As night fell on their rocky island, Tony tried not to think what Millie might have cooked for him that night. Graham crackers had never been his favourite and today, with water in short supply, they had seemed particularly dry. He and Borin huddled together under the poncho but resisted switching the torch on until it got completely dark.

"Weren't the lighthouses put there because of dangerous waters?" asked Tony as they gazed at the distant light.

"Yes."

"So if we make for one, we'd be going towards those exact same waters?" asked Tony logically.

"Yes," agreed Borin, "but they may be more dangerous for boats than swimmers. We might be able to rest on rocks and the sandbanks."

"Sounds a real treat," said Tony, "when should we go do you think?"

"There doesn't seem to be much point in waiting," said Abbie, "if we go first thing, we will have at least have had something to eat. If we hang on, we'll run out of food and be weaker."

"How's your head?" asked Tony.

"Fine," lied Abbie, "how's yours?"

"Fine," lied Tony, and then started telling her the plot of 'Blackbeard the Pirate' until she nodded off to sleep.

In other circumstances seeing the sun rise from a desert island might have been rather appealing but it had no attraction for the bedraggled pair of federal agents that morning. Tony fished out the two power bars and handed one to Abbie,

"You should always wait half an hour after eating before swimming," he said seriously.

They looked at each other recognising that eating the snack was an acknowledgement that they were going to set off. The power bar was a bit stale, Abbie wondered how long it had been living in Tony's shorts but it was still the most delicious thing she'd eaten in years.

"Do you know anything about the currents round here?" asked Tony.

Abbie shook her head, "nothing specific. If we get into a current probably best not to fight it, let it take us. Weather's not too bad, bit of rain won't matter, we'll be wet anyway. Looks as if there's some mist coming down, that means it's even less likely there'll be any boats out to find us."

"OK," said Tony, "I can float for hours. Laying around doing nothing is my specialty."

As the minutes ticked down, they made their final preparations. Tony removed the $100 bill from his shoe and tucked it into his pocket of his running top, "Just think how mad we'd be if we made it to land and couldn't pay the cab fare home!"

They looked over what was left of the contents from the backpack. They had thought of trying to make the poncho into some sort of floatation device but couldn't think how to do it. Tony looked at the length of orange rope and had an idea,

"Give me your arm," he said to Borin.

"Why?" she asked, even as she gave it to him.

"I'll tie us together. We need to stay together, this way we won't be able to drift too far apart I'll leave a long length so it won't get in the way of swimming."

Abbie nodded her approval. They took one last look around them in the hope that a ship might suddenly appear but there was nothing to be seen except grey sky and grey sea.

"Last one in's a sissy!" yelled Abbie and jumped in. Tony laughed and jumped in after her.

And so began their long swim.

NCISNCIS

Ducky stayed with Millie overnight, regaling her with more tales of Scottish 'derring do' and trying to keep all their doubts at bay.

Gibbs made arrangement with the Norfolk base to have a launch sent to Milsom Bay overnight in case he needed to take to the water. He also made contact with Captain Lloyd at Camp Lejeune to ask if he had any trainees who would like to walk the coastline the next day looking for traces of the missing agents. Having done all he could for the day, Gibbs retreated to Tony's cabin, knowing he needed to rest but not knowing if he'd be able to. He found some tins of paint which he guessed Tony was going to use to paint the kitchen and bathroom. He decided he might as well do something useful so he opened the tin of blue paint and started on the kitchen.

A couple of hours later, John knocked tentatively on the door,

"Agent Gibbs, I saw the light on. I've just made some coffee, would you like some?"

Gibbs grunted agreement and laid down his paint brush. John looked at his handiwork and wondered if Tony would mind that his kitchen was going to be blue instead of green . He hoped Tony would be back to find out.

Gibbs followed John up to his shack and accepted a cup of coffee and a piece of Millie's Dundee cake. His eyes fell on the portrait john had been painting of Tony.

"You finished it then?" he said, pointing his mug towards the canvas.

"Yes, it just needs to be framed now."

"Looks good," said Gibbs, gazing at what was indeed a good likeness. John had managed to capture not just what Tony looked like but something of his energy and enthusiasm. In some places it still looked almost sketch like, unfinished.

"Thank you," said John, "I kept on fiddling with it. Trying to do the eyes was a nightmare, one day they'd look green, another day they were grey and sometimes a colour I couldn't guess at. It seemed in the end best to leave it as it was, I could have kept on changing it, filling it in but somehow an unfinished quality seemed to say something about Tony."

"You suggesting that I should do the same?" asked Gibbs gruffly.

"What do you mean, Agent Gibbs?"

"You seem to be saying you knew when your job with Tony was over. Are you saying I don't? That I should walk away?"

"By no means," said john, "I don't believe for one moment that Tony is ready for you to walk away, your work with Tony is not over. May I speak frankly?"

"Seem to be doing that already," said Gibbs.

"What Tony has found here is an addition to his family/his friends, it's not instead of what he already had. He comes here to relax, to unwind so that he can continue to do the most important thing of all."

"Which is?"

"Being a federal agent and being on your team, Agent Gibbs. He's always cancelling coming down here because work demands it. If I was going to put it crudely, Milsom Bay is a 'nice to have' but DC is essential and I think you're a big part of that."

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee and said, "Yuh," which could have meant anything but which John chose to interpret as a pleased acknowledgement.

"I think Tony's been let down by people who should have known better, Gibbs. Don't be another one of them. You're important to Tony, please don't forget that."

"Thanks, John", Gibbs nodded, " Your coffee sucks by the way."

John laughed and thought about telling Gibbs he'd painted Tony's kitchen the wrong colour but he decided to let Tony fight that battle.

Gibbs went back to Tony's hut, finished painting the wall and then went to sleep on Tony's couch.

NCISNCIS

Tony tried to remember how long it had taken Grandpa Paddington to swim the English Channel. He seemed to remember it was something like fifteen hours. Tony guessed they had been going for about six and he already felt exhausted. Most of the time, he and Borin were on their backs and just kicking gently. Logically, he though it shouldn't have been tiring but it was; he guessed it was the cold water, the inability to take a break and the tension of not knowing where they were or if they had done the right thing in leaving their rocky refuge.

Tony heaved a tug on the rope and was reassured to feel some resistance. His greatest fear was losing Abbie. He steered himself in her direction and saw that she looked exhausted too although she managed a smile and a wave. Tony tried to think back to when he had been training hard in basket ball and football and whether he had ever felt like this. He could remember being tired and in pain but somehow he had never felt this bone weary and he wondered why this was so different. And then he realised the difference, he and Borin didn't seem to think they would survive. They were doing what they should do but they weren't doing it hopefully, they had gone into the water already defeated.

A surge of anger washed over Tony and he decided to welcome that feeling rather than submit to a Zen-like feeling of resignation and placidity. He was a Buckeye and he wasn't going to go down tamely. He swam nearer to Borin,

"Hey, beautiful, you come here often?"

She spluttered a reply which might well have been an expletive.

"That wasn't very nice, Agent Borin. Did they teach you that at Coastguard School?"

"Go away, DiNozzo. Save your energy."

"I've been thinking about that and I think we're going about this the wrong way."

"You want to swim back to the rock?" asked Borin.

"Oh no, no, no. I think we just need to adopt a more positive attitude. 'Put on a happy face.'"

"I'm doing fine," insisted Borin.

"You don't look as if you're doing fine. Come on, we're federal agents. Hey, you've even got a motto. We need to be more confident. I'm sure Gibbs is looking for us. What are you sure of?"

"I'm sure you're very annoying."

"That's better," said Tony, "now why don't we think of a NCIS motto. Do you know the Latin for annoying? It could be Semper Irritatus. I'm sure Ducky will know the answer. I know, let's play a game."

"Softball?" suggested Borin.

"Very good, Agent Borin. But I don't think you've quite got the hang of this. How about Twenty Questions. You can go first."

Abbie laughed but decided to play along and, rather to their surprise, they found that they swam along quicker when they were no longer thinking only about staying afloat.

NCISNCIS

At midday, Gibbs got a call from a jubilant Fornell,

"We got him, Jethro. John Smith. Picked him up as he went into one of his goon's casinos. Easy as pie. I owe you one."

"Thank DiNozzo," said Gibbs curtly, "has Smith told you anything about what happened?"

"We only just arrested him, Jethro. We're processing him now. Don't worry, I'll ask him."

"We need something, Tobias. We've got nothing to go on at the moment. I got marines from Camp Lejeune combing the shore line but we've got no idea where we should be looking."

"OK, OK," said Fornell, "I'm going to interrogate him personally but, Jethro, there isn't much I can offer him as an incentive to tell me anything. This guy's going down for a long time whatever he says."

Gibbs sighed and rubbed his eyes as he put the phone down. He knew Smith didn't have a softer side to appeal to and, as Fornell had said, there wasn't anything Fornell could offer him that would make him give them any information. He decided to call McGee,

"McGee, any sighting of the Blue Swallow?"

"No, Boss. And Mark Walcott hasn't turned up in Virginia Beach. Do you want Ziva and Dorney to stay there?"

"Yeah, McGee. Don't know where else to send them at the moment."

He was about to end the call when he heard Abby calling his name,

"Gibbs, Gibbs. Something odd's just happened."

"Abby, don't make me guess."

"No, sorry. Well, not sorry because I know how you feel about apologies. We all know how you feel about apologies ... and coincidences ... and people texting during baseball games and ..."

"ABS! Don't make me come down there!" roared Gibbs.

"Gibbs," said Abby in a wounded voice but then she seemed to hear Gibbs' intake of breath as he wound up for more and she hurried on to say, "The hot line has had a weird message."

"How weird?" asked Gibbs.

"Oh really, really weird, Gibbs," said Abby earnestly.

"I meant how is it weird, not how weird is it?" said Gibbs.

"Oh, I see. 'Cos I thought you meant the other thing," babbled Abby.

"McGee!" shouted Gibbs, "what's the message on the hot line."

"Uh, Boss. It's weird, but you already know that. Someone left a message to say NCIS should go and look somewhere off the North Carolina coast. Left some co-ordinates."

"Did they say why?" demanded Gibbs.

"Uh, no, Boss. It's a guy, sounds panicky. The operator tried to get more out of him but he hung up."

"OK. Notify the Coastguard, get them on the way. Send me the co-ordinates too, I've got a launch on standby here. I'll go out and look as well."

"Right Boss, they're about twenty one miles off the coast from where you are. We're trying to get satellite coverage of the area as well but there's a lot of sea mist out there at the moment and I don't think they're going to spot anything."

"Keep in touch," ordered Gibbs, "Norfolk sent a satellite phone with the launch so you should be able to keep in contact more easily."

"Sure, Boss," said McGee, hoping that Gibbs would be able to work out how to use it.

"Ah, Jethro," said Ducky, Millie has made some sandwiches. You should eat, you know."

"No time, Ducky, a message came into the NCIS hotline saying NCIS should go look at a bunch of co-ordinates about twenty miles from here."

"To what end?"

"Don't know but I'm going to go look."

"Then I shall come with you, Jethro. If we find them, they may be in need of medical attention."

"OK, hurry up then."

"Can I come too?" asked Joe.

"Sorry, Bud," said Gibbs, stooping down to look him in the eye, "not this time."

"But I helped before," said Joe logically, "I helped you work the phone."

"Yeah, you did good, Joe. But you need to stay and look after your Granma." He tousled the boy's hair, "can you do that for me?"

"S'pose so," said Joe moodily.

"Good boy," said Gibbs rising to his feet with a crack of his knees.

"I'll come too, Agent Gibbs," said John, and before Gibbs could object continued, "I'm quite good in a boat and I know the currents round here. I might be able to help."

"OK, come on then, before the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker want to come as well!"

John and Ducky looked at each other in astonishment. "Jethro made a joke!" said Ducky, "I must remember to tell Anthony."

It took them a couple of hours to get to the co-ordinates, they had to go slower than Gibbs would have liked because of the fog and the danger from sandbanks. The launch had sonar fitted but it wasn't safe to go full throttle. Gibbs' gut began to churn as they drew near, not knowing what to expect; wondering if this was a practical joke or whether they would find DiNozzo and Borin sitting in a boat arguing about movies.

What they found was a bare rock with a poncho and a single running shoe floating round it.

"Looks as if a wave went right over it," observed Gibbs, "can you hook that stuff out, Sutherland?"

John leaned over and managed to retrieve the floating articles. They examined the poncho and found that it was marked 'Property of Blue Swallow – please return after the cruise'. Gibbs looked at the shoe,

"Same make as Tony wears," he said, "and the same size."

"So they were here," said Ducky, "look, there's some rope floating too."

They hooked up the rope as well and Ducky noticed some traces of blood that hadn't washed away yet. Gibbs produced an evidence bag,

"Put it in there, Duck. Abby'll be able to get DNA off it."

"It looks as if they were here then," said Ducky.

"But where did they go?" asked John, "you don't think ... you don't think they were dumped here, do you?"

"I think they might have been dumped," said Gibbs, "but I think they were dumped alive. Not their bodies."

"And what makes you think that, Jethro?" asked Ducky.

"Those ropes have been untied. If they were dead, the killers wouldn't have bothered to untie them. My guess is that they were put here and left to die."

"And do you think they have? Died, I mean?" said John.

"Nope. If that shoe is still here, their bodies would be too," said Gibbs.

"Do you mean that they've decided to swim for it?" asked Ducky aghast.

"It's what I'd do," said Gibbs, "they had no way of knowing anyone was going to come looking for them. Hell, we wouldn't have known where to come without that tip off.

"What do we do now?" asked Ducky.

"Sutherland, can you take the wheel for a bit. I'm going to contact McGee and tell him to alert everyone that we've got two federal agents in the water. Then we'll start searching ourselves. We can stay out a few hours and then go back."

"I'll phone Millie and let her know what's happening. She'll get people looking as well," said John.

"I'll go and make some coffee and open the sandwiches Millie supplied," said Ducky, "I think we should keep our voice lubricated so we can shout out for our missing friends."

NCISNCIS

Tony and Borin couldn't imagine what the swim would have been like if they had been doing it on their own. As it was, they were able to encourage and support each other. When Tony got cramp, Borin talked him through it and trod water around him until he was able to go on. A few minutes later he returned the favour as cramp attacked her too.

They were able to laugh when they both jumped because something brushed against their leg and made them swallow mouthfuls of water,

"You sure the North Carolina alligators don't come out here?" said a spluttering Tony.

"Relax," said Borin, "they're freshwater only. They don't come out to sea."

"I wish I was freshwater only," said Tony plaintively.

"Perhaps it was a turtle," suggested Abbie.

"That'd be cool," said Tony with unexpected enthusiasm.

"Why?" asked Borin although she knew she'd get an explanation anyway.

"Those turtles in 'Finding Nemo' were great," said Tony, "and they showed Marlin and Dory the way to Sydney. How cool would that be?"

"You want to go to Australia?" said Abbie, playing along, "let's just try swimming to Milsom Bay first. Baby steps, eh?"

"You're probably right," said Tony, "we'll swim to Oz some other time."

"Hey!" said Borin indignantly, "are you suggesting I'm Dory in this journey?"

"Of course not," said Tony peaceably, "I've told you a thousand times!"

Borin snorted with laughter and then jumped a bit as something brushed her toes.

"I feel like a pobble," she said.

"A pobble?" queried Tony.

"'The pobble who had no toes, had once as many as we'", quoted Abbie, "sorry, it's a nonsense poem by Edward Lear".

"Oh, I know what it is," said Tony, "My mom liked the poems. Bit tactless though, Borin. I seem to remember the pobble lost his toes while out on a long swim!"

"My bad," said Abbie.

"Now if it had been the Jumblies," said Tony, "that would have been fine."

"Remind me what the Jumblies did,"

"'They went to sea in a sieve, they did, in a sieve they went to sea'. And they came back and it was all wonderful. "

"I remember," said Abbie, "but didn't they have green heads and blue hands? Not a good look."

"My hands may go blue soon," said Tony. "I wonder if Gibbs has arrived yet."

Borin was becoming accustomed to the way that Tony's mind jumped from one thing to another but she couldn't quite see how this leap had been made. She frowned at Tony who hurried to explain,

"If he goes to my hut, he'll see the green and blue paint. With any luck he'll start the painting. I hope he knows that the kitchen's meant to be green. Oh, I'm worried now."

"We're stuck in the middle of the ocean and you're worried what colour your kitchen's going to be?"

"Hey, didn't you realise this has all been part of a master plan to lure Gibbs down here to paint my hut?"

"Wouldn't it have been simpler just to ask him?" said Abbie.

"Guess so," said Tony in a rather sad voice. "Do you know the 'Owl and the Pussycat'?"

Neither of them could remember all of it but they occupied another half hour in teasing it out of their brains until they were able to recite it all with Tony doing all the voices except that of the cat which he graciously allowed Borin to have.

All in all, Tony thought it had all been going 'swimmingly' until something brushed against his arm and he felt a burning sensation. He swore.

"What's the matter, Tony?" asked Abbie.

"I think a jelly fish just got me," gasped Tony.

There was nothing to do but ride out the pain. Borin couldn't help remembering the fuss Tony had made when he'd stubbed his toe when working with her on a previous case. She would hardly have known it was the same person: this Tony, after the initial curse, just gritted his teeth and got on with it. She drew closer to him and let him grip her hand as tightly as he wanted as she continued to recite the 'Owl and the Pussycat', occasionally getting it wrong so he would have to correct her.

As the pain began to ease, Tony wondered if his hearing had been affected, it seemed that the water was making a different noise, he hushed Abbie,

"Abbie, sshh. Can you hear something?"

"What?"

"The water sounds different. As if waves are hitting something."

Abbie listened, "you're right."

"Do you think we're near land?" asked Tony with a sudden spurt of joy.

"I don't see how we can be," said Abbie regretfully, "it's been about ten hours, I reckon, and we've not been going in a straight line so I don't think we can have gone far enough yet."

"What then?"

"I think we may be near one of the sandbanks," she said.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Depends how long it is. We might be able to rest on it for a while. I think the tide's going out rather than in so it might get more exposed."

"I think I love you, Special Coastguard Agent Abigail Borin," said Tony, "rest would be good right now, don't you think?"

"Yeah, and if the tide is going out it might just suck us back out if we're in the water. If we wait a while, the tide might push us in a bit further."

They swam on a bit more hopefully now and soon reached the sandbar that Abbie had predicted. They would never have expected a damp and soggy patch of sand to be so welcome. In theory they should have taken turns to sleep but in practice both were asleep within seconds, still linked by the orange rope.

NCISNCIS

Gibbs, John and Ducky spent some hours motoring gently and quietly, hoping to find Tony and Borin but they were unsuccessful. McGee had reported that the satellite pictures showed only mist and murk but he was working on the tip line message to try and find out who had left it.

Finally, and reluctantly, Gibbs decided they would have to make for Milsom Bay. It was too dark and too foggy for them to see anything and they were in danger of needing to be rescued themselves.

"Hold on, Tony," he said under his breath, "hold on. I'll find you."