A/N: This story isn't in the actual timeline of the story. Chapter 1 takes place around E7-E10 of Season 1, and she finds out Tom is guilty for killing Viktor Fokin. It is mentioned she wants a divorce from Tom, which is getting organised in the events between Chap 1 and 2. In Chapter 2, she mentions fighting with Tom. He comes back to his house to grab a few things and the police stay outside, and he has attacked Liz, and the police hear and come in. Which wasn't really mentioned in that Chapter. Obviously, the visiting Ressler comes in E20 of Season 1. This chapter takes place after seeing Ressler but the events mentioned - train crash takes place in E17. If you have any other questions send them to me on .com! x
Listen to "Flowers for a Ghost - Thriving Ivory" while reading.
"We're gonna crash," Liz said, pushing Harrison up against the door behind the seat and hovering over him. At the moment, his life was much more important than her life. He hadn't lived as much as she had.
Harrison had no idea what he had gotten himself into. He was only doing this so that Abby wouldn't have to move. It was a romantic gesture and he never knew it would get this far. He didn't want to die.
It was part of her job for her to do this. She risked her life almost every day, but usually it was for criminals, not seventeen year old half innocent boys who just had a crush on a girl. Today was different.
But she couldn't die, right? Maybe the train breaks would activate quick enough for them to stop before they reached the end of the line. She hoped they would.
"What happened? Did it crash?" Cooper asked, looking over at David who had the same puzzled look on his face. He looked up at the screen showing the train's movement, it had seemed to stop.
David looked back at Cooper and Ressler. "I-I don't know…" He said, shaking his head in shock. Ressler looked over at Cooper, raising his eyebrows.
Out of all the men in the room, he was the most worried. He picked up the walkie-talkie and began to speak, knowing Meera would hear him. "Meera, who's on the train?" He asked, hoping for an answer.
A few seconds later a voice returned. "Liz and Harrison."
Liz sat up as the train stopped moving, looking down at Harrison. She pulled her walkie talkie out of her coat and held it up to her mouth. "You guys there?" She asked, breathless.
Meera, on the end of the line looked down at her walkie talkie and let out a breath. "Stay put. We're coming to get you."
Liz, Meera and Abby walked into the post office together, and Abby ran towards her father, pulling him into a hug as tears streamed down her face. He smiled at Liz over her shoulder, mouthing thank you.
Meera headed off to talk to Cooper, and Liz made a detour into her office, closing the door behind her and sitting down at her desk. She raised her hands to the cuts on her face. They were still sore, but the bleeding had stopped.
She rested her elbows on her desk and her head in her hands, letting a few tears fall. This week had been the hardest. She'd had to let go to Tom, and she'd found out that he had been lying to her.
Only a few nights ago she'd turned up at Ressler's apartment. She'd sat there for hours just talking to him, and eventually they fell asleep. She slept over at his house, falling asleep on his couch and finding herself on his bed when she woke up.
She'd walked out and raised her eyebrows at him, seeing him dressed in his suit drinking coffee. "I slept on the couch, you're my guest." He'd said, smiling a little bit and taking another drink. "Coffee?"
It had been one of the times she had been able to forget about Reddington and Tom for a while. That morning they had sat together for an hour drinking coffee and laughing over things they had found in the newspaper, and he dropped her home and saw her at work.
Yet, since that day they had hardly spoken. He'd continued to ignore her, and whenever she was in the office he wasn't. If he was in it and she came in than he'd leave, and Liz had no idea why.
Had she done something wrong that night? Was it wrong of her to turn up at his house and confide in him? He was the one who told her to stay. She had agreed, maybe it was wrong?
She heard the door open, but ignored it. It was probably just Ressler grabbing his stuff and leaving again. The door closed, and she sat up and opened her eyes, seeing Ressler standing at his desk, looking at her.
"You okay, Liz?" He asked, resting his hands on the back of his chair.
She raised her eyebrows, and looked back down at her desk. "I guess. I mean, I wasn't just almost killed by a train crash or anything."
He chuckled a bit and made his way over to her desk, sitting on it and taking her hands. "Are you okay? You can come over to mine again if you like? I make a pretty mean chicken parmigiana. "
Liz was a little taken back by this. Why was he holding her hands? She didn't protest though, and held his hands too. "I'll be fine. I just need a good nights sleep and a shower or something. Thanks for the offer though. I'll just have a sandwich or something." She smiled, weakly.
He smiled at her and let her hands go. "Okay, see you tomorrow. Sleep well. Enjoy that sandwich."
Liz smiled and stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder and leaving the room.
Listen to "Love Alone - Thriving Ivory"
Ressler watched as Liz left the room, frowning. Why didn't he just get the courage to do what he wanted to do? He had at least been able to comfort her a little bit, holding her hands. It was the most affection they'd had since the night she stayed over and he'd carried her to sleep on his bed.
They'd been ignoring each other ever since, and it was mostly because Ressler was worried he would do something wrong and ruin the chemistry they had. But what better time than now? She was going home to an empty house and so was he.
He had lost Audrey, and she had lost Tom. They were both as alone as they had ever been now, and they both needed to be there for each other. That was Ressler's theory. That they had both been through something similar, and they would click together like a puzzle piece and fix each other.
Ressler could hear her talking to Cooper and Meera outside the office. They were just checking up on her, to make sure she really was fine from the almost train crash. He took a deep breath, looking down at the ground.
They both deserved happiness didn't they? He was finally coming to terms with his feelings for her, and now he thought he finally had made the decision. "I know what I have to do." He muttered, looking down at his feet and standing up.
He made his way out of their office and looked over at Meera, Cooper and Keen. She smiled at them and began to walk away again, heading toward the elevator. Ressler took another deep breath, and began to walk over to her.
He picked up his pace, till he was running to her. He passed Meera and Cooper, who were just as puzzled as they seemed. Why was Ressler running to Keen?
She turned around in the elevator and pressed the button to go down to the ground floor. He jumped in the elevator as the door began closing, standing in front of her, pulling her toward him, his hands closed around her face. He pressed his lips onto hers, kissing her as passionately as he could.
Luckily, Liz returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her. He dropped his hands from her face to around her waist, lifting her up off the ground as they kissed and the elevator continued dropping down to the ground floor.
He was very tempted to spin her around, and a smile sprung to his face as he kissed her. The elevator stopped on the ground floor, and the doors opened. Ressler pulled away from her, and she pulled away as well.
She smiled up at him, and he smiled back down at her. "So, how about that chicken parmigiana?" She laughed.
