This started as a oneshot too... smh

3 AM Part II

A week later they were in Vienna.

Red stood in the front room of their suite of the Hotel Sacher. Pulling his phone away from his ear, Red looked back toward the bath. Liz had left the door slightly ajar and he could just make out the curve of her shapely leg jutting out of the tub. He took a step in her direction, but pulled back, distracted by the terse chatter in his ear.

"Harold, Harold... please with the threats we both know you haven't the means nor the heart to follow through on. I've left you a virtual how-to for the next three Blacklisters. That should keep you occupied until our return. Don't worry, Harold, our favorite profiler is safe with me."

Just then Liz's voice drifted out to him. "Ray... I need you."

Muttering a distracted reply to Cooper's rant, Red ended the call and hurried toward the bath. Stopping in the door way, Red leaned against the frame. He folded his arms across his chest and let his eyes roam over his woman. She relaxed in the large porcelain tub with her head laid back, a small smile playing at her lips.

Red marveled at her beauty and his good fortune. That this angel loved him. Despite his past, his flaws, all the paranoia and idiosyncrencies that persisted because of the life he's led. She loved him openly and without apology.

His chest tightened at the memory of Liz standing eye to eye with Harold Cooper in the Post Office war room, her colleagues looking on as she declared her love for their former No.4. "His businesses are legitimate and so are we," she'd said taking his hand. "You don't have to like it, but you will respect it." And Red hadn't thought it was possible to love her more.

He came back to himself to find her smiling at him. Returning the gesture, Red sat on the edge of the tub. He dipped his hand beneath the water. His fingers played at the bubbles covering her in some very suggestive places. Liz found his hand beneath the water and tugged him closer. Bracing himself, Red leaned forward kissing her softly.

"You called, my dear? Something about needing me."

"I forgot my towel," she said sheepishly.

He chuckled, pulling away from her to grab the oversize towel from the hook behind him. Standing up he held the towel open.

"Come here, Lizzie," he purred, openly leering at her.

Liz laughed as she stood up in the tub, stepping carefully over the edge. She heard his sharp intake of breath.

"You are glorious," he whispered admiring her naked form and the way the water and suds slide down her body.

Her eyes on his, Liz walked into the towel. Red's arms enveloped her quickly. Their lips met in a lingering kiss and the world fell away as Red and Liz indulged in one another. She still tasted of the strawberries they'd had for breakfast. She made him hungry all over again.

"Ray," she whispered as he kissed his way down her neck, his hands drying her with the towel. "Raymond, don't we have somewhere to be in an hour?"

He held her closer, not lifting his head, or stopping his ministrations. "Lizzie, please, I'm busy."

She threw her head back and laughed. Her arms went around his neck and she felt Red's deep chuckle as he pulled the towel from between them.

An afternoon tryst later, Red and Liz strolled down the Plankengasse arm and arm, leaning into one another. Liz loved these times with Red, where he shared funny and interesting antidotes about their surroundings. More and more they came intertwined in memories of his childhood, his time in the Navy and even his years with his wife. He was opening up to her more and Liz was loving it; loving him.

"Harold phoned earlier," he commented nonchalantly.

Liz smiled, she knew her agreement to stay in contact with her boss while they were gone had irked him, especially after the stance she had taken at the Post Office. But for now she was still a Federal Agent and Red allowed her to keep her promise to her understandably leery superior.

"How did that go?"

"Oh the usual way," he murmured, leading her through the streets of Vienna. "He threatened, I mocked, we both agreed you are the most important part of this equation."

Liz shook her head. It amused her how Red and Cooper bickered. She knew there was a history between them Red hadn't found occasion to share yet.

"And what did you promise him this time?"

Red stopped walking and pulled Liz into a serious kiss. He was not skittish about public displays of affection. She was breathless when he pulled away.

"I promised him to wrap you in silk and diamonds and keep you very close to me," he whispered. "We've got the silk," he noted running his warm hands over the soft facbric of her dress, "now let's see if we can scare you up some diamonds."

Smiling, Liz followed his gaze toward a large stone building; Dorotheum etched across the front.

"What is this place?"

"My quaint little Viennese jeweler," he quipped.

"Ray, this place is bigger than our hotel."

Laughing at her wonder, Red took her hand and lead her inside. They were barely through the door when an older gentleman of slight build came forward, greeting Red warmly.

"My dear, this is Renate. The curator here. Renate this amazingly beautiful woman is my fiancé, Elizabeth." Red never let go of her hand, but stood back in unmistakable pride while the man gushed over her beauty.

"Oh you are classic," Renate exclaimed, "and obviously one to reckon with to have brought this rascal up to scratch."

"Thank you," Liz said on a laugh as Red smirked.

"Renate... my lady, needs something beautiful and delicate."

Smiling broadly, the older man led her and Red to an ornately but warmly decorated sitting room. For the next hour, Red had priceless rings, some with royal origins laid before her. He stopped her protests over the small fortune he was about to spend with a soft kiss.

"I love you, Lizzie, no price is too high."

She touched his face, momentarily forgetting they weren't alone. "I love you, Raymond Reddington."

Sometime later they walked out into the sunshine, grinning broadly and stopping every few feet to share a kiss. Red raised her hand to admire her choice. It was among the last ones Renate had shown them. Her eyes had went to it instantly. He would never forget her reaction when Renate allowed him to slip it on her finger. It was a perfect fit and she cried.

Standing in the sun, a block from their hotel, Red bent his head and kissed the asscher fashioned platinum casing set with a large ruby surrounded by tiers of smaller cut rubies and diamonds. She said the tiers of rubies and diamonds represented how they fit together and met in the center, their love burning bright Red.

The vibrating of Red's phone broke thier spell. He slipped his arm around her shoulders leading them back toward the hotel.

"Dembe, how soon can you be... Dembe, I can't understand you. Where are you?"

His lungs pumping as he darted through the streets of Vienna some 10 minutes away, Dembe repeated himself. "Run, Raymond, they are coming."

Not bothering to ask who, Red let the phone fall to the ground. "Lizzie, we've got to go," he said urgently. Taking her hand he led her in the opposite direction.

Liz tightened her grip on his hand. "Ray, what's going on? Where's Dembe?"

"Trouble's coming, Lizzie. Dembe knows where to met us."

All of her questions were forgotten when a black SUV screeched to a halt across from them, armed men pouring into the street. Pushing her back, Red produced a pistol from beneath his jacket. She watched as Red dropped two of them in quick succession. Gunfire erupted as he pushed her down behind a parked car.

"Red?"

"The US Embassy, Lizzie go."

She grabbed his lapel. "I am not leaving you," she screamed unable to stop the tears.

"Dammit, Lizzie, there is no time. Go!"

He popped up over their barricade to return fire, attempting to slow their attacker's progress across the street.

"Lizzie please," he yelled over the noise of gunfire, screeching tires and pedestrian screams.

His jaw clenched at the feel of Lizzie pressing herself into his back. At the loss of her warmth, he let out a savage yell moving out in the open emptying the clip into as many men as he could. He went down hard as a bullet ripped through his leg.

"Leave him, go for the girl."

The screamed direction reached through the haze of pain, pushing Red up on one leg. He lunged at the closest man, going for his throat, in his heart pleading with a God he had ceased to believe in to keep his Lizzie safe. Just as he felt the life ebbing out of his target a sharp pain exploded inside of Red's skull and everything went black.