"I think you're Jennifer Cameron."
Silence settled between them once the gravity of Resslers simple but, devastatingly, honest statement kicked in. He didn't dare attempt to say a single word as she stood there and watched on while Liz processed and dealt with the shock of what he'd just said. Looking at his friend, Ressler surmised that it must have been one thing alone to hear the revelation as a general theory for the case, but another thing entirely to hear your own partner voice it as their own personal opinion. It took a few minutes of pure silence before Liz was finally able enough to speak. She cleared her throat and began to pace back and forth past him, avoiding his gaze and keeping her voice low as she spoke.
"And you usually have a pretty good sense of judgement, so -"
"It doesn't mean anything, Liz!" He caught hold of her wrists as she passed by him for the forth time and attempted to pull her to a stop. "I could be reading this in the complete wrong way." He rubbed his brow in frustration, willing her to understand it was nothing more than a theory they'd come up with based on coincidence. "I promised to tell you everything I know as I find out and I have."
Liz finally came to a complete stop and looked up at him, disbelief evident in her eyes. She ran a hand through her hair and gave a somewhat nervous laugh. "I can't believe this."
"I could be wro-" he tried to say, but she cut him off by wrenching her hand out of his grip and holding it up to him as she started to pace again.
"Just save it, Don. We both know that, whatever you promised, you still wouldn't have brought it up unless you wholeheartedly believe you had a pretty good idea that your intels correct," she snapped. She shook her head and dropped her hand before she ran it through her hair and sighed, lowering her voice. "Sorry. If you've found even the slightest link, no matter how small it might be, chances are they'll most likely follow through. We now have to work under the suspicion that... that I'm that girl."
She threw herself heavily down in to her chair, elbows on knees and head in her hands. Ressler watched her and could see the revelation was already taking it's toll on her, and he hated the fact that he'd been the one to give it to her. He pulled his chair right up next to hers and sat down, wrapping an arm round her shoulder and drawing her close to him.
"I'm sorry, Liz," he said, tracing his thumb lightly over her shoulder. "Guess this wasn't what you were expecting when you came to me last night, is it?"
Liz gave a low laugh and leaned further in to his side, the warmth comforting. "I honestly don't know what I thought. I never expected to discover my husband, the man I used to love and trust, was ex-CIA gone rogue. Or to find out that he was initially placed in my life because of Reddington." She sighed, using a single finger to wipe away a few stray tears. "This is such a mess!"
"Hey," Ressler said softly. He removed his arm and spun them both to face each other, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's a mess that we'll get sorted, however long it may take, okay? We'll get it sorted, Liz."
"I'm not so sure." Ressler raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. "If Reddington wants the truth hidden, it'll stay hidden."
"Not necessarily." He rubbed the back of his neck. "He slipped up with your father."
Now it was Liz's turn to raise an eyebrow. She looked up at him, confused. "What?"
"He let himself openly be caught on camera, almost as if he wasn't aware, that's how you knew he was there, right?" Liz nodded. "Liz, it's extremely rare to catch Reddington on film, I should know," he said bitterly. He released his grip on her and leant back in his chair, shrugging. "He could have made the same mistake years ago that we can now link him to."
His hopeful tone hung in the air between them for a few seconds, and they both found themselves wishing for him to be right. Liz took the time they were silent to really think about the possibility before speaking.
"Maybe you're right," she said, mimicking him by leaning back in her own chair. Ressler almost smirked at her, that was until she continued, her voice once again low and humourless. "But I'm not who everyone thinks I am."
"Hey," Ressler said sharply, leaning forward in his chair again. "You'll always be Elizabeth Keen to me, Liz."
It took a few seconds to appreciate what he had said, but when she finally did, Liz began to smile and a small wave of relief that she still had the ability to washed over him. He hated seeing the constant hurt in her eyes at every turn, and he hated to witness the aftermath of each and every bad event even more. In the last ten months alone, ever since her first day at the Post Office, her life had been turned upside down from all different directions and Ressler sensed the climax of her problems were no where in sight. His relief was, however, short lived, for he watched on as Liz's eyes suddenly glassed over and he smile dropped as soon as it formed.
"Oh my God." Her whisper was pain filled, and it scared him.
Ressler dragged his chair so close to her now their knees were touching. He brushed the hair that had fallen out of her face and ran his thumb over her cheek. "What? Liz?"
"I was adopted." She sounded as though she was in a trance, almost as if she were remembering something truly disturbing and Ressler didn't like it - it was unsettling.
"I know," he said slowly, unsure of where her thoughts were going.
"Was it even legal?"
Now Ressler understood why she was acting the way she was. She'd been adopted, at four, by Sam after she'd survived the fire; so if her identity had been changed, it was completely plausible that he'd been aware of the whole thing. Documents would have had to be fabricated, records altered and people bought off and lied to. Ressler tilted his head, thinking. "You thinking your father could have known, been part of it?"
"How could he not be?" She pushed away from him, stood and started pacing once more. Ressler jumped up and tried to stop her but she moved herself out of his reach. "No, Ressler, listen. If this turns out to be more than just speculation, then there's no way in hell Sam could have been in the dark about it all. He had to have known. He had -"
She stopped so suddenly, eyes widening, that Ressler went in to defensive mode in case of an imminent attack, clearing the room of a threat. His gaze stopped back on Liz and she had adopted the same glassy look she'd had less than five minutes ago and Ressler was back at her side in an instant.
"Liz?" He shook her shoulder lightly when she failed to answer after a few seconds, his concern for her deepening. "Keen," he growled. "Talk to me."
"He knew he was dying..." she muttered, her voice faltering midway, tears falling slowly as she spoke about the painful memory of her father. "He knew he was dying, and he wanted to tell me something important before he did. Th-that must be why Reddington killed him. This is what he wanted to t-tell me." She choked back a sob and leant heavily on Ressler for support as she fully began to realise now how much she had been lied to and how much was still being kept from her.
Ressler tightly wrapped his arms round her and pulled her to his chest, rubbing her back as he let her cry it out against him. He had no idea what to do; she was breaking down even further and, honestly, he didn't know how much more she would be able to take. He placed his chin on the top of her head, keeping a tight hold on her and still rubbing circles on her back. "You can't know that for sure," he tried.
"Can't I?" she mumbled, her voice thick, in to his chest, sending light vibrations through him. "It's the only thing that makes sense."
He didn't think it was a good idea to admit to her that she was probably right. "You'll get the truth, Liz. I promise."
"But at what cost?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She made to push away from him. "Another life of someone I care about?"
"Look at me." Ressler lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to look up at him. Her eyes glistened with yet more falling tears, and he ran his thumb over her cheek, stopping them in their tracks and wiping them away. When he spoke, the shear amount of fierce determination startled not only Liz, but Ressler himself. "I won't let that happen."
Liz stared at him now, truly believing that he would be able to find out the truth about everything, truly believing that he wouldn't fail, truly believing that, for the first time in her life, she had someone by her side that hadn't and wouldn't lie to her. Ressler stared at her, hoping beyond belief that she fully believed that he'd do whatever it took to help her. He breathed a silent sigh of relief as she gave him the smallest of nods and sat back in her seat. She left him standing and rolled her chair back to her desk and picked up a pen and Ressler saw a new determination in her eyes – a new fire.
"You should get back out there."
The attempt at an authoritative tone in her voice made him smirk, but there was no way he was leaving her alone in their office now. He pulled his own chair back to his desk, sat down and fired up his computer before smiling softly at his partner.
"They'll find me when they have something."
The next couple of hours passed with them working in near silence, save for the odd question asked here and there. Liz kept her mind focused, writing a list of any and everything she could remember about the last four years since first meeting Tom. Every single time he spent away form her, every vacation or job interview out of the city was written down and slid the pad over on to her partners desk. Ressler had continuously shot glances at her every other minute since they'd started working as if he was afraid she'd start crumbling again. He'd spent the remaining time he wasn't staring at his partner looking in to each thing she'd listed for him but coming up empty. He'd failed to match Tom with Reddington or any other major crime in the database on the dates listed and grow increasingly frustrated every time he scratched a location of the list. He made a mental note to have Aram go back and do exactly the same with the names on the passports they still had in evidence.
Liz had long since stopped handing over a nearly complete and detailed, account of her life with Tom, and was now typing up her report on the last few days. She'd already made a statement when she'd been interrogated, but Cooper had poked his head in their office and asked for another, more in depth, one for himself. Ressler had `watched on as she slumped slightly in her chair as she nodded. He had sighed inwardly while she started up her own computer, opened a word document and began typing. Now though, as he listened to the sounds of Liz's fingers repeatedly hitting the keyboard, Ressler was partaking in his own research. He'd spent the last hour combing through the internet for any and all articles surrounding the life and deaths of Daniel Cameron and his family. He discretely jotted down things he deemed of importance but, overall, there wasn't much he could find.
Ressler checked his watch, noting that they'd missed lunch and no one had come up to him with anything new. He sighed inwardly at the thought of this, knowing that it probably wasn't a good thing they hadn't. He shot another glance at Liz; she was rubbing the scar on her wrist and staring blankly at her computer screen. Just as he was about to roll his chair back, there was a soft knock at the door. Liz's head shot up, her eyes wide.
"Come in," Ressler called, loud enough for whoever it was to hear.
The door was pushed open slowly, Aram and Meera entering, each carrying steaming mugs and paper bags. Meera headed straight for Ressler while Aram shoved the door closed. "Hey, we thought you could do with a pick me up."
"Thanks." Ressler gave her a brief smile as she placed one of the mugs and bags she was holding in front of him. She nodded and backed away to the window.
"Here you go, Agent Keen." Aram handed Liz her own mug, along with two of the bags he was holding.
"Thank you, Aram."
The four occupants of the room ate in silence for a few minutes, with Ressler waiting for any hint of the real reason why they'd brought lunch up to them, instead of just asking if they wanted anything. He noticed how Aram kept shooting Liz concerned looks, but she didn't seem to notice, she'd already started typing up her report for Cooper again. Coffee and bagel now gone, Ressler figured the silence had gone on for too long. He cleared his throat, eyes flicking to Liz as he spoke.
"Got anything for us?"
Aram and Meera shot each other a look, as if they were having a silent argument over whether or not whatever they had to say should be said in front of Liz or not. Liz seemingly had the same thought; she was staring at him, blue eyes piercing his, begging to be kept in the loop. He nodded and she visibly relaxed. They waited a few seconds before Meera shrugged, waving a hand to Aram.
"You go first," she said, leaning against the wall.
Aram's demeanour faltered for a second before a he managed to stutter, "Are – are you sure?" Meera nodded, and Ressler was sure the man was not looking forward to what was coming at all. "I – alright. I looked in to the two fires like you asked, Agent Ressler, and I – well I ..." he trailed off, looking down.
"Aram?" Liz's voice was soft and encouraging and he looked up at her, nodding.
"I couldn't find any fires with your name listed as a victim," he said quickly. Ressler looked to Meera, who nodded in confirmation that it was indeed true. He groaned under his breath and glanced again at Liz, who was expressionless, waiting for Aram to continue. "There were five hundred and seven fires listed across all states for that day; four hundred and twenty five of which were industrial. The remaining seventy two didn't fit the profile at all. Either the fire you were in wasn't reported, wasn't actually in the States, or -"
"Or the name Elizabeth Scott wasn't the one I was born with." Aram lowered his head while Liz turned to Ressler, giving him a tight smile. "Looks like your theory is shaping up to be more than just that."
In all honesty, Ressler felt a little sick. It wasn't often he hated being right, but this was one of those times. He knew she wouldn't want to talk about any of this while the others were still in the room as he kept quiet and let her think over it. Aram didn't say anything else, just stepped back and tried to melt in to the corner behind Meera, who had just pushed away from the wall and threw the packaging of her lunch away.
"That's not all. I've been able to access more on Justin Warren."
Ressler sat straighter in his seat at that, but Liz didn't move, just stared at her computer again. He nodded to Meera. "Go on."
"He volunteered for the operation." Ressler tilted his head, intrigued. "He was originally assigned to another case but as soon as Reddingtons names was thrown in to the mix, he volunteered to be reassigned, demanded more like apparently. He worked for nearly two years trying to track Reddington down before finally going rogue and 'dying'. According to his file, he was reprimanded at least once a week for going off book and using force." Ressler raised and eyebrow at that, and Meera rolled her eyes. "More so than our superiors usually allow."
He smirked at her, then turned serious. "They let him continue though?"
Meera shrugged. "He kept bringing in legit leads that always checked out apparently. His superiors eventually got too suspicious though, and they found him to be in contact with a former associate of Reddingtons, Ricardo Lopez, something which he failed to write up about or mention at debriefings." She paused briefly, taking a sip of her drink before starting again. "From what's on file, Warren got wind that they were going to pull him from the investigation because they suspected he'd gone rogue. He faked his death; rigged his boat to explode, somehow made it look like Reddingtons doing. Despite a body never being found, the agency had no actual proof to say he was actually still alive. An eye has been kept open for him but, until now, there's been nothing."
Ressler stood and started pacing, allowing everything Meera had just said to filter in his brain, knowing all the while that if he could barely make sense of it all, there was no way Liz could. He took a few seconds before sitting on the edge of his partners desk, almost as if he was attempting to shield her from view. "How the hell did he manage to live a seemingly perfect life with Liz for more than three years without anyone noticing?"
He didn't expect an answer, but Meera still said, "I have no idea."
The whole time Liz had stayed quiet behind him. Ressler knew that she's taken the new information hard, having moved his hand behind him to steady himself on the desk she'd instantly grabbed on to it. Aram, still in his corner, cleared his throat.
"Are you okay, Agent Keen?"
"I'm fine." Her voice was strained, enough for Meera to understand that it was time to leave them alone.
"We better get back to work," she said while Aram opened the door. She turned back just before the door closed fully. "Oh, Ressler, Jenkins called in; he and Bates are running down a lead."
Ressler raised an eyebrow. "With?"
"One of the teachers who had the same days off. Probably nothing."
Ressler nodded stiffly. "Okay, good jobs guys." As soon as the door closed behind them, Ressler spun himself to face Liz, their hands still interlocked. "You don't fine, Liz."
"I'm and profiler for the FBI, Don," she said slowly, gripping his hand a little tighter and looked up at him. "Top of my class as Quantico, yet I couldn't spot that my husband was a fake – and I've know him for over four years. He's former CIA! How could I not see it?"
"You're not the only one who didn't, CIA are well trained." She made to say something but he stopped her. "No, Liz, listen. We had him under investigation here and no one spotted it either. Whether he asked to be reassigned or not, they never would have given him Reddingtons case unless he was good enough to keep his cover. I don't know why he went rogue, but he didn't go rogue with Reddington. I'm gonna look in to Lopez, see what I can find out, see if it's possible for Tom to still be working with him now."
"Hopefully you'll be able to." Liz wiped a few stray tears off her cheeks as Ressler released her hand and headed for his own desk. He bent down and grabbed his keys from the top draw before turning back to his partner.
"Why don't you head out?" He placed the keys on the table in front of her. "Take these, make yourself at home, watch a movie and have a beer."
Liz eyed the keys before smiling as she pocketed them. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Trusting me alone in your apartment, sure I won't snoop?"
Ressler laughed, but his cheeks were now tinged with pink. "I've been through yours."
Liz's eyes widened considerably as she realised where he meant. "My bedroom?"
"Your dresser." Ressler laughed again at her. "I learn something new about you everyday, Liz. Don't worry," he said, grinning at her as she hid her face in the crook of her elbow. "I'm the only one that looked in that particular drawer."
"Well," she said, her voice muffled. "I think that's my cue to leave, before I die of embarrassment."
Liz stood and gathered her things, ensuring Resslers keys where safely stowed away. She leant over her computer, clicked a few buttons and emailed her barely finished report to Cooper, hoping it would suffice. Ressler helped her slip on her jacket when she was finished.
"Want me to walk you to your car?" he offered, but already knowing that she wouldn't accept.
"You've got work to do, just..." she glance quick;y at the door, as if someone was standing there. "Distract everyone so I can leave?"
Ressler sighed inwardly as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "They won't say anything to you, Liz." 'Not to your face, anyway', he added silently; knowing most of their colleagues would mutter and share glances until she was out of sight before breaking in to full blown conversation.
"Please?"
She was looking at him dead in the eye, her own shining blue orbs, that he found unable to say no to, begging for him to agree. Ressler could only imagine how she was feeling with everything that was going on and sighed, nodding to her.
"Alright." She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. He felt himself turn red but chose to ignore it and open the door, leaving Liz inside as he walked in to the war room and coming to a stop at the main table. "Right. Status report, go."
As everyone came to crowd around him, Ressler caught sight of Liz leaving their office out the corner of his eye. He focused back to the matter at hand when Aram started speaking.
"Jenkins called, Agent Ressler; they're on their way back now."
Ressler nodded in acknowledgement. "Lead pan out?"
"He, ugh, didn't say." Ressler noticed that Aram's attention was no longer on him. "Is Agent Keen -"
Ressler groaned and cut him off. "Focus, Aram." He turned to Meera and the others. "Anyone else?"
"Still waiting for my contact to get back to me about Ricardo Lopez," Meera said instantly. Ressler motioned for her to continue. "I'm meeting him in an hour to get, what I hope, will be the CIAs full reports on the investigation in to Reddington."
Ressler gave her a tight lipped smile, showing that he was pleased with her progress. "Take Agent Lee with you; she can drive while you go through them. I want those reports summarised before you get back, so-"
"So I can give you a full rundown as soon as I get through the door? Got it." She rolled her eyes and checked her watch. "Not my first time, Ressler."
Ressler growled under his breath as he looked round at those who'd yet to give him anything. They shook their heads and he waved them away, unimpressed by their lack of new information. His phone buzzed gently in his pocket and he couldn't stop the half smile from appearing at the name of his partner on the screen.
*Thank for, Don. I owe you – again. Let me know what time you're heading out and I'll have dinner ready.*
Ressler cringed inwardly as he got to the end. She'd told him more than once how terrible her skills in the kitchen were. Did he really want to let her loose in there?
*You're cooking?*
"Something important?"
Ressler spun round, not realising Meera was still standing beside him. She smirked at his reaction and managed to catch a glimpse of the name on the screen.
"Dinner plans," he said, tilting the phone ever so slightly away from her as it buzzed again.
*God no, I value our friendship too much to risk giving you food poisoning, I'll order in. Any preferences?*
He allowed himself an inward smile before shooting back a reply and shoving the phone back in his pocket. He looked up and found both Meera and Aram staring at him, much like they had earlier when he'd appeared with a lipstick mark on his cheek. He groaned, knowing what would happen now.
"So," Meera said, smirking again. Aram remained quiet. "You and -"
"Don't even go there," he growled, making Aram flinch. Meera just took it in her stride, shrugging as she moved to Arams side. Ressler sighed and shook his head. "What do we know about the Camerons?"
He stared expectantly at the computer tech but Aram didn't make eye contact with him until Meera elbowed him in the back. "What? Oh, right, sorry." Aram blushed furiously as he clicked on the relevant information and displayed it on the screen. "He was English, she was a French National turned British citizen when she married him. Their daughter was born just six months after the date of their wedding. Mr Cameron was a high ranking member of the British Parliament, while Mrs Cameron was a housewife. Unless you want me to hack in to the British database, I can't tell you much more than that."
On a normal day, Resslers concious would scream at him not to do it, to just play by the book. But today was not a normal day. Something was telling him that there was a lot more to this whole thing than they would find out by the legal channels, and he was worried that they'd run out of time before something serious happened to Liz. He squared his shoulders and nodded. "Do it. I want every single detail of their lives. We need to know why they were connected to Reddington."
Aram looked a little taken aback, as if he didn't actually expect Ressler to agree. He nodded and began typing furiously. "As you wish."
"What are you thinking?" Meera raised an eyebrow at him.
"I don't know," he said quietly. "Something doesn't feel right. When Jenkins and Bates get back, have them come find me."
He spun on his heel and made for his office when he called him out. "Where are you going?"
He turned but didn't stop, instead choosing to walk backwards to his office. "To go through the files I still have on Reddington; see if there's a connection to England."
"You think there could be?" He noted that she didn't sound convinced.
He shrugged and jogged the final few metres, shouting over his shoulder and coming to a stop at the door.. "Worth a look. There has to be something, if the CIA can find it, we can too."
He entered the office and closed the door before he got a response from her. Ressler looked over to Liz's discarded chair and messy desk and noticed how empty the room felt without her there, even though he knew she was only gone for the afternoon. He shook himself slightly and headed for his filing cabinet on the other side of the room, going straight for the bottom drawer. The bottom drawer always has been, and always will be, dedicated to Raymond Reddington. It was the fullest drawer and no matter where his office was situated, the way he organised his files never changed. He pulled out everything pre-dating the mans betrayal of his country and went for anything to do with Reddingtons time in Navy intelligence. Painstakingly slowly, he began to read through the files, making sure he didn't miss anything and taking notes where relevant. Ressler had originally thought that, after over five years of being the lead case agent, he's have everything memorised. But he didn't. There was just too much, yet at the same time, not enough to understand. Ressler wasn't even quarter of the way through when there was a knock at the door and someone poked their head in.
"Agent Ressler, you have a minute?"
Ressler looked up to find that Jenkins and Bates had returned from their trip to the elementary school. He hoped they had something interesting to add to the case. "Sure," he said, beckoning them in. "What have you got?"
The two agents looked at each other before Bates spoke up. "Tom Keen was having an affair."
Ressler felt his heart sink. He really wanted to punch the bastard knowing that, when he told Liz, it would break her heart that little bit more. He threw the pen he was still holding down on the desk. "Ah shit, with?"
"Music teacher," Jenkins said as he checked the name written on a piece of paper. "Maria Lopez."
Ressler shit straighter in his seat. "Lopez?"
They both nodded, and Jenkins took the reigns on relaying what they'd learnt. "Yes, Sir. They each take a sick day or more a month for the past year to meet at a motel six blocks from the school. Desk clerk confirmed, and said some months they'd come on the weekends too, but sometimes he wouldn't see them at all.
Ressler stood and pushed by them to the doorway, wanting desperately to connect her and the other Lopez together. He poked his head out and raised his voice. "Aram!" The computer techs head shot up, eyes wide. "Maria Lopez, works at the elementary school with Keen." Aram nodded his head in understanding and went back to typing. Ressler scanned the room for Meera next, making eye contact with her and nodding. "Call you guy; I want everything on Ricardo Lopez now." He pulled his head back in and gave each of the two men a brief smile. "Good job you two. Get back out there and write it up."
"Yes, Sir," they said in unison and retreated back to the war room.
Ressler sat back at his desk, head in his hands. He was beyond glad that he'd sent Liz back to his. There was no doubt in his mind that she would take the news of Toms infidelity hard. Maybe not as hard as finding out his true identity, but hard enough. Ressler sighed and pulled the files back towards him. He spent the next hour combing through every single piece of information he had, barely stopping to take a break. With every page turned, his hope at finding the connection dwindled that little bit more. With each page turned, he grew more and more frustrated at the lack of progress the team had made since that morning. Ressler dreaded having to go back to his apartment and tell Liz what they didn't have. He was fast reaching the end of Reddington service information and he had still yet to find any connection to England or the Camerons, that was, until something caught his eye.
Scanning the page containing everything from nineteen eighty-four, Ressler noticed that Reddington had spent a very brief three week period of time at a Naval base in the South of France. Didn't Aram say Mrs Cameron was French? It was such a small detail, so small it could have easily been over-looked, yet it stuck out to him like a sore thumb. Could this be the link they'd been searching for or just a complete coincidence? There was nothing to say that he'd been in the same place as the woman but that didn't mean he wasn't going to dig a little deeper with this new snippet of information.
He pushed away from his desk and made for the door, poking his head out and checking Aram was still working at his desk. He was. "Aram," he called, gained the mans attention. "Come here, please?"
Aram looked a little concerned but nodded and stood. Ressler ducked back in his office and barely had to wait thirty seconds before Aram walked in, closing the door closed behind him.
"What can I do for you, Agent Ressler?"
"Camerons wife, what part of France was she from?"
He waited as Aram tried to remember. "Somewhere in the South, I think." Ressler held up the file and showed him the name of the small town he'd highlighted. Aram nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, here. Did you find something linking her to Mr Reddington?"
"I don't know," he said honestly. Until he had something more definitive, he couldn't count on this being anything more than coincidence. "Can you find out the month she moved to England, when she Married Cameron and when the daughter was born and get back to me?"
"Give me two minutes."
"Thanks. Oh," he called out as Aram was about to leave. "Did you get anything on Maria Lopez?"
Aram nodded, and Resslers spirits lifted slightly. "Born and raised in DC. Single mother, no siblings and father wasn't listed at birth. Nothing to connect her to Mr Lopez and the mom died three years ago."
Ressler leaned back with a groan – that really wasn't what he wanted to hear. "Right, thanks."
Aram hurried out, leaving the door wide open in his wake. Ressler skimmed through the rest of the files on his desk, not finding anything to relate as a possible link, not that he expected to now. He was refiling them in to the cabinet when Aram returned, notebook in hand.
"Agent Ressler? Mrs Cameron applied for British citizenship in August of nineteen eighty-four. She and Mr Cameron were married in the December of that year and Jennifer Cameron was born the following April."
Shamefully, it took Ressler longer than it should have to connect the dots. When he did, he lent back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. "Same day as Liz?"
"I believe so."
Where Ressler had had a few reservations about actually believing Liz was the deceased Jennifer Cameron, now he had no doubt. There were now too many links for him to put it down to being coincidence... all he had to do was piece together the truth. He honestly thought he'd be far happier with the progress, but the truth was that now he dreaded having to relay this to his partner. He sighed again and looked up at Aram, who was still standing in front of him.
"Meera left yet?"
Aram nodded. "Said she'd call when she's done."
Ressler checked his watch, noting that it was fast approaching the end of the working day. "Go home, Aram," he said tiredly, the order startling the younger man. "Tell everyone else too. Get a good nights sleep and we'll start afresh in the morning."
"You – you sure?" Aram stared at him as if he'd grown two heads.
Ressler nodded, standing and ushering Aram out of his office. "Yeah, I'll let Meera and Cooper know."
Aram tilted his head at him, but ultimately decided it was best not to argue. "See you tomorrow then. Goodnight."
"Night."
He watched Aram walk away, telling everyone as he passed what Ressler had said. The truth was that he needed to quiet of being one of the only ones left to think about his next move. There was no doubt that he would have to tell Liz every thing that they'd discovered in the last few hours, but at the same time he needed to verify each piece of new information before he upset her further. It wouldn't be fair to tell her something as big as this for it to then not be true, he wouldn't do that to her.
Something else was nagging at the back of his mind. The timeline. It seemed that there was a very very short time span between the couple marrying and their daughter being born. While it wasn't the sixties, Ressler knew that having a baby out of wedlock was still a controversial thing and, based on a recalculation, he knew that Charlotte Cameron would have already be carrying her daughter when she left France for England. He couldn't find any indication as to how long the Camerons had been together before they got married but he was guessing that it wasn't very long at all. The fact that Reddington had been in the same town less than three months before the woman upped and moved really didn't sit right with him. The fact that Reddington had taken such an interest in Liz's life, seemingly since – or possibly before – the fire didn't sit right with him. Their connection ran far deeper than anyone of them, except Reddington, knew, but he was determined to find out.
Ressler parked in his allotted space underneath his apartment building and took the elevator to the fourth floor. He'd called Meera and got her to drop off the files for him to take home before sending her off to have dinner with her family. He was exhausted as he trudged the few feet to his apartment door, ringing the bell and waiting to be let in.
The door swung open, revealing Liz once again dressed in his sweats and sweater, hair in a messy bun and smirking at him. "Does it feel weird having someone else letting you in to your own apartment?"
"More than you'd think." Ressler grinned at her as she moved aside to let him in. The smell of take-out hit him and he found his mouth watering. "Italian?"
"Haven't had it in a while."
"Smells great."
"Good." She led him through to the living room, where she already had their dinner set out on his coffee table, with a beer each sitting next to their plates. They ate in silence for a few minutes, savouring the peace of each others company before Ressler noticed that Liz was itching to know what had happened after she left. No sooner had he thought it, she asked it. "Anything new?"
"Not much," he mumbled, a mouthful of food. Deciding, selfishly to tell her about Tom first, because he just did not want to start the conversations of the Camerons tonight, he set his now empty plate down and turned to her, knowing how she was going to react. "Ugh, Liz... Jenkins and Bates did discover that Tom was, ugh..."
"Having an affair?"
Ressler stared at her, dumbfounded. "How did you -"
She shrugged, sadness etched in her eyes. "Nothing will surprise me anymore. How long?"
He didn't really want to say, but he knew he should. "A year," he finally said, quietly.
Her sadness turned very quickly in to rage. She stood and started pacing. "That bastard! That sneaky son of a bitch!"
"Not exactly the worst thing he's done though," he said, in a sorry attempt to calm her down.
"So not the point right now."
"I know." He grabbed her hand and pulled her back down next to him, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as she unconsciously leaned in to him. "Hey, Meera got the CIAs file on their Reddington investigation. Wanna take a look while I hit the head?"
"Sure."
He stood and tossed her the file from where he'd left it on the table before heading to the bathroom. On the pretence of being too tired to be bothered, he hadn't removed his suit jacket when he'd come in, for the sole purpose of what he was about to do. He removed an evidence bag from the inside pocket and grabbed the dish cloth Liz had used around her bloodied hand the previous night and placed it inside. He had a theory, and he'd be damned if he dared mention it to the woman on his couch before trying to prove it. He slipped the used bag back inside his pocket and went to join Liz, who was still reading through the file. She looked up as he walked in.
"The while investigation started because of a deathbed confession. There was no indication before that that Reddington was involved. The CIA still doesn't have proof that he and the Camerons were connected in any way. None of this makes sense.
"And it probably won't until we have more to go on."
"The CIA have had this case for years." She sounded thoroughly defeated.
"You're exhausted, Keen." He took the file from her hands and tossed it to the table and gave her a little nudge in the side. "Go to bed."
She rolled her eyes at him but smiled. "You're sitting on my bed."
He shook his head, pointing to his room. "Take mine."
"I can't do -" she started, but he cut her off.
"Yes you can." He made himself comfortable by shuffling down slightly and kicking off his shoes. "It's either that or the floor, and trust me, it ain't as comfortable as it looks."
She seemed as though she wanted to know why he'd slept on his own floor but thought better of it. Instead, she smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek before getting up. "Fine. Thank you. Night, Don."
"Night, Liz," he called after her as she disappeared.
Ressler waited until he heard the bedroom door close and the bed creak as she got in to pull out his phone. Scrolling through his contacts, he found the one he needed, the one he hadn't called in a few years and had no idea if they'd still want to help him. He pressed down on the call button and, after five rings, it was answered.
"Hey, I need a favour."
I can only apologise profusely for my tardiness. Hope I still have some readers out there...