Kensi went and scooped up water to bring to Jack. He gulped it down, then thanked her quietly. For a few moments, they spoke no words but still communicated volumes. Then he spoke.

"Who knows you're here?"

She explained that her unit knew she was here, but she had told no one about her quest to come looking for him. Her eyes dropped, knowing now was the time to explain her mission, and find out what was fact and what was fiction.

"My mission was to kill you," she choked out, pouring out everything about the White Ghost and begging for it to not be true. He admitted that yes, he had helped the CIA and the locals, but insisted he wasn't helping the Taliban - only his village. At that single word, Kensi snapped, and forgot about needing to solve the White Ghost mystery. What she needed now was the explanation she so desperately sought - answers to the questions that had plagued her for the last nine years.

And answer he did. He poured out the story of how he had to return to Afghanistan, to find peace. He converted to Islam, remarried and fathered a child, then lost his cherished wife. At that point he cooperated with the CIA just enough to protect his new home, his new friends and family... But he became a liability and now they wanted him dead so he was no longer a loose end to tie up. The White Ghost story was their way of legitimising his murder.

Kensi couldn't even feel relief at his explanation. No, he has not turned into a violent traitor but to Kensi the truth hurt just as much. He had not only left her... but he had left his life behind and become someone else entirely. Someone else who could find love and marry and father a child. He had the life she had so desperately wanted for him... but with another woman. She cried silently as he offered his explanation of the last nine years and the predicament they now found themselves in. And finally, he apologised for everything... for leaving, and for causing her to put her job and her life on the line to get the answers he had denied her. And then they sat in silence, processing everything that had brought them to that point.

The man from the previous night returned, and dropped two plates with a scant amount of food on them. He snapped something in Pashto that Kensi didn't understand, and Jack declined to translate. She felt the overwhelming urge to fight, or at least spit at the man, but Jack calmed her with a glance as he handed her the plate.

"You need to eat. Your stomach is growling loud enough to wake the dead. And it never pays to bite the hand that feeds you," he told her quietly. She nodded in agreement but they both knew it was forced. They quickly ate the food they had been given, and within minutes they both fell asleep.

Kensi woke with a start, and knew immediately she had been drugged. The dizzy, woozy feeling after having slept solidly for a long period of time wasn't quite familiar - but she had had a few hangovers before, and interviewed many people who had likened the experience of being drugged to the worst hangover ever. It described her feelings exactly. She cursed under her breath as she tried to pull herself up.

"It's ok, Kensi, you're ok," Jack reassured her.

"Helliam," she managed to mumble. "Food drugged," she told him desperately.

"I know. Mine was too. But it wears off quickly. You'll be fine in a few minutes," he reassured her. She eyed him suspiciously.

"How are you so calm?" she asked. "They drugged us! Who knows what they gave us or what the long term effects are?" she growled, clutching her stomach as she felt it roll and tumble before growling loudly.

"The Taliban is fond of using benzodiazepines to subdue their captives. They wear off quickly and don't have many side effects," Jack explained. "It's ok, Kensi, I promise." She glared at him, finally sitting upright and resting her head between her knees. As if on cue, one of their captors entered and dropped two more plates on the floor, leaving wordlessly. Kensi eyed the food, feeling incredibly hungry but not willing to trust it. She went over to the basin in the corner to drink some water, but suddenly it occurred to her that they could drug that as well. She dropped the scoop back without drinking.

"Kensi, you have to eat and drink. Yes, they drugged us, but there are much worse things they could do. You still need your strength and dehydration will kill you before any amount of drug they hide in our food or water," he insisted, eating from his own plate. Then he got up and had a long drink of water. "If you don't believe me, just watch and wait. If I'm unconscious in an hour, it was drugged. Otherwise, you have to eat and drink," he suggested forcefully. She nodded, still not trusting the food and beginning to wonder if she could even trust Jack. As the dizziness wore off and she was able to sit upright and think coherently, she could still feel him watching her. She glared, and then pulled out her piece of wire and began to fiddle with the lock again.

The silence hung over them heavily. Kensi was angry, and Jack knew better than to say anything that might piss her off more. Even chained, he expected she was a force to be reckoned with. Although she was still a student when he left, he knew she was single mindedly focused on becoming an NCIS agent and had devoted all her free time to training. Clearly it had paid off, and she obviously worked in a military job and had been selected as a sniper for this mission. He didn't dare imagine what skills she had acquired or improved in the past nine years. Given her determination, he was sure she could be deadly if she wanted to be. She sighed, frustrated at the lock that wouldn't give, and obviously hungry but wary. He employed the only technique he could think of - giving her time and space.

His inner clock was thrown off without any visible daylight, but he supposed this time was as good as any for morning prayers, so he turned himself in the direction of Mecca and knelt to pray. Surprisingly Kensi did not interrupt, but only spoke when he was finished.

"Will your tribe come to save you?" she asked. When he shook his head, she continued. "Well, mine will. And I want to be ready." He managed not to scoff out loud, but in his experience, the American military had little interest in those captured - they wrote them off as dead. No one even knew Kensi had gone after him and she was more likely to be declared UA than missing, but he knew that she needed hope and chose to say nothing. Instead, he just watched as she continued to fight with the lock.

"I have renounced violence," he told her, and she looked at him as if he was mad.

"Even to save your own life?" she asked incredulously. He nodded and he could have sworn he saw her roll her eyes. "What about God helps those who help themselves?" she asked. He replied with the verse from the Qur'an which corresponded and she nodded firmly, still frustrated at his complacency. Suddenly her eyes lit up with a new idea. He was sceptical as she explained, but was set to cooperate anyway and began to tug off his clothes to throw in the fire as she had suggested.

Suddenly their captors returned, dousing the fire and dragging him away, leaving Kensi behind, crying pitifully.

"Jack! Jack..." Her strangled voice and sobs were the last thing he heard from her as he was dragged away.