Be hurt. Blame me. Howl at the moon for all I care. Liz was still fuming as she stepped off the elevator into the war room. She and Jennifer had stayed up talking until well past 4 a.m. so she'd slept very little and her meeting with Red had hardly improved her mood. How dare he? Liz simply couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that the contents of the duffel bag — the very thing that had led to Tom's death — were supposedly none of her business.

"Thought you were gonna call or stop by last night." Ressler remarked as Liz entered their shared office. Liz caught the unmistakable edge in his voice and his pointed glance at the clock as she sank into her chair.

She avoided meeting his eyes as she dropped her purse into the lower drawer of her desk. "Sorry," she replied testily. "I was busy and then by the time I was free it was so late I figured you'd be asleep." The truth was, she'd been so preoccupied with Jennifer and then with Red that she hadn't given him a second thought from the time she'd hung up with him the night before until that moment. She banged the drawer closed and then looked up defiantly. Ressler's eyes narrowed and he licked his lips.

"Busy with who?" Ressler asked suspiciously. "Reddington?"

"I just saw Reddington this morning. Last night was personal business," Liz snapped. "Since when do I have to justify to you why I'm busy?"

Ressler winced at her tone. "You don't. I'm sorry. I just hoped — nevermind." He held her gaze for a moment, looking slightly hurt, and then got up abruptly and strode out of the office.

Liz watched him go and then rested her head in her hands. Learning that Jennifer was her sister had just made everything a whole lot more complicated. She wasn't ready to discuss Jennifer with Ressler — or anyone — yet, but her presence upended everything. Liz knew that, in order to keep her sister a secret, she was going to have to put some distance between herself and Ressler until she got to the bottom of what Garvey was really up to. Based on Ressler's reaction to her late arrival and failure to call, perhaps that was for the best.

"Rough morning?"

Liz looked up to see Samar standing in the doorway. "You have no idea," Liz replied wearily.

"Ressler looked like a thundercloud just now. You two have a argument?" Samar asked as she sat down at Ressler's desk.

Liz shook her head. "No, just a misunderstanding. We'll be fine. How was Paris?"

Samar tilted her head and thought for a moment. "Adventurous and enlightening."

"Enlightening?" Liz asked, puzzled.

Samar pursed her lips and her expression turned more somber. "I gave Aram back his ring," she said quietly.

Liz blinked in surprise. "Why? What happened?"

Samar sighed. "I realized that we're just in very different places right now in terms of what we want out of this relationship. And until we're on the same page, I shouldn't be accepting rings of any kind."

"I'm sorry," Liz replied sympathetically. "You two will work it out. I know you will."

Before she could say anything further, she heard a noise in the doorway. "I, um, I'm sorry to interrupt but —" Aram glanced nervously at Samar, "Liz, there's something you need to hear. Mr. Cooper wants to see you in his office." Liz flicked her eyes towards Samar, who waved at her to go, and then got up and headed up the stairs to Cooper's office.

A few minutes later, Ressler came back, two coffees in hand, looking vastly less thunderous but somewhat surprised to see Samar sitting in his chair. "Where's Keen?" he asked.

Samar got up so he could have his desk back. "Aram asked her to come to Cooper's office. Said there was something she needed to hear."

"Do you know what it was?" Ressler probed.

"No," Samar replied. "But I'm sure we'll find out if it's important."

Ressler glanced at the two coffees in his hand and then extended one to Samar. "You want this?"

Samar shook her head. "Thank you, but no." She left the office and headed back into the war room. Ressler set one of the coffees down on Liz's desk and then took a long sip of the other. He'd hoped to offer the coffee as a peace offering to smooth over the tension between them.

Ressler made a feeble effort to focus on the case report in front of him until finally, Liz returned to their office and closed the door behind her. After her earlier outburst, Ressler stifled the urge to ask her what was going on and instead simply looked up quizzically.

"Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you," Liz began. "I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm exhausted." Ressler nodded slightly in acknowledgment as he waited for her to continue.

"But right now, I need your help." Liz quickly filled him in on the general details of Garvey's plot to kill Reddington and Reddington's hasty dismissal of it. When she was finished, Ressler frowned.

"So who is this woman Garvey was talking to? How does she fit into all this?" he asked.

Liz licked her lips. "She works at a bar in Baltimore. Aram and I traced Garvey there while you were in Paris. He clearly knows her well."

"Well enough to share his plans to kill Reddington? Why?" Ressler pushed.

"I don't know and I don't care," Liz replied curtly. "What I care about is stopping the plan because if Reddington gets killed all the answers I'm looking for die with him. So are you gonna help? Or not?" Her eyes blazed but her tone sounded almost desperate.

Ressler stood up and reached for his jacket. "You shouldn't even need to ask that. You know I will. Tell me what you need me to do."

"Step one is for all of us to meet with Reddington," Liz replied. "Cooper's called him in."

The next day passed in a whirlwind as they made plans to try to prevent Reddington's assassination by Garvey and instead ended up with Mosadek dead and Garvey in the wind, his own men as baffled by the turn of events as they were. By the time Ressler stepped out of interrogation, his patience was thin and growing thinner by the moment. Reddington, as usual, had gotten the best of them and Ressler was steamed.

"We have a problem," Aram said anxiously as Ressler approached his workstation.

"Another one?" Ressler asked grimly as Cooper shot him a look.

"Reddington lost Garvey and he can't reach Agent Keen," Aram replied. "I tracked the transmitter on her listening device and it last picked up a signal in Baltimore. Reddington thinks she's heading back to that bar where we found Garvey the first time. Pete's Tavern. He's on his way there now."

"Ressler, Navabi, get there. I'll alert Baltimore PD and SWAT," Cooper said firmly.

As they sped out of the city towards Baltimore, lights flashing, Samar glanced over at Ressler. His body was practically radiating tension and he was gripping the wheel even more tightly than usual.

"You want to tell me what's going on with you and Liz?" she asked.

"Nothing," Ressler replied tersely. "I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid before we get there."

"I trust Liz's judgment," Samar replied. "Why don't you?"

Ressler clenched his jaw. "Because she hasn't been thinking clearly ever since Tom died. She'll do anything, take on anyone, consequences be damned, anything to get Garvey and find out Reddington's secret."

"We talked about this before," Samar replied evenly, "we can't blame her for wanting answers and for wanting revenge."

"I know that."

"Then what? Why is there so much tension between you two lately?" Samar frowned.

Ressler pursed his lips. He didn't even know what to say. "I don't know," he admitted finally. And in a way, it was the truth.

When they arrived at the bar, they could see police and ambulance lights flashing.

"This doesn't look good," Ressler said grimly as they quickly exited their vehicle, flashed their badges and approached the doorway. As they entered the bar, Ressler blinked at Garvey's body on the ground surrounded by paramedics and then looked up at Liz who had a frantic look on her face. Ressler took a step forward and pulled her aside as he scanned her up and down to make sure she wasn't hurt.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly. "What happened?"

Liz shook her head quickly from side to side. "Garvey tried to kill Reddington and Dembe and I shot Garvey," she whispered. "I'm not hurt, but I'm not ok either." Her eyes flickered nervously to Garvey, who was being loaded onto a stretcher by the paramedics. She gripped Ressler's arm tightly. "I have to go to the hospital with him. This may be my last chance to find out what's in that bag." Her eyes scanned Ressler's face pleadingly.

"Go. Navabi and I will handle this," he agreed without hesitation.

Liz squeezed his arm. "Thank you," she whispered as she raced out of the bar and followed the gurney to the waiting ambulance.

They were still supervising the processing of the scene when Ressler's phone rang. Ressler shot Samar a glance and stepped outside to take the call. "Keen, what's going on?"

"Garvey's dead," Liz replied in a choked voice.

Ressler closed his eyes and leaned against the building. "Was he able to tell you anything before he died?" he asked even though he already suspected the answer.

"No."

Ressler exhaled slowly. "What hospital are you at? We'll come and get you."

"University... Thanks."

Samar glanced up as Ressler stepped back into the bar. "Bad news?"

Ressler nodded. "Garvey's dead. And she got nothing out of him. I told her we'd come and get her."

"You go," Samar replied. "Take her home. I'm going to stay until they're done here. I'll bring Liz's vehicle back."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

Liz was sitting alone on a bench when Ressler pulled up in front of the hospital. She got up and slid wordlessly into the passenger seat of the SUV.

"Samar said she'll bring your car back. You want me to take you back to the Post Office? Or straight home?"

"Home, please," Liz replied in a tone that was barely above a whisper. She hardly trusted herself to speak. She was afraid if she tried she'd burst into tears.

Ressler steered the SUV onto the highway. He kept flicking his eyes towards Liz, but she remained silent, staring out the window. He couldn't help but notice that she was stroking the scar on her wrist. Finally, he had to at least try to break through her walls.

"You want to talk about what went down in that bar before the shooting started?" Ressler asked gently.

Liz shook her head. To her relief, Ressler didn't press. They drove the rest of the way back to her apartment in silence.

"Thanks for the ride," Liz said stiffly as they pulled up in front of her building. She was about to open the door and get out of the SUV when Ressler put his hand on her arm to stop her. "Keen, wait."

Liz met his eyes and swallowed hard. "What?"

Ressler cleared his throat. "Look, I'm sorry if I've put pressure on you or it seems like I'm overreaching. I want to make sure you know that how I feel about you has nothing to do with whether or not we're sleeping together. You're my partner and my friend and I care about you no matter what else is, or isn't, going on between us. So if and when you do want to talk, I'm here, ok?"

Liz blinked back tears. "Thank you," she whispered. She leaned over and pressed a light kiss on his cheek and then stepped out of the car and disappeared inside her building.