FOUR

Lizzie wakes the next morning feeling like crap. Between the paperwork and sitting in the hospital to the flight to and from Seattle, it was taking a toll. She lays in bed listening to the soft cooing coming from the baby monitor. She was going to have to get up soon knowing that Nora would start fussing to get someone to pay attention to her. She was like her Papa in that way. She hugs Ray's pillow tighter to her, having finally fallen asleep breathing in his almost faded scent. She couldn't live without him.

Nora starts fussing and Lizzie pulls herself out of the bed and down the hall to her room. She grins as she walks into the room and leans over the side of the crib. "Hey, baby girl," she coos.

Nora smiles. "Mama!" Nora squeals.

Lizzie starts laughing while scooping Nora up and hugging her. She walks down the stairs and finds Dembe in the kitchen drinking a cup of what she assumed was coffee. "Dembe, she just said Mama!"

Dembe grins widely. "Liz, that's amazing. Raymond will be happy. He's been looking forward to the day she said her first word." Dembe holds his hands out to Nora but the girl cuddles into Lizzie.

"Mama," she says simply. The two adults both grin.

"I'm gonna go and get her changed. Can you go into Ray's office and grab the pictures of Jennifer? He has them in a box in the back of his bottom right drawer." Dembe nods his head already getting up. "Thank you Dembe. I'm going to stop into the post office for a few hours and have Aram run an age progression on the pictures. Then I will swing by the hospital for a little bit and sit with Ray. Do you think you can make contact with Glen?"

"I can. I'm not as good as threatening him as Raymond is though," he chuckles.

Lizzie giggles. "And he is very good at that."

"I have to have the age progression pictures when I go and see Glen. I know the basics for Jennifer that should be all he requires," Dembe tells Lizzie.

"Alright, I can get those pictures to you as soon as Aram finishes. It shouldn't take too long. At least, I hope."

The two go their separate ways, Dembe to the office and Lizzie upstairs and into Nora's room. Lizzie lays her down on the changing table handing her a little stuffed elephant Ray had picked up on one of his "business" trips. Nora squeals as she grabs the elephant and stuffs the trunk into her mouth.

"Mm, is that yummy Nora?" Lizzie asks in a child-like voice. Nora grins wide while the elephant's trunk was in her mouth. Besides a purple monkey that was in her crib, the elephant was one of her favorite toys. Lizzie quickly changes Nora into a fresh diaper and clothes. She brings her into her room placing her into a pack 'n' play with a few toys while she grabs a quick shower and gets dressed. After she finishes with her hair, she leans over to grab Nora who was still playing with the elephant. Lizzie tries to take the stuffed animal from her, but as soon as it was out of Nora's hands she starts to cry. "Okay, sweetie. It's from your Papa. I understand." She carries the girl down the stairs and into the kitchen where she places her into a highchair. She places a few puffs onto the tray in front Nora.

"She's not eating," Dembe watches the girl. "She usually loves those little things."

"I know. All she wants is that stuffed elephant. Even at almost seven months old, she has this personality to her. She misses her Papa." Dembe nods in understand. "Did you find the pictures?" she asks.

"I slipped them into the diaper bag. I also stuck some more diapers in there."

She places her hand onto his shoulder. "You are a good uncle."

They leave soon after, Nora not letting the elephant go. And Lizzie knew that until Ray was awake, she wouldn't let it go.

~*~ TBL ~*~

"You're going to talk to Glen?" Lizzie asks as Dembe drops them off at the PO.

"Just let me know when the pictures are ready and I will swing by and pick them up."

"Alright," Lizzie says getting out of the car. She walks around and takes Nora's seat and slips the diaper bag over her shoulder. She flashes her badge to the guard before getting onto the elevator. She see Cooper when she gets off. He raises an eyebrow at Nora. "I'm sorry, Sir, but with Ray in the hospital I want to keep her close. I know it's not allowed, and call me paranoid but I would feel better knowing she's here."

Cooper gives her a soft smile. "Just don't let her be a distraction Agent Scott." He smiles down at Nora letting her grab onto his finger. He starts to talk to her, like only a father knew how. Lizzie smiles while watching the interaction between the two. She turns to see Ressler standing there, waiting for her. She turns to see Cooper pulling Nora out of the seat. They start to walk toward his office. "And he tells me not to let her be a distraction," she mutters.

Ressler tugs on her hand and leads her into their shared office. "How are you holding up? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ressler eyes her. "Okay, maybe not fine. But I have to hope that's he's going to wake up. I can't imagine the scenario if he doesn't."

"Liz, if I know one thing about Reddington, it's that he's a stubborn bastard. He loves you Liz. He loves Nora. He's not gonna die. But just think of all that recovery time you guys will get."

Lizzie starts laughing as she starts digging through the diaper bag. She finally finds what she was looking for in the side pocket. Ressler gives Liz a questioning look as a bright green-eyed blond with a happy smile stares up at them from the picture Liz was holding. "Cute kid. Who is she?" he asks.

"Jennifer Reddington," Lizzie mutters quietly. Ressler gasps and guide's Lizzie's hand so he had a better view of the picture. "I'm going to have Aram do an age progression. According to Ray, she is only 2 years older than me."

"Talk about robbing the cradle." Ressler mutters. "So, you are really trying to find her. What's next?"

"Well, if Aram can successfully do the age progression, then I will hand that off to Dembe. He is with a contact who can hopefully track her down. If he can manage to find Berlin's daughter with a few scant details, then hopefully he can find Ray's daughter."

"And what if his daughter is, uh…" Ressler trails off.

"Then I don't know. I can't think like that Don. I have to try to be optimistic here."

"Careful when you go out there. I think Samar and Aram are having a moment."

"A moment?" Lizzie questions as she heads for the door. She walks down to the center of the Post Office, but stops short when she catches sight of the two agents. Aram's arms were waving around animatedly while he was busy telling some sort of story. Samar places her hand onto his should as she starts laughing as whatever Aram was telling her. Lizzie grins at the picture the two of them made.

She takes her time to walk over, waiting until Aram was seemingly done with his story. "Liz," he says brightly.

She stops short starting to realize something. "Wait, if Ressler is in our office and you two are here, who is with Ray at the hospital?" she asks.

"He had a visitor about an hour ago. Called herself, Mr. Kaplan. Told me that they didn't require my services. I started to argue and then I walked out into the hall and called Cooper. He wasn't happy with the situation, but as long as someone, even if it was his own people, were with him then that was okay. This 'Mr. Kaplan' told me you would be round as soon as soon as you heard that she was there."

"Damn right," Lizzie huffs out a breath. She hands Aram the picture. "Do you think you can do an age progression on her?"

Aram takes a look at the picture. "Sure. Should be easy. To what age should I make her out to be?"

"About 35 Aram. Thank you. Do you think you could shoot a message to Dembe when you are done? Just tell him you have the picture ready. He will swing by and pick it up."

"Uh…I guess…I could…uh…do that," he stutters out.

"I will call him when he is done," Samar grins at Lizzie. They both start chuckling as Aram lets out a breath.

"Dembe seems scary, but he's not. He's really smart. And when he gets around Nora, he turns to goo. Just like every other man in her life. They can't resist her. My case," she turns to point at Cooper who was making little airplane noises while making Nora 'fly'. She giggles, while smiling widely.

She walks toward her office and starts gathering Nora's stuff together. "Where you off to?"

"Someone is with Ray at the hospital, one of his 'guys' I guess you could call them. I'm gonna head over there to see if everything is okay. I've got Aram working on the age progression of the picture for me. Samar is going to give Dembe a ring when he finishes."

"Still afraid of them, huh?" Ressler questions while shaking his head.

"I wouldn't say afraid," Lizzie muses about it for moment. "Nervous. Yeah, I would say nervous."

"Even after the last few years. Hopefully Samar can turn that around. He has seen Red with Nora. Aram knows he's not that bad of a guy." Lizzie shrugs. "Why don't you leave Nora here? We're all around and we aren't really doing anything. Go see Ray, make sure he's really okay. Let me know what's happening. Besides, she's my god daughter. I want to spend some time with her."

"Are you sure? Cooper doesn't want her to be a distraction."

"I'm sure. Besides, I'm an awesome godfather. You want to talk about a distraction?" he points out their window. Lizzie looks out to see Nora had passed hands and she was now with Samar. Samar has Nora sitting on her lap while Aram was making funny faces at her. Nora still had that elephant clutched in her hands. "Go and see Ray. She will be fine."

"Alright, Don, alright. You are the best," she tells him walking towards their office door.

"I know I am," he remarks. She laughs as she walks to the door of the office before stopping slowly turning around to face her partner.

"I need a ride," she says. Ressler looks at her with a smirk. He leans over, opening a drawer to his desk. He holds a pair of keys. She smiles while taking them.

"I brought you to the hospital and then you and Dembe left."

"We went to see Naomi Hyland."

"Then I'm sure he brought you home." Lizzie nods. "Then brought you here this morning. So your car has been here since I brought you to see Reddington in the hospital."

"Right," she says swiping the keys from his hand.

~*~ TBL ~*~

The ride to the hospital took longer than Lizzie liked due to an accident. She breathes a sigh of relief as she finally pulls in. Luck was on her side when she found a parking spot fairly close.

She had called Dembe letting him know that either Aram or Samar would call letting him know when he could pick up the picture, with him letting her know that he was now on his way to meet Samar.

She walks into the hospital and heads to the surgical floor. There was a man standing outside of Ray's door that she vaguely recognized. He gives her a brief nod before she walks in. She finds Mr. Kaplan sitting next to Ray's bed.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Kate tells Lizzie.

"I had some stuff to take care of. I was going to swing by a little later with the baby, but when I realized everyone from my team was at work, I got worried. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is the same. He hasn't woken up. I was wondering if you thought about getting him moved."

"Moved where?" Lizzie asks taking a seat on chair on the opposite side of the bed. She picks up his hands, entwining their hands together.

"He has a number of safe houses that would be more secure than this hospital."

Lizzie shakes her head. "If there was a threat, yes. That would be the first thing that I would have done. But Dembe assures me the people that are responsible are not coming after him."

They lapse into silence, the beeping of the machines being their music. One of them starts beeping a little faster and Lizzie immediately looks over at Ray. The hand she was holding squeezes hers tightly. "Ray?" she questions getting up. His eyes flutter open. He blinks a few times, landing on Kate. He turns his head to see Lizzie. She places her hand onto his cheek before leaning down and giving him a kiss on his head. "I love you so much. Thank you for coming back to me."