Ant opened his eyes for a brief moment.

Where was he?

His weak state meant he was confused and scared and he thought he heard voices in the distance,or was that just his mind playing tricks on him?

He had a vague recollection of thinking he was coming to the end of his life...had he passed over to the other side during the night?

Had his body finally given up after all the wear and tear of the last few weeks?Had it succumbed to hypothermia?He knew that was coming after all.

Ant didn't have the answers to any of those questions and quietly slipped back to sleep,drifting in and out of consciousness,waiting for the inevitable.

"Alright mate,we've got you"

Ant just about managed to open his eyes very slightly and was baffled by the shadow of a man leaning over him.

"You're going to be ok" the man said.

Ant stared back at him,not sure if he was real or a figment of his imagination.

"Am...am I dead?" Ant croaked through his incredibly dry throat "are you God?"

"No" the man smiled "I'm Bernie,I'm the skipper of that ship over there"

He pointed to a cargo ship nearby.

"And this here is Daniel" Bernie said,nodding towards his companion.

Bernie and Daniel were stood in a small lifeboat,that was gently bumping into the pedalo.

"Do you think you can get up?" Bernie asked "we need to get you back to the ship"

"I'm alive?" Ant asked,feeling slightly bewildered "You're here to save us?"

"Yes,you're alive" Bernie nodded "I know you must be feeling very confused at the moment,that'll be a mixture of the sun,then the cold and a lack of food and water by the look of you both,but you'll be alright,we're going to get you home"

"Dec?" Ant asked suddenly.

"Is that your buddy here?" Bernie looked in Decs direction.

"Yeah" Ant whispered "is he...?"

"He's alive too" Bernie assured him "but not for much longer if we don't get him back to the ship and warmed up"

"What's happening?" Ant asked.

Ants physical and mental condition was making it hard for him to piece events together,he still wasn't sure what had happened previously or where he was,until memories of the last few weeks gradually started returning and it all made sense.

"Let's get you both back first shall we?" Bernie smiled warmly "get a hot drink inside you,then we can have a chat"

Bernie and Dan helped Ant into the lifeboat,before precariously climbing onto the pedalo to retrieve Dec

As they did so,Dec began to stir.

"Dec,Dec" Ant muttered "wake up"

Dec gently fluttered his eyelids open as he was being carefully laid down in the lifeboat.

"Ant?" He mumbled.

"I'm here pal" Ant smiled "we're being rescued"

"Huh?" Dec whispered.

"Don't worry son" Dan smiled concerned "you're going to be fine"

Soon Ant and Dec were being helped on board the ship by Bernie,Dan and other crew members,who were standing by with medical supplies.

Ant and Dec were immediately enveloped in foil blankets to warm them up and given sips of hot,sweet tea to drink.

"Just as well we got to you when we did" Bernie nodded,as he held the mug to Decs lips "I doubt you would have survived much longer out there"

"No" Dec shook his head.

"Can you hold this?" Bernie asked,placing the mug in front of Decs hands.

Dec nodded and took the drink.

"Here" Dan interrupted,handing Ant and Dec a small bar of chocolate each "try and eat this,it'll help,as long as you can swallow ok?don't force it if you can't"

The boys gratefully accepted the chocolate and started to nibble cautiously,appreciating the sweet taste as if they'd never experienced the simple pleasure of a bar of chocolate before.

"So" Bernie smiled "how did you two happen to be drifting into a shipping lane on a pedalo of all things?"

"Long story" Ant sighed,now feeling slightly better thanks to the blanket,chocolate and drink.

"Tourists I'm guessing?" Bernie enquired.

"Not exactly" Ant replied.

"What then?" Bernie pressed Ant for more information "how did you end up out here,miles from anywhere?"

"We're TV presenters...I'm Anthony McPartlin and he's Declan Donnelly" Ant smiled "we're from England,we were in Australia for work and..."

"Oh my God" Bernie interrupted "I know about you two,you've been all over the news for weeks now"

"We have?" Dec had by now perked up a bit and joined in with the conversation.

"Yeah" Bernie nodded "you're huge news,what the hell happened to you?"

"We went on a dolphin spotting trip" Ant replied "the guide had a heart attack and died,then we couldn't get his boat started"

"So where is he?" Bernie tried to gently cajole more information out of the boys,although by now they more than happy to chat.

"We had to bury him" Dec said sadly.

"Bury him?" Bernie asked "bury him where?"

"On the island we ended up on" Ant frowned.

"An island?" Bernie asked curiously "is that where you've been all this time?"

"Yeah" Dec nodded,before something about Bernies question suddenly clicked in his head "All what time?how long have we been missing"

"A couple of months,nearly three actually" Bernie informed them "I remember the day you went missing as it was my birthday and my wife was glued to the news,she couldn't believe what was happening"

"Neither could we" Dec muttered.

"There's going to be a lot of people who will be pleased to see you" Bernie beamed "but something doesn't add up"

"What's that?" Ant asked curiously.

"Well" Bernie continued "if you found an island where I assume you had a source of food and water?..."

"Yeah,we did" Dec interrupted.

"Then why did we find you way out here?" Bernie questioned.

"Got sick of the island" Ant shrugged "living off avocados and mangoes with only a Quokka for company"

"A Quokka?" Bernie asked surprised "you won't find any Quokkas around here,they're native to western Australia"

"Well,there definitely was one" Ant insisted "two of them in fact"

"Cute little things" Dec smiled at the thought of Piccolo.

"God knows where this island was then?" Bernie mused "but Quokkas are only found on the other side of Australia...or so we thought"

"No idea where we were" Ant replied "but we'd had enough and when that pedalo washed up on the shore,we decided to use it to try and find some other...hopefully inhabited land...or die trying"

"But you found us" Bernie smiled "or we found you to be precise and just in the nick of time by the look of you,how long were you out in the ocean on that thing?"

"Not sure" Ant frowned "a few days and nights at least,maybe more"

"You're very lucky to be alive" Bernie stated seriously.

Ant and Dec both nodded gratefully.

"What's todays date?" Dec enquired.

"January 25th" Bernie replied.

"So how long have we been missing?" Dec enquired.

"Well,my birthday was November 6th,so that makes it a good eleven or twelve weeks at least" Bernie replied.

"Hmm" Dec replied thoughtfully.

"What is it Decs?" Ant asked concerned.

"I was just thinking" Dec replied as he wrapped the foil blanket even closer around his body "we spent Christmas day on the island without even realising it"

"Oh yeah" Ant nodded "I guess we did"

"I wonder which day that was?" Dec mused.

"Every day was pretty much the same" Ant shrugged "doesn't really matter now"

"I'm sad I missed it though" Dec sighed "you know...for Isla"

"You can make it up to her when we get home" Ant beamed "maybe have a belated celebration?"

"Yeah" Dec smiled at the thought.

"I radioed the coast guard as soon as we spotted you" Bernie stated "they'll be waiting as soon as we get back"

"Waiting for what?" Dec frowned.

"To meet us" Bernie informed him "they'll want to get you boys to hospital and get you checked over"

"There's no need for that" Ant stated,never one to like a fuss,no matter how serious the situation.

"You won't get any say in it I'm afraid" Bernie laughed "just cooperate and it'll be over quicker"

"How long before we get back on land?" Dec asked curiously.

"At least three or four hours" Bernie smiled "so we'll take you to one of the cabins where you can rest and we'll get you some spare clothes"

"Thanks" Ant nodded gratefully.

So Bernie showed Ant and Dec to a cabin.

"It's not much" he smiled "but the bunks are quite comfy"

"We've been sleeping on the ground for over two months" Ant pointed out "this looks like luxury"

"Yeah,fair enough" Bernie laughed "can I get you anything else?"

"Something more to eat?" Dec asked hopefully.

"I know you're starving" Bernie replied kindly "but it's best not to overdo it as it could be dangerous,you'll probably be put on drips to replace lost fluids at the hospital and I really don't want to make you ill by giving you too much food or stuff that may be too rich or something,they'll probably want to build you up gradually,sorry lads"

"No,it's fine" Ant smiled "makes sense"

"I'm sure a little bit more chocolate won't hurt though" Bernie replied "I'll go and get some,you make yourselves comfortable"

After Bernie had left the room,Ant and Dec looked at each other,still in a state of disbelief.

Tears of happiness were soon streaming down their faces and Ant held his arms out to Dec,who only too willingly fell into them.

"I can't believe they found us" Dec whispered into the side of Ants neck "we didn't die out there"

"No,we didn't" Ant replied,as he held Dec tight "and we're not going to,we're going to be ok"

Dec stayed silent,but Ant felt him nod his head.

"It's going to be ok now kidda" Ant assured him.

They quickly sprung apart when there was a knock at the door and Bernie entered.

He looked at them with a knowing smile,he too would have cried in their position,but he didn't want to make them feel awkward or embarrassed,so didn't mention anything about it.

"Here we go" he said cheerfully "some clean clothes,blankets,a flask of hot tea and bars of chocolate,don't go crazy now though will you?"

"We won't" Ant assured him "and thank you Bernie...thank you for your kindness"

"You're very welcome" Bernie smiled "I'm just glad we found you when we did or it would have been a very different story"

"Yeah,we're glad too" Dec nodded gratefully.

"You must have been through so much?" Bernie asked concerned.

"Yeah,we have" Ant replied.

"Yeah,that's an understatement" Dec sighed.

"Umm,what port will we be sailing in to?" Ant asked curiously.

"Sydney" Bernie replied.

"Ok good" Ant smiled,at least that meant they would still be somewhere in New South Wales,hopefully not too far from where they'd started off.

"I'll be back to check on you in a bit" Bernie announced "you get some rest"

After he left the room,Ant and Dec sat down side by side on one of the bunks.

Dec opened one of the bars of chocolate,raising it to his nose and inhaling deeply.

"Hhhhmmmmm" he sighed contentedly,before actually stroking the bar against his cheek.

"Decs,what are you doing?" Ant laughed.

"Just appreciating it's beauty" Dec replied happily.

"Well,are you going to eat it or make love to it?" Ant grinned.

"Eat it" Dec giggled,before taking a large bite.

"Easy Declan" Ant warned "remember what Bernie said?don't make yourself sick,your stomach will be incredibly delicate at the moment"

"Ok" Dec sighed disappointed.

He knew Ant was right,he just needed to resist the lure of the chocolate,so resealed what was left in the foil packaging.

They both laid down on their bunks,lost in their own quiet thoughts,until Decs gentle voice broke the silence.

"Ant?" He whispered.

"Yeah?" Ant yawned.

"It's really happening isn't it?" Dec asked.

"What's that?" Ant enquired.

A broad smile spread across Decs face as he put his thoughts into words.

"We're going home!"