A/N - So I read it again and fixed the mistakes I could find, but if you find any others, let me know. I literally wrote this one and immediately published as I was all so excited with this story. Thanks.

I keep wondering how it's going to be once it's all over and they meet again. Of course here I write the wishes of my Keenler heart. enjoy!

4 months had passed since her name was cleared. 4 months since she had been declared innocent of the murder of Tom Conolly. Due to his own guilt and association to the cabal, her actions were declared self-defense and national security, and all charges had been dropped. 4 months that she had been living in this stupidly fancy apartment Red got her, only herself and Hudson, her dog. 4 months since she had an honest conversation with Jacob Phelps, and concluded that, despite appreciating all he had done to help her, they would never be Tom and Liz again, and they would be better apart. She had news of him sometimes, happy that he was trying to live legally now. They would have a fond and distance friendship. But what hurt most was the 4 months of dead silence from her partner.

She left him messages, and tried to get his attention at the trial, but he dodged her attempts and disappeared before she could reach to him. Since then, nothing.

This morning she woke up to a call from Agent Cooper saying that she was supposed to go in tomorrow for debriefing, as she would finally be reinstated. Things were going back to normal, as she never thought they would.

She turned off the phone and while stroking Hudson's head lying on her belly she decided today was the day to make amends. She picked her phone, made a few calls and then got up and went to the bathroom. It would be a long day.

First stop was lunch with Aram. The shy agent met her in front of the restaurant she had chosen and welcomed her with a hug and a wide smile. She was so happy she could finally go back to working with this amazing person, who never stopped believing in her.

"Thank you so much for agreeing to have lunch with me, Aram" she said, after they ordered their meals and the waiter served them water. Aram opened a wide smile and thanked back.

"Agent Keen, Liz, I was so happy with your call. You are going to be reinstated! these are wonderful news, I thought for a moment that we would never work together again."

"So did I, Aram. So did I. Ok, so, you have to put me up to speed with all that's been happening since I was gone. How is the office?"

Aram told her all the gossip and important changes that had happened at the war room, and they spent a long time laughing and remembering the good times. By the end of dessert, she already knew all about Agent Moore's new baby and Agent Taylor's scandalous divorce.

"He found her in bed with another? Poor Paul!" she took a sip of her iced tea while Aram confirmed the information. she felt so lighthearted to be with him, sharing gossip, chit chating as if nothing bad had happened. She felt as if things could really go to normal. Until Aram mentioned the elephant in the room.

"Have you talked to him?" she knew who he was talking about, and her smile immediately changed into a sad frown.

"No. He doesn't want to talk to me."

"Give him time, Liz. It was all too difficult for all of us."

"But it's over! Why won't he talk to me? You're here!" Aram felt how upset she was by the tone of her voice, and could tell that she was about to cry. It was a very hard subject indeed, so he decided to stop poking.

"I'll see if I can talk to him. don't you worry." he promised, and she opened a faint smile. Then, changed the subject.

"So, what about you and Samar, hun?"

"What about me and Agent Navabi?" he disguised his concern by drinking his coke, but could not erase the grin on her face. "What is it, Agent Keen? Are you crazy?"

"C'mon, Aram. everybody knows you like her. Have you talked to her yet?"

He didn't feel the need to disguise anymore.

"Of course not! I won't! ever! Samar is very important to me and I don't know what I would do without her friendship."

"Aram! you don't want her friendship!"

"But what if she doesn't feel what I feel? What happens next? I couldn't take this chance!"

"Aram, please, do yourself a favor and tell her. You never know what she might say. You may be wasting time with all this being cautious thing."

He opened a grin, and approached her over the table. "You could take your own advice, you know, Agent Keen." and she rolled her eyes as he laughed. "It's different."

"Sure it is."

and they ended the conversation as Liz took a deep breath. Aram had to go back to work and she had to go get ready. She was going to have a girl's night out with Samar.

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They went to a diner and then hit a pub, and had fun as Liz never thought it would be possible with Samar Navabi. all that strong pose went down after a few shots, and the woman was actually fun. They flirted with some guys and got a few phone numbers they discarted right after, laughing together like two teenagers.

Liz mentioned Aram to Samar, and the Iranian woman couldn't disguise a smile while mentioning her partner. "I don't know, Aram is the cutest thing in the world. We went out for drinks a few times but it was never officially a date, you know? He never asked me."

"would you say yes if he did?" Liz asked.

"I guess. I would be worried about our professional relationship, you know, but I couldn't say no to him. Imagine saying no to those eyes!" and they both laughed remembering how cute Aram could look when upset. They ordered more shots and gulped them before hitting the subject.

"He was always worried about you, you know" Samar said. "Every single time, every single hint we got, sighting, new lead, he would stare at the board for hours, looking at your picture, and then calculating every possibility, matching the suspects. He never gave up." Liz didn't know what to say, so she took a sip from her beer. then she sighed and looked at Samar, disappointed.

"So why won't he talk to me, Samar? It's driving me crazy! Not even a 'welcome back, Keen!' or 'Good to see you, Keen'." she was lowering the tone of her voice to sound like Ressler, and Samar laughed out loud, partially caused by the amount of alcohol in her system. "I just wanted a sign that he doesn't hate me or think the worst of me, you know?"

"Oh, he doesn't, believe me. When we had to fake your death, because of the bounty, he wasn't at the war room, he was with the presidential comission. We sent him a message but he couldn't see it, right, he was in session. So when the news came on tv he thought it was real. I have a friend who was working security there and he swears he heard screams coming from the bathroom. I think he hit a door, he had bruises on his hand when he came in. I think it took a few minutes for him to look at his phone and realise you weren't dead. and then, when we told him the plan, he admitted he was scared. Aram even gave him a hug, it would've been hilarious if it hadn't been really painful. It was horrible, Liz, to see him everyday, working with the Director, side by side. That man was bold, and he was pushing all of Ressler's buttons. I was everyday afraid he would flip and shoot the man in the head. He was too strong, all to protect you."

Liz felt like crying, but swallowed it. she was feeling a bit tipsy from the shots and that mixed with all the feelings Samar's confessions were making her confused, upset, angry, determined. She ordered another shot, gulped and then took her coat from the chair.

"Where are you going?" Samar said, surprised.

"I'm going to solve this, once and for all. Can you take a cab?"

"Yes, sure. don't worry about me." She was heading towards the door when the woman called her attention again. "Liz, be careful. don't go hurting him or yourself in the process, ok?"

Liz took a deep breath, and then raised her hand to call herself a cab.

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He had fallen asleep in the couch, and woke up startled with the banging on the door. the TV showed a late night sports programme with flashes from tonight's games. He took the remote, turned the tv off and stumbled towards the door, trying to shut the noise.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" He wondered who it was at this time of night. Maybe his annoying super, who complained about every little thing? the TV wasn't even loud!

He opened the door and could barely believe what he was seeing. He had to rub his eyes and look again to check if he wasn't dreaming. She didn't wait for a formal invitation, and stormed into his apartment.

"We need to talk!" was all she said, and then sat on his couch, looking determined to only leave that place after they had that dreadful conversation.

He took a deep breath, trying to shake off the tiredness while he closed the door, still perplexed. He looked with the corner of his eye to the sofa to make sure it wasn't a hallucination.

"Keen, c'mon, it's late!" he tried to send her off, to no avail. She was sitting put and shook her head. He noticed she was wearing a purple dress and heels, and wondered where she was before coming to his house. a few steps closer and he could see by her redened cheeks that she had been drinking. Oh, great.

"We're having this conversation, Ressler, whether you want it or not!" she was determined, and he knew that was no escaping this time.

He wasn't really sure why, but ever since she came back and the Cabal was unveiled he had tried to avoid her. He guessed was the feeling of guilt for having to hunt her for all that time she was on the run, or for feeling that somehow she thought he was working against her. He didn't know what she thought of all that had happened, but like a silly stubborn child decided he didn't want to know, and running from her was the smartest move.

"I'm being reinstated tomorrow" she announced the news he already knew. Being Assistant-director of the task force made him part of the decision making, and she would never know, but he was one of the 'yes' votes on the meeting that decided to take her back. Now that Harold Cooper was also back, he would go back to being Special agent, and probably her partner. She touched that matter right after that.

"Will you be my partner? or will you ask to be transfered?" How could she ever think he would ask to be tranfered? Oh, yes, the 4 months of dodging her calls. He mentally slapped himself in the face, and sat on the armchair next to where she was.

"You have to understand, Keen, that we've been through too much, I didn't think you'd want to..." She interrupted him by standing up and getting louder and making wide movements, an effect of the alcohol inside her.

"Me? you didn't think I what, Ressler? I called you several times, damn I humiliated myself with countless messages, did you even bother to listen to them?" Yes, every single one, he didn't even erase them, just kept listening to them. "You've had absolutelly no consideration for my feelings, what I think, what I've been going through. You were never there for me! don't you dare blame me."

Okay, it was late, she was altered, but no way would she say that to his face. He stood up and decided to out all the things he had been bottling up for all this time since he let her go for the first time.

"No consideration? really? That's what you're going to say to me, Keen? No consideration? I let you go more that I should have, if anyone in the bureau found out what did I'd be fired and probably arrested as accomplice. I kept trying to find you, to keep you safe, but you were always running from me, as if I was the enemy! Hell, you even asked for asylum at the Russian embassy, using your Russian name as if all of that was real! Do you have any idea how hard it was to debunk the Director's affirmations that you were really a sleeper agent? Can you imagine how it was to work side by side with that man, listening to him saying how you were dangerous and should be killed, threatening to put CIA agents and snipers to hunt you down like an animal? How it was for me to see that you chose Reddington's help, and even Tom Keen's help rather than mine! if someone here didn't have any considerations, that was you!" He knew he was being louder that he should be at this time, and expected a knock from the super at any minute, but he didn't care. She was right there in front of him and it was now of never to say all the things he wanted to say. She had no right to invade his house and accuse him of not caring. He probably cared more than anyone.

She had never thought of all the sacrifices he had made to protect her. All the time she was running, she thought he was against her, he didn't believe in her. Samar's revelations were still hard to swallow, as they were going against whatever she had believed before. But now, looking at him bright red with anger and sadness at her accusations, she felt even more guilty than she had been while on the run.

"Ress, I... I don't know."

"You have no right to come here and accuse me of not caring when it was I who had to live 8 months not knowing where you were, expecting any minute to hear that you had been killed, that I had..." he couldn't finish the sentence. 'That I had failed', he wanted to say, 'That I had lost you.'

She could see it in his eyes, though, the hurt and despair of a man who cared for her most of all in the world. Maybe it was the fact that she missed him so much, the nearly 1 year apart, or the alcohol bluring her mind, but she didn't stop to think when she just went to him and kissed him on the lips.

He was taken by surprise as she deepened the kiss, licking his lips begging for entrance. He took a few seconds to understand what was going on, before responding to the kiss and taking her in with all he had got. He hoisted her up and pushed her against a wall, as she tangled her legs around him and grabbed his hair furiously.

His head was on fire when he noticed the taste of alcohol in her mouth, and that made him stop immediately. she was drunk, it wasn't right. he gently put her down and stopped her.

"What? what...?" she asked confused as he stepped away from her, pressing his hands on his face, trying to recover from the heat of that moment.

"You're drunk!" he said, but she shrugged.

"So?"

"we're not doing anything you may regret when you're sober"

He was being a gentleman, she thought, and that only made her want him more. she moved towards him, but he halted her with his palm. "Liz, please, don't." She could see he was making a whole lotta effort to stop it and stay away from her, so she decided to comply.

"What do you want me to do? do you want me to go?" she was ruffling with her skirt like a 8 year old, looking down, embarrassed. he couldn't hide a smirk at the scene.

"You are in no conditions to go anywhere. Here, take my bed. I was sleeping on the couch, anyway." he showed her to his room, and then closed the door, leaving her alone. Then, he went to the bathroom and threw cold water in his face to see if it would help him think straight. The taste of her mouth still fresh in his, her shape and softess of her skill still in his hands, he was going insane! he went back to the couch and turned the tv back on, trying to be comfortable in his couch, and trying to forget that she was right there in his bed.

She buried her face on his pillow and groaned with shame. Oh. My. God! What had just happened? Part of her wanted to convince him that she wasn't that drunk, but she knew he was right. and to be fair, she wanted to remember every single bit of that, if it ever happened. She dug through his drawers and found a t-shirt, she changed into it and slip under the covers. the moonlight illuminated her face as a beam of spotlight accusing her. Gosh! what had she done?

She turned over and revisited the scene in her mind. She had never felt so sexy, so wanted and so hot before. It had been desperate, longing, and no doubt it would have been a hell of a night. She thought about his responses and considered that maybe it wouldn't be so awkward in the morning. She could even expect things to resume once she was sober.

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She woke up to the smell of food and frowned at the thought that he was making pancakes. a further analysis of the smell cleared that it was eggs and bacon. Thank god! she got out of the bed and streched, yawning, when her stomach indicated that she was dead hungry. It was a sign of her hangover. Her head wasn't really that bad, but she felt hungry as hell.

She went to the kitchen to find him cooking, an image she never thought she would see. She smile of the thought of Ressler being all domestic, and then called his attention with a "good morning".

"Hey! are you feeling better?" he sounded happy, positive, and she scowled at that. No way, she was not going to accept him being a morning person. He saw her reaction and laughed.

"Don't worry. I'm not always like that. I'm just feeling strangely happy today." he grinned.

"Would it be because you nearly got lucky last night, mister?" they exchanged looks, both knowing they would have to get to that eventually. Luckily she wasn't about to stall. But first, she wanted to do something about that hunger, and attacked the plate with the toast and eggs.

"Hey! it's not ready yet"

"I don't care" she said, mouth full. "I'm hungry".

"That happens when you drink too much without eating."

"Okay, then, mom!" she joked, and he smiled. she swallowed her food and felt better as she washed it with coffee. She looked at him under the light of the sun that was coming from the window and maybe for the first time noticed how handsome he was, with the bright ginger hair, blue eyes and freckles. A feeling of twist attacked her stomach and she felt like going at him right there and then, dear lord, she could never explain whatever she was feeling. She had never thought of Ressler this way, but maybe all that time away from him awakened something she had no idea was there. It's what they say, Absence makes the heart go fonder.

He looked over confident, and she started to suspect he had a plan. She decided to wait and see where he'd go with that grin.

"So, are you feeling okay?" he asked, leaning on his elbows over the counter, his face inches from hers.

"Yes" she said, suspiciously.

"All sober now?"

"Yep. thinking clear as crystal."

He giggled, and she understood where he was going with it, and decided to play along. she leaned over the counter as well, and they were face to face, noses touching, eye to eye.

"do you have anything to do this morning?" he asked.

"not really, no. My meeting with Cooper is going to be after lunch. I have the morning all to myself." she could barely breath, and barely hold her laugh. it was all to intense, all to cute. she was loving that.

"Well, I wonder what you could possibly do with this time, you know." he teased, looking down at her mouth and leaning forward, his lips almost brushing hers. He wanted her to make a move. She wanted him to make a move. Damn, they were going to stay at that teasing for hours if no one did anything. She decided to be the brave one and kissed his lips quickly, making him laugh. then she went on with the tease.

"Well, I could go for a walk. I could go shopping for clothes. I could go home and take Hudson out. I could clean, I actually need to clean, you know, but..." he didn't allow her to continue, taking her lips into his with intense hunger and desire. She held his head with both hands and kicked the counter between them, wishing she could just tear it down. She climbed up and sat on it, adjusting her legs to be on both sides of him as he pulled her closer, picked her up and took her back to his room.