"Okay, do we have everything?" Tony asked, staring at his open trunk. Along with his and Tim's bags, Tony had decided to pack a bunch of stuff that he deemed necessary for the trip. Tim still wasn't sure why they needed the snorkeling equipment or the large, obtrusive beach chairs Tony had squeezed in.

"I'm good, Tony. All that crap is yours."

"Let's get going! Virginia Beach, here we come!"

Tim put the bag of snacks, and his laptop bag, in the backseat, and climbed into the front seat. Tony put it in gear, and they were off.

two hours later...

"Sixty-five bottles of beer on the wall, sixty-five bottles of beer!" Tony belted out loudly as they drove through the Virginia countryside. "Take one down, pass it around-"

Thwack!

"You did notjust head slap me, Probie," Tony said, glaring at his friend in the passenger seat.

"You've been singing that song for two hours. Please stop before I go insane."

"Oh come on! You never sang car songs when you were a kid?"

"The Admiral hated it. Our trips were always quiet."

"You were deprived of any road trip fun, Probalicious. We have to make the most of the five-hour trip!"

"Not if it involves you singing."

"Fine. I'll just turn on the radio instead."

Tony flipped on the radio, but all he got was static. He tried to tune it, but nothing seemed to come in.

"Is the radio broken or something?"

Tim tried it, and got the same result.

"Where the hell did you get this car, anyway?"

"I got it used, from a buddy of mine. I figured the way I've been losing cars lately, it'd be a shame to buy a brand new one."

"So now what... we have to sit here in silence? This is just great."

"Sixty-four bottles of beer on the wall, sixty four bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, sixty-four bottles of beer on the wall!"

"Great..." Tim said, leaning his head on the window. All of a sudden, the car backfired, and started sputtering. "What the hell is happening, Tony!" he yelled over the car's noise.

"I don't know! She was running fine this morning!"

The car sputtered and backfired again, and came to a stop. They got out of the car together, and Tim surveyed the area. There was nothing but cornfields, that seemed to stretch for miles.

"Nice job, Tony... get us stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere."

"Hey, back off, Probie... this is not my fault," Tony said as he popped the hood. As soon as he opened it, steam rose up from the radiator. "Just fucking great. My buddy said he just replaced the radiator in this thing!"

"Apparently not. He sold you a piece of junk."

"Get me some of that water from the backseat, Probie. We need to put it in here before this thing overheats."

"Water isn't going to help. You need coolant."

"I don't have any in the trunk, McProbious. Get the water."

"I'm not putting our only drinking water into your radiator!"

"Unless you want to use up all of your vacation time sitting in a cornfield, get me the damn water!"

Tim stalked to passenger's back door, and pulled it open. There was a cooler with several bottles of water he'd packed for the trip. He grabbed three of them and brought them to Tony.

"Stand back."

Tony opened up the cap to the coolant tank, and emptied the waters into it.

"Try starting her up."

Tim jogged over and reached into the driver's side window. He turned the key, but the car did not start.

"Nice job, Tony. It's broken."

"It's got to be something else."

"I'm calling for help."

Tim pulled out his phone, and was dismayed to find that he had no service.

"This is just great! No signal!" he angrily rounded on Tony. "This is all your fault! You talked me into this stupid road trip, and you insisted on taking your piece-of-crap car, and then it breaks down in the middle of the country, where we get nocell reception to call for help!"

Tony straightened, and met Tim nose to nose.

"Excuse me for trying to be a good friend, and take your mind off things! I had no idea the car was going to shit the bed like this!"

"Tony, your friend sold you a piece of junk, and you bought it! You knew it was an old car when you bought it, and you know as well as I do that old cars have lots of issues. Why would you think it'd be a good road trip car?"

"I'm sick of your yelling and your attitude, McGee. I'm going to fix mycar, and I'm taking your ass back to DC! This trip isn't worth it."

"I'm not standing around here while you perform an impossible task. I'm out of here."

Tim went around to the trunk and took out his duffel. Without a word, he slammed the trunk and started walking.

Tony did not follow him.

TBC...