When Red awoke the following morning, he felt surprisingly rested despite his nightmare. Memories of that night would often haunt his dreams, especially in moments of high stress. Obviously his life was frequently stressful but the fact he currently had Lizzy to worry about along with himself meant that he could probably expect further disturbed dreams whilst they were down here.

Turning to regard Lizzy, he saw she was still fast asleep. However, she had a deep frown creasing her perfect brow. The urge to reach over and smooth out that furrow saw him lift his arm and move it towards her. It was only with an inch to spare that he managed to stop himself. Bringing his hand back to his side, he continued to watch her sleep, a small smile creeping up over his face despite everything. She really was the most beautiful woman in the world. He knew he was biased in that opinion but he didn't care. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for his precious Lizzy.

Sighing softly, he sat up and slowly got off the mattress. Taking his clothes, he locked himself in the small bathroom and commenced washing his undershirt. He also washed his boxers and hung them both to dry over the shower rail. Wearing just his dress shirt and going commando under his suit trousers, he re-emerged from the bathroom to find Lizzy sitting up on the mattress, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

'Good morning, Lizzy. I hope you slept okay after I woke you up?'

'Hey Red. Yeah, not too bad. This mattress sucks though'

Red chuckled as he came back over to her side, 'Yes, indeed it does. I may need to do some stretching actually, my back is feeling pretty stiff'

Lizzy stood and headed off towards the bathroom, 'Oh, sweetheart, I washed a couple of items of clothing and hung them in there. I would have done some for you but I think you're wearing pretty much everything'.

Lizzy smiled as she closed the door, 'No worries, Red, I'll wash my own underwear. But nice try', she said as she winked at him.

Thankfully she wasn't able to see Red's reaction. He was taken aback by her comment and then slightly aroused. Turning away from the door, he hurried over to the food supplies to see what he could find to rustle up for Lizzy's breakfast, desperate to distract himself.

By the time she had returned, he had opened up a can of hot dog wieners and some more beans. He'd even managed to find some long-life OJ and so had poured some of that for each of them.

Lizzy came over and sat next to him on the mattress. Glancing as furtively as he could at her attire he saw she wasn't wearing her blouse, just her jacket over her bra. He could only imagine if she too had gone commando as he had. Maybe if he were to go in the bathroom in a little while he could…..

'Red, you okay? You look a little…. Odd?'

He turned to her quickly, opening his mouth and worrying if she'd read his mind, 'No, no, I'm fine. Just wondering if we could set fire to something in here in order to cook this food'. Oh, nice one, Raymond. Of course she's gonna believe that.

Lizzy peered closely at him and then laughed, 'Well, that does sound much more pleasant than having to eat this cold but I'm pretty sure the smoke would kill us. Might not be worth it'.

'Er, no…'

'Maybe if we had a nice cut of steak I'd be willing to chance it though'

He smiled at her and lifted his can up to hers, 'Cheers'. She smiled back at him and they clinked cans.

'You make sure you swap me those wieners when you're halfway through, buster. I'm already fed up of beans'.

'Of course, Lizzy. I would never deny you your fair share of wieners'

Lizzy nearly spat out the mouthful of beans she was eating and looked at Red in mock horror. He was trying desperately not to laugh but failing miserably.

'Oh, dear. Is this what I've got to look forward to for the next two weeks?'

Red's smiled faded as she looked away from him. If only that was what she could expect from him. What he would give just to hang out with his girl and make dirty comments. Do anything to make her smile. He needed to clear his head and start thinking about what he was going to do in about five days time. But stuck in this tiny room, there was no respite from Lizzy's presence long enough for him to find the peace he needed. Popping the last of his share of processed meat into his mouth, he passed his can to Lizzy and took the half can of beans in return. Grimacing, he started to scoop them into his mouth. The fact he didn't actually have to eat this slop in order to survive was a particular irony. He still enjoyed a good meal; lobster, steak, foie gras, but he only ever ate when in company that would expect to see him do so. He never felt hungry. Well, not for regular food anyway.

After breakfast, Red took their spoons and cups into the bathroom to give them a quick wash. Whilst he was in there he couldn't help himself. He glanced up at the shower rail and there, next to his undershirt and boxers, were Lizzy's blouse and her panties. So she was naked under her jeans. For a few seconds he couldn't tear his eyes away from them. Then he thought what an invasion of privacy it was for him to be so furtive in his appreciation. He turned to the door, laughing a little when he wondered whether Lizzy had had the same problem staring at his boxers.

'What's so funny?'

Blinking at Lizzy as he came out of the bathroom, he hastily rearranged his facial expression, 'Oh, nothing really. Just, er, had a silly thought'

'Care to share? I could do with a laugh right about now'

'It's really not worth it, my dear. Now, how would you feel about a game of chess?'

'We didn't finish making all the pieces yet'

'Ah, but I had a brainwave. Let's rip some letters off the cans. 'K' for King, 'B' for Bishop etcetera'

'Genius, Red'

'Yes, a little'

Lizzy nudged him in his side as he looked at her smugly, 'Okay, no need to gloat. So we'll use white letters and black letters to differentiate. What about 'Q' though? For Queen? I don't think we have any cans with that letter on'.

Glancing down at the assorted goods in front of him, Red realised she was right. He bent down and picked up some Oreos and some corn.

'Let's just use 'O' instead. I'm sure we each have enough imagination to picture a little squiggle intersecting the circle'

Lizzy laughed and took the packages from him, 'Oh, Red, you're on fire today. Can't wait to take you down a peg or two when I beat you'.

'It hardly seems likely'

'Red!'

But she couldn't stay mad at him, not with the way he was staring at her, a huge grin on his face. Damn him, that boyish smile would always win her over.

'Fine. Let's get started'

An hour later and they'd completed 3 games. Red had won each one quite easily and Lizzy was starting to get frustrated. When he knocked over her King, or to be more exact, blew her scrap of paper with a 'K' on it off the board, she practically growled at him. This in turn made Red roar with laughter. Trying to keep a serious face, Lizzy found she just couldn't and soon started laughing too.

'Well, it turns out I really do suck at chess. Maybe we could make a checkers board instead…'

'Now, now, Lizzy. I'd be more than happy to help you learn how to play the game a little more tactically. We have time'.

'I guess. But I've definitely had enough for now. I'm gonna go take a shower I think. Don't do anything I wouldn't whilst I'm gone'.

Watching her disappear into the bathroom, Red sighed and glanced around. This was going to get quite tedious. Well, before it became something more serious than that. Heading over to the boxes he started having a good look through them all. The food didn't interest him at all but he hoped he might find something else in there that could occupy their time. However, other than a first aid kit, he didn't find anything in the food boxes. Turning to the last box, one filled with toilet paper, he really didn't hold out much hope. Tipping it upside down, he had practically looked away before he noticed treasure falling out of it. Treasure in the form of four paperbacks. He picked them up and scanned the titles. Just generic thrillers. He didn't know whether Malcolm Simmons was attempting humour but they were all about international criminals and smuggling. Damn that man. Still, at least he had left them something other than the bare necessities.

Leaving the books on the mattress, he went and sat in the middle of the floor. He really needed to get the crick out of his back from last night. If he didn't deal with it now, by tomorrow he'd be in agony. From past experience, a spot of yoga would probably do the trick.

Lizzy finished in the shower and as she was too hot from the steam in such an enclosed space, she came back out into the main room wearing just a towel wrapped around her. She'd cool off before she got dressed again. Taking two steps into the room, she openly gaped at the sight of Red doing the downward dog position right in front of her. Good lord, he had a fine ass….

Red heard her coming out and as quickly as he could, he came down from his yoga pose so as not to embarrass himself further. Turning to grin sheepishly at Lizzy, instead his own jaw dropped as he saw her standing there in just a towel, her hair wet and beads of moisture falling down her body.

For a second neither of them could look away. Then, simultaneously, they both mumbled apologies and hastily made themselves busy doing something else. Lizzy went to the mattress and sat down, her face lighting up when she saw the books there. Red went into the bathroom, pretending he needed to use the facilities. By the time he'd emerged, the moment was near forgotten.

'This kidnapper of yours left us books? He really can't make up his mind whether he wants us to suffer or not, can he?'

Red looked over at her and smiled, 'Yes, it is rather perplexing. However, I imagine keeping us here is just his way of saying he's in charge. And that I will probably be more amenable to his 'business proposition' when he comes to talk to me if I'm not in an entirely foul mood'.

Liz hummed and continued reading the back of the books, 'Well, they look pretty silly. And his point is rather less than subtle, but they're better than nothing'.

Red came over and sat down next to her, 'I may read some now actually. You?'

'Yeah, I'll just cool off a little longer then I'll get dressed and join you'

The rest of the day and evening passed by much more pleasantly, each of them deeply involved in reading their respective books. Red was a very fast reader and even though he was trying not to race through his book, he had still finished it by dinner time. Ah, well, he thought to himself. By the time I've read all four of them I'll have other things to occupy my mind.

After dinner, they both decided just to turn in and to read a little longer. Their first full day of captivity had been one in which they had realised two weeks was going to be a very long time with little to do and so they were both rather subdued. At last they both put their books down and settled under the blankets.

'Goodnight, Red. I hope you don't have any more bad dreams'

'Thank you, Lizzy. I hope so too. I certainly don't want to wake you up by shouting in my sleep every night'

Liz smiled at him and then turned away, although she could still feel his eyes upon her. She smiled a little, knowing that he was staring at her. Something about that fact made her happy. She dropped off pretty quickly and Red just kept watching her from behind, noting how her breathing slowed. He felt so protective of her and so privileged to be able to be the one to look out for her. But he still hadn't worked out how to protect her from himself. Eventually his eyes dropped closed and he joined her in her slumbers.

The youthful Raymond Reddington slowly blinked awake. His head was drooping on his chest, he barely had the energy to lift it. But as he became more aware of his situation, the adrenalin kicked in and he forced himself to raise his head, looking about the room he was in. He was on the floor, shackled to the wall behind him. There were two other people in the room with him, both female. One was completely unconscious, the other not far off it. They both looked filthy and like they'd been down here a few days. Grimacing, he tried to swallow but found he had no saliva in his mouth. What he would give for some water right now.

Just as he was attempting to see if his handcuffs could be worked loose, he heard a sound from outside the door. A second later, a tall man with bright blond hair came in and strode towards the three captives.

'Hey, who are you? What's going on here?', Red managed to say, although his voice was hardly above a whisper.

The man glanced in his direction briefly but didn't answer. Instead he unlocked the cuffs on the unconscious girl and lifted her into his arms.

'What are you doing? Leave her alone!'

But Red's words were in vain. The man simply walked back out the door with the girl and then shut and locked it behind him. Red looked at the other girl in the room, who had briefly been roused by the man coming in before dropping back into her semi-conscious state. He noticed what looked like bite marks on her neck and his eyes widened. Suddenly he had a flashback to the alleyway. Looking down at his own clothing, he saw that his shirt was covered in blood over half his chest. What the hell was going on here? But he had no ability to think it through right now. The alcohol was still coursing through his system and the blood he'd lost was making him weak. Before he knew it, his head had lolled to the side and he had passed out again.