'Trix,' Jim came into the sleeping cave. He'd brought water and breakfast for his common law wife.

They'd enjoyed the month long May honeymoon. June started uneventfully as life became monotonous. They achieved their self-appointed chores before the sun hit the zenith, leaving them hours each day to fill in. Initially they sat by the stream and talked. Even that became tedious and wearing as the same stories emerged. With nothing to fill their days and no outside stimulation, Trixie and Jim learnt to become content in each other's company and the silence that surrounded them.

The status quo changed few days before the end of the June. Lying on the sandy floor of the sleeping cave, Trixie looked pale and washed out. 'I'm worried about you,' Jim stated, concern filling his anxious green eyes, 'it's been four days and you're not getting any better.'

'We've been here fifteen months,' Trixie answered a weary smile on her lips. Levering herself into a sitting position, her head swam. Pausing until her sinus cleared, the cave came back into focus. She'd suffered the same symptoms for three days now. They'd come on so quickly, a runny nose one evening, then confined to the sleeping cave the next day with aches and pains all over her body. She'd relied on Jim to look after the garden and her while the fever subsided. 'You know one of us was bound to get sick eventually. I lucked out,' shrugging her shoulders, Trixie finally found the strength to stand. Jim quickly placed Trixie's breakfast on the floor and held out a hand to steady her as the world once again threatened to increase its rotation. 'I can't believe we've got this far with only one sprained wrist.'

'Do…do you think…' Jim hesitated to ask. They'd been so careful and to the best of his knowledge Trixie didn't have any signs or symptoms.

'No, Jim,' the idea brought a genuine grin, lighting her face. Folding her husband into her arms, Trixie let out a chuckle at the look of surprise. 'My period is due next week. I can tell,' hesitating to find the right words, 'it's a woman thing. Apart from feeling sick, like I have a really, really bad head cold, I'm as healthy as you. I know we had that scare a couple of months ago, but I'm not pregnant.'

'As long as you're sure,' he felt certain something more than a common virus ailed Trixie. While he couldn't do anything if the worst happened, Jim's mind dwelt on the issue. At the time, back in April, he calmly accepted the possibility. As the problem festered in the back of his mind, the implications of brining a new life into existence weighed heavily. 'I know how ridged you've been with our sex life,' Jim frowned, remembering the time's Trixie called a halt just in case, 'I still worry. What if we slip up?'

'Don't worry,' the conversation acted as a pick-me-up, making her fell lighter than she had in the last week, 'in a few days I'll be back to normal and we can have a very long make up session.'

To Jim's surprise, Trixie's recovery came as quickly as the initially stages of her illness. They'd barely been "married" two months but Jim felt a shift in his protective instincts. Trixie and their relationship meant more to Jim than his own life. He'd taken on the responsibility of "Husband" with all of his considerable mental ability, physical stamina and emotional heart.

'I need to find a way for us to get out of here,' he spoke to a section of sheer rock wall. The patterns of lighter shale within the cliff bent and moved following the natural movement of the barrier. Jim discovered the face like image in the long lonely days of Trixie's recent illness. Now he used the impression as a sounding board when he didn't want to worry his wife with his most depressing thoughts. 'I don't know how much longer we can last down here, on our own. If something happens to one of us, we get sick or hurt…' he couldn't finish.

Surveying the Hell Hole for maybe the millionth time, Jim racked his brain for a new idea. Nothing changed in this environment. The only mark they'd made within the hole left a green patch, supplying their food needs. Even that disappeared under a layer of snow during winter. They tried everything except attempting to climb the sheer cliff face. So far the universe seemed to be against them as each escape plan failed.

'I'm almost ready to try scaling these walls,' he stated determinedly, looking for a set of hand and foot holds. The image before him changed with the amount of sunlight illuminating it. To Jim, it suddenly appeared to laugh at his folly.

Taking up the challenge, he raised one arm above his head, finding the ledge he needed. His foot located a niche, enabling Jim to lever himself onto the wall. Three moves later, he looked down in the concerned blue eyes of his wife. Trixie didn't say a word as she appeared at his side. She didn't need to. Her feelings communicated on her mobile face. Without speaking, Jim climbed down.

'Please don't do that again,' Trix begged from the warmth of her husband's embrace. 'It makes me feel frightened because I know your reacting to my recent illness. You're trying to get us out of here before something else happens, I understand that.' Lifting her face to capture his gaze, she pleaded, 'I couldn't survive down here without you. If you fell from that height, Jim…'

'Trix,' Jim hesitated. Pushing her away, he held his wife at arm's length, 'it may be the only way. I've considered everything else and can't come up with another plan. Unless you have bright idea, I don't see we have a choice.'

'I have a bad feeling about it,' Trixie allowed the tears to slip down her face. 'At least,' she attempted to compromise, 'give me, give us some time to find another way. We have enough food to get through this coming winter. If we're still here next spring, we'll try then.'

'OK, Shamus,' Jim capitulated, 'but no promises past next spring. We need to find a way out of here.'

July commenced uneventfully as their life continued. Then they heard a strange sound. Unable to quantify it, both felt their hearts race as adrenalin pumped through their veins. Listening intently, Jim paced the circumference of the hole without being able to observe anything in his limited view of the sky. It continued for more than an hour before fading into the distance.

'What do you think?' Trixie questioned, still standing in the middle of the whole, her hand protecting her eyes from the suns glare.

'I hoped it might be a helicopter,' Jim answered, carefully considering his words, 'but it didn't make the same sound as the chopper last year. We would have seen a plane, even with the restricted view from inside the hole. In all the time we've been here, I've never heard even distant traffic. I don't know what to make of it.'

Trixie sighed deeply, 'well it's gone now. I find it strange,' she allowed her mind to wonder, 'at about this time last year the same thing happened.'

'What are you saying, Trix,' Jim attempted to jump on her wave length. Finding he couldn't follow her logic, he stood calmly at his wife's side waiting for her mind to work through the issue. The moment the clues coalesced, he saw the change in her facial expression.

'It's like we're being teased,' Trixie spoke slowly. 'Who ever put us down here wants someone to find us, eventually. Almost like it's part of a greater plan. I think it means they needed us alive but gone for a while. I don't see how that fits into our theory about Jonesy and Martinez's group. Either I'm missing something or I'm completely wrong.'

'I don't think so,' Jim encouraged. 'Jonesy did this for money, I'd bet my fortune on it. What if,' he considered, 'the person providing the money to get us here didn't want revenge on just you and I? What if he used Jonesy? He might be greedy enough to fall for something like that.'

'Jim, the gun's!' she exclaimed, an excited tone filling her words. 'I've been looking at this the wrong way. If this is a reaction from Martinez,' Trixie looked at the entire situation differently, 'he had to be taking orders from someone else, like the person paying for the gun shipment. If they could afford illegal weapons, they'd have the money to finance our abduction. So they wouldn't need to make a ransom demand on your father. That would be the carrot they dangled at Jonesy to gain his cooperation. It'd give access to us because of your history with your stepfather. Maybe they could blame this whole thing on him.'

Hesitating to think this new theory through, Trixie began to pace. 'Think about it this way, why kidnap us when it's be more logical to remove us completely.' Swallowing hard, Trix came to the sudden realisation; we came really close to dying but something stopped that from happening. I need to work out what. 'Maybe this is about more than us, maybe it's about insurance.'

'If we're found by accident…' Jim worked through this new idea. It didn't make sense to him so he shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

'We're the insurance,' Trixie added the missing pieces, 'because who ever put us here had to be forced too. By keeping us alive with the hope of detection, it gives that person power. I know we'll be discovered, Jim,' she encouraged, 'I just don't know when.'

'In the meantime,' ever practical, Jim intended to ensure in the future, if they heard a sound that might become their salvation, they'd be ready. 'We have a lot of work to do. The next time we hear something from above the rim, I want to be ready to attract their attention.'

'I have a better idea,' Trixie gained that special twinkle in her eye. Jim came to know exactly what it meant. 'If I'm right, we have another year before they come back. I want don't feel like rushing into anything right now, except the bathing pool for some fun.'

'Trix,' Jim shuddered at the blatant invitation. He wanted to, really wanted to join his wife and complete their conjugal relations. Since her sickness, he'd been afraid to touch Trixie.

'Jim,' a stern tone entered her voice, 'you only have a few days until it won't be possible. So either join me now, or I'll do it by myself.'

They'd become so familiar with each other's bodies, Jim felt his face split into a grin. He liked nothing more than Trixie pleasuring herself. 'Maybe you could do that first,' he teased, 'and I'll finish the job.'

'Only,' Trixie allowed the words to carry over her shoulder as raced towards her personal nirvana, 'if you beat me to the pool.'

August waned, they found themselves harvesting as much of the garden's produce as possible. Trixie and Jim started on a fall crop and preparations for yet another winter in the Hell Hole. Better prepared, they hadn't touched the canned food over summer and wouldn't need much to supplement their diet during the snowy months. If their luck continued, they'd be able to survive at least another two years. Jim hoped they'd be found long before that.

September brought cooler weather and the start of their short fall growing season. By October they moved plants onto the ledge beside the heated pool to protect them from the fast approaching winter. The morning and evenings had cool significantly.

'Jim,' Trixie yelped panic filling her voice. They'd been moving the last of the vegetable's across the hole.

Doubled over in pain, the cry brought Jim's immediate attention. Rushing to her, he guided Trixie to the steps of the sleeping cave. Kneeling before her, he asked, 'what happened?'

'I don't know,' she cried, curled up into a foetal position. 'It came on suddenly. Jim, it hurts right here.'

Pointing to the right side of her abdomen, Jim recalled his basic biology lessons. Stirring in the back of his mind, he remembered Brian talking about the appendix and the issues it could cause. Racking his brain, he felt desperate to recollect the conversation. Another student in their dorm had been found in his room in much the same condition as Trixie. Taking charge, Brian immediately called an ambulance, speculating the boy had appendicitis. By the time he'd made it to the hospital, it burst causing the more deadly peritonitis. He'd been sick a long time before returning to college life.

Understanding the implications if this happened to Trixie, he scooped his wife into his arms. Taking her into the cave, Jim placed her gently on her side. Feeling her brow, it felt cool, almost clammy to his touch. Moaning in pain, Trix curled into a tighter ball.

Sitting by her side, Jim felt completely useless. They didn't even have a first aid kit or any pain relieving medications. In this position at least, Trixie appeared to be in less pain. Placing a hand gently on her hip, Jim wondered what he could do to help. Coming up empty, he realised they could only await the outcome and hope for the best.