It seemed like an eternity trying to wake up, but Tony slowly opened his eyes and found that the plane had finally stopped on the ground and that he was sore. He tried his arms and legs, and to his dismay felt his left knee and ankle protest at the movement. He put a hand to his forehead, and found that he had a bruise, but finding it had been crudely bandaged with a patch of cloth and apparently his tie, had to also have a cut.

Shaking his head, he unbuckled his belt and turned around to see how Aidan was doing. To his surprise, he saw the plane had been ripped in half and the tail was gone - the tear was about a foot behind Aidan's seat. The pilot's body, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Aidan was sitting in the chair he last remembered her in, watching Tony's self-assessment of his condition and the situation. "Well, welcome back Sleeping Beauty," she said a little cynically. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired and sore, but it's more from the rough landing and bump on the head," said Tony, taking a close look at Aidan. "How about you? Anything hurt or broken?"

"Just my pride," said Aidan simply and coughed.

"Ade, for once in your life, please be serious," said Tony. "We just were in a plane crash and..."

"I am. Woke up about an hour ago finding we had 'landed' and you unconscious with your head bleeding. I bandaged your wound and been keeping an eye on you since," she said, rolling her neck to work out some of the kinks in it. Seeing Tony still a little skeptical, she continued. "Honestly, I'm just sore more from being jostled in the landing. Guess in some ironic way, the pilot gassing me was a good thing. I think it helped keep me from being seriously injured. It's ironic, but it's sorta like drunken driver's syndrome, where the driver's so inebriated that his limbs are like rubber if the car crashes, so he rarely gets hurt."

"Maybe, but still, it's better to see you up and at 'em instead of out like a light," said Tony with a smile, for once glad that she was rambling.

"Yeah, it was scary. Last thing I remember was hearing 'knock her out man' and the gas being spritzed in my face. That stuff they gave me was quick-acting, blacked out in seconds," she said, standing up. "What happened while I was out... well other than the obvious?"

Tony coughed and stood up as well, albeit a little slower. "We took off, and after a while, I checked on ya since you hadn't woken up from your 'nap.' Finding ya were drugged, I told the pilot to turn us around, but he said that this gang called the Scorpios ordered him to take us to their hideout. He was about to gas me too when he had a heart attack. Don't know why the plane went down, but the rest is pretty obvious."

Aidan frowned, realizing the pilot wasn't there. "What about..."

"Dead. He was dead before the crash," said Tony as he tested the radio. "And, so's the radio, but it might've been anyway in case something went wrong with the kidnappin'. Now, since we're in this mess, why don't ya change the fancy underwear back to its normal form and we can fly outta here."

"Well..."

"C'mon, I know ya were gassed, but Mr. H said sometimes your head wasn't protected and..." Seeing the young woman turn away, Tony knew something was wrong. "Please tell me you have it on."

"No, because you told me I had to fly with you in the plane. Besides, if I did, I think the suit would've protected me from being incapacitated," said Aidan cynically, but wondered how true it was as Ralph never mentioned it to her. "Now, I brought it with me, but it was in my purse. Now, question is, did they put it on the plane as well when they lugged me into it?"

"Yeah it was... but in the back of the plane, which as we know, is somewhere out in the forest," said Tony.

"OK, so we'd better get a move on and find it," said Aidan bluntly as she saw the sun starting to head toward the west. "Looks like we don't have much time before nightfall, about two-three hours of sunlight tops. First off, we'd better see if there's anything we can use here."

Doing a rummage of the half of the plane, they were thankful to find a box of matches and a canteen of water the pilot had. While they felt a little bit squeamish of drinking after the deceased, they realized that it was do it or risk dehydration if they didn't find any water.

After Tony got a walking stick - just to use as a snake sniffer-outer, he joked - the two started on their quest to find the suit and a way out of the forest. They knew time was of the essence, especially as it got very cold during the night now.

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The trip to the main search base was relatively quiet for Ralph and Pam. Realizing it had been about two hours since the plane went off the radar, their concern only grew. As the agent drove, Ralph continued to stare out the window, as though he wanted to get a holograph. Most of the time he didn't miss wearing the funny looking suit, but when anyone he knew or loved was hurt, he wanted to put it on in a split second.

As the trees passed by, Ralph had another flashback to that night 18 years prior, the night that changed his, Pam's and especially Aidan's lives forever...

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"Mr. Hinkley?"

"Yes sir, what can I do for you?" said Ralph a little uneasily when he saw the officer in the doorway. Many thoughts passed through his head, most of them something that Alicia might do to try to get more alimony out of him. What he found out, however, was this wasn't the case.

"I'm Sergeant Chet Yettium of the Los Angeles Police Department. There has been a traffic accident involving your sister and her husband. Both died at the scene, I'm sorry."

Ralph blanched, nearly passing out, and the officer helped steady him. Once Ralph recovered, he cleared his throat and asked the officer what happened. Yettium told him that they weren't sure yet, but that Ralph would need to come to the morgue to identify their remains.

He told the officer that he'd come but had to tell Pam what happened. Just at that moment, Aidan entered the room, asking for help with a picture she was drawing. She saw Ralph crying and the officer, wondering what happened. Ralph, getting permission to tell her instead, told Aidan that her parents "were in heaven now."

Aidan didn't cry or react the way Ralph expected, just bowing her head briefly. He turned to the officer to thank him for his help when she fainted, hitting her head on the desk before Ralph could grab her...

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Ralph jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Ralph, you all right?" said Pam, concerned as she kept hold of his shoulder.

The man dismissed her comments with a nod and went back to looking out the window.

Pam pursed her lips, realizing he was hiding something. "You're reliving that night again, aren't you?" she said softly, having thought about it too. While the night affected all of them, she didn't see everything that happened in the living room. She was in the kitchen getting supper ready when she heard a loud noise and Ralph's panicked voice trying to get Aidan to talk to him.

Ralph looked into Pam's grey eyes and realized he couldn't hide his worry from her. "Yeah... yeah, honey I am. That night was one of the worst in my life. M'Lynn and Austin died so quick in that crash, and the wreck itself..."

"I know Ralph, given your reaction after you saw them in the morgue," said Pam softly. "But, we were baby-sitting Aidan, and she was all right."

"Yeah, all right. Aidan fainted and hit her head before I could catch her," he scoffed. "She was lying unconscious for so long in the hospital that I worried we were going to lose all of them that night... In a way, we did. Ade still only remembers parts of that night, and even those parts not too well. And now she's been in a plane crash herself and..."

Pam gripped his shoulder strongly. "Ralph, you heard what Cyler said. It's a search and rescue. You know as well as I do that, God willing, between the two of them, they'll come home safe and sound. Bit bruised and hurt maybe, but alive."

Ralph smiled softly, hoping she was right. Unless they heard a report that someone found Aidan and Tony dead, they had to keep hope alive. The rest of the trip was driven in silence, both silently praying for their goddaughter's and friend's safety.

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"Come on Tony, we need to get to find the rest of the plane and get the suit," said Aidan, waiting again for Tony to catch up. She wondered if Tony had been injured other than the head wound, but he kept dismissing it as being winded from being jerked around in the crash.

"I'm coming Ade, just found something that might be useful," said Tony, picking up a flashlight. So far, they had found several items that he knew had been in the plane when they took off. Unfortunately, none was Aidan's purse. Tony did take some comfort that when they did finally find it, the bag would be easy to spot.

"Flashlight? Well, it's better than the broken sunglasses you found. Does it work?"

"Yeah, and it's one of those, uh bright ones. Says 'Maglite.'"

Aidan smiled. "Maglite, good. We just have to be careful not to waste the power," she said before tripping over something and falling down. Getting up and turning, Aidan gagged slightly when she realized she tripped over an arm and further down in the brush...

She turned away and, dropping back to her hands and knees, began to retch. Tony rushed over to her side as fast as he could to help try to soothe Aidan, and took a look himself. The body was the pilot's, and had been badly mutilated through the fall - among other things. 'Something got a quick meal,' he thought, grimacing. 'No wonder Aidan's throwin' up."

Once Aidan got through her dry heaves, Tony helped her sit and clean up. Tony frowned when she had a noticible rattle when she coughed. "Ade, are you all right? And no 'just fine' comments. I'm startin' to worry about'cha," he said, offering her the canteen.

"Tony, it's a cough... from allergies, and as we all know we're in the middle of a forest," she said, taking a sip of water to rinse her mouth out. When she spat it out, she continued. "Also, I just threw up, so that might be why. I guess if it's any consolation, we at least know we're on the right track to finding the back part of the plane."

"Yeah, c'mon, let's get outta here, and don't look at the guy," said Tony as he helped her up as best he could, and winced slightly.

Aidan handed him his walking stick. "Here's your 'snake sniffer-outer.' Sure it's not to let you nurse an injury," she asked with quizzically.

"A little. I thought I had sprained my ankle in the crash, but I guess I was wrong. Feels great now," lied Tony. In actuality, his knee and ankle hurt like hell. The two just looked at each other and started on their way forward again, hoping that the suit would be at the end of the journey.