Chapter 3

As they continued up the mountain, it got steeper, and Tony felt the pull of the muscles in his legs as they walked. He wanted a quick pace because he didn't want to leave Tim where he was for any longer than necessary, but he was tiring out...and Jesse didn't even seem winded.

"How are you doing, Tony?" Jesse asked.

"I'm fine."

"Well, let's take a couple of minutes to breathe, why don't we."

Tony was embarrassed. It was clear that he wasn't fooling Jesse at all.

"Okay. A couple of minutes."

Tony stopped walking and leaned against a tree. Jesse passed him the water and then took a drink himself. It was literally only a couple of minutes and they were on the move again.

"You're looking a bit pale, Tony," Jesse said. "You sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine." Tony said the words, but he was lying. He felt way more breathless than he thought he should.

"Where did you two come from to go hiking?"

"DC. Why?"

"You spend any time getting acclimated?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, where my flock is right now is about 6,000 feet above sea level. We're only getting higher. That's a lot less oxygen than you're used to."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I don't want you passing out on me. If you start to feel lightheaded, you're not going to help your friend if you hurt yourself."

"I'm fine," Tony said.

"Okay."

They started up the mountain again, and while he didn't want to admit it, Tony could feel the strain as they kept up the quick pace. Still, it was more important to get to Tim.

...that's what he kept telling himself.

Then, he started seeing black spots. He pushed on even as the spots started to spread, but suddenly, he felt a viselike hand on his arm. He was pulled somewhere he couldn't see, forced to sit down on a rock and his head was pushed down.

"Breathe, Tony. Breathe slowly and deeply. Get the air into your lungs."

Tony did as he was told and his vision started to clear.

"You're not Superman. Stop acting like him."

"Don't feel like him," Tony gasped out. "I left my red S at home."

"Good. I meant it when I said that it could get to you. I wasn't kidding. I've seen people pass out just after walking a mile at high altitude when they're used to being by the ocean. I get that you're worried, but you should make sure you can actually make it."

"I'm not really in a position to disagree," Tony said. "...what with my head between my legs and everything."

He heard Jesse chuckle and the pressure on his back eased.

"Sit up, but don't stand up just yet."

Tony sat up and was relieved that he could see again.

"Now, have a drink and then we'll start going again, if you think you're ready."

"I'm ready."

"That's what you said before," Jesse said, sternly. "Are you really?"

There was something about the way that Jesse talked. Tony actually felt guilty, as if he deserved the talking to, and that was hard to do. Many years of teachers had failed to get Tony DiNozzo to acknowledge that he deserved any punishment, even when he did.

"Maybe not as fast."

"Okay."

Tony took a drink and then stood up. He was glad to note that his vision stayed clear. Jesse set off again, pointing out all the places that Tony had been passing through. Most of them were just rocks and bushes to Tony, but he took Jesse's word for it.

Then, finally, they were up above the tree line, and Tony recognized the rock field.

"Here. This is where he fell."

He started to search for the strip of cloth he'd tied to a rock. He hurried in front of Jesse and focused on trying to find the bright blue rag.

"There!" he said, pointing to it.

He hurried over and looked down.

For good or ill, Tim was still there.

"Tim! Can you hear me?"

There was no reply that he could hear. Tony knelt down and shouted again.

"Tim!"

"I see why you couldn't get down to him," Jesse said, quietly behind him. "Let's not leave him down there any longer than he has been already."

"How?" Tony asked.

"I came prepared. I'm going to lower you down with a rope. You can check him out...see what his status is."

Tony caught the hesitation. He knew that Jesse thought Tim was dead, but he refused to believe it until he saw it himself.

"Then, we'll go from there. All right?"

"Okay. ...but he's alive," Tony said. "He's not dead down there. He survived."

Jesse didn't reply. He just set his bag down and pulled out the rope.

"You just stand there and let me get this tied."

"Okay."

Tony didn't know what Jesse meant, at first, but this was not just a simple knot around the waist. Jesse looped the rope around Tony's legs, around his waist, tying knots and weaving the rope in incomprehensible patterns. Then, he cinched it securely and pulled out a carabiner. He clipped it to the rope and pulled out another rope. Tony looked at himself and realized that he now seemed to be wearing a harness.

"Wow."

Jesse smiled.

"Best to be as safe as possible. I've had to do some climbing. You'd be surprised at the places lambs can get themselves stuck."

"I'm impressed. Can you really hold me and Tim up?"

"You'd be surprised."

"I'm getting the feeling that I shouldn't be surprised at anything, really."

Jesse just smiled and set it up to help Tony get down to Tim. Tony had done some climbing, but never in this kind of situation and he was more than a little nervous...which didn't help, since he was also afraid for Tim's life, too.

Still, he let Jesse lower him down.

"If you start to slide, trust me. I'm up here and I'll hold you. You're not going to fall. Don't panic. just wait for the skid to stop because it will. All right?"

Tony nodded.

"Good. Go get your friend."

Tony started down the sheer drop, making sure that Jesse wasn't holding all his weight, but relying on that rope to keep him from plummeting down past where Tim lay.

It was slow going simply because Tony was trying not to knock any debris down that would hit Tim.

Down to the crevice and he started to skid in the loose gravel. For a moment he panicked, but he tried to remember what Jesse had said and the skid stopped fairly quickly. He took a breath and then kept going down. The crevice began to narrow, until he could actually put a foot on either side.

That's where Tim lay, unmoving, facing away from Tony. Far too quiet.

"Tim?"

No response.

Tony moved closer. He didn't want to move Tim too much if there was a neck or back injury.

"Tim?"

He reached out and touched Tim's neck, searching for a pulse, praying he'd find one.

He got something better.

As soon as he touched him, Tim twitched and made a strangled sound. It wasn't words, but it was life.

"Tim! You're alive!"

All he got in response was a trembling breath and a whimper.

Tony turned and looked up to where Jesse was watching.

"He's alive!" Tony shouted.

"Okay! I'm going to lower a stretcher. Tie him to it as securely as you can and I'll pull him up!"

A stretcher? Where did he get a stretcher?

That was a question for later, Tony decided. While he waited for the stretcher to come down, he turned his attention back to Tim.

"Tim, can you say anything?"

No response. Tony really wanted to move him, but until he could be sure that Tim wouldn't start flopping around...or slide further down the mountain, he figured it would be better to leave him as he was.

"Okay, I'm going to assume you can hear me, anyway," Tony said. "And you know I can talk; so you'll just have to listen. There's this weird shepherd guy that I ran into when I was going for help, and he's up there rigging up a stretcher or something. I'm going to tie you onto it. So you're going to have to trust my knot-tying skills. Then, he's going to pull you up. We're going to get you down the mountain and get you some help. You don't have to do anything except stay alive, and now that I've found you alive, you'd better stay that way. I'm not planning on carting a dead body around, all right?"

Still, no response.

Tony kept talking until the stretcher came down. He smiled a little when he saw it. It looked like it had been made from the backpack Jesse had been carrying. Figured. Speaking of backpacks, he needed to get Tim's off.

"Okay, Tim. I'm going to move you. I hope it doesn't hurt you too bad, but there's really no other choice; so you'll just have to deal with it."

That being said, Tony really didn't want to hurt Tim, but he couldn't just leave him there. He didn't want to move Tim too much. That meant cutting the pack off instead of maneuvering it over his shoulders. He pulled out his knife and carefully removed the pack from Tim's back. He tied it to the harness and then, turned his attention back to Tim. Tony made sure the stretcher was stable; then, he, carefully, put his arms around Tim's waist and started to lift. Ideally, he would have made sure Tim's head couldn't move, but they didn't have anything with which to secure him that way.

So he lifted.

He felt Tim tense and heard him make another whimper.

"I'm sorry, Tim, but there's no other way to get you to the stretcher. It won't take long. Just hang on...or don't hang on. Let me do that."

He pulled Tim up. He still hadn't seen his face, but he just focused on getting Tim to the stretcher. It seemed to take forever, but he would rather be slow and do it right.

Finally, he was able to maneuver Tim as gently as possible onto his back on the stretcher. Tim's face looked awful. One side was scraped raw with small rocks embedded in the skin, along with some longer cuts that were caked with dried blood. He was badly bruised as well, and that was just his face. Tim's arm on the same side had a similar appearance.

Tony said nothing more while he focused on tying the best knots he'd ever tied. Whatever it would take to keep Tim from falling off the stretcher and down the mountain again. When he got that done, before he signaled to Jesse to start pulling, he looked at Tim once more. His eyes were closed. He was breathing, but he hadn't made a single response so far.

"Tim? If you can hear and understand me, just open your eyes. That's all I ask."

Tim was breathing irregularly, and for a few seconds, that's all he did. Then, Tony was thrilled to see that Tim's eyelids lifted for a just a moment. Not long, but long enough for Tony to assume that he was alert enough to hear Tony's request. Tony moved Tim's hand just enough to give him a very gentle five.

"Excellent! I knew you could do it, Probie." He looked up. "Okay! Start pulling!"

Jesse started to pull the stretcher up. Tony shifted it around so that it wouldn't bang against the mountain and jar Tim any more than necessary. He also started climbing with the stretcher, trying to stabilize it as much as possible while it was moving out of the crevice, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to make the last 15 feet on his own. So he had to let Tim go at that point and wait.

He watched impatiently until Tim was out of sight. He wasn't sure if he wanted Jesse to help him up as soon as he could so that Tony could check on Tim or if he wanted Jesse to check on Tim, first, and then, pull Tony up.

Minutes passed and Tony, absurdly, began to wonder if he'd been forgotten.

"Hello?" he called.

Jesse looked over the edge and smiled.

"You're ready to come up?"

"Yes, please."

"Okay. Hang on."

"Ha. Very funny."

Jesse laughed and pulled back out of sight.

"You can give me some help, son!"

The rope went taut, and Tony moved to the face of the mountain. He tried to find places to hold on and climb, but he was really glad that Jesse was up there. He would be terrified to try this on his own.

Halfway up the cliff face, Tony suddenly slipped and fell away from the rock. He dropped about a foot, just long enough to panic, and then, the rope caught him. His heart threatened to pound its way out of Tony's chest, and for a second, all he could do was hold onto the rope and breathe.

Then, he pulled himself together.

"Don't be stupid, Tony. Jesse said he wouldn't let you fall."

Another deep breath and he started to climb again. He felt the rope tighten and he kept going. After another few minutes, he was at the top, climbing over the lip and shaking a little. Jesse looked like he'd had a strain, but he smiled.

"Warn me the next time you decide to jump and I'll let you go," he said.

Tony managed to laugh, but he didn't really feel like it.

"I'll do that...if I ever am crazy enough to climb a mountain again...which will be never."

"Get your nerve back while I take off the harness. Then, we can see to your friend."

At the reminder of Tim's situation, Tony felt his stomach clench and he took a deep breath to dispel the tightness. Jesse smiled sympathetically.

"He's survived this long. He's a tough nut. Don't give up on him, yet."

"I'm not giving up on him," Tony said.

"Good."

In less than a minute, Jesse had the rope harness off and he and Tony went over to where Tim was lying on the ground, still tied to the makeshift stretcher.

"I got some heat packs on him to warm him up and I gave him some water, but that's all."

Tim wasn't moving, but he was breathing.

"Let's see how bad the damage is, all right?" Jesse asked.

Tony nodded.

Jesse started at Tim's feet and carefully began feeling for broken bones. Tim let out a whimper when Jesse touched his right knee.

"I'm sorry, Tim," he said.

Then, he resumed his examination. Tim reacted with his right arm and his ribs, although Jesse couldn't tell if they were broken or just bruised. His expression was grave.

"At least two broken bones and who knows if there are other internal injuries we can't see. I don't think it would be a good idea to move him down the mountain ourselves. It'd be too jarring for him."

"What you think we should do instead? I don't think I'm qualified to act as a surgeon, and we can't stay here and hope he gets better," Tony said.

"Here's what we'll do. You stay here with him. We can get a fire going to help him warm up. You get him to drink and patch up what you can. I'll go and find some real help."

"But..."

Jesse shook his head.

"You don't know this area. I do. He's your friend, not mine. If he wakes up, he'll want to see a friend, not some old guy."

"But you're..."

"An old guy?"

"Well...yeah."

Jesse laughed outright. "I'm not just an old guy. I'm a shepherd. King David couldn't have been better at protecting his sheep than I am. I haven't lost a single sheep or lamb in the last five years...and it's not because they never wander off. They do and I find them and bring them back. I know what I'm doing and I know where I'm going. You know neither of those things, but you do know one thing."

"What's that?" Tony asked.

"You know how to help your friend...and you know that helping your friend means being here, not wandering around and getting lost." Jesse wagged his finger in Tony's face. "Stay with your flock, son, no matter how small it is."

Tony couldn't think of a retort to that rather strange metaphor; so he said nothing. They did build a fire, protected from the wind by the rocks. They carefully moved Tim to that protected spot. Then, Jesse grabbed some water and some snacks and headed off.

Tony looked after him and then, he looked at Tim who was lying so limply by the fire.

What if Tim died?

"No. Don't think that way. He's not going to die," Tony told himself. "I'm not going to let him."

Decision made, he sat down by Tim, prepared to take care of him for as long as necessary.