Semper Fi

A House/NCIS fan fiction by phoenixgirl23

Disclaimer: House belongs to FOX, not me. Not in this life anyway.

AN. I know it's probably not possible for someone to be able to pull a wooden beam they're tied to out of the ground, but I needed an excuse for the tunnel to cave. Sorry!

Chapter Ten

Allison guessed a day, two at most had passed since Joe had left her in the mine. She was trying to free her wrists from their bonds around the support beam, but her efforts were in vain.

"Stupid marine knots," she muttered crossly. She bit back tears of frustration as she gave up and sank back against the beam.

"Is this a punishment?" She demanded of the tunnel ceiling. "For what I thought I felt for Joe? For what I feel for Tony? God, Alex!"

She began to sob quietly. "It wasn't just you that died!" she announced.

"When you died, the life we wanted died too. I couldn't imagine having that life with anyone but you, until now. Until I met Tony. And now I'm stuck in a mine, tied to a beam!"

Suddenly, an idea struck. She carefully looked up and inspected the beam she was tied to. Maybe, she thought. Maybe, I could just pull the beam out. She looked at it again. It was made of pretty soft wood, and she could see other beams within meters that she prayed would hold the tunnel's weight. Tentatively, she began to pull the beam forward an inch. She was pleased when the wood moved easily, and the tunnel didn't stir. Eagerly, she began to move it inch by inch. All was fine, until suddenly without warning, the entire tunnel where she was collapsed. Allison didn't have time to even scream before a rock hit her head and she lost consciousness.

*

It had in fact been two days since Joe had been in custody and he still refused to give up Allison's whereabouts. He spent his days held in the interview room being interrogated by Gibbs and Tony, and his nights in a cell. This day, House entered the room, sat down and switched on the TV that was in the corner of the room.

"Who are you?" Joe asked.

House raised an eyebrow. "I'm hurt. You take all those pictures of Cameron and don't even bother to look at her boss? I thought you were supposed to be jealous of all these men in your girls' life?"

"You're her boss?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not threatened by you. I know Allison. She'd never be interested in someone like you!"

House scoffed. "Shows what you know. We had a thing..."

Joe's eyes narrowed darkly. "You and-"

"Ssh!" House interrupted. "It's four. My soaps on. Don't interrupt."

"Why are you watching it here?"

"Because," House rolled his eyes as though it were obvious. "The only other TV's are either at my house or the hospital, both of which involve leaving the party. So, shhh!"

Glowering, Joe sat in silence as House watched his soap. Just as a scene was building to a climax, the screen flashed to a sudden news break.

House groaned. "Come on! Isn't the paternity of Jax's son more important that any local news update? They can't wait another twenty minutes to tell us there's gonna be traffic on the highway?"

The newsreader appeared and began to read. "In this sudden news broadcast, a series of old abandoned zinc mines in New Jersey have collapsed-"

Joe gasped, his face turning white and House looked at him sharply. "It's ok. I'm pretty sure abandoned means 'empty'," he rolled his eyes.

"No!" Joe shook his head wildly. "Allie!"

This caught House's attention. "Cameron? What about her? What? Is she in the mines?"

Joe nodded weakly, his eyes fixated on the screen, and House stood up and limped out of the room as quickly as possible.

He barged into the room where everyone was gathered, causing all heads to turn in his direction.

"A whole bunch of old zinc mines have collapsed!" he announced dramatically.

"So?" Wilson asked his friend in confusion.

House thought about what he'd just said. "It probably would have been more dramatic if I said Curtis is keeping Cameron in said old zinc mines, huh?"

This got Tony's attention quickly. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Curtis said your girlfriend is in a caved in mine," House said slowly as though talking to a child.

Tony turned gray and turned to Gibbs. "Oh God."

Gibbs gripped his shoulder and turned to the officer. "Where the hell are these mines and how many are there?"

The officer quickly turned and pointed to an area on the map of New Jersey. "Over here, sir. There's about six, I think."

"Could-could someone survive a cave-in?" Abby asked hesitantly, not really wanting the answer.

"People survive cave-ins all the time," Foreman reassured her. "Even if there's a tiny bit of oxygen, they have a chance."

"She's claustrophobic too," Tony said softly.

"She is?" McGee asked.

Tony nodded. "She was playing hide and seek with her siblings when she was about eight, and her brother thought it would be hilarious to lock the closet she was hiding in. The thing is, then he forgot about her. She was in the closet for about four hours."

"That can't be helping," Chase said worriedly. "If she's there, then she could be hyperventilating which affects her breathing."

"Then let's get the hell out there!" Ziva demanded.

As everyone made to move, the officer stopped House and the PPTH team. "Maybe it would be best if you remained behind."

House rolled his eyes. "We're doctors, you moron! Maybe we'll hang back in the rescue part, but we might be able to help somehow... medically or something. If that fails, we'll stay in the background and juggle."

Chase interjected. "Look, Cameron's our friend and colleague. We're not going to sit around and do nothing!"

The officer nodded reluctantly. "Fine. Let's go."

They hastily made for the door, when House suddenly turned to the desk sergeant. "Would you mind taping the rest of my soap for me? I can't miss anything, otherwise I'll never catch up."

"House!" Wilson exclaimed.

"Ok, I'm coming!" he grumbled.

They all drove as fast as they could to the mines, where they met the local fire department who were preparing to go into the rubble.

"Ok, maybe one or two of us with each crew," Gibbs instructed them. "Be careful, and yell if you find anything. Ziva, and Foreman mine one; Chase and McGee mine two; Abby and Wilson mine three; the police have four and five; and that leaves House and DiNozzo with me in mine six. Let's get going!"

House sighed, and limped after Gibbs and Tony. Everyone split up accordingly, both wanting to find one thing.

*

Allison was groggy, but awake. The first thing she noticed was the blinding pain she felt all over, and the soggy mess she knew was blood on her abdomen, and head. The second thing she noticed was how thin the air felt. Automatically, she tried to limit her already shallow breaths, mostly because the pain to even breathe was unbearable.

As she lay there in the total darkness, whimpering in pain, she suddenly became aware that she was going to die.

"Oh god," she whispered as it hit her. She thought of her parents, of Nate and Jess, of Bec and Luke and her nieces and nephews; of her co-workers and friends... and Tony.

"Don't cry, Allie."

This new voice startled her, and she opened her eyes, and saw a figure standing there in shadow. The voice was familiar and comforting... but it couldn't be.

"Alex?" she whispered hoarsely.

"Allie, help is coming, ok? You just have to hold on a little bit longer," he begged, and it was Alex, loving, comforting, her Alex.

"Alex..." she murmured.

"Yeah, Allie. I love you, so much. I'm so sorry this happened... Allie, Tony's coming for you, okay? He's nearby and he's going to find you, you're going to be fine. Just hold on, don't give up."

"Alex... I love you, Alex," she mumbled as she closed her heavy eyelids, giving into the darkness.

"Over here!" The yell from one of the rescuers in mine six made Gibbs, Tony and House rush over.

"What? Is it Allison?" Tony demanded.

"I think so..." The man moved rocks and rubble aside at a furious pace, as he unearthed more of what he had found.

"It's Allie!" Tony yelled, as he recognised the item to be one of Allison's shoes.

"That means her head's up here," House said reasonably pointing his cane in the direction.

Tony leapt over and tossed rocks aside, House and Gibbs helping, and they found the rest of Allison under the rocks, uncovering her head.

"Allie! God, Allie, wake up!" Tony choked, dropping to his knees.

House shoved him aside, not gently, as he got down to check her pulse.

"Is she alive?" Tony asked fearfully.

House's face was grim. "Barely. We've got to get her an oxygen mask and get her out stat."

One of the rescuers ran out to get the oxygen mask as the others moved more rubble away to unearth Allison.

"Damn!" House swore, and Gibbs and Tony looked at him in alarm.

"What?" Tony demanded.

House sighed, looking up. "Part of one of the support beam's has impaled her stomach. She's losing blood fast. We have to get her out now, or we'll lose her."

It took half an hour to get Allison out of the mine, by which time Chase, Foreman and Wilson had joined them and were assisting with the recovery. When they got her into the waiting ambulance, House and Chase followed her in while Tony sat next to her still form, clutching her icy hand.

"Her pulse has dropped," Chase read off the screen, as the paramedics gave Allison a blood transfusion, and House held a pressure bandage to her abdomen.

"Crap. She needs surgery. Is the OR prepped?"

"Waiting for us," Chase confirmed, as he inspected the cut on Allison's head.

The ambulance ride were the longest minutes of Tony's life. He didn't speak or move, just stared at Allison, silently willing her to live. He only let go of her hand once they arrived at PPTH and Chase wheeled her up to the OR. Then he numbly walked to the waiting room, where Gibbs, Ziva, McGee and Abby were waiting for him.

"Oh, Tony!" Abby flung her arms around him which he accepted but only half-heartedly returned.

"How are you doing?" McGee asked him as he sat down. "Sorry, stupid question," he murmured without waiting for an answer.

Tony shook his head. "Thanks, McGee."

Ziva sat next to him and took his hand. "You have to believe she's going to be okay," she told him gently.

Tony looked at her in a daze. "I'm trying, Ziva. God, you have no idea how hard I'm trying..."

"But?" she pressed knowingly.

"But all I can think about, is what the hell am I supposed to do if I lose her?" Tony's shoulders began to shake as the reality set in, and Ziva and Abby exchanged looks of grief with McGee.

"DiNozzo."

Tony looked up in tears to see Gibbs kneeling in front of him, his voice only a murmur.

"You do not think like that! Do you understand me? If I see you even think about giving up on that girl, you'll be out on your ass so fast your head will spin. Got it?"

Tony met his eyes and nodded. "Yes, boss."

Gibbs nodded once, and gripped his shoulder comfortingly. "Good."

It seemed an age before Chase entered the room, his face weary.

"What is it?" Tony asked him, his throat dry. Chase took a deep breath, and sighed...