A/N: Update today and hopefully steady updates hereafter. As long as RL can take the friggin hint and stop being so insane. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. You guys are the best! This was going to be smutty, because Red getting it on, hell yeah, but the logical person inside of me knows that it would be too soon to have any real fun;)
Their kiss continued on and on, they were oblivious to everyone and everything around them. Until the past weeks came crashing over Liz and she pulled away as far as Red would allow, which wasn't much.
"Oh my god, Red, I'm so sorry! I didn't think about your wound. I could have hurt you more-"
Red's interruption was so low, she felt the rumble of his words reverberate through her body as he held her close.
"Lizzie, shut up and kiss me again."
She smiled up at him, he looked so good, so very alive and that in itself was the most beautiful thing she could imagine.
Mindful of his injuries, Liz kissed him softer this time, framing his face with her hands.
This time, he was the one to pull away.
"Now, I am not one to mess with perfection, but you don't have to be that gentle. I won't break, sweetheart. I've traveled over thousands of miles and two continents to be with you. If I was going to be in pain, it would have been when we encountered that god awful turbulence over the Gulf."
She blushed at his compliment. She was ecstatic that she didn't ruin their first real kiss with her emotional display.
"Red, we need to get going. You will love the safe house. It's huge and ostentatious, just how you like things." She said with a wink, holding his hand and turning towards the car where Dembe was waiting.
He whispered in her ear "I'll show you something huge and ostentatious."
Her face went hot "Jesus Red, you need to behave."
"Never, Lizzie."
"Hello Raymond. I am glad to see you recovering nicely. Much faster than that time in Bali."
Red's laughter echoed across the airstrip.
"Oh, Bali! Dembe, I am telling you that I would have recuperated much sooner had you let my nurses remain topless. You kicked them out and left me with that old hag. I had to beg her to cover up or tuck them into her skirt. I would have been happy either way."
They were so hilarious with their bickering that Liz couldn't help but join in their laughter.
Back at the safe house, Liz tried to talk Red into sharing a snack with her on the veranda and then taking a nap.
He was shot so recently, she was afraid that he was going to overdo himself and end up worse off than he was before he came to Ecuador.
"Lizzie, I don't need to rest, but I would like to speak with you alone. I have something to tell you and I prefer to not have an audience."
He sounded so serious, so grave that she immediately worried that he was going to tell her something horrible, like someone on the team had dies, or he was going to have to leave her here, or-
"Lizzie, you have been relaxing on this beautiful property for a week and you haven't yet managed to drop that tightly wound stress? We will definitely be taking care of that while we are here. Calm down. You have no cause for concern. At least no more than I do."
The veranda and gardens were spectacular. Whomever was being paid to be the groundskeeper, they were extraordinarily talented.
She took a seat, waited for him to either sit across or beside her, and stared out at the grounds. The lush greenery and bubbling fountains providing an excuse to not make eye contact with Red.
He sat beside her. At the edge of his seat, angled towards her. One shift and she could be in his lap.
Her shuddering breath had nothing to do with trepidation and everything to do with the need clawing inside of her.
Hopefully he just thought she was very nervous.
"Lizzie, look at me. I need to tell you something that I should have told you long ago. I think that many of our problems could have been prevented had I told you sooner. The truth is though, I am a coward. This bell can never be un-rung."
Finally meeting his eyes, she could see he was worried, but he wore a small smile that gave her hope that maybe everything would be alright.
"I know I upset you on the phone. Don't look away. I want to apologize for that, and for letting you think for a second that I don't care for you more than anything else in the world. I love you to the point of distraction. You are my very first thought when I wake, and what I think of as I close my eyes to rest. It's not logical and I should want something better for you than myself, be a better man-"
In the work of a moment, she was straddling his legs. Her hand over his mouth to keep him from speaking such non-sense.
"Raymond Reddington, there is no better man alive. When you love someone, you take the good with the bad. I love you so much, I just wish those three words conveyed how much I truly care for you, but even they sound trivial in comparison to what I feel when I am with you."
She removed her hand, waiting for his reaction.
He was so still, staring at her in awe. A singer tear fell down his cheek when he blinked, but his smile was joyous.
"Lizzie, I love how you think too much, you feel too much, and especially how you have given me hope. Something that once died inside of me. Hope that I can have everything I've always wanted with you."
This was an opening she had been waiting for, anticipating.
"I know that it's much too soon with so much unsolved right now, but it's something I feel strongly about." She took a deep breath and continued "I want to have a baby. Your baby, to be exact. If that freaks you out, I need to know. I need to know if kids are off the table totally, or if you just don't want us to have a biological child, then maybe adopting…"
Her chatter died off as she felt his muscles increasingly tighten as she went on.
"Sweetheart, there is nothing that I would love more than to see you pregnant with our baby. The very thought of it is…intoxicating" he closed his eyes and she immediately felt his arousal thickening through his pants.
Expecting rejection, his acceptance and outright arousal shocked her nearly senseless.
"You want a baby? With me?"
"Well, Dembe would do anything for me, but I hardly believe that he has the proper equipment, plus the in-vitro would be difficult and what if we ended up with 8 babies. Octo-mom is back up on the pole and that's definitely not where I see myself in 5 years."
She could barely speak through her laughter.
"Ohmygod Red, shut up. I am serious."
His one eyebrow shot up.
"And you think I'm not serious? In 5 years, I most definitely plan on being surrounded with at least two miniature Lizzies."
She drew in a rough breath. "That soon? What about the danger?"
"Well I'm certainly not getting any younger, but what is the use of having more money than god if I can't utilize it to make us drop off the face of the earth and spend the rest of our lives deliriously happy? I won't lie to you though. Security will be tight, wherever we end up. Our trials are by no means over."
She leaned into his body, avoiding his right side. She ended up with her head over his heart, listening to the solid beat thrum beneath her.
TBC…
A/N: Let me know what you think!