Chapter Twenty Six

Landslide!

By the end of the following week, the sail was complete. It was tightly rolled and stored aboard the Big Fish.

Although the hurricane winds had been fierce, the storm damage to the island was not as bad as they had feared. Both the ATV and the cart had survived, although the cart was found hanging off a rock on the other side of the island and was battered but still usable. The garden fence was missing pieces but most of them were found near or in the north cove and Gibbs set about repairing it. The garden itself was pretty torn up, but Tim and the others were able to salvage most of the plants. The zucchini didn't make it nor did the heirloom tomatoes. However, the other tomato plants survived; the ones that Tim had cultivated from the seeds of the one tomato Mitas had given him. The potatoes, carrots, squash, soy and bush beans had somehow avoided any damage. The corn was pretty well mowed down, but they salvaged more than half the plants, planning on feeding the goats and chickens with that on their voyage. The spinach, chili peppers, cantaloupe and pinto beans survived, however the cilantro and pumpkin were beyond saving and the plants were removed to feed the animals. They had been released after the storm, the goats herded up the staircase, the chickens leading the way and both species headed straight for their usual habitats.

Remembering the dead chicken found after the last storm Tony, Mitas, Ducky and Ziva decided to walk the length of the island to survey the damage. Tim was still working on the garden and Gibbs the fence, so the others left them to their work.

Tim had actually done everything he intended to do in the garden and Gibbs had finished the repairs on the fence several minutes ago. As the others disappeared from sight, Tim grabbed Gibbs and pulled him in for a soul-searing kiss. They stood there wrapped together, each enjoying the touch and feel of the other. They knew they wouldn't have much time, so kept their touches light and their clothes on. Sure enough, within a few minutes Mitas and Ducky returned, carrying something wrapped in a palm frond.

"What ya got there, Mitas?"

"Hey Tim, geez the garden looks much better."

"Thanks, so what is it?"

"It's another dead chicken, Timothy, we didn't think to bring any bags with us and so we wrapped it up in the palm fronds. Cory and I will pluck and clean it and we shall feast this evening!"

Mitas smiled, "I'm thinking about barbecuing, does that sound good?"

Gibbs' grin nearly split his face, "Sounds great, Mitas, can't wait! Where are the others?"

"I asked them to check the bay to see if our skeletal friend was still trapped in the debris or perhaps had found a home in the deep." Gibbs nodded; he hoped the skeleton had been swept to some other island or resting place during the storm. Tim recited the periodic table in his head to avoid thinking about the skeleton and was still doing that when his favorite pair of lips descended upon him. "Come back to me, Timmy, I'm happy to distract you…as much as you want."

Startled, Tim looked around but the cook and the doctor had disappeared, downstairs he supposed.

He scrunched his face, "Want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah, sounds good to me."

The two headed north and sat on the highlands above the cove watching the waves roll in, talking lazily, drinking in the sunshine after three days of darkness but mostly just reveling in each other's company.

XXX

Ziva and Tony helped Mitas and Ducky roll the dead rooster up in the palm fronds and then watched them walk away. Ducky had asked them to check the bay, so that was next for them. They both paused at the trailhead to check their weapons, laughing at each other for having the same thought. As they hiked down, they saw a lot of tree debris but nothing more than that. As they came to the bend in the trail, both peered toward the part of the beach where Rogers had been found. The propane canister had finally landed on terra firma, even to the point of standing straight up. There was nothing else there, the north side of the bay. The box of camp stove fuel was long gone, had been moved closer to the cavern shortly after the other lanterns were found.

Now they turned to the south side and hoping they would find nothing, walked to the edge of the bay and the ocean. They had the camera with them and Ziva used it to look further south on the edge of the bay. She saw nothing, no debris, no skeleton. She turned to Tony, "Please confirm what I am seeing and no, I will not tell you what I think it is. I do not want to set your expectations." Tony had his fingers and toes crossed that there would be nothing; he sure couldn't see anything with his eyes.

"McGeologist was right; there is a drop-off there, if we'd tried from the woods that day, we would have been in real trouble."

Ziva smiled, "I believe a more accurate name would be McTopographer."

Tony gave a low whistle, "That's a tongue twister, Ziva, but a good one."

"You may use it, he accepts it from you. I am not sure it would be seen in the same way coming from anyone else."

"Whatya mean - it's a compliment, he saved us a lot of trouble, maybe even our lives."

"Then just make sure you say that, Tony."

"Huh, ok, no problema." Tony was mystified about the whole conversation, remembering Tim's remark to Mitas about some of the names being funny. Oh, Ziva might not have heard that.

Still using the camera, Tony turned a 180, checking the periphery of the bay and the interior for anything they might have missed. Seeing nothing unusual, he passed the camera to Ziva who did the same thing, also finding nothing. Tony sighed, "We need to go do the other side, don't want to be sloppy and miss something." Ziva smiled at her partner, "Ready to go home and be an investigator again, Tony?"

"Yeah, Ziva, I'm ready. How about you?"

"Yes, as…interesting a challenge as this has been, I am ready to return home."

Tony snickered as they continued their walk to the north side of the bay.

"At least we lucked out landing on the best supplied island in the ocean!"

"And with a carpenter who's also a boat builder, a solar power & electronic wizard, a doctor and a cook!"

"Yep, we've been pretty lucky."

They were visually scanning as they walked and had reached the northern edge of the bay. Tony had the camera so he did the first sweep and saw…probably nothing. He wasn't quite sure if there was something really on the rocky outcropping or if it was a shadow. He looked up at the sun, yeah, it could be a shadow. Still not sure, he handed the camera to Ziva. She looked and spotted the same thing.

She sighed, "I cannot tell either."

"I'll call for the binocs." Tony had their WT out and called Ducky, knowing he and Mitas had planned on going below to clean the chicken.

"Yes, Anthony? You've found something?"

"We're not sure, it's on the northern side of the bay, out on a rock and we can't tell if it's a shadow or a something. Are the binocs down there?"

Mitas nodded, holding them up for Ducky to see.

"Yes, we'll be up with them shortly." Thinking fast, Ducky stepped away and called Gibbs, not waiting for him to acknowledge when he answered.

"Tony and Ziva believe they may have found something new on the northern side of the bay. Mitas and I are just taking them the binoculars."

"Good, Duck, see you there."

Jethro smiled at Tim as they broke their cuddle, "Time to get up, babe, private time is over, work calls."

Tim nodded, "How soon will the ship be ready, Jethro?" The older man laughed, "Not soon enough, Timmy, not soon enough!"

They joined Ducky and Mitas at the top of the trailhead and the four of them hiked down the slope to Ziva and Tony. Mitas silently handed the binocs over to Tony, who took another look. "I still can't tell, huh, now I'm really not sure! I think it moved."

He handed the binocs to Ziva who had a good long look and finally said, "It is not a shadow and it has moved, I can see a bit of…I believe it is a…what do you call it…a water creature, with flappers…no, flippers."

"A dolphin?"

"No, it makes a noise, like Tony does when he coughs."

Gibbs, Tim and Ducky said in unison, "A seal?"

"Hey!"

"It's nothing personal, Anthony, not as if you can help it."

"Thank you Ducky."

Tim thought about it, "I wonder if it was brought here in the storm, or there's always been some and we've never noticed."

"Would we not have heard them, Tim?"

"I suppose so, unless they are down on the south-eastern side, we haven't explored down there at all."

"And we have no need to at this point, Tim. Ok, so nothing we can do for him, he's in his natural habitat."

"Yes, Jethro."

Mitas looked thoughtful, "Too bad we don't have a fish or two to throw to him." The others chuckled and then thinking they might actually be preventing the seal from entering the bay and finding fish, they turned and left.

Mitas had one last thought. "It's good to see something alive down here and I'm glad the skeleton is gone. Kind of makes this bay a little less creepy." The others nodded, agreeing.

When they reached the top of the trailhead, Tim looked across island to the south-eastern portion. Tony and Ziva followed his eyes and all three looked at Gibbs.

Gibbs sighed, "All right, but you report in every 15 minutes and you may not climb down any cliffs. You will stay up top and use your eyes and the binocs. No more than one hour, got that? Here, give me the camera."

Ducky added his own warning, "Stay out of the water, where there are seals there may also be sharks."

The three nodded, Tony fighting back the urge to say yes to 'Dad and Mom'. They walked across the path and stood at the field of rock, wondering where to start. Their three young friends appeared by their sides and when Tim stepped forward, the goats bleated and led them to a small path.

Gibbs shook his head, why should he feel better that the goats were with them? What if one of them needed help, fell off a rock? Ducky patted his arm, "They'll be fine, Jethro, they're all three sure-footed, yes I meant our three, not the goats."

It didn't take long for the trio, following their goaty friends, to reach the edge of the island. When Tony got too close to the edge, the goats bleated and Tim and Ziva grabbed his belt. "What, I can't even look?"

"Gibbs was right, Tony, we do not know how stable this land is after the storm." Tony hadn't thought of that and backed off. The goats led them north a little bit and they came to an area where the rock and land had fallen into the ocean. They went no further than the goats; in fact, they stayed well behind them after Tim reminded them they weighed a lot more than the three young goats. Even from this distance, they could see down into the ocean and saw a large black rock, one they remembered seeing on their first approach to the island. Ziva and Ducky had noted it on their boat tour, Tim and Jethro had anchored near it during their day of testing the assault craft's solar powered battery. The rock itself seemed to be squirming and using the binoculars they found it covered with seals. Looking further out into the water, they also spotted shark fins.

"Hope our bay seal can get back home eventually."

"If he can get into the bay, Tony, there's enough fish, if there's sharks, he can swim onto the sand."

"I hope we will never know."

"Yeah, Ziva, me too. Ok, guys, time for our second check in."

As Gibbs seemed to have descended into a rather foul mood, Tony handed Tim the WT, "Here, maybe he won't bite your head off."

Tim manfully suppressed a risqué reply and called in on the WT, telling Ducky of their find and the discovery of sharks off their island. Mitas heard the report and shivered, he was terrified of sharks. He remembered all the times they'd just jumped in the water here without another thought. Gibbs shook his head, having pretty much the same thoughts. He did think of taking the smaller boats out and fishing for shark, but with the number of fins spotted, he supposed that wasn't the smartest thing to do.

The trio of explorers soon headed back, carefully following their goaty guides once again. Once they got to the center of the island, the goats sprang off toward their lair and the three humans walked on, clearing more debris off the path as they went.

Although they checked the bay for the seal several times after that, they never saw it again. The next time Tim was out walking with Gibbs, Ducky and Mitas, the others wanted to see 'Seal Rock', so whistling for the goats, Tim led the humans. Mitas had the camera this time and grabbed some shots of the two older men petting and talking with the young goats. Tim caught him at it and insisted on taking a shot of him with GG, Phyllis and Duke. They soon reached the area of the slide, Tim stopping them several feet behind the goats. They were entranced watching the seals, now playing in the water as well as on the rock. Even using the camera, they didn't spot any shark fins, and hoped the predators had moved on. When Gibbs heard the sound of rocks falling, big rocks with lots of noise, he moved them all back onto the goat path and sure enough, the goats bleated and ran ahead of them. The four men hurried along the trail and didn't stop until they'd reached the center of the island.

"That area is now off limits. I'm not losing any of you to a damn rockslide while you're looking at seals! In fact, stay off the entire rock field on the eastern side here."

Ducky opened his mouth to say something but seeing the look in Jethro's eyes, shut it again. There was plenty of island for them, no need to take any unnecessary chances.

It was a quiet quartet that returned to the cavern. Tony and Ziva, who were preparing dinner that evening, looked up as the others came into the common area.

"Did you see the seals, guys?"

Ducky answered, "Yes, we saw the seals Anthony; however, that whole area is now off limits as there was another landslide while we were there."

"A landslide, are you guys all right?"

Tim nodded, "Yeah, Boss heard the rocks and moved us back and then the goats took off back onto the path."

Tony and Ziva's eyes went wide at the thought of a fall off that rocky cliff. Gibbs nodded at them, "The entire eastern side is now off limits, DiNozzo, David. It's unstable and I'm not risking any of us."

The two muttered compliance as Mitas brought up the camera, "I got some great shots, want to see?"

The mood lightened as Mitas thumbed through to the newest photos. Tim realized as he was looking at them with the others that he hadn't downloaded any of their island photos onto his laptop.

"Hey cooks, how long until we eat?"

Ziva replied, "About 30 minutes, Maghee."

"Ok, I'm going to set up my laptop and start downloading photos off the memory card onto my laptop."

Gibbs spoke, "You won't erase them from the camera, right?"

"No Boss, just going to put them on the laptop as well. I'll make separate folders for the crime photos and the fun stuff."

Gibbs gave a small smile and patted him on the shoulder. Tim loaded the photo card onto the laptop, stopping to make folders for the Rogers' photos, including a subfolder for Wong, and one titled "Island" and then started sorting the photos. By the time dinner was served he had copies of all the good shots and had cleaned out the not so good ones. After they ate, they had a little slide show, looking at all the island shots on the much larger laptop screen. Ducky was pleased that they ended the afternoon on a high note - looking at their photos - rather than getting bogged down in the four of them having been so close to a landslide.

It was Tony's turn for entertainment that night; this time he'd picked the movie, "Joe Versus the Volcano", starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. As always when it was his turn, by the time he was done they all felt they'd seen the actual movie.

Work continued on the boat, Gibbs estimated another week, ten days at the most until they were ready to move the ship to the bay to install the mast. Once it was raised, both the solar powered engine and the sail would be tested. And once Tim was satisfied with the solar testing and Gibbs with the sail, they would start their journey home. In the meantime, after the mast was attached the ship could be returned to the cavern if necessary, but the mast would have to be unstopped, that is taken apart, to do so. Gibbs sincerely hoped that would not be necessary.

It seemed, however, that Mother Nature had other ideas about their departure date and all thoughts of moving the ship to the bay were put on hold as storm after storm swept across the island. None reached the fury of the hurricane but each was powerful enough to stop them from moving the ship. Now moved from the narrow channel into the main cavern bay, the Big Fish weathered the storms well. Its crew worked hard to stay busy when the weather kept them below the island. The goats and chickens arrived a few times to claim sanctuary. They amused the crew by heading straight to their former pen; luckily there was still a surplus piece of metal handy to act as 'barn door'.

Taking an inventory of their animal friends, they counted 14 goats, 10 hens and 5 roosters. The ship's animal pen/coop was designed for 5 goats, 4 hens and 2 roosters, so that would leave a decent population behind on the island. When they worried about the animals' future once they returned home, Gibbs told them he had a few people he knew who could take them. When he finally disclosed the existence of his father to Tim, he added that he thought the elder Gibbs would take the chickens as he had a chicken coop in his backyard. Two other possibilities were two former Marines and old friends, one with a ranch and one with a large farm.

While they were stuck below during the winter storms, daily fishing became the norm for each of them and Gibbs taught Mitas how to smoke the fish so they would have always have that if their other supplies ran short on their voyage home. For weeks and then months the storms raged over the island and kept crew and ship in the cavern, safe but not on the voyage home they'd planned to start. On days when it wasn't stormy or not as stormy, they bundled up and moved up top for fresh air and fresh food. If there was any hint of sunshine, they would set up the solar chargers so their oven, laptop as well as other items would continue working. Before they'd moved the assault craft into the body of the new ship, Tim and Gibbs had torn out the heater in the bunkroom. Tim rebuilt it so that it ran off solar power and they had used it to great success in the cavern when it was chilly. Not only did it provide a more even heat, it helped save their supply of wood. Eventually it would provide heat for their quarters on the new ship. The Solar Power team had also built the grow lights Mitas had suggested and the plants had been re-potted in the containers they'd live in on the ship and brought down below. The group was currently enjoying the fruits of the gardeners' labors as potatoes, fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic, pinto beans and the rest were used to flavor and supplement their daily fish and eggs. Mitas taught each of them how to make skillet bread and how to bake bread and cakes in the solar oven.

Now that the heavy physical work was done on the ship, they had to plan their daily exercise and activities. On good days between storms, they walked or ran on the island and swam in the cavern bay until Ducky declared it too cold. On bad days, they walked or ran up and down the stairs, practiced the yoga Ziva taught them and danced to the tunes on Tim's IPod. Gibbs taught them some wood working skills. He showed them how to make a plaque, similar to the one he'd crafted for Crewman Wong's grave. Using the skills he taught them, they made a slightly larger one to hang on their favorite coconut palm when they left. Together they made a wooden figure they called Lady Liberty for the prow of the ship. She was unpainted raw wood who only vaguely and then only if you squinted, resembled the Statue of Liberty, but she did have character. They'd used the children's paint they'd found to paint her; taking the inevitable pictures, knowing the paint would likely be gone before their first night at sea. Amazingly, marine paint was one of the few things they'd hoped for but never found in either Flotsam or Jetsam coves.

When Tim got 'stifled' in writing the chronicles of their time on the island, he asked them for help and each of them came up with little bits here and there to include. After that, they started getting into it and whether on their own or working with Tim, each person ended up writing pieces from their own perspective. Together they helped Tim so that the story would reflect all of them.

They'd just been finishing with the ship in mid-January. They had celebrated the last piece of interior framing on January 28th. On the 30th, they'd officially christened the ship "Big Fish" and hung a banner they'd stitched with the name. The mast raising had been planned for January 31st. Since then, they'd watched Groundhog Day, the Chinese New Year, Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day and Washington's birthday come and go. Ash Wednesday brought forth tales of Mardi Gras from Ducky and Mitas, with the doctor's stories including his Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

All of that came and went and still the storms raged with rarely more than two or three days in between. Gibbs decided they needed to learn the motion and routine of the ship, so he had them move their mattresses aboard, as well as anything else that would be difficult to move once the ship left the cavern bay. Ziva's bunkroom was the only one with a decorated metal door, but the others all had doors of one kind or another. Mitas hadn't wanted a whole door, confessing to being a bit claustrophobic, so he had made a curtain door which fastened at each side but stopped a few inches short of the deck, giving him fresh air. Gibbs had made doors for Tony and Tim out of carefully placed scraps of wood, their names painted on the outside. Ducky had found an interior door in Jetsam Cove so he had that and using the kiddie paint, had painted "The Doctor is In" on it. Gibbs' door was a present from the crew, another metal ship's door they'd found. They'd made a wooden plaque that read "Captain" that they attached before presenting the door. He was touched when they showed it to him, he'd known they were up to something but was content to let them surprise him.

It was nearly St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, when the group realized there had been sunshine for three days straight. This had happened before and each time they'd had hope that the good weather would hold, only to have those hopes dashed by an incoming storm. They continued their good weather routines, keeping an eye on the north, the source of most of their weather misery, getting their clothes washed and dried, catching as much sun as they could.

By the fourth day, they started packing, by now having it down to a science. As always Tim reminded them of the time they'd need to raise the mast and test everything. As he was packing while he said this, his words carried little weight. They were already sleeping aboard; their clothes and personal belongings were already stowed away in their bunkrooms. When they'd moved aboard, Tim and Gibbs had installed the solar heater. They'd continued to cook and eat in the cavern and generally used the 'bathrooms' in the cavern during the day. Food, dishes, cooler and various and sundry items would now be packed and brought on board. They had planned to leave the nuclear warhead, the cause of everything that had happened in the last five months, until last, but Tim and Ducky had been discussing it and came to the conclusion that one or two extra days on board were not likely to make a difference in their overall health. So now, before they took the ship out to raise the mast, Ducky approached Gibbs and proposed they move everything heavy that would be difficult to move onto the ship once it was in the bay. Surprisingly, Gibbs agreed, having been thinking about this himself. Ducky and Ziva volunteered to bring the warhead up from its resting place in the back of the cavern bay. Ziva had not yet handled it, and was approved. The other four had quite an argument with Ducky before Gibbs gave in, knowing just how obstinate his old friend could really be. They would suit up and bring the warhead aboard just prior to taking the ship out for the mast raising. In the meantime, the galley cabinets and the two bath tubs were brought on board and secured.

The fifth day found them holding their collective breath as they peeked out the cavern entrance. The sun shone in all its glory and Gibbs looked at them, "This is it. Time to bring the warhead aboard; we leave as soon as that's done. " Ducky and Ziva suited up and headed for the back of the bay to bring their grim prize out from the depths. Although he'd considered leaving it behind, Gibbs knew that would just cause more problems down the road.

Grinning, the rest of them grabbed what they'd need for the mast raising, most of which was already aboard ship, had been for weeks. As they were essentially moving out of the cavern, all their hygiene supplies, buckets, the table, bench and chairs were brought on board and their now former living quarters, bathrooms, pillar room and every other corner of the cavern were checked for any of their belongings.

Tim was the first to spot the air bubbles moving toward the ship and got down on the ladder, ready to help grab the chest that housed the warhead. Ducky passed it up to him while Ziva scooted onto the ladder with her half. Helping hands grabbed the chest and soon had it resettled in the most secure place on the ship, a well that had been built specifically to hold it. In the meantime, Ziva and Ducky changed into dry clothes. Gibbs ran the monitor over the two of them and the rest of them at Ducky's insistence and found no problems, all their numbers were good.

Finally all were aboard, grinning at their Captain. Gibbs smiled back at them, "Remember we're not leaving for home today! Have a lot of work ahead to get the mast, solar panels and sail up." They nodded, they'd verbally drilled each other for months now on the steps they were about to take, they were as ready as they'd ever be.