Chapter Eleven

3.45am

Tim counted his miseries to occupy the time.

One, He was tired, really tired. His eyes were itchy and dry. He wanted to sleep but his current predicament didn't recommend sleep as a good option. Maybe he had slept for a time? He wasn't sure if coming out of being unconscious could really count.

Two, He was still hungry. Or to be more precise he was even hungrier as he still hadn't eaten anything. He was beginning to understand what Easter chocolate rabbits felt like – hollow inside. Yummmm Chocolate. Even better Easter chocolate. He always found the ears the best to eat. Especially where the tips were nearly solid. They would always go first. But who would eat a chocolate rabbit bottom up? Everyone ate them ears down, didn't they? Maybe that could be a test for sociopaths? He liked the rabbits with the really long ears. Okay Focus. He was starting to ramble and it was making his mouth water.

Three, His head hurt with a dull throbbing ache and there seemed to be what he assumed to be blood trickling down the back of his head.

Four, His shoulders hurt as his arms were tied behind him, tight to the metal column he was tied to. (Should he count that as part of 3 rather than as a separate point? It was a pain, although a different feeling from his head and if he counted all the pains his body was experiencing then the list could be very long)

Four, He was cold, again. At least at the Commanders house he had been warm and safe now he appeared to be locked in some small dark anti room off what sounded like a warehouse. There seemed to be lots of various sized boxes piled up everywhere. His feet in particular on the cold concrete floor were back to being blocks of ice – again.

Five, His mouth had been ducted taped shut while he had been passed out. It was surprisingly distressing to not be able to make much more noise than a mumble. It also meant that he had to breathe through his nose. Not really a big deal as he generally breathed through his nose anyway but simply not being able to breathe through his mouth at all had initially made him panic when he had first come round.

Six, He had no idea who these people were or why they wanted him here. Or maybe it wasn't him they wanted at all? Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But who would try and rob the house of the Base Commander, especially in the middle of the night? So maybe they were after Willow? What would the Base Commander be involved in that would result in the assault of a Federal Agent in her home? Admittedly dressed as he was at that time of night, with Willow in her dressing gown they may not have known that he was an NCIS agent. Which lead him to the next point.

Seven, Where was the Commander? Was she hurt? Was she in on whatever was going on? What had happened after he had been hit and knocked out by the man in her kitchen and he had woken up here?

Eight, Where was he? Was he still on the Base? He didn't know how long he had been out for to judge the travel time. He could hear things banging and crashing around in the distance.

Ok he needed to assess the situation from a balanced perspective so good points.

One, He was wearing clothes. He was NOT naked. This had not been something he would have previously considered before this evening but now it seemed worthy of note.

Two, He was NOT dead. This he thought was a very important point and should possibly have come before the clothes but since he was doing this in his head then he couldn't move them around without starting again.

Three, He was NOT currently being tortured for information or for whatever it was they wanted from him. Although this was a situation that might change in the future. Still since all of the things in his list might change at any time then it would stay on his good list. For now.

Four, He currently had no need to go to the toilet. This was probably due in part to Point Two of bad points. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink for hours and he had gone to the toilet back at Willows house after…. well………

Ok well that lead him to what had happened between him and the Commander. Should he list that on good points or bad? Or both? He still couldn't believe he had actually slept with the woman known as 'the Wicked Witch of the West' Was she is any position to get help for him or was he going to be the hero and have to rescue both of them? Would he even be in this position if he had been a 'good' agent and not slept with her? Would he be tucked up safe and sound in his own bed by now or would Willow have had to face the attacker alone in her kitchen.

He sighed heavily as all the questions whirled around his head, which wasn't as satisfying as it normally was with the duct tape securely across his face. His eyes slid shut, just for a second.

Suddenly the door at the far end burst open and Tim winced as the flood of harsh bright white light hurt his tired eyes. Two dark silhouettes stood in the doorway.

'Tim! Are you ok?'

So let me know what you think is going on? Just a short chapter that I actually wasn't going to write but Tim insisted on expressing his misery.