Chapter 4 - Lunch Break Discovery

Rochelle brought the sled to a stop and waited for her friend to pull up beside her. "Hey, there's a clearing not too far from here, right? You wanna stop and eat lunch there? I'm starving," Rochelle complained.

Trisha nodded. "Yea, I'm hungry, too. I'll lead the way." With that she took off down the trail with Rochelle following in her tracks. In about 15 minutes they reached their destination: a small clearing that the local Boy Scout troop used during the summer months for camping.

Hopping off the sled, Rochelle took off her helmet and unpacked their lunches from her bag. They sat on their sleds eating and talking about what they wanted to do the rest of the week. Rochelle was halfway through a sentence when Trisha stopped her abruptly.

"Shhhh! Did you just hear that or am I going crazy?" Trisha asked as she looked past Rochelle and down a steep hill.

"Huh?" Rochelle asked. "I didn't hear any-"

Trisha cut her off, "There it was again! Please tell me you heard that!"

Rochelle looked at her friend with big brown eyes, "Oh yeah, I definitely heard that. It sounded like a moan. Shhh, there it was again!"

By this time Trisha was already peering down the sharp trail. She began to descend down the steep embankment when Rochelle freaked out. "Wait, where the Hell do you think you're going? You don't know what's making that noise! What if it's a wild animal!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, what if it's not!" Trisha half asked, half yelled at her friend. "I can't just leave without knowing, and I know you can't either," she said and began to continue down the hill.

Rochelle sighed, "Yea, you're right. Hold on a second, I'll get rope. If we want to get back up that hill we better have something to hold on to." Rochelle grabbed both Trisha's bag and her own. Reaching into her main compartment, she pulled out the line and tied it around a tree, then threw the remaining rope down the hill. "Here's your bag. Now don't fall. I don't think I'd be able to roll your ass back up this mountain."

Trisha made her way slowly down the steep hill, then yelled for her friend to do the same. She waited patiently until Rochelle was beside her.

"Shhh, do you hear anything?" Rochelle asked. She began scanning along the trees.

Trisha shook her head, "Nope, but let's have a look around anyway."

Rochelle was obviously nervous. "I'm sure that it was just the wind playing tricks on us. It could happen you know. I've heard stories about it -" Rochelle stopped talking when she saw what she thought was a form sitting against a tree. "Oh my God… Trisha, turn around! What is that?"

Trisha spun around, "What, where? Show me!"

Rochelle had already taken off. Trisha followed her. About 100 yards away, Rochelle froze, terrified. She turned to her friend, "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is!"

"Yes it is! That's a person!" Both of them ran towards the snow covered figure. It wasn't moving. Getting closer, Trisha could make out the form of an older man. His face was rather pale and his lips were blue. There was dried blood on him.

"Oh God, is he dead?" Rochelle whispered.

"I don't know! Help me get the snow off him!" Trisha commanded.

Rochelle stood in place and watched as Trisha gently brushed the snow from the man's head and shoulders. Kneeling on the other side, Rochelle began to do the same. She stopped when she hit the rope tying him to the tree.

Trisha saw it at the same time. "We gotta get this off of him, Chelle. The rope's frozen; we'll never get it untied… Wait! Go in my bag, there should be a lighter in the front pocket. Go around to the back of the tree and see if you can burn through the rope. I'll keep clearing the snow. Hurry!"

Rochelle took off and fetched both bags from where they had dropped them. Reaching into Trisha's bag, she pulled out a lighter. Running to the back of the tree where the man was tied, Rochelle flicked on the lighter and began to heat the ice encasing the rope.

"Chelle, is it working?" Trisha asked as she continued to dig the man out of the snow.

"Uh, yea, I think so… but it's gonna take a while," Rochelle answered. "Do you have him dug out yet?"

"Hang on!" Trisha breathed as she finished clearing the snow from the man. "Now I do."

Rochelle peeked around from behind the tree. "Trisha," she whispered, coming next to her friend "is he alive?"

They both stared at the man. He had a cut above his right eyebrow. There was a trail of dried blood from the cut that traveled down the side of his face and continued down his neck. He had some dried blood in his gray hair as well. There was more of it that ran out of the left corner of his mouth and down his chin. To top it all off, his lips were a pale blue.

Scooting closer to the limp figure, Trisha noticed he was still breathing. "He's alive, Chelle! Look, his chest is going up and down…" Trisha took off her glove. Hesitantly, she brought her hand up to the man's face, gently stroking his cheek. "Hey, can you hear me?" she asked the man softly. "Come on, buddy. Wake up." Trisha took off her other glove, took the man's frozen hand in hers, and gently squeezed it. "Hey," she said while she continued to stroke his cheek, "if you can hear me, squeeze my hand."

By this time, Rochelle had moved to the back of the tree. Finally burning through the rope, she came around the tree and pulled it away from the man's chest. It came away from his jacket with a crunching noise. "My God, how long has he been out here?" she asked with a horrified look on her face. "He's got to be suffering from hyperthermia. They taught us about this in that safety class we took. Trisha, we gotta get him warm. You know what happens if his body temperature drops too low." Trisha simply nodded. Rochelle reached backwards for Trisha's bag and removed the heavy blankets she had packed that morning. She placed them around the man the best she could, then took off her gloves and took the man's other hand in hers. "Trish, what if he doesn't wake up?"

Trisha glared at Rochelle. "Try to be positive, just for a second, if you will!" She gazed back at the man, "Hey, come on, buddy. I know you're in there," she said as she ran her other hand through his hair. "Squeeze my hand, you can do it. Please…" but the man's giant hand remained limp in Trisha's small one.

Rochelle let go of his other hand. "I don't think he's…"

"For the love of God, Rochelle. Have some freakin' faith you dumb…" Trisha stopped suddenly when she felt the man's hand weakly squeeze hers. Turning back to face him, Trisha asked, "Hey, can you hear me? Come on do it again, squeeze my hand again!" A smile ran across her face as she felt the man's gentle grip. She turned around to Rochelle to tell her, but her friend was staring at the man's face.

"Trisha, he… he's definitely awake. And looking at you," Rochelle muttered.

Whipping around, she met the man's icy blue eyes. "Well, hiya," Trisha said softly. "Let me bring you up to date - me and my friend here were out snowmobiling. We stopped for a break and we heard you moaning. We came down that hill and found you here; tied to the tree. I'm Trish, and that's Rochelle over there," she said.

The man closed his eyes. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs," he whispered. "I work for NCIS in Washington…"

The girls were both silent for a moment. Rochelle looked at him suspiciously. "Let me get this right. You want us to believe that you're some sort of 'secret agent' from NC-whatever? What kind of agent gets himself beat up and tied to a tree? I think you're full of crap!" Rochelle stated matter-of-factly as she backed away from Gibbs.

Trisha looked at her friend with her 'I'm gonna kick your ass in a minute' stare. "Actually, Rochelle, he said 'Special Agent'. And secondly, it's NCIS. Like the TV show. And last off, stop being retarded. I know you're scared, but so am I." She turned back to Gibbs, who still had a hold of her hand. His eyes were on her.

"Listen, kid, please just don't take off. I am who I say I am. You just gotta belie-" he cut off in mid sentence. Gibbs' face tightened and he tried to bring his knees to his chest. He let out a low moan and gripped the small hand he held in his. At that point he slumped over, right into Trisha.

"Whoa! Hey, what's wrong?" she asked Gibbs as she tried to hold up his weight. "Chelle, help!"

Rochelle went right to Trisha, "Ok, lay down. Let him use you as a sort of pillow," she said as Trisha lay down in the snow. Rochelle managed to position Gibbs so that he was on his side. His head was on Trisha's shoulder and chest, and Trisha's chin rested on the top of Gibbs' head. Chelle wrapped the blankets around Gibbs and said, "Listen, I'm going to go get a sled. The only way we're gonna get him home is if one of us drives the sled and the other sits in back of him. We'll stick him in the middle of us. I'll be right back. Keep talking to him and keep him awake. You can't let him fall asleep," she yelled as she bolted in the direction of the snowmobiles.

Trisha watched her friend go, then turned her full attention to the man who was laying on her. "Agent Gibbs," she said. "Gibbs, listen to me. I know you're hurting bad. I don't know what happened to you, but we're gonna get you out of here, just hang in there. Chelle went to get a snowmobile. Gibbs, are you with me?"

Gibbs opened his eyes. His chest was rising and falling fast. "I…I…" he gasped as he tried to talk.

"Shhhh, Gibbs, just lay still," Trisha said as she ran her free hand through his hair. "You're gonna be ok," she said reassuringly. "I promise, we'll take good care of you, you just gotta trust us, ok?"

Gibbs nodded, but gripped Trisha's jacket tightly. He swallowed hard. For the first time since he was awake, he was fully feeling the pain. His ribs were killing him and his head was throbbing. To make it worse, he was starting to shiver.

Trisha could feel Gibbs shaking as spasms ran through his body. She reached around and pulled the blanket tighter against them, trying to use her body heat to warm Gibbs, then turned her face so that she was breathing warm air on the top of Gibbs' head. "Hang in there, big guy," she whispered. Gibbs' breathing had become rather haggard. He was still gripping the front of her coat. Trisha winced when she thought about what the man must be feeling.

"Hey, Gibbs. You gotta stay awake, ok? It shouldn't be too long until Chelle gets back with that sled. She had to backtrack, though, because there was no way to get down that hill over there. You still with me, Gibbs?"

Gibbs mumbled something that Trisha couldn't understand. He turned his head and nestled into Trisha's neck. His breathing had slowed down a bit and his grip on Trisha's jacket had loosened a little. Trisha had managed to free her other arm from under Gibbs' body and was rubbing his back, trying to comfort him.

A few minutes went by, then Trisha remembered what Rochelle had said about talking to Gibbs and keeping him awake. "You know," Trisha said, "am I the only one who thinks this is a little weird? I mean, we barely know each other and here we are snuggling." She glanced down at Gibbs and asked, "Don't you think things are moving a little fast for a first date?"

Gibbs managed a weak smile. "Yea," he whispered, "but I always had that effect on the girls when I was growing up."

Trisha laughed as she heard Rochelle on the snowmobile. "Here comes Chelle. I told you we'd get you out of here!"