A little context: this takes place in season 6 (during 610, to be more specific).

The premise of this fic is blatantly stolen from a certain Castle episode. But it's not the same, so don't expect any tigers, ok?

Thank you so much to AlternateShadesofBlue for being so incredibly kind (and brave) to beta this for me, for being so supportive and just overall wonderful; to Etty and Ali for the unsuppressed shared giggles; and to Bia for being the first enthusiast of this idea.

I.

Red.

It's the first thing he sees when his eyes snap open and it shoots a sharp pain along his temples. He shuts his eyes closed again trying to escape the clarity that filters red through his eyelids, trying to calm his throbbing headache. After a while he carefully flutters his eyes open again and realizes things are nowhere near as bright as his first attempt at waking up led him to believe.

Everything is rather somber except for one small window high on the wall in front of him where a few blinding streaks of sunlight are entering, filtered by a sort of reddish plastic cover that seems to have been precariously placed there to hide the view from the outside in.

Harvey raises his left hand to rub his eyes and realizes how heavy his arm feels. Actually, how heavy his entire body feels and he's suddenly struck with a consciousness of everything around him all at once: the brick unfinished walls, the mattress he's lying on top of, how high the ceilings are, how there doesn't seem to be any way out.

How he doesn't know where he is.

He makes an effort to move his stone heavy body and tries to use his right hand to prop himself up on the mattress. That's when he feels it. Something pulls on his arm, an added weight. A low whine to his right attracts his attention and for a second his confused brain experiences some sort of déjà vu, like he's being blinded by the bright red light coming from the window again. A second later he realizes he's looking at a soft orangey glow from where the ray of light hits her hair.

Donna's lying on her stomach beside him, face turned away. Her left hand raises to her head as she tries to brush strands of hair off her face. From the way she moves he can tell her body feels as heavy as his does. She moves to turn around and once again he feels a pull on his right wrist. This time he looks down.

His hand rests against Donna's, their wrists tied together by a thick rope and an intricate sort of knot. It looks like a marine rope and it grates again their skin. He can see how red the fair skin of her wrist has become.

Donna slowly moves to sit while Harvey props himself up against both elbows, eyes travelling from their joined hands to her face. She's staring at him wide eyed, fear sprinkled in the green spots of her hazel eyes. She looks so scared he immediately wants to put on a brave face for her but he's so astonished he can't. Probably wouldn't work anyway. He can barely fool her on his best days and this definitely isn't it.

"Harvey…" his name falls out of her mouth in a whisper but she doesn't know where to go from there and her throat is too dry to continue trying.

Harvey sits up in front of her and carefully rests their joined wrists on the space between then.

"Are you okay?" He runs his eyes all over her noticing she looks pale. Her face makeup had worn off which reveals more than a few freckles, her hair is all tossed to one side, draping over her left shoulder and she's wearing work clothes. No apparent injuries.

She nods extra lightly. She's not exactly okay and nodding makes her head hurt. "Are you?"

He looks about himself for the first time. He's also wearing work clothes but he doesn't have a jacket and his sleeves are rolled up. His tie is choking him.

"Fine…" he responds briefly before using his free hand to examine the rope that ties them together. It's rough and tight and for a second his brain wanders off to his little brother, the boy scout, who probably learned how to untie that thing while he was too busy trying to get into Harvard. He holds Donna's arm with his left hand, just above the rope, so he can lift their hands to get a better look without pulling on her already bruised wrist.

"Harvey, where are we?" He hears her voice, just as low as before, and lifts his head to find out that while he was concentrated on their wrists, she was gauging their surroundings.

They're enclosed by brick and cement walls, as if the place was under construction. There's a pile of debris in a corner that looks like some large pieces of wood and rocks, all dusty waste from construction. The only two sources of light are the small window high on the wall in front of them, and a lamp that flickered a weak yellow light from its place above the door behind them – a rusty metal door that gave no illusions of being open. They're on a mattress placed in the center of the room, and despite it being lumpy and uncomfortable it is covered by a seemingly clean sheet.

They lock eyes again. She is just as scared; he is just as worried. So he decides to focus on something he might actually be able to fix, instead of feeling completely panicked and impotent and… tied. He continues to fumble with the knot.

"It's not going to work like this," Donna says, paying attention to what he's doing for the first time. "We need to stick something in the middle of the knot to make it loosen before you can pull."

"How do you—"

"Like a corkscrew or something."

"Sure, I'll go fetch a corkscrew from my wine cellar, just a sec." His reply is snappy and he immediately regrets it, even before she fixes a look on him. "Sorry, I'm just…"

"I know," she brushes off his apology.

"Can you help me with this?" Harvey gives up on the rope and tries pulling on his tie instead, but the attempt does nothing for him. The item is still adding to the list of things that are currently choking him, along with the dry lump in his throat and the lingering panic.

Thankfully Donna is a little more coordinated with her left hand than he is, and she's able to untie the silky material completely and slide it off his neck. She unconsciously takes a second to smooth the collar of his shirt back down while Harvey undoes a couple of buttons and draws in a sharp breath.

"This thing is hurting you." He draws their attention back to the rope. He can see that her wrist is bruised under it and doesn't dare move his right hand even an inch, too afraid to hurt her more.

"I'm fine," she brushes off. "Why would they even tie us like this anyway? This is stupid."

"It looks like we were tied to each other's backs... But maybe when they got us in here they cut one of the ropes loose so we could lie down." It's the only thing that makes sense to him given how they are tied: both their right hands and their bodies facing opposite directions.

"Oh…" she acknowledges. "So you don't remember how we ended up here?"

"I don't- do you?"

"My mind is all fogged up. What's the last thing you remember?"

"I don't know… work?"

"Yeah, the clothes kind of gave that away…"

"What's the last thing you remember?" he accuses lightly, furrowing his brows.

"I don't even remember work. I'm so lost… Okay, wait, I definitely remember this morning because I remember picking this dress. I remember being at my desk, and having coffee… I could really use some coffee right now..."

"I'd even drink some shitty green tea at this point. My throat is so dry it hurts."

They're silent for a moment, trying to search around their minds before Donna's fearful voice seeks confirmation to what they already know. "We were drugged, weren't we? That's why we can't remember."

Harvey nods slowly, swallowing the dry lump on his throat and looking deeply into her eyes. He wants to tell her he won't let anything happen to her but he's unable to form the words.

"I remember I was working late," he forces his brain to work through the fogginess and the throb in his temples that just won't go away, knowing that's all he can do for them now. "I was trying to come up with a plan to keep the clients that were threatening to leave after Sutter spread to the world that we threw his case to get Mike out of prison. You were there with me."

"I kind of remember us working at your office," Donna furrows her brows as if she could squeeze her brain for more memories. "It was late…"

"You weren't supposed to be there, but you stayed to help me," his voice is low and hoarse but the guilt in his tone is loud and clear.

Donna quickly continues their trip down memory lane before Harvey gets lost in his favorite spot at guilt avenue, "We were on your couch having drinks…". She has an image of folders scattered on his coffee table and Harvey leaning tiredly against the backrest by her side, swirling a few fingers of scotch in his glass slowly.

"Yeah, I think we had a few drinks…"

But then it suddenly hits her.

"We… Harvey, I think we had a fight," she stares at him, astounded by her own conclusion.

"Why do you-"

"I remember you screaming. You said something was on me…" she looks confused and hurt by even the faint memory of him shouting those words at her.

Harvey swallows and clenches his jaw because he immediately knows she's right. The mention of his own words brings up a string of memories to the surface of his brain. He's trying to put them in order, not sure of how much he wants to share with her, so he tries to buy some time. "I'm not sure we should press restart on a fight when we're in this situation."

"We need to remember what happened! And sweeping a fight under the rug when it could give us clues—"

"We were drugged and brought in here. That's what happened. Sooner or later someone will show up and we'll have some answers. It shouldn't take long. We've been here all night long; it's bright day out there…"

"What the hell, Harvey? I'm not going to sit here and just wait. Why are you even suggesting—" she stops mid sentence. Her expression going from exasperated to accusatory, tilting her head down and raising both eyebrows at him. "Wait, you know, don't you? You know what we were fighting about." It is the only explanation for his attempt to deflect from a conversation they obviously needed to have.

"I know it had nothing to do with why we're here."

"Harvey! Just tell m-"

The sound of chains moving on the other side of the door shuts her up. They jump to their feet and stare at the door, waiting. There's a sound of metal being dragged, a key enters the lock and soon the door swings open with a loud metallic squeak. A man walks in.

Donna feels Harvey's arm over her stomach. He's trying to push her behind him to cover her with his body but she refuses. She holds his arm with her free hand and lowers it back to the side of their bodies. She doesn't let go though. Her fingers clutch his arm, short nails engraving crescent marks on his forearm from how tightly she's holding on.

"What do you want? Why are we here?" Harvey demands in a threatening voice, as if he isn't quite literally a cornered animal in that moment.

The man ignores him and places some objects he's carrying on an old looking table by the door. He moves in such a calm and relaxed manner it terrifies Donna because she realizes he is fully in control of the situation. This guy is a professional.

"Working so late I'm sure you could use a vacation," the man's deep voice is finally heard. "Why don't you just relax and enjoy your stay at our luxury facilities? You're lucky you get to have such a good company," his gaze darts to Donna in a way that makes Harvey's eyes become slits of rage. "It was supposed to be just you. But if your friend Jessica Pearson is as smart as she thinks, you both should be out of here in no time."

The man leaves and they stay frozen until the door is shut again. Donna releases Harvey's arm and they quickly stride to the door to check what the man left behind: one decent sized bottle of water and two burgers in a take-out bag. Apparently their kidnapper is a fan of drive through. She hands the bottle to Harvey which he takes gratefully. After two large gulps of water he hands it back for her to drink, already feeling better after he hydrates, headache starting to subside. He notices Donna's lips are wet which she delicately wipes dry with the backs of her fingers.

Standing by the door, Donna carefully rests her ear against it, listening to nothing but silence both inside and out of the room. She's startled when she notices Harvey's hand reach to the door knob. He holds her eyes in his reassuringly before turning the knob which, not surprisingly, doesn't budge.

"We both know I had to try," he shrugs, and she recognizes the tiniest of smirks beneath his tense expression.

She makes an effort to smile back.

"Let's just take a look around this place," he suggests.

They start moving again but haven't taken two steps ahead when Harvey notices her wincing slightly as the rope pulls on them. He stops and, without saying a word, entwines his fingers with hers, holding her hand in his so they could move as one and the rope wouldn't cut into her wrist.

Donna's heels are tossed on the mattress, leaving her barefoot and a few inches shorter than him. She leads them forward as they continue to circle the room, but don't find much other than solid walls. There's the little mountain of debris in the corner, a small bathroom behind a precarious door with just a toilet and a sink and nothing else.

Their tentative three-sixty is quickly over, and they find themselves back at the end of their mattress, beneath the window that is too high up for them to look out, and definitely too small for them to go through.

"It looks like some sort of basement," Harvey observes, stating what she'd already noticed.

She nods lightly and averts her gaze from his. It would be impossible to hide her fears if he's staring into her eyes, no matter how good of an actress she is.

He squeezes her hand very lightly, trying to reassure her of something he doesn't actually know.

"So… lunch?" He indicates the table by the door with his head, deciding food will be a good distraction.

The thirst didn't allow them to notice before but they are actually famished. They sit at the edge of the mattress and a few silent minutes go by as they eat and share the bottle of water, joined hands resting between them while they hold their food as best as they can with the limitations.

She wants to bring it up. She wants to continue the conversation they were having before they got interrupted, wants to find out what they were fighting about and try to piece together what the hell is happening, but she decides to give him some time, sighing heavily at the fact that Harvey always seems to need too much goddamn time to open up. But it's not like they're going anywhere…

Donna's taking one more sip out of their shared bottle when she feels Harvey's thumb run very lightly over hers, moving slowly up and down her skin. They had unlocked their fingers once they sat, but their palms are still resting over one another, Harvey now caressing her hand softly. She dares a look at him and realizes his eyes are fixed straight ahead and he's completely lost in thought, apparently not even realizing what he's doing.

She lets her eyes wander around the room and they end up resting on the pile of debris again, and she's suddenly struck by an idea.

"Get up!" She snaps him out of his musing, drags him over to the corner and starts moving some pieces of wood, shoving them to the side.

"What are you doing?" Harvey asks, confusedly observing her outburst.

"Looking for a corkscrew."

"What?"

"There must be a nail in here," she says, the brief explanation enough for him.

Harvey gets her point and reaches to move some bigger rocks out of the way until they find a board with two slightly rusty nails going through it.

Donna smiles at him. "Do you think you could pull this?"

"Yeah." The board is really old and the nails aren't that stuck at all, so Harvey easily props the board up and hits the nails from the opposite side with a rock, freeing the little metal piece. He picks it up from the ground.

"Okay…come here." Donna leads them back to the mattress where they sit facing each other.

She sits on top of her folded legs and rests their joined hands on her thighs, examining the knot closely for the first time as if she's looking for something.

Harvey watches the concentration on her face, her brows furrowing slightly and a strand of red hair falling on her face. He has a sudden urge to reach his hand and tug the strand behind her ear but thankfully she's quicker in tossing the hair back over her shoulder. He lowers his gaze from her face and stares at their entwined fingers and linked wrists instead, trying to see what she's seeing to forget about his inappropriate impulse.

"I'm trying to figure out the loops here," she finally clarifies, "because I have to stick this nail between the loops to loosen the knot but I can't miss and damage the rope, or it will make this much harder."

"Okay…" He wonders how the hell she has this kind of knowledge about freaking knots but he doesn't want to break her concentration with his questions.

"This is a True Lovers Knot…" She mumbles to herself, still trying to figure out the loops in the not so great lighting.

"What?" Harvey gasps, wide eyes rising back up to meet hers.

"What?" She looks back at him, confused by his bewilderment for a second until she realizes what she'd said. "Oh. This is called a True Lovers Knot because it forms these two intercrossed rings here. See it?" She raises their wrists closer to his face, excitedly trying to make him see that apparently she found what she was looking for. "Okay so now I just…"

Her sentence trails off as she carefully sticks the nail between the loops of the rope and starts to twist it around until the knot gets visibly loose. She gives Harvey a smug victorious smile, accompanied by a quick raise of her eyebrows while she slides the nail off and discards it.

"How the hell do you know all of this?" Harvey asks, impressed and not able to contain his amusement because she looks so full of herself.

"My dad had a boat." She shrugs, suddenly very nonchalant about it while she uses her fingers to pull the ends of the now completely loose knot and finally set their wrists free.

Harvey cracks his knuckles while Donna spins her wrist and examines the red marks around it.

"You okay?" he checks.

It stings a little but it's no big deal so she hums a confirmation.

They look around once again, sighing in unison. For a minute they were so excited about freeing their hands that the reality hits them hard that it's the only thing free. They're still locked somewhere unknown, with no idea of why they're there or what's happening and they're both terrified.