The Motherboard (The Blacklist x Scorpion)

17. Over The Time

The Garage, 04.30

He wakes up with a buzzing in his head, not to mention it seems like someone pay a visit early in the morning from what he saw from the CCTV cam. It's Reddington who's knocking on his door. And then he looks to the person who is sleeping next to him, holding onto his arm. It was a foggy memory but he's pretty sure they're having sex last night. Her face is quite peaceful, with arms lingering to his body. He takes some hair from her face and put them behind her ears, he doesn't know how to process this.

He does remember the image of him kissing and touching her and somewhat feels guilty about that. The feeling that he might took advantage of her on her vulnerable state of mind. But then he realized he doesn't feel guilty about that and more about moving on from Paige. In between of his thoughts, he gets back into reality soon after he notices that Reddington is already in the building with the help of Dembe. "Oh shit." He quickly gets up and put some shirt on. Waking her up in the process. "Umm.... Something's wrong?"
"No. It's just... Reddington is here. He will kill me if he found out we sleep...."
"O'Brien." Walter can hear him calling out his name. "Stay here, I'll be downstairs."
"Okay." She smiles and back to sleep.

Walter goes down and see Reddington sitting on the couch, with Dembe behind him. "Raymond..."
"Walter. Rough night?"
"W..what?"
"You looked wasted. Anyway, we need to talk." Red pulls out a picture of a man who got shot in the head. "Whoaa.. what are you doing?"
"They know about her."
"About what?"
"That Jade is Morgan."
"What? How? I mean, how do you know about that?"
"This man is working for the Crimson Prime. He's been watching her at the movie set for the past days. So I got him to talk."
"You mean before you killed him?"
"That's irrelevant. What does matter is this, I need to get her into a witness protection. I know some guy. Someone I can trust."
"No, you mean to hide her somewhere? No way. You can't do that."
"I need to do just that. Her presence will be a danger to you, your friends. She will be safe with me."
"No, you can't keep me out from this...."

"Walter, knock it off." Morgan goes down, surprised Reddington. "You're here?"
"Yes. And I heard what you just said. About the trouble. You think you can trust your guy?"
"Morgan! He's gonna lock you up!"
"Walter, I got this. If what he was saying is true, I can't risk you with my presence."
"No, you're not really agree with that idea, aren't you?"
"You need to trust me on this one. I better follow his suggestion until we can figure something out." She gets her coat and also her bag, signaling Reddington to wait outside. "Would you mind?"
"I'll be outside with Dembe."

She gets something from her bag, a key card. "This is some additional fund for your rocket. Working on that, I'd like to see it being launched." She kisses him and then looks at him, "I know we were too drunk last night...but it was a great night. I would love to feel that again if I got the chance." After that she's leaving the building.

Reddington's Private Jet, 06.17

"Are you and Walter..."
"Stop it. I don't like you're poking into my personal stuff. And don't worry I have nothing to do with Walter. I know for damn sure he's still thinking about Paige, which makes me a hundred times guilty about her death. She died indirectly or not, is because of you, and my husband."
"Morgan. I know he's a good man, it's just...you two can't be together."
"Have you ever asked me whether I'm okay or not?"
"Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not." She sighed, "For the first time, after David is no longer with me... I can actually feel. Care about someone. About what makes him happy, and what's important for him. And I thought.... maybe I should just start over, and have a nice job. Scorpions save lives, and I saw what it did to them. It makes them decent. But then you dragged me again into this pit trap."
"Morgan, you haven't out."
"Exactly. That's why I agree to come with you, not that I'm okay with that. But it's necessary. So cut the pep talk about my personal life when I can't even get one."
"Raymond." Dembe hands him a phone. "Who?"
"Oliver."

"Yes? Everything is set?"
"As you asked Red. Your witness will be safe."
"Thank you Oliver. I owe you."

"Who's Oliver."
"A friend. He takes witness protection to another level. He never failed."
"Really?"
"He once provide a runaway path for me when I was an easy target. Crimson Prime wanted to recruit me at that time. That's why I know about them. But at the same time Cabal came after you specifically. So when our camp was attacked and someone took you, Cabal came to my mind first."
"In other way, Oliver failed to keep you safe. To keep us safe."
"No, it's not the he failed. It's just.... He warned me, maybe you didn't remember this...but we're having fun. Singing campfire songs, cooking..." His eyes are brighter than usual when he talks about their time together, "You were a happy kid. I was too happy spending my time with you, I didn't pick up my phone earlier. They got us, shot me quick. You tried to grasp on the ground but then your hand touch the fire. Hence your mark."
"I didn't remember any of that. But I do remember being picked on, I didn't even know I burn my wrist that night. I have no recollection of how you look that night. Or how I got into a foster house."
" I just wish I did better to protect you that night. None of this would happen. And you would have a nice childhood."
"Yeah, but the reality is I didn't. So I don't know if this witsec idea is good after all. I mean I could just go back and live the time that I have left. And I mean live it to the fullest. I might not have a good childhood, but I might have a good adulthood." Something about her words really makes Reddington sad. He knows how much she long for a nice, clean life. She's tired of conspiracy and demons roaming around her life like a time bomb. And he's sad because he can't give her that.
"I'm really sorry about it. But we can't...."
"You can't. If it was up to me...like I said, I choose to stay with Walter. But then you're right. I'm a death to him. I can't believe I said that, but I'm a walking curse for him. Soon or later, his involvement with me will resulted in something dangerous."

Jakarta, 11.30

"Yeah they're here. He said he's bringing a witness. I don't know who's the witness. But I will get Reddington for you. So you can fulfill your promise to me. I'll give you Reddington and kill the witness."
"No, he might have his daughter with him. Don't kill the witness."
"What are you talking about? Someone got his daughter that night. She's not around."
"He met her. We need her to be captured along with Reddington. No shootings this time."