They woke up reluctantly as her alarm clock beeped at 6:30. Ressler growled and pulled her in close after she pressed the snooze button.
"Time to wake up"
"Just five more minutes"
"yeah, and then we're late again" she laughed and kissed him on the nose, but then complied and tangled herself in him, resting her head on his chest and sleeping again.
When the alarm clock beeped again 10 minutes later they knew that they had to get up. She sighed and fought to get out of his grip, as he wouldn't let go. She laughed as he won the fight with a kiss, and they stayed for 10 more minutes giving in to slow kisses and touches and glances, until they knew that either they got up and came back to reality, or they would stay in it forever.
"C'mon, babe! I'll go make breakfast. you can take a shower"
"Come with me" He complained as she left the bed. He smiled at the sight of her walking about the room naked in search of her silk robe, and then sat back on the bed, watching her go.
"No. We don't have time. c'mon!" she was bossy, and he laughed at her orders, imagining to live like this forever. "Besides, I have a feeling that you will want to be alone with the shower. believe me" he frowned curious at her remark, and stood up, moving slowly towards the bathroom.
When he got there he found something strange, that didn't resemble a shower at all. there was a square thing on top, and then about 8 jets down the walls. He entered in the box and turned the register to find heaven. a strong jet of water hit him all over his body from the jets on the wall, and on top of his head the square thing was the actual shower, and t he water fell like raindrops, warm and steamy.
"Oh my God!' he screamed, and she laughed on the kitchen, listening to his screams of awe in the shower. "What is this thing?"
15 minutes later, and he entered the kitchen to find a full set breakfast ready, with eggs, bacon, fruits and toast. She handed him a cup of coffee.
"So, did you like it?"
"I think I'm in love" he joked, and she squinted.
"Oh, good to know I introduced you to your love, my shower!" He laughed.
"I would never mean the shower!" he said, jokingly, and then bent down to kiss her. "Of course I mean you. The fact that I will come back here often clearly has to do with you and not your amazing shower." She rolled her eyes.
"But now, seriously, what is that thing? I wonder what Red meant by putting that in your bathroom."
She looked at him with puzzling eyes, and he smirked before explaining.
"There's a whole conversation running around the bureau concerning his interest in you. Is he you father? Like a father figure? In love with you? those are the strongest suppositions"
"Oh, jesus really? Red in love with me? that's impossible."
"Nothing is impossible with Reddington, Liz, you of all people should know that" She nodded in agreement as she ate a raspberry.
"Anyway, I don't want to taint the wonder of that shower by picturing you with Red in there. I want to know when we are going to use it together?" She smirked, thinking that there was nothing else she wanted to do right now. But she was realistic enough to know that if she had gone in there with him now, they wouldn't even bother going to the office. She finished eating and then left to take a quick shower.
"Is it possible?"
"It is if you turn off the side jets"
"Why on earth would you do that?"
He stayed in the kitchen and had another cup of coffee, while filling Hudson's bowl and organizing everything while she got dressed.
This time she was wearing one of her pantsuits, and it fit perfectly. she had a loose seethrough shirt with a tanktop underneath, and he always loved how that looks on her. Now, he could say it.
"I love it when you wear these shirts."
"really?" she smiled, surprised to know that he used to notice her clothes before.
"I love it even more when you're not wearing them, but..."
She opened her arms to welcome him and they kissed once more before both their phones started buzzing.
"See. work." she pulled it to see it was Samar, and his said "aram" on the screen. They answered it simultaneously.
"Ressler?"
"Hey, Samar, what is it?"
They both spoke to their colleagues for a minute and then hung up.
"They need us immediately. apparently Red has more information on the blacklister."
"yeah, Samar told me. By the way, she asked if I knew where you were." her smile was big and she chuckled, her eyes glistening.
"Aram asked me about you too. Told him I had no idea where you were" His eyes met hers, and they were sparkling too. They looked like two teenagers with a secret.
"Let's go! bye, Hud!" she said and grabbed her purse, and he put an arm around her as they walked towards the door, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.
XXXXXXXX
They decided to go on separate cars, as he had to go home tonight. On the way to the post office, she didn't resist and called him. He answered on speaker.
"Ressler?" he answered the phone firmly.
"What do you mean people say Red is in love with me?" She didn't even bother telling it was her. He already knew. and she was too curious.
He laughed. "I mean people actually say that. I don't know, it's all a mystery, since day one he demands you, but never explains why. Has he ever told you anything?"
"I have my theories" she remembered when she started to recollect what happened the night of the fire, when she shot what seemed to be her father and remembered that Red was there, but there wasn't much more to go on. Red didn't tell her more than that, but she understood why he cared for her, and after her time on the run, she had a long list of proof that he was real when he said he would protect her with his life. But love? she never thought about that.
"Why are you so curious? Are you considering it, yourself?" Ressler teased, a smirk on his lips, but truthfully he was scared she would ever comply to those rumors. He had no idea what had happened while they were running together, and how strong their relationship was. He could only observe and expect that her feeling for him were stronger.
"Of course not!" she squeaked, and he couldn't help sighing in relief. "Specially after what happened last night, I don't think there's any chance for Red."
"Good to hear that" he confessed, and she smiled, thinking that he was too cute for his own good. She still found amazing the Ressler she was discovering as his layers came down to her. He seemed really worried to lose her, scared, helpless. It only made her love him more.
"I think I might ask him, though"
"NO!" he screamed, wondering what Red would do if he found out there was a rumour saying he is in love with Liz. "He's gonna kill someone, whether it's true or not!"
"I don't think it's true. He threatened you, but it was nothing more than I would expect him to say. It didn't seem like jealousy, right?"
"I know, Liz. It's just a rumour" he said, but she couldn't take it from her head. What if Red was really in love with her? what would she do? she cared for Red, but not like this. She was in love with Ressler.
"okay. see you in a bit." she turned off the call as they both turned to enter the parking lot of the facility, with a distance of two cars. they parked in opposite sides of the lot, and then met at the elevator.
When they left the elevator to the war room, Aram, Samar and Cooper where there waiting for them.
"So, you didn't know where he was, hun?" Samar teased, a grin on her face.
"Coincidence, we arrived at the same time! who could've known!" Liz said, her eyes glistening to her friend.
XXXXX
They had a long day chasing leads and intervieweing suspects until they finally caught Leon Macken. at the end of the day, after all reports were written and filed, The team decided to go out for drinks. But Ressler had other plans.
"Hey, everybody is going down at the pub. what do you think?" she said, entering their office so distracted she didn't even noticed he had closed the blinds. she goes to her desk and is shuffling through papers when he grabs her arm to turn her around and catches her in a kiss.
"Are you crazy? Cooper will see!" she whispers, muffled by his lips.
"Haven't kiss you all day. it was driving me crazy." he said, and she smiles before kissing him again.
"So...pub? the guys are waiting."
"I think we're going to pass. I Thought we could do something else."
"What do you mean?" she looked at him quizzically, fixing a lock of his hair that had fallen out of place.
"you are going home, and you are gonna put on a beautiful dress, because I'll pick you up at 8."
"are we going on a date?" she opened a smile, her eyes sparkling blue.
"I figured we should" he shruged.
"Where are you going to take me?" to what he just gave her a kiss on the cheek and went back to his desk to get his jacket and briefcase.
"Pick you up at 8." he repeated, and then left her alone in the room.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
She looked at the watch and noticed it was 6:30. She would take about 20 minutes to get home. Oh my God! it's not eno ugh time! She grabbed her things and ran home, barely able to explain to Samar that they wouldn't be joining them for drinks.
She got to her car and had to stop to breathe. She was actually nervous, as if it was her first date. Dear Lord, Liz, you woke up with him, twice! But that wasn't an excuse not to feel butterflies in her stomach with this. Sex was one thing, a date meant a lot more. Meant that the vows they shared last night were real.
She ran home and nearly tripped over Hudson as the dog was laying in front of the door. She appologized to him and then went straight to the shower.
She forgot to turn off the side jets, and the water hit her as a surprise. She remembered his comments about it this morning and dreamed about having him there with her. She closed her eyes and revived every single thing they had lived the last couple of days. From their first heated kiss to his acts of chivalry when he refused to have sex with her as she was drunk, or taking Tom home, to the way he looked at her when they said I love you, and their teasing at the post office. She felt so in love, as she thought she would never feel again.
When she was accused of killing the senator and exploding the OREA offices, she truly believed that even if she wasn't guilty of all those things, she had to do things while on the run that proved she wasn't worth anything good anymore. When she came back, and her name was cleared, the fact that her partner kept his distance made her even more sure of that. "Bastard!" She whispered, smilling silly as she lathered her head with shampoo.
She let the water comfort her body a little bit more when she realized that she had little time until he arrived, and got out of the shower.
She turned on the radio and went to her closet. A few minutes rummaging through her dresses to conclude that she had nothing to wear. She puffed disappointed at a few options she laid on her bed. A black tight dress, a blue frolic one and a polka-dotted vintage dress that she had never worn before. She had spent more than she should have on that dress, and Tom complained, so she never wore it for him. Time went by, and she just forgot about it. But now, it seemed perfect.
She picked it up and put it on, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair was in a messy bun but she liked the way her hair up valued the dress, bringing more attention to the beautiful square cleavage and how it opened on her shoulders. She decided to put it up and went to her dresser to pick up a brush and tie it. She turned it into a bun like she had seen it before in one of those hair tutorial videos on youtube and held it with golden hair clips. A few locks escaped and she twirled them so they would frame her face.
Although it was night, she put on a light make up, the way she liked it, and she made use of a powerful red lipstick. She looked like a 50's film star.
She chose black high heeled mary janes to go with the dress, and a small handbag. As she was splashing some perfume on her neck, he rang the door bell. She was impressed by her rapidity when she glanced at the clock and saw that it was 8:15. He gave her 15 extra minutes.
She took a deep breath as she opened the door, and smiled as he looked at her, baffled.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He had never seen her like this, all dressed up, they went straight from work clothes to nothing at all, and he was thankful for having the idea of the date. He meant to greet her, but only a weird stammer came out, making her laugh and blush.
"What do you think?"
"Phew" he whistled, "you know, I always wanted to feel what was like to walk in with the most beautiful woman in the room. Thank you!"
She blushed even more, and he gave her the arm to scort her out.
"Shall we?"
Xxxx
He chose a small Italian cantina, as it was fancy and also cosy enough, with good value for food, as the Italians would never put a minute quantity of weird food on a plate and call it a meal.
The place was lovely and rustic. There were some paintings of places in Italy decorating the walls, and the tables were made of wood, with a red and white checkered tablecloth, and a candle on them.
The sat on a booth, side by side, and although Liz would always make fun of those couples who sat side by side in restaurants, she was happy to sit like this tonight. She felt his warmth throughout the night, and he kept his arm around her for most of the it.
They ate a lot, from antepastos to a delicious bruschetta with cheese and garlic (she only noticed she had ordered garlic after the waiter was far away, but he said he didn't mind, and they started a whole conversation on how those small things shouldn't be a problem in a relationship).
"You know, it's natural for a person to wake up with a bad breath, it happens, what are you going to do, get up 5 minutes before to brush your teeth?"
"Some women do that" she commented, sipping on her red wine.
"If you ever feel you need to do that, Liz, I'll not kiss you for the whole day"
She smiled at the thought of how simple and current that sounded. "really? A whole day? How would you manage?"
She batted her eyelashes and came closer to him, putting her red lips really close to his. He didn't resist, And kissed them.
"Don't you ever do that!" He complained, and they both laughed.
They had a great night drinking and laughing and sharing personal stories. She told him of her time in college, how she and her friends once went crazy and drank too much and ended up in canada one spring break, and he told her of his family. It dawned on her how little she knew about him when he told her about his 2 brothers, and how his parents moved to Florida a few years ago and he hates it there.
They only stopped talking when the main meal arrived, a large plate of spaghetti and meatballs and it was fantastic.
The restaurant 's band was playing for the tables and although Ressler was muttering under his breath for them not to stop by them, they did, and they started playing a romantic italian tune. Liz smiled shyly as she recognized the tune to be the romantic song in "Lady and the tramp", and she took a spaghetti string and held it to him, putting the other end on her mouth and both of them sucked it until their lips met and the entire restaurant applauded. she laughed and hid her face inside his coat, while he thanked the applause and the band for the serenade.
They left the restaurant and the night was so pleasant that he invited her for a walk.
They ended up at the Lincoln Memorial, and it was peaceful as it was late, and there were only a few tourists taking pictures. They sat on the steps that lead to the statue, and observed as the moon and the Washington monument were reflected on the pool in front of them. He put his arm around her and she draw in close, resting her head on his shoulder, her legs turned towards him.
"This was the best date ever" she said, breathing on his neck, and giving it small kisses. He reached his hand to cup her chin and held it up until she faced him, and gave her a deep and passionate kiss. Then he looked at her in silence, observing and memorizing each detail of her face, before saying it.
"I love you, Liz, and I will never, ever let you down. May Lincoln be my witness" he motioned towards the monument behind them, and she chuckled. "I know that you've been through enough, so I want to make sure that you are happy from now on. Are you happy?"
"I'm happy" she smiled, and pulled his coat to bring him closer for a kiss, and they stood there enjoying each other's company for almost 1 hour before they motioned to go home.
He drove her home, but said he wasn't going up. "How do you expect me to sleep without you after this night?" She complained, but he just laughed and kissed her.
"It's our first date, and you don't sleep with guys on first dates, do you?" She scowled. There was nothing more he wanted than to go with her and spend the night one more time, but he was scared it was going too fast. If they started sleeping together every night after 3 days of relationship, what's to say it won't go cold just as fast?
"Goodnight, Liz, see you tomorrow" he said, and she left the car pouting. She understood what he meant, but she was more emotional than rational, so to her mind it made absolutely no sense.
She went up to her apartment to find it empty, cold and boring. Damn, why be controlled and rational when you can be wildly in love as she was. She changed out of her dress and lay in bed, holding close the pillow that still had a little bit of his scent. God, she missed him.
His apartment was just as cold and lifeless. He started to regret his decision the moment she left the car, and now, alone in his bedroom, his only wishes was to get up, drive to her apartment and all caution and taking it slow be damned.
He controlled his impulses by tossing and turning in bed, and when he got to the conclusion that he wasn't gonna be able to sleep, he stood up, put on an old quantico jumpsuit, grabbed his keys and went straight to the door. When he opened it, there she was, about to knock, wearing just a long wool sweater and slippers. They looked at each other and immediately understood.
"I missed you" they said in unison, and kissed.
A/N - I love this story so much, and I love it that you liked it. So I described a little bit of DC as I remember when I visited, so if there's any DC residents out there, please speak out if I said something stupid. Thanks for the reviews/follow/favorite.