A/N: I know, I know, you all hate me. MORE cliff-hangers?! How DARE I? OH! Did you all see the promo for episode 18? I was crying tears of sadness because of what happened (I won't say about who, because I don't want to unintentionally spoil it!) and then I was crying tears of joy because of that little flash of those two! : D Made my week. Oh, yes, sorry, I was talking of how mean I was. But it's so FUN! And it keeps you all on your toes! ; D Enjoy the next chapter : )
BY THE WAY: This chapter is a little different. I couldn't decide on which POV to truly execute, so I decided to switch back and forth in one chapter. When you're done with the chapter, you'll see why. ; )
He wakes up in complete darkness.
His heart catches in his throat when he realizes that his hands our bound, and there is something over his head. He shakes in the chair that he's tied in, and tries to yell, but finds his mouth gagged and taped.
"I see that you're up, Mr. Bauer," he hears from behind him. He stops moving instantly. He knows that voice.
The bag is ripped off of his head, and he is able to see again. He is in some sort of basement, with dim lighting. It is small and compact, with concrete-brick walls, and the floor is also concrete. There is a table set up with technology and wires; various things are beeping at him, and he cannot figure out what they are.
A man appears from behind him, and his heart stops.
It's Vladimir.
Vladimir rips off the duct-tape, and he spits it at his feet, almost in disgust. How could he be smiling at him when he knows that he tortured her? Raped her?
Destroyed her?
"How are you still alive?" he says to him, stern and coldly.
"I do not think you are in a position to ask questions, Mr. Bauer," he responds coolly, circling him. "Do you know why you're here?"
He doesn't even know how he's here, let alone why. All he could think about was her. Was she okay? And then another thought occurs to him.
Where is she?
When he doesn't answer, Vladimir punches him, and squats down, eye-level with him. "I asked you a question," he says, his Russian accent thicker when draped with anger.
"No," he responds, through his teeth. "Where is Renee?" He asks this boldly, and harshly; it just blankets the fear rising in his tone.
"All in good time, Mr. Bauer," he responds, and walks over to the computer, his eyes scanning the screen and his hands behind his back. "You have something very dear to me," Vladimir says this in a way where it's so composed and cool that it's almost intimidating.
He tries to think of what he could have; weapons? The ability to make deals for immunity? What, exactly, does this guy want?
He does not respond to him. Instead, he feels his jaw clench and he looks up at him, his eyes darkening. "You have Renee," Vladimir says back, and hits him again.
He feels his jaw writhing in pain, blood dripping somewhere from his face, but he doesn't care. He didn't want Vladimir to get Renee; further more, he felt awful thinking of Renee as an object, something to be negotiated with. She was so much more than that.
So much more to him.
"There is no way in hell you're getting her," he says through his teeth, his heart pumping at the dreadful thought of what would happen if Vladimir did, in fact, find Renee.
The thought that he doesn't know where she is scares him, but at the same, makes it hopeful. This means that, maybe, Vladimir doesn't know where she is. Maybe she escaped, or was able to go somewhere safe. It would kill him if he never saw her again, tear up his heart into tiny pieces and his soul in two, but if he knew she was safer that way, then he would be able to take it.
"Well, here's the thing, Mr. Bauer," Vladimir says to him, squatting down in front of him, "I already have her."
She can't breathe.
She feels like she is suffocating; there is something over her head, a bag, she assumes, and it's completely black. Her hands are bound around a chair, and only is it then that she realizes how much her shoulder hurts, with her hand straining that far behind her back.
Her feet are bound, too, underneath the chair. She can't really distinguish what is holding her together, but by the smell of it, it appears to be duct-tape.
Her mind begins to flutter with questions; is she alone in the room? Is there someone else with her?
Is he here?
Oh, God, she hopes not. Whatever these people want from her, she can deal with, she can handle. But her heart breaks at even the thought of him getting hurt... she knows that he's a big boy, and that he can fight his own battles, but the thought of him getting hurt...
It crushes her.
She wants to yell, she wants to scream and kick and wake up from this terrible nightmare, but nothing is going to help her. She is stuck in this chair, in this moment, and she cannot help it.
She lets a tear roll down her cheek, silently and quickly, as if nothing had happened.
She suddenly feels herself being moved. She does not know where she is going, but the new room she is in is bigger, cooler. They rip the bag off of her head, and she looks around fervently, for something, someone, anything.
She then sees him, bound to a chair, not even five feet across from her.
Her heart sinks to the floor, but she cannot lose her composure. She hears footsteps from behind her, and the man who emerges makes he stomach churn and her face turn white.
Vladimir.
"Renee," he says softly to her, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. He smiles gently at her, as if toying with her playfully. "Oh, how I've missed you." He takes the duct-tape off of her mouth cautiously, and holds out his hand for her to spit out her gag.
Her eyes flicker over to his, but she makes it brief; she knows how Vladimir works, and what he wants. "It's been too long, Vlad," she tells him, flatly, "but if you wanted my attention, this was not the way to go about it."
"Oh, no, this was exactly the way," he says, walking over to him and smiling, a little. "I knew that taking your would get your attention."
Mr. Bauer. Although a sinister monster, cold-blooded and cruel, he always had his strict politeness as a prominent trait. But the way he says his name, Mr. Bauer, the way he lets it roll around in his mouth and enter the air makes her stomach churn.
She does not respond to statement; she looks at the floor and then back up to him, smiling a little. Oh, how the smile plastered on her face burns her. "Come on, Vlad," she says, smirking, "Jack didn't do anything."
Vladimir comes closer to her, his face inches away with hers. She leans her head so that her mouth is next to his ear. "It's me that you want," she tells him, seductively. She doesn't care what she has to do; if it means him, the man tied up across from her that she deeply cared about, gets away, then it's worth it. "Let him go,"
Her eyes quickly graze once more over to him. He is staring at her, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes swelling. I'm sorry, she wants to say to him, please don't think of me as a monster.
Vladimir looks back at her, his face serious. "You care about this man?" He asks, shocked, and because she had known him for so long, somewhat hurt.
"No--" She begins to say, but is cut off by the slap of his palm across her face.
"Do not lie to me!" He bellows, his voice enraged with anger. He grabs a gun off of the table, which was holding a laptop and multiple wires, and aims it at his head.
No.
"I'm not," she says, sternly, her jaw, which received the main blow of his hit, aching so much that the constant reminder of pain from her shoulder doesn't seem so bad. She is trying so hard not to cry in fear, so hard not to cry, in general.
"Then why do you want me to let him go?" He demands, looking down at her, his eyes absolutely crazy with anger. He cocks the gun.
She looks over at him, her eyes beginning to swell. I'm sorry, she wants to say to him, please don't hate me for this, I'm doing this because I need you to be alive.
I need you.
"Who said letting him go?" She says to Vladimir, a small smile that killed her inside plastered on her face, "Do you know how much an American is worth?"
A/N: Sorry this took so long to post. I had a bit of a block and I wasn't really sure how to run with this. But I think I've got this down. : ) Hope you guys can't wait for more!