Just a little something that popped in my head, while I was working out "Worlds Away... "

3 AM

It was like clockwork.

Every night for the past two weeks her eyes popped open. It was always 3am. And she'd always been dreaming of him.

Not bothering with a robe, Liz padded down the hall in his tee shirt. She'd found it mixed in with her laundry. It smelled of him, so she hadn't washed it. She hated herself for that, but not as much as on the nights she gave in and slept in it. Liz had hated herself a lot in the last two weeks.

She walked through her darkened apartment not bothering to turn on any lights. She was comfortable here now and could finally move around without tripping over something.

Liz had left her home with Tom more than a year ago, when all of Red's warnings about him had come true. She would have burned the place down if Dembe hadn't stopped her. He helped her move instead.

She rounded the doorway into the kitchen. A cool glass of water, a mental review of why she hates Raymond Reddington and she should be able to get back to sleep. Work came early in the morning.

Liz reached for the light switch along the wall when a hand shot out to grab her wrist. Caught off guard, things moved in a blur before she found herself breathless, pressed back against the refrigerator, Red completely invading her space.

"Hello, Lizzie," he purred near her ear, placing a gentle kiss at the base of her neck.

Liz moaned arching into him. She felt Red smile against her neck and adjust his stance, wanting to get closer. Just then Liz shifted bringing her knee up sharply between his legs. He released her with a hiss, steadying himself on the nearby counter. Liz danced out of his reach, a satisfied smirk on her lips.

"Dammit, Lizzie," he bit out as he straightened himself.

"That is for thinking you can disappear for three weeks and just show up in the middle of the night with your dick in your hand." Liz paused, refusing to cry infront of him. "Where the hell have you been?"

Still reigning in his ire, Red removed his jacket and hat, setting them both on the table. He casually began rolling up his sleeves taking even breaths.

"Things became... complicated in Jakarta. Dembe and I were compelled to take the long way home."

Liz wanted to hit him again. "So when it became obvious that you wouldn't be back in two days like you promised, you didn't think to call?"

Red moved closer, his voice dropping to that deep tenor that never failed to affect her. "You are all I think about, Lizzie. Which is what nearly got me killed."

Letting out a sigh, he moved closer still. She wasn't ready to be touched, but she was listening. "My contact knew more about our relationship than I thought comfortable. He needed to be... persauded to keep what he thought he knew to himself. Needless to say his people didn't appreciate my methods of persausion."

So he'd killed again. In her name. Unable to stop the tears, Liz swiped at her face. "I can't do this," she murmured, moving past him out of the kitchen.

"Lizzie." Red turned following her toward the bedroom. "Elizabeth."

He stopped just inside the doorway and she dropped to the edge of the bed. The silence stretched out between them. Red wanted to hold her, kiss her and beg her forgiveness; promise her he'd never leave her that way again. His eyes roaming over her, he noticed the tenseness of her shoulders and the grim set of her lips and stayed where he was.

"I'm not naive," she said after a while. "I knew who and what I was getting when I got involved with you. Still I didn't think you'd treat me like a well kept whore while you went on an international killing spree."

His worry over Liz's anger evaporated as his own cracked through his blood pushing him forward. Latching onto her forearms, Red hauled her up to face him. His jaw clenched tight, his green eyes sparkling in the dim moonlight filtering through the parted curtains.

"Everything I have done has been to protect you. I'm sorry if my methods are distasteful to you, Lizzie. And I've been with whores," he said bluntly. "I certainly wouldn't risk my life to spend one more day in her presence or give up the only life I've known for decades just to see her smile. You. Are. Not. My Whore, Lizzie."

Tears still flowing, Liz met his anger head on. She's been wanting this ever since they'd begun their relationship after having sex on Frederick Hemstead's couch the night Tom had been arrested. She wanted to see him, talk to him without all his carefully crafted masks and coverstories in place. She'd gotten involved with Red, but it was Raymond Liz wanted.

"Then what am I? A diversion? A complication you can't see your way out of just yet? You barged into my life and pushed and manipulated until there was no one left but you. You have all of me, Raymond and I have this tee shirt."

The last of his control slipping, his hands went immediately to her cotton covered hips, pulling her to him. Touching his forehead to hers, his voice came out in a ragged whisper. "You've always had all of me. There was no one for me to push out, because it was always you, Lizzie. I love you."

Nearly 10 months as her lover, longer than that in his mind and he'd never said the words. She's told him the same repeatedly and always accepted his lovemaking as reciprocation. Red had much to make up for.

"Ray," she sobbed and he met her with a lingering kiss. His lips sliding across hers. Her arms encirling his neck. Coming up for air, Red held her close.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair. "You're a permanent diversion from this hellish life I've led. A beautiful complication to my lonely existance." Red pulled back, cupping her face in his hands. "Jakarta was the last of it, Lizzie. I've tied up all loose ends... all but one."

Liz shook her head. "Please, Ray, no more bloodshed."

"It isn't about death, my love. This is about life; our life. Do you remember when we first met, I told you if anyone could give me a second chance it was you?"

"Yes." Her dark eyes searched his. Gone was the glittering anger. They shone bright green now with worry and hope.

"Well how about it, Lizzie? Give this old reprobate a second chance at life. Marry me, love? I haven't got a ring, but I know this wonderful antique jeweler in Vienna. A quaint place situated right below a_"

"Raymond," Liz interrupted bubbling with barely concealed laughter. "Has anyone ever told you you talk to much?"

Grabbing the front of his vest, she pulled his lips down to hers kissing him eagerly. Breaking their kiss, Red slid his lips along the column of her neck.

"The answer is yes, by the way," she whispered.

He chuckled. "I surmised as much when I received a kiss instead of a knee to the groin... again."

Grinning, Liz stepped back toward the bed. He watched with hungry eyes as she pulled his shirt over her head, nothing but a few scraps of silk between them. Red lost his vest and shirt in quick succession. His hands going to his belt buckle as he pushed her back onto the bed. He divested himself of the rest of his clothing and climbed onto the bed covering her with his body. Suddenly he stopped, reaching over to grab her cellphone off the bedside table.

"Red, what_ Are you sending a text message? Who are you texting?"

Red kissed her quickly. "Dembe. He's been in the car this entire time."

"What? Why?"

Pressing send, Red turned back to her. "I honestly didn't know if you'd say yes," he muttered pulling her panties down her slender legs. "Dembe was part of the contingency plan."

"Which was?"

Shaking his head, Red moved her legs apart settling himself against her center. He rocked once sending chills of anticipation through them both.

"Red, why was Dembe here?"

Raising himself up, Red tilted his head, regarding her with a smirk. "Elizabeth, my dear, has anyone ever told you you ask entirely too many questons?"

He silenced her words of protest with his mouth as he slide inside her. They both moaned at the pleasure of being together again.

Dembe, his fear of losing her, her insecurities were all forgotten as they loved one another long into the morning.