"Oh hell," Tony yelled, rolling on the muddy trail, clutching his calf. The route had taken a little turn towards a slope and after such heavy rainfall from earlier in the day, the normally easily walked path had turned sloppy and slippy. This was how Very Special Agent DiNozzo had ended up on his back, in the mud, with a leg injury.

"Tony! What happened?" McGee approached him from ahead, concerned for his friend. The elder of the duo glared.

"Take a guess McNavigator – I thought a relaxing mud bath would be perfect right around now."

"Hey, you insisted on taking this short cut. Speaking of, we are literally on an ETA of 15 minutes from the naval base." Tony's cool let a little as he grimaced and shook his head.

"I don't think this leg has it in it to stand, let alone walk that far."

"Don't be dramatic Tony."

"Tim –" he paused instantly, realising he might be giving away as too how much pain his leg was really in. "McGee, just go on and send a bulky navy lad back for me… Or better, a lass."

McGee rolled his eyes and stayed silent as to not say anything to make the moment worse. Kneeling next to him, McGee gently coaxed Tony's hands away and examined the leg himself. He wasn't sure entirely what he was doing, but the job role came with basic first aid training and he could feel that nothing was broken. Tony had definitely done something to the calf muscle on his fall though, as the ankle itself seemed fine.

"Would you stop getting a McFeel of my leg there Probie and go get my strong navy lass to bridal carry me out of here."

"Tony, I am not leaving you here, for what could over half an hour in the freezing cold, totally soaked from the rain and – you guessed it – in the freezing, cold mud. You'll catch your death."

"You sound like Ducky."

McGee signed and reached into the small backpack he had with him. Pulling out the mini first aid kit, he did his best to compress the injury with multiple bandages. From there, he took Tony's bag, attached it with clips to his and threw the pair over his back. Moving behind Tony, he lopped his arms under his.

"On three, Tony…. One… Two… Three." He heaved his friend up and with a grunt of pain from both, Tony was up on one leg, leaning heavily into McGee's back. From this placement, McGee twisted Tony until they were side-by-side, hip-to-hip.

"Please tell me we are not walking the whole way back like this," Tony muttered as they began to trudge together in the mud. Each step he grunted from pain.

"Other idea?"

"I told you Probie. Naval. Lass. Bridal. Style. Happy ending for all –"

Before Tony could finish the rest of his sentence, McGee had stopped them. Moving his one hand to the mid of Tony's back and with the other, leaned down and with one swift move, pushed into the back of his knees and lifted Tony's whole-body weight. Before he could register what had happened, Tony DiNozzo was being carried bridal style by Timothy McGee.

There were couple minuets of silence as McGee walked them onwards. Tony stared at him the entire time, not a word from the normally talkative man. Eventually, the silence and the staring deserved conversation.

"Listen Tony, I wasn't going to listen to you complain the whole way, okay? Let's just get there and get an earful from Gibbs."

When he wasn't met with a reply, Tim stopped walking and met his friend's eye. He held Tony in his arms, the man looking like a concerned, oversized hamster with his arms compressed to his chest and mouth ever so ajar. After a moment, he had only one thing to say:

"I swear if you have Palmer abs, I am going to riot."

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