Gibbs paced impatiently back and forth in front of the mouth of the opening that led into the mountain, growling under his breath.

"Damn it, DiNozzo! Where the hell are you?"

It should have only taken the agents two, maybe three hours to search their part of the mountain, but now they had been in there for approximately eight hours. Gibbs and Ziva had found the dead marine pretty soon and had sent the body back with Ducky and Palmer while they had remained behind to wait for the missing agents. Gibbs patience was now running out. This was time they could have used to solve the case.

Gibbs sighed and went back to Ziva, who was sitting on the ground by the car with her back leaning against the bumper.

"Any signs of them?" she asked.

"No", Gibbs said and glared at the opening, as if he tried to scare the mountain to spit his agents out.

"Well, they must have get lost", Ziva said and got up. "There's no other explanation."

"You think, David?" Gibbs snapped and gave the Israeli officer such a fierce look that she had to look away.

In that moment, Gibbs phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open witch such force that Ziva almost thought that it would brake.

"Gibbs?"

'Jethro, I'm getting worried about you' said Ducky's voice. 'Is everything alright? Why haven't you got back yet?'

"DiNozzo and McGee haven't got out yet, Duck. Ziva and I are still waiting for them."

'You don't reckon they have got lost, do you?'

"That's exactly what I think. If they haven't got out withing an hour, me and Ziva will find a motel or something and get some sleep. The caves are rather safe, so DiNozzo and McGee will manage one night in there. We can go search for them first thing tomorrow."

'Do you need help?'

"Sure, Duck. If I don't call you back within an hour, grab Palmer and meet us up here at 0900 hours tomorrow morning. And tell Abby what's going on."

'As you wish, Jethro. Good bye.'

Gibbs turned his phone off and then turned to Ziva.

"You heard me?" he asked.

"Yes", she replied. "We wait for an hour and then we check in at a motel. Got it, Boss."

She sat down again and watched Gibbs take up his pacing once more. Soon she got a bit annoyed by it, but knew better than to ask him to be still. A worried Gibbs was an angry Gibbs, and she didn't want him to turn his angry on her. So she just sat there and let him be, hoping that DiNozzo and McGee were okay, bu their was no reason to why they shouldn't be. They had both probably been in worse situations than this, and the cave was safeafter all.

When the hour had past, Gibbs stopped pacing and went back to the car.

"Get in", he told Ziva as he opened the door to the driver's seat. Ziva quickly got up from the ground and jumped into the car just as Gibbs started the engine. She had barely closed the door and buckled up before Gibbs drove off, making the wheels spin a few moments before they got a hold on the ground and the car took off. They drove in silence for about half an hour before Gibbs found a small, insignificant motel beside the road. It looked like it had seen better days, but it was better than nothing and it was only for one night.

Gibbs parked the car and then he and Ziva went to the lobby to check in. Ziva looked around as they crossed the parking lot and frowned.

"It seems like we are the only one here", she said with a low voice.

"Yeah, but then we can have the best rooms they've got", Gibbs replied and held the door for her.

The lobby was dark as the only light was a small desk lamp standing on the counter. Gibbs slammed the bell and a moment later, an old man slowly limped out from the office, heavily leaning on a wooden cane. He looked surprised when he saw Gibbs and Ziva and peered nearsightedly at them.

"Oh, dear", he said with a weak, shaky voice. "Oh, dear."

He stopped when the counter forced him to a halt and put a pair of very old glasses on his crooked nose, before taking out a ledger from a drawer on his side of the counter. He opened it, turned the pages until he came to the right and then looked up at Gibbs.

"There we are", he said and smiled at the silver-haired man. "So what can I do for you, young man?"

"We would like two rooms for the night, please", Gibbs said politely.

The old man's eyes turned big as he looked form Gibbs to Ziva and back again.

"Oh, dear", he said again and suddenly looked troubled. "Oh, dear."

"Is there a problem, sir?" Ziva asked.

"Well, you see my dear", the old man said, "I have only one room to rent out. All other's are occupied."

"Occupied?" Gibbs said doubtfully. "How can they be occupied when it is obvious that we are the only guests you've got?"

"Well, you see, since I don't have so many guests, I use almost all the room for storage."

Gibbs muttered something under his breath before sighing with resignation.

"We'll take it", he said. "How much for one night?"

"Including breakfast, fifty dollars."

Gibbs frowned at the low prize, but then he took out his wallet and paid for the room. The old man put the money in a cash register that look just as old as him before taking down a key from the wall behind him and rounding the counter.

"Follow me", he said and beckoned them to follow him. "I'll show you your room."

He took the agents down a hallway in such a low pace that even a snail would have been able to catch up with them. Ziva rolled her eyes and quickly earned a painful swat to her head by Gibbs. When she looked up at him, he gave her a rebuking scowl, which made her blush and look down. Fortunately, the old man didn't seem to have noticed anything.

They stopped by a blue door at the end of the hallway and patiently waited for the keeper to unlock it, which took him a while. Then the lock gave up a satisfying click and the door swung open.

"There are clean sheets on the bed and clean towels in the bathroom", the old man said and beckoned the two agents to get it. "I wish you a good night."

"Good night", Gibbs replied and closed the door.

The room was big and well kept, possibly the best room in the entire motel, even during it's palmy days. Most of the room was occupied by a king size bed that looked rather comfortable, but it was also the only furniture in the room.

"I take the left side", Gibbs said baldly and kicked off his shoes. "Wanna use the bathroom first?"

Ziva just stared at her superior, trying to take in what he just had said.

"You saying that we are sharing the bed?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yeah. Any problem with that?"

"No, not at all."

"Good. Wanna use the bathroom first or not?"

Ziva swiftly fled to the bathroom and took a deep breath before getting ready for the night. When she got out, she swiftly took off her pants, jacket, shoes and cap before crawling under the covers. The bed was very comfortable and she was almost asleep when she felt the mattress swift under Gibbs' weight and the rush of cold air as he got under the covers.

"Night, Ziva", he said and turned off the light.

"Night..."


Next chapter will be about Tony and Tim, but from now on updating will take longer, because school starts tomorrow.

Review people!