Ressler wasn't sure he'd ever see a day again where it wasn't grey, dreary and raining. As he sat on the ground with Liz asleep on his lap, he could feel the dampness almost settling into his bones, causing a steady ache in his body. The fact he also had a couple of broken ribs and a few cracked ones might also have had something to do with that, he thought. He was almost thankful that his legs had fallen asleep with the weight of Liz sitting on his lap for the past hour or so. At least it was one less part of his body that hurt right now.
He looked at Red sitting beside him. The man was 20 years older than him, and he had to be feeling this too. Plus he had a gunshot wound on his forearm. A forearm, he now noticed, that was bleeding afresh, judging by the new stains on his shirt sleeve.
"That arm bothering you?" he asked Red.
"This? Oh this is just a flesh wound Donald. I'm fine," said Red, shrugging it off.
"If either of you says 'I'm fine' one more time..." Liz raised her head off Resslers chest (for which his ribs were eternally grateful) and looked at Red. They hadn't realized she had woken up again.
"Well, good morning again, Lizzie," said Red pleasantly. "How are you feeling?" he asked, this time with genuine concern.
"I'm fine," she said, and then stopped. She groaned inwardly as both men raised their eyebrows and looked pointedly at her, both suppressing a smile. "Point taken - but I really AM fine, unlike you two!" she said, grinning then, as Red chuckled and Ressler gave her one of his full smiles.
"You three should get a room," a disgusted Liev suddenly said, while standing beside Dembe.
The smiles disappeared. Ressler glared at the man, unaware he'd drawn Liz a little closer in a protective move as he did so. Red's face took on that warning look again, and Dembe raised the rifle a little more. Liev stood there with his hands cuffed in front of him, looking at them a moment more. He then glanced at Dembe, then dropped his eyes to look at his own rifle aimed at him.
"But fine, you have the upper hand," he said, and then looked sharply at them. "For now."
Ressler didn't care for the man's tone, nor the open threat. The sooner they got off this mountain and got him into 'real' custody, the better.
"Be very careful, Liev, said Red, in a tone that Ressler found even more disturbing.
Red turned back to Liz, dismissing the Russian and instantly turning on his Lizzie Face (as Ressler had dubbed it). The one where he looked at her, with knowledge known only to him, in a manner that was unmistakably caring. He climbed to his feet now, retrieving his coat that he'd been sitting on. Reaching down, he offered Liz his hand and she took it. On her feet now, she looked silently outside at the downed trees. Red rubbed her back, standing beside her.
"You survived it Lizzie. You're fine," he said gently.
"I know. And I am fine. I just lost it there for a moment. All those trees...trees just don't fall like that..." she shook her head in disbelief, looking at the downed forest in front of them.
Red smiled at her, patted her back and then turned to look at Ressler who was still sitting on the ground. "Care to join us, Donald?"
Ressler was trying to move his numb legs that would soon have that torturous pins and needles feeling crawling all over them. "Sure, just as soon as I get some feeling back in my legs."
###
Twenty minutes later, they stood outside the overhang of the ridge, looking at what lay below them. The hillside dropped away sharply below the overhanging of rocks they had taken shelter under. The ridge ran right along this side of the mountain, separating the upper and lower portions starkly. Above it, a fairly gentle slope – the one they had careened down almost two hours earlier, dodging falling pine trees. Below them, the mountain dropped off sharply - almost sheer cliffs in places, and a steep, rocky incline in other sections.
They turned and looked toward their target for reaching the road again. The clear grassed area running up the side of the mountain. Between where they stood now and the cleared area, trees were down. However, because they were closer to the rocky ridge, there were far fewer trees than further up on the ridge. They could make it 'fairly' easily and only need to bypass a few trees to reach the clear area. It looked like a good plan, except for one detail.
They were going to have to walk above an almost sheer cliff face to reach the grassy run.
That knot that had started in Ressler's stomach the evening before came right back at the sight of that. "Let's roll." He said, and they started out. Dembe pushing Liev in front of him, his rifle trained on him. Ressler followed them, with Liz and Red bringing up the rear. Ressler could hear them talking behind him, but didn't tune in to their private conversation.
The going was surprisingly easy, compared to what they had imagined it would take to get back up to the road. The grass under their feet was saturated and spongy, and it was more than a little disconcerting walking on it near a sheer drop off. Tall trees lay to their left, and some had toppled right over the embankment that lay a few feet to their right. They walked around them, detouring where necessary to keep in a fairly straight path toward the grassy run. Once or twice, they had no choice but to scramble over a tree trunk. Ressler managed in a fairly ungainly manner. Sitting on his butt on the tree trunk and scooting over the truck, trying not to use his arms as much as possible. Their line strung out a little longer as Dembe and Liev moved further ahead, and Liz and Red dropped back a little.
They could see the cleared area now, and could now see pylon bases in the ground. It had been cleared to run power lines across the mountain and wasn't a ski run as they'd first thought. Ressler looked up the ridge to their left again, at the trees piled up like matchsticks. How much worse would it have been if they had to climb over all of those fallen trees. The few they had gone over were hard enough. In fact, the more he looked, the more he didn't believe they'd have been able to get back up the ridge at all through that mess.
He heard a shout as something slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
It was Liev.
He had turned back suddenly and head butted Ressler, knocking both of them to the ground. They rolled, perilously close to the cliff face to their right.
Ressler was on his belly, his ribs on fire, momentarily unable to move. Liev was closer to the drop off, his legs hanging over the edge. Ressler looked into his eyes and saw Liev smiling at him. A sick grin that made Ressler's heart skip a beat.
"You're coming with me, ginger." Grabbing Ressler's left arm, he moved closer to the edge, dropping his legs down now.
"No! No!" he heard Liz shriek.
Ressler felt himself being dragged to the edge, as Liev's weight pulled him. Liev was almost out of sight now
"Today, we die together."
Liev jumped, still holding Ressler's arm.
Ressler felt two things simultaneously - someone suddenly sitting on his legs to hold him on the ridge - and a wrenching pop as his left shoulder was dragged out of its socket as Liev jumped, still clinging to him, determined to drag Ressler to his death along with himself.
Ressler screamed out in pain, his arm stretched impossibly, still held by Liev as the man refused to let go.
"Dembe! Grab him!" Red yelled. Ressler realized it was Red sitting on his legs.
Dembe was suddenly by him, and in one motion, he grabbed Liev's cuffed hands, dragging him back up onto the ridge with both hands.
Liev struggled against Dembe. "Let me go!"
Dembe ignored him, hauling him back up to the cliff face. He forcibly removed Liev's cuffed hands from Ressler's arm, eliciting another howl of pain from Ressler. Dembe turned and punched Liev full in the face, knocking him out. He lay sprawled on the ridge now, out cold.
"Ressler!" Liz was beside him now.
Red lifted up off his legs now and came to his side, looking at the agent's left arm. "Donald, your shoulder is dislocated."
"No shit, Red! He panted through gritted teeth.
"Then you know we have to reset it."
"No." He'd had enough of people pulling on his arm for the moment. "Just… help me up," he grunted, his jaws clenched against the pain.
He was unable to move his own arm, a feeling that was both surreal, and terrifying. Dembe pulled him back up onto his knees, as Red held his arm stopping it from swinging too far. On his knees now, Liz looked at him. His face was ghostly white, and sweat had sprung out on his forehead with the pain.
"Ress, which pocket are your pain pills in?" She asked, looking at him worriedly.
"Right…rear…" he panted.
She reached into his pocket, but found no pills. She checked his left pocket, then checked his jacket pockets. The pain pills were gone. "They're not here!" She said, alarmed. He met her eyes at that. Just great.
"Donald, can you stand?"
He didn't know if he could, but nodded anyway. He needed desperately to get away from the edge of the cliff. He felt Dembe haul him up now, Red supporting his left arm, then stood swaying on his feet. He was trembling with the pain, as his body tried desperately to adjust to a bone sitting out of place.
"Get me… away…" He couldn't finish the sentence, but ALL of them wanted to get away from that cliff face. Dembe threw Ressler's right arm over his shoulder, and helped the FBI agent move away from the cliff.
Ressler staggered, and would have fallen if not for Dembe holding him up. They moved back slowly from the cliff, and Ressler stopped near a downed tree trunk, needing to sit before he fell.
As if in added insult to their situation, the skies opened up and rain began to fall in earnest.
###
"Donald, look at me." Red's face was leaning down toward him as he sat on the tree trunk, concern etched in his features.
"If we don't get this shoulder back in place very soon, it will be almost impossible once the swelling sets in. I need to do this now." Rain dripped down Red's face, causing a drop of rain to catch at the base of his nose. Ressler found himself unable to stop looking at it, watching it fall, only to be replaced by another drop almost immediately.
"Donald!" Red's hand patted Ressler's cheek then, forcing the agent to concentrate. "I need to do this right now."
Dragging his eyes from the drip of rain on Red's nose, Ressler looked into the criminal's eyes. Of course he knew it needed to be done. That didn't mean he wanted it done. He nodded. "Then... do it." he gasped, then closed his eyes against the pain. Somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind, deja vu reared it's ugly head. Memories of a glass box, of Reddington needing to set his leg alight, and Ressler telling him to do it.
After fashioning a makeshift sling from a scarf in Liz's backpack, they carefully got his jacket off, showing them for the first time the misshapen shoulder. Red and Liz helped him lay down on the tree trunk now. Ressler bit his lip, but didn't cry out. This was getting to be a habit - laying down in agony while Red helped him.
Red then motioned for Dembe to hold the upper part of Ressler's arm. "When I give the word, you move his upper arm steadily outward, while I move his lower arm downward. No fast movements Dembe, just steady."
The black man nodded to his boss, and positioned his big hands gently on Ressler's upper arm now. Ressler gasped at the jolt of pain that shot up his shoulder as the man touched him. Liz leaned over him, standing on the other side of him from Red and Dembe. Involuntarily, her hand reached up to Ressler's wet hair. As if somehow she could prevent the pain just by being there. She caught Red's glance then.
"Lizzie, distract him while we do this," he said, almost in her ear. She could barely hear him over the rain hitting the downed trees around them now. Distract him? From this? She'd give it her best shot.
Reddington placed his hands on Ressler's lower arm and hand. Ressler flinched, letting out an involuntary cry as another stab of pain reached his shoulder. Liz looked at him, and stroked his wet hair again. She looked fearfully at Red, wanting this to be over almost as much as Ressler did.
"Donald, hold on. Here we go," Red told him, and Ressler stiffened, dreading what was coming, increasing the pain in his shoulder. Dembe felt the muscles tighten in the arm he was holding as Red gave the word.
"Now, Dembe."
Hot pain lit up his entire left arm as Red slowly tried to pull his hand downward. Dembe tried to move his upper arm outward, but the muscles had tightened, making it harder.
Ressler's head fell back as he cried out. No! He couldn't do this! His right arm flailed up, trying to stop Red, but he couldn't reach him. Liz caught his arm, and held it in her hands as she leaned closer. "No, don't fight it, I'm right here...look at me..." said Liz in his ear, clutching his arm to her, but he wasn't listening. Hot agony shot up his left arm as bone moved against bone in an impossible dance inside his shoulder. No! God no! His breathing heaved in his chest, causing even more pain. If he could have got up off that tree and fled, he would have.
"Lizzie!" Red hissed, looking pointedly at her now.
Distract him! Right! She looked down at Ressler.
And planted her lips on his mouth, kissing him hard.
Ressler's eyes flew open, and all he could see was Liz. Her lips were impossibly soft as his mouth opened up under hers in surprise. His body was caught off guard and his muscles relaxed in reflex. Red felt the change, as did Dembe, and in that instant Red pulled Ressler's arm firmly downward as Dembe moved it outward. With a final grating of bone against bone, his arm slid perfectly back into position inside his shoulder socket. Bitter and sweet, hard and soft, the pain of his shoulder offset by the softness of Liz's lips.
It was over in seconds.
She released his lips, held her mouth an inch from his as his eyes locked onto hers. He quivered under her. What the hell just happened? She cupped his cheek in her hand then, the taste of him still on her lips. A mixture of muskiness, salt and rainwater. A wave of pain hit him then as Red gently placed his left arm across his belly, holding it in place with his hand. Ressler closed his eyes again, gasping as Dembe deftly lifted his head a little and positioned the makeshift sling to hold his arm in place, strapping it against his belly. When he opened his eyes, Liz had moved to the side of him. He rolled his head to look at her.
His arm now supported by the sling, Liz watched the features relax somewhat in his face, as the unbearable agony in his shoulder was now much abated. His breathing was becoming steadier, by the rise and fall of his chest in front of her. She stroked his hair, and suddenly became aware of Red and Dembe watching her.
"Um, right. Okay, distraction successful. Yes." She removed her hand from his hair.
"Excellent distraction technique, Lizzie," smiled Red knowingly. Dembe grinned at her.
The rain saturated woods came back into sharp focus around her now. She was still holding Ressler's right hand in hers. Ignoring Red and Dembe (or trying to), she looked down at Ressler again.
"You okay?" she asked him. His eyes were closed against the rain falling in his face.
He nodded now. "Just give me… a minute," he panted, "and I'll be… raring to go."
"Yes, because you're 'fine', right?" she asked, smiling now.
He nodded, swallowing hard. Of course he was.
###
When Ressler was able to get to his feet a little while later, assuring them he was fine (and ignoring Liz's snicker), they set off again. Dembe had retrieved the now conscious Liev from the tree, and cuffed his hands in front of him. He held the man's arm now, not letting him out of his sight.
Ressler walked between Red and Liz, getting the impression they were both there to catch him if he fell. He didn't need that though. The pain was in his shoulder and chest - his legs were fine. He looked at each of them as they walked in the rain, but decided not to say anything.
Red apparently didn't have any qualms. "I must say Donald, that scarf you're wearing is very becoming of you. The lilac really brings out the blue in your eyes."
"Shut up."
Liz laughed on the other side of him, looking at her scarf that they had used for a makeshift sling. It had been stashed at the bottom of her backpack, and while looking for anything they could use to immobilize his arm she had produced it.
Red chuckled and patted Ressler on the back.
"Ow."
"Ooops, sorry Donald."
"No you're not."
And Liz lost it all over again, laughing hard, meeting the sideways look Ressler gave her. After almost having a heart attack at seeing Liev dragging Ressler over the cliff, she felt immense relief at hearing Red and Ressler in usual form, bouncing off each other. And with the way Red was teasing Ressler, she realized he was also relieved his favorite punching bag was okay.
From in front of them, Dembe glanced back, enjoying hearing their laughter in this wet landscape.
They had started their ascent now, leaving the rocky ridge and cliffs and were finally making headway back up to the road. The going was fairly easy, though the ground was muddy and slippery. More than once their feet slipped on the wet grass as the rain poured down, but they plowed on. Ressler ended up putting his right arm around Liz's shoulders after she almost went down again. Just to keep her from falling, of course.
"Who's supporting who here?" she asked him, smiling, rain running down her face. She could feel him leaning on her at times when he grimaced in pain.
"You noticed that, huh? Just don't fall or it won't be pretty when we both go down," he said as she leaned into him.
"How's your shoulder doing?" she asked him, then glanced at him as he silently met her eyes, recalling her 'distraction technique'. They weren't sure how to address that. Ressler took the situation in hand though. "I'm fine." He told her, smiling as she groaned at him.
Toward the top, they stopped for a breather. Yes, it was pouring with rain, but they were so wet and so used to it, they didn't even think about it. They briefly looked at the trees to shelter under, but none of them felt too confident standing under them just yet. Instead, they sat on the wet grass and leaned against the concrete footings of the future pylons, looking down toward the rocky ridge below them. Dembe held Liev at gunpoint a few feet off to their side.
"What else do you have in that magic backpack of yours?" Ressler asked Liz, after grunting at the sudden jolt of pain at sitting down.
She rummaged through it, and produced a few sorry looking health bars. Still wrapped, a little bent out of shape, but definitely edible. She shared them out among them, even offering Liev one. He ignored her.
"We better eat these too, before they get even more bruised," and handed them each an apple, tossing one to Dembe.
"You'd make an excellent Boy Scout, Lizzie. So prepared," said Red, smiling at her as he bit into the apple.
She looked at Ressler at the mention of Boy Scout, and he glanced at her silently, his eyes smiling. His mind went back to their stop at the gas station where she had walked out with two shopping bags, before they'd headed up here. Was that only yesterday morning?! It felt like they'd been running around on this mountain for a week.
###
They finally made it to the top and stood in sight of the paved road again a few hundred yards up from where they had parked. Power lines were down and cables were strewn along the grass by the road. They had to cross those, and they stood looking at them.
"The power is more than likely still off, so we 'should' be okay," said Ressler dubiously. He knew the power was still off, and could see the cables ripped out of the poles. But still, these were high voltage power lines after all, and it paid to be careful.
Red looked at Liev. "I'm sure Liev here would oblige and test that theory for us." Liev glared at him.
Dembe finally took a step over the power cables, pushing Liev in front of him. It was perfectly safe, and the others followed suit. Ressler suddenly felt like the little boy in Jurassic Park, climbing the electric fence as the power was slowly coming back on. He couldn't get past them quick enough. They cleared them without incident, standing on the road at last.
As they walked back down to the vehicles, still unseen around the next bend, they noticed surprisingly few trees down on the actual road. Those that had fallen were either climbed over, or walked around. What concerned them the most though were the trees that were half uprooted and hadn't fallen, balancing precariously over the road as they walked under them.
The rounded the corner, and groaned. Red's car was buried under the upper branches of a tree, and trapped by another tree that had fallen right in front of it. As they walked closer they saw the van. It was completely crushed under the weight of two trees. If they had taken shelter in there – or left Jeremy Cole and Liev inside - no one would have survived.
The mower had fared the best though. The top canopy was bent under the weight of a tree, but it had withstood the impact very well. They stopped at Red's car, but couldn't even access the doors under the branches. They approached the van, making their way around the two trees that lay across it, and walked to the mower. Ressler was looking for the chain saws, and spotted them under a tree. Dembe crawled under and retrieved one of them, after handing the rifle to Red to hold on Liev.
They heard a loud cracking noise right behind them. One of the trees that was half out of the ground suddenly gave way, startling them. Red looked back in reflex, and at that moment, Liev swung his arms around, hitting him in the face. Ressler reacted, but was too late.
Red fell back, his lower lip bleeding, and Liev grabbed the rifle from his arms, swinging it around and pointing it at Liz.
Instinctively, Ressler jumped in front of her.
"So, you want to die today after all, ginger," said Liev, looking at them both. "And you can take the pretty lady with you too."
He aimed the rifle.
Red was on his feet behind Liev now and in one move swiped Jessie Cole's knife down Liev's right arm, causing him to drop the rifle, blood spurting from his forearm.
Ressler ran, and picked up the rifle, wincing in pain as his arm swung out too far. He fumbled with it, unable to hold the rifle on Liev one handed, but stopped the Russian from picking it up again. Liz was at his side now and she took it, holding it on Liev now.
Liev turned on Red, teeth bared as blood ran from his sliced arm, rivulets of it running down his arm in the rain. "Is that all you've got?"
Red regarded him calmly, a cold look in his eyes. "Not at all Liev. That was just for Harold." He swung the knife, cleanly slicing Liev's throat.
"But THAT is for Meera."
Blood spilled everywhere as Liev looked at him in utter disbelief, his hands flying to his throat. He dropped to his knees, his mouth open, unable to make a sound with his vocal chords cut.
"No!" Liz yelled, looking at Liev fall to the ground now. Blood pumped out onto the road, causing a large pool that not even the heavy rain could wash away. "Why did you do that?!"
Red crouched down to the bleeding man laying on the ground, looking into his dying eyes. "I'm not like Agent Ressler. I don't play by the rules. You're not going to kill anyone here today. Have a pleasant after life, Liev."
Ressler had been frozen to the spot and finally moved. "We needed him alive!" he yelled at Red, storming over to him. He looked down at Liev, seeing the cut throat, the blood, and it was Meera all over again. He looked away, closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.
"Dammit Red!" He let out a strangled cry of complete frustration, turned and walked away, unable to look at all that blood pouring out onto the road.
Liz looked at Red in horror.
He regarded her calmly, folding the knife and dropping it back in his pocket. "Lizzie, this man would have killed both of you. I was not going to let him do that. You may call me a monster, and you would be right. But no one takes you from me."
She glared at him, her heart pounding in her chest, shaking her head at him. She dragged her eyes away from him and looked toward Ressler, still storming away from them. She went to follow him, but Red stopped her.
"Let him be Lizzie. Some things a man just has to deal with alone."
She looked at Red again, then back to Ressler, feeling helpless. She looked at Liev, lying dead on the road now. All that blood took her right back to her hands being shoved around Meera's throat as they had tried desperately to save her.
She couldn't believe it when she started to cry.
And fought it when Red gathered her into his arms.
"No! No!" she pummeled his chest with her hands, not wanting him to hold her. Until suddenly she did and stopped hitting him, and sobbed against his chest in the pouring rain.