-1Okay, here's the next chapter! Heh, wonder how long it'll be until writer's block kicks in for this one, 'cause so far I've been getting these out pretty dang quick (for me, at least!). Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts, right? Thanks to all my reviewers! Oh, and a couple specific responses: shirik, the rest of the team will come in; it's just, it's only been a few hours, and it's still the middle of the night. They don't know anything's wrong yet. And louise (personal thanks; you were my first reviewer!!), I actually haven't read the book or seen the movie! Though I have heard of them. So that makes it even more ironic that I dreamed this idea; hope I can make this plot work as well as those did! Anyways, on to the story!

Chapter Three

"Okay," Gibbs announced after they'd been walking for a while. "I don't think we're being followed yet, and we're far enough away that he won't hear us."

Abby was silent for a long moment, trying to decide exactly what to say. She finally settled for a quiet, "So what do we do?"

"Well, we should change directions, so that we'll be harder to track. Probably try to circle around or something."

Abby hadn't wanted a 'where do we go' plan, she'd been more looking for a 'how do we get out of this' plan, but she figured she'd take what she could get. "Who is he, Gibbs?"

Gibbs shook his head. "I'm not sure. He seems familiar to me - honestly, probably someone I put in jail. Or he's related to someone I put in jail."

"He seemed kinda familiar to me, too," Abby admitted, "but not enough for me to be able to say who he is."

"Hm. Well, if we both know him, that narrows the field a bit." Gibbs sighed. "We'll figure it out."

Abby glanced over at him, but didn't say anything. Shivering in the chilly breeze, she moved to wrap her arms around herself, remembered the restraint on her left, and settled for the use of one arm only, though that alternative provided little warmth. It was mid-December, definitely winter, and she found herself wishing she didn't have that nice heavy comforter so she might have been more inclined to sleep in a warmer outfit. And shoes - shoes would be good. Actually, what would be good would be to be curled up on her couch in front of the fireplace, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

As if he was reading her mind, Gibbs pointed out, "It'll get warmer when the sun comes up." At her silence, he added, "And the team will know something's up when neither of us show up for work. They'll be looking for us."

"So will he," Abby pointed out quietly.

Gibbs stopped walking, making her stop as well, and looked her in the eyes. "We're going to get out of this, Abbs. I promise."

"You can't promise that, Gibbs. It's not like you control the future or anything." She softened the potentially biting words with a small smile, which he returned.

"Okay. How about this. I promise that I won't let anything happen to you and that I will do my best to get us safely out of this. That work better?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I can go with that."

Gibbs smiled and started walking again. Abby did a double-step to catch up.

"So," she said after a moment. "Any idea where we're going?"

"Right now? Just getting as far away from our starting point as possible. Once it gets closer to sunrise… we should probably look for terrain that would be difficult for him to cross or track us over. If we can distance ourselves far enough from him, we can look for the boundary without worrying too much about hiding."

Abby couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Military survival training proves its usefulness. But how do we know where the boundaries are? I mean, how can we know if we're out of the 'hunting grounds' or not, if he didn't even tell us how big the area is?"

"I'd assume there's some sort of actual boundary to it, like a fence, maybe. Or a natural border - a cliff or a river." He shrugged. "If nothing else, we keep going until we reach a town; I'm sure we'd be out of it by then." As a slight afterthought, he added, "If the team hasn't found us by then."

Abby resisted the urge to add 'Or he hasn't.' It didn't do any good to be a pessimist. She decided she'd try to think positively. But she did have the slight excuses of being in a really weird - and rather scary - situation, being way too cold for comfort, and having had no caffeine that morning. Oh, and being handcuffed to her boss. That was not normal. Well, there was that one time where she'd handcuffed herself to him, but that had been for a completely different situation, and anyways…

"Abby?" Gibbs' voice snapped her out of her mental babbling. "You're zoning on me."

"Hm? Oh. Yeah. Sorry." She did a slight double-take. "Whoa. Did you just say 'zoning'?"

"Yeah… so?"

"You used slang correctly in a sentence," she said, giving him a surprised glance. "Now I'm just wondering if this is a weird dream."

"Haha, Abby." Gibbs shook his head, grinning. "I actually do know some slang terms. I've spent enough time with you and DiNozzo."

Abby returned the grin. "I'm impressed. Though, it would have been nice to find out this was a weird dream." Though, her dreams about Gibbs never included being kidnapped and made to run around in the woods… the handcuff thing, now… okay, don't go there, Abby. This was not the time to let her mind wander wildly.

Gibbs sighed slightly, glancing up through the tree branches. "Wish I had a watch."

"Wonder if he got us at night so we'd be least likely to have our cells and watches and stuff?" Abby pondered.

"That might have been part of it. And it's difficult to abduct two working adults during the day."

"Especially when one of them always carries a gun," Abby observed, and Gibbs chuckled a bit ruefully. The gun hadn't done him much good that night.

"I think it's getting lighter out," Abby said after a moment. "Though, warmer, not so much." She gazed up through the tree branches, barely able to make out a few sections of sky through the thick foliage. "Sun'll be up in a hour, at most, I'd guess."

"It'll be easier to see when the sun rises." Focus on the positives.

"Yeah. And warmer." Abby knew she was hyping this temperature thing, but she was really cold.

Gibbs chuckled. "Yeah, that too." He glanced over at her and slowed to a stop. "Hey. Come here."

"I am here."

He rolled his eyes. "I mean closer, Abby." She raised an eyebrow but stepped closer to him. With a little adjusting around the handcuffs, he wrapped his arm around her. "Better?"

She nodded. "Yeah." Better than she could verbalize. She reached to take his hand in hers - just so her arm wasn't just hanging there, of course - and settled for a simple, "Much."

Gibbs smiled at her and she smiled back, and they started walking once more.