Hey ya!
One again I was absolutely baffled by the response to the story and SO thankful!
Spacial thanks go to: rebeccabraxton. YOU MADE MY DAY:) and made me blush which is actually not that easy;)
So here comes the second part of the Hide...and Seek? chapter. It may have even a third part but I am not sure yet. I'll just go with the flow:)
Hope you'll have fun!:)
Disclaimer: Blacklist is not mine (for details see prologue!)
Hide…and Seek? Part 2
The world was swaying. Left…right…left…up…left…right…down. With every step, her stomach and brain were equally floating from one side to the other The cool breeze was the only thing keeping Liz from vomiting. She swallowed with great difficulty, in hope to get rid of the foully taste in her mouth.
"Is everything alright back there?" Red's voice broke her out of her concentration and she smiled at him thinly.
"Everything's fine. How is your ankle?"
"Good."
Yeah, right…, Liz thought, shaking her head. How stubborn he is…he would never admit to not feeling well.
Absentmindedly, she scratched at her arm and swatted at a fly. The green around them was overwhelming. Around an hour ago, they had crossed a field in a sprint and Red had lead her once again into a patch of pure green. For Liz, everything looked the same. Well, not maybe the same but similar enough, so that she would have never been able to navigate sensibly in it. Red, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any problems to find the right way back to the refuge.
Knowing him, he might have already walked around here once, just to check out how to get to the cabin if something happened. Maybe he made it into a day hike with Dembe. Or a woman that he wanted to impress with his mad skills, Liz rolled her eyes at herself. Well….I am NOT impressed. He is just a perfectionist and that's how he does things…always prepared. Always knowing everything….he must have been a trooper at school…
Her thoughts were circling around the enigmatic man walking in front of her and she was surprised to notice, that they were actually distracting her from the sick feeling in her stomach.
They've walked for almost two hours when Liz started to notice, that Red was beginning to limp slightly. She quickened her pace and caught up with him, walking now at his side. He wasn't looking at her but she could see beats of sweat on his forehead.
"You are not alright, Red."
"What are you talking about? Of course I am."
"Oh please…" she scoffed now openly. "You look as if you've run a marathon and your head is starting to turn red. So either you are angry or in pain."
Red looked at her in surprise. Seems like she was paying more attention to him then he thought and she realized.
"In this case: I am angry."
"Alright…be a pain. I won't ask again." Liz fell back again and walked behind him, feeling hurt and a dent in her ego created by his rebuff. This man was one of the very few people in her life, that was able to make her feel like a child, bring out her worst behavior and sometimes make her feel smaller than an ant. But almost at the same time he made her feel beautiful and special. It was infuriating and confusing for her. She sidestepped a rock and her stomach lurched again. Great…now I need to distract myself all over again.
Red listened to her huffs, groans and moans for the next few minutes and sagged his shoulders. His damn pride wouldn't let him admit to her that his ankle was on fire and every step felt like a knife was driving into it, trying to sever the foot from the leg. He had had worse. He would survive. But those noises she was making were driving him insane. The concussion couldn't be too bad since she was still walking, but it was bad enough to make her feel queasy and for sure dizzy as hell. He felt proud of her that she was holding herself so well and he was surprised she actually asked him about his injury. He did know that she was a compassionate person and tried to help people but until now, he had assumed that he wasn't a person in her eyes but a monster she had to get along with. Maybe there was more to her feelings than he had expected and even looked for. His primary goal had been to make her listen to him and simply make her trust him enough to protect her…and yes…to use her for one or the other game with a Blacklister.
Red shot a look at her over his shoulder. It has gotten suspiciously quiet behind him and he was shocked to see no trace of Liz.
"Lizzie?" his voice quivered. "Elizabeth! Where are you?" In his panic, he started to brush branches aside and look for her in the nearest undergrowth. What if she had fallen and broken her neck? What if Sergej had gotten her? What if…a gurgle and a cough made him stop in his frantic search and quiet down to locate the source of the sound. There it was again. He walked back a few strides and stopped, rooted to the ground when he pushed a low hanging branch away and looked at the ground.. His Lizzie was kneeling down, hunched over and obviously throwing her guts up.
"Sweetheart?" carefully he made his way to her, nearing her as if she was a hurt animal. She was bracing her hands on her thighs, finally raising her head and looked at him with bloodshot eyes.
"I kind of…don't feel so good."
Red sighed, knelt down behind her and gently pulled her back. She was leaning against his chest, her head lolling on his shoulder. He wound his arm around her waist and hugged her, albeit a bit awkwardly. Turning his face to hers, he dropped a small kiss against her temple and smiled.
"Everything's gonna be ok."
A sense of déjà vu made both of them feel even more comfortable in the close proximity of each other. The last time he had uttered those words to her, was when she had started to trust him in earnest and started to see him as an ally. A partner. A person.
He gave her a few minutes before he couldn't suppress a groan. His ankle was killing him in this position. She abruptly sat forward and turned around.
"Oh my…I'm sorry, Red."
"No big deal. I'll survive. Are you feeling better?"
She nodded halfheartedly, stood up and reached for him to help him up. After a moment of consideration, he grabbed her hand, and although not putting too much weight on her, he let her help him to his feet.
Without another word, they started walking again, but the distance between them had shrunk considerably. Not only in the physical sense.
"Tell me when you feel sick again, we will stop." Red told her sternly and she only nodded. It was quiet obvious that all the walking wasn't helping her state and she was grateful for his understanding, although she still felt embarrassed about this whole situation.
"What about you?" she quietly asked. Why suffer alone?
"I had worse." He repeated his thoughts from before, hoping she would let the topic go.
"I can make you a bandage if you want. It would help. And I promise I didn't sleep in first-aid classes." She smiled at him sweetly. She could see him give in slowly. He must be in a lot of pain.
"When we stop the next time, alright?"
She nodded, trying not to move her head too much, while they walked on in a peaceful silence.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
The light was starting to fade slowly and Liz was starting to feel nervous, which had nothing to do with the slight lightheadedness that didn't want to go away. All the shadows and small noises were creeping her out. She glanced repeatedly at Red, who didn't seem to notice anything, so she didn't mention it, being sure that it was her muddled brain giving her a hard time. Unconsciously she was drawing nearer to her hiking companion and looking over her shoulder constantly, but not seeing anything unusual.
"Do you need to go to the loo or something?" Red's voice startled her and she grasped at her heart.
"Don't do that!"
"What? Talk to you?"
"Startle me." She clarified, again looking over her shoulder.
Red's gaze followed hers and he narrowed his eyes to see better in the twilight.
"Why are you so nervous?"
Liz hesitated, but finally told him.
"It's just a feeling. As if something is following us. But I don't see anyone…or anything. It's similar to the feeling in the mall."
Red nodded once, to Liz' astonishment taking her seriously.
"I feel it too. But I couldn't make anything out, either." He looked her in the eyes, comfortingly patting her arm.
"I guess it's just our frazzled nervous and our tired brains playing tricks on us." He regarded her nervous hand rubbing the scar on her wrist.
"Do you want to go first? It's always the unknown behind the back that frightens one the most. That's actually why they say not to turn your back on anyone." He smiled reassuringly at her and stepped behind her, nudging her gently, so that she would start moving again.
Liz' new position in the front made her feel only slightly better. Although she wasn't worried about something jumping her from behind, she was now having the most disturbing thoughts about Red being snatched away from her. Why do those things always have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve that? She was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, when suddenly the earth gave out under her leg and she started to fall. A scream tore from her throat and her hands tried to claw at something to grab on. When she felt two strong arms encircle her waist, she suddenly felt a sob built in her chest, trying to bubble up and let loose with a desperation, she only felt a couple of times in her life. But she swallowed it down and tried to breathe through the panic.
"Hold on. I've got you." Red's voice whispered calmly into her ear and his warm breath grazed her skin.
"What the hell…" she gasped out.
"A trap." He explained matter-of-factly, pulling her back from the now rather large hole before them.
When Liz felt once again solid ground under her feet, she inhaled deeply to calm herself, but didn't let go of Red's am.
"How could he have known that we would walk this way? This is insane. It's not possible."
"Maybe it was a hunter."
Liz let her head fall forward, resting it on Red's chest and breathed in his scent. It was calming and Liz felt instantly safer.
"Sorry, Red. I'll be ready to roll in a second."
"A little break may be in order, don't you think?"
She nodded against him and let herself be lead to a tree trunk, where Red lowered them both to the ground. Liz pulled away from him and eyed his outstretched leg.
"Shall I take a look now?" she asked, gesturing to his ankle.
"Since I know you won't let this go." He said, partly amused. "Do what you think you have to do."
Liz smirked, set up onto her knees and directed her gaze to Red's injured ankle.
Slowly she pulled the material of his suit pants up and gently pulled at his dark sock and gasped.
"Doesn't look so good down there, does it?" his suddenly strained voice made her look into his face.
"It's a nice variety of colors." She tried to joke to lift the mood a bit. To indulge her, Red forced a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. Liz sighed and averted her own eyes back to the discolored and swollen skin.
"I wouldn't recommend to take off the shoe. It's going to swell even more if you do that." She knew she was telling him things, he already knew, but it calmed her nerves. She'd always been a talker when thrust in stressful situations. The feeling of being watched hadn't dissipated yet and she felt a thousand wild bats fluttering in her stomach.
"I can't really see enough in this light to tell how bad it is, but I'm going to bandage it."
"With what?"
She didn't answer, just pulled sharply at the sleeve of her brand new jacket and grinned when it tore with a load sound.
"Lizzie!"
"Sorry, Red. I really liked this jacket but your mobility is a bit more important right now than me being chilled, don't you think?"
"Shame…" Red lamented, shaking his head.
They fell silent while Liz wrapped the material around the injury. It was getting darker and darker and the wind was picking up, whistling through the trees and making them croak and groan with every push. Liz worked faster, trying to shake off the creepy feeling at the back of her head. It was as if there was a weight there, as if someone was touching her but wasn't visible.
"Red?" she whispered. His murmured "mh", told her that he was listening but either wasn't feeling well enough to lose precious energy, or was having this strange sensation also and didn't want to alarm anyone who might be watching them.
"Do you feel that?" she finally asked.
"As if someone is here with us? Yes I do." His voice was low, almost turning into a growl at the end of the sentence. "I really don't know what to think of this, Lizzie. I can't see or hear anyone and I am pretty sure no one has followed us. How could he? It's almost impossible."
Liz finished the bandage with a knot, being careful not to make it too tight.
"Almost? So, theoretically it IS possible. In this case: why are we still alive?" She questioned, worriedly looking around her but once again coming up with nothing except for green and brown nature.
She began to become even more worried when she saw Red brush his hand in a nervous gesture over his face. He smacked his lips and pressed them together before speaking.
"I don't know what to say, Lizzie. I have no idea what's going on right now."
Liz sat down beside him, breathed in a lung-full of fresh, crisp air and finally spared him a side-ways look.
"THAT…is the scariest thing you have EVER said, Red."
tbc...
Please let me know what your thoughts are. It makes me write fast:) And I love to read your comments!
P.S. For all who have the same question as rebeccabraxton: Dembe took the bags with him to the car:)
