The Heart of Life

CHAPTER 5: "Photographs and Memories"

CHAPTER 5: "Photographs and Memories..."

Lizzie was rather relieved that Red has slept through their whole journey going to Annapolis; A.D Cooper has sent a message to Dembe that Liz can have an indefinite leave in order to take care of Reddington. He also said that they were going to keep things at hand while the pair were gone, and as long as Dembe would keep sending them at least the small names of the list, the Attorney General would not be a problem. They needed Reddington in full working order to keep his end of the deal, and with his situation right now, it was impossible; and they would not want to say this out loud but the man has grown on them; he may be a wanted criminal, but over the last few years they managed to see through the man. They saw a rather playful, mischievous, adventurous, smart, witty... and the ladies would probably say charming and handsome too little boy, rather than a ruthless criminal. And besides, he had been good with Liz, a little overprotective, but nonetheless a great man. None of them really thought about this.

They had transported him to the mansion, late that night. He woke briefly and Mr. Kaplan immediately shooed her away, and had gotten him settled in. Red still hadn't said a word ever since saying her name inside the jet. Whenever he came awake, he would gather his knees to his chest and rock back and forth, hugging Reddy bear closely to himself. He also hummed a beautifully haunting tune which Liz divested to be "their song..." the one that he would always asked her to dance with him, and the one which he hummed when he was really rather happy with something.

She decided to put up her iPod on deck inside his room and played the song over and over. She would do anything to get him back home to her. She would do anything to keep him safe, make him feel safe so that he would come home to her.

She was going insane. She had never seen him this out of sorts before; he was always so calm, that even in the darkest of situations he even managed to smile; hell! The man can wall though hell with a smile. She knew more than anything that you can't change the past. He barely had bruises and all except for the cut on his neck where they took out his darpa chip; that was healing nicely. It had been a couple of weeks and Red still hadn't said, let alone spoken anything. He performed the basic the basic functions of living but he had drawn the line there. He would walk, eat, bathe, and go to sleep when told; a total opposite of the real Raymond Reddington who never listens to a word you say. He was like a robot, nothing but an automation. Something inside of him was just missing. She took him for walks on the beach, showed him glorious sunrise and sunsets, they even watched the stars at night, she even played his favorite music, and read to him his favourite novels. She would hold conversations with him; one-sided conversation, that is. But she had to keep believing that he will recover. He has to.

At night she slept in the room adjoined with his, but she would always end up on the small couch that was inside his room. She must've given enough of herself away by cracking her back and neck every morning, Dembe and Mr. Kaplan had an overstuffed chaise lounge brought in for her.

Her thoughts were consumed with Red. She didn't know how to help him, and she really really wanted to. Dembe and Mr. Kaplan had brought in specialists from all over the world, even one so from A.D Cooper himself; one suggested that must be institutionalized and Elizabeth and Mr. Kaplan literally had to physically restrained Dembe from strangling the man. The rest suggested that he just needed time. Time to heal, time to forget, time to move on. Not knowing the full extent of the trauma that he was in, meant that it was imperative to tread lightly while dealing with the whole situation.  He would wait, forever if needed be. He didn't rocked back and forth anymore as long as she was there with him, when she reads to him, he would hug REDD-y tightly to his chest and give her a small smile. His skin glowed a little tanner during their walks on the beach; he had taken to wearing just a pull-over and some jeans too.