A/N - Just so you know, It's 3 am, I 'wake up' at 6, but I just can't sleep. just finished watching 3x07 and OMG WHAT THE HELL? I just had to have some Keenler in my head. Sorry for the obvious 3am nonsense.
They had a fantastic stay in Greece. When they arrived in Athens, a man approached them and told them they had reservations in a five star hotel. Red. It was scary how on point he was.
They visited all the touristic spots and were marveled to see all those impressive constructions. The temples, the museums. It was all fantastic. The Parthenon was Liz's favourite. She wanted to go back there twice after they went.
After a few days going around the country, they embarked on a 5-day cruise around the greek islands. The view from the ship was one of a kind. The blue sky, the clear ocean and the white houses created an atmosphere that they had never imagined possible before.
Tonight, though, it was their last night. They were staying in a small house by the beach in Santorini and having a lazy day. Liz had a tan and although some parts of her body were sore because of the burn, she liked the result. and so did Don.
His light skin didn't tan so much as got burning red, so he was careful enough not to try, and wore a high fps sun lotion.
Right now she was naked standing at the door of the bedroom that took directly to the beach. It was deserted, so she wasn't scared someone would see her.
Only the man she wanted to.
He was laughing as he observed her stretch her arms, flexing the muscles in her perfect back. He couldn't deny it looked like a scene from a James Bond film.
She turned, seductively, and asked why he was laughing.
"Nothing. It's just that you are quite the exhibitionist" he joked, and she swayed her hips with a grin.
"No. It's hot. That's all"
"Oh, ok? So you just stay naked at the windows in DC!?"
"It's never this hot, or this deserted in DC"
She moved back to the bed and layed on her back, her head resting on his stomach. He drew circles on her side as she caressed the nasty scar on his leg, a consequence of the shot he took when the post office was attacked by Anslo Garrick.
"Do you ever wonder what our lives would be like if we didn't have Red?"
She asked, distracted with the markings in his skin.
"I would never afford a place like this, that's what. We would probably be staying in a hostel sleeping with a weird european on his gap year"
She laughed, and then turned on her stomach to face him.
"Yeah. That's the point. Do you think we would have met? Would we have gotten to this point?"
He moved a little to sit more comfortably on the pillows under him, a bit uncomfortable with the question.
"I don't know, Liz. Where is this coming from?"
"Well, I mean, I wouldn't have found out about Tom, or would I? Would we still work together, or would I have been asigned to a different department? Would Audrey still be alive?"
His eyes closed, and she feared she had stepped out of the line by mentioning his dead girlfriend. They never talked about her. Sometimes she mentioned things about Tom, or old boyfriends, but he was dead silent about Audrey.
"I'm sorry. Let's not talk about it, ok?" She tried to shake it off, but he held her on her hip and looked at her, serious.
"No, it's okay. I don't know, but I think we would have met, eventually. Yeah, Audrey would have been alive, probably married, away. She came back to me after this scar, remember? And I think you would've found out about Tom. You didn't need Red to figure that out, right?"
Thinking back on the events that lead to her finding out Tom's real intentions, she realised that not much was Red's doings. But he had planted the doubt in her mind, that he did.
"Do you think our lives would be easier?"
He chuckled "yeah, definitely!" She only smiled faintly.
"Do you think we would have got together?" She looked at his eyes and got her face really close to his.
"I like to believe so. I don't want to imagine that Red is the sole responsible for my happiness" they smiled, and then kissed.
She laughed mid-kiss and when she opened her eyes he looked puzzled. "How are we supposed to go back home?" She asked as she straightened up, straddling him.
"I have no idea" he replied.
To keep the cover of the vacation trip, back at the airport in DC Ressler went away, to go back to where he was undercover. He would stay there a few hours before making contact and announcing what he did two weeks before. During this time, Dembe sent bogus messages, pretending to be Ressler, and preparing the agency to find out what really happened with the Hawkes foundation. On the plane ride home, Donald told Liz what he had to do.
"We were on a dead end. Hawkes would escape, that was certain. Until Red sent in one of his contacts. Only I knew the true intentions of the man. He was good, Liz, an old small man, but convincing. He persuaded Hawkes to give money away and that's when I got the lead that helped me finish the case. I don't know where Red find those guys, but it's amazing what they can pull off."
"He said you had to step out of the law. what did you do?"
He looked down, considering whether it would be smart or not to tell her. "There are some things Red wanted to use from the organization. Some important leads. I gave them away to him in exchange for this trip." She widened her eyes, concerned.
"Why, Donald? We could've gone away anytime."
"Yeah, I know. But would we, really? Why would the agency send me to that undercover op, Liz? What's next? Months away? a colaboration with Mossad directly in Israel?"
"you think they were trying to break us up?"
"Yeah, I kinda do. I don't know. Maybe I just missed you too much."
"Well, nice to know that the best vacation I've ever had could put you under internal affairs investigations." she sat closer to him on the plane, putting her head on the crook of his neck as she sipped orange juice. Her eyes were heavy, and she yawned. "Let's just sleep, and get home, and then we decide what to do".
Back at the post office, no one really noticed the missing files Ressler gave to Red, so they decided to keep it secret for now. Liz was determined to get them back from Red and put them in the case files before anyone noticed, but Ressler knew that that would only put her on the spot. "Let it go, Liz. Red knows what he's doing. He promised nothing would happen to us."
"what's he going to do with them?" she asked, and Donald had no idea.
She drove them back to her apartment and he helped her bring her things up. she had an extra luggage with all the shopping and souvenirs from Greece, as she decided to reveal the real reason for her absence, at least to Samar and Aram, and had brought them gifts. Ressler's things stayed in the car, as she would drive him back home in the morning.
"Oh my God, I'm tired!" she screamed, as she petted Hudson and went to fill his bowl. Dembe had been visiting her apartment to take care of the dog while she was away.
"Do you want me to go away?" Ressler hinted, concerned.
"Don't you dare leave this apartment, Donald Ressler." she smiled and went to him, placing a kiss on the tip of his nose as she put her arms around him and stood slightly on her toes. he looked down at her and smiled back, giving her a peck on the lips.
"Can you help me unpack?" she asked, and he nodded in reply. They went up the stairs and started taking the clothes and things out of the luggage, and in a few minutes she put all her clothes away (mostly new clothes, as she had taken only a light bag Dembe had packed for her), and they remained with the souvenirs scattered on the bed. They picked each one and remembered on their experience. Liz was very fond of buying something from each place they visited, so the bed was filled with snow globes and little statues and keychains, each from one city or island. she put them away carefully, separating what was supposed to be presented to Samar and Aram the next morning. then, she went back to her bed and lied down, Ressler carefully caressing her head.
"Oh, I want to go back!" she said, looking at him from the bed. he was sitting next to her, supporting himself on his elbow.
"I wish we could've stayed there forever. It was really a dream."
"Thank you for being part of my dream" she said, and he didn't respond, just stood there thinking. After almost a minute of silence, she turned over on the bed to face him, and she looked worried.
"Ress, are you ok?" he downed his eyes and smirked at her.
"What if I unpacked here?"
She frowned, confused. "Then all your stuff would be here. wouldn't it be difficult?"
He looked at her with an incredulous look, and she was worried she didn't catch something. "What about you understand my hints, Liz?"
"What? but..." and then it came to her. "Oh, really? You wanna move in?" she stood on her knees on the bed, a smile fighting to come out between the looks of concern.
"Do you think it's crazy?" he was now worried, nearly regretting mentioning the idea. He just wanted to be with her, so much. two weeks away was too much, he didn't want to go back to that shitty Liz-less apartment of his.
"But, here?" she motioned, and now he was really regretting. She was going to say no. she was going to say it's crazy, and they would live in awkwardness. Damn, it, Donald.
"I would never take you to live in my small crumped old apartment Liz. I just suggested here because, well, it's big and it's payed for. It seems to be the right choice."
"No..." Oh, no. he swallowed a sob and held his breath when he noticed she hadn't finished talking. "We could find our own place" her face opened in a big smile, and he suspected she was saying yes, but didn't know for sure. his stomach was doing flips like a golden gymnastics athlete.
"We need to find our own place!" she repeated, and he just had to ask.
"Is that a yes?"
She stopped for a second, looked at him and with a wide smile threw herself in his arms.
"Yes, Donald, it is a yes. I want to live with you." and then she motioned to kiss him lightly, but he held her head to kiss her with all the passion he had got. THey will be moving in together, in their own apartment, with their own personality in it. It was a hell of a step, and he could never do it with anybody else but her.
They adjusted on the bed and laid there holding each other, dreaming of their new house. They spent hours discussing possibilities of districts, and decoration ideas, and that they just had to have the same shower there, no discussion.
"Are we going to find a small 1 bedroom apartment?" she asked.
"I was thinking something bigger, like a house, with two or three."
"Why do you want three bedrooms?" she was smilling like a girl.
"You never know when you might need an extra bedroom, Keen." he said, thinking exactly what she was, but both too scared to mention. They were taking a big step, and that would determine where they were going as a couple. They could talk about it later.
She yawned and cuddled closer to him, falling asleep.
"Oh, I just can't wait to check the ads tomorrow". He took her in, stroking his hand on her hair and soothing her to help her sleep.
"I love you, Liz. so much. you have no idea." he said, but there was no response. she was already sleeping next to him.
A/N - ok, small Friends reference there because I had to grasp to the best and most wonderful of all ships, Mondler. Next chapter, the new house!
BTW- I love bringing small souvenirs from my trips, so that was me in Liz.