They dozed for a while but roused when Leon's stomach growled. Gibbs laughed and patted his lover, "Hungry?" Leon huffed, "Now whatever gave you that idea?"

Throwing on sweats, the two men walked downstairs. Leon shook his head when he spotted the bags he'd dropped by the front door. "Jethro you are an animal, you barely let me in the front door!" Gibbs started to grin and then frowned, "There wasn't any cold beer or champagne in there, was there?"

"Yep, bottle of champagne, it'll chill again by midnight. So what are you going to feed me?"

"Steak and potato."

"On the fireplace grill?" Gibbs nodded. "Great, get working on it then!"

Laughing as remnants of the Director appeared Jethro tenderly kissed his lover and turned toward the kitchen. When Leon saw the fire all laid out and set to go, he found the long matches and lit the kindling. While Jethro prepared the food for the grill, Leon tended the fire.

They took their time eating, sitting on the couch next to the fire, getting a little playful about feeding each other bits of steak, snuggling together. When they finished, they washed the dishes and got the bowls out for their favorite dessert, ice cream sundaes. For Jethro it was a secret pleasure, he'd never let anyone beside Leon know how much he loved them, how much they reminded him of sultry summer days as a child, when both parents were alive and all was well with the world. For Leon it wasn't as much of an issue, having two children allowed him to indulge without having to explain. It was a common pleasure they'd discovered as their relationship turned from friendship to the bond that was developing between them now.

XXX

As he finally stopped tumbling, Tim struggled to figure out where he might be. As the snow forced him off his feet, he had been moving his arms in a swimming motion, eventually able to get onto his back, and doing his best to move uphill against the avalanche. Now everything had stopped and he knew he had brief seconds to create an air pocket and take other measures. His snow shovel was still with him and he quickly dug out a big enough pocket that he hoped would last more than the 30 minutes he'd read about. His next step was to do the spit test; he felt his saliva dribbling down his chin, so up was above him. As silly as it had sounded at the time, he was profoundly grateful now to know that he was facing the sky. He set the probe and transceiver to do their thing and pushed his arm up as far as it could go. At first he thought to use the snow shovel but what he dug out as his hand pushed up slid back on him and nearly destroyed his air pocket. He dug it out again and moved his arm up but this time at an angle to his face. He hoped the red glove on his hand might show through the snow and he wished he still had his ski pole to see if he could push it up. But it was long gone and the survival site had said to let it go so that was that. He tried to move his body and was able to move a fraction of an inch and then had to do another air pocket. Once again, he was able to dig a bigger pocket than expected, he figured he needed to do that every few minutes, maybe whenever he started to feel sleepy, he wasn't sure. He worried about Tony, he hoped they'd both be found alive and in one piece but knowing his lover's propensity for injuries didn't help. An avalanche would make the news…would Gibbs be watching TV, would he hear about it? Would he rescue them? Tim had a sudden image of Boss marching onto the slopes and pointing dramatically at the two spots where his missing agents were. He was getting silly and realized it was time to dig another air pocket. He had to keep his head together and keep himself alive, he would not leave Tony, he couldn't, his lover had lost too many people; Tim wouldn't do that to him. The snow shifted around him, pinning him down even more and he fought it, suddenly going from scared to terrified. This was awful, how long was it going to take? The probe and transceiver, wasn't that stuff supposed to bring help? He was buried alive…where was Tony, was he even still alive? Oh God…

XXX

The champagne was still not quite chilled enough so they left it in the refrigerator for the time being. Leon turned the TV on a little before midnight and then went back to the kitchen to join Jethro as he made fresh coffee. As they came back into the living room Gibbs squinted as a news ticker appeared at the bottom of the television screen. Suddenly his gut started churning and he had a feeling the information he was about to read wasn't going to be good news. Grabbing his glasses from the end table he managed to catch the last few words – avalanche and Shenandoah Valley. Noticing the sudden change in his lover's demeanor Leon turned his attention toward the television as the ticker started over again.

As the information flashed on the screen again Gibbs held his breath, hoping the avalanche was nowhere close to where his boys were skiing. However, when he saw "Massanutten Resort" he felt a chill run down his spine. Tim and Tony had mentioned the resort several times since they'd decided to go skiing and "Massanutten" was a name that was difficult to confuse with any other resorts.

Once he'd finished reading the entire news flash, Leon turned to look at Gibbs, only to find the older man nowhere to be found.

"Jethro? Where are you? What's going on?"

Suddenly he put two and two together and jumped up from the couch. He could hear Gibbs rummaging around in his bedroom and quickly climbed the stairs to formulate a plan. When he entered the bedroom, he found the other man with his phone to his ear while he pawed through his closet, looking for what Leon didn't know. Gibbs cried, "Shit!" and threw the phone on the bed, then picked it up again and punched another button.

Leon touched him lightly on the shoulder, "Could be cell service is down in the area or it could be that they're busy helping to rescue people. Keep trying."

Gibbs nodded while Leon found what Gibbs had been looking for: warm clothes, clothes to wear in snowy conditions. He pulled them out and put them on the bed, pulling one of the heavy sweatshirts over his head and grabbing both pairs of snow pants he'd found. Gibbs was still working the phone so Leon opened the drawer in the dresser where the socks lived and pulled out a few pairs of winter-weight socks. He spotted a sports bag, dumped everything in and then guided his lover down the stairs.

"Come on, Jethro, the sooner we leave, the sooner you can find our boys." He didn't know why exactly, but he grabbed two of the blankets stashed by the couch, stuffed them into the bag and looking around, spotted snow boots underneath the coat tree.

"Jethro, put your jacket on, got hat and gloves? Yeah?"

Gibbs nodded, patting his pockets.

"Ok I have my snow boots in the car, I've put more clothes in here, borrowed the sweatshirt and socks, ok?"

He got a quirk of a lip for that, evidently his lover did not mind him borrowing his clothes. Gibbs rolled his shoulders, "Leon, if either of them is hurt or…"

"Then concentrate on thinking that they're busy helping. It won't do any good thinking anything else until we get there. Now let's g…oh, need to put the fire out, hang on."

Vance carefully made sure the fire was all the way out before they left the house. As they walked to the car, he sighed and without a word handed the keys over to Gibbs. That got him a woebegone smile. Bag in the backseat, off they went. While Gibbs quickly maneuvered them out of the metro area, Leon looked up the location address on his phone and programmed it into his GPS.

XXX

Tony finally stopped moving and rested for a second. What was the first thing…oh air pocket, breathing deep first. Taking care of that, the probe and transceiver were next. He mentally shook his head, fucking unbelievable! There they were talking about the avalanche that's never gonna happen and BAM, it hits them! At least he had the most prepared lover in the world and they'd survive. Because they just would, there was no question! He shivered and sent thoughts to LIVE damn it to Tim and more out to Gibbs: we need you! He imagined Gibbs as James Bond (Connery of course) swooping in from a helicopter and immediately pulling the two of them out of the snow. Only a helicopter's blades would cause vibrations and probably cause another avalanche. Way to go Boss, don't kill us! With a start he realized he was supposed to be swimming uphill and checking his drool for 'up'; he'd better get to it. When his saliva slid up his nose, Tony did his absolute very best not to panic but all he could think of was a dead Marine in a pile of debris, his feet pointed down and his face pointed up. Resolutely he changed the image to Tim's sweet face coming closer to kiss him, yeah that was better, he needed to keep working to survive, couldn't let his partner down. Using his snow shovel, he managed to get turned around and did the spit test again. This time his saliva went down his chin. He moved his arm up then but decided to do the swim thing first, if he could. He'd done some as he'd been tumbling but had no idea whether it had done any good. He tried to move both arms in a swimming motion but there was too much snow and it felt like wet cement around him. Again trying to stave off the panic, he used his snow shovel for another air pocket and all he could do was pray that someone would hurry the hell UP and find them!

XXX

As Gibbs sent the SUV rocketing down the road, Leon held on and gently reminded the man that 1) there were experts on site looking for their missing friends and 2) he had children who needed him alive. When he saw Jethro clench his jaw and grit his teeth, he decided to call the lodge to see if he could get an update.

He huffed as the busy signal repeated over and over again in his ear. It wasn't surprising considering there were probably other worried family members trying to get information about their loved ones. As he disconnected the line and put the phone back in his pocket he prayed that it wouldn't cause his lover to drive any more recklessly than he already was. All he could do was try to reassure Jethro that he would keep trying the lodge and that his boys were strong and would do everything they could to survive.

Jethro needed to get to his agents, hell who was he kidding, his kids. His gut was twisting and churning and he thought he might have broken a tooth with the way he was clenching his jaw. He'd told them he wanted time away from them, he hadn't meant eternity. They had to be all right, if they weren't, no he couldn't do that, couldn't think that way. He needed to see that they were safe, needed to touch them, to feel the hair at the back of their skulls when he headslapped them for worrying him this way. Not their fault! He knew Tim would be prepared, he always was, but would Tony have listened to him? As he prayed and concentrated on the road, he heard Leon trying to call someone again, must be the lodge.

Pinching the bridge of his nose Vance slumped back against the seat. The line was still busy and he imagined it would be for some time to come. This was going to be a long drive, although shorter than it should be with his anxious Jethro behind the wheel. Feeling the need for touch he rested his hand on his lover's thigh. Jethro glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and huffed,

"What if they got caught up in the avalanche, Leon? I know they are trained agents, but it's easy to let your guard down when you're having fun." He swallowed hard and continued, "I've already lost enough people in my life."

Leon sighed, "They'll be okay, Jethro. Don't forget, they were trained by the best."

The corner of Jethro's lip curled up, "I suppose so. I need to tell them more often of how proud I am of the men and agents they've become."

"It wouldn't hurt to tell them more, sweetie, but I think they already know."

XXX

Tony had tired of flailing around, trying to swim uphill and he could no longer remember if that was supposed to help after the avalanche buried you under a ton of cement. He wished he could ask Tim. He missed his lover, his best friend; he wished like anything they would have just stayed home and had a romantic evening in instead of this big freakin' stupid night skiing adventure he'd talked Tim into. He hoped he was all right; hell he was probably out there digging for him, he had to be all right. Shit! Gibbs would kill them both if they weren't. He was gonna be so mad if he had to train two new agents…he really was going to kill them. Dead…

XXX

Tim started slipping into sleep and jolted awake. What was he supposed to do now? He wondered how Tony was, he had to be all right, probably had a concussion because, you know, he was Tony, but he'd be all right, he was a survivor. He thought about his lover's goofy smile and hot kisses and he smiled a little, he wished they were together now; he'd like to see him one more time. He almost giggled thinking of their first kiss. It had been at work in the elevator, they thought they'd thrown the off switch but then they were moving, the doors opened and Boss almost caught them. Boss...man this was going to be tough on him, losing them, they'd have to go off rotation and he'd have to find new people for the team. He'd be so pissed at them, mad as hell…damn, he hated when Gibbs was that mad…

XXX

As Gibbs' maniacal driving brought them closer to the mountains of Virginia and Massanutten Resort, Vance continued trying to reach anyone near the disaster. He'd switched from calling the lodge to Emergency Services for Rockingham County. It wasn't until they were about 15 minutes out from the resort that one of his calls was finally answered. He introduced himself and told the deputy that two of his agents were at the resort, not answering their cells and that he knew they had been planning to ski the mountain that evening. The man explained that the hotel staff was checking with each registered guest, to help the search teams know how many people might have been out on the slopes. Checking that registry himself, the deputy found a T. McGee, but no DiNozzo. He also checked the list of names of those rescued or sadly, recovered but there wasn't a McGee or a DiNozzo. The phone was on speaker and when Gibbs heard that the boys were still missing, he pressed the accelerator even harder. After disconnecting the call, Vance grabbed his snow gear and started putting it on.

XXX

When they finally reached the entrance to the resort the road was closed by local LEOs. After quickly flashing their badges and explaining that two of their men were still unaccounted for they were allowed to continue past the barricades up to the ski lodge. When they reached the parking lot, Gibbs didn't even bother to find a marked spot. He threw the car into park and jumped out to get into his snow gear. Vance shook his head, reached over and turned off the car.

"Sweetie, we're going to find them. Let's just take a deep breath and try to remain calm."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Leon. My boys are still up there and I won't rest until I know that they are okay."

Vance knew every second could mean the difference between life and death for his two agents so when he saw a deputy walking toward them he got out of the car to gather any new information.

"You must be Director Vance? We spoke on the phone about your two agents, McGee and DiNozzo."

"That's right. Has anybody been rescued since we spoke last?"

The younger man sighed, "I wish I had good news for you, but unfortunately we've been unable to find your men. We've searched in the general vicinity of the ski path – that's where we've made the most progress, but we haven't ventured too far out from there. Can you tell me anything about the pair that would help with our search?"

Vance was about to open his mouth to speak when Gibbs walked up, fully dressed, with a look of sheer panic on his face. "Tim and Tony are about 6' 1" – probably add another inch or two with snow boots. Tony's more of an intermediate skier, however Tim is only a beginner."

A man standing nearby with a cup of coffee looked toward them. "Two guys, same height, one knew what he was doing, the other was a newbie?" His clothes were filthy and he looked tired.

Gibbs nodded.

"Yeah, I saw them. I was operating the lifts right before the avalanche hit, the one guy froze and couldn't get off the lift; we had to stop the whole thing. He was pretty embarrassed, the other guy was helping him, looked like they were headed over to the trees, I figured so he could calm down a bit before they headed down the slopes." He shook his head, "Sorry, I've been on the slopes helping with the rescue operation, I didn't think…"

The deputy nodded and handed the man a clipboard with a roughly drawn sketch, "Can you show me where?" The man pointed to a spot just below the leading tip of the woods across from the lift. "Right in there."

"Did you happen to see how far into the woods they went?"

"No, sorry, we were setting up again and I got busy and then, well the whole thing started. It was only a matter of a minute or two; they couldn't have gone very far in."

"All right, thanks."

Gibbs' jaw clenched even tighter and Vance put his hand on his lover's arm, trying to ground him and give him strength. When the deputy moved away to find the head of the Emergency Response teams, Gibbs and Vance were right on his heels.

The deputy stopped at a group of people and gave the new information to one of them, introducing Vance and Gibbs. The ERT head didn't stop to chat, he immediately started calling out new orders to one of the teams and Gibbs started moving toward them. The deputy grabbed his arm to hold him back, "You can't go up there! These people are trained; you could get into all kinds of trouble."

Gibbs angrily pulled his arm away from the deputy, "I'm going with them; those are my boys!"

The ERT head just shook his head; they'd already lost too much time, they couldn't waste more arguing. He figured from the looks on their faces and their body language that they were aware of how high the odds were stacked against either of the men being found alive after all this time. On the slopes, his teams were already moving into recovery mode. He added an additional team member to keep watch over the two feds and watched them carefully pick their way up the mountain, the dogs they'd been using leading the way. He hoped he'd made the right decision and that somehow those men – and all the others – would be found still alive.

Faster…they needed to move faster if they had any chance of finding McGee and DiNozzo alive. As the snow crunched under his boots that's all Gibbs could think about. Each minute that passed seemed like hours and once they were half way up the mountain they stopped to take a break. As he sipped a bottle of water Gibbs noticed a circular orange object lying above the snow near some trees. He grabbed Leon's arm, pointing in the direction of the object, "Do you see that over there? I don't have my glasses and I want to make sure it's not wishful thinking."

The other rescuers turned to look at what Gibbs was pointing at. "That's a probe!" Somebody shouted out as the group quickly but carefully headed toward the orange marker. Gibbs and Vance's hearts raced with anticipation and worry as they closed in on the probe. Once they were within a few feet the rescuers started digging, holding their breaths that this would be a rescue rather than a recovery. Gibbs and Vance joined the rescuers, moving snow away from the hole they'd been digging. It wasn't until they had gone about two feet down that they saw a piece of black fabric sticking out from under the snow. It took every fiber of his being not to push the rescuers out of the way to get to either Tony or Tim. Vance felt the same way as his lover and wrapped his arm around Gibbs' shoulder to provide support. It was still unknown whether this person was even alive. The rescuers realized the fabric was part of a hat and worked quickly to remove the remaining snow. Suddenly DiNozzo's face was visible and the younger man let out a loud groan. A large grin appeared on everyone's face as Gibbs got as close to his agent as possible.

"Tony…you're going to be okay, son. We're going to get you out of here in no time."

"Boss? Is that you? I knew you'd come."

"Of course I'd come, Tony. You and Tim are my agents and it's my job to be there when you need me."

By this time the rescuers had uncovered the rest of DiNozzo's body and the paramedics swooped in to start taking vitals. Gibbs knelt down next to his agent, tenderly brushing his hair off his forehead. "You did good, kiddo."

Tony's teeth chattered as he grabbed hold of Gibbs' jacket. "Where's my Tim?"

Vance swallowed hard, "We're still looking for him, DiNozzo. Can you tell us any information that might help?"

"No, no, no he has to survive. I can't go on without my Probie."

Gibbs and Vance shared a look, both of them starting to realize that perhaps there was more to Tony and Tim's relationship than mere friendship.

"Sir, it's imperative that we get Agent DiNozzo back down the mountain so we can better assess his needs and continue looking for Agent McGee."

"I'm not going anywhere, Gibbs!"

"Listen to me Tony; we're going to find him. I think it's best if you let them take you back down. We're going to be right behind you."

"I said no!" Tony attempted to stand up to look for his missing lover, but his body was too weak and he collapsed into Gibbs' arms.

Gibbs glanced at Vance who only shrugged his shoulders. Both men knew that Tony was determined to stay until they found Tim and upsetting the younger man wasn't going to do him any good.

"All right, DiNozzo you can stay right here, but the moment your vitals get any worse you're going to have to start down the mountain."

Tony managed a half smile as he huddled under the layers of blankets surrounding him. As he was sitting there he remembered that Tim was slightly in front of him when the avalanche started and told the rescuers of their positioning.

The rescue team moved slowly through the snow and debris, looking for another probe, hoping the other man had been able to deploy it. Gibbs and Vance followed, supporting Tony. One of the dogs suddenly veered off and his handler went with him. "Got something."

Gibbs' heart was hammering, this had to be Tim. He was chanting a prayer to himself for a second miracle; Tim alive, Tim alive, please let them find his youngest in time. Tony still felt like he was moving through wet cement but now he had purpose, he wanted to be there to watch his lover's beautiful green eyes see that he was alive, that they'd both survived, neither would be alone again. Tim had to be alive, he had to be.

Vance was helping support both men, feeling the tension in his lover and the exhaustion and near desperation in DiNozzo. While he had some hope, after all if DiNozzo was alive there was certainly a chance for the younger man, he was worried about what they'd find; if they found McGee at all.

The three men caught up with the team in time to see the probe. The rescuers were already carefully removing the snow and as before the dogs helped. They were nearly three feet down when they saw red, which Gibbs recognized as Tony's jacket. Not stopping to wonder why Tim was wearing it, he started to pass Tony to Vance but DiNozzo was sinking to his knees, ready to dig. It took them an agonizingly long time but finally they were able to gently touch Tim. He moaned and Tony called to him, "Timmy it's ok, you're alive, we're both alive." He watched anxiously as his lover was carefully freed from the snow. Finally starting to believe this was real Tim pried his eyelids open and found he was looking into the warm hazel eyes of the man he loved so much. "Tony…ma' it."

"We both did, Timmy."

"Touch…" Tim struggled to raise his arm to reach Tony and Tony reached out to meet him.

"Real."

By now the EMT had moved in and Tony had to move aside. He stayed in Tim's line of sight as much as he could and was relieved when a smile finally appeared.

"Tony, Boss here?"

"I'm here Tim, right here." The young man was sitting on a blanket on a rescue sled and Gibbs crouched close to him. He smiled at his boss and reached out to him, "Knew you' fin' us." As he had with DiNozzo, Gibbs reached up and tenderly ran his fingers through his hair.

"That's my boy! So proud of you two!"

Vance moved into his line of sight and Tim looked up, surprised, "Dire'tor?"

"Happy New Year, Agent McGee."

Everyone chuckled. The EMT stood, "We need to get them to the hospital." He turned to DiNozzo, "Sir, you'll need to let us put you on a rescue sled like your partner here. Need to start getting you warmed up, get some fluids into you and we can't do that up here."

Tony nodded and brushing Tim's fingers as he reached out, let himself be led to the other sled. As he sat, he asked the EMT assisting him, "Do you know how long we were buried?"

The EMT stopped to look at his watch, "Yeah, it was two hours and 36 minutes."

Tony closed his eyes in exhaustion. Both men were covered and well secured before they began the trek down the mountain.

Later as they sat in the boys' hospital room, watching them sleep peacefully, Jethro and Leon quietly talked about the personal tragedy that had been avoided today. Both agents had mild hypothermia and multiple contusions but overall had escaped serious injury.

Leon leaned closer to his lover, "We got lucky today, all of us, it's about damned time things went our way."

Jethro huffed, "Someone was lookin' out for us today."

Vance smiled, "You realize if we hadn't lost those someones, we wouldn't have found each other. And maybe a near tragedy will reinforce McGee and DiNozzo's relationship."

Jethro thought about that for a minute, thankful that for their friends, it had only been a close call.

He looked at Leon, "You ok with their relationship?"

Leon snorted, "Why not, I'm ok with ours, aren't I?"

Gibbs smiled at his lover, "Happy New Year, Leon, it's gonna be a good one!"

A/N Thanks for reading! Although this isn't our favorite pairing to write we're glad that you took the ride with us! See you in the next story.