Just Once (#4 in Will Estes)

Chapter 1

Lex curled up in her bed with Luther and fell asleep. A few hours later, she felt the sunlight hit her face. She buried her head in her pillow. Luther smirked and opened the curtains "Rise and shine, Lex. Come on, Reddington's still out there! We have to find him so he can help us with more cases." At the mention of the criminal's name, Lex's mind flashes back to that moment the night before, when he was in their house.

"Hello Lexie." she gulps "Red. What the hell are you doing here?!"

The criminal smiles at her as she approaches him "It's been far too long." she nervously strokes her palm "R-Red, you need to leave. Luther will be home soon. You shouldn't have even come here." 

Red gently caresses her cheek "Lexie my dear, you and I both know, you don't really love Luther Reagan." he tenderly kisses her lips, then leaves

"Lex? Lexie?" Lex shakes her head, trying to rid herself of the thoughts in her mind. Luther stares at her "You alright, Lex?" she nods "Um, yeah. Just...a lot on my mind I guess."

 Luther nods "Well, I gotta head over to the police dept. Do you want me to get Ashley or Ressler to pick you up?" she nods "Okay, get Ressler to give me a ride." Lex giggles and playfully shoves him "Go on, go." Luther smiles "I texted Donald, he said he'll be here in 15 minutes." 

Lex giggled "Luther, you can leave now." Luther chuckled "Alright, alright." he grabbed his keys and left. Fifteen minutes later, Lex was wearing her brown jacket and field agent uniform. Donald Ressler smiled slightly and leaned on the door post "Ready?" Lex nodded and smiled back at him "Yup, let's go, Ress."

................................

As they drove to the headquarters, Ressler looks at her. "Lex, you alright?" Lex nods "Yeah, I'm fine." He stares at her "Lex, what is it?" Lex sighed "Ressler, I swear, I'm fine." He nods "I don't believe you, but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Lex smiles at her "Thanks, Ress."

"Trouble with Luther?" Lex shakes her head "No, it's not Luther." Ressler nodded and they reached the black site. Ashley muttered "Bout time you guys showed up." Lex smiled "Is that any way to greet your friend?" 

Ashley chuckled "I'm just messing with ya, Lex." Ressler shakes his head  "Any word from Reddington yet?" Lex shakes her head "No." He nods "Well, we got a new case. Hundreds of people died in a subway. We have to find out who did it, and what's their motive." Lex nods  "Maybe Red could help us."

"Lex, it's for you. Says he has a tip for the case." Lex nods and grabs the phone. "This is Special Agent Alexandra Carter." The familiar deep voice answers "Agent Carter, I have a tip." Lex rolls her eyes at the sound of the criminal's deep voice. "You're a winter, not an autumn, stop wearing olive." Lex huffs.

"As much as I like our customary chats, you're holding up the line for people that may have actual information." Red smiles "You're not the one that had to listen to that awful hold music for 3 hours, which wouldn't be necessary if you would just take my calls. Anyway, I know who's responsible for the subway attack."

"Okay. Who is he?" Red laughs "Phones are so non-personal. Let's meet for show-and-tell in 2 hours. Care to hear me out? Wonderful. Otherwise, good luck with your case."

Lex and Ressler came to meet Reddington. Red replied "The man you're looking for is Nathan Barnes. You may not be familiar with his name, but you are familiar with his work. Barnes is always the seller, the designer, never the killer." Lex smirked "Betraying your country and selling it's secrets, where have I heard that before?" she looks directly at Reddington. 

Red chuckles "You want to compare him to me? Be my guest, I'm quite happy with what I am. But make no mistake, if Barnes is now using his own creations to kill, he is quite literally the most dangerous man in the world." Lex nodded and watched as the criminal and his bodyguard left.