AN: Just a little something I came up with a while ago. Special thanks goes out to my wonderful friend and beta jackandsamforever

Disclaimer: I do not own The Blacklist.

Water Under The Bridge

Chp. 1

She yanked on the cuffs again, attempting to loosen the damn chain from the wall, but it wouldn't budge and the water was already at her knees.

"It's no use. You won't get them off the wall," Ressler said tiredly. He was chained next to her, the water not that high up his body since he was taller than her.

They had been following one of Reddington's blacklisters. Low on the list, but apparently still just as dangerous. The man had somehow anticipated what the FBI had been up to. He had waited for the two agents and caught them easily. After knocking them out, he had driven them out to one of his hideouts near the ocean and stuck them under a bridge that connected his property to a little island. The tide would be coming soon, the criminal had told them as much; laughing like a maniac as he left.

Now Liz and Donald couldn't do much but to 'hang in' there. Liz, of course, wouldn't just accept their fate. She had never been one to give up, and there was still so much to reveal. She had to know the whole truth about Tom... about Red and why he had chosen her. She wouldn't give up. There had to be someone who was looking for them. The FBI had surely noticed their absence and was probably on their way already. The water was rising quickly, it was already at her waist. She had to think of something and fast. She pulled at the chain again, as hard as she could manage, and grimaced at the pain in her wrists.

"Liz, stop. It's no use," he repeated.

"I swear, Ressler, if you don't stop that bullshit right now, I'll just kill you myself."

He couldn't help the smile that stole over his face. She truly was one tough cookie. "Look, all I'm saying is that there's not much we can do now. We have to wait for the FBI to find us."

"Or Red," she said.

He studied her closely for a moment. "Or Reddington." He craned his neck to look out at the water. "We just need stay put and wait."

Liz huffed a laugh. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one with the water at your chest."

The tide truly was rising quickly; there wasn't much time left. Liz thought back to the moment she first met Raymond Reddington. The look he had given her had scared her at first. He had had that icy, but obsessed look in his eyes. The way his gaze had never left her had made her uneasy. She remembered stabbing him with a pen after the Zamani fiasco. A couple of months later, after they had established some kind of partnership, possibly a friendship, she had tried to apologize for hurting him. She still felt extremely guilty for sticking a pen in his neck. He had just laughed then and caressed her cheek, telling her 'water under the bridge, Lizzie'. Well, what a damn coincidence.

She had hated being called Lizzie by him. Only her father had been allowed to call her that. But Red hadn't cared and had kept calling her that; now she couldn't imagine being called anything else. After Gina Zanetakos, when she had been furiously accusing him of planting the evidence himself, he had been cold and distant. He had been resentful then, had called her 'Agent Keen' and had told her that he wasn't a gumball machine, and that she couldn't just twist the handle whenever she wanted a treat. He had hung up on her then, something he hadn't done before. After a moment of surprise she had called him back, pleading for him to not hang up when he let her know that she couldn't keep doing this little waltz.

He hadn't hung up, and they had stopped that back and forth and actually danced a real waltz. He was a good dancer, and she was positive he was an even better lover. That was how far gone she was for him already. The man had somehow wormed his way into her heart, and she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She was abruptly torn from her fantasies when some of the cold water entered her mouth. She coughed violently, having forgotten momentarily where she was.

"Liz, you okay?" Ressler asked, the water had risen to his own chest by now.

Liz stretched her neck, trying to keep her head from bobbing under the surface. "Y-yes... I zoned out there for a little... They're not coming, are they?" She asked quietly.

He sighed and rattled on the chains. "They'll come."

It did little to reassure her. "But not soon enough... Ress?" Donald made a noise for her to continue. "Will you do me a favor?"

He looked at her then. "Liz, we're going to be fine."

"Don... just, just in case. Tell Red..." She took a deep breath and tried holding her chin above the water. "Tell him that I love him." After saying those words, Liz tried taking in another deep breath before her head went fully under due to a wave.

"Liz! Come on, push up, Liz!"