Higgins was afraid to move Magnum at all. She ached to make him more comfortable- to lift his head into her lap or make a pillow from her shirt or something- but with the unknown extent of his injuries she knew it only risked making things worse. Not only did he likely have spinal damage, his ribs were so badly broken that one wrong motion could send a bone shard straight into his lung.

Juliet was acutely aware if that were to happen, Thomas would suffocate long before their friends had the opportunity to find them.

The idea terrified her.

"Thomas? Are you awake?"

"Mmmmhmm." The response was soft but seemed lucid enough.

Juliet squeezed his hand. "You hang in there, okay? We're going to get out of here and you're going to be fine."

"Cold," he whispered.

"I know," she stroked his arm gently. "I'm sorry. I wish I could make you more comfortable."

"'S fine," the murmur was almost inaudible. "Don' worry."

Juliet chuckled humorlessly. "Okay, Thomas. I'm not worried." We're trapped and you're running out of time but there's absolutely nothing to worry about. Everything is perfectly fine.

"They'll…find us," he reassured her again, faith and certainty ringing through despite the weakness of his voice.

She gripped his hand as tight as she dared and nodded in the darkness, no longer trusting herself to speak.

Thomas drifted back to sleep, leaving Juliet alone with her thoughts. After a moment she curled up next to his uninjured side, carefully keeping her slender frame as close as she could without actually touching his battered body. She wanted to try and keep him warm but didn't want to risk jarring him, and didn't know what else to do.

The former MI6 agent had never felt so helpless.

Juliet lost track of time as she listened to each of her partner's ragged breaths. As she lay on the unforgiving cement, the cold seeped into her bones and leached away whatever tiny bit of warmth had remained. Silently cursing the entire wretched situation, she shivered miserably and could feel Thomas doing the same. Out of desperation she edged as close as she dared, gingerly pressing her body against his.

Thomas didn't react. He'd slipped into deep unconsciousness somewhere during the endless hours. Though at first Juliet had tried to keep the injured man awake, she was no longer able to rouse him and had ultimately stopped trying. She knew he was in tremendous pain and she didn't want him to suffer, but on the other hand she was terrified that he was more likely to die if he wasn't awake and responsive.

In any case, it didn't matter anymore. Soon- terrifyingly, heart-rendingly, distressingly soon- it would be too late.

Higgins had accepted that if Gordon, Rick and TC didn't find them within the next few hours, it would all be over. There simply wasn't anything else she could do for Thomas. She didn't have any way to call for help, any way to escape, any way to care for him. The only option left was to sit with her friend as he died a slow, agonizing, needless death.

And in the complete darkness, trapped in the all-consuming utter blackness, she couldn't even see his face. She couldn't even say a proper goodbye. Juliet's despair threatened to overwhelm and finally she stopped fighting it. Willingly she gave into the grief and silent tears ran down her face as she curled against her partner's shattered, trembling body.

Hurry. Please.