"What the hell?" Liz mumbled to herself. She knew she was at the right place.

She knelt and ran her fingers over the grass. They came up slick and could see in the moonlight that it was blood. Whether it was Red's or Jordyn's she didn't know.

She stood up and surveyed the surrounding area, but couldn't see anything in the weak light.

A growing sense of panic was gnawing at her gut, but she had to stay calm and think; Red's life depended on it.

Liz hadn't seen anyone lurking around, but they could have easily hid in the trees and waited for the right opportunity.

Red would have never been caught off-guard normally, but he was injured and may even have a concussion resulting from his tussle with Jordyn.

"Dammit." She had just left him sitting there, vulnerable. Sometimes she wondered why she was even an FBI agent, because she felt like a complete idiot at the moment. She honestly didn't know what to do, and didn't know who she could trust, if anyone, and Dembe was out of reach.

She glanced at her watch, pushing the button for the light, and saw it was 9:45. That meant it was past time for lights out. That was the one good thing going for her at the moment, because that would make it easier to move around the compound undetected.

She had to get to Jack's office. Maybe she could find the evidence they needed, then bring in the Calvary and they could help her find Red.

She walked close to the greenhouses and tried to keep out of sight. She made it to the edge of the greenhouses and stopped. The administration building was probably a good 200 yards away from where she was standing with nothing in the middle to mask her progress from whomever was after them.

"Screw it", she mumbled, and decided to just throw caution to the wind and make a run for it. She was in good enough shape that she could most likely sprint the whole way. Liz took off and was half way there when she saw dark shapes walking towards the administration building in front of her. She couldn't make out if they were male or female, but there was three of them, and they were walking with purpose.

Liz stopped and held her breath, hoping they wouldn't look her way, because they would see her if they did.

They kept walking however, and Liz sighed in relief. As soon as they disappeared inside the building, Liz took off at a dead run again towards her destination.

She made it within a minute or two and slid down against the building to catch her breath and to think up a plan. She needed to get in without anyone noticing and for that she had to cause a distraction.

The only things she could think of to do was to let the animals loose, or to set a fire. Setting a fire would certainly cause them all to come out and help put it out, while letting the animals loose probably wouldn't. She had a flashlight, so she could most likely cause enough sparks to start a fire...hopefully.

Now which building to set on fire? It had to be one that was empty, so no one would get hurt, but more important than just a greenhouse. She decided on the meeting hall where they had met everyone when they had first arrived. It was perfect, and it wasn't too far away.

Liz needed something for tinder and saw a pine tree standing next to the administration building. She walked under it and gathered as many pine needles as she could carry, then crept behind the tree line so she could walk unseen over to the meeting hall.

As she walked through the trees, she gathered bark and pine cones off of the ground to help fuel the fire once she got the tiny spark that she needed. She also picked up a rock to hit against the flashlight.

She made it to the hall without incident and snuck inside. She needed to find the most vulnerable area for a fire and decided to just do it in the main room on one of the old couches. It would easily catch on fire.

It was pitch black inside and she couldn't see much, but couldn't risk turning her flashlight on either. She kept banging her shins on things she couldn't see and bit back curses on the tip of her tongue.

Finally making it to one of the couches she put the pine needles in a small pile. This was going to be the hard part. She took the rock out of her pocket and put the flashlight at an angle towards the needles. She banged the rock hard against the metal of the flashlight but saw only one tiny spark. That wasn't going to do it obviously. Liz hit it again, even harder, and saw a couple more small sparks. "Come on." She mumbled. She hit it again, as hard as she could this time and multiple sparks came out, hitting the dry needles. She saw smoke rising from the moonlight coming through the windows and smiled. She leaned down and blew softly, coaxing the tiny flame. Praying it would take.

After a few seconds, the needles caught on fire and she hurriedly put on the pine cones and bark, then blew some more.

She had a full-out fire now and patted herself on the back for her resourcefulness. Then laughed internally, because she was once again breaking the law by committing arson, but found she didn't care.

The couch finally started to burn and she decided it was time to go. She snuck back out the way she had come in, ran back to the treeline and hid behind a large pine tree. Now all she had to do was wait.

Liz slid down the tree in exhaustion. She was so worried for Red that she could hardly think straight and hated herself for being like that. When had she become so attached? In such a short time she had come to depend on him to have all the answers and to protect her. She hadn't needed him to, but she let him because he wanted to do it. She cursed herself for getting too close to him, even if she did love him, because if he was dead then it was going to hurt a hell of a lot worse than it would have when they first arrived.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, trying to fight the thoughts that he was dead clawing their way to the surface of her mind.

Suddenly she heard shouts and peeked her head around the tree. There were people running to the meeting hall and she could see smoke pouring out of it. She grimaced. She was successful, but felt no satisfaction.

People were running towards the administration building, presumably to retrieve Jack so he could help. At least her plan worked.

After a few moments she saw five people run back out of the administration building. She could easily tell that Jack and Kitty were two of them, but couldn't make out the other ones.

After they passed her, with Jack shouting instructions to others, she took off towards the building they had just run out of. She made it to the door quickly and walked in.

It wasn't a large building, and only had five or six doors. She walked up to Jack's office door and tried the handle. It was locked.

"Dammit." She whispered. Liz couldn't kick the door down, and wasn't sure she would be able to anyway. She tried the handle again and saw that it was a little loose. Smiling at her good fortune, she took a bobby pin out of her hair and started to unscrew the loose screws around the handle. It should have only took a few seconds, but she felt rushed and her hands were shaking, making the task more difficult.

She finally unscrewed the last screw and took the handle off, then swung open the door.

There was Red, sitting in a chair tied up and unconscious, looking a lot worse for wear. She ran over to him and shook his shoulders. "Red, wake up." His head just lolled around slightly, with no response from him.

Liz grunted in frustration and started untying his restraints. She had gotten his torso untied and most of his legs when she heard a groan from behind the cloth covering his mouth. She quickly stood up and slipped it down to his neck. His face was bloody everywhere and one of his eyes was swollen shut.

Red lifted his head and cracked open the eye that wasn't welded shut. "Lizzy." He breathed, "What the hell are you doing here? Get out while you still can." His voice was raspy and pain-filled.

She shook her head, and wiped some of the blood on his face away with her sleeve, "You should know by now that I would never do that. I thought you knew everything about me?" She smiled faintly.

He shook his head, not amused, "It doesn't matter. You need to leave."

"Shut up, Red. I'm not leaving, so you might as well save your breath and help me get you out."

He sighed, clearly displeased with her, "Well you're going to need to release my hands so I can do so."

She quickly went around to his back and made fast work of the knots. Whomever had tied them hadn't done a very good job.

His arms freed, he bent over with a grunt and untied the rest of the restraints around his legs. His breathing was labored and he was letting little grunts of pain through his clenched jaw. She squatted next to him and put a hand on his back, "Where else are you injured?"

He looked at her and grimaced, "I'm fairly positive I have a few broken ribs and I can no longer feel the gunshot wound on my leg."

Liz knew that wasn't a good thing. "Well come on, we need to get out of here before they come back."

Just as she said that, she felt something strike the back of her head and everything went black. The last thing she heard was Red yelling obscenities at whomever had hit her.

OOOOOOOO

Liz awoke with a groan. She had a hell of a headache and wondered why. She opened her eyes, looked up and saw O'Sullivan staring at her with his piercing blue eyes, and everything that had happened came rushing back to her. Now they were both captive, with no hope to be rescued.

She looked to her right and saw Red looking at her with a blank expression. He obviously was trying to make it so O'Sullivan wouldn't see how much he actually cared for her welfare.

"Well, well, well..welcome back to the world of the living 'Elizabeth Keen'." She wondered how he knew who she was. Obviously seeing her confusion he continued, "Oh yes, I knew who you were as soon as you stepped foot into my compound. Do you think that I don't thoroughly check out everyone that comes here?" He laughed coldly.

"Why didn't you out us right away then?" She mumbled, her eyes betraying her hatred for him.

That's when she heard Kitty's voice, "We wanted to see what your agenda was. We couldn't figure out why you would come here. We found out that it was for that pregnant girl eventually, but she had already been taken into our custody for violating our 'sex before marriage' law."

Liz shook her head, and immediately regretted it as she squinted over at Kitty, "She was already pregnant, why did you even allow her to come if that was against one of your rules?"

Jack laughed, "We let her in so we could eliminate her from society. She was a sinner and needed to be treated as such."

"You bastard!" Liz yelled, she was angrier than she could ever remember being. "She was trying to start over and make a better life for herself, and you killed her cold-blooded!"

Jack pursed his lips, her words not affecting him in the least, "Um, I'm pretty sure child-birth killed her. Not us."

"She died because of the beatings, and you know that you son of a bitch."

He moved around his desk faster than she thought possible and slapped her across the face, hard.

She winced and blinked back the tears in her eyes. She wasn't going to give the bastard the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

Red interrupted them before he could hit her again, his voice deadly. "Jack, leave her alone. You have no use for her. She's dead weight. Deal with me, but leave her out of it."

Jack and Kitty laughed at the same time, but it was Jack who spoke, "Oh, I think we're going to have a lot of fun with the both of you. Don't you think, Kitty?"

"Yes, Honey, and I can't wait." Gone was the warm, inviting woman whom they had first met.

Liz decided to try to get more information from them. "What do you want with us anyway? How could we possibly help you?"

Jack moved back around his desk and sat in his chair. "Oh, you have a great deal of value to us. Especially Red. Can you imagine how much I could sell him for to one of his old enemies? They would pay a fortune for him." He turned to his eyes to her, "For you, I could get a pretty penny on the black-market. There's always a market for hot young women, or I could keep you for myself." He smiled again, "Oh, that would be fun. Can you imagine the good times we would have Kitty?"

Kitty smirked, "I can picture it now."

Liz didn't see how they were going to get out of this without being sold off or killed. She glanced at Red and saw a cold fury in his eyes, but he was just as helpless as she was. They couldn't do anything with their hands tied up.

She needed to tell Red that she loved him before they got separated. He deserved to know. She turned her head to him and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Red spoke up, "I'll have you know that there are hundreds of FBI agents about to swarm this place. You should get away while you still can."

Jack laughed out loud, "Oh Reddy boy, do you think I'm an idiot? I would know if that was true."

Red sat back in defeat, his eyes closed. It looked as if he had given up and she felt her last sliver of hope slip away. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Jack stood up, walked back over to her and punched her in the ribs a few times, then her face a few more for good measure. She wasn't going to cry out. She refused to.

She was bleeding from her nose and a cut on her cheek by the time he was finished, but didn't say anything and just stared at him coldly.

He pursed his lips and wiped the blood that was on his knuckles on her shirt, then turned around to Kitty, "Your turn."

Kitty chuckled, "Nah, I'm tired of this. Let's get these two loaded up in a van, get rid of everyone else and move on. I think we've over stayed our welcome in Colorado..I was thinking maybe Utah next time? "

Jack shook his head, "Too close, but we can discuss that later when we're alone."

Kitty nodded, "Let's get moving then. I'm ready to sleep, it's been a long night what with the fire..."

She trailed off and walked up to Liz, her eyes murderous, "Did you set that fire?"

Liz smiled, her teeth blood-stained, and said proudly, "I did. Pretty good distraction don't you think?"

She slapped Liz across the face, the sound reverberating through the room, her voice angry, "All that does is cause more grief for you later on. You'll be punished for that when we have time to properly do it."

Liz nodded, feeling in the mood to provoke them, "I look forward to it."

Kitty stomped down on her foot as hard as she could and Liz grunted, but didn't cry out. It felt like all her toes and foot were broken. That was going to make any escape attempt even more difficult. Dammit.

Jack and Kitty turned to walk out the door when it burst open and off of its hinges. There stood Dembe, pointing a gun at them. They had such a shocked look on their faces that it caused Liz to laugh a little. Dembe spoke up, his voice calm, "I suggest you lie on the floor with your hands behind your backs, or I'll kill you without hesitation."

Jack laughed, "We have other people around here that are with us. You'll never get out of here alive."

Dembe smiled, "That is where you are wrong. As soon as I got out of the compound, I called the FBI and told them of the situation. There are currently over 100 FBI agents swarming the compound."

Jack looked back at Red incredulously. Red smirked, "I told you, O'Sullivan. You should have listened to me."

Jack screamed in anger and launched himself at Red, intending to kill him with his bare hands. Before he could even take a step, Dembe shot him in the leg, and Jack went down with a whimper, holding his leg and moaning in pain.

Dembe pointed the gun back at Kitty and gestured with it for her to get down on the ground. Liz could see the fury in her eyes, but she sighed and laid down on her stomach, putting her hands behind her back.

Dembe quickly pulled out two zip ties and put them on her wrists and ankles. She was cursing at him and tried to spit on him, so Dembe punched her in the face and knocked her out.

Then he walked over to O'Sullivan and did the same. Jack didn't want to let go of his leg, but Dembe didn't give him much choice.

Liz shook her head at Jack's whining, "Dembe, we need him alive so he can rot in prison, you should probably tie off his leg so he doesn't bleed to death." He nodded and proceeded to do so.

After he finished, he walked over to Red and untied him twice as fast as Liz had done earlier. The man truly was a jack of all trades.

Red stood up gingerly, walked over to Liz and untied her quickly. As soon as she was free he pulled her up and hugged her tightly to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and tugged, bringing their bodies flush with each other, while keeping all her weight on her unbroken foot.

She put her lips on his ear, so only he could hear what she had to say, "Red, I love you. I should have told you that before, but I was afr..." He cut her off with his lips, kissing her hard and deep. No tenderness in sight. It took her a second to respond, but her brain finally caught up and she kissed him back with the same fervency. He jammed his tongue in her mouth and wrestled with hers, while running his hands over her back and under her shirt. She gasped and pulled away slightly at the contact, but he didn't let her get too far away and reclaimed her lips. His hands were running up her ribs softly, while she tugged at his shoulders to try to bring him impossibly closer. Just as his hands grazed the bottom of her bra, her senses came back to her. They were in a room with Dembe. FBI agents, and possibly Cooper, were outside right now and could walk in anytime.

She pushed back slightly, panting, "Red, we can't do this now. Anyone could walk in."

He leaned his head on her forehead, nodding, "I'm not going to apologize, but you're right. We can continue this later." There was a promise in his eyes.

He leaned in and kissed her again, all tenderness this time. He opened his mouth slightly and she reciprocated. After a moment he pulled back and hugged her to him. "I'm so glad you're ok, Lizzy. I was worried for your welfare after I was taken." He turned his head slightly and spoke directly in her ear, "I love you too, Sweetheart."

She closed her eyes and put her head on his shoulder, running her hands up and down his back, content to stay there forever. After only a moment though, Dembe spoke up, "Mr. Reddington, the Agent in charge would like to speak with you and Liz."

Red nodded, pulled away from Liz with a slight smile, and took her hand. He started to walk and Liz tried to follow, but as soon as she put weight on her foot, cried out in pain. He stopped and turned back to her, compassion on his face, "I forgot about your foot Lizzy, sorry." He walked back to her and put his arm around her waist in support then turned to Dembe, "Will you get on the other side of her and help her walk to headquarters?"

Dembe nodded and put his arm around her shoulders, then together they led Liz out of the room. Leaving Jack and Kitty lying there unconscious.

OOOOOOO

They made it to headquarters after ten minutes or so and helped Liz into a chair.

The walk over had been interesting to say the least. The building Liz had set on fire was now just a smoldering pile, but no longer posed any danger. People were being rounded up into groups by multiple FBI agents. Most had been compliant, but some had been downright belligerent and had to be restrained. Apparently they had found Jack's book in the time it took them to walk over here, that had a record of all his employees and illegal activities. He was going to be in prison for a long, long time. As was Kitty.

Liz settled on her seat and Harold Cooper walked over to them, "Agent Keen, Reddington, I'm glad to see you alive and relatively unharmed."

Liz nodded and smiled faintly, "Sir, how did you get here so quickly?"

"We had a task force ready to go as soon as we got the word. So when Dembe called we got here as fast as we could." He looked her up and down, "And apparently not a moment too soon."

She nodded and turned to Red, who was sitting heavily in the chair next to her, "You knew they were coming didn't you?"

"I told Dembe to get the FBI here as soon as possible. I just didn't have a chance to tell you."

Liz smiled, she didn't care about that, she was just grateful they were here and that she wasn't on her way to be sold on the black-market.

"Well I'm glad you did...wait..Dembe, where's Alec?" She suddenly felt panicked and turned to Dembe.

Dembe put his hands up, trying to quell the rising emotion in her eyes, "He is still with Haley. Grey is there helping as well. Baby Alec is well taken care of, do not worry about him."

Liz sat back in relief. Suddenly more grateful for Dembe than she had ever been. "Thank you Dembe, you've been great."

He nodded, clearly not comfortable with her praise, and walked away to help the FBI.

She turned to Red, who was looking at her with a small smile on his face, "What?"

He shook his head and pursed his lips, "Nothing, I'm just ready to return home. I'm ready for my bed."

She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but since Cooper was standing right there, she couldn't. He couldn't know about a relationship between them. If there was even going to be one. She hoped so.

Instead she turned to Cooper, "Sir, can we go home?"

Cooper nodded, "As soon as we take your statements and you go to the hospital to get your injuries treated."

Liz sighed, that was going to take hours. "Well I'm ready to give my statement, let's get this over with."

She heard Red chuckle lightly and she turned and mock-glared at him.

OOOOOOOO

Hours later found them returning home in the FBI private airplane. Red had three broken ribs and needed fifty stitches in his leg after they removed the bullet. They said he was lucky that it wasn't more serious and declared it a miracle that he could still walk.
Liz had a broken cheekbone that wasn't going to need surgery and a broken foot with five broken toes. They didn't think that was going to require surgery either, but wanted to wait and re-examine it in the near future. She hated being on crutches, but the alternative was a wheelchair, and that just was not going to happen.

Red was asleep in the seat next to her, the pain pills making him dead to the world. Liz felt wired and figured it was probably because she was ready to be home. She stared at his face, and ran her finger over his furrowed eyebrows. He looked distressed even in sleep. She wished she knew why.

They had a lot to talk about, and she still needed to talk to Tom too. That was a conversation she wasn't looking forward to, but it was a necessary one if she wanted to be with Red. Which she did. She only hoped he felt the same.

She laid back and ran her hand over Red's arm, content in the knowledge that he loved her. She only hoped it was enough for what was to come.

Author's Note: Well there you have it. I've had so much fun writing this story. If there's enough interest, I'm willing to continue and explore what happens when they get home. Please comment or send me a PM and let me know. If there's not, then I'm perfectly happy with ending it here. I think it's a good place to end. Thank you so much for reading and for all the comments/faves/follows..I've been truly overwhelmed with the support and awesomeness of my fellow Blacklisters and Lizzington shippers. Until next time. :)

There is a sequel to this story called "Navigation". Please let me know what you think!