SEVEN
/types-of-flowers
~*~ TBL ~*~
The next few days were uncomfortable for everyone involved. Lizzie returned to her normal schedule dropping Nora off at daycare and then heading into the Post Office until Ray complained that she could just leave Nora with him. She told him she wasn't going to leave her almost ready to crawl daughter with someone who couldn't even get off the couch without wincing in pain.
~*~ TBL ~*~
The night of the fight, Ressler had brought the ring into the living room where Ray was laying on the couch with Dembe stitching him up where some of them had torn. He held out the ring and Ray let out a sigh before taking it.
"What did she say?" he asked.
"I told her that at one point I understood where you were coming from, not wanting your daughter to be part of this, part of this life that you lead. But then I told her I didn't understand. For as long as you've been working with us, you've wanted to find her. Wanted to know where she is. Well, Liz and Dembe found her. She was trying to find your daughter to save your life. And she thinks you don't care. She had to pull herself away from your side long enough to fly to Seattle to talk to your ex-wife. I honestly don't know what was going to happen if you didn't make it through. She spent all her time by your side. Wouldn't let Nora out of her sight until you woke up. You didn't see her when she got the call from Dembe. She went catatonic until we were almost at the hospital. She loves you. Lord only knows why after everything you put her through, but she does," with that Ressler walks out of the living room, stopping when he sees Lizzie sitting on the stairs holding onto Nora. He gives her a slight nod before walking out of the front door.
~*~ TBL ~*~
Nora could definitely feel the tension between her Papa and Mama, and she didn't like it. She hadn't been in a good mood and Lizzie was starting to feel it. She was fed up with all of it. She loved her daughter, but at the moment she was just tired. Tired of everything.
Poor Dembe was stuck in the middle of things. Not that Lizzie was putting him in the middle of it. He had been a willing participant in helping find Jennifer. Ray, while still recovering on the couch, was making everyone miserable. Mr. Kaplan had threatened to shoot him if he didn't suck it up and apologize. Ray pouted and started muttering in German, Dembe shooting him a look and shaking his head at whatever Ray was saying.
Ressler had had enough. He thought saying what he had a few days before would have gotten through to Reddington, but apparently not. He tells Lizzie he has an errand to run before leaving the office. He drives to Lizzie's angry. He needed to calm down before he tries to put another bullet in Reddington. He pulls up to the house, seeing Reddington and Dembe putting some stuff in their car.
"Donald," Ray says with a smile that came out more as a grimace.
"No, you don't get to do that. You don't get to act like everything is fine, because it's not. Not by a long shot. My partner is hurting right now. She's miserable. And don't get me started on Nora. Do you get off on this? Hurting them? Did you even realize that she didn't come home last night? That they came over to my place because she didn't want to come here. She didn't want to have to spend one more night in this house. She didn't want Nora to be around this. I listened to her cry herself to sleep last night. Get your head out of your ass and do something because at the rate you're going, you are going to push her away. Fix it! Now!" Ressler turns and walks away leaving Reddington and Dembe standing there. Ray turns to look at Dembe and walks into the house. He heads up the stairs and into their bedroom to see the bed still made. He shakes his head before walking back down the stairs to Dembe.
"Bring it all back in," Ray tells him. The two quickly bring it all back into the house. Dembe turns to Ray. "Nearest florist please, Dembe."
~*~ TBL ~*~
At the end of the day, Lizzie loathed to go home, to bring Nora back into that situation. It was like the two of them were strangers. And even though Ray was back to talking about blacklisters, she refused to talk to him. So it had been up to Ressler to talk to him.
"Don?" she questions, his given name making him look up from his paperwork. "Is it okay if Nora and I use your guest room again?"
He lets out a breath before nodding. "Yeah. Sure. It's yours," he tells her before she lets out a single nod and the two lapse back into silence. Each going back to their paperwork.
At the end of the day, or what would be a normal day of someone normal, the two gather their things and head out. Since Lizzie had driven in with her partner that morning, she didn't have her own car. They stop to pick up Nora before heading back to Ressler's.
Ressler makes a quick dinner, but Nora didn't want to eat anything. She bangs her toy onto the table while yelling "Papa!" making the two of them jump.
"Nora," Lizzie says with a sigh as tears come to her eyes. She hated this. Hating what this was doing to them. "Come here," she says getting up and holding her hands out to her daughter.
"No! Papa!" Lizzie stands there stunned before a tear slides down her cheek. She turns on her heel and walks out of the room. Ressler sighs before walking around the table and picking Nora up. She lays her head down on his shoulder before sniffling. He turns to look at the table where Liz lad left her phone. 'Hubby' was on the screen. He debates picking up the phone, but then thinks better of it.
"Ressler," he says answering the phone.
There was a pause before Ray speaks. "What are you doing answering Lizzie's phone?"
"She's not having a good night. Nora told her no. Keeps calling for you."
"Oh dear," Ray remarks. "Well, I need to speak to her."
"Liz or Nora?" Ressler jokes.
"Lizzie. Do you think she will take my call?"
"I don't know. I will ask," Ressler makes his way toward the guest room. He opens the door to see Lizzie sitting on the bed, her back to the door. "Liz?" she looks at him over her shoulder. He holds her phone out. "It's Red, he wants to talk to you."
She sighs before taking the phone from him. "Hey," she says softly. Ressler walks out leaving Liz to her phone call.
"Hello," he says softly back. "I need to see you. I want to explain."
"Okay. Yeah that would be a good idea. I'm going to get Nora ready and then I will be there. Are you at the house?"
"Yes, but just you. I'm sure Donald would be happy to keep Nora for the night. He's done it before, right?"
"Uh, not really. But he's so good with her, so I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. Let me ask and then I will get back to you." She gets up and goes in search of Ressler. She finds him sitting on the couch playing with Nora. "Hey, Ress?" she asks. He turns to look at her. "Do you mind watching Nora so I can go talk with Ray?"
"Not at all. She has everything here?"
"Yah. She has a bag in the guest room. Extra diapers and wipes along with extra clothes. Thanks Don," she says. She writes a quick text before going back to the guest room. She cleans up a little bit, making herself presentable. She walks back into the living room watching Ressler and Nora. He had a tablet in his hand while she swiped her little finger across the screen and giggled as it made a funny noise. She places her hand onto his shoulder and he looks up at her. "Thanks for this."
"No problem," he remarks. Lizzie drops a kiss onto Nora's head, the girl not taking her eyes off the electronic device in her uncle's hand. She gathers up her car keys and her cell phone.
The drive to their house was quick. She takes a few moments to compose herself before getting out of the car. She walks towards the front door, opening it, taking a step inside. She drops her keys to the floor as she takes in the sight around her.
Flowers. They were everywhere. Different kinds of flowers, different colors. She walks through the house, discovering even more. Throughout the dining room, kitchen, living room and the sun room, they were everywhere. She looks around and smiles. Ray was out of control sometimes. She looks down when she notices a heart taped to the floor. They were all numbered. She shakes her head before following the numbers to number one. She looks at the bouquet of bright orange flowers. She picks the card up that read 'read me' that was propped on the rim of the vase. Lizzie opens the card to see the name of the flower, Alstroemeria, and the definition, "Friendship", on the bottom half was a brief description, "Because you are my best friend". She grins before looking down and following the trail to heart number two. She comes upon cute purple flowers, Anemone, picking the card up she grins when she reads it "Anticipation – because I love trying to anticipate what you are going to do next". She finds heart number three with a bright pink flower in the vase, Aster. She picks up the card, loving this game Ray was playing. She giggles as the card reads, "Patience – Because you are so very patient with me, Lizzie, even when you don't want to be."
Heart number 4 was only a few steps away with a weird looking flower that almost looked like a hummingbird. She picks up the card and snickers at the name, Birds of Paradise. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she reads the meaning and his words, "Joyfulness – Because you and Nora bring joy to my life every day". Heart number five came next and with it a delicate pink Carnation which she knew very well since they used to hand them out every Valentine's Day in school. She flips the card open to see what he would say next, "Pride & Beauty – how very proud of you that I am and how glad I am to see your beauty every day."
Lizzie snorts. "Being a suck up, aren't you Raymond?" she asks no one in particular. She knew he had to be around here somewhere, but for now she was just having fun playing his little game.
She finds heart six and a strange tall purple flower, Delphinium. She flips the card open, "Heavenly – because I am in heaven every time I am with our little family." Heart seven was a few steps away and these little white flowers, Freesias, gave off a very sweet scent. She grabs the card and grins, "Innocent – because our little girl is innocent." Heart eight was next with long stemmed, pale pink flowers, Gladiolus. She flips the card open, "Strength of Character – because I love how strong you are, even after everything you've been through.
She comes upon heart 9 and with it a strange purple flower, Heather, that she didn't even think was a flower. She wipes a tear out of her eye as she reads the card, "Admiration – I admire how you could ever love a man like me." "Oh Ray," she breathes out. "Even though you make me crazy, I love you like no other." She looks down and follows the hearts to find 10 a pretty white flower, Queen Anne's Lace. She flips the card open, "Sanctuary – because you are my sanctuary."
Heart 11 was a few steps away. It was another pink flower, which she thought was another carnation. But Ray quickly corrected her when she read the card, Ranunculus. She shakes her head when she reads the rest of the card, "Radiant – because to me, you are radiant in everything that you do." "Really laying it on thick, Raymond," she shakes her head once again. She quickly finds heart 12 along with another pink flower that looks very strange, Snapdragon. She lets out a laugh when she opens the card, "Desire – Because I desire in every way."
She beams when she finds heart 13 taped to the coffee table and one of her favorite flowers, Tulips, in a huge bouquet. She opens the card, "Declaration of Love – I, Raymond Reddington, declare to the whole world that I love you, Elizabeth." She shakes her head while picking up a tulip from the vase and breathing in the scent. The house was starting to smell like a florist, but she was okay with that.
She keeps hold on the tulip as she starts to follow the hearts again. They lead her right into the sunroom. She looks up and gasps as almost every surface was covered in roses. And not just red roses, but pink, yellow and white. She looks up as she realizes a set of white Christmas lights were strung up around the room, giving the room a soft glow.
She takes a step toward Ray, who was watching her take everything in from the back of the room. "What…?" she trails off, not having the words. A tear slips down her cheek as she takes another step toward him. Ray doesn't say a word, but hands her the last card. She looks at it for a moment before taking it. "Roses," she reads. "Love. Because there isn't enough space on this card for me to say how much I love you." She looks up and gasps as she sees Ray kneeling down in front of her. Her ring in his hand.
"I love you. So very much. And I wanted to make it up to you. So I scoured the city looking for every one of these flowers. You deserve the world, Elizabeth. And I want to give it to you. I want to do it right this time. So please, say you will marry me…again," he adds on. "Marry me Elizabeth Scott," he tells her.
"Oh God," she groans before throwing herself at him. She peppers his face with kisses while he laughs.
"Does that mean yes?"
"Yes, yes," she cries. "A hundred times yes." He slips the ring on her finger and she wraps her arms around him, pulling him toward her. They meet in the middle sharing their first kiss in weeks. Her hands come up and start to unbutton his vest. He pulls away while grinning at her before taking her hand and starts to pull her toward the stairs. "No," she pulls on his hand.
He turns to look at her. "No?"
She reaches out to continue with unbuttoning his vest and shirt. "Right here. Right in the middle of all this," she waves her hand around the room gesturing at the flowers. She then pushes him back toward the couch that was in the sunroom. He sits down with Lizzie coming to sit on his lap.
"Wait a minute," he replies. He starts to stand and Lizzie gets the hint and gets off his lap. Ray turns and pulls something out from in between the couch cushions. Ray grins as he shows Lizzie one of Nora's toys. She starts giggling, but it quickly turns to a moan as Ray pulls her toward him and they both go tumbling onto the couch.