4 Feet
Author's Note: I watched Radius and thought about this rip off keenler story I could write. Let me know what you think. I think I'll continue with this one.
Anyone looking for the continuation of Counseling Session #12 please look for the story Coming Back to Me.
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Donald Ressler woke up to a pounding head.
"What…?" He mumbled, his throat dry and his voice gravelly.
He went to wipe his eyes with his hands and discovered that his one hand was cuffed and attached to something.
He yanked at it and there was some give, he yanked hard and heard something fall to the floor and groan.
"What the…?" Ressler said as he felt his hand taken with whoever seemed to land on the floor nearby.
The room he was in, with whoever that was, was dark except for a sliver of light coming in under the door.
He nudged himself off the cot he was laying on and followed his arm and then hand until he came to someone else's hand. It was small and felt like a woman's.
He continued to feel up the arm, then he crossed hair. He rolled the person over and felt down her torso, it was a woman or a man with breasts. She was slim with narrow hips, was wearing clothes, thank god, that seemed like fitted pants and a long sleeve shirt.
"Hey," he said as she gripped her chin and moved her head a little. "Wake up!"
She groaned again and he was happy to see she was alive when he felt her pulse at her neck beating strong.
He felt around on her head and there was a wet spot on her forehead but nothing that seemed like a knife wound or gunshot wound as he felt around on her neck, back down her torso, and down her legs. Except for being either sleeping or unconscious, she seemed relatively unharmed.
"Hey! Come on, you gotta wake up!" He called to her as she jostled her shoulders slightly.
He looked around the room and saw complete blackness everywhere.
"Anyone else here?" Ressler asked, not sure how big or small the space they were in was.
No response.
He felt around his own body with his one available hand and also felt a gash on his cheek, that seemed dried, and a weird scar behind his ear. Ressler felt around on the floor and realized it was cold cement, covered in some dirt. The cot he had been on seemed metal framed, thin mattress…
"Hey," Ressler said as he lightly smacked at the woman's cheek. "Wake up. I'm Donald Ressler an FBI agent and…"
"Ressler?" a voice asked in the darkness.
"Liz?" He asked surprised.
"What are you…where are we?" She asked and he felt a pull at his hand cuffed to the woman; he was cuffed to Liz.
"We're cuffed together," he said as she pulled at their joined hands.
"Oh," she groaned as he heard a slight shuffle and what must be her getting into a seated position.
"You, okay?" He asked as he reached out blindly and found her arm.
"My head is killing me," Liz groaned. "Where are we?"
"No clue," Ressler said. "The last thing I remember is walking into that warehouse and a binding light and sound."
"Me too," Liz said. "I'm bleeding…"
"On your forehead," he nodded. "It seems surface but without light…"
"How are you?" Liz asked.
"Gash on my face, I think," Ressler said. "No broken bones."
"Let's get up," Liz said as she winced.
Ressler and Liz slowly stood and looked around in the darkness seeing nothing.
He reached out for her cuffed hand and held it in his cuffed hand.
"Let's stick together and see where the walls are," Ressler said.
"We can't go anywhere," Liz said with a soft chuckle.
"True," he smiled. "But there's less likelihood we'll get injured if we are closer together."
He pulled at her hand and tentatively took steps to the left with her. They made it about six feet before they felt a cement wall. They both felt along it and felt no signs of anything but cement. They walked along the wall and got to the corner, then along another wall that seemed to be about 8 or 10 feet in length, then another 6 foot wall with a door that was covered completely except for the opening at the bottom, then another 8-10 foot wall.
"So, about 6 feet on either end, one with a door that's solid, and 10 feet down the sides," Ressler said. "I only felt cement except for the door, you?"
"Same," Liz winced.
"What?" He asked.
"I've got this weird painful bump behind my left ear," Liz said.
"I've got something like that behind my right ear," Ressler said as he absently rubbed at his ear with his left hand.
He felt her hand smack gently into his face and then run along his neck and behind his ear feeling the bump that was there.
"So, you're right hand is cuffed to my left hand, and my left ear has a bump that feels the same as yours which is behind your right ear," Liz surmised.
He nodded and then realized she couldn't see him nod.
"Yeah," he replied. "The only things in here besides us are the cots."
"Yeah," she said. "I didn't walk into a toilet or anything, did you?"
"Nope," he said, realizing there was now an issue. "Shit, do you have to go?"
"Not immediately," Liz sighed. "But soon."
"Oh, okay," he said looking around and realizing he couldn't see anything if he did.
"Crouch down," he said as he got down and felt under his bed and found a small bucket.
"I found the toilet," he said as he banged the bucket so she could hear it.
"Great," Liz sighed. "Cuffed to you and peeing in a bucket?"
"At least it's dark," Ressler supplied.
She nodded. He was right.
They sat down on her cot side by side for a long time just talking.
Who would know we're here? Missing? Was it the man they were following up on for online terrorist threats? Did this have to do with Branch 251 who they had thought it may be connected? Would anyone be looking for them yet? How long had they been here? Who were their captors? Why were they captured? What was that loud ear-piercing noise and light that rendered them, apparently, unconscious?
"Agnes," Liz gasped as she brought her hand up to her mouth.
"She's at school, right?" Ressler asked.
"Yeah," Liz nodded.
"No one is going to let her leave without you," Ressler said, now worried as well. "Didn't you say parents had to individually pick kids up from their teacher?"
"Yeah," Liz nodded.
"So, when you don't show, who is your emergency…"
"You are, remember?" Liz asked him.
"Shit," Ressler sighed. "Is there another one?"
"Kayla's mom, Fern," Liz explained.
"Well then they won't get me, so they'll call Fern and she'll keep Agnes….Fern? That's her name?" Ressler asked.
"They're Chinese," Liz said. "When they came to the US, they needed to pick more American names. Her parents named her Fern and her twin sister Snow."
Ressler nodded.
"Don't worry," Ressler said as he reached over and squeezed her hand in his. "Kayla's mom will take care of her until you're back. And, with us both missing, Cooper will have protection on her. That's the protocol."
She squeezed back and sighed with relief.
"Ressler, this was supposed to be an easy day, helping homeland with follow-up," Liz sighed as she leaned forward on her knees. "Seriously."
"So, we know we weren't the target," Ressler leaned forward on his knees as well.
"True," Liz chuckled. "Sorry, I keep nodding and realizing afterwards you can't see me."
"I know," he chuckled. "I've been doing the same."
She took a deep breath and sighed it out.
"Hey, why don't you lay down and rest," Ressler said. "We don't know how long we'll be here. I'll keep the first watch."
She sighed again and he stood up and carefully moved to the other cot. Then noticed that that position meant they both had stretched arms which was incredibly uncomfortable. They fiddled with positioning offering suggestions for a few minutes before her mattress squeaked again and he heard her sit up and sigh.
"Can we try something?" Liz asked as she tugged at his arm. He followed her tugging and felt her push him down to a sitting position at the end of her cot. She lay down with her head resting on his one thigh and their cuffed hands on his other thigh. "There, you okay?"
He swallowed hard and was happy she couldn't see his red face and hoped his body didn't betray him with the back of her head so close to his crotch.
"Yeah, this is easier on the arms," he sighed.
She snuggled in and went to sleep while Ressler thought about all the things that would not get him aroused in this moment.
To be continued…?