Disclaimer: I do not own...

Author's Note: Written for the NFA Serect Santa Exchange.

'How did we get here?'

'I'm pretty sure we drove, McGee.' Tim could hear the annoyance in Tony's voice as he said that.

'That's not what I meant. Why is it always you and whoever you're with that ends up here?' Tim moaned, curling into himself in order to seek more warmth. He shook off a patch of snow that had settled on his head since he last moved.

'I don't know McGee.' Tony said, 'Maybe they just like my style.'

'You don't have style.' Tim snapped.

Tony opened his mouth to argue but a soft whimper interrupted his thoughts. 'How is she, McGee?' he asked softly.

Tim ran his eyes over the young girl lying beside him. Once again, he tested the strength of the ropes around his hands that connected him to the wall, seeing if he could release them. He hid his flinch at the pain in his right wrist when he moved it. When they didn't budge he sighed and turned to Tony who was tied in the same position he was on his other side.

'No change. She's still unconscious. But her lips are getting bluer...'

Tony took a deep breath. 'We need to get out of here. Now.'

'Good plan Tony. Now, is there anymore to this brilliant plan?' Tim said sarcastically.

'Maybe.'

Gibbs was mad.

No he had been mad ten minutes ago. Now he was furious. The director, in his infinite wisdom wanted Gibbs and Ziva to hand over their recent case to another team and go home.

'This is my case.' Gibbs snarled for his place before Vance's desk. The man himself was still seated looking a lot calmer then Gibbs.

'And you are down two people. I want to find them all as quickly as possible. It is better for you to hand this over to a fresh team with all their members who can find them as quickly do that.' Vance replied.

'But it's my team out there. My people are the ones who are missing. We would do anything to get them back and we know the case well enough to do so! You bring in a new team you will lose time bringing them up to speed.' Gibbs countered.

'You are too close.' Vance said softly.

'What?' Gibbs asked confused.

'You said it yourself; you would do anything to get them back. I know how much your people mean to you Gibbs, and I can't allow that to get in the way of finding them.'

'I've done it before, I can do it again.' Gibbs began to stare down at Vance.

'You have six hours. That will give me long enough to bring another team up to speed with the case.'

Without acknowledging Vance's offer, Gibbs swept out of the office.

He had work to do and a team to find.

'Ziva!' Gibbs bellowed as he marched into the bullpen. Ziva didn't need him to say anymore, she knew what he was asking for.

'Tony and McGee were headed for the suspect, John Winters house five hours ago. Tony called me four hours ago to complain about time wasting and McGee's slow driving. That call was cut off suddenly. I have sent the recording down to Abby.'

Gibbs frowned. 'The recording?'

Ziva looked sheepish. 'Tony and I were about to play a prank on McGee, while they stopped for coffee. Tony had me recording the call so we could use it against McGee later.'

Gibbs decided to ignore that fact for the moment and deal with Tony and Ziva later. For now, he would settle for finding his missing team.

'What else do we have?'

'John Winters is the last known person to see them before they disappeared. I plan to pay him a visit to see what he knows.'

Gibbs nodded and reached for his gear. Ziva looked slightly confused. 'If you think I'm letting another one of my member face this guy without me…'

At Ziva's understanding look Gibbs trailed off and headed for the elevator.

'I don't know anything!' John Winters cried. Ziva was standing behind him and while Gibbs wasn't sure what she was doing to him, it looked like it hurt.

They had reached his house in record time and barely waited for him to answer the door before Gibbs had John against a wall and was arresting him. Well, putting handcuffs on him. He didn't have a warrant but John didn't know that.

'You were the last one to see them. They are missing and if they're dead…' Gibbs threatened getting right in his face.

'I swear, I know nothing! That's just what I told your agents. When they had my alibi they left! I swear, that I haven't left here. Check my computer, I've been sending emails since they left.'

At Gibbs look, Ziva passed John to him and went and check the still running computer. 'He is telling the truth, Gibbs. There are at least a dozen emails sent in the last hour.'

With a growl, Gibbs undid the handcuffs. John began to rub his hands, even as he moved swiftly away from the pair of agents.

'See. Now, would you please leave?'

Gibbs stormed out of the house, Ziva hot on his heels. When they reached the car Gibbs turned to Ziva.

'What coffee place were they going to?' Ziva blinked for a second, processing this. 'Ziva! Where were they going?'

'Umm…' Ziva dug into her memory banks and recalled the place Tony had mentioned. She then had to hop into the car as it began to move. Gibbs wasn't waiting for her.

He has to find his team.

'So what is this brilliant plan of yours?' Tim demands. It's been ages since Tony last spoke and Tim can see their companion's lips are getting bluer. They need to escape now.

'Shh. I'm still thinking.'

'You've been doing that for ages.'

'Can't you be more precise than 'ages', McGee?'

Tim grimaced. 'No, my watch was broken in the crash. Along with the wrist.'

'Your wrist is broken?' there was anger in Tony's voice and it was nearly enough to cover the concern there as well. 'Why didn't you mention it before?'

'Because it didn't matter. Doesn't matter. We can't do anything about it.'

'I'm your partner McGee. I need to know things like this!'

Tim turned to look Tony in the eyes. 'I didn't know you cared. Weren't you planning on embarrassing me at the coffee shop?'

'How did you know about that?'

Tim looked slightly sheepish. 'Abby. You know she can't keep a secret. She texted me while we were at Winter's place. Just to warn me.'

Tony blinked. He opened his mouth to reply though he wasn't sure what he going to say when an idea finally came to him. 'Tim, how broken is your arm?'

Tim gave him an odd look. 'I'm not sure… it hurts a lot.'

'But it's your right wrist, correct?'

'Yes…'

'Think if I move my leg close to your left hand you will be able to reach down and grab the knife in the sock without hurting yourself?'

Tim's eyes opened as he realise what Tony's plan was. 'I think so…'

With a bit of shuffling, a few muttered curses as their frozen limbs protested at the movements and a sudden gasp from Tim when he moved his right wrist slightly and they were in position. Tim slowly reached down and his fingertips scraped against the knife in Tony's sock. Grunting with the effort he reached further and managed to get a shaky grip on the knife.

Carefully he removed the knife and pulled it up to his bonds. It took a bit of twisting and turning his wrist and there was a heart stopping second when Tim nearly dropped the knife but he managed to cut the rope around his wrists. As soon as his right wrist was free it began to throb but he ignored it so as to free Tony who was watching him with desperate eyes.

Tucking his wrist against his chest, Tim freed Tony and then moved to see if he could help the little girl. He knelt by her left side and checked her pulse one handed. Somewhere on the way down he dropped the knife.

'McGee, you got your phone on you?' Tony asked bending down on the other side of the little girl. He picked the knife up and freed her as he spoke.

Tim checked his pockets. 'No, I don't. Whoever has us must have taken them when they removed us from the car wreckage.'

Tony nodded and picked up the little girl bridal style, ignoring the twinge in his left side. He remembered being hit by something there in the crash and it was obvious he had some kind of injury there. But like Tim's wrist, it didn't matter…

'Tony, are you alright?' Tim had noticed his flinch. I must be getting sloppy in my old age.

'I'm fine McGee. Come on; let's get out of here before our dirt bag comes after us again.'

Tim looked around at the old barn they had been staying in. With the holes in the roof and broken windows it had made him sure they were miles from civilisation. He wasn't very happy when they left the barn to find that he had been right.

They were in the middle of a field with no house in sight. There was what looked to be a burnt ruin hidden by snow a few fields over so Tim figured that had been the house. And all around the fields was forest.

There wasn't even a road.

'This is the middle of nowhere!' Tim complained.

Tony grimaced in agreement. 'Well they had to bring us in somehow so let's see if we can find that. It should lead us to the road.' He shuffled the girl in his arms.

'Do you need help?'

'From you McGeek? I don't think so. I'm fine. Besides, you couldn't carry anything with that wrist of yours.'

Tim huffed, but secretly agreed with the wisdom of Tony's words. Slowly they walked around the barn until Tim was able to spot tyre marks.

'There Tony!' in his excitement he went to point with his right hand and hissed when he moved it. Tony gave him a quick glare at his stupidity, and then moved towards the marks. But instead of stepping into them he slipped into the forest beside them.

'What are you doing?' Tim asked two steps behind him.

'Think McSilly. If we walk along the tyre tracks and our anonymous bad guys come back, we won't get any warning and we'll be deer in their headlights. This way, we can see the marks and follow them to the road but not have any risk.'

'Oh. Right.'

Tim wasn't sure how long they had been walking for. Ten minutes? Twenty minutes? Five minutes? It was all melting together into a huge undefined length of time. He just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually they would get somewhere…

Suddenly ahead of him, Tony seemed to pause. Then his legs folded underneath him and he and the girl toppled to the ground. Tim froze for a moment then he dashed to Tony's side, dropping to his knees by Tony's side. He quickly saw that Tony was unconscious and very, very pale.

'Tony!' Tim frantically looked for a reason for Tony's collapse and his eyes were drawn to Tony's left side where he could swear Tony's shirt was a little red…

He placed his hand there and his eyes widened when he saw the blood covering it.

'Tony…' he whispered. Without thinking he pulled his coat off, hissing in pain when it dragged over his arm. In fact, he had to bite his lip so as to not pass out. As soon as it was free of his body, he used his good hand to hold it tightly against Tony's wound.

Suddenly he heard a car engine. Startled, he turned around to see a car pass behind him on the tracks they had been following.

Tim's blood ran cold. It was only a matter of time before whoever had him noticed they were missing and searched the area. They hadn't hid their tracks; it would be so easy to follow them in the snow. Tim desperately searched his mind, trying to come up with a way out of this.

He had two ideas. One was to leave Tony and try to get and help and hope he got back before they found him or he died.

The other was far more risky, which was saying something and yet, so much more appealing as an option.

Donald Williamson was a good man in his mother's eyes. He always helped her out with her shopping or housework, always had a smile and especially loved to help out his brother with his children.

To most parents, he was the creepily guy you told your child to steer clear of. He was the figure of nightmares.

His two buddies, Thom and Greg had met him down the pub. After a few beers they had started complaining to him about the annoying little girl next door. Jokingly, Don, as he had introduced himself, had asked them if they wanted to be rid of her. They had said yes.

The next day the neighbourhood had been up in arms, searching for the little girl. Thom and Greg had been so distressed Thom had thrown up and Greg had become paranoid. They didn't remember much of the night before but there had definitely been a screaming girl in it somewhere.

But as the weeks went by and nothing happened to them they began to relax. More of the detail of that night came to mind and the pair began to enjoy what had happened. One night, about a month later they had returned to the pub of that night. Don had been there, waiting.

That night they had been almost sober when they killed the girl. They ignored the fact Don had spent an awful long time alone with her… it didn't matter.

It had become a ritual, a monthly thing they did with Don. Except this month Don had asked if they could wait a little to kill the girl. He wanted to try something.

Now they had a bunch of Feds on their tail, two of whom had crashed their car right by the house they kept the girl in.

Then they had pulled a disappearing act. Or tried to. Their footprints stood out in the snow, as did the slight trail of blood by one set of prints. Don was leading the chase, jogging slightly while Thom and Greg struggled to keep up.

Suddenly, they spotted a prone figure with their girl lying beside him. Don smiled, and broke into a run.

Only to walk into the fist of the second agent that he had forgotten about. He went down like a stone and the man took advantage of Thom and Greg's shock to quickly search and relieve Don of his weapon. Shakily, he raised the gun with his left hand and pointed it at the two men.

'Freeze, Federal Agent.'

Thom and Greg froze for a second, before Thom burst out into laughter.

'You are going to try to subdue us? With a gun in one hand?' he continued laughing, 'Sorry to tell you, but there are two of us and you are injured. What are you going to do?'

The man smiled. Then he went white, and began to wobble. Hardly believing their luck, Thom took a step forward as the man collapsed.

Only to freeze at the sound of a gun cocking.

'You're a hero Tim.'

'No I'm not! Tony is!' Tim was getting sick of this argument. Ever since he had woken up in hospital with a broken arm, internal bleeding, hypothermia and one hell of a headache Abby had been calling him that. And while she agreed Tony, who was also wake if still a little weak from blood loss, was a hero; she also seemed to think Tim was one too.

Tim wasn't a hundred per cent sure how he had gotten out of the situation he remembered; only that Ziva and Gibbs had showed up at the right time. They weren't exactly for coming with the details but Tim was sure Ziva would tell him later. When he wasn't stuck in hospital.

'Hey, Probie!' Tim looked up at the doorway to see Tony be wheeled into his room.

'Tony? Why are you here?'

'Are you kidding? It's boring in my room and its Christmas. I figured you might be a little down…'

Abby jumped up. 'Oh that's so sweet Tony! And look what I brought. I had almost forgotten it!' she pulled out a portable DVD player of her bag and placed it on Tim's bed. Abby then wheeled Tony so he was beside the bed. 'We can have a Christmas movie marathon!'

Abby threw a bunch of DVDs beside the DVD player. Smiling at her enthusiasm Tim grabbed a random movie and put it on. Abby sat on the edge of the bed, positioned so she could see the movie.

And Tim and Tony both smirked when the movie turned out to be It's a Wonderful Life. Gibbs found them like this two hours later, all asleep and peaceful.

'Merry Christmas, my heroes.'