Every time she let her fingers slip themselves under the soft ground to climb back up the side of the mountain, her body slipped a little more back down the few feet she had climbed up. It had to be over an hour now of the agent murmuring softly to her daughter, her one foot leveling herself against the ground and one lying dead so she couldn't break the bone any further.

The sky had officially blackened, and Emily had the worst trouble seeing where she was putting her hands and how close she was coming to the path.

After another few painful minutes, her eyes had adjusted enough for the FBI agent to see a few rocks embedded into the ground a few feet above her. Climbing carefully, she let her left hand hook onto the edge of the first rock and pulled herself up.

Phoenix's small eyes opened, coughing as the cold air immediately invaded her lungs.

"It's ok," Emily smiled, laughing quietly to herself as she got herself and her daughter up onto the flat rock. "Look at that," she cooed, kissing Phoenix's head, "mommy got us closer to the path."

Turning her head to take a look at the small indentation in the side of the mountain she had gotten them to, noticing it looked almost like a cave. It probably only went back three feet, but it was good enough for them to lie down in until Emily got a good portion of her strength back.

"Mommy?"

Emily scooted herself back into the impression of the rock and turned her back to the night sky, finally letting her daughter out of the carrier she had been in all day. "You do not try and walk, do you hear me?" Phoenix had just successfully walked around the house without her mother's help for the first time - her left leg had been broken due to a car crash when she was only four months old - and Emily noticed it was her daughter's new favorite activity. "You stay right here."

The one year old teared up, barely able to see her mother's face in the darkness.

"Are you hungry?" The single woman took her backpack and set it to her left, barricading her daughter into the back of the small cave so she couldn't try and get around. "Mommy packed some of your favorites." She pulled out a few crackers she had packed and handed one to her daughter. "Chew it all the way, Nikki." She watched her daughter quickly take a bite out of the whole wheat cracker, and she smoothed her dark hair back. "Now one for mommy," she whispered to herself, filling her empty stomach with a cracker for herself.

She handed another to her daughter before putting the little bag away and reaching into the front pouch of her backpack for her cell phone. As she was climbing her way back up the mountain the device hadn't rung once, so either it had died or no service was available. Only one of those she was able to fix, thanks to the portable charger she had gotten a month ago.

She pressed the home button and watched as the home screen lit up. Her heart immediately fell into her stomach, noticing that there were no bars where they were supposed to be. She couldn't even call the police or park rangers for help.

"Mommy?" Phoenix noticed her mother's sad eyes and reached forward to touch her.

Emily was quick to take her daughter's hand, holding it in hers so Phoenix didn't reach forward and touch her injured ankle. "Don't worry, mommy's ok. Are you thirsty?" Letting go of her daughter's hand and putting her phone back into her backpack before taking out the sippy cup filled with apple juice. "Here you go, baby."

Watching as the little girl sipped greedily at the juice, Emily felt her eyes sting with tears. She knew she was going to get back up to the path, there was no doubt, but how long that took and how many more injuries she would have by the end of their journey Emily didn't know.

The FBI agent took the sippy cup from her daughter, making sure there would still be enough for the next day, and put everything back into her backpack. She could feel herself shivering, the wind from the water all the way below them reaching up and biting at her skin through her jacket. Taking off her beanie, the brunette woman adjusted it onto her daughter's head to cover her ears. "How cute are you?" she smiled despite their situation.

Phoenix's eyes started drooping, and her mother was quick to take out the extra jacket from her backpack and set it up so her daughter could lie down. "Go to sleep, baby." Emily pressed a kiss to her head before she took the gloves from the front pocket of her bag, thankful the material hadn't ripped during their fall, and tied the ends of the warm material together.

Biting down hard into her lip, Emily wrapped the gloves around her ankle and tied them tight around the injured bone.

Luckily for her she'd had a lot of pain in her lifetime, and all her most likely broken ankle brought her were a few tears that gathered at the inner corners of her eyes.

She let out a breath and quickly wiped the tears away before lying herself down. Wrapping her arms around her daughter, Emily knew she needed to sleep but couldn't let her body relax. There were only about two feet left of rock behind her left, and so she moved the backpack and cemented it down with two heavy rocks. If she rolled back into the bag, there was no doubt the two of them were back to rolling down that mountain.

Emily could feel her daughter fuss lightly against her chest, and immediately her lips went to the one year old's ear. "Hush little baby," she started, singing softly to the little girl until her body stilled against hers.

Her chest ached, the brunette woman knowing that they could very well freeze in the small enclosure she'd found. She was hopeful that they'd make it back to the path, but she knew the odds were against them.

They had missed the family dinner, so someone had to be looking for them. Right?