Have a Nice Trip
Genre; Fluff and Action
Word Count; 3.9k (who saw that coming)
Warnings; heights, the reader gets stuck on a ledge in a high place (but they’re fine)
Pairings; Russell Shaw (Tracker) x Reader (gender neutral as always)
I have been reminded of my love for Russell by the new season (which I haven’t finished yet!! No spoilers!) and I feel certain that this man would be able to score a date out of rescuing someone. This was really fun to write, hope you like it!
Masterlist
-
Mid-hike in the redwood forests of California, you were taking a break to look out over the canyon below your trail. A beautiful, clear river roared a few hundred feet down. The ridge on the other side was bright green from the tree cover. Those same trees towered above you, providing shade from the blazing morning sunlight. You put your pack down for a moment while you stepped closer to the edge to snap a photograph or two of the landscape, to have something you could put in an album. It could have been fatal so easily.
Your boot slipped, on gravel, or a smooth rock, or whatever, and your feet went straight out from under you. You somehow managed to stop your head from hitting the ground. You scrabbled around frantically enough to end up on your stomach, clawing at dry grass and grit as you slipped right over the edge. Your stomach dropped at the feeling of nothing more than air beneath you and gravity snatching you down. You kicked and tried to grab at the cliff as you fell, looking for any kind of purchase that might help save your life. You hadn’t paid enough attention to the drop below you to know your chances.
But, after a few seconds that lasted longer than the entire rest of your life, you simply stopped. You stayed absolutely still, clinging to whatever was beneath you for dear life. Your limbs trembled, your heart pounding in your ears. When you gathered your courage to look around and see what had happened, it was to find you had slid, rather than properly fell, onto a ledge. With nothing more than a sheer cliff below it.
You took a brief moment to steady your breathing. You didn’t know what was beneath the ledge. If there was nothing there at all, the whole thing could simply crumble beneath your weight. You had to move now.
A quick turn of each wrist and ankle proved that your mobility seemed fine, and that was all the time you had to check for injuries. You put the toes of your boots against the rock and reached slowly towards to the scrubby vegetation growing from the side of the cliff. To the left, there was some sort of an animal trail, extremely steep but enough to get you back onto the side of the canyon itself. You breath hitched at a sudden, slight vibration beneath your torso. The ledge was moving.
Heart pounding once more, you edged forwards at a snail’s pace. Any sudden movement could make the rock beneath you collapse, and you wouldn’t be lucky enough to survive a second fall. You pushed through your feet again, one arm out to the side for support. The fingertips of your outstretched hand touched a few blades of grass.
And the ledge dropped half an inch below you.
You froze, letting out nothing more than a quiet gasp. Keep moving slowly, or try to jump for it?
You pushed on your toes one last time, getting one hand solidly onto the animal trail. The ledge slipped. And you got a foot beneath you in time to bodily throw yourself towards the cliff, your legs falling as the rock you had just been resting on crumbled away into oblivion. The weight of your legs almost dragged you down a second time, but with your upper body on solid ground, you managed to grab at a tree root. Awkwardly, no doubt cutting your elbows and probably straining a muscle or two, you pulled yourself up onto the rock.
You rolled onto your back and lay there, gasping for air. You were safe. Precariously so, but still. You were alive.
Sitting up, you saw the steep yet angled section of the cliff you had slid down, and where the ledge used to be. That was a potential place you could have climbed back up, but there was no accessing it now. A few feet above you, the animal trail wound into some stunted trees. Below you was simply the gaping maw of the canyon.
It was a struggle to find your feet, which made you realise just how badly your whole body was shaking. The cold was starting to bite a little now too, in the shade of the cliff with a light breeze through the canyon. You were hardly going to freeze to death, but you needed to get back onto the real trail before nightfall. You’d be fine if you could reach your pack, fully stocked with supplies for every eventuality. You wished you’d kept it on to take the photograph.
The animal track turned out to be so steep that you had to crawl up it on hands and knees, hands which you were realising were quite torn up. They were something of a bloody mess and the dirt stung where it got into the cuts, but you were going to worry about all that later.
Miraculously, the track levelled out just before it disappeared into a tunnel made of undergrowth. You couldn’t fit through there anyway, but you also couldn’t see where it went. The last thing you needed was to follow a trail heading down into the canyon. But that left you with a huge problem. You could see the edge of the hiking trail above you. The home straight was in sight.
And you were separated from it by fifteen feet of sheer rockface.
It was hard and solid, but you couldn’t see a single safe-looking notch to use as a hand or foothold. Vegetation hemmed you in on either side, concealing any number of hidden dangers. You were trapped.
Following that realisation, you took the opportunity to sit down and have a breather. You used the time to take stock of what was going on. By some creative twist of fate, you had no major injuries. You had some cuts on your hands, arms and legs, but that was all. Despite the several hundred foot drop below you, you were actually quite calm. You phone was missing, so either it was on the trail near your backpack or smashed to pieces and being carried away by the river. However, whilst the trail wasn’t exactly a tourist hotspot, it wasn’t deserted either. Someone would come by eventually and they would be able to get help.
-
Colter Shaw was still thinking about the teenagers he had just found following a camping trip gone wrong. They remained at a higher elevation, being tended to by medical professionals and fussed over by terrified parents who had refused point blank to stay back in town and wait for their kids to arrive at the hospital. He had a hefty wad of cash in his pocket, but mostly, he was glad they were alright.
He kept thinking about how Ashton would leave his own kids out in the middle of nowhere with no supplies intentionally, even if he did stick around after pretending to leave. Colter couldn’t help but see that even if his father had gone about things the wrong way, no Shaw would have ever found themselves in the same trouble as those kids. They had gone to far too high an elevation with next to no supplies, courtesy of parents who didn’t know what they were doing and the internet telling everyone to spend more time in nature. Colter had a feeling that none of them would be camping again for a good long time.
Of course, he wouldn’t admit any of this to Russell. His brother was walking alongside him in a not-uncomfortable silence, the same routine the pair normally fell into. Apparently, he was once again ‘between jobs’ and just so happened to be in the area of Colter’s latest case, so they had worked on it together. Russell was probably thinking about his next career move, Colter decided. Or lunch. Honestly, it was probably lunch. They had covered a lot of ground starting before sunrise that morning, so with the sun now indicating it was early afternoon, lunch sounded very welcome.
But of course, nothing was ever just as easy as walking back to the parking lot and finding a diner.
Colter and Russell stopped in tandem to take in a seemingly abandoned day pack leaning against a tree on the canyon side of the trail. A few feet closer to the edge was a cell phone with a cracked screen. When a quick glance around revealed no one in sight, the brothers stepped in closer. Colter’s expert gaze followed scuff marks in the dirt – one from a boot, one a series of divots the result of someone’s nails. He tracked them right over the edge.
“Russ,” Colter said, indicating the marks on the ground.
His brother’s brow furrowed. He stood from where he had crouched to pick up the phone. It was still functional, the lock screen a natural landscape from somewhere out of state. There were unopened notifications starting from five hours ago. The two approached the edge of the trail steadily, unsure of what they were going to find, when –
“Hey! Help!”
-
You were yelling at the top of your lungs. You could definitely hear people walking up on the trail, and they were the first people to have come by all day. You couldn’t let them leave.
Not a moment later, two men peered over the edge of the cliff. You grinned, elated. You were going to be alright.
“Hey,” you called again, waving your arms about as if they hadn’t already seen you.
They exchanged the briefest glance before crouching down, quickly scanning around to take in your predicament.
“You fell off the trail,” the blond said in a calm tone which instantly put you at ease. “You alright?”
You were currently counting your lucky stars is how you were.
“I’m good,” you answered, “but I’m stuck. The rock’s too smooth to climb.”
The other man laid down on his stomach to take a closer look, tracing a small imperfection about a foot from the top.
“Doable,” he muttered, aimed at his counterpart rather than you.
The blond assessed the rock with a keen eye.
“For us, maybe,” he said quietly, before raising his voice again for your attention. “You climb?”
You huffed something of a light laugh.
“A bit. Not that well.”
You nodded your head towards the rock. No way were you risking your neck like that after what you had just survived. And with your arms still trembling, you weren’t even sure how well you could support your own weight.
The blond nodded slowly and the two conferred once again.
“You think mountain rescue’ll let us borrow some rope?” Asked the dark haired man.
His friend nodded, considering.
“Yeah… Yeah, no. The truck’s closer. And they’re not hurt. Let them focus on those kids.” Then, to you: “You’re alright down there. I’m gonna go get some climbing gear, get you up, alright? I’m Colter, this is my brother-”
“Russell,” Russell interjected, wearing a wide, inviting grin. “I’ll stay with ya.”
Colter cut him something of a sharp look bordering on exasperation, which he steadfastly ignored.
“I’ll be as fast as I can,” Colter finished, offering you a small, encouraging smile.
“Thank you,” you called up, fully aware that the words did not do justice to exactly how grateful you were.
Colter nodded and disappeared from sight, leaving you with Russell.
“How solid’s the ground down there?” He asked, still analysing from his vantage point.
You gave him half a shrug.
“Seems fine to me.”
You wished there was a way to get to your pack right now. You could have asked Russell to throw it down, but you weren’t confident you’d catch it. The last thing you wanted to do was lose your footing at this stage.
“How you doing down there?” He continued. “Your pack’s up here. You got food? You hungry?”
Your eyes must have lit up from the bright smile he sent your way. Maybe he had a piece of paracord he could use to lower something down to you, you thought as he too disappeared from view. At this point, you would take anything. What you didn’t expect was to see one of Russell’s boots appear backwards over the edge of the trail, followed by the second and then the rest of him, your pack on his back, as he began to climb down the rockface which had been keeping you trapped all day.
You watched with wide eyes as, without a single scrap of safety gear, he clambered down as easily as if the cliff had been a ladder. Mouth quite literally hanging open, you blinked in silence at him as he stood to his full height in front of you, grinning with no small amount of pride. You shook your head slowly, frowning between him and the cliff.
“Wh – how did-”
“I’d say I’ve had a little more practice than you, sweetheart,” he murmured, dropping you a wink which made your stomach flip in spite of your precarious situation. “Now, what’ve you got to eat? ‘Cause I’m starving.”
He swung your pack down off his shoulder and offered it to you like you were anywhere other than a few feet away from imminent death. As you took it, and began to rummage through it, you started to laugh. You pulled out everything from sandwiches to trail mix and jerky sequentially, handing each item to Russell who dutifully held everything as if it was his honour-bound job. You were still smiling when you closed it and met his gaze again.
“You good?” He asked, a teasing lilt to his tone which suggested he knew exactly what had you so amused.
“I’m – I just…” You waved your hands around expansively like that would answer anything, incapable of voicing just how ridiculous this situation was. “Yes. I am.”
Russell nodded affirmatively. So, you gave up. You plunked yourself down on the ground with your back to the cliff, told Russell to help himself to your food. Saw him almost devour your largest sandwich once he had sat down next to you, remember what exactly you had been through, then reluctantly tear it in half and offer the larger piece to you.
“And who said chivalry was dead,” you muttered playfully, scoffing at Russell’s offended look.
“Hey. It’s a damn good sandwich,” he shot back, already tearing into his part.
“You weren’t stuck on the side of a cliff in fear of your life all morning.”
“Nah, I was just helping rescue some kids from an abandoned mine shaft.”
You blinked, completely taken aback by the switch into such a serious topic. Your food was momentarily forgotten.
“You were what?”
“‘S’nothing,” he deflected, waving a hand around to dispel your reaction. “Anyway, it’s Colter’s gig. I was just helping out.”
That left you with many more questions than answers, but the lure of finally getting to eat something was too much to ignore. Besides, you thought as you tore into your sandwich, he didn’t exactly seem like he was going to give you too many details on the matter. You didn’t know him, after all. You weren’t going to push.
You weren’t sure how long it had been since Russell and his brother had found you, but Colter still hadn’t returned by the time you’d finished eating. You figured it would take him a while to get down to the parking lot, especially if he hadn’t parked in the closest one, and then he had to get all the way back up here. But in spite of all that, you were impatient. You were in need of a shower, a change of clothes, and a good long sleep.
“How long do you think Colter will be?” You asked before you really realised you had opened your mouth.
“Colt? Why, you worried about how long you’re gonna be stuck with me?” Russell raised his brows, joking yet again.
“No, not at all-”
“Oh, you wondering how long we got on our own, huh?”
He waggled his eyebrows playfully, and you couldn’t help but laugh again, incredulous. This man was ridiculous.
“Seriously? I’m covered in dirt, I’m cut to pieces, I almost died a few hours ago and I’ve been stuck down here ever since. And you’re flirting with me?”
Russell paused, assessing your tone. Then he leaned in closer to you, taking another moment before answering.
“Is it working?”
He nudged your shoulder with his, watching you with a mock intensity until something caught his attention. He dropped the playful demeanour instantly, serious in a second. He slid a hand beneath one of yours and held it up to his face for closer inspection, and that should not have made your stomach jolt the way it did. He hummed to himself. Then, he laid your hand down and reached for your first aid kit, clipped onto the outside of your pack.
“Really should’ve done this before food,” he said, pulling out a strip of antiseptic wipe packages, “but you’ll live.”
He ignored your protests that you were fine, you could take care of your own cuts, they were only scratches… The first packet was already open as he reached for your hand again.
“Russell-”
“Russ to you, sweetheart.” Another wink, just as he took your hand and turned it over in his own. Damn him. “And a few of these have a little grit in ‘em. Just let me take a look, okay?”
He was gentle and absolutely methodical whilst cleaning each cut in order, ensuring there was nothing left in any of them. Once the first hand was deemed finished, he reached across you to repeat the process on your other hand. Then came the scratches on your elbows. One was clearly deeper than you had realised, and you hissed involuntarily at the sting from the wipe.
“Yeah, that’s okay,” Russell soothed, continuing with his careful cleaning. “I’ll put something on that one.”
In no time at all, there was a pad covering the cut and a bandage tied expertly around your arm. Russell accepted your thanks with the pride of a man receiving a medal. Soon after, he was checking his watch and complaining about his brother.
“He’s getting slow,” Russell muttered. “I’d have been there and back twenty minutes ago.”
He looked at you from the corner of his eye, waiting for you to make some comment about how impressed you were or what a feat that would have been. Working hard to tamp down on a smirk, you pretended to consider his words for a moment.
“You sure? I mean, who’s younger?”
This took Russell a second to answer.
“Who-” He narrowed his eyes at you. “You trying to say I’m old?”
Your lips curled in spite of your best efforts, even as you tried to convey an expression reading of course not, I would never. The pair seemed like they were of a similar age, but your educated guess had paid off nicely.
“Should’ve given you the smaller half of that sandwich,” he grumbled, even though he was pleased to have you laughing again.
The moment was interrupted by a voice filled with pure confusion.
“Russ?”
It was unmistakably Colter, though he was yet to look over the side of the cliff. You and Russell got to your feet.
“Yeah, I’m down here,” the man in question called up.
Colter leaned into view, his expression one of utterly lacking comprehension.
“Russ, what’re you doing. Why’re you down there?”
Russell was the picture of innocence beneath his brother’s judgement.
“They were hungry, and I thought they could use some company.”
He indicated towards you with a tilt of his head, but Colter was having none of it.
“They were hungry? They were. Not you.” He bulldozed straight through Russell’s attempts to defend himself. “And you have paracord, you could’ve just given them their pack. I’m sorry, that you’ve had to look at my brother’s ugly face that whole time. Let me get you up.”
Your head tipped back with laughter as Colter disappeared, presumably to find a tree for the climbing rope. Russell’s faux, unamused stare only made you laugh harder.
“Oh, okay. I see. So now I’m not only old, but also ugly.”
“Sounds about right,” Colter called down.
He gave you both a warning before dropping the rope towards you. Russell again insisted on helping you, this time with the ropes and carabiner clips. He also refused to even let you offer to take your own pack.
The climb up seemed to take far too long, and you were sure Colter was the driving force behind you eventual success. But you made it regardless. Before Colter could drop the rope back down to his brother, Russell was hauling himself back onto the trail with your pack. The blond leaned down to offer his hand when Russell seemed to struggle a little, but he batted it away.
“I got it, I’m good.”
Seeing an opportunity, you again tried and largely failed to hide a grin.
“Was that your trick knee, or your bad back?”
Colter, who seemed to respect you for joining in with the ribbing, told you it was both. Russell was back to making a mockery of offense.
“You keep talking to me like that and I’m gonna change my mind about asking you out to dinner,” he muttered to you, brows raised in faux challenge.
You pretended to act surprised, though it took considerable effort once you caught sight of how incredulously Colter was staring at his brother.
“You were gonna ask me out to dinner?”
The brief flick of Russell’s eyebrows, paired with a narrow-eyed grin, said you sounded more than a little eager. He took a few, easy steps closer to you.
“Were you gonna say yes?”
“Okay,” Colter muttered, loud enough for you both to hear the disparaging tone. He shouldered the climbing rope he had been looping up. “Russ, if you want a ride, I’m leaving. Otherwise, you’re walking back to town.”
“Well, I don’t think that’d be so bad,” he answered, full attention on you. “What do you say?”
You couldn’t help but laugh, incredulous. Colter rolled his eyes generously and started walking down the trail, leaving you both to it. Russell was still smiling at you like he already knew what you were going to say.
“I mean, sure. Why not,” you told him, and his smile became blinding.
“How’s seven?”
You scoffed light heartedly; this was clearly just an average, ordinary day for him. You wondered what his usual work looked like.
“Fine by me, but how are you going to make it if you’ve got to walk back to town?”
“Well, with a little less talking and a little more walking, I won’t have to worry about that now will I.”
He smirked and took off after his brother, throwing back a careless you coming? over his shoulder when you didn’t immediately follow. It was then that you realised he was both carrying your pack, and you hadn’t checked to see if your phone had survived your near death experience. But when you tried to mention that to Russell, he merely took the offending item out of his pocket, where it had apparently been the whole time, and waved it around.
You crossed your arms and watched him walk for a minute, far too amused for your own good.
You wondered where the date was going to be.
