The Heart of Life

CHAPTER 7: "Home"

CHAPTER SEVEN: "Home"

They enjoyed their lunch together, "Dembe is an excellent cook..." Liz bragged to her team-mates; "so does Raymond..." she smiled and looked at Red who was silently tucking into his food. Every once in a while he would give sideward glances to the people around him, as if assessing them. Maybe somewhere inside his head, he knows who and what they are to him and Lizzie. Red had retreated to himself again but he was smiling more now, especially towards Aram; he always had a soft spot for the young man. Safe to say, he was fond of him...although Aram on the other hand was terrified of him.

During the afternoon tea and coffee, they shared the baked goods that Aram had brought over all the way from D.C., he even took the liberty of distributing them around the table. He placed a large piece of Coffeecake and a jelly donut on Red's plate, knowing that he was quite fond of them. Red gave him a glance from the corner of his eye, but did not touch it; instead he held onto Reddy bear a little bit tighter. Liz placed a hand on his hand and slowly rubbed his knuckles "Go ahead Ray, it's alright... Aram brought them for you all the way from D.C..." she said with a smile.

They watched the scene before them with awe. They could really see how Liz was being patient with Red; they could feel her love for him, and besides what they were going through they were happy for them. Red kept giving Aram sideways glances before finally picking up the piece of coffee cake off of his plate. Aram gave a winning smile when Red tucked into the pastry and gave him a smile. "I knew you liked them so much, and I thought... why not bring you some..." giving him another winning smile; Donald chuckled and shook his head "trying to get to his good side Aram?" he teased. Aram's eyes grew wide and his face reddened "w-well...n-no...I mean... you know..." they all laughed at the stuttering buffoon in-front of them; "No need to explain yourself Aram...I'm pretty sure Reddington is happy either way..." Cooper said pointing to the direction from where Red sat who was now devouring his second piece of Jelly donut. "I remember Ray used to eat at least six of these before we go to the P.O..." Liz said with a smile recalling the memory fondly; "I always knew when he was around in the morning..." Samar said while taking a sip of her coffee; "...The smell of freshly brewed coffee and pastries fills the whole office..." "The man does love his food..." Harold said joining in the conversation earning a hearty laugh from those around him.

The next day, Red was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast while the team talked in the study. Dembe and Mr. Kaplan had informed them that they had confirmed that Tom Keen was responsible for the kidnapping and torture of Raymond Reddington; and that Tom Keen had left the U.S when he heard that Reddington's people and The FBI was onto him. "He left the country yesterday on a boat..." Dembe said. "I have people checking up on him onto where he's going, his backer...everything... we may have answers by tomorrow..." Mr. Kaplan finished. They left the kitchen knowing that Red would not want to hear this, either way they can't let him hear this until it was finalized. They were talking for 15 minutes when they heard a blood-curdling scream ripped through the house all the way from the kitchen. The first loud and conscious words from his mouth and it had been out of fear.

Her heart was in her throat, they exited the room tore through the house to get to him. She found him cowered in a corner of the kitchen with one of his personal guards crouching over him, speaking in a low voice. "What the hell are you doing here?" Dembe's urge to attack with his bare hands was overwhelming. The man turned around, Ethan Pope, he had been with Red for quite some time now. "Ms. Keen, I came to tell you about some suspicious movements from inside the property and when I entered Mr. Reddington was fine, but he stopped eating and turned to look at me. I told him; "Goodmorning Sir, please continue your breakfast..." and he went crazy! He stumbled on the floor, trying to get away. I was terrified he was going to hurt himself.