Hello, Intelligence fandom!
I'm so happy to be posting one of the first 20 fics for the amazing show intelligence!
This is just an idea that came to me and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down.
I wasn't going to post this because it might be too soon for writing them as a couple but as I said, this idea wouldn't let me go! It was crazy!
Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this little one-shot :)
Oh, and btw I know the title is so weird but I will explain why I choose that at the end.
Drip… Drip… Drip…
The sound of water drops hitting the floor echoed through the empty room. It was the only thing that broke the silence. They were both siting on the cold floor, his back pressed against the wall while she was leaning on him. It was dark and cold but with the things going through their heads, they didn't feel any of them present. They were both feeling numb, staring blankly ahead into the darkness with nothing to say to each other. She was sitting parallel to the wall with her head laying on his firm chest. Hearing his heartbeats seemed to calm her down. She felt safe around him, a feeling she was not used to. But with Gabriel, everything felt so natural. Like she'd been under his affection throughout her entire life.
The safety and comfort she felt around him was something she got used to pretty quickly.
She started shivering but even the slightest movement caused her to gasp in pain. His grip around her waist tightened as if he was trying to protect her from the pain or shield her from the cold. With his free hand he was holding her hand, gently rubbing the wounds on it every once in a while. Riley knew that every time he did so, he was filled with anger. Anger he felt towards himself…
They were both beaten up to a point where they couldn't stand up anymore, tortured for hours and then thrown into this horrible, damp room.
Their blood had already dried on their skin and Gabriel could see how damaged her face looked from the faint light that escaped from under the door.
He wanted all her pain to go away. He couldn't stand seeing her hurt anymore. It was all because of him, because he was a reckless, insubordinate idiot who believed that he could save everyone.
But he had failed to save Riley, save her from all the suffering. He had failed to protect her.
With all these thoughts in his mind, more anger rushed through his body and he cursed at himself, holding onto Riley even more tightly.
She felt him squeeze her hand firmer and heard his heart beat faster. She knew he blamed himself for the situation they were in.
It was supposed to be a simple night out. Go to their favorite taco place and come back home to watch a movie together. Just like they've been doing for the past 3 months.
It was that simple.
Until they heard someone scream as they walked through the empty alleyway. Of course, them being them, they followed the sound and found themselves in front of an abandoned building. They split and tried to go around the house and understand what was going on. Riley froze when she saw a bunch of children crying in a tiny room with no light. There must've been at least 6 kids there, all seemed to be the same age. She could hear them crying for their mothers and banging the door, begging to let them go.
As she stood there, motionless, Gabriel met up with her and without the need of Riley to tell him what was going on, he too froze at the sight in front of him.
"Let's go see what's going on in there." he whispered. She gave him a slight nod but her mind was filled with possible threats.
After all, she was still his protector.
"But we do not engage. We go in quietly and observe." when she realized that he was not paying attention to what she was saying, she grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Gabriel, listen to me. We don't know what's going on in there. It might not even be what we're thinking."
"So you're saying that these kids being locked up in a dark room in an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere might be perfectly normal? Come on Riley."
"Look, I know something is off here but you and I… We can't do the whole superman thing. It might not be safe for us. Let's at least inform Cyber Com and ask for backup."
"And let these kids be terrified for a few more hours." he snapped
"Gabriel…" she sighed.
"Well, I'm going in to see what's going on in there. If you're scared of the ghosts living in that building, you can hide behind me." He teased her, giving her one of his cocky, boyish grins and changing the stressed mood completely.
She punched his arm and slowly opened the door, being the first to enter the building. The fist thing she noticed was the men sitting at the distance and their guns lined on the coffee table in front of them. With one hand, she stopped Gabriel from taking another step. She motioned him to exit the building but of course he didn't listen and kept on going.
She couldn't yell at him even though she so wanted to. Nobody knew they were there. If the men realized they were inside the building, if things went bad, there would be none coming to help them.
If only he could understand that and stop being so reckless!
But deep down she knew that no matter what she did to convince him, he would go and save those kids anyway. She'd seen how the always-present glow in his eyes disappeared when he saw the kids were crying.
It didn't take much time for the men to notice that they were inside. Guns fired, children screamed and without even getting a chance to get to the kids, Gabriel and Riley were cornered to on side of the house. They were outnumbered and didn't stand a chance against the well-armed men.
When he realized that there was nothing they could do, Gabriel pushed Riley inside one of the rooms that's door was wide open. He took all the impact when the men came to take his gun and tie him up. She tried to get out of the room but right in front of the door they were kicking and punching Gabriel, not paying attention to the girl inside.
One of the men eventually came into the room and knocked Riley unconscious as the others were still busy with Gabriel.
It was pitch dark when she regained consciousness. And the second the dizziness stopped, she stood up and searched for Gabriel, calling out his name. Worry rushed through her body when she didn't get a reply. She started pounding the locked door, screaming at the men and asking them where Gabriel was. She hadn't realized the tears rolling down her checks until after some time she decided to sit down and buried her face in her hands. That was when she felt the dampness…
It couldn't be happening. Not now…
She couldn't even bear the though of loosing him after everything that had happened between them.
She quickly shook her head, trying to get those thoughts out of he mind. Gabriel was a strong man, the strongest she'd ever met.
He would be fine.
He might've even managed to escape. Maybe he was coming to get her right now.
After a few hours maybe more, the door finally opened. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the light but when they did, her heart started beating faster and she felt adrenalin kick in.
It was him, Gabriel, with his arms tied tightly at his back. His entire face was covered in blood and he was limping, bending over from the pain he felt on his lower torso.
She quickly ran to him but before she go to him, the two men threw him to the floor and he couldn't do anything to protect himself from the fall as he hit face down.
He yelled out in pain. Riley rushed over to him, inspecting his injuries with shaking hands. With out even getting a chance to help him up from the floor Riley felt two strong hands grasp her shoulders and pull her upright. Right after that, she was dragged out the door. The last thing she remembered was Gabriel yelling at them to let her go and the desperation in his eyes.
They tied her to a chair and started asking her questions she didn't have answers to. She was tortured for hours.
They were just doing it out of plain pleasure after sometime. She couldn't understand what they were actually doing with the children but after seeing how violent these men could get, she was even more determined to find a way to get all of them out of there
When they finally left her alone in the room, she didn't have the strength to keep her head up. She just let it fall and tried to rest. Out of nowhere the door banged open again and two of the men walked in, this time dragging a half-conscious Gabriel behind them. Both of their eyes grew wide when they saw each other and all of a sudden all their exhaustion and pain was gone. It was replaced with an unbearable amount of worry.
The men tied Gabriel to another chair opposite of Riley. Gazing into those soothing blues eyes, she felt peace taking over her. He didn't have to say anything. Words weren't needed. His eyes were telling enough. It was like their souls were talking to each other.
Gabriel started yelling at them when the first slap hit Riley's cheek. Tears started rolling down them involuntarily. She wasn't able to stay strong anymore. Every part of her body hurt.
Gabriel cursed at them, threatened them as his body shook with rage. They started hitting Riley even harder aster seeing how it made the man so angry. Their actions were no longer caused by seeking answers, or because they broke into their house and tried to stop whatever they were doing. No, those animals were entertaining themselves, trying to gain power by stripping Riley and Gabriel from it.
She screamed in pain when they knocked her chair to the floor. She kept thinking about the worse situations she had faced before as they continued kicking her. Much worse things had happened to her but this time was different. This time nobody knew they were trapped in there.
It was a Friday night. Lillian, Nelson, everyone would think that they were having a regular weekend at their shared apartment.
There was no one coming to get them.
She lifted her head up to look at Gabriel and could see rage taking over him as he tried to break loose from the chair he was tied to. The men started laughing at him and went over to hurt him this time. Riley was coughing up blood and as Gabriel saw it, he took in the punches, taunting them to go harder on him. It was the only way he wouldn't feel the guilt he felt every time he looked at the woman that lay on the floor.
They didn't know how long it lasted, all they knew was that after sometime the men got a phone call and left the room. The two prisoners were carried back into the first room they were held in.
Alone - at last - and with their hands now free from bound, they held onto each other, gathering strength and courage from one another.
It was all they needed. Each other's presence…
He asked her if she was all right and she nodded, trying to avoid the pain she felt in her chest. Closing the gap between them, he placed his lips against hers, moving both of his hands up to cup her face. She accepted the kiss, moving her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer.
Their kiss, though passionate, was soft and sweet. He gently took a strand of her soft hair and folded it behind her ear. And then gave her another kiss on her forehead.
She'd never been loved like that by anyone in her entire life and she'd never been treated the way that he treated her. Their physical attraction to one another was never something that could be denied, but they never acted on that alone. The emotional connection, that developed as their attraction became something much deeper, was the most special connection she had ever had with anyone.
He promised her that he would get her out of there. No matter what… His heart broke into a million pieces when Riley gave him a forced smile. In their situation there was no chance they could fight the men and nobody knew where they were. It was obvious by the way the men acted that they weren't going to wait much longer to kill them.
So there they sat, his back against the wall while she lay on his chest, their fingers intertwined…
"Riley, I-" he said.
"Shhh…" she gently silenced him. She knew what he wanted to tell her but there was no reason to do so.
"No, look… it was all my fault. If I hadn't…"
"Then I would've pushed you to get inside and free the children. You did what was right to do Gabriel. We did the right thing to do."
"But now we can't get out of there." he answered, clenching his fists.
"I know…" she replied simply. She had given up a long time ago.
"I'm sorry Riley. I'm so sorry."
"Hey…" she sat up and reached out to touch his face. She stroked his bruised cheek and gave him a heartwarming smile. "I wouldn't wish to be anywhere else."
He pulled her into his embrace, being careful with her injuries.
"Dance with me." he told her out of nowhere.
She gave him a confused look.
"What?"
She was surprised but also glad to see the old Gabriel back. The fun, protective, romantic, caring Gabriel Vaughn. The man she fell in love with…
"Dance with me." he stood up, helping her too.
They walked to the middle of the room and he started humming a song as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. They swayed together, her head rested on his shoulders and he buried his face in her hair. He continued to hum, murmuring a few words here and there. That was when Riley realized which song he was singing.
It was that damned country song he played every time they rode in his car. She hated it and thought that it made no sense. But he knew all the lyrics by heart and sang them at the top of his lungs every time. Mostly just to annoy her…
She started laughing hysterically and it didn't take time for him to join her. He started singing louder For that brief moment they both felt like everything was over. Like they were safe and happy on a regular Friday night at their place.
"You know what?" she said, looking up at him. "I'm actually starting to like this song."
He smirked, his dimples appearing immediately.
"See, I told ya I would get you to see the beauty in country songs eventually."
He gave her a quick peck on the lips and then drew back. This time, it was Riley who pulled him closer and deepened the kiss. After a few moments of pure love, they broke away from the breathtaking kiss, their foreheads connecting.
"I love you." she whispered
"I love you too."
The only two things in life that make it worth livin'
Is guitars that tune good and firm feelin' women
I don't need my name in the marquee lights
I got my song and I got you with me tonight
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love
Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas
With Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin'
Got us feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys
Between Hank Williams' pain songs and
Newberry's train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain
Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain't nobody feelin' no pain
Okay, I wasn't planning this to be THAT cheesy but I couldn't help myself!
I hope you guys enjoyed this little one shot. Please let me know what you think about it and maybe I can write another fic soon ;)
P.S. the title is the name of the song that Gabriel sings.. I didn't know any country songs and this came up when I was searching for the poplar songs on the internet. I don't know why but I kinda like it :D
P.P.S if any of you wants to fangirl or just chat, give me knew ideas etc. please feel free to PM me. I would love that!