AN: This is for the tumblr prompt Liz wears Red's hat. This is part 1 of 2. Hopefully I'll get enough interest from you guys to warrant writing the second part. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Blacklist.

Liz sank into the hot water of her bathtub with a groan, immersed herself all the way up to her chin, and closed her eyes. It had been a long week of chasing criminals on foot, and yesterday she'd been clipped by a car as she crossed the road chasing another blacklister. It hadn't seriously injured her, but she still felt like she'd been run over; leaving her whole body sore and stiff. She was glad she finally had a day off, her body needed it. She reached over and took a sip of her wine that was sitting on the ledge, then leaned back and stretched her legs under the water; enjoying the quiet, relaxing moment. She knew it wouldn't last long, so she was going to savor it.

Just as she thought that, her cell phone began to ring. She laughed out loud at the injustice of it all, and reluctantly picked up the phone that was sitting next to her wine glass. She wished she could put in on silent, but she was always on call so she would get in trouble if she did.

She looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Aram. Something must be seriously wrong if he was calling her, because it meant that Ressler and Meera were too busy to do so. "Aram what's going on?"

She heard him clear his throat quietly, "Hey Liz, Um..."

She cut him off, "What's going on? Is something going down at the Blacksite?"

Another beat of silence, then, "No, not exactly." She could hear the hesitance in his voice, "I have a huge favor to ask."

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What is it?"

He sighed, "I've been called in to the PO to go over some technical details in a meeting. The problem is, I'm watching my Niece and Nephew for my sister, and I don't know what to do with them. Is there any way you can watch them for me?"

"Aram.." she said with a groan.

He cut her off, "Please Liz, I'm desperate. I have to leave in twenty minutes, and I don't have any other options."

She hit her head against the back of the tub a few times, then let out an exhalation. How hard could two little kids be? "Yeah, I guess I can help. I'm not doing anything important." Except enjoying my day off.

She heard a relieved sigh, "Thank you so much, Liz. I owe you one."
Liz smiled even though he couldn't see it, "I'll think of something good that you can do for me. Do you want to bring them over to my house?"

He cleared his throat nervously, "Well you see, I kind of promised them that they could go swimming today..and um..can you take them for me? They love swimming and do it all the time, so you wouldn't have to worry about them drowning or anything."

Great. Just what she wanted to do on her only day off when it was ninety degrees out, with 100% humidity in an over packed swimming pool full of kids. Blah.

She said in a falsely cheerful voice, "Sure. Just make sure they're dressed and ready to go before you get here."

She could hear the relief in his voice, "Oh sure, I'll be over soon. Thanks again, Liz." Then hung up before she could say anything.

She flopped back down in the tub and completely submersed herself for a few seconds. She screamed as loud as she could under the water, then sat up and wiped the water from her face. Feeling a little better, she stood up and grabbed her fluffy blue towel and quickly dried herself off, then walked into her room to dig her swimming suit out of her closet.

It had been over a year since her divorce was finalized, and eighteen months since she'd moved into this apartment; but she had yet to use her bikini. Red and her job had kept her completely occupied, and she hadn't had time to lounge around a swimming pool in a long time. She used to go tanning all the time, but since she started working with Red over two years ago, she'd had little time off and little desire to.

She dug around a few boxes and finally found it. Pulling it out, she held the two piece up; one part in each hand. It was red, with a little jewel in the middle of the top between the cups, and one on each hip on the bottom. She had bought it on a whim over three years ago, and had only used it a few times since. It wasn't over revealing, so it was perfect to wear to a pool where there were going to be a lot of kids.

She put it on, then examined herself in the full-length mirror that was hanging on the closet door. She loved this color of red on her, and secretly wished that Red could see her in it. She knew he would appreciate it. Although they weren't together, because that would be against FBI regulations, they still spent all of their free time with each other. She didn't really know how to define their relationship, and constantly found herself second guessing what they were doing. They were often affectionate towards each other, but hadn't physically moved past a few lingering kisses every once in a while. It was frustrating.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she quickly slipped on a form-fitting black tank top and a red sarong. Red had given her the sarong over a year ago, telling her that she would look beautiful in it. She hadn't had an occasion to wear it before now. She quickly twisted her hair up in a loose bun, strands of hair framing her face, and called it good.

She grabbed a large beaded bag and filled it up with a towel, sunscreen, Aloe Vera, and some snacks for the kids.

Just as she finished, she heard a knock on the door. She walked over to open it, and smiled when it revealed Aram and two adorable little girls dressed in matching blue one-piece swimming suits, while holding multiple pool toys in their arms. They had the same coloring as Aram, with dark hair and dark eyes, and she instantly took a liking to them. She smiled widely, "Hey guys, are you ready to go?"

They looked at her and smiled. One with a missing tooth said, "Yes! We can't wait!" And the other one just nodded, but still smiled.

Aram patted them on each of their shoulders, looked up at Liz, and indicated with his hand the one with the missing tooth, "This is Eilina, she's seven." He patted the other girl's shoulder, "And this is Akhita, she's six."

Liz smiled, "Nice to meet you. You both have such pretty smiles."

The girls beamed and Liz glanced up at Aram, "Where am I taking them?"

They usually go to the 'Great Waves Waterpark' over in Alexandria. It's about a twenty-minute drive, is that ok?"

Liz nodded, "That should be fine. You should get going or you're going to be late."

Aram slid his sleeved arm over his forehead to wipe the sweat off and nodded, "Ok, well thanks again...Oh" He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a few twenties, "Here's money to get in the park and to feed them dinner afterward. Hopefully I'll be done by then." He grimaced as Liz took the money from him. "It doesn't matter how long you are, we'll be fine. Now go."

He smiled faintly, bid the girls goodbye, and hurried down the steps and slid into his idling SUV, then drove away.

She took a deep breath and looked at the girls, who were both studying her curiously. "Are you ready to go?"

They both nodded vigorously, so Liz grabbed her bag and herded them down the steps quickly, and helped them into her Mercedes. She loved this car because it reminded her of Red; he had given it to her almost two years ago as a gift. She had had a hard time accepting it at first, but he refused to take no for an answer, saying, "Lizzy, Sweetheart, driving this would give me peace of mind for your safety, please just accept it." He had been so sweet and caring that she couldn't say no after that; she was glad she hadn't.

She slid in the car and turned to the girls to make sure that they had their seat belts on, then turned around and started the car. She took a deep breath; she could do this.

OOOOOO

They arrived at the water park without incident in less than a half hour. After paying and getting themselves wet down in the shower in the locker room, they hurried outside as fast as their legs would allow. Liz followed after them at a slower pace and surveyed the park. It looked like every other water park she'd ever been to, with multicolored slides and little kids running around everywhere. She found a lounge chair close to the kiddie pool and set her things down in a heap, then quickly dug out her sunblock and called to the girls, "Do you guys have sunblock on?"

They turned right before they reached the water and nodded, "Uncle Aram already put it on us."

Liz smiled and waved her hand, "Alright then, have fun and don't go too far away without asking me first."

They smiled and ran into the water, screaming in delight.

Liz took her tank-top and sarong off, sat down and put sunblock on her arms, legs, torso, and face, then slid her dark sunglasses on and laid back in the chair. It was hot, but wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be.

Just as she was beginning to drift off, her cell phone began ringing from deep inside her bag. She rolled her eyes, not believing how often she was being disturbed on her "day off", then dug through her bag until she finally found the offending object. She wanted to chuck it into the pool but answered it instead, not looking first to see who was calling, and in an annoyed tone said, "Keen."

"Lizzy." His warm, inviting voice washed over her, and she couldn't hold back the little smile that stole across her face. She hadn't seen him for a few days, and found that she had missed him more than she realized.

"Hey Red. When did you get back in town?" She sounded a little too happy to hear from him and tried to tamp down her enthusiasm a bit.

"Just now. Where are you, I have some information to pass along." That was usually code for "I want to see you, but can't say that over an unsecure line."

She cleared her throat, "Um..I'm actually at a water park babysitting a couple of Aram's nieces."

He huffed a laugh, "I imagine it's an interesting story about how that came about. How long are you going to be? I can meet you after you're done."

Liz suddenly felt overheated, so she began fanning herself with her other hand. "We just got here, so either you're going to have to wait a while, or come here and talk to me."

He was quiet for a few seconds, then said in a low voice, "I'll come to you. See you soon." Then hung up before she could tell him not to. That was the second time today that she's been hung up on; it was annoying.

OOOOOO

She watched the girls splashing each other and wished she could be that carefree again. Childhood was much more simple. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see Red until he was standing right in front of her. She yelped in surprise and put a hand over her heart, "You scared me to death."

He smirked, "I did try calling your name multiple times, but you didn't hear me."

Liz rolled her eyes, "Obviously."

She watched as he raked his eyes over her body, lingering on her chest. She took the opportunity to do the same while he was occupied. He was wearing dark blue board shorts and a white t-shirt with O'Neill written across the front, and blue flip-flops; she was surprised that he owned any of those things. He also had a black fedora and amber-colored sunglasses on. She was interrupted from her internal musing by his quiet voice, "You look absolutely stunning, Lizzy. This is by far my favorite outfit that you've worn to date."

She dragged her eyes away from his forearms and looked at him, "You don't look so bad yourself. Did you have that stuff hidden in the back of your closet or something?"

He chuckled and sat down on the chair next to her, his knees touching the side of her thigh. "Oh No, we had to stop at some dreadful store to buy these clothes." He glanced down at the shorts distastefully, "They didn't have many acceptable choices, so I settled for this."

She reached out a hand and ran her fingers over the bottom of the shorts, brushing the skin on his knee in the process, "Well I like them. You look good in blue."

They sat there staring at each other, not quite knowing what to do. Liz wanted to kiss him and give him a big hug, but she didn't think they were that far along in their relationship to do that. It was maddening.

Just as she opened her mouth to say something, the two girls ran over to her, "Liz, Liz, will you come play with us? Pleaseeeeeee?"

Liz smiled, "I'm not feeling well, but Ray here would love to play with you. Wouldn't you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her in protest, but the girls spoke up before he could say anything, "Please Ray, will you come throw us in the air like our Daddy does? Pretty please?" They were smiling adorably at him, and Liz knew he wasn't going to be able to turn them down.

He heaved a sigh, "Sure I'll play with you. Go on ahead and I'll be there shortly." They yelled, "YAY!" simultaneously then speed-walked back to the pool. Their little legs looking like blurs.

As soon as the girls were out of ear-shot, he turned to her and growled, "Lizzy, why?.."

She smiled brightly then patted his leg, cutting him off from his complaining, "You'll have fun. Just go enjoy yourself."

He sighed, "Fine, but I'm going to get you back for this."

Red took his fedora off and plopped it unceremoniously on to Liz's head. It was a little big, and she pushed it up and glared at him; but was secretly pleased that he put it on her. "What's this?"

He shrugged and slid his shirt off over his head, "It looks better on you anyway." His eyes darkened and he moved closer, "And it's incredibly sexy." Before she could say anything, he turned and walked away towards the pool. Liz couldn't tear her eyes away from the muscles in his back that flexed every time he took a step. She began fanning herself again; feeling flushed.

She watched them play together for the next forty-five minutes, while keeping the fedora on her head. Red threw them high into the air and out like a cannon over and over, and the girls were having the time of their lives; screaming and laughing constantly. She fell a little more in love with the man after seeing him with little kids, and wished she was brave enough to do something about it.

After a few more throws, she watched him put his arms up and say something. She could hear the girls groan, but then they swam away and began playing by themselves again. Red made his way over to her, dripping wet, and she quickly closed her eyes behind her sunglasses, pretending that she was asleep.

When he reached her, he put hands against the cushion behind her on either side of her head and leaned in close to whisper in her ear, "I know you're not asleep, Sweetheart." Then leaned his head down further, kissed her jaw and mumbled against her smooth skin, "I missed you far too much."

She opened her eyes and smiled, then put a hand on his wet chest and said, "I missed you too, Red, but you're dripping all over me."

He smirked and lowered more of his body on to hers; completely soaking her bikini and stomach. His face was right in front of her, all she had to do was lean forward a few inches. She licked her lips, and watched as he did the same. She began moving towards him, and just as their lips touched sending jolts of electricity to her core, a little boy ran by them screaming for his mommy. Reminded suddenly that they were surrounded by a lot of impressionable kids, Red reluctantly slid off of her, and sat down in the chair next to hers and began to dry off. She was still trying to recover from their near-kiss.

She cleared her throat, "Thank you for playing with them. I think you made their day."

He smiled faintly and nodded, "It wasn't too bad actually. I haven't done anything like that for a long time."

She smiled sadly at him, hating that it reminded him of his lost daughter.

A shaft of sunlight hit his body and she moved her sunglasses down to look at his skin. "Red, you're burnt to a crisp. Why didn't you put any sunblock on?"

He shrugged and pursed his lips, "I didn't think to, but now I'm regretting it."

She sat up and dug the bottle of Aloe Vera out of her bag, then patted the area in front of her, "Let me put some of this stuff on you, it'll help take away the burning feeling."

He stood and sat down in front of her and she stared at all the fading scars on his back. She wondered at the stories behind them as she began to rub the soothing gel over his back and sides; not failing to notice his tattoos either. She didn't dare ask about the meaning behind them either. He seemed to be enjoying her ministrations because he had his head leaned forward and was making small noises in the back of this throat.

She patted his shoulder, "Turn around so I can do your shoulders and chest."

He complied, and she avoided eye contact as she continued to rub the gel over his shoulders, and then his stomach. She moved her hands up over his chest and accidentally caught one of his nipples with a fingernail. She heard him suck in a breath, and she brought her eyes up to see that his pupils were dilated and his breaths were coming faster. She toyed with his chest hair, trying not to blush under his scrutiny, until his lips crashed over hers; she hadn't even seen him coming. He pushed her back against the chair, knocking the fedora on her head at an odd angle, then hovered over her as he moved his tongue into her mouth and slid it over hers back and forth. She kissed him back with the same fervor, and found herself getting lost in the sensation that was Raymond Reddington as he slid his hands over her stomach and towards her breasts. She began running her hands down his side and was just about to grab his ass when she heard the distinct sound of two little girls running towards them. She pushed him off hurriedly, not missing his arousal, and sat up as the girls reached them. "We're hungry. Can we go eat please?"

Liz fixed the fedora and straightened her bikini, then said in a slightly husky voice, "Sure. I'm hungry too. Let's get you guys dried off then we can go."

She grabbed a towel, and watched as Red grabbed the other and began helping Eiliana dry off. They finished quickly, and Liz put her own clothes back on then grabbed her bag. Red was standing a few feet away with his shirt back on holding one of the girl's hands on either side of him. She loved how they warmed up to him right away. His eyes were hidden behind his sunglasses, but she imagined that he was still feeling the aftereffects of their kiss like she was. She wanted more, but unfortunately now wasn't the time or place.

They walked to the concessions stand and ordered a cheese pizza for all of them. They sat down at a picnic table and received their food in minutes. Red quickly pulled a piece down for Akhita and put it on a plate in front of her, then spoke quietly, "Do you need me to cut it up for you?"

She shook her head, "I'm a big girl, I can eat it like you." Red smiled and patted her back, "I'm sure you can, just checking."

They ate the rest of their meal in silence, half listening to the little girls chatter, and occasionally giving each other heated looks. He looked entirely too appealing in his white shirt, and she found her thoughts continually drifting towards their kiss. She wished she was at home alone with him.

It was nearing 6:00PM and it was time to go home; Aram should be finished by now.

Just as she thought that, her phone began ringing. She pulled it out and saw it was Aram, "Hey Aram, are you done?"

"Yep, we're just finishing up, so I should be at your house in a half hour or so."

"We're just about to leave the waterpark, so that's perfect. See you soon." She hung up on him before he could do it to her again.

She stuck her phone back in her bag and smiled, "Ok, guys. Time to go. Your Uncle Aram is coming to get you."

They clapped excitedly and walked in front of Liz and Red as they made their way back to their cars. He slid his pinky into hers and squeezed it lightly. She looked over at him, and the look in his eyes caused her to clear her throat and avoid looking at him again.

They reached her car, and quickly helped the girls with their seat belts, then met each other in back of the car. She took the fedora off of her head and put it back on his, then smiled, "Thanks for loaning that to me."

He smiled, "Like I said before, it looks much better on you. You should start wearing them, I'll even lend you some of mine."

She huffed in amusement, then said, "Right. I need to get the girls back. Thanks for spending time with us, it was fun."

He stepped closer, his eyes suddenly serious, "I think we have some things we need to discuss. Can I come over after Aram picks them up?"

She swallowed nervously and nodded, "Sounds good."

He put his hand behind her neck and pulled her forward for a soft kiss. His lips were warm and inviting. They paused for a moment, and he mumbled against her lips, "Drive safe." She deepened the kiss momentarily, then pulled back and ran her hand over his stubbly jaw. "I'll see you later."

He quirked his mouth and watched as she slid into her car and drove away.

Red felt like things were finally moving forward with her, and he was finally hopeful for their future together. All it took was a fedora and two little girls to convince her. He smiled at nothing in particular, then got into his own car and drove towards his future.

AN2: I really love writing for these prompts. I'm not sure about this one, so any feedback would be helpful. Please let me know what you think and thanks for reading.