Title: With a little help from a friend

Author: thousand-miles

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: Don't own any of these characters

Summary: Lizzie asks Dembe to help her out with her new apartment. With Lizzie and Dembe spending more time together Red gets jealous. Will he step aside or not?

A/N: This idea has been on my mind for a while now and finally started writing it down. Not sure yet where this one is going to go and this one isn't finished yet either. I like the idea of jealous Red and thought it would be nice to give Dembe a bigger role in a fic. And Red being jealous of Dembe, well I really liked that idea. AU of course and nothing too serious. Just a fun pic, or that's what it should be. Anyway, give this one a chance please. I hope you'll like it. Reviews and follows are greatly appreciated!

Chapter one

She'd moved into her new apartment two weeks ago but it still didn't feel like home. The place still looked like someone was moving in. It wasn't like she had any time to have it truly bother her. Coming home from work all she wanted to do was sleep. Now though as she sat at home on one of the few chairs she owned she realised she really needed to get some work done and buy new furniture. She needed for this to be a home where she could relax. At the moment it was far from being relaxed.

She'd saved some money but it wasn't much. Looking around she realised she couldn't do it all by herself. She wasn't very good at any kind of DIY. She could paint but hanging stuff up wasn't going to be a big success. She needed help. She knew Ressler would help her if she asked but she didn't feel like asking him. She wished her dad was still around. She still missed him terribly. Meera would have helped her too. She hated how the people she cared about were taken away from her. It also made her feel lonely and that feeling sneaked up on her a lot lately. Which was why it was even more important for her to really create her own space.

Her thoughts turned to Red more and more these days. He'd been her rock. He was there for her whenever she needed him and he was there for her even when she didn't know she needed him. But it all confused her too. He confused her and she even confused herself. She'd always been attracted to him. Yet she was starting to realize it was more than just mere attraction. That was a problem, because she didn't know how to deal with that. She wasn't ready to admit her feelings for him yet which made her behaviour far from easy for those around her. To be honest it was mostly Red who was on the receiving end of her moods. This meant he had to deal with her anger, stubbornness and sometimes childish behaviour. She never apologized for her behaviour and he never got angry with her. Sometimes she wished he did though.

She knew he would help her if she asked, but she didn't want to ask him. Then she knew who to ask. Dembe. He was like a big brother to her. He would help her out. She quickly send him a message to see if he had time to help. He responded immediately and before long they agreed upon a time. She went to bed feeling better already now that she had a plan.

The following day Lizzie and Dembe were making their way through Home Depot. Dembe had checked with her what she would need. They'd decided to paint first and get her a good set of tools since she had none. While she looked at all the different colours for the walls Dembe had left to pick out the tools. It was at that moment that his phone rang. There were not a lot of people who had his number so it was no surprise who was calling.

"Raymond." He greeted his friend.

"Dembe, Where are you?"

"Do you need my assistance?" He was unsure how his friend would react to the fact that he was in Elizabeth's company. He knew about Raymond's feelings for the FBI agent and he also knew that he was a jealous man. All in all a dangerous combination. He looked around but didn't see Elizabeth. "I am helping out a friend." He said.

"Who?"

"Doesn't matter, Raymond." Before he could say something else the FBI agent called for him. He heard the change of breathing and he'd heard her voice.

"Why are you with Lizzie?"

"I finally picked a colour Dembe." Lizzie joined Dembe and only then noticed he was on the phone. She quickly stopped talking.

"I assume this is not an emergency. I must go now, Raymond."

"Was that Red?" Lizzie asked after Dembe put his cell phone back in his pocket. Dembe answered with an affirmative nod. Together they walked to the paint section.

Seeing his contemplative face she wondered what was going on. "Is something wrong?"

"It is nothing."

"Tell me." She more or less demanded.

"Raymond doesn't like it when you spend time with other men."

She stood there with her mouth open. She was unsure how to respond. All she came up with was a soft oooh.

Dembe took advantage of her momentary confusion. "Which colours did you pick?"

"Off white for all the walls in the living room and grey for one bedroom wall." She would think more about Dembe's words later.

They worked hard the rest of the day. Her bedroom wall was painted though it might need another layer. Dembe had pained two walls of her living room already. They would continue the next day if nothing came up. Dembe had also given her the keys of one of Red's safe houses telling her she shouldn't stay in her apartment while they were working on it. She agreed easily.

Dembe returned to the safe house he and Raymond were currently staying at and immediately heard familiar footsteps approaching him. A few seconds later he appeared in the hallway.

"Dembe." Red greeted him. "Did you enjoy your day?"

Though asked politely Dembe knew that tone all too well, knew how dangerous it was. "It was a productive day." Thinking it was best to take his leave Dembe made his way to the stairs.

"Will you be seeing her again?"

"Tomorrow."

Red swallowed thickly. Dembe and Lizzie were seeing each other. He hadn't seen that one coming, blinded by his own feelings for her. It hurt. He felt jealous, but this was Dembe, his friend and he knew he needed to try his hardest to push the jealousy away. He worked his jaw and watched his friend walk away.

"Goodnight, Raymond."

TBC...