Red's first sensation upon coming to was that he couldn't feel his arms. As he struggled to regain full consciousness he came to realise that this was because they were strung up above his head, supporting his full body weight whilst he'd been unable to stand. Shuffling his feet a bit in order that they could take his weight, slowly beginning to realise what kind of situation he was in, he took the strain off his wrists and shoulders, hissing in breath sharply as he did so. He believed nothing had become dislocated. Blinking rapidly, he peered out from under his eyelids, the bright light in the room causing him to discover his arms weren't the only thing that hurt. His head felt like Babe Ruth had used it for batting practice.

However, once he was able to look about himself, he soon forgot about his own predicament. Lizzy was in a similarly trussed position herself, just six feet from him. She hadn't come to yet and he quickly started calling her name, becoming increasingly more worried when she didn't stir at all. He was just about to start seeing if he could do something about the manacles restraining him when he heard the door open. Two men came in, each carrying automatic rifles. They came and stood in front of him and smiled as if greeting an old friend.

'So, you decided to wake up, did you, Reddington?'

'Who are you?'

'Not important'

Thug A turned to Thug B and nodded at Lizzy. B seemed to know exactly what he meant as he went over to the sink at the side of the room and filled a cup there with water. He then walked over to Lizzy and, holding her head up, poured it over her face.

'Get your hands off her!', Red shouted, his arms straining at his cuffs ever more urgently.

'Easy tiger, easy. Just seeing if sleeping beauty wants to wake up yet'.

Red peered at Lizzy, trying to see what damage she had had done to her but he couldn't see from where he was. However, the water had done the trick and she slowly started to come round, groaning as she did so.

'Ah, there she is. Welcome to the party, Agent Keen. Fashionably late but I guess that's a woman's prerogative', B said as he brushed Lizzy's wet hair from her face, allowing his thumb to linger a second too long near her mouth.

Red nearly broke his shoulder trying to get free. He roared and bore his teeth at the man touching his girl like that. B just laughed and walked back to stand in front of them both.

'Lizzy, are you okay?'

'Red…. Where, where are we….?'

But before he could answer her, A interrupted, 'You guys can chit chat all you want once you're alone but if you don't mind we've got a plane to catch. Mr Simmons sends his regards to you, Reddington. He says he hopes you'll find your accommodation up to your usual standard. But if you don't, feel free to fill in a complaints form. He'll be back to speak to you and your little girl-toy here in a couple of weeks. By then he's hoping that you'll be amenable to any and all offers he has to make to you regarding him relieving you of some of your business interests'.

Red's eyes opened wide as he started to calculate exactly what the man was saying. He and Lizzy were going to be locked in this room, alone, for two weeks. If he were an ordinary man that would not be so much of an issue. He had already clocked that there was a large pile of boxes containing food and water in the far corner of the room and he assumed the only other door in the place led to a lavatory.

'No, no. You can't do that!'

'Aw, come on, don't tell me a couple of weeks of vacation time worries the big bad Raymond Reddington', Thug A laughed. 'I'm afraid I have not been granted the power of negotiation so you're just gonna have to suck it up, amigo'.

'Please, please….. You don't understand. You can leave me here but please take Elizabeth with you. She's got nothing to do with this'.

Red's heart soared as A headed towards Lizzy, reaching up with a key to unlock one of her cuffs. Her other hand was still attached to the wall and she didn't appear to have come to entirely yet as she wasn't saying anything, just observing proceedings a little groggily.

A placed the handcuff key in Lizzy's free hand and then walked away from her, 'Sorry, no can do. Mr Simmons wants you both here. He figures you'll be more persuadable with the girl present'.

'I'll give you anything, anything not to do this. Please. I have more money than you can imagine….'

But Red's words were wasted. The two men had left the room and the last they heard of them was a series of locks and bolts being attached and fixed in place.

'What's the matter, Red, you worried we're gonna run out of conversation?'

Red looked over to Lizzy, who was looking at him, attempting a smile. His stomach dropped as he thought of how he was supposed to be the man who looked out for her, who protected her no matter what. How was he supposed to do that in the next two weeks? She saw the look on his face and frowned.

'Hey, Red. What is it? I know this is pretty crap but we're either gonna be able to break out or we're gonna have to cope. I'm sure you've been in much worse scrapes'. Lizzy was still trying to soothe Red, she could see how terrified he looked and it was starting to scare her. And, if she were honest, she was worried about him too. He wasn't the kind of man to show fear. Or to beg. Why had he been so clearly horrified at the prospect of them being stuck in here? She looked up at her hands and quickly used the key Thug A had left in her hand to pop open her other cuff. The second she'd done that, she walked over towards Red to free him.

However, she quickly realised that he'd have to wait a moment. She had lost all feeling in her arms and was going to have to allow blood flow to resume properly before she could lift them again. Looking up at him, she saw he looked close to tears. She didn't know what on earth was going on with him but she stepped into him and managed to get her hands as high as his jacket pockets, inside which she rested them, giving him a very clumsy hug.

'Just give me a minute to feel my arms again and I'll cut you loose, Red'

Suddenly Red had a thought, 'Lizzy don't'.

Lizzy pulled back from him, looking up at his face, 'Sorry, I thought you might need a hug. I shouldn't have…..'

'No, no, not that. Don't cut me loose. Just leave me chained up'.

Lizzy blinked a couple of times at him and then laughed lightly, 'This really isn't the time for one of your suggestive comments, Red'

'No, I'm serious. Leave me like this. You must!'

'Okay, that's enough of that. I'm getting you down right now. I need to see just how hard those bastards hit you because you're acting very oddly'.

She stepped up to him again and reached up to unlock his cuffs. Red almost growled in frustration. Short of physically preventing her from letting him free by kicking her away, there was nothing he could do. He felt his arms fall as he was released and allowed them to sag to his sides. He then just sank down the wall and let his head fall forward, staring blankly at the floor.

Lizzy crouched down next to him and took the opportunity to examine his temple, 'Well, there's some blood and some nasty bruising. Other than that I can't really tell if it's fractured or anything. But I want you to take it easy. You're really not acting like yourself '.

Red huffed with laughter. Just you give it a few days, he thought to himself, before sighing and looking up at Lizzy.

'And your head?'

'Hurts like hell. But I don't feel dizzy or nauseous. We can keep an eye on each other. I'm gonna go get us some water and then we can see just how secure this place is'.

He watched her as she walked over to the boxes of bottled water. Pulling one out, she found a couple of plastic cups and filled them before returning to his side. Handing Red one of the cups, she sank down next to him.

'Cheers'

Red couldn't help himself, he laughed at her attempt at levity, 'Cheers, Lizzy. Although I believe it's bad luck to toast with water'.

'Yeah, well, I think the bad luck's already happened, Red'.

'Yes, indeed. Malcolm has played me for an utter fool. I should've seen this coming'.

'Don't you go blaming yourself, Red. That's not gonna help either of us. We'll be okay. We always are'.

He looked up at her and met her eyes. She didn't look too worried. No doubt she was under the impression that her knight in shining armour would find a way out of this mess. Like he always did. He couldn't bring himself to look at her for too long. He was terrified and didn't want her to see. One of them wasn't going to survive more than a week down here. And there was no way he could explain to her why that was.