Chapter Two

Dammit, I hate it when DiNozzo's right.

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Tony didn't have time to do much more than try to protect his face when the car impacted with the white railing. A fall from a tree that had broken his arm as a child taught him not to brace with his arms in such a situation. Instead in the half second he had to prepare, he pulled his elbows in tight and covered his face with his hands.

There was a lot of noise - screeching of metal, bangs, thumps and cracks of the plastic of the seats and dashboard, the shatter of glass and an odd screeching noise that Tony couldn't put his finger on right away.

There was also the noise of bones breaking but Tony never heard those. They were drowned out by everything else.

The car went through the railing, hit a snow bank which slowed it down and finally planted itself against a tree.

After the loudness of the crash, the silence that followed was somehow more deafening. Gibbs didn't think he blacked out but the absolute absence of sound was disconcerting enough for him to wonder if he had.

Gibbs took a few deep breaths, taking stock of his body. He found that he could move all of his appendages, none of which responded with the telltale numbness that could mean the pain of a broken bone being hidden by adrenaline. His airbag had deployed but he found that his face was cut. Looking up he immediately saw why. A tree branch had shoved its way through the window, barely missing his head by inches. The branches had cut a long gash on his forehead and left him with some other minor cuts and bruises but other than that, he appeared to be okay.

A groan reminded him of his passenger and Gibbs struggled to move the branches inside the forest within the car to see his agent.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs called out. Hearing no response tried again.

"Tony? Can you hear me?"

Another muffled groan answered.

"Yeah Boss, I can hear you," finally came the quiet reply.

"You alright?"

There was a pause so long that Gibbs was about to ask again when he heard Tony's voice penetrate through the darkness.

"I…think so," Tony said slowly and Gibbs realized that the pause he'd heard before came from the younger agent doing a systematic check of his own body, much as Gibbs had done minutes before.

"I bet I'm gonna hurt like hell in the morning but I don't think there's any serious damage. How about you, Boss?" Tony asked. They still couldn't see each other in the dark interior of the car, the tree branch wedged firmly between them. It was then that Tony figured out that the strange screeching he'd heard before must've been the branch scratching along the metal hood of the car.

Gibbs smiled ruefully. "The same."

Now that he knew DiNozzo was okay, Gibbs took stock of their situation. He looked around and saw that despite what felt like a huge fall off a cliff, they had in fact only slid a few hundred yards off the main road. The previous week's worth of snow had been recently plowed off to the side, creating a fairly soft wall which slowed their momentum greatly. Other than the branch of the tree sticking through the windshield and the damage to the front end from the trunk, the car wasn't in that bad of shape. Which explained why the two of them were still in one piece.

The car wouldn't run again any time soon but at least it would give them some shelter from the cold and snow until they were rescued. Gibbs reached for his cell, grateful to find it still in his pocket and not lost in the impact. When he flipped it open though he wasn't nearly as happy. There was no service.

"DiNozzo, you still got your cell?" Gibbs asked, still a little unnerved that he couldn't really see Tony through the branches stuck between them. The fact that he heard movements right away reassured him. Tony was digging around for his own phone.

"Got it, Boss, let's see if we can't get someone to…….oh, damn."

"No service?" Gibbs asked, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," Tony replied with a sigh.

Guess that means we'll just have to get inventive, Gibbs thought. The road they'd just left wasn't exactly a major highway and it was the middle of a snowstorm, but still, cars were bound to drive by at some point. Gibbs figured he'd just have to find a way to signal one of them. Thinking about the supplies they had in the trunk, he was coming up with a plan when a voice came from the other side of the tree.

"Hey Boss?"

"Hm?" Gibbs replied, his mind still partway on a plan.

"Don't you think we should get out? I mean what if the crash caused a spark and there's gas leaking and the car blows up?"

Gibbs shook his head, though he knew Tony couldn't see it.

"DiNozzo that only happens on tv and the last time I checked you and I weren't the stars of some top-rated crime drama. I think we're safe." Gibbs replied.

He heard Tony's soft chuckle.

"What?" Gibbs asked.

"Wouldn't that be awesome? You and me, Gibbs, we'd make the best crime fighting team out there."

"DiNozzo I think you must've hit your head. We DO fight crime, remember? It's kind of our job?"

"I know Boss, that's my point. You're the experienced agent and I'm your trusty and handsome sidekick, the one who gets all the women and…" Tony paused, obviously warming to his idea.

Gibbs had had enough of the story and decided to cut off his agent before he came up with any more scenarios.

"Why don't we just stick with…" Gibbs stopped as he realized that Tony had gone completely silent

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked worriedly, wondering if Tony's injuries were worse than the other man had let on originally.

"Um…Gibbs…" Tony started. Unable to put a thought into words he simply pointed straight ahead.

Gibbs may not have been able to see Tony's face that well, but he saw the gesture as the younger man's hand came out of the branches. Gibbs immediately looked out through the windshield but he saw nothing more than the snow outside.

"DiNozzo, what is your prob..."

Gibbs realized that Tony was pointing ahead but not actually into the woods. Instead he was pointing into the rearview mirror. Turning his head to look behind him, Gibbs finally saw what had made his Senior Field Agent completely speechless.

Flames were licking up the backside of the car and only one thought entered Gibbs mind.

Dammit, I hate it when DiNozzo's right.