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

Thanks for your reviews to chapter 2! The inner monologue from Red's POV is for Solaya who wanted to know about his thoughts about why he dealt with Liz the way he did.

Warning: This chapter is light M-ish in the end. In my opinion, it could be T, but you never know. This chapter disappeared for some reason, I re-updated it and hope it will stay now...

Read and review!

xxxxx

Previously:

He tossed her the car keys.

"Get out."

Red slammed the door behind her and let her stand in the rain.

xxxxx

Red heard Liz run to the car, swearing and crying. He felt sorry for her...in a way.

Did I do the right thing? I'm not sure...Lizzie deserved a lesson and I was mad at her. God, I'm still mad. It wasn't too much, was it? I mean, she's not really hurt. I have a scar from her and now she's got one from me. It didn't even bleed, but on the other hand, it's on her clavicle and visible for everyone. My scar is much smaller, but...she tried to kill me that day. I did not. I would never ever be too violent to her. Or would I? Maybe today was a little over the top. There's the blue mark on her throat where I stopped her breathing. That was too much, wasn't it? She's lucky she's not anybody, otherwise I would have been rougher.

Lizzie was never supposed to find these letters, but I understand why she looked for them. I'm sure it's shocking to learn about her mother that way. I would have told her everything, anyway. One day, but not too soon. She needs time to overcome Sam's death, hell, I didn't overcome it yet. What happened to her mother was unfortunate, but it had to happen. I don't know if I'm sorry that I hurt Lizzie or not. I mean..I really am sorry that I had to kick her out of the house in the middle of the night when it was raining and cold outside, but she wouldn't have learned her lesson otherwise. I could have slapped her and yelled at her more than I did, but she means too much to me to do that. And psychological torture causes more effect than physical pain, anyway. I'm surprised that she was actually scared. It was my aim to scare her but I wouldn't have thought she would end up being a whimpering, crying mess.

Damn it, I'm still so angry with Lizzie. Should I apologize? Maybe...no. I'm the Concierge of Crime, I don't apologize. She got what she deserved. I just hope we can still work together, I'll let her suffer one or two weeks and then we will make up again. I can't stay mad at Lizzie for long, she's my weakness, the only one who makes me human.

A huge part of me wants to hug her and apologize for being so violent and rough to her, but the other part is filled with rage and a feeling I haven't had in a long while. The real reason why I threw her out of the house was that I knew I couldn't control myself anymore and would have ripped her clothes off the next moment... I guess I should go to sleep now and maybe...maybe I'm calm enough on Monday to talk to her without feeling the urge to pin her against a wall and punish her with a kiss that will make her lose her mind.

xxxxx Monday:

Liz drove to work early, she was prepared to deal with Reddington as if nothing had happened. She would just ignore his attempts to apologize and work with him normally. She had thought about talking with him about what he had done, but came to the conclusion that ignoring it was best.

As she walked in, she could feel everyone looking at her. The shirt barely covered her new scar and the dark blue mark on her throat was more than obvious. Nevertheless, Liz pretended not to see that everyone stared at her small injuries and whispered behind her back.

Liz walked into the office she shared with Ressler and noticed his weird gaze.

"Good morning, Ressler!"

"Good morning. Wait...what is that?"

"Don't ask. You don't wanna know it and you wouldn't believe me, anyway."

Ressler looked at her curiously and opened his mouth, but Liz shook her head.

"Don't we have a case to solve? Maybe a Blacklister?" Ressler tried to save the situation.

"Not yet. Reddington hasn't reach out."

Liz hoped he wouldn't call her today or show up at her doorstep tonight. She stood up to get a cup of coffee for her and Ressler before they began to write their long-overdue reports for the last case and when she returned to the office, Red was sitting at her place with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug grin on his face. Ressler didn't seem to be bothered by Red's presence and continued to fill in some files.

"Agent Scott!" he greeted her formally.

Liz's good mood had vanished, this wasn't what she was prepared for. Right now, she wanted to shoot Red.

"Reddington, what a surprise. I thought you would call when you wanted something. So, what are you doing here?" she replied, trying not to show her anger, she knew Ressler was watching them.

Red grinned, fully aware of her uneasiness. He rubbed over the scar he had given her.

"God, Lizzie, what have you done?" he asked with fake interest and concern, testing her patience.

Liz somehow managed not to flinch at the skin contact, suddenly, she burned with both hate and desire. She decided not to answer his question, especially when she noticed the way he grinned at her.

"Is there any reason for your visit? Do you have a case for us?" or do you just want to drive me nuts with your teasing and inappropriate touches, you damn idiot?! She added in her mind, glaring at him and holding her breath.

"I do have a case, why else would I violate your privacy in this beautiful little office?"

Liz almost exploded at his remark, she was glad Ressler was in the office as well, otherwise she would have stabbed another pen in his neck.

When none of them replied, Red continued. "I guess we should tell Cooper about him, let's go."

They approached Cooper's office and Red told them about the next Blacklister.

"His name is Peter Hannigan, he's a well-known thief in my business. He's the best burglar in the world. You might ask yourself why a simple burglar is on The Blacklist. Well, he's not normal. There are villas all over the world, which are highly secure with cameras, alarms and that stuff. He could break into the White House without being seen if he wanted to. He was never caught, and he's doing this for twenty years now. The police doesn't even know he exists." Red explained. He never broke eye contact to Liz, intentionally teasing her to the edge with his gaze. The only reason he had delivered this case to them was to teach her a lesson. The others didn't get their silent communication, as always. She stared back, raised an eyebrow and grinned coldly.

"Hannigan is not only a burglar and a thief. Everytime he breaks into a house, he kills the first person who notices that something is missing. He lives in the house until someone sees that the golden watch from Granma or anything isn't at its usual place." Red glared at Liz. "He's a psychopath, he just likes killing people. Finding the right victim is the reason he became a burglar."

"And how exactly do you expect us to find him?" asked Cooper.

"That's actually pretty easy, Harold."

"Reddington, we need a lead." said Liz, waiting for another glare or a cold smile, but Red's face didn't show any sign of emotion when he told them where Hannigan would plan to break in and kill next week.

xxxxx two weeks later:

They had caught Hannigan. Red knew which villa would be next and the family that lived there had been informed by the FBI. Everything had to appear normal, so they let Hannigan live in their house and pretended not to know about their 'guest'. One week later, the Task Force took him down before he could kill anyone.

The relationship between Red and Liz wasn't tensed, it wasn't complicated, it wasn't as always, it was just cold. They talked strictly about business, if they talked at all. The distance between them was something they hadn't experienced before with each other.

Liz was lonely and aggressive all the time, not having Red as someone she could talk to when she needed a listener drove her insane. At work, she was strong, self-confident and acted normal. She told herself she didn't need Red as a friend or something more. What she needed were leads in cases, nothing more. If she needed friends, she had Ressler and Aram. Liz and Red both knew they needed each other, but Red punished her with ignorance. Two fucking long weeks.

xxxxx

One day, there was a briefing in Cooper's office.

Liz and Red were at the back of the room, standing several feet away from each other. She noticed that Red was looking over to her from time to time. As Cooper continued talking, Red suddenly stood next to her. She remembered the looks they had been sharing before she had discovered the letters and now she couldn't let her eyes off him.

"Lizzie." Red purred into her ear.

"What is it? Are you still angry?"

"No." he answered honestly, she believed him. She was unbelievably relieved and glad he was talking to her again.

Red lay his hand on her back and stroked up and down. "Lizzie, I'm sorry for hurting you and then kicking you out of the house...and for yelling at you."

"You know...I always hoped you would apologize for this one day, but now it doesn't matter anymore. Though, I won't forgive you that you chose exactly this Hannigan-Blacklister after our fight." she grinned.

"That was good, wasn't it? I felt like this was the right kind of punishment. And by the way, I'm proud of you."

"For what?"

"For being a good girl and handling this case like a professional agent without complaining about the...similarity to what you have done." Red grinned at her challenging.

"Similarity?! Red, that's ridiculous..." she whispered angrily.

"Oh, sweetheart, it's just too much fun to tease you! Calm down, we don't want to draw anybody's attention to us."

His fingers wandered to the back of her neck under her hair and stroked the sensitive skin there.

"Red! I can't..."

"You can't what? Am I making you nervous?"

"Yes, you are. I can't think."

"No? Hmm, that's unfortunate. We have to listen to this interesting lecture. Do you have at least an idea what Harold is talking about?"

"Um, honestly, no. I'm a little distracted." Liz blushed and looked aside. Suddenly, the room seemed to be warmer than before.

"By me?"

"Of course by you, damn it! By whom else?"

"Language, Lizzie. You don't want to make me angry again, do you?" Red smiled at her, but withdrew his hand from her neck.

"Hey, what are you doing? That felt so..." she trailed off. Have I just admitted to Red that I liked this? Damn, I gotta get out of here...

"It felt so what?"

"Ah, well...nothing." Liz whispered to the floor.

"You're gonna lie to me now? I'm not going on if you don't tell me how that felt."

"Fine. It felt good."

Without warning, his hand landed on her lower back and sneaked under her shirt, his hands were soft and warm, much different to when he had tied her to that chair. He caressed her back and drew circles on her spine.

"What are you thinking?"

"Nothing in particular."

"Lizzie."

"Okaaay Red. I was thinking about how you tied me to that chair two weeks ago." Liz didn't know why she was so honest or how the hell she got the courage to tell him this.

"I knew you liked that, bad girl. And if you behave today, you can have that again if you want." Red whispered into her ear. Liz had almost forgotten that they were in a room with twenty people, their conversation was so intimate and hot that she forgot everything around her.

"Um, Red? Do you still have my bag and that stuff I left in your bathroom?"

"No. I brought it to your apartment this morning while you were driving to work."

"Excuse me?! Now you're the one who violated my privacy!"

"Shhh, quiet. This wasn't the first time I was there when you weren't at home."

"What the hell?"

"I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine." he ginned wickedly. "Weren't we just talking about you being tied to a chair?"

"Yes, we were." Liz didn't know what else to say, all she could think about was that Red had been in her apartment without her knowledge. Most likely, he had found the one thing she never wanted to let anybody find. Her secret dream diary. Was 'I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine' a hint that he had read it? She prayed that it wasn't.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Red unclasped her bra from behind. She shot him a glance.

"One word, Lizzie. One word and I'll spank the hell out of you." Red licked over his lips, he was enjoying the shocked, but excited and pleased look in her eyes.

'No, you're not doing this to me!' her eyes screamed at him. Red's hand wandered from her back to her butt and rubbed over it, occasionally squeezing it through her jeans. After a while, his hand wandered back up again and closed her bra with one hand. Damn, this man was skilled...

Liz let out a silent, disappointed sound.

"You liked that, didn't you?"

She nodded, wondering why she was allowing him to do this. Red's hand slipped between her jeans and her panties. Liz was sopping wet by now and then Red did something that shocked her to the core. He stroked and rubbed her clit from behind through her panties. In an office. In Cooper's office. With twenty other people in the same room. She turned to him and shook her head, begging him with her eyes to do this somewhere else, but just not here. To her surprise, Red actually let go. A few seconds later, she felt his hands on her bare skin, squeezing her butt under her jeans and panties, pinching her ass, Liz winced. Then Red teased her clit until she almost came. Liz closed her eyes and breathed silently in and out, trying to calm herself down and not to moan. He grinned at her shamelessly and withdrew his fingers when she was really, really close. Liz looked at Red, desperately pressing her thighs together to get rid of the ache between her legs. He licked his fingers off and continued to listen to Cooper as if nothing had happened. Liz was stunned.

xxxxx

TBC

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