Chapter 7

It was just past midnight when Liz walked through the front door. Having eaten on her way home and in no mood to go upstairs, Liz made her way to the couch. Hudson came to greet her, and after patting his head, Liz lay down on the couch, pulling the blanket down off the back. Closing her eyes, she felt Hudson join her. Putting her arm around him, Liz closed her eyes and tried to get a few hours of sleep before she had to face Tom.

Waking up, Liz stretched and checked the time and saw that it was just after 7am. Sitting up and rubbing her face she saw Hudson sleeping on the floor by the couch. The house was quiet... too quiet. Standing up, she walked upstairs and to her room. The room was empty and the bed looked like it hadn't been slept in. She decided not to think about where her husband was and had been, knowing that she'd end up with too many questions and not enough answers. She decided to shower and take Hudson for a walk, needing to not think for awhile after what she'd been through this week. She deserved a break.

After she was showered and dressed, Liz put her hair up and headed downstairs. Grabbing her keys, wallet, and leash, she called for Hudson, and hearing him come running to her she smiled. "How about a nice long walk?"

Getting a bark in return, they left the house and headed towards the park, passing a coffee stand on the way. After walking around for awhile, Liz headed for a bench, sitting down to people watch.

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While she was walking through the park with her dog, Red, Kate noticed Liz sitting on a bench. She thought she looked even better than the picture her dad had shown her. Looking behind her, she could see that Luli had noticed Liz too and was shaking her head, like she knew what Kate was about to do. Smiling at Luli, Kate bent down and spoke to Red.

"Okay, behind me is someone very special to Dad, someone I've not been able to meet until now. Dad's gonna be pissed at me, but that's fine, he'll understand...I hope."

Seeing that Luli was taking her phone out and was no doubt going to call her dad, she looked back to Red and adjusted his red bandana around his neck. Standing up, Kate started walking towards Liz.

While people watching, Liz noticed a girl a few years younger than her with blonde curly hair and a German Shepard dog approaching. When the girl reached her she smiled.

"Hi, do you mind if I join you?"

Liz, seeing the shy smile, nodded her head. Once the girl was seated, Liz noticed the girl's dog and Hudson assessing each other. After a tap to the head, the girl's dog sat down and put his head on her lap. Stroking his head, she turned to Liz. "I'm Kate," she said, holding out her hand and smiling.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kate could see that Luli was still on her phone. Feeling Liz shake her hand shook her out of her thoughts of how mad her dad surely was.

"Liz, and who's your dog?"

"This is Red." Hearing his name, Red barked and Liz laughed. Kate knew why she was laughing, but played along. "What's funny?" She threw in a confused look, but made sure she didn't overdo it.

"It's nothing. I have a friend called Red, and if you knew him..." Taking a deep breath and getting her laughter under control she continued. "He wouldn't be impressed with having a dog named after him."

"That's a weird name."

"Oh no, it's a nickname." Seeing Kate nod her head, Liz asked some more questions. "So why the name Red?" Again the dog barked upon hearing his name, so Liz reached out and patted his head.

"When I got him from the kennels, he was wearing this red bandana and I thought it was cute." She was only partially lying to Liz, she bought the bandana the second time she went to see him. "What about your dog?"

"This is Hudson."

Kate reached over to stroke him. Before Liz could continue with her questions, Kate's cell started to ring. Pulling out her phone, Kate knew who it was without looking. Sighing, Kate ignored it, knowing she was in trouble no matter what she did now. But she really wanted to meet Liz. She wanted to meet the woman who had captured her father's heart. Liz was the first and most definitely the only woman in years who had been able to do so.

"Everything ok?" Hearing Kate sigh before ignoring the call brought out the agent in Liz.

"Yeah, just a very overprotective father. I'll call him later."

Looking at her, Liz could tell she was telling the truth.

"Oh my dad's the same way. Even when I moved away he would call all the time, and with my career it only got worse."

"What do you do?"

"I work for the FBI." Liz always liked to see people's reactions, when they found out what see did for a living. Kate's shocked her.

"That's so cool." Smiling, she continued. "What do you do in the FBI?"

Seeing that smile reminded Liz of Red. Shaking thoughts of Red away, she answered. "I'm a profiler."

"Like that TV show Criminal Minds?"

Chuckling, Liz replied. "Yeah, but it's a bit different. What about you, what do you do?"

"Nothing at the moment. I'm still undecided as to what I want to do, so I volunteer in kennels. I love animals." Kate hated having to lie to Liz, but she couldn't come out and say 'my dad's a criminal and the whole world thinks i'm dead so I can't work'.

Kate pushed her hair behind her ear and chewed her lip, and again Liz was reminded of Red. She also noticed the scar that ran down the side of her face.

"That's great. Maybe you could be a vet! But what you're doing now...it's great that you're helping all those animals." Hearing Kate's phone ringing again, Liz looked at her watch and noted that she'd been there for a couple of hours. It was time to head home. "It was great meeting you, but I better head home and you need to call your dad before he starts to worry."

Kate agreed with her, even though she didn't want their time together to end. She didn't know if it would ever happen again. Kate got off the bench and turned to Liz, holding out her hand. "It was great meeting you. Maybe I'll see you here again."

Rising and shaking Kate's hand, Liz thought that it was great to forget about everything for awhile. "I'm not here all the time, but if I am it'll be on the weekends. Nice meeting you Kate, and hopefully I'll see you around."

Watching Liz walk away with Hudson, Kate sat back down on the bench. A few minutes later, Luli sat next to her.

"How much trouble am I in?"

"At the moment ,a lot. But knowing your father, once he calms down you'll be fine. We need to head back...he wasn't happy you ignored his calls." Seeing Kate's sad face, Luli tried to reassure her. "Just tell him why you did it and everything will be fine. Agent Keen doesn't know who you are. That'll help."

Sighing and deciding it was time to face her father, Kate stood up and started walking back to the house with Red and Luli.

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When Liz got home, she noticed that Tom still wasn't home, and when she tried his phone it went straight to voicemail. Trying not to get angry, Liz headed to the kitchen. After giving Hudson some food and water, Liz made herself some lunch and decided to do the paperwork she brought home.

A few hours later, Liz was awoken by the sound of the front door closing. Realising she'd fallen asleep at the table, Liz sorted all her paperwork before going to confront Tom. She found him in their bedroom.

"Where have you been?"

"Out."

Liz looked at Tom, wondering why he was being like this. "What's wrong Tom, why are you acting like this?"

"Hurts, doesn't it? Only getting one word answers and not knowing where I am... That's how I feel when you don't tell me things."

Liz felt as if she'd been slapped. "The reason I can't tell you those things is cause they are confidential and..."

Tom cut her off. "Ah yes, the FBI, the job that wouldn't be put first and wouldn't stop us from having a family," Tom said with a sneer. Liz looked at him like she didn't even know who she was talking to...like he had two heads.

"It's a new job, one I didn't think I'd have. I just need to get myself into a routine..."

Again, Tom cut her off. "Well I'm sick of the job and it's only been a few months." When he moved towards Liz, still with an angry look on his face, Liz took a step back. "You need to decide Liz, the FBI, or me and our future." Getting no answer from Liz, Tom spoke again. "What's it gonna be, Liz?"

Liz couldn't answer. She felt like she'd been blindsided by this whole conversation. Why couldn't she have both? All she'd ever wanted was to work in the FBI and have a family. Biting her lip and knowing that answer wasn't going to be good enough, Liz looked at Tom and realized that she didn't know if she wanted that future with him anymore. Did she love him? Yes. Did she trust him? Liz didn't know anymore, and after finding the box and his attitude recently, Liz didn't think she did.

Tom, not getting any answers, spoke again. "Well that's great, Liz. That silence just answered it all for me." He walked past her, and a minute later Liz heard the front door slam.

Shaking herself, Liz realized that she couldn't stay in the house. She didn't want to be there if and when Tom returned. Going downstairs and grabbing her jacket and keys, she called for Hudson and they both left the house. Liz sat in her car, not knowing where to go. She wanted silence, but she also wanted to talk to someone who would listen and not judge. Knowing where she was going, Liz started her car and headed for the writer's house...to Red.

Arriving at the house, Liz got out of the car and looked up and saw the lights were on. Knowing someone was home, she began walking up the stairs, pulling Hudson along with her, and approached Red's door. Knocking, she heard footsteps a few seconds later. It was Red who opened the door, and he just looked at her, waiting for her to talk.

"I had a fight with Tom. I didn't know where else to go."

Stepping back, Red let her walk in. Closing the front door, he followed her to the lounge. He took Hudson off his leash, and he curled up by Liz's feet. Once sitting, Red turned and looked at her. Seeing her so upset broke his heart. He wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be ok, but to do that, he needed to know what had happened. "What did you argue about?"

Liz turned to him. "He doesn't like the hours I keep and that I can't tell him what I'm working on. Then he started talking about us having kids."

"You don't want that anymore?"

Red's gentle voice was beginning to calm her. He was actually listening and not being 'Red', she realized. He was being Raymond,the man who wasn't self-centered and didn't only care about himself.

"I don't know...maybe in the future. After everything that's happened with Tom getting hurt and then finding the box and his attitude lately, I don't know if I want that future with him. I don't know if I can trust him."

Before Red could speak or Liz could carry on talking the front door opened and closed. Liz noticed the panicked look that appeared on Red's face. Turning to the door, she waited to see who was going to walk through it.

"Hey Dad, ca..."

A/N

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, there's plenty more to come!

Thanks to everyone reading/reviewing/following this story. It means so much to me.

A huge thanks as always to Thousand_miles for the support and advice, and to jadenanne7 for being my wonderful beta!