"Ressler," Liz said quietly, her eyes already beginning to well up with tears. He coughed and coughed again harder. The tubes were causing him pain. "Nurse!" Nurse!" Liz screamed, running out of the room to get some help.
Next thing Ressler saw was a team of medical professionals scattering around him. Pushing buttons, checking monitors, and one specifically was removing the intubation tube that was lodged down his throat. It was very uncomfortable coming out, but once out, he felt relief in breathing on his own. He took several deep breaths making sure he could. The nurses continued to work around him; they were speaking to each other though he wasn't listening. His eyes were trained on the person behind the wall of nurses. Liz was waiting impatiently by the door. She was biting her lip and rubbing her hands together like a nervous tick. He smiled at her. Never had he seen the notorious Elizabeth Keen look so worried.
Once the nurses were done removing extra sensors from his chest and fingers, one of them put their hand on his shoulder and said, "Glad you're back with us, Mr. Beachrue." Ressler was confused but returned her smile. "We will give you two some time to reconnect before checking back a little later." She and the other nurses left the room and Ressler was left alone with Liz.
"Hi," she said stepping towards him.
A scratchy huff was all he got out, having had a tube down his throat for some time must have done a number on his vocal cords. He pointed at a side table where a pitcher of water was placed. Liz took the hint and poured him a glass. After she handed it to him, she let her hand linger and rest on his chest. Ressler did not protest but did question this new interaction. He gulped almost a whole glass before he tried to speak again.
"Hi, Liz. How long?" It still hurt to talk so he kept his question brief.
Liz took a seat on the edge of his bed, her leg brushing against his side. "You've been in a coma for three weeks." His eyes widened and she let that sink in before continuing, "I don't know how much you remember about what happened."
Ressler's face scrunched as he tried to remember. He closed his eyes thinking as far back as he could, "Car accident?"
Liz nodded. Seems he didn't remember much. "Yes, we were both in a car accident. You didn't fare so well. Your leg," she grazed her fingers lightly over the blanket on his left leg which sent a tingle up his spine, "Your leg was really bad. You lost a lot of blood and were rushed into surgery. Luckily, they only had to amputate one leg."
Ressler spit out some of his water and reached for the blanket covering his legs. "I'm just kidding," she laughed, and Ressler fell back against his pillows looking very relieved.
"Not funny," his voice scratched. Liz placed her hand back on his chest, "I'm sorry, I've had a lot of time to think of how I was going to prank you when you woke up. The surgery was a success."
He took a deep breath and asked, "Complicat—" he coughed and couldn't finish his question.
"Yes, there were complications. You had lost a lot of blood, too much, and the blood bank was running low on O negative…" she trailed off. Ressler was doing the math in his head. His eyes moving back and forth, then he figured it out and his head tilted to look at her. "Yes, I was asked to donate."
He tried to laugh but only ended up coughing. Liz refilled his water, and he drank some more.
"How the tables have turned, Donnie. I donated a lot of blood to save your life, again." Liz poked him in the chest which made him squirm.
"Score?" he asked.
"6-2," Liz said with a very large smile.
"What?" He coughed a little too aggressively and Liz had to ease him back down.
"Don't get so riled up. You are only just waking up from a coma. Anyway, it's a long story, I'll fill you in when you are feeling better.
Ressler readjusted in his bed noticing that there wasn't as much pain as the last time he remembered being awake. He raised his hands to feel his face where only a few stitches remained. The bruising and swelling had long since healed. He felt around his ribs and the pain there was gone, too. He moved his shoulder in circular motion which felt better than before but still didn't feel right.
Liz said, "A lot of your injuries have healed. Your shoulder and your leg, however, will require some rehab and therapy to get their full motion and strength back. At least that's what the doctors keep telling me."
"You been here the whole time?" Ressler strained his voice to ask. She nodded and the tears started rolling down her cheeks. He raised his good arm to brush away her tears. His fingers brushed her cheeks sliding the tears away. "Thank you," he said, his hand remaining on her cheek. She placed her hand on top of his and they sat like that for a long time.
Ressler wasn't sure of his true feelings towards Liz. This was all so new, and he was still confused about where they were and if he trusted this woman who sat across from him. He barely remembered the accident and nothing after it. He did remember all that came before the accident. Reddington, Liz almost dying, Vienna, the torture, his almost execution, Gale, his deal with Red, blackmail, Gale's ambush, running away with Liz, and then the accident. There was a fury of punches and bullets, blood and broken bones along the way. He saved Liz, she saved him. They had been dancing around each other for months. Should he trust her after everything they had been through?
He did not know what she was planning. He was certain Liz had an end game. Reddington was part of it and somehow, he found himself a part of it, for whatever reason he did not know. She had not been truthful about his purpose in all of this or her true motives. In due time, she had said. However, now was as good a time as any. The basics would be a good start.
"Truth time," he said.
Liz nodded reluctantly. She knew this time would come. How much truth was she willing to tell?
Their hands dropped and he asked, "Mr. Beachrue?" Liz smirked.
"That is your new name. Red had to admit us under fake names so, I took the lead in creating them. Mr. Wallace Beachrue, I thought you'd find it amusing after being defeated by two walls. Get it? Wally Beat You" She laughed to herself, Ressler knew she found it far more amusing than he did, but that was the point, I guess. Poke fun at the guy who keeps getting beaten up, by walls of all things.
"Your name?" he asked.
"Mrs. Allison Beachrue. We are a fake married couple."
"Of course we are." He rolled his eyes. She was really enjoying this act of theirs. "Allison? More hidden meaning?"
"Yes, we needed new names, why not have some fun with it? So, Allison Beachrue, Also Beat You, and I go by Allie so it will remind you that I'm your ally."
"Cute." Ressler said remembering his true situation was as a "kidnap victim" of Elizabeth Keen, as far as the FBI were concerned, who had betrayed the trust of notorious international crime lord Raymond Reddington. Was he a fugitive in the eyes of the FBI too? Did they know he was even alive? Was he marked for death by Reddington and his goons? He needed to know. "Red?"
Liz looked down at this question. He was alive which she was so happy about, but that also meant Red would be paying him a visit soon to "talk." That knowledge made her uneasy.
"He isn't happy with you. In his eyes, you are a traitor, and he would like to speak with you. He is the reason you are not in the hospital in Washington anymore. He paid for you to be 'moved.'" She placed 'moved' in quotes making him believe it was not legal or with the FBI's knowledge, "The FBI is still looking for you. An agent Aram helped me get out, although I don't know why. He a friend of yours?"
Ressler nodded. It was starting to come back to him. After the crash, he and Liz were in the car, she did something with his leg, the FBI showed up, Liz was arrested, Aram was there. He told Aram to trust her.
She continued, "When I got out, Dembe picked me up and I met with Red at the airport. He had planned to torture and kill you," She locked eyes with him, she looked sad. Ressler knew he was still alive, so how and why was he. "I couldn't let that happen."
"What did you do?" he asked.
"It's not important. All I did was buy you some time to heal. Red still wants to talk to you. I don't know what he'll do—" Liz cut herself off as she couldn't stop her body from letting out a cry.
Ressler grabbed her hand in both of his. He made sure she was looking at him, so she understood how sincere he was, "Liz? Please look at me." Her eyes were shut tight to hide the tears. He knew what he had to say would hurt his throat to speak but he didn't care. It needed to be said. "Liz, I want you to know how truly grateful I am for everything you have done. You saved my life, six times to be exact." Liz opened her eyes and gazed at him through the tears. "I don't know what we are, to each other I mean. We keep going back and forth, chasing each other, saving each other. I know there's more to your story. I trust you will tell me in time." A smile had broken through her tears. He trusted her. "For now, we are in this together. For how long, I don't know. We've been through a lot, and I just want to say thank you, partner."
When he had finished, Liz wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand not being held by Ressler. "Partner in crime?" she asked with a clever smirk.
"Don't push it," he said pointing at her. He couldn't hide his smile. She truly was a remarkable woman. Gorgeous, smart, cunning, courageous, stubbornly independent, and irritatingly annoying. Then she did something he couldn't have predicted in a million lifetimes.
Liz flung herself forward, her hands grasping the sides of his face as she planted her lips on his. She pulled his face into hers burying their lips deeper into each other. Ressler reacted simultaneously wrapping his arms around her back. One wrapped around her low back, the other rested at the base of her neck keeping her right where she was. Liz moved her legs to straddle Ressler's torso as he tried sitting up a little more in his bed. Liz twisted her hand inside his hospital gown touching his bare skin beneath. Ressler opened his mouth to deepen their lip embrace as he felt Liz's hands roam his backside. Her soft fingertips sent shivers through him as her tongue danced inside his mouth. Just when he thought things would be going somewhere, the door opened.
"Whoa. Didn't know they'd get to this part so quickly." Two nurses had walked in. One laughing, the second shielding her face from whatever was going on in that bed that was none of her business.
"Sorry, love birds. We need to run some tests and evaluate your condition Mr. Beachrue," the second nurse said still trying to continue shielding her face to give them a little privacy as Liz untangled herself from Ressler.
"I see you are very happy to have your husband back in the land of the living," the first nurse said trying to hold her laughter in.
Liz had positioned herself to lay next to Ressler who had left his arm to wrap around her back holding her against him. She quite liked being Ressler's fake wife.
"Yes, very much," Liz said smiling up at Ressler who planted another quick kiss on her lips.
"Well, you are welcome to stay. We just need to check some vitals, draw some blood, and get some tests results back to make sure he is truly out of the woods," the first nurse said. Liz nodded but did not move as she found herself gazing at Ressler. A new color had appeared in his face, he looked healthier, fuller.
The second nurse coughed intentionally, "We will need you two to separate briefly. Mrs. Beachrue, if you could just sit over here," she pointed to the visitor's chair. Reluctantly, Liz pushed herself up and away from Ressler.
The nurses did some routine checks, blood pressure, deep breaths listening to his lungs and heart, took some blood for other tests. One nurse observed his facial stitches while the other undid his gown to check his healing ribs. Liz did not mind that view, Ressler beaming as he caught her staring. She rolled her eyes but did not look away. The nurse palpated around his torso which had resumed its normal color, the bruising had once been a tremendous array of colors. They lifted his blanket to evaluate his broken leg. A soft brace cast started at his mid-thigh and kept his leg straight and secured down to his ankle. They touched parts of his leg asking if he could feel it. Thank goodness, he felt it all. No paralysis to worry about.
"Everything is checking out very well, Mr. Beachrue." The second nurse looked pleased with the results she had scribbled on her tablet.
"Please call me Wally," Ressler said with a quick wink at Liz.
"Wally, you're looking good to begin your rehab training tomorrow if you are up for it," the first nurse stood near his head wrapping her stethoscope around her neck. "There's one more thing we need to do. Mrs. Beachrue, I know he is your husband, but this part is usually quite uncomfortable, so I'll leave it up to him if he wants you to stay for it."
"What's that?" He asked.
"We have to take out your catheter, dear," the second nurse looked apologetic.
Ressler winced and Liz took her cue to leave. "I'll give you some privacy, honey. See you in a bit." She mouthed the word "ouch" before blowing him a kiss and exiting his room.
Once outside his room, her smile dropped off her face. Dembe was waiting for her.
"I heard Ress— Mr. Beachrue is awake," Dembe caught himself.
"Yes, he is," Liz said chewing the inside of her cheek.
"I will have to inform Raymond. I'm sorry Elizabeth." Dembe was sincere, however, that did not alleviate the sadness Liz was feeling knowing what was to come. "He is currently handling some business elsewhere and won't be able to fly out here until the end of the week."
At least she and Ressler still had a few days, together.