He picked her up at 8am the following morning, a little worried that after a night to think about it, she might have changed her mind. But before he could even get out of the car to ring her doorbell, his fears were put to rest when she appeared, backpack slung over her shoulders and dressed in warm clothing, boots, and her trademark woolen beanie.
She climbed in next to him. "I didn't sleep well, so I was up early and waiting for you," she said as he took her backpack off her and leaned back to drop it on the back seat. She was right about the not sleeping part. He could see the puffiness under her normally bright eyes.
"Ready?" he asked as she pulled on her seat belt.
"Let's do this," she said, and settled back in as he headed south out of the city. After a little while, they stopped at a drive through and got coffee for him and hot chocolate and a bagel for her, then continued on their way.
"Aren't you glad you got up the nerve to ask me?" she asked, munching on her blueberry bagel.
He glanced at her over his hot coffee, holding the steering wheel with his left hand. "I'm just glad you said yes." He grinned then, remembering his inability to just come out and ask her. "Or it could have been really awkward," he deadpanned, then broke out with a laugh.
She laughed out loud, remembering how nervous he'd been. She adored his laugh. She hadn't see it very often over the years. And chatting away, each feeling better than they had in some time, they drove out of the city and south toward his cabin three hours away.
###
Just before noon, they pulled up at a small grocery store in the small town of Newville. Ressler had called ahead to Bill, the old guy who had run the store for decades, and had a grocery order ready to pick up.
"Come meet the old dude. You'll like him," he told Liz as he climbed out of the car.
Shucking her seat belt off, she walked with him into the store and as he held the door for her, the bell rang announcing their arrival.
An old man was at the counter, giving a woman change and looked up at them. His eyes lit up at the sight of Ressler walking toward him, Liz in tow.
"Don, right on time!" he said, smiling broadly. "I got you all set up and went and flipped those power fuses on for you this morning."
"Hey, Bill, good to see you again, and thank you, I appreciate it," Ressler said, shaking the old man's hand. "This is Liz," he said, motioning to her.
Bill's eyes crinkled with his grin. "Any friend of Don's is a friend of ours. Lovely to meet you, young lady," he said giving Ressler a wink. He turned to a teenaged boy stocking shelves. "Chris, go get the Ressler order in the back and take it out, would you please?"
"You staying for Christmas?" Bill asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Ressler said, looking to Liz who nodded. "We just wanted to get out of the rat race for a while."
Bill grinned again. "If you get lonely out there," he stopped then, looking between them, "not that I think you will," he laughed, "then you're more than welcome to come save me from Miriam's three helpings of turkey on Christmas day."
"We'll keep it in mind. Thanks Bill," Ressler told him, then paid for the grocery order as Chris came back inside after loading it in their vehicle.
As they left the store and got back in the car, Liz smiled. "He thinks we're a couple," she said, and Ressler simply looked at her. Bill wasn't entirely wrong on that point. This was more than work colleagues. This was a little more than friendship and he knew. But did she feel the same, he wondered? She met his eyes, and just smiled as she put her belt back on.
###
As soon as they arrived at the cabin and he'd retrieved the key from its hiding spot, Liz walked through it all, taking in the layout and looking through each window. "It's so beautiful!" she said, then came and helped him finish stocking the fridge and pantry. "I can't believe your grandfather built this!"
"With some later help from my father, yeah," he said, closing the fridge which was already cold thanks to Bill turning the power on for him that morning. "Coffee?" he asked as she went to the living room and looked at the photos above the mantle.
"Wow, you look so much like your dad," she said as he handed her the steaming cup of coffee a few minutes later.
Ressler looked at the image, then turned away. "Yeah, that's what Reddington said too." He'd had a hard time here a year ago, confessing all his sins to his father's image and the memory of it was still fresh.
"Wait, what? Reddington was here? When?"
"Last year. I came here when… when you were in your coma," he told her, sorry he'd caused the look that crossed her eyes. He shook his head and attempted a smile. "It's a long story," he said, then kneeled down and began to build up the fire.
"And we've got time. If you feel up to telling me, I'm up to listening to it," she told him.
He looked up from his fire building. Part of him wanted to tell her. The other part never wanted to think about Hitchin, Prescott and Reddington's 'solution' again. "I'll think about it," he said non-committally and then finished building the fire. As he lit it, the place immediately felt cozier. They stood warming themselves in the growing flames, before Ressler put the fire guard in front of it.
"Want to look around outside?" he asked, and a few minutes later, wearing their coats and gloves, they left the confines of the cabin, letting it warm up while he showed her the grounds. They walked down to the creek, and she breathed in the pine scented air. Pockets of snow lay on the ground after a fall a few days ago.
"This is awesome," she said, her cheeks red and her eyes bright and her breath billowing around her. "So fresh and beautiful!"
He was looking at her eyes shining in the low afternoon sun. It was, he had to agree.
###
That evening, their dinner plates pushed aside on the dining table, they sat talking. "Who knew you could cook so well?" she said, and he smiled. With her track record in the kitchen, it was just as well he knew his way around a frying pan. He decided not to mention that.
Gathering up their plates, he washed them while she made hot chocolate. He didn't normally drink it, but something about being at the cabin made it more appealing. It reminded him of simpler times. As they sat down in the living room, cozily lit by lamps, Liz pulled a blanket over her legs and leaned back, sipping on her drink.
He nodded to the DVDs on a shelf. "Want to watch something? I have the worlds oldest movie collection here," he asked, but she declined.
"No, I just want to sit here in the firelight. This is nice," she said, her head leaning back in the glow of the fire. "I can't believe you don't come here more often."
"Well, I used to, years ago. Before..." he looked away. "I was bringing Audrey here to keep her safe when she..."
She nodded slowly to him. She remembered. "Yes… I know." Years had passed but she knew it had forever changed him. "But you came last year," she pressed, not asking, but letting him know she hadn't forgotten about that if he wanted to talk.
"Yeah. Cooper gave me two weeks off. Call it enforced vacation," he said. "Kinda like now," he added, trying to make light of it.
"I think it was more than that though, right?"
He met her eyes, as the firelight flickered across her. "Yes, it was."
"Did it help, coming here?"
He paused, remembering. "Yeah, I think so. Gave me time to clear my head. Work some things out."
"And Red came here?" she asked over her mug, a glint in her eyes.
"He did. He needed Captain America's help, so hey, how could I disappoint?" he said, remembering, giving her a soft smile.
"Oh, now this I have to hear," she said, grinning at him, and settling in, he told her what Red had needed of him regarding two little boys who were in trouble.
As he told her, and also about the second trip Red had required of him, in Brussels, he was finally all talked out. But he never told her the real reason he'd needed some time off. He didn't dare tell her about Prescott.
"I don't think I've ever heard you say so much at one time," she said, smiling at him from under her blanket.
He shrugged, then got up to add another couple of logs to the fire. It wasn't late, by city standards, but out here in the country it seemed natural to turn in earlier. As they rose and he turned off the lamps in the living room, they headed to the rear of the cabin, where she went into the room on the right side of the hallway, and he went into the room at the rear, his parents old bedroom.
"You know where everything is, so I'm sure you'll be fine," he told her, hovering in his open doorway.
"I do, this is great," she said, looking back into her room. "Really, thank you for asking me to come. This is exactly what I needed."
He nodded to her, "I'm glad. Goodnight, Liz," he said and as she wished him goodnight too, each of them went to their separate rooms.
"Night, John Boy!" she called out a few minutes later where he could hear her from his room. And climbing into his own bed, he grinned, and reached across and turned out the light.