The Architect. [The Blacklist. Donald Ressler X Oc]

Four Hundred.

Ressler.

Four hundred cases. More than four hundred new identities, more than four hundred people, innocent people, who'd lost their life so that criminals could take their place, escaping the mess they'd left behind.

Four hundred cases we had to do a follow up.

We had split the stack of four hundred between the members of the taskforce whilst we waited for Reddington's next case. He was confident we'd dealt with the woman in Paris, so he was more relaxed now.

I couldn't say the same for my back or neck after sitting on the high chair in the desk in the war room.

I took the next file in my pile, mentally preparing myself for the phone call I had to make. All the phonecalls today followed the same script: "This is Agent Ressler with the FBI, we have reasons to believe so-and-so, wanted criminal is staying in this-and-that street. Yes, this is factual Intel, no I cannot reveal my source, please keep me posted", hang up. Some took longer, because I had to be patched through to the people who made the decisions, usually meant giving a bit more information on why I had the exact location of all these criminals.

I was about to go punch the numbers in the phone pad to call Arizona, next case's location, but was signaled by one of the technicians, telling me I had a call on hold.

"Donald Ressler" I answered, fully expecting to hear a progress report on a case I had assigned to law enforcement.

"Margaret Ressler, delighted to meet your acquaintance" she mocked with an exagerated English accent. I smiled hearing Mags voice through my headset, because I was not about to call a hundred people holding a phone to my ear the entire time.

"Hey gorgeous" I said, leaving the file on the desk and resting my forearms on it. "How are you?"

"I'm half good. Went to see my nutritionist today, told me I'm three pounds above the media"

"Your nutritionist can suck it" I interrupted. I saw Park's head peak from the computer in front of me, checking if I'd really said what I said.

"And" she continued, letting a little chuckle when she heard me "I'm getting blood work done"

I looked at the watch on my wrist "I can be there in ten minutes"

"No. I-" she hesitated "I'm like the second one in line. And they're just going to draw some blood, send me the results on an email later"

"Well, ask them to give a complete blood count then. That's the name of the test. Because you're still up your media with everything that's happened to you-" I said quietly, not wanting my teammates to hear me. "That can't be right"

"I haven't been living out of nutritious food per se" she joked. She remained quiet for a while, and I was still trying to check some things online about the cases I had while she talked to me "I'm  scared" she said quietly.

"That's why I can be there in ten minutes" I reiterated.

"It's not about that. It's about the result"

"You don't need to be worried about that"

"I'm not like... So confident"