Chapter 22

"Hey, what's that?" Tony asked, pointing at a sign pointing to the left.

"Royal Palm. Anhinga Trail..."

"Gumbo Limbo Trail. Want to check it out?" Tony asked.

"Sure, why not," Tim said.

He shifted over to turn left as the road came up. They started down the road as Tony began looking at the map.

"I don't think we'll want to do the Anhinga Trail," he said.

"Why not?"

"We might get eaten by alligators."

"What?" Tim asked, laughing a little.

Tony grinned. "It says that you can see gators on the trail. We might get eaten...and you know that we're not supposed to feed the wildlife."

Tim laughed again. "If we got eaten, I think they'd have a hard time fining us for it. What's Royal Palm?"

"Another visitor center."

"Another one? We just left one. Weird that they're so close together."

"Maybe too many people got eaten and so they moved it and only stupid people follow the signs," Tony said.

Tim smacked him on the shoulder. "Oh, knock it off. We have to see alligators once on this trip...but preferably from a safe distance."

Tony was relieved that Tim didn't press him on the distance of the hike. It was only about a mile, but if Tim wanted to do the other two hikes, Tony just wasn't sure about how many hikes in one day Tim could handle at this point. He knew that Tim wanted to prove he was okay, but pushing himself too far wasn't the right way to do that. This was going to be the first day that they'd actually be doing things all day long, and he wasn't sure Tim would really be up for that.

Still, for now, he'd try to keep that to himself.

This is not very relaxing. I really thought it was going to be. So much for that.

He suppressed a sigh. The selfish part of him really regretted Gibbs showing up because it meant that Tim's problems had come to the fore again, and Tony had been harboring some hope that Tim could figure this out for him...but he was sure it had been forgotten. It wasn't even that he blamed Tim for it. Tim hadn't wanted this to happen, but the plain fact of the matter was that, when Tim's problems came up, they tended to take over everything. It was one of the difficulties in being his friend...which Tim was far too conscious of so Tony tried not to bring it up.

"You know... this isn't really what I expected," Tim said.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, covering his distraction quickly.

"Well, I just don't think I had the right image of the Everglades in my head. I really just thought it would all be marshy and I definitely didn't think about being able to drive through it. This just looks like a forest. A tropical forest, but a forest."

"I'll bet we'll find some marshland," Tony said.

"I'm sure we will, but this is just not what I was thinking of."

Tim didn't sound disappointed. He was just making an observation and so Tony tried not to prod at it.

"I mean, look at this," he said, pointing out as the trees thinned and then almost disappeared. "It looks like a prairie."

"Except for the palm trees," Tony said.

"Yeah, except for the palm trees. It's so... flat."

"Disappointed?" Tony asked.

Tim looked at him and smiled.

"Nope."

Then, they were back into the trees and, almost before they knew it, they were at the Royal Palm Visitor Center. There weren't as many people here as at the other visitor center, but they were far from the only ones present. However, Tim parked the car and they got out.

...and then, promptly reached for the bug spray and doused each other in it. Tim actually fished out his old-man hat from the Grand Canyon.

"I didn't realize that you brought that with you," Tony said.

Tim grinned. "Got to play my role as the old fuddy duddy, and it does a good job of protecting my ears. I never get sunburned now."

Tony laughed.

They walked over to the visitor center, but it was a lot smaller than the Ernest F. Coe center. People were walking around, looking at signs and displays. Tim and Tony took a meandering route to a small pond right beside the building.

They leaned over and looked at the pond.

Then, Tim grabbed Tony's arm and pointed out.

"Look!" he said, his voice soft.

"What?"

"Look! ...before anyone else notices and comes over here to take pictures," Tim said, almost in a whisper.

Tony followed Tim's pointing finger and then his eyes widened.

There, in the pond was an alligator. Just one and it wasn't huge, but it was still an alligator. Only its head was above the water, but the shape was unmistakable.

It was a gator.

They both started taking pictures. They managed to get a picture of the alligator and each of them with the alligator in the background. That attracted the attention of other tourists and they started to come over. Since they'd got their own pictures already, Tim was willing enough to point it out. The cameras and phones came out as the other tourists started taking pictures as well. Tim and Tony eased out of the crowd and then headed toward the gift shop.

It wasn't really a conscious decision, but every time he saw one, Tony wanted to go inside and see what was there, even if he didn't end up buying anything. As they walked in, Tim didn't say anything, but Tony saw him smile and then quickly cover it up when he realized Tony was looking at him.

As they looked around, Tony decided to get his team some t-shirts here. After all, maybe they'd find other cool things to buy elsewhere, but these were still good. So why wait?

"I'm going to get something here," he said.

"Okay. I'll look for Weston, too."

"Oh, let's get shirts for Daniel and Tommy," Tony suggested.

"Yeah, we should get the same shirt and see if we can make them wear them at the same time," Tim said.

He instantly turned to the racks of t-shirts and starting searching. Tony grinned and then felt a little pang as it appeared that Tim was ready to set things aside and have fun while he was still worrying.

When had that become the norm?

And why is it that I want to complain that Tim isn't bringing it up again?

Tony stifled a sigh and looked at the shirts himself, trying to let himself just enjoy something he always liked: looking at souvenirs.

He found a couple that he decided to buy for his team. Then, he started looking for something to get for Daniel and Tommy. It had to be silly. He found a couple of options but they weren't quite right.

"Tony, how about this?" Tim said.

Tony looked up and, in spite of his mental chaos, he grinned. Tim was holding up a t-shirt that was black with a few small bright stripes and then the words Skunk Ape written above a silhouette of a Bigfoot-like character.

"Does it come in their sizes?" Tony asked.

"I think so. I know it comes in Tommy's size, but I don't know what Daniel wears. He's tall, but he's skinny."

"Yeah, I know," Tony said. He walked over to the rack and searched through it and then smiled when he found one that would fit Daniel, too.

"Excellent," Tim said. "Hey, let's buy one for us, too. We can get a picture of all of us wearing it." He turned back to the rack and almost instantly seemed to find two more of the t-shirt.

"You'll wear something labeling you as a skunk ape, but you won't wear that lovely outfit your daughters got you?" Tony asked, trying to be light-hearted.

"Colors are darker on this one," Tim said without missing a beat.

"Uh-huh. Well, let's get these and we'll all be skunk apes together."

They made their purchases and then it was back to the car to head for the Mahogany Hammock.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

It was so painfully awkward and Tim felt like an idiot for not knowing how to make things better. He was trying, but he was sure that Tony could tell he was just pretending to have set everything aside.

Maybe it wasn't the best way for this to go. Tony seemed determined to leave it all behind, and if Tim could really relax, maybe it would work, but he felt stupid and unaware of what he could do to fix things.

Maybe, he should just try to get Tony to talk about what was bothering him... but then, Ducky had suggested that Tony needed a break from all that.

What to do.

If anything.

"Is it any better now?" Tony asked, interrupting Tim's thoughts.

"Huh? Is what any better?"

"The Everglades."

Tim looked out the windshield.

"It looks like a tropical forest to me," Tim said. "How far to the mahogany thing?"

"Just a few more miles," Tony said. "Now, I know you'll be irritated and I know it's not a long hike, but..."

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Tony," Tim said. "It's a half mile, not a jungle safari across Panama."

"Panama?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"It doesn't have to be a safari to wear you out," Tony said.

"I'll be fine," Tim said. "I want to see the mahogany thing."

"Yeah, right. You want to see it so much that you don't even know the name of the trail," Tony said.

Tim laughed. "I know mahogany is part of it."

"Hammock."

"Oh, right. And it doesn't actually mean a hammock. ...but I've never seen a mahogany tree. So this will be cool."

"Or hot as the case may be," Tony said.

"Huh?"

"It's the middle of summer, the middle of the day and we're in Florida. It won't be cool. It'll be hot."

Tim grinned. "Of course."

"Okay, I'll stop bugging you about it, but if you're worn out tonight, it's not my fault."

"I'd never blame you for that," Tim said, feeling unaccountably serious about that.

"I know."

The silence fell again and continued until they turned off toward the Mahogany Hammock hike.

"We're in a prairie again," Tim said, trying to break the silence. "I'm not seeing forest."

"You're just impatient," Tony said.

"Sure, but I'm also still wondering about the ecology of this place. It's so different."

"Just enjoy it. Stop wondering."

"Tony, that is how I enjoy things," Tim said. "Wondering."

"Yeah, I know," Tony said.

But he still seemed strangely resentful. Tim wasn't sure how to take that. Things seemed to be going on a weird rollercoaster of being normal and then really not and then back to normal again. In fact, Tim felt that this was turning into a worse part of the trip than Key West. He just wished he understood why.

He tried to focus on the trail they were going to. It could be fun. It should be interesting. He didn't know what was going on and why things were feeling so much worse than they before. He wanted to talk about it, but he didn't know if Tony didn't want to talk about it. So he was just mentally fidgeting and wondering what to do.

When they arrived, a few cars were leaving and they were somehow the only people there. Tim couldn't believe it. He was sure it wouldn't last very long.

Maybe long enough.

He parked and they both got out.

"Are you ready?" Tim asked. "There's the forest...surrounded by prairie."

"And your swamp," Tony pointed out.

There was indeed some very swampy ground, which explained the boardwalk that marked the trail.

"So swamps instead of prairies. Still seems weird," Tim said. "I wonder if all that stuff I thought was prairie is swamp. But it's still strange to me."

"You can have forests and prairies near each other, Tim. It doesn't have to be anything weird."

"It is to me! That's all that matters," Tim said.

He strode on ahead to the trailhead, but he thought he heard some muttering behind him.

They started to follow the trail, and for a few minutes, at least, they were both seemingly able to relax. As they focused their attention on the trees and birds and lizards. Tim was really impressed by the mahogany trees. They were genuinely spectacular. One large tree actually leaned over the boardwalk. There were so many trees that they were constantly in shade which was nice in the heat of the day. It wasn't cool, really, but it wasn't so oppressively hot.

"Look at this one. It's the oldest living mahogany tree in the country," Tim said, reading the plaque.

"Well, pose by it," Tony said. "We have to document for posterity."

Tim did and then they switched so that they could both be in the picture. They continued the loop. It really was as if they'd suddenly stepped into a thick jungle. Trees, vines, other plants, and wildlife appeared occasionally, mostly birds, but they saw some lizards, too. No alligators, but the birds were chirping even when they couldn't see them.

Tim stopped to look more closely at one of the mahogany trees. He really wanted to know how it was that this large stand of trees could have such a definite border, surrounded by prairie or swamp. These weren't little scrubby bushes. They were hardwoods. They were really big, but the trees themselves were more fascinating than he had really thought they would be.

"Tim, come on," Tony said. "That's the fifth tree you've stared at. How different can it be from the last four?"

"Just a minute, Tony," Tim said. "It's interesting."

There was a moment of silence and then it was broken.

By Tony.

"You know what, Tim? I am sick and tired of everything being about you! Maybe you could take a minute and think about someone else for once!"

Tim straightened quickly and turned to Tony, surprised and hurt. Of all the things Tony could have said at that moment, this wasn't even on the list in Tim's mind. It had come out of nowhere. It was like Tony had been having a completely separate conversation in his head and he just said the last bit out loud. When Tim had been stewing about whether or not to say something about Tony's problems, he felt that this was entirely uncalled for...but he didn't know what to say. They stood there, staring at each other. Tony even seemed a little surprised himself at what he'd said.

But he didn't take it back.

Neither of them spoke to each other. They just stood there. Tim was trying to think of what he should say, if there was anything he could say to...fix whatever had suddenly gone so horribly wrong. He was wondering if he should be upset, hurt, angry, all of the above or none of the above.

Tony looked like he was ready to say something.

And then, they heard a large group of people talking.

Tim took a quick breath and started walking toward Tony. He walked past him and headed back toward the parking lot. No matter what else was said, he knew he didn't want an audience for it. He looked back once and Tony wasn't following.

Well, he'd have to eventually. Tim decided to keep walking. Maybe by the time Tony caught up, he'd know what to say... because he had no clue right now.

He smiled as he passed a group of people apparently on a ranger-guided tour. He waved and continued across the boardwalk, away from the hammock as he did, he heard the ranger talking.

"Now, these hammocks are special places. You'll notice how it looks like there's just a random group of trees plunked down in the middle of a swamp and you might be wondering why there's this thick growth of hardwood trees like this. Well, this hammock and others are places where the ground level is just a few inches higher than the land around it. The Everglades are mostly flat and a few inches can mean the difference between being constantly underwater and being mostly dry. All around the hammock is the sawgrass prairie that is frequently wet as you can see and it makes a kind of moat which protects the hammock and allows for a lot of wildlife to find resources as well. Now, as we walk further into the hammock, you'll see..."

The voice faded as the group continued and Tim was even able to smile to himself. He had got his answer and he was gratified to know he was right. This was different. It was significant.

Then, he kept walking until he got back to the parking lot. He walked over to a bench and sat down to wait.

After a few minutes, Tony came into view. He looked at Tim and walked over to him to sit beside him on the bench.

Neither of them spoke. Neither of them looked at each other.

Finally, Tim took a deep breath and let it out.

"I'm sorry, Tony," he said.

Silence again.