Chapter 2

Tony sighed with relief as the ambulance pulled away.

"Man, Boss... That was...bad."

"Bad, how?" Ellie asked. "Worse than him being trapped in a cave under a pile of rocks for a day and a half?"

"Yeah, worse than that, Ellie."

"How?"

"He was so...afraid. Every word he said was... He was terrified. He was in a lot of pain, but more than anything...he was just terrified. He kept disconnecting and he kept asking for me to talk. Over and over, he asked that. Oh, man." He rubbed his hand over his head.

"Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked away from Tony and to the local LEO who had come to help.

"What is it?"

"I think you should see this."

"What?"

"That wasn't a normal cave collapse. Not even close."

Gibbs looked at Tony and Ellie and they all followed him back to the cave. The LEO led them to the rock pile.

"These rocks aren't native to this cave. They're native to the area, but not in here. And then...there's wood. In the pile."

"Meaning?"

"This was a booby-trap. An old one, unless I miss my guess. I think that, when we clear all these rocks out, we'll find a trip line or something that will show how Agent McGee triggered it. It was probably a one-in-a-million chance that he set it off."

"Lucky Tim," Tony said grimly.

"Yeah...but the real luck is that he didn't get killed by this. There was some prospecting that happened in this area back in the 1800s. Some people got pretty possessive of their claims."

Tony shook his head and sighed.

"Why were you guys here, anyway?"

"Checking out a tip. Tim was going to check out the cave. We hadn't even planned on going in very far, just enough to see where there was to go. Tim was ahead of me and...and I had to stop to change the batteries in my flashlight."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Wait up, McGee!"

Tim looked back and laughed.

"Scared of the cave, Tony?" he asked.

"No, but I do want to have light."

"Me, too. I've got my light."

Tim flicked his flashlight on and shined it at Tony's face. Then, he headed in. Tony quickly got his batteries replaced and started for the entrance.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"And then, the cave was falling in. I heard Tim shout something, but then, nothing."

"You want to get to the hospital, that's fine by me. We'll keep cleaning up and documenting what we're doing."

Tony looked at Gibbs.

"All right. We'll go and check on McGee and then, Ellie and I will come back to help."

They headed to the hospital.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Agent McGee is in surgery. There was a lot of damage in his ankle and lower leg. They needed to do some internal fixation, and there was some indications of compartment syndrome."

Tony's expression was blank. The nurse smiled sympathetically.

"When part of the body experiences a reduction in circulation for long periods of time, it can cause a lot of damage if they don't address it. Pressure builds up in that area and can cause permanent damage if they miss it. Also, they have to worry about infection. So it's serious, but they should be done in an hour or so if you want to wait. It'll take some time before he's out of recovery."

"Agent DiNozzo will wait and let us know," Gibbs said.

"Okay. I'll make sure someone lets you know when you can go back."

"Thanks."

"Ellie and I will go back to the scene. You wait here."

"Will do."

"But call us when you know," Ellie said. "Okay? Call!"

"I'll call."

"Good."

Tony watched them go and then sat down on a chair to wait. As he waited he couldn't help but remember how tense Tim had been. He hadn't been able to do anything, but at one point, Tim had suddenly sucked in a deep breath and then started hyperventilating. Tony had reached out to calm him down and Tim had grabbed his hand, whispering something about not being alone in the dark. Seeing his crushed foot had been bad, disgusting, actually...but it was nothing compared to Tim's terror.

The sooner he saw Tim not looking like he was a step away from a meltdown, the better.

"Agent DiNozzo?"

Tony stood up.

"Agent McGee is starting to wake up, but he seems bothered about something. I think a familiar voice might help calm him down."

"Okay."

As he walked back to recovery with the nurse, he wondered what had Tim upset now? Was it just coming out of anesthesia?

"Did the surgery go okay?" he asked.

"Yes. Agent McGee has a long way to go before he's fully recovered, but they were able to set the bones and repair the damage...so far. It remains to be seen if there was nerve damage in addition to the broken bones and tendons."

Tony nodded, wincing in sympathy. There was no reason to expect anything other than a long recovery period after what had happened, but he was sure Tim would hate being held back by it.

Tim was only barely awake in the bed, but he was trying to open his eyes and he did seem more than a little distressed.

"Hey, Tim. Calm down. You don't have to do anything but relax."

Tim mumbled something incomprehensible. Clearly, he wasn't fully out of the anesthesia. At the nurse's gesture, he sat down by Tim and put his hand on Tim's shoulder.

"Hey, Probie, it's okay. Surgery went fine and you just have to wait for your leg to heal now."

Tim kept mumbling incoherently and so Tony kept talking to him until he slipped back into sleep.

"Thank you, Agent DiNozzo. Would you mind staying with him until he wakes up completely? I think it'll help."

"Of course not. Sure, I'll stay."

"Thank you."

Tony sat beside Tim in recovery and then, when they moved him into a regular room, he went with him and stayed there. He called Gibbs and let him know that Tim was out of surgery but a little disoriented and then he sat and waited for Tim to wake up.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim suddenly realized he was in darkness. Alone. It was too quiet. So quiet. Silent.

Frightening.

He'd had that hallucination of getting out of the cave, but clearly he was back in it. The flashlight had gone out completely and he was stuck in the dark, alone. He started to pull at his trapped leg.

"Hey, hey, Tim. Calm down!"

Tim couldn't help it. He let out a whimper. He wasn't able to move at all now.

"I'm right here. You're okay. But you need to stop moving around. You're going to hurt yourself."

He knew that voice. "T-Tony?"

"Yeah."

"I can't see you."

"That's because your eyes are closed, Probie."

Tim realized that, yes, his eyes were closed and he felt really stupid. He opened them and had to blink more than a little at the bright light all around him. After a few seconds, his eyes started adjusting to the light and he could see more details.

Like Tony, standing over him, smiling like usual.

"Better?" Tony asked.

"I'm not in the cave," he said.

"No. You're not. You're in the next worst thing: a hospital."

"It wasn't a dream."

"No. It wasn't a dream, Tim."

Tim took a deep breath and sternly told himself to stop being stupid.

"What happened? I mean...with my leg."

"They had to put in some plates and stuff to fix the bones. You'll be in a cast for a while. It'll take some physical therapy and stuff, and then, you'll be back to normal."

"How long?" Tim asked.

"It might be a few months before you're ready to start running again, Tim."

"Months?"

"Yeah...but as soon as you're up to it, you can come back to NCIS and be on desk duty!"

Tim nodded, but in his head, he'd started thinking about all that time alone...waiting to be back at work...alone with no company. In all that silence.

"Hey, Tim...you all right?"

"Sure...yeah. Except for, you know, the screws and stuff in my leg," Tim said, forcing a smile.

"So...head's all screwed on straight?"

"It wasn't before?"

"Not quite. You were acting a little weird, but you were stuck in a rock pile. So I think you're forgiven."

"Thanks. Yeah, I think so." He looked at his casted leg. "How long will I be in the hospital...do you know?"

"No, I don't, but now that you're thinking straight again, I'll get back to the cave and we'll figure out what happened."

"You're going?" Tim asked, feeling terrified at the prospect.

"Yeah. Unless you need me to do something."

Tim felt too embarrassed to admit that he was still scared of being alone. He shook his head.

"No. Just...jealous."

Tony furrowed his brow.

"You sure, Tim? I can stay if..."

"No. That's... It's fine, Tony. I just don't want to be stuck in a hospital bed doing nothing." Hearing nothing. Seeing no one.

"I don't blame you, Tim. We'll come by and visit tonight."

"Okay. See you later, then," Tim said.

Tony smiled and left the room. As soon as he was alone, Tim felt himself starting to get afraid again. He tried not to start panicking. Even with the clicks and hums of the hospital, it was too quiet.

Then, just before he freaked out, the door to his room opened and a medical-looking person came in.

"Agent McGee, good to see you awake. Agent DiNozzo told me that you'd rejoined us."

Tim nodded. He didn't think he could speak without his voice shaking.

"Good. Now, given the length of time you were stuck in the cave..."

"How long was it?" Tim asked, realizing suddenly that he had no idea.

"A little over a day. It could have been worse, but your ankle was badly broken. There were some crushing injuries and we want to make sure that nothing goes wrong before we send you home. Also, we checked for any head injury and in spite of that large knot on your head, you seem to have come out of it all right. The biggest issue is, of course, your ankle. It could take a long time before you're fully recovered, but in a few months, you'll be walking around and maybe even running some."

"Some?" Tim asked.

"Yes. We don't want to risk a relapse by having you put too much pressure on it too early."

"No. We don't."

The doctor smiled.

"So, all you need to do is relax for the next day or two, Agent McGee. Staff will be in and out to check on your progress, but you'll have the room all to yourself for now. We don't have many other patients at the moment."

Tim knew that was supposed to be a good thing, but he wanted nothing less. Still, he gave the expected nod and watched the doctor leave.

Then, the silence descended once more. Tim was ready to panic, but he saw the remote control. With desperation, he grabbed for it and turned on the TV. He couldn't get any channels except QVC and ZNN, but he didn't care. All he wanted was sound. Anything to distract him from the fact that he was alone.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The team visited him. His family came and visited. Tim was in the hospital for two days. He had a prescription for antibiotics to help fight infection. He had scheduled visits so they could check his leg. It would be six weeks before he would be able to start the real physical therapy. Until then, he was stuck on crutches, not allowed to put any weight on his leg.

He pretended to be bothered by the limits his injury put on him whenever anyone asked him about how he was doing. He didn't tell them how much he hated being alone in his apartment. He didn't say anything about the feeling of oppression he felt whenever he was left with only the silence.

He hated going to sleep because, all too often, he dreamed of the silence and darkness. He couldn't sleep with the lights off. He couldn't sleep with the silence. He had the TV on whenever he was at home. Not even his record collection was any help because there were no words, just music.

Even a return to NCIS wasn't enough because there were times when he was alone. The only reason no one noticed was because Tim could always find someone and have an excuse for talking to them. He was bored. He needed to get up and around. He needed a break from staring at the computer screen. They were believable. No one thought twice about it.

But, for Tim, his life had been distilled down to a fear of being alone when he was home and a fear of someone realizing what a wimp he was when he was at work.

All in all, he felt awful most of the time and he just hoped it would resolve itself...when his ankle was better. That was all he needed. He just needed to heal and then, he'd be fine.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

One month later...

"You're getting pretty good on those crutches, Agent McGee," Henry said as he passed Tim in.

"I hate them," Tim said. "I can't wait until I can do something more than hobble around."

"Well, no one will fault you for using the elevator."

Tim forced a smile, not willing to reveal that he hated taking the elevator. Thankfully, it was a short ride.

He crutched over to the elevator and got on. It began to rise. Tim counted the seconds. He knew how long it took.

...and then, the elevator lights flickered.

Tim looked around apprehensively.

"No. Keep going. You're almost there."

The elevator didn't listen to him. It jolted to a stop and the emergency lights came on.

He was trapped.