Chapter Seventeen: Family

Tom raced down the hall, gun gripped tightly in his good hand as he rounded the corner. Gina Zanetakos lay sprawled out on the floor of Bud's old office. In the corner, desperately trying to level a gun he wasn't comfortable using, stood Tallert. Tom didn't hesitate.

The shot went off and Tallert went down hard. Tom pulled in a breath as Liz and her team rounded into the room behind him. He heard his wife cure softly behind as he moved towards Gina.

A set of brown eyes met his own blue and Gina grimaced. "Bastard shot me," she managed and Tom snorted.

"Good thing he's a crap shot or he might have killed you."

Gina squeezed her eyes closed and let out a frustrated groan, her opposite hand going to her bleeding shoulder.

"She alright?" Ressler asked from behind and Tom heard him kick Tallert's gun out of reach.

Tom looked to his injured former partner and she glared back. "You're an idiot for coming."

"Would have been if I'd come alone," he countered and lifted a hand to the comm in his ear. "Where are we?"

"Still trying to get ahold of your mother and Katarina," Howard huffed in his ear. "If you have the offices secured, we should be good to bring in reinforcements."

"Do it," Ressler gave the order.

Tom found Liz's eyes on him and she knelt down with him. "I'm not saying that you won't get the intel, but the moment this place is swarmed with federal agents…"

"It has to be processed," Tom acknowledged softly. He looked over as Gina started to sit up. "What-?"

"You think I want St Regis' intel in the feds' hands even if they can't access it?"

Tom swallowed his protest. It was pointless and they both knew it, so instead he reached down to help her to her feet. She glared at him as if daring him to try her in anything else and moved painfully towards the computer.

He watched her blood-covered fingers tap in a code into the computer and it whirled, waiting for her to press her thumb to the reader. As it identified her she took a step back, grimacing as she did, and looked towards him.

Tom felt rooted to the floor where he was, watching as the old computer called for him to key in his own code. He'd had it committed to memory from the moment that Bud had given it to him. Twenty-one years old and he'd just saved the man's life in Cape Town. Jacob Phelps had limped his way into this very office and the man that had pulled him from the streets and given him purpose had told him that he'd earned this. That he trusted him. It had meant more than Tom ever would have admitted - even to himself - at the time, but as he stood there that day, over a decade and betrayals on both sides later, he felt the weight of at least a piece of that trust that had lingered. He might have been Bud's greatest disappointment, but that was only because he'd once been his greatest pride. Maybe even the old man had a little sentiment.

"Any time," Gina groused from her place, shaking Tom from his thoughts and he stepped forward. His fingers moved over the code and he carefully pressed the thumb of his injured hand to the reader. The old computer thought about it, and for a long moment he wondered if maybe they'd gotten it wrong. Maybe Bud meant to take it all to the grave with him after all.

Then the screen flashed, accessing the documents inside. He could feel all eyes on him as he worked his way through the old system and then disconnected the drive that actually held the information. He pulled in a deep breath.

"Are we good?" Ressler asked from his place.

"Yeah. We're good."

Liz reached out to him, her touch gentle on his arm. "Let's get out of here."

His gaze lingered on her a moment before he nodded. "Yeah."

The complex was swarming with FBI, SWAT, and Halcyon operatives. Transportation vehicles and medical vehicles had pulled in once the all clear had been given, and Liz barely had to take an intentional moment to breathe in the middle of it all, blue gaze sweeping the organized chaos. Ressler was coordinating the arrests with Samar's help, and a quick glance over showed Nez and Solomon had caught up with Scottie Hargrave, and the three of them were spearheading the underaged students' transport to Halcyon. From there they would work with social workers that Scottie had approved, and do what they could to give the kids a fighting chance outside of the system that had failed them. To give them the chance that Tom hadn't had as a child. Or Gina, for that matter, Liz thought begrudgingly. She hadn't expected her to come through, but the woman had. Strangely enough Ressler hadn't even mentioned a formal arrest for the injured operative.

"Quite an ending to your husband's plan."

"We all put it together," Liz said as she turned to find her mother smiling at her. "Including you."

Katarina Rostova quirked an eyebrow. "Someone had to make sure you came through it in one piece, but don't expect me to play the same game Raymond did with you. I have no interest playing nice with the feds."

Liz felt her own lips tug at the corners. "Your daughter is a federal agent," she pointed out.

"So she is," her mother said softly, and Liz thought she might have heard just a little bit of pride there. If it was for her career choices despite everything or for the woman that she had become against the odds, Liz didn't know.

She pursed her lips together. "Is that why you stayed? To protect me? It's over. The least you could do is tell me."

Katarina pulled in a deep breath and Liz watched her, feeling like she was balanced on the edge of some truth and uncertain if she should risk truly hoping for it.

"Yes. You and your family." Her gaze darted past Liz to the complex behind her. "Geffroy wouldn't have stopped. Even I knew your husband's reputation as an operative, even if not his name. Powerful entities don't just let their top operatives walk."

"In your experience?" Liz asked softly.

Her mother gave a dry chuckle at that. "In my experience, and I didn't want it to be yours the day that they came to take your daughter away."

Liz was moving before she'd given herself permission to, and she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, pulling her in and refusing to let go. Katarina stiffened at first, uncertain, but Liz felt her return the embrace slowly, sinking into it. "I do love you, Masha," she murmured. "You're the only one I've ever known for sure that I love."

"Maybe not the only one," Liz whispered, her voice rough against her throat and she felt Katarina's hand move to stroke her hair in a gesture that felt strangely familiar from her. Old, but familiar. It was everything Liz could do to pull away to meet her eyes. "If I ask you something, can you be honest?"

Katarina tilted her head at that. "I just was."

Liz laughed. "And I only get one truth from you at a time?"

Her mother's expression softened. "What do you want to know?"

"Dom Wilkenson." Katarina stiffened, her gaze fixed on Liz, but her daughter didn't back down. "Who is he really to you?"

Tom pushed himself off of the back of the ambulance, injuries freshly wrapped and braced, and he felt like someone had used him as their personal punching bag for the past twenty-four hours or so. He hurt. To his core. If given half the chance he thought he'd crawl into his own bed and sleep for as long as his body would let him. That wasn't an option, though. In the wake of everything, there was too much to be done.

But they had won, and that helped in ways painkillers and fresh bandages never could. His family was safe and they were all out alive and mostly intact.

He glanced over to where they were working on Gina's shoulder. His old partner was seated on a lowered gourney, never lying down for them them. If the glimpses he'd gotten around the EMT working on his wrist were anything to go by she had been fighting them the whole way. Now, though, she looked like she was really giving him hell, and he excused himself as he started towards her.

Gina turned a dangerous glare on him. "I'm not going anywhere with these people."

"Yes you are," Tom said flatly and looked to the shaken EMT. "Give us a second?"

She nodded eagerly and left the two former St Regis operatives as alone as they could be on the outskirts of everything. Tom couldn't help the small smile that tugged at him, but Gina's glare didn't let up. "You think I don't know what your little ginger fed is trying to pull?"

Tom glanced at Ressler. The man was too busy coordinating the arrests of the staff that had spent decades training some of the most dangerous criminals the world didn't even know. Gina was the last thing on his mind.

He loosed a breath. "You really think I'd come in for you just to hand you over to the feds?"

"Send me to the hospital and they'll arrest me there."

"Good thing you're going to a Halcyon facility then, isn't it?"

He watched the angry mask crack ever so slightly. It felt familiar: the balance between trust and self preservation. They'd spent their lives in that place. He had learned to let a few people in, to trust them at every side, and he hoped - at least for her sake - that she was able to do the same someday. Maybe he could help her with that.

Tom cleared his throat, running a hand through his dark hair and standing it on end. "I didn't want to… ask before we actually managed to pull it off, but -"

"Sometime today?" she prompted impatiently.

He pulled in a deep, steadying breath, doing his best not to wince as he did. "I could use you at Halcyon." She stared at him. "To help with implementing everything."

Finally she blinked at him. "You want me to come work for you?"

"That's the offer."

"And if I don't -"

"Then you don't. No strings."

She tilted her head a little, considering. "Does the wife know?"

Tom glanced over to where Liz was standing with her mother, the two women in deep conversation. "She'll be okay with it."

Gina chuckled at that and eased herself down on the gurney. "No, she wouldn't be."

"You don't know her like I do. She trusts me."

"I'm sure she does." A rough chuckle left her. "Tom."

He'd never heard his name sound so much like a goodbye before. An acknowledgement that, even after all they had been through, this wouldn't work long-term. He might be able to do it, but she couldn't. She wouldn't. He ducked his head a little. "Well, the offer's there if you change your mind. Take care of yourself, Gina."

He turned, but felt her fingers take hold of his wrist. Blue eyes found brown and there was a strange moment of openness in them. "You too," she said before releasing him to get back to the work at hand.

It was everything he could do not to rush down the stairs and meet her at the door the moment that they had arrived. There was still plenty to do from their end to make sure that everything that had happened was logged and filed and covered as much as any of their cases could be. Aram found himself staring at the computer screen blankly, Halcyon's New York opscenter busy just outside of the conference room door. Dumont sat across from him with Howard at the end of the table with Agnes waiting almost as impatiently as Aram felt from her place that she had claimed on the floor. Howard snapped his laptop closed, drawing Aram's attention immediately.

"Home?" Agnes asked, looking up at her grandfather.

Howard smiled. "Yes they are, Princess. You ready to go see them?"

She nodded enthusiastically and Aram glanced through the glass door to see their people coming down the hall. Howard tugged the door open and Agnes shot through it, calling for her mom and dad as she did, and Liz intercepted her and picked her up as Tom leaned in to join the family hug, Scottie patting her son's arm and kissing her granddaughter's cheek before moving towards Howard. Just behind her Aram saw the woman he had been looking for.

Samar broke her conversation with Nez Rowan and Aram felt his chest tighten. Her arm was bandaged and before he gave himself permission he was moving towards her, his fingers brushing the dressing carefully. "You said you were okay."

Her laugh helped ease some of the tension he felt and he found her dark gaze on him, a smile tilting her lips upward, and she reached up to his face. "I'm okay," she promised and guided him in. Her lips brush his and he leaned into it, the kiss banishing the rest of his fears. Samar's opposite hand moved to find his, her fingers curling around his and he held on like his life depended on it. She was safe. They had gone into an impossible situation and had come out the other side of it. He knew they faced impossibilities nearly every day, but there were moments when he worried they might not come out on the other end.

He broke the kiss abruptly, receiving a startled sound from the woman he loved, and Aram held up one finger as if to motion to give him a moment. He could feel Samar's confused gaze follow him back into the conference room where his bag sat under the table where he had been working. He knelt down, digging through it until long fingers finally tapped a small box. He swallowed hard, steeling his nerves, and grabbed it.

The Keens and the Hargraves had disappeared by the time he reemerged, Nez Rowan and Matias Solomon on their way with Dumont in the opposite direction, and Ressler was on a phone call a few steps down the hall. Samar hadn't moved an inch, but she did look curious as he approached.

Aram dropped to one knee in front of her before he somehow talked himself out of it. With a deep breath he produced the box, popping it open to reveal his grandmother's ring. Samar's eyes widened as he held it up, the words tumbling from his mouth like water breaking through a dam. "My grandmother wanted you to have this, and I've been…. I was going to give it to you then, but Ressler saw it and said that you thought it'd be an engagement ring and I… It doesn't matter. I've been thinking about it. A lot, and I realized that I want it to be an engagement ring. I want to spend every day for the rest of my life with you, Samar, and I want to marry you… if you, uh... " If you'll have me, he wanted to say, but Samar was already reaching for him.

She pulled him up to his feet. "Yes."

"Yes?" he managed, not sure if he heard her right, and her lips quirked at the corners.

"Yes. I want to marry you."

She took the ring from him, slipping it onto her left hand. It fit perfectly. Aram felt a grin of his own take over and he leaned in, kissing her again.

He had barely stopped since Liz and the others had rescued him. He had been unconscious, sure, but the danger had still lurked all around them when he woke and he had hit the ground running.

There was something comforting in walking through the doors of Halcyon's former headquarters, the op finished, and having their little girl to meet them.

Agnes had been ready to launch herself into her daddy's arms, and Tom would have let her. Liz intercepted and pulled her up. She had spent the trip down the hall and up to the office alternating between clinging to her mother and trying to squirm to get to Tom. It left him with that warmth that had started to follow the end of whatever new disaster made it to their doorstep. They were safe. They were whole.

The office door closed behind him and Tom looked around, surrounded by family. He felt a smile tug into place.

Howard reached forward and pulled him into a surprising hug. A laugh left on a breath as Tom returned it, reaching out blindly to pull Scottie into it. "Thank you," he murmured, the words rough.

His father tightened his hold. "You're our boy. We're with you."

Tom pulled back, swallowing hard, and he looked between the people that, in their own ways, had fought like hell for him. He tried for a smile. "I know."

"Tom," Scottie started, but he cut her off.

"I'll think about it."

"About what?" Howard asked.

"Trying to recover my memories from when I was a kid."

"You don't have to do that," Scottie said softly, her hand against his arm. "You were right. It's in the past. We have each other now, and that's what matters."

He squeezed his eyes shut, mind whirling and thoughts fighting over each other. "It won't fix it, but maybe it'll give you some peace."

When he opened them he found his mother staring a little bleary-eyed at him. She reached up, her hand in his cheek, before she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.

Howard cleared his throat, though his own voice still struggled. "Thank you, son."

Tom nodded.

"Hey," Liz said softly from behind them, and she shifted a sleepy Agnes in her arms. "We need to get on the road."

"Right, we're-"

"Katarina told me," Scottie said, and he couldn't quite tell if she was amused at or proud of her old friend. "Go. We'll make sure the loose ends are tied up."

Tom's lips tilted in a tired smile. "Thanks. Don't give Ressler too much hell."

"Give 'em hell," Agnes mumbled from where she had all but melted over her mother's shoulder.

Howard snorted a laugh. "You better watch yourself. They repeat everything at her age."

"Don't we know it?" Liz huffed.

Tom flashed a sheepish grin at that and turned. They had one more thing they needed to do before they could go home. They had put it off too long.

Agnes had crashed out halfway through the flight from New York to DC and she had barely budged as her parents had gotten her situated in the back of the car for the drive that would take them out of the city. Tom didn't look far behind her, the last pain pill he'd popped leaving him more drained than they usually did, and Liz had snatched the keys from him. Not that he'd put up much of a fight.

She had thought he was sleeping until she heard a soft voice from the passenger's seat. "I'm sorry."

Liz risked a glance over to find a set of dark blue eyes she knew so well watching her. "For what?"

"Everything," he murmured and she saw him grimace as he straightened a little in his seat. "This… everything."

"Is she asleep?" Liz asked, nodding back towards their daughter.

"Yeah."

She pulled in a breath, gaze focused on the road ahead of them. "My mother told me something… I don't know if Scottie plans on telling you or not, but you should know." She felt Tom's hand against her arm and she loosed her grip on the wheel with her right hand and found his. "Geffroy was coming for Agnes. If you hadn't gone after St Regis it might have happened later, but it would have happened. That's why my mother wanted to go in."

"I didn't see his name on the arrest list," Tom acknowledged. "They take care of him?"

There was no judgement in his voice, and why would there be? She knew he would have done the same in their shoes. Her mother and his did what either of them would have: protected their family. "Yeah."

She heard him sigh, his fingers tightening around hers just a little. "Good."

There was a long moment of silence between them, the tires on the road the only sound to break it. She risked another glance to make sure he hadn't dozed off before speaking. "I'm proud of you."

Her husband perked a little. "Why's that?"

"What you're doing for your parents. I know how… hard it is for you." He had warned her years ago now that he was a runner, and it had always been true. He didn't always run away from things, but he barreled ahead. The past was the past and he preferred to leave it there. To choose to dive in and risk reopening wounds that had festered for most of his life for the sake of others' happiness - someone other than her or for Agnes - reminded her of just how far he'd come in the last few years.

Tom sighed. "I was thinking about… how hard it was for you. All the questions you had with Reddington. Finding the answers didn't fix any of the wrongs. Not his or your mom's, but it helped, I think?"

"It did," she murmured.

He leaned over and lifted her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "Maybe it'll help them get some peace from it."

"I hope so, but…. No matter what comes from it, I'm with you."

Tom squeezed her hand. "I know. Love you."

"Love you too."

They took a turn down the old road and she felt her chest clench. He pulled himself fully up in the seat, finally releasing her. "You think she'll still be there?"

"I hope she is."

"Think she's told him?"

Liz snorted. "I wouldn't count on my mother making anything easy."

They turned into he long driveway and she saw a car there. She hadn't left yet. At least there was that. She pulled in a steadying breath.

Tom turned to rouse Agnes. "Hey, kiddo. Time to wake up."

"Why?" Agnes groused sleepily and Liz saw the front door to the house open, an older man stepping out like he'd been waiting on them. Maybe Katarina had told him after all.

"Because we're going with your mom to meet her grandpa," Liz heard her husband say as she pushed the door open. She felt like she was moving on auto-pilot towards a man that must have known exactly who she was. Dom Wilkenson stood on his doorstep and he looked like he'd been crying. Happy tears, she hoped.

"Hello, Masha," he greeted and Tom came to stand with her, Agnes in his arms. Liz felt rooted in place, her voice caught deep in her throat. She'd known even before Katarina had confirmed his identity, but as she stood there, her grandfather calling her birth name, she found herself at a loss for words.

Katarina appeared behind him. "Are you going to stand there all day?" she demanded playfully.

"I'm right behind you," Tom murmured, his encouragement breaking through as he shifted Agnes in his arms so that he could slip one supportive hand into hers.

Liz tried for a smile as she felt hot, happy tears slip down her cheeks as she started forward. "Hi," she finally answered Dom and the old man broke into a warm chuckle that somehow felt familiar. She followed him into his home, feeling a sense of victory washing over her. They had fought and won a war, it was true. They had beaten back their enemies and come out on top and a little safer than they had been before, but here, today, she found herself getting a little closer to the prize she had been chasing after for so long. All those years wanting - needing - a family around her. She'd found them and they had found her. The journey wasn't over, but despite the trials, she felt a little more whole with every triumph.

End.

Notes: And so it finally comes to an end... that's such a strange feeling, especially since I haven't immediately started on another one. I do have plans for a new story, but I'm going to take my time with it. For those interested the gist is that that Red saves Tom's life in S5, but he tries to have his memories altered so that Tom won't remember what he found out about the bones and things go terribly awry when Tom loses about a decade's worth of memories that puts him back to where he was before he met Liz. I'm very fond of the idea, but since I'm working on my original project right now and applying for some writing fellowships this spring, the focus has to be there. In the meantime, if you have any requests for my Keen2 oneshot collection Truth in the Lies, feel free to leave a review over there and make the request. If I can, I'll write a one shot for it :D

I hope you guys enjoyed this story. There were a few moments where it felt like pulling teeth just to get the story kicked into gear. Here we are, though, and I'm pretty happy with it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! If you have any, please drop me a note in the reviews or even a PM. I love hearing from you guys. Major shoutout to my beta Whimsy, to Becca who I think left a review for every chapter, and the others who left reviews both on and off their own accounts. You guys are the best and I love you 3

Hope to see you for the next story!

TS