We're Not Promised Tomorrow Ch. 01-05

She tugs him up and helps him lower himself into the bath, the water sloshing just below the edges of the gauze wrapping his chest. She pulls the rest of her own clothing off and slides into the water behind him, settling him back against her.

She bathes him, washing away the last remnants of the terrible day from them both, careful to keep his bandages dry in the shallow water. Long after they are clean, Lizzie continues to slide her hands over his skin, reassuring herself that he is here with her, and whole. Eventually, her caresses begin to arouse Red and he stills her wandering hands.

"Mmmm, darling, you're going to have to stop that or you're going to start something we can't finish here."

She nuzzles the back of his neck. "Then take me back to bed," she offers suggestively.

Chapter 4:

Lizzie gently leans Red forward so she can slip out of the tub, wrapping a towel around herself before turning back to him. "This is going to be tricky," she warns.

"It's alright, Lizzie, I'm quite used to dealing with pain," he reminds her.

She clasps his forearms and pulls him steadily out of the bathtub, grateful that it only takes them one try and that he doesn't slip on the wet floor of the tub. He is scowling with discomfort, but clenches his jaw rather than protest.

She lovingly towels him dry, softly rubbing the fluffy cotton over his skin, carefully avoiding the stark white bandage wrapping his chest. There is an innocence to her ministrations and yet he can feel his arousal growing under her touch. She senses the change in his labored breathing, the heat of his skin, the look of intensity in his eyes.

She pulls herself up on her tiptoes, hands resting lightly on the scarred skin of his shoulders, and presses a quick kiss to his lips, that instantly changes into something more. His hands come up to cradle her face as he deepens the kiss, slowly thrusting his tongue into her mouth, exploring her as in ways he didn't have the opportunity to before. He is so grateful for this chance and he pours all that into this one perfect kiss.

Red's mouth is slanting over hers, angling her head toward him, his hands holding her to him gently, as if she would ever want to move away from his kiss. She makes a small sound in the back of her throat and presses her body against his.

His hands leave her face to encircle her waist, drawing her nearer, his lips continuing their exploration, drinking in her sighs. He wants to see her, to feel her smooth skin under his hands. He gives her towel a quick tug and it slides to the floor and she is naked before him, radiant and dewy, perfectly formed in his arms.

She gives a small squeal of surprise when she feels the hot, pulsing length of his erection bump against her belly. She didn't really have time to fully appreciate his size before. She rubs her body against him, forcing a low growl from his lips. She reaches down between them, wrapping her hand around him, sliding her palm along his length from root to cusp, sweeping fingertips across his head, lingering over the velvety tip as he continues to plunder her mouth.

He is hard and so ready for her. She sighs into his mouth, wishing they could continue here, a fantasy of him lifting her onto the high vanity and wrapping her legs around his waist playing out in her head.

Regretfully, she breaks off their kiss. "Come on," she smiles up at him, taking him by the hand, "Let's get you back to bed."

She leads Red back into the bedroom, pulling back the sheets and blankets and settling him once more onto the soft mattress, turning out the bedside lamp and cloaking the room in darkness. But this time, instead of crawling into bed on her own side, she swings her leg over him and lowers herself onto his hips.

Red's eyes widen in surprise; he cocks his head to one side, smiling at her.

"Lizzie, I'm afraid I don't know how much use I'm going to be to you in my current state," he points out unhappily, a hand gestures across his chest.

"Oh, no," she smiles deliberately, "You don't have to do a thing. In fact," she trails her fingers down his arms lightly, "I don't want you to move a muscle."

Red's breath is already coming in pants as Lizzie takes charge of him for the second time in as many days. He is spellbound by her confidence, her determination to give and take exactly what she wants, unable to move under her gaze even if he desired to.

She stretches out over him, keeping the weight of her body carefully suspended over him on her arms. She kisses the tip of his nose playfully, dipping her head to nip along his strong jawline. She brushes her nose against his neck, breathing him in, the smell of their bath clinging damply to his skin. Her tongue slides along him, flicking across his tiny scar; a reminder of the moment when he fell in love with her. She lingers along the hollow of his throat, his pulse racing against her tongue. She wants so badly to bite down on the throbbing beat surging just below his skin, to suck his flesh into her mouth and worry him with her teeth, but she is afraid it will cause him to jump, that it will cause him pain, so she reluctantly moves along.

She drags kisses through the soft hair on his chest, peeking out from the top of the bandage, her eyes rolling up to watch his face. His eyes are closed, his expression pained, but not because she is hurting him; he is fighting the impossible urge to flip her onto her back and sink his cock deep into her body, to feel her writhe beneath him. His breathing is shallow as he waits for her to continue her exploration of his battered body.

Lizzie raises herself into a sitting position and drags her hands down his arms, massaging his tight muscles as they go. She grips the firm strength of his biceps, traveling down along his elbows, squeezing each of his forearms thoroughly, her thumbs undulating in small, tight circles along his skin.

She draws one hand into her lap, rotating his wrist and pressing her thumbs in lines down the length of his palm. She creates tiny waves with her fingertips, rolling the joints of each finger delicately in her hands. She completes one hand and switches to the other. He opens his eyes to watch her as she works; the tenderness on her face as she massages him is almost too much for him to witness.

She lays his second hand back down on the bed at his side and reaches out to smooth both her palms lightly down his arms, coming to rest over the backs of his hands. She repeats the motion, gradually lifting her hands off of him until he can only feel the warm air that her skin creates settling over his as though her touch is still present, as though he can still feel her.

She glances up and notices him watching her intently. She smiles shyly, almost embarrassed. His gaze is hot on her skin; she quivers under the weight of it. Painstakingly, she drops her body down on his, sliding her hips backward down his legs. She parts his muscled thighs with her hands, settling herself between his legs.

Softly, she dipped her head to his straining length, covering him with her mouth in one fell swoop, taking him slowly deep inside.

He fought to keep his body on the bed, striving with every ounce of strength not to buck his hips deep into the recesses of her warm, wet mouth. He was panting, his breaths coming hard and fast, desperate and uneven as she sucked him down over and over again, taking his incredible length entirely into her mouth, until she could touch her lips to the skin at his base.

Red can't stop the moans from emerging from his lips, his resolve crumbling with her expertly flicking tongue against the underside of his shaft.

She ranges over him again and again, her mouth wringing from him every strangled cry, every moan, every whisper of her name that he can manage, all of it spurring her on. She is drunk on the sound of his pleasure, driving her confidently forward as she reduces him to nothing more than sensation with the blistering heat of her tongue.

She wraps one hand around the base of him, taking him shallower in her mouth to focus her attention on his head and the change is all he needs to feel that sweet spiral into abandon begin.

She strokes him firmly, sucking and swirling her tongue around his tip until she feels him stiffen in her mouth. Red cries her name, but she doesn't move from her position. As his frenzy peaks, she slams her mouth down on him, drinking in his hoarse shout of pleasure as completely as she drinks his release, swallowing both down, secretly satisfied that she has reduced the great Raymond Reddington with only her tongue.

He shudders as she draws him from her mouth, her lips releasing him warmly. She raises herself up; she needs to see him, to watch his face as he drifts down to earth, as he comes back to himself.

His breathing is still ragged, chest trembling with the force of his orgasm, hands fisting in the sheets at his sides with the effort not to move his upper body during her assault on his lower extremity.

Finally, Red opens his eyes to find his Lizzie watching him, a very contented smile on her face.

"That was....." he sighs again, unable to verbalize what she has just caused him to experience.

She chuckles, "Orgasms have healing powers, you know."

"Well, in that case, I'm sure I have been completely cured," he allows, his eyes wide.

She extricates herself from his lap and stretches out beside him, yawning, drawing the blankets up over them both.

"Come here," he invites, opening his arms to her, unable to roll onto his side and hold her.

Lizzie cuddles into him, nestling her head carefully on his shoulder, one hand resting on his waist.

She wants to sleep, but there is something niggling at the back of her brain, keeping her from relaxing. Even after their lovely distraction, her mind is drifting back to her earlier nightmare.

Red senses her tension. "What is it?" he asks her quietly.

"Before...." she begins, uncertain how to phrase her fears. "When I thought we were..... dying.....when I thought you were......I dreamed they shot you. That they made me watch and I couldn't reach you in time."

Her throat is working around the lump of unshed tears. They have both cried enough tonight, but there are things she needs to say. She can't move past them if she doesn't speak them aloud.

"I can't lose you. You don't know what that would do to me. So, please be sure that this is what you want, because this is serious for me."

She needs to tell him, needs to be sure he understands.

He is still beside her in the dark.

"I..." she begins.

"I love you, Elizabeth. I'm not going anywhere," his tone is sure, solid, simple. "I love you."

She nods against his shoulder, swallowing down her tears and her uncertainty with his reassurance. She sighs, closing her eyes, "I love you too, Red."