Ant and Dec kept their distance from each other for a while,both respecting that the other may just need a little bit of privacy to be alone with their thoughts.

Ant would glance over at Dec every now and again,just to keep an eye on him.

He noticed that Dec had spent the best part of the last hour,fiddling with leaves.

That was ok though,if that's what Dec wanted to do,there was no harm in it,there wasn't much else for him to do right now anyway.

Ant soon decided that they had been apart for long enough and desperately wanted to go over to check up on Dec,Dec could tell him to get lost if he still wanted to be alone after all.

"Hey" Ant greeted his friend warmly "you ok?"

"Guess so" Dec nodded.

"Brought you some chocolate over" Ant stated as he sat down beside Dec "we've only had half an apple each in the last twenty four hours"

"Funnily enough" Dec replied "I haven't had much of an appetite today"

"Me neither" Ant sighed "but we need to eat something and I think the sugar fix might be just what we need"

Ant opened the small bar of chocolate and passed a piece to Dec.

"You might want to try sucking it to make it last longer" Ant suggested.

Dec did exactly as Ant said and both boys closed their eyes and sucked on the decadent piece of confectionary,appreciating every delicious moment as it melted in their mouths.

"One more piece each" Ant stated "then I think we'd better save the rest"

"That's the best chocolate I ever tasted" Dec smiled.

"That's cos you're famished" Ant informed him "stale bread would probably taste great right now"

"True" Dec smiled.

"You ok now?" Ant asked concerned.

"I will be" Dec nodded and wiped his sweaty brow "it's so bloody hot"

"What's that?" Ant noticed something on Decs wrist.

"Oh nothing much" Dec grinned "just made a bracelet out of leaves,keeps falling off though"

"Here" Ant laughed "I'll tie it on properly for you"

Ant proceeded to carefully secure the delicate leaves that Dec had crafted into a circle around his wrist.

"I've made one for you too" Dec beamed,while holding up the other piece of makeshift jewellery.

"That's cute Decs" Ant laughed "but we're not thirteen year old girls"

"Just humour me" Dec shrugged "they probably won't last more than a day anyway"

"It's very nice Declan" Ant grinned,as he held his wrist up to admire the gift "thank you"

"You're welcome" Dec giggled,then let out a huge sigh.

"Why do you think it's taking them so long to find us?" He questioned "where can we possibly be that it's so difficult for the search party to locate us?"

"No idea" Ant replied as he watched the sun begin to set "but it looks like we are probably going to be here for at least another night"

"Should we let off another flare?" Dec asked.

"Maybe" Ant nodded "but when it gets dark,I assume they can be seen better then"

"Yeah" Dec agreed "hopefully this one will be noticed"

"Hope so" Ant smiled "but if it's not,we should save the other two until we see a ship or something"

"A ship?" Dec asked surprised "do you really think we're near a shipping lane?"

Ant knew that was very unlikely and he was probably clutching at straws,but he needed some kind of positivity to hold on to,to keep Decs spirits up.

"You never know" Ant shrugged.

"God I'm knackered" Dec yawned.

"Yeah,me too" Ant replied "was exhausting digging that bloody hole"

"Guess we should try and get some sleep tonight then?" Dec enquired.

"Definitely" Ant agreed "don't know where though,guess we should have built a shelter or something?"

"You'd have had the energy for that after today?" Dec frowned.

"Nah" Ant shook his head "guess we'll just sleep on the ground then,we'll be fine as long as it doesn't rain,then maybe we can build something tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah?" Dec laughed "you know how to do that do you?"

"Nope" Ant replied "but we can figure it out"

"We?" Dec grinned.

"Yes...we" Ant laughed "don't think you're leaving all the hard work to me while we're stuck here,you can leave your spoilt youngest child syndrome at the door"

"Hey" Dec yelled,with mock offence "that's not fair"

"Isn't it?" Ant winked "I think even your Mam would agree with me that you're spoilt and she was the one who did the spoiling"

"Yeah,alright" Dec laughed "maybe I am spoilt"

"Well" Ant continued "you won't have any choice but to toughen up while we're here,will ya?"

"Oh God" Dec grimaced "please let us be rescued tomorrow"

"We don't have that much food left" Ant frowned "a packet of crisps,one apple and half a bar of chocolate"

"Well,we've hardly eaten anything" Dec pointed out "I now understand how those poor celebrities feel in camp"

"At least they have rice and beans" Ant replied "I wouldn't mind some of that right now"

"Or a nice juicy steak" Dec grinned.

"Yeah" Ant laughed "I tell you what,how about we have the apple before we go to bed..."

"Bed?" Dec interrupted "I wish we had a bed"

"Ok" Ant corrected himself "before we go to sleep then,at least having a bit of food in our stomachs might help us get some sleep,then we've still got some crisps and chocolate left for tomorrow"

"And then what?" Dec asked.

"What do you mean?" Ant asked curiously.

"Well" Dec replied "once that's all gone and we still haven't been rescued,what will we eat?"

"Dunno" Ant shrugged "catch some fish maybe?"

"Oh yeah?" Dec laughed "how are you going to do that?gonna catch them with your bare hands are you?"

"I don't know Decs" Ant sighed "I'm too tired to even think about it right now,tomorrow is a new day,I'll figure it out then"

"There might be some kind of fruit trees here" Dec mused.

"Yeah,that's true" Ant nodded "let's try and get some sleep shall we?and we'll sort it out tomorrow"

"It's practically dark now" Dec observed "we gonna let off this flare then?"

"Yeah" Ant agreed "then I need to sleep"

"Where?" Dec frowned.

"I don't care" Ant replied "as long as I get some rest"

The boys were soon letting off their second flare,watching it soar into the sky,as they both said a silent prayer for it to be seen.

"That's that then" Dec announced,as the last orange glow disappeared from the sky.

"Yep" Ant nodded "some ship or boat may be on it's way to us right now"

"Hope so" Dec smiled "we sleeping on the beach then?"

"Yeah,I think we should" Ant replied "then they'll be able to spot us easily"

"We're gonna be bloody freezing again" Dec complained.

"I know" Ant sighed "but at least we've got that blanket and Andys jacket now its dried out"

"Yeah" Dec agreed.

They knew now that it would be ridiculous to refuse to use Andys belongings while they were in such dire straits,they were also pretty sure that Andy would want them to as well.

"Shouldn't we build a fire?" Dec asked "we've got those matches"

"Probably" Ant sighed "but we don't have any wood and I don't particularly want to go hunting for some right now,do you?"

"Tomorrow then?" Dec replied "if we're still here"

"Yeah,tomorrow" Ant agreed as he took their second and final apple out of the bag,before biting into it and passing it to Dec.

After they'd shared the one solitary piece of fruit,they set up their makeshift bed on the beach.

"How does that look?" Ant smiled after he'd laid the blanket on the sand and placed Andys jacket at the top of it to use as a pillow.

"Fine,I guess" Dec shrugged "so this is for both of us?"

"Yeah,of course it is" Ant replied "unless you want to go and sleep in the forest by yourself?"

"Umm...no" Dec answered sheepishly.

"You scared of the forest Decs?" Ant grinned.

"No" Dec snapped back "I just might look out for boats if I can't sleep"

"Of course you will" Ant teased,as he lifted the blanket up and laid down on the sand "it's quite cosy actually,you getting in?"

"Isn't it a bit weird?" Dec frowned.

"Don't be ridiculous Declan" Ant laughed "it's just survival,I promise I won't pounce on you in the middle of the night"

Ant was right,Dec thought,he was being ridiculous,Ant was his best friend after all and they'd shared a bed many times before in their younger days.

"Just no spooning me ok?" Dec ordered as he climbed in next to Ant.

"Well,I'm not promising anything" Ant laughed.

As the two men lay on the sand,gazing up at the clear,star filled sky,Dec had one thing on his mind.

"The news has got to be going crazy by now" he sighed "this is our second night missing"

"Yeah" Ant agreed "everyone must be going through hell,I just wish they knew we were ok"

"Me too" Dec sighed "I wonder if our families will fly out here?"

"What?you mean our Mams?" Ant mused.

"Well,Ali and Anne-Marie are already here" Dec pointed out "I wouldn't be surprised if Mam was on the first flight over when she heard the news,your Mam too probably,I bet they're already here"

"Yeah" Ant replied "and all your brothers and sisters"

Dec had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Martin will probably insist on joining the search party" Dec grinned "even though he has absolutely no experience of being at sea"

"And Pat probably" Ant giggled "knowing how tough your sister is"

"Oh definitely" Dec nodded "tough as old boots that one"

"Not like you" Ant teased.

"No,definitely not like me" Dec smiled "sensitive little soul I am"

"And I wouldn't have you any other way" Ant laughed.

"Getting cold again isn't it?" Dec shivered.

Ant nodded silently in agreement.

"I don't understand that" Dec continued.

"What's that?" Ant asked curiously.

"How some countries are baking hot during the day" Dec continued "but bloody freezing at night,it just doesn't make sense to me,it's not like that in England"

"No,it's bloody freezing all the time in England" Ant laughed.

"Wish I was there right now though" Dec sighed.

"Yeah,me too" Ant replied "guess we should try and get some sleep and maybe we'll wake up to some smiling faces with warm drinks,ready to take us back to the hotel"

"Let's hope so" Dec smiled.

"And Dec" Ant went on.

"What?" Dec replied.

"If you get cold during the night" Ant smiled "please snuggle up to me,I really don't mind,it'll keep us both warm"

"Thanks Ant" Dec replied.

Dec had never been so grateful for his amazing,caring,understanding best friend as he was in that precise moment.

"I will!"