I don't own The Blacklist and I don't make money with fanfiction.

This is ch. 3. It's darker and rated M in the second part. Could be slightly OOC. I guess I should stop trying to write fluffy stories, I'm better at angst and drama, but I still wonder when 'angst' became an English word, I thought it was only German...weird :)

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xxxxx part 1:

"Elizabeth!" Red's voice interrupted her daydreams in the office. He was angry with her and everybody noticed it.

1 week earlier:

Liz knew she had messed up the whole operation, but from her point of view, it wasn't completely her fault, because Red had killed the only suspect they had on their search for Berlin. They had tracked down a man called 'The Omniscient' who claimed to know everything about every criminal in the world, including Berlin. Red knew of his existence, but had never seen or met the man, he didn't even believe the stories about him.

"It was necessary, situations change." was Red's explanation why he had shot him.

"We needed five months to track him down, Red! Five months! And now you're telling me that it was 'necessary' to kill him?"

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't blown your cover!"

"Oh, now you're blaming it on me? I had it under control, it was your fault!"

"Yes? When exactly did you have the situation under control? I shot him because it was necessary to save your life!"

"God, stop it, Red! Everytime you say that, my life gets messed up even more!"

"Elizabeth-"

"No! Do you know what? I don't care. I thought that you, of all people, would do anything to keep this guy alive, but no; you killed him! I'm sleeping at my place for a week. If you care to actually help with something, you can see me at work."

Liz grabbed her bag and stormed out of the house; she was sick of Red, sick of his need for control over her, sick of that damn security team that was following her, sick of his over-protectiveness, sick of everything. She needed a break from him.

xxxxx Monday, one week later:

"Elizabeth!" Red's voice interrupted her daydreams in the office. He was angry with her and everyone noticed it. He didn't bother to hide it, neither did she, but none of them were willing to apologize or give in. Red was too arrogant to admit a mistake and Liz was simply too stubborn. It was a disaster for both sides. They hadn't talked about what happened for a week, he had stopped calling her 'Lizzie' or 'sweetheart' and if they talked at all, it was about the job. He delivered a case to the task force, he gave a few leads and they closed the case. Today, Liz was sitting in the office she shared with Ressler, wrote some reports and daydreamed about Red. She really wanted to make it up to him somehow and to take their relationship back to how it was before, but she knew she had to make the first step because he would never be the first to give in.

"What do you want, Reddington?" she asked when he came in. If he calls me Elizabeth, I can go back to calling him Reddington. At least he doesn't say Agent Scott...that would kill me.

"There is another Blacklister we have to catch. Tonight is a gala we will have to attend, the whole team will be there."

"And you're telling us about that now? Couldn't you have said something earlier?" Ressler interrupted them. Red shot him an angry glance, then continued.

When everyone of the team was informed about how the take down in the evening after the gala would go off, they went back to work before they would go home and change into their evening clothes. Red headed towards the elevator without looking at Liz.

Ressler leaned over to Liz's part of the desk in their office. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." she knew what he would ask, and she had absolutely no intention to tell him about the fight they had had last week.

"What is it with you and Reddington? You two are having trouble?"

"What do you mean 'trouble' ? We just had a little...uh, disagreement and now neither of us wants to apologize. Next week everything will be ok again, don't worry. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I wondered if it would disturb your...working relationship." he said hesitantly.

"What's this about, Don? When I started working with him everyone told me to keep this a professional relationship and when it is, everyone complains that we're a little cold to each other?"

"A little? When was the last time he called you 'Lizzie'?"

"Why the hell do you care about this?! If you really want to know: Last Monday. Since then he calls me 'Elizabeth', which he only does when he's really mad at me. I think that's enough information."

"Are you sure that this thing between you two isn't personal?"

"There is no 'thing' between Reddington and me. Why does everyone believe we have..."

"...A relationship? Liz, it's obvious."

"Nothing is obvious, Don! We may have a different...connection for some reason he hasn't told me yet, but there is no relationship, damn it!"

"Yeah right."

She cut him off. "Wait. Are you jealous?"

"Jealous how? No, I'm not. Listen, if there is something more, I won't tell anybody, I promise, we're friends, Liz. I'm just kind of concerned that this task force ends if you don't get along with him anymore because of whatever personal reasons."

"Ooo...kay. Look, tonight at this gala, which is most likely a setup, I'll be his plus one again. It will be a little weird because we're having, as you said, 'trouble', but I'll talk to him afterwards. As always on our undercover missions, I and Reddington will have to be a little, um, touchy-feely." Liz blushed at the thought of dancing with Red and letting him touch her in front of the team, because it would be the first time they would pose as a couple when the rest of the team was there, too.

"Better go home now, then. Make sure you look good for him, Liz."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" She almost said 'I always look good' but decided not to say it.

"Nothing, see you at 9."

"Yes, bye."

Liz didn't know what to think of this conversation. If Ressler knew about it, who else knew, too? Could she really trust him to not tell anybody? Should she tell Red about it? What dress should she wear? Which shoes, which underwear, would he accept her apology? Would he kiss her in front of the team? There were millions of questions on her way home.

xxxxx 9 PM:

Liz wore a dark red dress and black earrings and a necklace Red once gave to her. She wore red, fitting highheels and dark red lipstick, in short: she looked amazing. When she knocked on the door of the hotel room Red had booked for them, he looked up and down at her and she noticed his dilated pupils. He licked over his lips but in the next moment, his eyes were as cold as this morning in the Post Office.

"I see you're ready, Elizabeth."

His tux almost made her speechless. "You, too, Reddington. Let's go."

She couldn't let her eyes off him, she just had to stare at him whenever she thought he wasn't watching her. Of course he was watching her all the time, she knew that, but he was clever enough to do it discreetly. They went to the dancefloor and began to dance; when Red put his hand around her waist, a shiver ran down her spine. They hadn't touched for a week.

"Red, can we talk tonight about what happened last Monday?"

"Why? Are you feeling guilty?" he asked with a smug grin on his face.

"Honestly? Yes, although I would prefer a simple yes or no answer. So, can we talk tonight?"

"Yes, if you're the first one who apologizes."

She rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath: "Son of a bitch..."

He squeezed her waist, her rips hurt a little, but this was fully intended of course. "Language, Elizabeth, language. You don't want me to punish you with coldness for another week, do you?" he smirked at her.

"What? You're only doing this to punish me? You shot him, Reddington! It's not only my fault!"

"I thought you wanted to talk about this later. But right now we will spend a nice evening and let your friends from the FBI catch our next Blacklister. He's right behind you. Don't look."

He moved his arm to her upper back and she grinned at him when he realized that she wasn't wearing a bra under the dress. He didn't say anything, just raised an eyebrow at her and traced the path of her back where the line of the bra should be. He moved his hand back to her waist and they continued talking.

"I am confident that Donald will be able to take him down without our help."

"Why did you bring the whole team when you think it's that easy to catch him?"

He laughed. "Oh, Elizabeth. We are dealing with a criminal. Don't you think it would be helpful if there was more than one agent?"

She didn't answer, he was right, like always. She let herself distract by him: His cologne, his eyes, his voice, his lips, the tux he wore...

"Elizabeth! Are you listening?"

"Uh...yes. And stop calling me Elizabeth!"

"All you had to do was ask."

"What?!"

"If you would have told me that you don't like this, I would have continued to call you Lizzie or sweetheart." he said.

"You lying bastard, you know damn well that I hate it when you call me Elizabeth!"

"I never lie to you. I said you should have told me, I didn't say that I don't know you don't like it."

"You're in a teasing mood tonight, aren't you, Reddington?"

"It's always the name thing with us, right?" he asked and caressed her waist with his thumb.

"If you don't stop that teasing, we can skip that talk we agreed on and you can sleep alone in that damn hotel room." Liz hissed, not allowing herself to enjoy his touch. She was still angry that he wouldn't admit that shooting the only person that could have lead them to Berlin was a mistake.

The tension between them was growing; everytime they had a fight, they ended up in bed. This time it was different because they hadn't really spoken to each other for a week and hadn't slept in the same bed, let alone that 'name thing' how Red called it. Liz had a feeling that tonight would either turn out with her yelling and crying or with their usual make up sex. However, she had promised Ressler that she would talk with Red about it and she would keep that promise. God, how the hell could she think about Ressler when she was distracted by Red's hand on her back and by the way he undressed her with his gaze?

"So, Lizzie" he began, enjoying the smile on her face, "Do you want to go back to our room and have this therapy session you begged me to have with you after the gala?"

"But...what about your Blacklister?"

"Oh, didn't you notice that Donald put him in handcuffs half an hour ago when he wanted to escape through the backdoor?" When Liz blushed, he went on. "I take it you were too distracted to concentrate on the world around you."

"Yeah, and if you keep distracting me, you will be the one in handcuffs, Red."

"That could be arranged, sweetheart. Come on, we have to go."

When they walked out, the hand on her back wandered down and landed on her ass, squeezing it.

"You are not even wearing panties, you naughty girl." he growled in her ear.

xxxxx

Meanwhile in a surveillance van outside, Ressler, Aram and Cooper sat in front of the laptop and watched what happened inside the hall where Red and Liz just finished dancing and walked out, with Red's hand on her ass.

Cooper had noticed their latest conflicts and told Aram to install cameras in some rooms of the hotel where the gala took place. Ressler and Aram felt bad about spying on them, but Cooper had insisted on the surveillance to find out what they were doing when nobody was watching.

"Boss, do you really think we should do this?"

"Agent Ressler, it might be private what the two of them do after work, but I care about this task force and the way they behaved in the past week brought up some questions. Reddington is a dangerous criminal and I fear about the way he treats Agent Scott."

"You think he's being violent to her?" asked Aram.

"Maybe. If there is any indication that he harms her, he's going back to the glass box. We need him to do this job and we need Agent Scott, as well. They have to work together until every Blacklister is caught. But if I see that sexual harassment he's been doing to her today I wonder if she is still willing to work with him."

Damn it, boss. You're a smart man, but you're so wrong about this...thought Ressler and glanced at Aram, who knew what was going on, too. Everyone knew about their relationship or suspected it at least, but Cooper seemed to be the only one who didn't see it.

"Look! They are entering their hotel room. I really don't know why Scott agreed on sharing a room with him..."

xxxxx

TBC

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