Disclaimer: I do not own The Blacklist.

Elizabeth was so excited to be going somewhere instead of being alone. She had no nerves of meeting Audrey, she seemed like the woman that Donald would be happy with. All that Liz wanted was to see him happy as what he seemed when he talked about her before he took off from work. She knew some how she'd have to meet her, and now couldn't be any sooner.

Donald hoped that Liz would be welcomed by Audrey, and not tossed to the curve. That was the only thing he hoped for on this occasion. He had no idea of how she could be reacting. All he wanted was for the two women in his life to get along. Nothing more, nothing less.

As the two entered the golden restaurant, the tension inside Liz kept her from walking any further. She froze as she noticed the brunette at the table with three empty chairs around it. Donald kept walking as Liz stood back. He walked to Audrey with a gleaming smile on his face, seeing as she has been waiting. He stood in front of the table, facing her and she immediately got up to embrace him. The scene looked like something someone would see a soldier returning home to see his loved ones, minus the tears. As Audrey and Donald were hugging, Don noticed Liz was still at the entrance way. It started to bother him, he wanted her there with him, and hoped Audrey was okay with that.

"I'll be back, wait a minute." Donald smiled at Audrey as he pulled away.

"Okay, I'll be here." Audrey nodded with a grin on her face. She was happy to see that he shown up. She walked back to her seat as he ran to the entrance.

Liz couldn't phase the thoughts running through her head at the moment. She felt like she was intruding on them. She wanted to run far, far away, only not to disturb Audrey and Donald. It scared her for thinking this way. She wanted nothing more to make Donald happy. Her eyes closed as Donald walked up to her.

"Keen, it's alright, she's not going to hurt you." Ressler put his hands on her shoulders, holding them lightly.

Elizabeth opened her eyes, a tear slipped slowly down her face, "I can't do this, you deserve your guys' time together. I don't need to be apart of this. I'll meet you back home." She pulled away from him.

"Liz, I want you here." He replied, hoping she'd reconsider.

"No, you're saying that, hoping I'd stay." She backed away a little more, wiping her face gently with her ring finger.

"Lizzie. I'm serious. I want you to meet her." He held his hand out towards Liz, hoping she'd accept it.

She hesitated, the nerves were cluttering her mind. She had no hopes of meeting her, she wanted to go back to the apartment alone, to cry. She's had enough on her mind and she doesn't need anything more or less.

"Ressler, I want to go home. I don't want to interfere with this. I don't give a shit about the information Red's withholding from me. I just want to get out of here." She backed up against the door.

"Keen," Don walked up to Liz, and held her face, hoping she'd calm down. "I want you here. I don't care if Audrey doesn't. I'd rather you here."

Lizzie heard him clearly, but she'd rather not go into detail of his words. She knew for herself it would be better not to believe him. "Prove it." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Donald had no clue how to prove he wanted her there, but he didn't know how to prove it to her. He drew a blank. All he hoped was that this didn't cross too many boundaries. The one thing he knew that would prove something was this.

He took a breath, closed his eyes, and slowly pressed his lips against Liz's. His only intention of doing so was to leave the impression on her to make her realize he cares very much about her.

This was not what Liz expected at all, but she seemed not to mind it. His lips on her's made her feel a bit calmer. All she wanted was to be in that moment for longer than what it seemed. Her arms fell to her sides before the gentle kiss was over.

Donald pulled away, but not too far from her, still holding her face. His eyes opened to see a slight smile on Elizabeth's face. It caused him to grin back. "Please stay here." He replied gliding his thumb across Liz's face.

She looked down, "I'm not sure, weren't you here to get back with Audrey?"

"I was only here for a friendly dinner, that's all." He said, lifting Liz's chin up a little.

"And you still want me here?"

"Yes. Would you mind accompanying me?" Donald let go of her cheek, and held his hand out towards her like a gentleman would.

"I'm not sure if I should."

"Please, I promise she won't hurt you."

Liz took his hand, "Okay." She whispered to him as she looked up at his face.

The two walked back to the table together, and Audrey became shocked as she saw them standing side by side. To her this was going against her message, and it started to make her frustrated. All she wanted was a private dinner between her and a "good friend." All she wanted was to do was scream at Ressler, but she knew killing them with kindness was the only thing she can do.

"Donnie, who is that?" Audrey said, glaring at Elizabeth, with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Please don't start, this is Elizabeth, she's my co-worker." Don paused, then pointed to Audrey, "Liz, this is Audrey."

The tension at the table grew.

"Audrey, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." Liz replied, sitting down at the table.

"Yeah... I wish I could say the same to you." She rolled her eyes.

"I've heard plenty of good things from Donald about you."

"Well, of course. I'm his lovely girlfriend." Audrey flipped her hair with her hand.

Liz and Donald were shocked. Don never claimed they were together.

"Wait, what?" Don shook his head.

"We're still together. We always were."

"Okay, Audrey, you've gone mad." He admitted blatantly.

"No, no, no. We're still together, aren't we Donnie?" Her lips curled as she finished the sentence.

Liz was confused, and she immediately wanted to forget that kiss and leave the table. Instead, she kept put. All she hoped was for an explanation.

"Okay, stop calling me Donnie, also, we've been done. For a long time. Get that through your head." Donald was pushed over the edge.

"Well, honey, I've missed you a lot. After this gathering, we should get back to my place and do what we always used to."

"Okay, I've had enough of this. You said this dinner was just a way to "catch up," do I see us catching up? No. You're acting like a fool, and I hope you see that."

"I'm only a fool over you, I texted you to come here without her. Like I said, no interruptions. She's an interruption."

All Audrey would do was twist his words around to make her seem not as she is. All she wanted was to be back in Donald's arms once again.

"You know what, I didn't come here to try to get back with you. I came here to introduce my co-worker to you, catch up, and enjoy a much desired meal. Absolutely nothing more than that."

"Oh I see, you only came here to introduce your girlfriend to me. Well, you did that, now she can go."

"I'm not his girlfriend." Liz snapped.

"Ooh, she speaks!"

"You do not want to mess with me." Elizabeth stood up from her seat, clenching her fists.

"Liz," Donald held her wrist, trying to bring her back down to her seat. "Don't bother. She's just going to piss you off." He whispered.

She took her hand out of his grip, "Audrey, if that's even your real name, why are you trying to get him back into your heart-breaking arms? You're just going to toss him out again."

Audrey got up in Liz's face, "I'm not going to do that. I think I'll try to fix his life again, that's all, and maybe even give him a little pleasure, unlike you."

"You know what, we are not together. We only work together."

"As in, work together, work together?"

"I cannot deal with this right now. You are driving me up the wall."

"Nice seeing you, Beth!"

Liz walked away from the table, rolling her eyes. The fire inside of her was getting bigger and bigger. All she wanted to do was murder Audrey. She knew it wouldn't leave a good outcome, but that was what she wanted deep down inside. Although, it'd make Red happy, she knew she'd get in trouble with her job.

As Liz approached the door, Donald was running behind her. He caught up to her as she walked through the first door and nearly got hit with it.

"Liz, wait." Donald took a hold of Liz's wrist.

She turned around to face him, with tears streaming down her face, wetting down her make-up. "Why aren't you in there, with your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Don let go of her wrist, "She's just a charity case. I wish I never came down here in the first place."

"That's exactly how I feel. She's a freaking drama queen." Liz let the door close behind her.

"I personally don't know how I dealt with her for so many years."

"Maybe it was only because you didn't like being alone."

Donald never considered that reason before until now. "Yeah. I can see that."

"Ressler, do you want to go back to the apartment and eat dinner there? Cause we sure as hell missed that while we were in this restaurant."

"Sure." Donald replied holding the door for Liz and then himself.

On the silent ride home, it calmed them both down. No obnoxious Audrey getting in the way, just them and the silence. It didn't hurt at all from what it seemed. They both were just avoiding a conflicting topic of what happened.

They both got out of the car and walked up to the apartment. Donald opened the door and Liz followed in afterwards.

Elizabeth took off her shoes, and walked her way into her room. All she wanted was some peace, she's had one too many conflicts in her life and what happened tonight added up to that. Her shoes dropped against the doorframe, then she walked over to sit on her bed. The outcome of what happened made her rethink her choices she made. She kept wishing to herself to erase everything that took place. That's all she could desire right now.

Author's Note: This chapter was the hardest to write, and I hope all the effort I put into this came out. Thank you for reading this far.