AN: Part one of four. The other three chapters will come out quickly.

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

Near Kiss #1: Set six months after the finale. Liz is still living with Red.

Liz collapsed to the plush, expensive carpet in a heap of sweat. She had just finished another round of Insanity in front of the TV and was exhausted. She had tried many things to stay in shape while living a Nomadic lifestyle with Red, but nothing really seemed to kick her trash quite like Insanity did.

She groaned and rolled to her back, still breathing hard, as she stared at the crystal chandelier twenty feet above her head. The late afternoon light shone through the windows causing the sunlight to hit off the fixture and prism at different points on the ceiling. It was actually pretty; not that she'd ever had a reason to stare at this particular ceiling before, but at least she had some entertainment while she attempted to breathe normally again.

She reached up and wiped the sweat from her forehead, but grimaced when the sweat only smeared over her face because her forearms were sweat drenched as well. She dropped her arm in defeat and resumed staring at the small rainbow prisms dancing across the walls while listening to the home screen of the Insanity DVD play the same annoying song on repeat. She didn't have to energy to sit up and turn it off.

Her heart rate finally slowed enough for her to hear herself think; which was when the front door opened and closed. Shit. Red was supposed to be gone until the next day. Why was he home already? The couch blocked her view of the entry way, so she laid there and hoped he would go upstairs and bypass the living room altogether so she could sneak into her bedroom without him seeing her like this. She had a weird thing where she didn't like people watching her work out, or seeing her sweaty and gross after. She had managed to elude Red seeing her like this for months; but it looked like her luck might finally run out.

She heard the sound of his expensive shoes reverberate through the vast entry hall and held her breath as she tracked his movements to the entrance of the living room. "Lizzie?" He sounded curious, not worried, so she continued to lay there silently, not daring to move a muscle. He must have been distracted by the Insanity movements on the home screen of the DVD, and thankfully not paying any attention to the area in front of the sixty inch TV, because after a few moments his footsteps finally moved away and began to move up the wood stairs in the entry hall. She let out a long breath and smiled as she heaved herself off of the floor. Crisis averted.

She quickly walked over to the TV and turned it and the DVD player off, then lifted the hem of her shirt to her face and wiped the sweat away. She needed to shower before Red did a more thorough search and found her still standing there.

Liz hurriedly walked up the stairs as quietly as possible, wincing when the top stair creaked loudly. She stood there for a few seconds, but didn't hear anything, so she continued around the corner and froze when she saw Red leaning casually against her bedroom door with a towel draped over his shoulder and his head tilted to the side as he stared at her expectantly. She winced and avoided eye contact as she slowly continued forward while trying to coax all the loose strands of sweaty hair behind her ear.

She finally came face to face with him, but didn't look up until she felt the towel drape over her shoulders. She looked up to see a small smile on his face.

"I do have to say, Lizzie, that I don't think I've ever seen you like this." There was humor in his voice, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes. They had been dancing around each other for months, avoiding talking about feelings that they both clearly had for one another. And as a result, it seemed their interactions were getting more and more strained as they tried to ignore the elephant in the room. She was tired of it.

"And why do you think that is?" She didn't allow him to answer as she continued, "Anyway, I thought you were going to be gone until tomorrow. Why are you back so soon?" She managed to keep her voice steady as she took in his appearance. He looked entirely too appealing as he had already removed his vest and tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt so that she could see his white undershirt. She sucked in a shaky breath and rose an eyebrow, waiting for him to answer.

He reached forward and tucked one of the strands of hair she'd missed behind her ear and said, "The meeting didn't go well and we had to leave; instead of trying to set up another meeting, we came home." She could tell he wasn't telling her everything, but she didn't feel like prying it out of him. He was exhausting sometimes. Well..most of the time, actually.

She grabbed the ends of the towel as it began to slip off her shoulders and pulled it around her so she covered herself up a little more. She was dressed in a tight, revealing tank top and only just realized how much of a show he was probably getting; but true to the gentleman that he was, she never saw him look down one time.

She took a step to the side to attempt to get around him. "Well, I'm glad you're back, but I need to shower, then we can talk more."

He didn't move aside though, and instead opened his arms. "Come here, sweetheart. I've missed you entirely too much." He'd only been gone for a few days, but she felt the familiar butterflies in her stomach at his words. Those butterflies should be either exhausted or dead by now as much as they'd been working at her stomach for the past couple of months.

She shook her head and tried to push past him again. "Come on, Red. I'm all sweaty and gross. Let me take a shower first."

He moved forward and enveloped her in a hug, and she found that she no longer cared about anything as she melted against his body and wrapped her arms under his dress shirt. She could feel the heat of his skin seeping through his undershirt and scratched the middle of his back lightly as he kissed the spot in front of her ear. "I don't care about that, Lizzie."

She sighed softly and closed her eyes as all her worries seemed to seep away at his touch. She didn't know why she kept fighting her feelings for him when she always felt better in his arms. She tended to forget that he was a dangerous criminal, and that it would be against FBI policy for her to ever enter into a romantic relationship with him.

They stayed like that for a few minutes until he pulled away and cupped her face with his hands, then traced her lips with his thumbs. She smiled as his thumbs moved away from her lips and over her cheeks, tracing the dark circles under her eyes. There was a flicker of concern in his expression, but he didn't ask why it looked like she hadn't been sleeping because he knew she wouldn't tell him; and she would never tell him that the reason she wasn't sleeping well was because he wasn't there. That sounded desperate.

Suddenly he was moving his lips down to meet hers, and she couldn't do anything but close her eyes and part her lips and silently thank the heavens that he was finally going to kiss her. It was about damn time.

He was millimeters from her lips when Dembe's clear, strong voice floated up the stairs. "Raymond, you have a visitor."

Liz opened her eyes to see him close his as his sigh ghosted across her lips. "I'm sorry," he whispered as he pulled back and leaned his head against the door behind him. "I'll be down shortly, Dembe," he yelled back. She could hear the annoyance in his voice, and knew that Dembe would be able to hear it too.

Liz untangled her arms that had been locked around him tightly and took a step back. He opened his eyes and said quietly, "We're not finished here, Lizzie."

She shook her head, then boldly grabbed his belt buckle and pulled him to her so she could kiss his cheek lingeringly. After she moved back, she smiled teasingly. "We'll see."

He swallowed noisily as she quickly stepped around him and opened her door, then shut it behind her and leaned against it. She let out a sigh and listened to his footsteps move to his bedroom across the hall and his door close.

That had been close. But instead of feeling nervous or afraid, she felt annoyed at the interruption.

She threw the towel on the bed and began to strip her clothes off so she could take a shower. While she waited for the water to warm up, she planned how she was going to get him alone again so she could finish what he started.

She couldn't wait.

AN: So I know what you guys are thinking. Another story by jackandsamforever and she still has ALL those unfinished ones? I know, I know. I'm horrible. I've had writers block for so long, and this fic is to help break through that. I promise to get back to those shortly. Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll let me know what you think! :)