Nigel regretted every decision he had made in his life that had led him here to this moment.

If he had never wanted to compete with his brother and followed his interest in history, if he had never attended Oxford, had never applied to the museum and been rejected, if he had never dated Amanda, if he had never tried to run away from his failures by applying to be a T.A. at Trinity, if he had never met Sydney, if he had never met Cate, well, then, he wouldn't be here.

At this moment in his relatively short life, he was tied to the post of a dock, waiting for high tide, screaming for someone to come help them as the sun set. A pretty view for last moments on earth.

It hadn't been all bad, Nigel supposed. He had done and seen absolutely fascinating things in the last few years. Had learned so much. He had met Sydney, Claudia, Karen. Cate.

Speaking of.

'I don't think anyone's coming," came a voice from his left. He turned his head the best he could to see Cate looking at him, their fate all over her face. She had been tied to another dock post but slightly higher up – her punishment for getting involved in things she shouldn't have was having to watch him die before she did.

"We're just not yelling loudly enough," Nigel said desperately, trying to convince both of them. "Someone has to hear us."

"I'm so sorry," Cate said. She didn't even bother to acknowledge his platitude. "I knew it would be dangerous, but I didn't mean for it to turn out this way."

Cate had appeared three days ago, while he was at a conference in Boston. An actual conference that had nothing to do with relic hunting and everything to do with presenting his research on Etruscan marital rites in 700 B.C. Cate had been at the conference, looking for a known associate of a prolific thief who was said to be targeting a nearby museum, and they had run into each other. One thing led to another, and he had found himself agreeing to help Cate catch the thief. The plan had been fairly straightforward - he was to appear as a buyer at the arranged spot, plant a tracking device somewhere on the thief and then make his merry way back to his hotel. However, upon reaching the rendezvous point there had been no one around. He had called Cate who had come to pick him up, and everything had gone black as he had reached to open the car door. The next thing he knew he had woken up with a headache and feeling rather wet and embarrassed about being wet when he realized that it was entire bottom half of his body.

"Yes, well." Nigel struggled against the bonds again to no avail, water lapping at his chest. He estimated they had maybe half an hour before the water was up to their noses. "This isn't exactly how I had imagined things would end." His voice rose at the end, betraying the panic he was feeling.

"I know. I should've been there sooner. Or not have asked you to put yourself in harm's way. We could've figured out something else." She sighed in frustration.

Nigel stared out across the water, suddenly too tired to continue yelling for help. This was it. Of all the ways his life could've ended over the last four years, it was here, in freezing cold water, with Cate. Oddly enough he didn't think he had ever felt so resigned to his fate.

He had kind of grown to expect the danger in his life, gotten used to it. This wasn't even the first time he was possibly going to drown – his first relic hunt he had almost been buried alive for God's sake! While he routinely felt lucky to have Sydney around, he felt her absence more than ever. She always seemed to get him out of the situation somehow. He had just grown to trust that she would always be there to save him. Not this time. There was no way she knew where he was or would be able to get there before he was breathing in liquid.

"I'm sorry Nigel," Cate said again.

"I know."

"I don't just mean about this."

"Oh."

"I should've returned your calls," Cate continued after a moment. "I should've tried harder. You're an amazing guy. You're smart, loyal, brave. Cute." Nigel snorted. "Nigel, really, I – I really wish things had been different. That I made different choices."

It was Nigel's turn to sigh, and as he did his breath rippled across the dark water which was close to his chin. "We weren't meant to be, Cate." He didn't really regret meeting her. But every time he saw her, he seemed to end up in some dangerous situation. Those dangerous situations seemed to be the only thing that kept them together as they danced their on-again off-again routine. Once they went back to their normal lives, Nigel's apparently was just too boring for her, too tame. He was too tame. Despite the feeling that he was never really what she was looking for, he couldn't help but be drawn to her, like a moth to the flame. And like a moth to the flame, he just kept getting burnt. She was beautiful, strong, independent, capable. The sex had been good, or at least he thought so, although there always seemed to be something unspoken between them, keeping them apart.

Lost in thought, he startled when he felt water at his lips. He struggled again against the rope that was too tight around his torso, arms, and legs, and then shouted in frustration as there was no give. He opened his mouth to make another bid for help, feeling that he had to do at least something, but ended up choking on water. The feeling of panic had returned after his moment of resignation; his heart was beating faster and his breaths sped up to match his heart. He tried to move his head to get away from the water, very afraid of what was to come.

"Nigel! Nigel! You need to stay calm."

"Calm?!" he said around a mouthful of water. He started coughing. What was the point? They weren't getting out of this.

He could hear Cate suddenly shouting for help again, even as the water started to lap over his nose. He was so cold. He couldn't open his mouth at all now without taking in nothing but water.

Tides moved so fast.

His heart was hammering in his chest, as he tried to bring in as much air as possible. There was a roaring in his ears, and he could hear absolutely nothing. He moved his head in a final failed attempt to get more air, and all he could think of was that he was going to drown. He was going to drown and he was never going to see his brother again, or Karen, or Claudia, or Sydney. And that was the last thought he had before he could no longer breathe in.

Nigel counted the seconds that he was holding his breath, fighting every instinct to breathe in. He had never been good at this, although all the running around he had done over the last few years meant that he was better equipped than he used to be to hold his breath longer. He knew he had only minutes left, but only precious seconds of consciousness to find a way out of this. Absolutely no hope. He was running out of air. And then, nothing.

He woke suddenly to a burning sensation in his throat, an incredibly sore chest, and a desperate need to breathe. He coughed and then started to retch and found himself being rolled onto his side. He coughed up what felt like a litre of water, desperately dragging in air. He was vaguely aware of shouting around him. Once he finally stopped he found himself being rolled onto his back again. Above him was a shadow he couldn't quite make out, surrounded by a bright light that made him wince and close his eyes.

"You're okay Nige, you're okay," a familiar voice said.

"Syd?" he croaked, his throat and chest burning. He opened his eyes again and the shadow shifted, blocking the light so he could make her out better. Her hair was dripping, and her clothes were clinging to her body as she knelt beside him.

"Yeah."

He felt a hand in his hair and immediately turned to nuzzle into it, and reached out a hand towards her, which she took.

"C-" he coughed. "Cate?"

"She's okay," Sydney said and shifted again. Nigel turned his head. Blinded a bit by the light he could make out an upright shadow. "She wasn't under water very long. She's making a couple of calls. Can you get up? We should get you to a hospital."

Nigel tried to move, but the work ended up mostly being done by Sydney. She wrapped an arm around his back, her other on his opposite shoulder and pulled him up towards her. Sitting up had been exhausting, and he sagged against Sydney immediately. To his surprise she didn't immediately move him away, but held him there, one hand rested on his head which had fallen to her shoulder, the other on his far shoulder, keeping him in place.

"I spoke with the operator – it'll be faster if we drive," came Cate's voice from behind Sydney.

Nigel didn't hear Sydney's response; he was focused on trying to stay conscious, even as everything seemed to fade around him. He did register being hoisted to his feet, where he collapsed almost immediately but didn't hit the ground. It took him a moment to realize that he was being held up by Sydney entirely. He was then dimly aware that he was moving, then sitting, and there was the thud of a car door, and the sound of an engine, and he didn't know anything else until he woke in a hospital bed.

Nigel would later find out from Cate who wanted to find out for herself how Sydney had found them. Apparently, Sydney had called in so many favours and threatened so many people that she would be avoiding the Boston area, maybe even the entire state of Massachusetts, for the time being.