Chapter Text
Liz’s mood has been sour ever since she found out about the fulcrum but today it must have reached a new peak and Red had to do something about it. They just gathered some intel about their new blacklister, which to his dismay wasn’t much. Red also had the nagging feeling that something wasn’t right with their informat but that had to wait until after he talked to Liz. Her agitation made him nervous and he would do anything to bring her to smile at him once again. They got back into the car and Dembe started driving.
“Lizzy if there is something upsetting you, you should know I’m here to listen.“ Red said in a calm voice.
“Don’t! Don’t even try,“ she warned him. “Everything you do, makes everyone miserable. Can’t you see that? And why did you even bring me here, hmm? So that you can have a laugh out of it? This is not a joke! There’re innocent lives at stake! And you brought me here so you can have a little chit chat with what appeared to be an old buddy of yours. I can’t believe you!” Liz growled.
“Dembe, let me out!”
“Lizzy, calm down,” Red tried. They where on top of a bridge when Dembe stopped the car and the young agent rushed out. Red followed and her accusations continued. As always the older man just took it all onto himself and didn’t show what an effect her harsh words actually had on him.
Due to Lizzie’s outburst they didn’t notice that a guy was approaching them. Just as the stranger was right behind Reddington, Liz spotted him and looked over Reds shoulder, irritated of being interrupted. The Concierge of Crime followered her gaze and turned to face the stranger. Red knew exactly what was coming the moment he looked into the mans face but it was already too late. The searing pain was instant as a knive sliced into his lower abdomen. Reddington pushed his opponent away but the intruder came in for another blow. When Red blocked the second attack they forcefully collided with the railing of the bridge and the vehemence of the impact lead them to tip over the edge.
It all happened so fast.
---
“Red!” Liz screamed. Her squealing cry died down as she saw them plunge into the ice cold water below. Liz turned around and stared into Dembes shocked face. Both of them ran to the car and sped down to the waterfront.
Dembe spotted Red floating face down in the middle of the river. Immediately he jumped in to save his friend.
The younger man dragged the older man ashore and Liz kneeled down right next to Reddingtons slumped figure. To both of their dismay he wasn´t breathing and Dembe instantly started CPR. Liz was startled at how cold Red was to her touch. After a frantic minute of trying to revive him, he suddenly choked up some water and struggled to open his eyes.
All Red was able to feel was the burning sensation in his lungs and the fear of not getting enough air into them. His head was throbbing with pain and his vision was blurred so much that he barley made out the two figures at his sides. The more water he choked up, the more he had to gasp for air. His sense of pain was now accompanied by the icy coldness that surrounded him. Slowly but surely he was able to recognize the two people next to him but struggled to form a single word through his violently trembling body.
"L-L-izzie?" Red managed to croak through is cluttering teeth.
Relief washed over Dembe and Liz´s face.
"Shh, Red it´s ok. We´ll get you warmed up soon enough." she assured him with a wobbly smile. She glanced up at Dembe to see whether he had a plan on how to proceed.
"There is a safe house 15 minutes from here." Dembe informed Elizabeth.
"Raymond, we have to get you to the car. Do you think you can manage that?”
Reds only respond was a shakey nod. Dembe reached under one of Reds arms and the young agent followed suit. They dragged him towards the car and helped him climb onto the backseat. Liz slipped in next to Red to keep him steady and making sure he’s ok.
Dembe was speeding all the way to their save house. When they finally arrived, he was checking the parameter to see whether they were followed and if it’s save to go inside.
Coming through the door with Red clutched between them, they savely seated him onto the couch in the living room, Dembe gave Liz the order to boil some water and fill it into bottles.
"Agent Keen, we need to get his core temperature up but we need to do it slowly," he informed her. "And could you get some towels from the bathroom? We have to get him dried up." Elizabeth gave a quick nod and rushed to the kitchen.
All the while Red was trying to get his jacket off, which wasn’t too easy in his state, Dembe saw his struggles and came to help. When they got rid of his coat and suit jacket Dembe was startled to see a light shade of crimson red staining Reds shirt underneath his waist coat. The bloodstain spread rapidly in the already soaked shirt and it was apparent that the older man was loosing blood.
“Raymond, you’re bleeding!” Dembe stressed, looking up into his friends eyes.
Reddington glanced down and was just as shocked as Dembe. He couldn’t determine his discomfort there with a bleeding wound, simply because he didn’t remember what happened and mostly because of his overall state of pain from being so damn cold.
“I-I don’t remember wh-what happened.” he rasped baffled.
“I’ll call the number. The emergency unit should-“
“No! No, I’m f-fine.” Red interrupted Dembe with clappering teeth.
He untuck his shirt and lifted it up with a quivering hand. An ugly gash was revealed and thick blood was oozing from the wound.
“Raymond you need a doctor. I’ll call Kate, if you like it or not.” Dembe declared with a glare.
The younger man hurried to Elizabeth to borrow her phone. Apparently his didn’t survive the rescue mission. He found her in bathroom where she gathered all the towels she could find.
“Agent Keen I need to borrow your phone.” Dembe approached her calmly.
“Why?” she asked, still agitated from the incident earlier.
“Mine is broken.”
Liz retrieved her smartphone from her jacket. He noticed a slight tremor in Elizabeth’s hand as she held it out for him.
He reached out to take the phone with one hand and placed the other on her shoulder.
“Agent Keen, he’ll be ok. He’s been through much worse than that.” Dembe reassured her with a light squeeze to her shoulder.
“I can take the towels to Raymond while you get the bottles.” he took the phone, grabbed all the towels and gave her a gentle smile before he hurried back to the living room.
Red somehow managed to get his clingy pants off and used his already ruined waist coat to staunch the bleeding.
When Dembe entered the room, he was met with the sight of a shivering Reddington, with a pain stricken face, in only his black boxers and bloodied undershirt. He threw a towel over his friends shoulders and one over his lab to fully cover him up.
“I’ll get your spare outfit from the car, you need to get out of your wet clothes to get warm,” Dembe stated.
Dembe dialed Kaplan’s number on the way to the car. Liz nearly crashed into him in the hallway as she rushed past him with as many bottles as she could carry, to get to Red.
Elizabeth couldn’t remember seeing THE Raymond Reddington in such a raw and vulnerable state, it almost startled her but she knew what brought them here. She shook her head to clear her mind from the image of Red falling off that bridge. Liz quietly approached him but as if Red was sensing her presence, he looked up at her. His face instantly lit up and he cleared his throat.
“Lizzy.” he said, his voice still too hoarse to her ears.
“You should lay down so I can put those on you.” Elizabeth looked down at the hot water bottles to emphasize her point.
When he tried to gingerly lay down the movements tore at his wound and he couldn’t stifle a groan as he was desperately clutching onto the towel.
“Red are you okay?” she asked worriedly.
Her question was answered as she spotted blood that was slowly seeping through the pristine towel.
“Red!” she gasped. “You’re bleeding!”
“Yeah” he nodded his eyes still closed, gritting his teeth, trying to suppress the pain that slowly intensified.
“I need to tell Dembe! You need a doctor, we have to get you to a hospital” she stumbled over her words, clearly being in shock.
“Elizabeth, you need to- to calm down. Dembe knows, he’s arranging something...as we speak.” Red tried to sound as convincing as possible, though he needed to pause in between his sentences, still a bit short of breath.
Just as Reddington finished speaking Dembe came through the doorway with a duffel bag in one hand and Lizzie’s phone in the other. “Kate is on her way she’ll be here in about 20-30 minuets depending on the traffic. We still need to get your temperature up. Agent Keen, he’ll also have to change maybe you could get him some tea in the meantime.”
“Wait. Red I thought he was arranging something for you to go to the hospital?” she asked confused.
“Lizzie, I- I can’t go to the hospital and besides it’s- it’s not that bad,” Reddington explained. Both, Elizabeth and Dembe gave him a stern look but didn’t say anything. Liz simply let out an exasperated huff and made her way to the kitchen. Dembe was already rummaging in Reds duffle bag in search of his boxers and one of his sherpa-lined zipper hoodies for Raymond to change in to. All the while Red was enjoying the warmth of the bottles, he could feel how it steadily spread through his limbs. But with each heartbeat his tiredness grew, knowing full well that the blood loss was slowly getting to him.
“Raymond you gotta get up,” Dembe said.
Reds face was contorted in pain as he tried to sit up and with Dembes help he struggled to his feet. The agony he felt as he leaned down to pull his boxers up was almost unbearable. Even as black dots appeared in his vision the older man refused any further assistance from his friend. Raymond left his jacket unzipped to press one of the towels to his still bleeding wound. Just as he returned to his old position on the couch, Liz came back. She couldn’t miss how uncomfortable Red looked. It pained her to see him in such a state.
---
“Dembe,” Reddington mumbled sleepily. “I-I don’t know how long I’ll- I might,.“
“Raymond, Kate will be here any second. You need to stay awake, can you do that?” Dembe moved to his friends side and gave his hands a gentle squeeze, he took over from pressing on Reds wound and said something in what appeared to be a foreign language, words meant to be heard only by his friend.
Reddingtons eyes met Elizabeth’s. “Lizzie, you don’t have to stay and see this. You should leave. Dembe will give you the car keys,” Red suggested sluggishly.
“You’re kidding, right? You don’t really think I’ll leave, forget it!” Liz countered.
Stormy eyes stared into Lizzies blue ones but she didn’t falter. She stepped forward grabbing his bloodied left hand and crouched down to be on his eye level. “If you honestly believe I would leave you now then you’re probably already really out of it besides you’re our most valuable CI it’s my job to keep an eye on you.”.
Just then knocking was heard from the front door. The younger man hurried to the entrance to let the grim looking cleaner in and get the necessary equipment from the car.
“Elizabeth, you can still leave,” Red said as he drowsily looked up at her. He knew she wouldn’t leave but he had to make sure she knew that whenever she has the urge to go, she could.
“Oh dearie, you look awful,” Mr. Kaplan said as she came to a stop next to Liz. “Dembe stressed I should immediately start the blood transfusion and he’s obviously right,” she withdrew the IV kit together with a blood bag from here purse and yanked his left sleeve up to get to a vein. Without warning she plunged the needle in his arm, causing a pained huff from Red, and then secured it with a piece of tape. She shoved the blood bag in Lizzie’s hands and instructed her to hold it up. As Dembe re-entered the living room with all the equipment, Mr. Kaplan went to work and prepared what would be needed to patch up her boss. “Raymond, I’ll have to check whether there is any organ damage and you know how painful that is,” Kaplan started.
“Just give me a local,” Red said bluntly.
“Raymond that won’t be nearly enough to ease the pain,” she explained.
“I don’t want to be sedated,” he urged.
“As you wish,” grumbled the older woman, knowing she wouldn’t be able to change his mind. She went to the bathroom to get cleaned up and came back, prepared everything, ready to start. “Dembe, you’ll have to hold his legs. Agent Keen, you’ll take his shoulders,” she ordered. Liz used the floor lamp to secure the blood bag and positioned herself behind Reddingtons head. The cleaner removed the sticky towel from her boss’s abdomen and signaled them to hold him down. She carefully inserted her gloved fingers into the oozing gash and Red’s body instantly tensed up. Shakey, distressed huffs came through his bared teeth, his eyes clutched together from the excruciating agony. Liz and Dembe had a hard time keeping him still that’s when Mr. Kaplan decided to withdraw her fingers, grab the sedative and plunge it in his venous access. It didn’t take long to take an effect and Reddingtons body slowly relaxed, his labored breathing eased and his pain stricken face slackened. All of the sudden it was quite, the faint smell of copper in the air, all eyes fixed on Reddington.
“He didn’t want that,” protested Liz.
“Dearie, sometimes he’s wrong. Besides, it was only a matter of seconds before he would have passed out from the pain. I’m sure you agree that this is a bit more pleasant,” the older woman snarked. She continued to look for organ damage, relieved she didn’t find any, made quick work stitching him up and covered the wound with a big patch.
---
While Mr. Kaplan worked on Red, Liz couldn’t stop herself from gazing over his unconscious body. His golden chest hair sparkled as it caught the light with each calm breath he took. She was horrified when she spotted more than just a few scars, scattered all over his torso. Some seem older than others, some must have been cuts and she counted at least 3 bullet holes. Liz knew being the Concierge of Crime wasn’t easy but she never would have presumed it to be so damn dangerous. And now this, another soon to be scar added to his growing collection. “This time it was most likely my fault,” she thought depleted. Liz was torn from her thoughts as Mr Kaplan hid his naked torso by pulling up the zipper of his hoodie. Dembe appeared next to her and threw a blanket over the wounded man. Elizabeth was left alone with Red as Dembe and Kaplan left the room.
---
Kaplan gave Dembe instructions of how to handle their boss and gave him some pain killers in case he would need it.
“Raymond probably wants to relocate tomorrow. We should prepare Hempstead’s apartment, he would want a more familiar surrounding to rest. I’ll try and talk him into a proper check up just in case the fall caused any more damage. Also we need to find out who attacked him, I think I saw this man when we met up with the informat,” Dembe said to the cleaner.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she replied and slipped into her coat.
“Kate, how long will he be out?” Dembe asked as he followed her to the door.
“Knowing Raymond, it won’t be too long, I would say you’ll have 2 to 3 hours. Good luck with him dearie,” she said at last, already on the way to her car.
Liz was waiting for Dembe to return. She knew she would have to give Cooper an update, they were supposed to be back hours ago. But she didn’t really know what to tell him. “Dembe, I need to call Cooper,” Liz informed him as he came through the doorway.
Dembes eyes wandered to his sleeping friend. “You can not tell him about this,” he stated.
“So what am I supposed to tell him then?” Now both of them were looking at Red, he would know what to say. The younger man walked over to sit in the arm chair that was positioned opposite to the couch and close to the fireplace. Liz turned around to face him. “Does he have another lead, someone who would only talk to Red so that we could say we first have to get to another informant- it would buy us some time?” she asked hopeful.
Dembe thought about her idea, he knew Raymond had some more information they could give the task force in the meantime and gladly agreed with Elizabeth’s plan.
She quickly grab the phone from the coffee table and left the room.
Lizzie came back with a relieved smile on her face, she didn’t thought it would be so easy to get rid off her boss but he didn’t even demand any further explanation and ended the call. Now that this was out off the way all they had to do was wait for Red to wake up. “How long will he be sedated?” She wanted to know.
“He might come to in a couple hours,” Dembe answered. That’s when a loud growl came from the young agent’s stomach.
Her hands shot to her belly, trying to soothe it but a second growl followed. She looked at Dembe who smirked at her.
“I’m sure Raymond wouldn’t mind if we ordered some pizza,” he suggested.
While they were waiting for the pizzas to arrive, Dembe got a fire started.
30 minuets later both of them enjoyed their pizzas next to the warmth of the fire. Liz kept glancing over to Red in between her bites and just as she was about to take another one she saw his features contorte into one of unease. Soon after he started to squirm and his breathing quickened. Dembe noticed her unsettled gaze. “His demons come after him in his most vulnerable state,” he told her. He is used to Reds nightmares and knows when to step in if they get any worse.
“No...no...”
Liz was taken aback from Red’s pleading mumbles. He got more agitated as time went on.
“Go! You need to leave now! I said leave!”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened, she heard that before.
Dembe walked over and lay a gentle hand on his friends shoulder. “Shh Raymond calm down it’s over you are safe, shh come back to me,” Dembe repeated that sentence until Reddingtons body slackened once more.
The black man walked back to his seat as if nothing had happened. Though Elizabeth was still processing what just played out in front of her. “Does he have many nightmares?” she heard herself ask.
Dembe was hesitant with his answer “Yes.”, he finally said. Liz sensed that Dembe wouldn’t say more on this topic and she won’t press for more- for now.
After that it fell quiet between them, Dembe made a few phone calls and Liz just sat there waiting. It gave her time to think about what happened that day and what led to her outburst which eventually brought them here. She was angry with Red ever since she found out about the fulcrum. It felt like a betrayal, being used to find an object and all those games Red initiated to eventually get to it. She knew they have to talk about it. When she discovered the object she thought she finally had an upper hand, leverage to hold over his head to finally get answers to her questions. Some new questions regarding Reds nightmare earlier that was somehow familiar to her. But now she’s scared to hear what Red would say- whether he would just leave once he gets it from her.
---
It was just over 3 hours when Reddington slowly started to wake up. His eyes opened sluggishly and a tearing pain in his side reminded him of what had happened. The rising nausea made him search his surroundings. He ripped out the needle in his arm and carefully rose into a sitting position. The sheer agony those few movements caused made his vision blurry but after a while he was able to breathe through the pain. He spotted a slumbering Liz in an armchair next to his couch and as much as we would like to admire her like that he desperately had to get to the bathroom. With all his strength, Red hauled himself onto his wobbly legs, finding support on the various furniture in the room.
Liz was ripped from her snooze. She saw Red on unsteady legs, moving towards the doorway.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked as she approached him.
Red couldn’t respond. To his relief he made it to the bathroom around the corner in time. Stumbling towards the toilet, nausea overtaking him. What little energy he had to get there was gone and he was desperately clutching the porcelain. He barely registered the presence of his friend next to him as it all faded into darkness once more.
---
The moment Red threw himself towards the toilet Liz rushed to his side and called out for Dembe.
“We need to get him to a hospital- he needs to see a doctor,” she stated, concern written all over her face.
“No, he’ll be ok.” Dembe said as he was aiding his weak friend. “He doesn’t react well to the sedative that’s why he didn’t want it in the first place. We‘ll move him to another location in a few hour and Mr. Kaplan will take another look at him when we’re there,” Dembe explained.
Once Reddington was back on the couch, Dembe made sure that he was comfortable.
“Had this attack anything to do with the fulcrum?” Liz asked Dembe from behind.
“We don’t know, yet. Mr. Kaplan has send some of our people to try and find out who was behind all this. I think I saw the attacker when you talked to the informant but ever since Braxton tried to get to the fulcrum, the Cabal started to doubt that Raymond is actually in the possession of it. So it’s just a matter of time when they will go after him or if this was just the beginning.” Dembe stated as he turned to face Liz.
“What if he were to find it?”
“We’ve been searching it for years and I don’t think we’re any closer to finding it now.”
“But what if?” she wanted to know.
“He would have to set an example. Show them some proof.”
“And then they would leave him alone?”
“That’s their deal. He keeps the fulcrum a secret and they don’t touch him.”
---
Dembe got back to coordinating their next steps on the phone and left Liz alone with Red in the living room. With Red being asleep she again was left with her own thought, doubts and fear regarding her relationship with Reddington. Even after she found out that Red was there at the night of the fire, to get to the fulcrum. He still had the urge to be sweet and charming with her. She told him then that she insisted on a pure work based relationship but she knew, deep down she knew that’s nearly impossible. They’re connected, not because of some object but something else. Something she didn’t know just yet but she is determined to find out. Liz came to the conclusion that she’s ready to tell him that she has the fulcrum and hoped he wouldn’t just disappear after she gave it to him.
---
It was around 5am when Red woke up again. His whole body ached and the knife wound in his side sent searing shockwaves to his brain but still it could have been much worse considering the circumstances, he thought. Turning his head he was once again met by a sleeping Lizzy, sprawled out on an armchair right next to his couch. He would enjoy watching her a bit longer but Reddington had to sort some things out first. They had to arrange a new safe house and get some of his men to find whoever did this to him. With all that had happened in the last few hours Red had no time to dwell on the attack or more so who attacked him. He gingerly got off the couch and staggered toward the hallway in search of Dembe.
“You shouldn’t just wander around,” Dembe teasingly scolded his older friend. He was sitting at a table in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee.
“Well I was just looking for you my friend,” Red replied.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” Red stated shrugging it off. “We should change safe houses, preferably soon and we need to find out who attacked me. I want to know who I’m up against.”
“Raymond, I already took care of it. We’ll leave for Hempstead's apartment in about an hour. And Kate is looking into the attack.”
“Ah, well then,” Reddington said pleased, carefully taking a seat at the table.
---
Liz felt someone looming over her and startled awake, pushing whoever it was away.
“Easy there Lizzy. You wouldn’t want to hurt a wounded man,” Reddington cautioned her lightheartedly.
“Red! Are you ok?” Liz mustered him carefully.
He found support from the couch’s armrest and met her with a pinched smile. “I’m fine. I just wanted to tell you that we’re packing up. You might find a few more restful hours of sleep at your motel.” He was about to leave when she grabbed his arm.
“Wait! What am I supposed to tell Cooper?”
“I’ll call him in a few hours and tell him that you’ll accompany me on an other mission today. So you‘ll have time to rest and hopefully forget what happened yesterday.”
“Are you going to tell me who attacked you once you find out?”
“If it’s important to the case it might be inevitable,” Red shrugged.
“But you won’t tell me if it’s not connected to the case?”
“We’ll see about that,” he turned and left the room.
---
“Elizabeth, wait! I want you to be cautious of your surroundings. We still don’t know who attacked me and I want you safe. I placed Baz here for your protection but if you think someone else is following you or something doesn’t feel right- call me.” Red stated.
She gave a quick nod, close the car door and walked towards her motel room.
---
The room was stuffy and it felt like the walls are closing in on her. What was she supposed to do now- sit there and wait, wait until Reddington tells her the threat is eliminated or to hear they succeed at their next attempt on his life. No, she couldn’t just sit around. She was exhausted but her nerves were on edge. Liz dragged herself towards the bathroom hoping a cold shower would help- an attempt to clear her mind.
The plan was simple- give the fulcrum to Red to ensure his safety and in exchange get answers to her questions.
She put the fulcrum back into her toy bunny and packed a few things along with it in an overnight bag.
The risk of loss and disappointment was looming over like a black cloud but the need to see Red save was the ray of light that made her call Dembe.
“Dembe, I need to talk to him- in person. Where did you take him?”
“Agent Keen, you should rest.” Dembe responded.
“Please Dembe, it’s important. I really have to talk to him.” She spoke with urgency.
Liz heard him sigh. “I’ll tell Baz, he’ll take you here.” He disconnected the phone and called Baz to give the order.
When there was a knock on the door she grabbed her and headed towards it.
There was no turning back she would see this through.
TBC