them up were watching everything. They watched me shower, watched me and Tom... having sex. I only found out about the cameras after Anslo Garrick infiltrated the Post Office. Aram worked his magic and traced some phone calls that were made from an address across from mine and when I went to investigate I found the footage playing on the computers. They were searching for information on Reddington, they listened in on phone conversations and used what they heard to guess when he would be at the Blacksite and passed the details on to Garrick." She paused briefly before continuing. "After I figured out the truth about Tom, I watched the footage back and that's when I found they key hidden in the bottom of the lamp. I watched him go back and forth to it a few times and when we fought a couple of nights ago, he already knew that I had it and told me it was to a safety deposit box and that I should go to it. I did and that's when I found the photo of Reddington exiting the hospital the day my father died. You know what happened from there."

Ressler nodded but didn't say anything. People had been watching Liz during her most intimate moments and he was angry. Something inside him stirred but he wasn't sure what it was. Liz was his partner, his friend yet he felt far more protective over her than he should. He grasped her hand again and pulled her back against his side, touched his lips to the top of her head so lightly that he knew she wouldn't have felt it.

"What happened to the people who set up the cameras?" If they wasn't already dead he'd hunt them down himself.

"Gone. Well, the guy who was in the house when I went over there is dead, I killed him. I don't know if there was anybody else but I'm pretty sure Reddington would have already dealt with them, seeing as I used his clean up lady to dispose of the body."

She sniffed and he grinned internally. He was glad that she'd gotten revenge on at least one of the men spying on her.

"Good. Look, why don't you try and get some sleep? I'll find you something to sleep in to save you going down to your car and you can take a shower if you want. I'm pretty sure I have some clean towels in the hall closet."

He felt her nod against his chest and her small voice floated up to him. "Sounds good. Thanks, Don."

He grinned at the use of his first name. He didn't think that in the whole time they'd worked together she'd ever used it. He gently encouraged Liz to move with him as he made to get up. She moved just enough for him to stand up before sitting back down to remove her boots. As he made his way to the closet in the search for towels, she headed to the front door and placed her boots neck to his shoes. He pulled out two towels for her and handed them to her, knowing that she'd want a separate one if she did her hair.

"Bathrooms down the hall, I'll find you some sweats or something and leave them in the bedroom okay?"

"Sure." She gave him a small smile before heading off to the bathroom. He waited until he could hear the shower running before passing by to go to his bedroom. He headed straight to his dresser and searched the bottom draw for an old pair of sweats that he usually used to work out in. He also found one of his smaller, thinner t-shirts and laid the two items on his bed. He thought that maybe Liz would feel more comfortable wearing a sweater over the top seeing as it would be fairly cold in the morning and the tee itself was quite thin. The only problem was that he couldn't find one. He checked the dresser and his closet but turned up empty. Surely they couldn't all be in the wash? Unfortunately, the laundry hamper happened to be in the bathroom so he couldn't check. He heard the shower stop and the bathroom door open but before he could leave the bedroom, Liz appeared in the doorway. She was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped round her body and one round her head, the clothes she had been wearing folded neatly in her hands. Ressler's mouth went dry looking at her bare legs. The towel was a little short but still long enough to be considered decent. That didn't stop him staring though. He looked her up and down before clearing his throat and looking away. He gestured to the clothes on his bed as he started talking.

"I, ugh, found these for you. I tried to find you a sweater too but came up empty. I'll leave you to get dressed and have another look." She smiled up at him again but didn't meet his eye. He could sense that she felt a little embarrassed standing there in front of him in nothing but a towel so he left the room quickly and closed the door behind him. He was so used to seeing her in pant suits that having her standing before him with so much flesh on show was quite a shock. He went to the bathroom and checked the laundry hamper and found almost all the sweaters he owned in there. He really needed to keep on top of things. He went back to the living room and found Liz sitting cross legged on the couch, hugging a cushion to her front.

"You okay?" He could tell she was tired but she did look a little better after having a shower.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just really tired, I feel like I could sleep for days." As if on cue she tried and failed to stifle a yawn. Ressler saw her shiver slightly in the cool night air. He looked down at what he was wearing and decided that he could manage without the extra layer. He removed his sweater and handed it to her.

"Here, take this. It gets kinda cold in here." She took the sweater from him and stood up. He could see why she sat with the cushion pressed to her front; the top he'd given her was a lot thinner than he had thought, he could almost clearly see the outline of her breasts. He swallowed and tried not to stare as she pulled the sweater on over her head. What he didn't realise is how comfortable she felt wearing his clothes. The instant warmth she got from the sweater was like a safe haven to her.

"Thanks. Listen, Don, I mean it, thank you, for every thing you've done for me tonight and will do for me tomorrow. I'm glad I still have you to watch my back." She walked over to him and placed her head against his shoulder with hand on his chest and the other round his waist.

"That's what partners are for." He wrapped his own around her shoulders. Now that she was so close to him, he noticed that she smelt of him, having obviously used his shampoo and body wash whilst in the shower. He breathed in the scent of his cologne coming from his sweater and noticed how different it smelt mixed with Liz's own personal scent.

"I asked him if he was my father."

She spoke so quietly he almost missed it. It was only because he felt her voice vibrate against him that he heard.

"What?" He was slightly confused as to what she was saying.

"Reddington. I asked him if he was my real father when I spoke to him after Anslo Garrick attacked and he went back off the grid. He said he wasn't and I believed him. At the time it was the only thing that made seemed to make sense."

"Do you still think that that's the case? Or are you thinking differently now?" He looked down at her but she didn't return his gaze.

"I don't know anymore. I mean, it could be possible but there's nothing to suggest it is."

"You could always find a away to find the truth. I'll help."

She nodded against him but remained quiet. They stayed there for a few minutes until he felt her begin to sag against him; she had started to fall asleep right there standing in his arms. He led her back to the couch and guided her to lay down with her head on the cushion. She gave him a sleepy, weak smile before giving in to sleep completely. He went to his bedroom and pulled one of the extra blankets off his bed and headed back to Liz and placed it over her, making sure she was tucked in before placing a soft kiss to her cheek.

"Night Liz." He whispered in her ear before retreating to his room, turning the light out on his way.

He changed in to a pair of pyjama pants and an undershirt before settling himself in bed. He tried to process every thing that Liz had told him tonight but found it difficult to comprehend it all at once. How the hell she had been doing it for weeks he didn't know. What he did know is that she needed to be told the truth about how she's connected to Reddington, and he'd help her do so in anyway he could. Ressler fell in to an uneasy sleep, knowing that tomorrow would be a hard day.

Morning came and Ressler awoke on his front in bed. He turned over and checked the clock, noticing that it was before six in the morning. He'd barely gotten five hours sleep and his alarm wasn't due to go off for another ten minutes. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep and that he needed to relieve himself, he headed to the bathroom. It was only when he passed the piled of neatly folded clothes on the top of his dresser that he remembered his partner was asleep on his couch. He creeped to the living room and found her still fast asleep in the fetal position, the blanket partially covering her. He smiled before turning and heading to the bathroom.

He was back out two minutes later and found Liz sitting up but it appeared that she'd fallen back to sleep. He couldn't help but smile and let out a small laugh at the figure before him. Her hair was a mess with such a mass of twists and tangles that he had no idea how she could possibly get them out. He left her sleeping in her upright position and made his way to the kitchen to start the coffee maker, knowing that they both needed their morning in take of caffeine. He stuck a few slices of bread in the toaster and pulled out the butter from the fridge. The 'ping' from the coffee machine and the 'pop' from the toaster went at almost the same time and grabbed two plates and mugs and placed them on the counter. After working with for months and endless coffee runs, he'd discovered that she takes her first coffee of the day black and with milk the rest of the day and only drank decaf if it was after nine. When it came to his coffee habits, it was black all the way. He poured out two mugs worth of coffee and buttered four slices of toast and placed two on each plate. He balanced a plate on the top of each mug before carrying them both in to the living room and placing them on the coffee table.

"Liz... wake up." He gently nudged his partners shoulder in an attempt to rouse her.

"No." She cracked an eye open and gave him a glare that could have only said 'touch me again and I will kill you'. Ressler chuckled lightly before picking up one of the mugs and holding it under her nose. The tactic seemed to work because as soon as the smell hit her, her eyes flew open and she whipped the mug out of his hand.

"Mmm, coffee." He handed her one of the plates as well. "And toast! Wow, you really know how to treat your guests." She took a bite of her buttery toast and sipped away at her coffee. Ressler joined her by leaning back against the couch with his own breakfast. They ate in silence before Liz yawned.

"I feel like I barely slept. What time is it?"

He checked his watch. "Nearly five past six."

"Are you being serious?." She placed her half empty mug and crumb filled plate back on the coffee table, laid down and pulled the blanket back over her head. Her voice was muffled slightly when she spoke.

"I'll sleep till half past. You go do what you have to do."

He yanked the blanket back and returned her coffee to her. "If we're going to your house for me to go over it with you, we need to leave at seven. We need to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. You forget that I've lived with a woman before and I've watched you come in to work late majority of the time you've worked at the Post Office. To be honest, I'd bet my badge that it's because you don't leave yourself enough time to get ready."

She looked at him then rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. "Fair play. I need to go to and get a few things from my car. Though you do realise that even with fifty minutes, I still probably wont be ready."

He groaned and slumped back against the couch while she grinned at his expression. "If it's actually going to take you that long, I'm grabbing a shower before you hog the bathroom. Keys are by the front door, just let yourself back in." He left her drinking the remainder of her coffee whilst taking his own mug to the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and turned on the shower, took off his watch and placed it on the sink. He undressed and stepped in the shower, letting the hot water cascade over him as he thought about the day ahead. The first time he would step in to his partners home would be to evaluate it as a crime scene. Today was going to be a difficult one.

He stepped out the shower ten minutes later, towel dried his hair then wrapped the same towel round his body. Another ten minutes in the bathroom saw his teeth brushed and his hair perfectly gelled in to place. He left the bathroom, empty mug in hand and headed to the kitchen and placed the mug in the dishwasher. Liz wasn't in the living room when he passed and seeing as he'd spent over twenty minutes in the bathroom, he guessed that she wasn't still downstairs. He knocked on his bedroom door before entering to check if she was there.

"Liz, you in there?"

Her voice came through the door almost instantly. "Yeah, sorry, I'll be out in a minute. You were still in the shower when I came back so I changed in here."

"Don't worry about it. I'm gonna make another coffee, you want one?"

"Sure."

Five minutes later the bedroom door opened to reveal a fully dressed but bare faced and messy haired Liz. Ressler sighed inwardly as he walked out the kitchen and looked at her; he would definitely be waiting for her once he was ready. She was just about to start running a hair brush through her hair when she stopped and caught sight of him.

"What?" He asked before looking down at himself and realising he was still only wearing a towel.

"How is it possible for you men to have your hair done to perfection in a matter of minutes?" She asked in all seriousness, but he noticed that her eyes flickered up and down his body and there was a slight falter when she skimmed over his chest. He couldn't help but feel slightly flattered.

"I guess we're just amazing, or at least I am. Coffees in the kitchen, though by the time you're ready to drink it, it'll be cold."

"Funny, Ressler, real funny."

They both headed off to finish getting ready; he in to the bedroom and her the bathroom. He was out fifteen minutes later, suit on and putting the final touches to his tie but as far as he could tell Liz was still in the bathroom. He drank his still moderately warm coffee before putting on his shoes and returning the blanket Liz had used last night to his bed. Finally, at almost ten past seven, Liz emerged from the bathroom, looking ready to start the day; her hair flowed down to her shoulders and the thin layer of make-up she usually wore was done with expertise.

"All set, just let me put these things in my bag."

I'm gonna head downstairs, make sure you lock the door behind you.

He left her in his apartment while he went downstairs and waiting by Liz's car. He normally took the train to work as the commute was easier than him driving and he figured that if they were going to her house, she could give him a ride instead of him taking his own car. She exited his building five minutes later, carrying her go-bag in one hand, his apartment keys in the other and her jacket slung over her arm. She unlocked her car, dumped her bag and jacket in the truck then hopped in the front seat whilst Ressler let himself in the passenger side. The set up felt a little odd for them, seeing as whenever they were in a car together, Ressler was always driving. Before she started the car, Liz turned to Ressler, a determined look on her face.

I've thought a lot about what I'm gonna do and I just can't stay. I have to sever ties with him now or I'll be able to. I'm gonna ask Cooper for a transfer and resign from the task force. I want nothing more to do with Raymond Reddington.

If he had said he wasn't a little hurt or disappointed by her decision, he would have been lying. He had gotten used to, and enjoyed, having her as a partner. He would be sad to see her go but knew she needed to do this.

I understand, Liz, I do. You know we'll support you all the way with this.

She nodded, turned back and started the car, both pulling on their seatbelts as she drove away from his apartment and head towards the house she once called home.