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Special Agent Tony Dinozzo sat his desk, watching the clock ticking away the minutes until the weekend. It didn’t matter how many times he looked at it though, it never seemed to move any faster.

Restlessly he tapped his pencil on his desk as he read through the crime scene notes they’d taken that morning. Maybe if he could find something, some hint as to the whys and the wherefores of the murder it would give him something to work on, make the time move faster. But as hard as he searched, he couldn’t find anything new to get a handle on the case.

When he noticed Kate watching him with a smirk on her face he turned to his computer, pretending that he was absorbed by something there. But it wasn’t any good, his heart just wasn’t it.

"Big plans for the weekend, Tony?" Kate asked. She moved to sit on the edge of his desk so she could read over his shoulder.

He flicked his screen off. "I do," he answered shortly hoping she’d drop the matter.

Somehow he’d known she wouldn’t.

"Oh? So, what’s her name?" Kate asked brightly.

Tony sighed, frustrated. She obviously wasn’t going to give it up. It must be more fun to torture him than try to find something to do on their dead-end case.

"If you must know….," he searched his mind desperately seeking a name that would be exotic enough to satisfy her, "Teresa." He picked up the phone hoping that Kate would get the clue, but she didn’t. She just sat, studying him as she would an intriguing clue she’d found at a crime scene. He half-expected her to get out her sketch pad and to start sketching the scene.

"And just how long have you known this one?"

Tony sighed, Kate could be relentless, like a dog with a bone.

McGee chose just that moment to enter the office. Tony had never been so glad to see anyone. "McGee! Hey Probie, how you doing?"

Looking up from the file he was studying, McGee had that deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression in his eyes. Could he get away before being hit by the car? "I’m… fine," he said hesitantly.

Tony had no intention of letting him get away. He sprang from his chair and sauntered to McGee, putting his arm around his shoulder and drawing him back to his desk, "So, McGee you got big plans for the weekend? Gonna get Abby to show you that new tat she has on her…?"

McGee just stared at the two of them watching him. Kate seemed as interested in this answer as she did in who Tony was dating. Did the woman have no life of her own?

McGee cleared his throat nervously, "Ah.. I… Uhm…"

"I knew it," Tony crowed in triumph. "She hasn’t shown it to you. Too bad. It’s a beaut." He moved back to his desk and opened up his crime scene notes, confident that at least that he’d successfully distracted Kate from the topic of his weekend.

"Don’t tell me you’ve seen Abby’s tattoos because I won’t believe you!" McGee asserted hotly.

Tony hid the smile behind his hand. McGee was nothing if not predictable, "What? She didn’t tell you about us?" His casual tone was oh-so-suggestive.

McGee’s face flamed bright red and Tony almost felt sorry for him, "Oh, please, there’s no ‘us’ where you and Abby are concerned. She’s way smarter than that."

Tony had to admit, McGee was getting a little tougher in his comebacks, but still not good enough. Tony leaned back in his chair, a study in relaxation, "What? You saying I’m not a good catch…?" he was interrupted by the arrival of the NCIS chief, Jethro Gibbs.

"Dinozzo, I’m sure you’re a great catch. But I don’t want you and McGee dating."

"Boss," both men spoke at the same time, their voices a chorus of protest.

He just held up a hand, "I have a job for you."

"But boss," Tony protested, "I have …" might as well go with the lie he’d already started, "a date tonight. Teresa," he closed his eyes, as if already anticipating her pleasures.

"Not anymore. We got anything on that DB from this morning?"

Kate shook her head, "Our John Doe, the marine?"

"Was there another crime scene I didn’t know about? That would be the one, Kate." He sat at his desk, copying some information onto a sticky note.

She shrugged, "There wasn’t much. He was killed with a single gun shot wound. Abby’s working on the bullet but the crime scene was clean, Gibbs. It was like someone had wiped it clean."

"Which tells us that someone knew what they were doing," Gibbs pointed out. "We might have just caught a break. I just got a call from a very nervous woman, says she was a witness. She wants to talk to someone tonight."

"I’ll go," Kate volunteered. The case intrigued her because of the total lack of forensic evidence. Just the bullet, which was a standard slug, like a million others available on any street corner. The thought that a murderer might get away free always frustrated her.

"Sorry, Kate, this job’s for Dinozzo and McGee."

"But, sir, it’s Friday," McGee spoke up to protest before Tony could get a word out.

Tony was impressed, it wasn’t often any of them challenged Gibbs, even if it was in that mild squeaky way that McGee had.

Gibbs didn’t answer, he just blinked at McGee as if he were waiting for the punch line. Finally he asked, "Yes?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure you knew," McGee finished lamely.

"I do know, and what have I told you about calling me, sir? Stop it."

"Yes, sir…"

"What did I say?"

"Sorry… Uhm… Boss?

"Good. Now…"

Before he could continue, Tony spoke, "But Boss, Kate volunteered," he pointed out reasonably. "She and McGee could do this. They don’t have a life after all."

While Kate had been more than willing to take the case, having Tony volunteer her was a totally different matter. "I’ll have you know…"

Gibbs stopped her mid-tirade, "No. No, they can’t. Are you hard of hearing, Dinozzo?"

"Hard of hearing, boss? No."

"Good, here’s the address," he handed Tony the post-it with the witness’s name and address neatly printed on it. Attached to it, Gibbs had also noted the fastest possible route, travel time and a few pertinent questions he wanted answers to.

"Boss," Tony looked down at the address, "it’s gonna take an hour to get there at least. It’s rush hour."

"Then you’d better get started, because I’m expecting your report in two hours." He turned away, then looked back over his shoulder, fixing them with that Gibbs’ glare that struck fear into perps everywhere,. "I don’t see either of you moving. Hustle."

Tony slid open the drawer where he kept his gun, pulling it out. He checked it quickly before slipping it into his holster. From the corner of his eye, he could see McGee doing the same, "Hustling, boss," he called out after Gibbs retreating back.

Gibbs just waved a hand at him before he disappeared from sight. "Kate," they heard him bellow from down the hall, "we have an autopsy to attend."

Tony threw her a lop-sided smile as she hurried after him. It looked like none of them were going to get a weekend after all.

*****

McGee sat staring out the window as the DC scenery slid by at a dizzying speed. The season was getting late and it was dark out already. The road was awash with the car lights of people going home, getting to have a life and a weekend. And here he was stuck in a car with Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo for only Gibbs knew how long.

He couldn’t believe that Gibbs had sent him out alone with Dinozzo. Although he tried his best to be what he thought a good field agent should be, most days he didn’t think Tony even liked him. Abby told him he was trying too hard, but he didn’t know any other way to be.

Tony had never even asked if McGee wanted to drive. Not that McGee had expected to drive, still it would be nice to be asked once in a while. Tony had just signed out the keys to the SUV in that superior way he had. He’d gone straight to the driver’s side and climbed in, drumming his fingers on the wheel impatiently waiting for his partner. McGee clambered in the passenger side quickly, clicking his seat belt into place. Having been in the car with Tony driving before, he felt it would probably be safer to be on a submarine during war games.

"It really sucks being sent out at the end of the shift," McGee tried to start the conversation ball rolling.

While he knew that the other man was just as disappointed to have his weekend plans disrupted, Tony just smiled tolerantly, "What are you going to do, Probie? That’s just Gibbs." Tony shrugged. "He tends to take dead marines personally."

"Yeah." McGee agreed glumly, "I guess you’re right." He cast about for another subject. "I guess we can give up any plans for tonight."

That earned him a flash of smile, "Well, not necessarily, Probie, I know a few short cuts. We should get back in time for a little bit of date-time tonight. You might still get to see that new tat of Abs."

That was it, he’d had enough, "You going to call your date and tell her you’re going to be late?"

Keeping his eyes on the road, Tony still managed to sneak a sideways glance at his passenger, "And what do you know about that?" His tone was casual, but McGee knew him well enough now to know there was more there.

"What was her name again?" McGee asked, enjoying himself a little.

Tony frowned, "Barbara, her name was Barbara."

"It was Teresa!" McGee pounced in triumph. "I heard you tell Kate it was Teresa."

Tony shrugged, a study in indifference, "Teresa? Barbara? What difference does it make?"

"You’ve been teaching me a lot about surveillance techniques, Tony. And I employed some of those today."

"What the hell, Probie?" Tony frowned at him trying to gauge what he really knew, and what was McGee fishing. "Alright, tell me, what you think you know?"

McGee paused uncertainly. He hadn’t foreseen the way this conversation was going, but he decided to go for it, "I know I heard you on the phone today when you thought no one else was listening. You said you didn’t want anyone at NCIS to know what you were going to be doing tonight." McGee felt a little like he was interrogating a witness, "What are your plans for tonight, Tony? Plans that you don’t want anyone else to know about."

Tony didn’t seem upset, just amused, "My private life is just that, McGee, private. Let’s keep it that way, okay?"

He reached forward, fumbling with the controls on the radio until he found something loud and metallic.

Okay then, the conversation was over, McGee got the message loud and clear.

He winced at the cacophony coming from the speakers, but didn’t say anything, he just turned his gaze back out the window, watching the other drivers as they made their way to their dinners and their oh-so-normal lives.

Sometimes McGee envied them.

Sometimes.

*****

Kate followed Gibbs as he strode down the hall to the morgue. She found Ducky waiting for them with their dead body ready for his autopsy.

"What do you have for us, Ducky?" Gibbs asked as they entered.

The body was laid out and ready for them. It was mottled with sores, the man’s face was creased with lines, his hair white and stringy. While he was clean, the body had an air of general desolateness.

"I don’t think our John Doe is a marine, Jethro," Ducky began in his slow pedantic way.

"Why would you say that?" Kate asked curiously.

"If you look at the body, this man wasn’t in very good shape."

"Just because you’re once a marine doesn’t mean that you’re always going to stay in peak physical condition once you leave the corp. Right?" Her gaze shifted from Ducky to Gibbs for confirmation.

"Bite your tongue, Kate," Gibbs answered, his tone acerbic. "What else?"

"He’s malnourished, and I suspect that once I begin my autopsy, I will find that he has a number of different illnesses that come from living on the streets. Look at his feet, they’re in abominable condition."

Kate struggled to formulate a theory from what Ducky was saying, "You think he’s some random homeless man that someone killed and put in a marine uniform?"

Ducky nodded in approval. "That’s exactly what I think , Kaitlynn."

"Why would you think that? What’s to say this isn’t just some marine who’s been discharged, down on his luck, and someone killed him?"

"Besides the fact that his fingerprints aren’t listed on out database?" Gibbs asked.

"His fingerprints aren’t listed anywhere?" She hadn’t known that. "Is it possible he’s slipped through the cracks somehow?"

"Possible," Gibbs granted reluctantly, "but not damn likely."

Her forehead creased as she thought, "Okay, why would someone do that? What’s the point?"

"Maybe they wanted to get our attention?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"You think someone killed a homeless person, put them in a marine uniform and left them for us, to get our attention?" Her mind was whirling, why would someone do something like that.

"I think they got it." Gibbs added quietly.

"But why?" She pressed.

"That’s what we have to find out. So, Ducky, what else can you tell us?"

Ducky turned the body so they could see the bullet wound in the back of John’s head. "As you have already surmised, the cause of death was a single bullet hole to the back of the head. From the lack of blood at the crime scene, it is safe to assume that he was killed someplace else and moved to where he was found."

"Someone wanted us to find him." It wasn’t a question. Gibbs had a theory and he wasn’t ready to share yet.

"I don’t understand, Gibbs," Kate insisted. "Why would someone do that?"

Gibbs sighed, "Kate, the killer put the body into a marine uniform because they wanted NCIS to investigate this body, this crime. They knew that since the body involved was a marine, chances were good the case would be handed to me. I think our John Doe was gift wrapped for me."

"But why?" Kate felt like a parrot, constantly repeating the big W.

"That’s the question, now isn’t it? See what you can do about finding us some answers Ducky." Gibbs turned and was out of the door before he could answer.

Kate followed him, her mind whirling. The longer she worked at NCIS, the more certain she became that she was never going to learn all the things she needed to learn.

Turning to the body, Ducky answered Gibbs, although he was no longer anywhere in sight, "I’ll do what I can, dear boy. I’ll do what I can."

Picking up a scalpel, he made his first incision.

*****

Tony drummed his fingers on the car’s wheel in time to the beat of the music streaming out of the radio. He was working hard not to take his bad mood out on McGee. It wasn’t the other man’s fault that Gibbs felt their entire lives should revolve around the NCIS. If he were honest, Tony would have to admit that mostly his life was devoted to his job. But just once he would like Gibbs to ask if they had other plans before disrupting their lives.

He sighed, he knew should call and cancel his plans for the evening. But he was waiting, for what he didn’t know. He just couldn’t bare to cause the disappointment he knew would ensue from his phone call.

McGee sat next to him sulking. Tony wasn’t sure why Gibbs had sent him along. He wasn’t a really good people person. When it came to questioning witnesses, you needed someone with social skills, someone who could read body language and judge if they were telling the truth, see if they might be involved somehow. McGee was too easily led down the garden path. Tony knew that from personal experience.

"Maybe because he might learn from you, Dinozzo," Tony heard Gibbs’ voice as plainly as if he were sitting in the car next to him. Well sure he needed to learn, but that was no reason to ruin both of their evenings.

"Grrrr….," Tony growled as he applied the brake when the car in front of him slowed down. He could see the line of cars stretching ahead of him with their brake lights on and he reconsidered their route. He was still hoping to make it back to NCIS in time to salvage some small part of his evening.

"Hold on, McGee," he instructed, turning onto a side street.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Tony?" the other man asked, peering out his window anxiously.

"When you’re driving you can decide which way we go, McGee." Skillfully he maneuvered the SUV and soon they’d left the line of cars behind. Technically this route was a little longer but there was no traffic so it might cut down on their travel time.

"Why do you do that?" McGee’s asked frowning at him seriously.

He glanced at the other man quickly, "Do what?"

"Why don’t you just answer the question, ‘yes, I’m sure this is the right way, McGee’?"

Tony hid a smile, "Why don’t you just trust me to know where we’re going?" he countered.

McGee was quiet a moment, staring out the window before asking hesitantly, "What case are we working on anyway?"

That did surprise Tony, "You don’t know?"

"Dead marine, right?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, but you heard Kate say that. What else?"

"You guys did this without me, remember. I was working with Abby on another case this morning."

Dinozzo snorted. "Working with Abby. Right."

"I was," the defensive squeak was in his voice, and Tony smiled.

"Whatever you want to call it. Just don’t let Gibbs catch you. I’d hate for us to lose Abbs. She’s the best." Tony knew by the intake of breath that McGee had gotten the not-so-subtle dig.

"Anyway," he finally relented giving the other man a quick run down, "a body of a marine was found this morning in a deserted alley. There was no ID on the body, no name tag, no nothing to tell us who he was."

McGee was intrigued, "Fingerprints?"

"Sent them to Abbey to work on."

Tony checked his rear view mirror before turning onto the dark road that was his shortcut. They had left the city well behind now. The only other vehicle on the road pulled around them and disappeared quickly until they were alone. The dark pressed in all around them, the headlights of the SUV the only illumination to show him the way. Along their right was a guard rail and then a sharp drop.

"Well then how do we know he was a marine?"

It was an astute observation, one that Tony had already arrived at, but wasn’t voicing until they had more facts. He was impressed with McGee, he was learning.

"Besides the fact that he was in a marine uniform? We don’t. But since the John Doe was in a marine uniform, we were handed the case. So let’s hope this witness can help us out. I hate to see people get buried as a John Doe. There’s got to be someone out there that knows who he is and cares if he’s dead."

The thoughtful tone in Tony’s voice caught McGee’s attention. It surprised him that the other man might care about some nameless, faceless person. Since coming to NCIS they had been on permanent battle status with each other. It was the first time that he had seen any sort of chink in the air of bravado that Tony habitually wore.

"Hey, you want to grab the map out of the glove box there? I think this road should join back up to the main road in a few miles, I just want to make sure."

"You don’t know?" McGee couldn’t believe the man. He always charged ahead like he knew what he was doing. "What happened to trusting you to know where we’re going?"

Tony flashed him that smile that always charmed the ladies, "So sue me. Just look will you?" Tony flipped out his phone while McGee dug through the glove compartment for the map. Time for the phone call. He punched in the number, keeping his eye on the road.

The phone rang in his ear and then was answered. "Hello."

"Hey, Nanc," Tony glanced over at McGee.

He had the map out, turning it, "Where are we?" he muttered to no one in particular.

"Tony? Is everything okay?" Nancy’s voice sounded concerned. Well yea, he was due there right like 10 minutes ago.

"I’m really sorry, something’s come up. I’m going to have to cancel tonight. Can I talk to…" There was a strange pop and the steering wheel spun wildly in his hands as the SUV skidded into a spin.

Without thinking he dropped the phone, grabbing the wheel with both hands. "McGee, hold on," he instructed grimly as they headed for the guard rail.

There was a second as they hit the rail when they seemed to hang in the air. It gave Tony time to see what lay down the embankment. It so wasn’t good. Then they hit the ground and started rolling. Incongruously the air bag inflated in his face, then something hit him in the head. There was an explosion of pain and everything went black…

*****

Rubbing the back of her aching neck with one hand, Kate picked up her cup of coffee with the other. She frowned, making a face at the cold congealed mess she found at the bottom.

She’d been searching the database of missing marines for hours, but none of them matched the description of their John Doe. Not that she’d really thought it would turn up anything, but Gibbs always said they had to eliminate every possibility before they could move on. One possibility eliminated. Only problem was she wasn’t sure where they went from there.

Gibbs appeared at her desk with a fresh cup of coffee in hand. He sat it on her desk. "Anything?"

Gratefully she picked it up, inhaling deeply before carefully taking a sip of the fragrant liquid. She shook her head, "Nothing."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Okay, let’s widen our search."

"Gibbs?"

"Let’s start searching through the national database of missing persons with our John Doe’s description, check with local law enforcement. But chances are that if this guy is homeless like Ducky thinks, no one’s going to have reported him missing."

The ringing of the phone Gibb’s desk drew his attention. "Get on it."

Resigned that she wasn’t going home anytime soon, Kate put the cup down and turned back to her computer.

Gibbs grabbed the phone before he sat, "Gibbs, here."

"Mr. Gibbs," the voice was one of the NCIS operators. Maggie, he thought, "I have a woman on hold who says she has information regarding Special Agent Dinozzo?"

"Put her through." Gibbs took a deep breath. Dinozzo? Wasn’t he supposed to be out questioning a witness? There was a click, "Special Agent Jethro Gibbs."

"Mr. Gibbs?" The feminine voice on the other end of the line sounded breathy and panicky. He waved for Kate’s attention and hit the speaker button so she could hear, too. Kate hurried over.

"This is Jethro Gibbs. Did I understand that you were calling about Special Agent Dinozzo?"

The woman sounded near to tears, her words tumbling out in her urgency, "I’m sorry to bother you Mr. Gibbs, but I think something’s happened to Tony."

Gibbs exchanged a grim glance with Kate. "Take a breath, Miss….?"

"I’m sorry," they could hear her as she audibly gulped down air. "My name is Nancy Morgan." Her voice was a little calmer.

They could hear a boy's voice in the background, "Mom, is Tony there?" She shushed him quickly.

Gibbs did his best to make his voice as soothing as possible, he had a feeling it wouldn’t take much to send this woman over the edge, "Alright, now, Miss Morgan, why do you think something has happened to Agent DiNozzo?"

"He called me."

"How long ago was that?"

"It’s only been a few minutes, Mr. Gibbs. He was supposed to be here at seven."

"Did you have a date?" Gibbs asked. He wasn’t really concerned with that, he was just trying to get a clear picture of the situation.

The woman seemed to be calming down as she answered Gibbs’ questions, "No, no, he was supposed to pick up my son, Ben. He’s Ben’s big brother."

"Tony doesn’t have any brothers," Kate said quietly.

Nancy heard her and answered, "No, he’s not Ben’s big brother. He’s Ben’s big brother."

"It’s a special program for kids without fathers, Kate," Gibbs told her impatiently.

"Yes," Nancy confirmed, "he was supposed to pick up Ben tonight. They were going to a movie and to an arcade."

"Sounds like Tony’s idea of the perfect date," Kate commented with a smile.

Gibbs frowned at her before speaking, "I’m afraid I sent him out to question a witness."

"I know. He just called me to cancel. But while I was on the phone with him, there was something… I don’t know… something happened. I could hear tires, you know like when they skid. And I heard him say.. ‘McGee? hold on’. Then there was a sound… like metal hitting metal, it was awful and then the phone went dead." The distress was back in her voice. "Mr. Gibbs, I didn’t know what else to do."

"You did exactly right," Gibbs told her calmly. It certainly wasn’t the way he felt. He wanted to hang up on her and call DiNozzo and McGee. Make sure they were okay, but he couldn’t do that. He nudged Kate, pointing to her phone. Instantly she understood what he wanted and moved to her desk, picking up her phone.

As she dialed the number he turned his attention back to the woman on the phone, "Miss Morgan, how old is your son?"

"Ben? He’s almost fourteen."

"And you say that DiNozzo is his big brother?" Gibbs was just trying to get his brain around the notion of Dinozzi as a role model.

Nancy’s voice was becoming calmer, just as Gibbs had hoped. "That’s right."

"Is he a good big brother?"

"He’s great, Mr. Gibbs. He comes over once a week or so. He and Ben go out. Ben never knew his father, and I thought it was important he have a man around, you know, to do guy stuff with.

Gibbs smiled in spite of himself, "I’m sure that Tony excels at that."

"He’s great, Mr. Gibbs. He really helps to keep Ben on track."

"I want to thank you for calling us. I’m sure it’s nothing but we’ll check on Agent DiNozzo. I’ll tell him to give you a call later. Alright?"

"I would appreciate that, Mr. Gibbs. I knew you’d know what to do. Tony always speaks so highly of you."

"He does?" It slipped out before Gibbs could stop it.

"He does." She said firmly. "Thank you so much."

"No, thank you, Miss Morgan." The phone clicked in his ear. For a moment, Gibbs sat, holding the phone. He had that hollow feeling in his gut he got when someone on his team was in trouble.

He lifted his eyes to Kate. She just shook her head and kept dialing the number.

*****

(uploaded to here)

It was the insistent ring of a cell phone that brought McGee back to consciousness. ‘Why didn’t DiNozzo answer it?’ was his first irritable thought. Then he realized something was wrong. It was very wrong.

Opening his eyes, McGee discovered he was hanging upside down, the press of the seatbelt was all that was holding him in place, the airbag was mashed into his face. He felt like he’d been hit by... well by something hard. But hit by what? Now that was the question.

The ringing stopped for the barest of seconds as the caller must have been shunted to the voice mail box, then the cell began to ring again.

What had happened? He remembered the first sign of trouble had been when the vehicle had fishtailed in the road. Then there had been the guard rail and darkness. As much as he told Tony that he drove like a lunatic, the man was actually a very good driver. McGee had a feeling that the fact that he was still alive now was a testament to that. Speaking of Tony…

"Tony," he called anxiously. Forcing the air bag away, he found that Tony was hanging much the same way as he was, suspended in mid-air with the seat belt holding him in place. He was unconscious. McGee could see blood dripping down the side of his face, but not much else.

The ring of the cell phone continued. Someone was certainly persistent. The mysterious date maybe.

He tried the handle of the door and found it was stuck. Great. He struggled with his seat belt, finally getting it unclicked. He dropped down, standing on the roof of the SUV. He stepped carefully afraid that the SUV was going to shift, but the vehicle seemed to have come to a solid stop.

"Tony," he whispered. He didn’t know why, it just didn’t seem right to yell under the circumstances. He felt for a pulse at Tony’s throat. He was almost overwhelmed with relief when he felt it there. It didn’t seem quite the way he remembered it should feel, but at least it was beating.

"I don’t even want to have to go back to Gibbs and tell him that you’re dead." He informed the unconscious man.

McGee remembered how focused Gibbs had been when Tony had been taken by the person killing the marines a few weeks back. He hoped if anything ever happened to him, that Gibbs would be that determined to get him back. Hell, what was he thinking? He hoped that Gibbs would be determined to get them both back THIS time.

Where in the heck was the cell phone? It was making him crazy with it’s incessant ring.

What was he supposed to do? Tony was the one who usually gave the orders if Gibbs didn’t. He swung his head, looking frantically for something, anything to help him to know what to do. He kept hoping Tony would wake up, call him Probie, tell him he was alright. But it wasn’t gong to happen. It was going to be up to McGee to get the other man out this time.

Alright, think, McGee what are you supposed to do?

‘Step 1, Probie,’ he could practically hear Tony’s voice taking charge of the situation, ‘get us out of the vehicle.’

It couldn’t be safe in the SUV. There was gasoline everywhere, McGee could smell it all around him, he could hear it dripping somewhere. One spark and they’d both go up in one last fireball. Tony would like that anyway.

Alright then, getting out of the vehicle.

The windshield was cracked, but it hadn’t fallen out. He pulled his gun out of its holster, using the butt to finish breaking the glass. He used his jacket to sweep away as much of the stray pieces of glass as he could.

‘Good job, McGee.’ It was his fantasy, McGee decided, Tony better be nice to him. ‘Now Step 2, get me down.’

That one might actually be doable. Reaching up, he depressed the button that was holding the other man’s seat belt. He didn’t think about what was going to happen to Tony’s body though once it was released, and it came crashing down on him. He lay for a moment, sprawled beneath the weight of Tony’s dead weight. Okay, not good, he rolled and gently shifted the other man’s body away.

Check for injuries, that would be next. Even though moving out of the SUV was of utmost importance, McGee knew he had to try to determine what type of injuries Tony might have. If he had a back injury and was moved, it could very well kill him.

‘Hello, McGee, gasoline. Staying here can kill me, too.’ he really could hear Tony’s voice. Maybe he had a concussion, too.

Straightening Tony’s body carefully, McGee leaned down to put an ear to Tony’s mouth, watching his chest for motion.

"McGee?" It was weak, but this time the voice wasn’t in his head. "If you kiss me, I swear I’ll shoot you."

McGee fell back on his heels in surprise. Tony’s eyes were open and trying to take in their surroundings.

"What happened?" He squinted up at McGee.

"You lost control of the car, we crashed." For an insane moment, McGee wanted to hug Tony. This meant he didn’t have to report to Gibbs that the other man was dead.

"First of all," Tony started to put an arm out to push himself up, but stopped, his face turning green. He swallowed and then continued, "I didn’t lose control of the car. I don’t know what happened, a tire blew or something." There was silence as Tony blinked up at McGee. He closed his eyes, and McGee patted his cheek.

"Stay with me, Tony. Second of all?" Quickly he began checking Tony for obvious injuries.

"Second of all?" He was having trouble focusing, McGee could see that much.

"You said first of all. Isn’t there always a second of all after the first of all." McGee continued his check feeling Tony’s legs. There was a rip in the material exposing a ragged, bloody gash. Blood soaked his pant’s leg.

Tony frowned at him, "You’re confusing me, McGee. My head hurts, so just stop it, okay. Would you answer the phone?"

The phone had stopped momentarily, but it was ringing again.

"I don’t know where it is," he told Tony impatiently as he pulled off his tie.

"Oh," he paused as if trying to process the information. Then, "Where are we?"

"We’re in the SUV still. I was trying to assess you for injuries before I moved you." He wrapped the tie around Tony’s leg, knotting it tightly. He didn’t have anything to tighten it with. But once he got them out of the SUV, he’d find something.

McGee was amazed at how calm he was. He knew that if they were going to get out alive, it was up to him. The whole situation was so surreal.

Tony moaned softly as McGee pulled the tie tight around his knee, biting his lip. "That’s good, McGee, just great. But I’m afraid we’re going to blow up any minute here. Maybe you should get us out." Tony’s eyes closed again, and this time McGee was sure he stopped breathing.

"Tony, Tony…" He didn’t care what Tony said about shooting him, he had to do something. He tilted his head back, checking his airway. He pinched Tony’s nose and leaned in to begin rescue breathing when he felt a weak tug on his sleeve.

"It’s alright, McGee, I’m still here. What say we take this conversation outside?"

Tony was right. Every minute they spent inside the vehicle was another minute that they were closer to blowing up. Still… "Tony, how badly hurt are you?" he asked urgently.

"Don’t worry about me, McGee, let’s just get out of here, okay?" Tony smiled at him, trying to be reassuring, but McGee could see how much effort it cost him. "I just don’t think I’m going to be much help." He laid his head back and shut his eyes. He was gone again.

"God, Tony," McGee breathed. It was now or never. Their seconds were ticking by.

He gripped Tony by the shoulders, dragging him out through the window of the SUV. He winced as slid Tony’s body through the shards of glass. Then there was a crunch under his foot that was different than the glass. When he picked up his feet to see what he’d stepped on, he was chagrined to find the errant phone. Well, at least it would stop ringing now. Picking it up, he stuffed it in his pocket anyway.

He managed to pull Tony what he judged to be a safe distance away from the SUV. He was out again, but at least McGee could see the regular rise and fall of his chest. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the other man, tucking it in securely around his body.

He surveyed the crashed vehicle. It was upside down, it’s wheels spinning. The smell of gasoline was strong in the air, and he could see it dripping from the rear of the vehicle. There were sparks from the vicinity of the engine, it was a miracle the whole thing hadn’t gone up in a ball of flame yet.

He knelt down to inspect Tony’s injuries more closely. Now that there was some moonlight to see by, he could see that Tony looked worse than he had even thought. His face was white except where the blood oozed from his head wound. His leg was soaked in blood, too. And McGee was sure that his breathing wasn’t right.

He needed the first aid kit out of the SUV. He had to start some sort of first aid or Tony might not survive until Gibbs could get there.

Making his decision he turned back to the vehicle. He had only taken two steps when the SUV exploded. The force of the blast hit him like a wave, knocking him backwards.

He hit the ground, his head impacting with something hard. He tried to hold onto consciousness, he really did, Tony needed him, but it was a losing battle, and the darkness pulled him down.

*****

The man sat at the top of the hill, looking down on the path of destruction left by the SUV. The fire from it’s explosion glowed against the evening sky, but he was confident that no one would see it. The ravine was deep and the road wasn’t a well traveled one. The NCIS vehicle had been the only one to come that way all night. No, no one was going to come to the rescue of the hapless pair at the bottom. If they were still alive.

The man had his doubts that anyone could have survived the crash he witnessed. But he knew the people that Gibbs trained had a knack for survival. There just might be something left at the bottom at the hill. If there was, well, he intended to have some fun with them.

He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and shook one out into his hand. Lighting it, he inhaled deeply, watching the smoke curl up and become lost in the darkness of the evening. The question was: did he go down and check on survivors, or did he call Gibbs first? Taking another drag on his cigarette, he contemplated the question.

If he waited it might give any survivors some time to think they might actually get rescued. If they were smart and figured out they’d been ambushed, they might even try to escape. That could be fun, too. He’d always loved the thrill of the hunt.

And if they were dead, well then, he’d just scored the first point against Jethro Gibbs.

Making his decision he pulled out his cell phone. He’d been waiting 14 years to make this call. It was long over-due.

*****

Too much time had passed. Somebody should have answered one of their phones. Something had happened, he was sure of it.

Pacing restlessly, Gibbs decided it was time to do something. He punched the button that brought up Abby’s lab.

"Abby," he barked.

"Hey, Gibbs." The music blaring in her lab was almost enough to drown out her voice.

"Would you turn down the music?" He requested, his voice sharp.

It must have caught her attention. Where it any other day she might have told him to come and turn it down himself, today something in his voice made her reconsider. Glancing up at her monitor, she asked, "Gibb’s? What’s up? You look worried."

He didn’t answer her question, he just repeated, "Turn the music down."

Maybe she picked up on the worried tone in his voice. Wordlessly she moved to the stereo and turned off the music. "You just had to ask. What’s up, Gibbs?"

"I’m not sure, Abbs. DiNozzo, McGee, you talked to either of them lately?

"Lately?" She shrugged. "Can we define lately?"

"Abby…" he started then stopped. Taking a breath, he started again. "Yeah, lately, within the last 20 minutes. That too hard for you?"

He knew he was being unreasonable, she didn’t deserve it, but the worry was gnawing at him. He was hoping that she would be able to alleviate it.

"No, Gibbs, I haven’t heard from either one of them lately. I might be having dinner with McGee later," she volunteered "when they get back from this witness thing. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Not sure yet, I’ll get back to you on that." He abruptly changed the subject, "What can you tell me about that uniform we took off our John Doe?"

She nearly danced to her table where she had the uniform spread out. "It’s not anything special. Your standard marine uniform circa the Gulf war. You can tell that because of the distinctive chocolate chip pattern..."

"Abby," Gibbs cut her off.

"Yes?" She turned to look up at him inquisitively.

"Tell me something I don't know. I served in the Gulf war. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah, well," she shrugged, "there's not much else to tell, Gibbs. The uniform is clean, there are no fingerprints, no DNA besides our John Doe's. Who, by the way, isn't showing up on any database anywhere."

"That's not what I wanted to hear, Abbs," he frowned, "but keep on it. Let me know if you find anything." He severed the link and disappeared before she could say anything else.

"Sure, Gibbs," she waved goodbye to the blank screen.

Thoughtfully considering what he hadn’t said, she went to her own phone and dialed McGee’s number curiously.

After a few rings, it clicked, "Special Agent McGee’s phone," a feminine voice answered.

"Kate?"

"Abby, is that you? I was hoping it was McGee." There was sigh, "He left his cell phone on his desk."

"Kate, what’s happening. Gibbs has me all wigged out."

"We don’t know what’s happening. We just aren’t able to get a hold of Tony and McGee right now. I’m sure it’s nothing." Abby could tell that there was more that Kate wasn’t telling her. She frowned trying to decide if she should go upstairs and ‘interrogate’ her friend.

"Listen, Abby, I’ve got a lot to do. I’ll let you know once we find out what’s up. Okay?"

It didn’t make her happy, but Abby reluctantly agreed, "Okay."

The cell clicked in her ear and she was left with the deafening silence of her lab. She turned her music back on, but she turned it down low. That way she would hear the cell if it rang, then she turned back to her work.

*****

Gibbs sat staring thoughtfully at the blank screen where Abby had been moments before. The Gulf War, a John Doe in a marine uniform, Tony and McGee missing: it was all pieces to a puzzle that was beginning to take shape for him.

A cell phone ringing abruptly jarred him from his thoughts. McGee’s cell phone on his desk. Kate practically catapulted from her desk to answer it.

He held his breath as she answered, "Special Agent McGee’s phone."

She listened and then meeting his eyes she shook her head, ""Abby, is that you? I was hoping it was McGee." She sighed, "He left his cell phone on his desk."

Kate tried to minimize the situation for Abby, there was no use in all of them worrying when it was likely that there was a simple explanation for everything. She quickly reassured Abby and hung up.

"Gibbs." Kate moved back to her desk and called him over.

"What have you got, Kate?"

"That address you gave Tony?" Furiously she tapped at the keyboard, in between hitting the redial on her phone for Tony’s number.

"Yes?"

"I’ve looked it up in county records. It’s been empty for over 10 years, vacant. There couldn’t be a witness there, because no one lives there. I looked up your witness’s name and she’s non-existent in the DC area."

Her words stuck him to the heart. The feeling that had been growing in his gut said that he had sent DiNozzo and McGee into a trap. This newest information just confirmed that suspicion- the smoking gun.

He bent down to study the screen over her shoulder "Who’s the owner of the house?"

"I think it belongs to the county now." She pulled up a new screen, still hitting the redial button on the phone whenever Tony’s cell would go to voice mail.

"But the previous owner was one Leo Maxwell Morgan," she continued without missing a beat.

"What?"

She glanced back at him at the sharp exclamation. He was tense as a bow string ready to snap at any moment. His eyes were far away, seeing something that she couldn’t even fathom.

"I knew him," he said at last, breaking the silence.

"Leo Morgan? You knew him?"

"Yes," with a jerk he broke from whatever hold that name held for him. He slapped the button that was the link to Abby’s lab. "Abs?"

"Here, Gibbs."

"I want you to start triangulating on Tony’s cell phone. I want to know exactly where he and McGee are."

"Sure, Gibbs, I’ll get on it. You going to tell me what’s up?"

"As soon as I know, Abby, as soon as I know." Striding to his desk, he took his gun from it’s place in the drawer. "Come on, Kate, we’re going to find them."

He didn’t have to tell her twice, she pulled her own gun out and checked it before shoving it into its holster, "But, Gibbs, you don’t know where to look for them." She had to run to keep up with him.

"I know where they were going, Kate, and I know the way DiNozzo thinks, God help me. We’ll find them if I have to send out the search dogs." She heard the promise in his voice and felt sorry for anyone who got in his way.

*****

The first thing Tony was aware of was the pain. It was like a living thing, clawing at his body, stealing away his breath. It would be so easy to sink back into the blackness. Into that place were there was no pain, no worries, no coldness. It beckoned to him seductively, pulling at him to escape the misery of his body.

But Anthony DiNozzo had never been a quitter. Somehow surrendering to the darkness would be quitting, so he fought against it. He concentrated on the pain, on pushing it back to a bearable level. One breath, two, another.. and the pain receded enough so that he could actually think.

At last he was able to open his eyes. For one frightening instant all he saw was black, but then his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he realized that he was lying partially under a bush. It was blocking his view. Which begged the question – What was he doing lying under a bush, badly wounded from the way he felt?

He shivered and clutched the jacket that was laying over him. Who’s….?

McGee had been with him, he remembered. They’d been on their way… to question a witness. He was talking to Nancy and the car… God, it hurt to think. The car had shuddered. Something had happened to the SUV, a tire had blown. He had trained in driving in hazardous conditions, and it had felt more than anything else like someone had shot out his tire, maybe two judging from how badly he’d lost control of the vehicle.

He pushed himself up on one arm and the world tilted around him. It would be so easy to just lay back down, sink back into the darkness that was clawing at the edges of his vision; instead he concentrated on breathing until the world around him settled again.

They’d been ambushed, he was certain of it. Were they supposed to survive the crash? Did whoever had caused it think they’d gone up in a fiery crash? What about Gibbs? Was he even aware of their situation?

There were more questions than answers, and no one to answer them. He cast about for McGee. Didn’t he remember McGee pulling him from the SUV? Maybe McGee had gone for help? Because he was nowhere in sight.

Tony could see the SUV. It was well and truly totaled, a smoking mass of metal. Could they take that out of his salary? He decided he had way too much to worry about, he’d shelve that problem for later.

Where was McGee? That was the immediate problem. Shouldn’t he be fussing in typical McGee fashion? Tony shivered again, pulling the jacket tighter.

If he had McGee’s jacket then where was McGee?

He scanned the area desperately. Where was he? There was a low moan in the darkness and Tony realized that a lump a few feet from his feet was McGee. Had he been injured in the crash, too? It was hellishly painful, but Tony managed to pull himself to sit beside the other man.

With relief he felt the pulse at McGee’s throat, steady and strong. "Probie," he shook the other man.

McGee stirred, pushing his hand away, "Mom, come on, let me sleep five more minutes," he muttered before shifting away restlessly.

"Sorry, Probie, wish I could." He shook him again, "Come on, McGee, wake up."

This time McGee’s eyes opened, peering up at Tony in confusion, "Tony?"

"Right the first time, Probie. You really have been working on your observational skills. Are you injured?"

McGee’s gaze turned inward, taking stock of his condition, "No, I think I’m alright. Tony, what happened?"

"I was actually hoping you could tell me, Probie. Can you get up?" Tony’s instincts were starting to kick in, telling him they needed to move. It was crazy he knew. But he’d learned to trust his instincts the hard way.

"Get up? Sure," he blinked up at Tony, not moving.

"Well, Probie?"

"Well?"

"Geeze, Probie. Are you sure you’re not concussed? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we kind of need to get out of here. Get help."

"Get help? Oh." That seemed to get through to him. McGee sat. "Shouldn’t we just call for help?"

"I don’t know about you, Probie, but I don’t seem to have a phone handy," Tony knew he was being harsh, but he was getting the feeling that they needed to be gone yesterday.

"Phone?"

McGee just kept repeating his words and Tony wanted to scream at him. He worked to keep his voice calm and level. "I don’t have a phone to call for help, McGee, do you?"

McGee shook his head, his gaze wandering to take in the crash site. "What happened?"

"God, McGee, we crashed. Would you get up!"

"Sure, Tony," he pushed himself to his feet. Seeing the car he whistled, "Did we do that?"

"Seems like. Now, Probie, help me up."

McGee turned and extended a hand to help him up. His forehead puckered as he surveyed Tony’s condition. "Should you move?"

Tony grasped his offered hand, "Don’t think I have any choice, Probie." McGee pulled Tony to his feet. Tony gasped at the sharp pain that knifed through his body and nearly fell to his knees. McGee braced him, holding him with an arm around his waist until he could breath again.

"Tony, let me leave you here. I’ll climb up to the road and get help."

Tony shook his head, "Not much traffic on this road, Probie. You could wait up there for a long time until someone comes alone." He took a halting step and McGee was forced to go with him. He took a firmer hold around Tony’s waist to help anchor him.

"Tony, I don’t understand. What’s the hurry?"

Tony didn’t even look back at the crash site as he set their course even with the road above their head. If he remembered correctly, it intersected with the main road again in a few miles. He just hoped he could make it that far. "Look at the evidence, Probie."

"Okay," McGee sounded like his faculties were clearing. "Our John Doe was dressed in a marine uniform?"

"Yes," It was all Tony could do to stay upright. His left leg was nearly useless and he put most of his weight on McGee.

"But his fingerprints weren’t in the database, so he couldn’t be a marine."

"Right again." Tony could almost hear his mind working. It irritated him sometimes how smart the other man was. But no matter how smart he was, McGee didn’t have the instincts that Tony had, and they were screaming at him, telling him they needed to move. They needed to move fast.

But there was nothing else he could do, he couldn’t move any faster. "Our tire was shot out, Probie. Someone planned this. Someone who might be coming to finish the job."

"But why? Who?"

"I don’t know, McGee, I just know we have to get out of here and get help. Soon."

Tony gritted his teeth and concentrated on moving forward without falling on his face.

"Okay." He could feel McGee pull him in tighter as they set out together into the cold night.

*****

It had been a long shot, Gibbs had almost passed it, but at the last minute he turned sharply onto the back road. Tony prided himself on knowing the byways of the area. Maybe he’d thought the road was a shortcut considering the traffic that would be on the main arteries of the city during rush hour.

As he drove, Gibbs kept one eye on the feed from Abbey’s lab. "Abby, what’s taking so long? Why haven’t you pinpointed their location yet?"

"Gibbs, I can’t just track his phone. It has to be switched on for me to find it, and since his last call to a Nancy Morgan it’s been turned off or he’s let his battery run down again, because there’s not even a signal for me to triangulate on. McGee doesn’t have his cell phone with him, so I can’t call him. And there’s something wrong with the GPS device on the SUV. It’s not transmitting."

Nobody even wanted to speculate as to the reason why that would be. The GPS devices in the NCIS vehicles were there for a reason. It would have to take something catastrophic to cause one to go down.

"Abby, are you going to be able to determine their location?" Kate asked in concern.

"I can’t track something where there’s nothing for me to track, Kate," her voice reflected her extreme state of misery. "But I’ll keep trying."

"You do that, Abs," Gibbs said, trying for an encouraging tone. He was pretty sure that he failed completely. "Let us know if you find anything."

"You’ll be the first to know," she assured them before hitting the button to severe their connection.

There was silence in the car after she hung up. Kate worked on the computer, rerunning the map, trying to see if there were any more obvious routes they could try. She glanced out her window to see nothing but darkness. They’d left the city lights far behind.

She frowned, "What makes you think they’d go this way, Gibbs? It’s almost off the map."

"This is DiNozzo we’re talking about," Gibbs said as if that explained everything.

In a funny sort of way it did. Tony seemed to always think he had to prove himself over and over to Gibbs. If he thought this back way would get him to their witness faster, so he could report back to Gibbs sooner, then it made a strange kind of sense that Tony would use it. She sighed

A cell phone rang. They both started. Kate’s heart jumped in hope.

Gibbs pulled out his phone and flipped it open. "Gibbs."

"There you are, Jethro. How you doin?" The voice in his ear was vaguely familiar, the tone implied he should know the identity of the caller.

"This is Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, can I help you?" He spared a glance for Kate and mouthed ‘trace it’ on a hunch. He heard her flip out her phone with gratifying speed.

"Now, Jethro, I’m disappointed. You don’t recognize the voice of your old pal?" There was something about the voice, where had he heard it before…

Then the last piece of the puzzle fell into place and suddenly the picture became clear. "Leo."

"You always were too smart for your own good," the other man chuckled.

"You’re supposed to be dead." He glanced over to see that Abby was again on the live feed to the car. She was bent over her own console working madly. Kate chewed a fingernail anxiously, her attention split between Abby and Gibbs.

"Well it would seem that’s wrong, Jethro, now wouldn’t you say?"

"I don’t understand, I saw your body." It might have been 14 years before, but Gibbs remembered all too clearly. He flashed on the memory of that day from hell. He still saw Leo’s body in his nightmares, the bullet holes spilling his blood out onto the Iraqi sand. It had seemed to disappear, absorbed by the moisture hungry desert.

"Did you check it out for yourself, Jethro? Did you check my pulse, did you do anything?" There was scorn in the other man’s voice, and anger.

"We were under enemy fire, Leo. Thompson said you were dead. We believed him." Gibbs could hear the gunfire, feet the heat, the damn sand that got into everything.

"You left me there."

Gibbs didn’t need to hear the accusation, he’d already figured that out for himself. "We came back for your body, it was gone."

"Oh, yeah, about that. The Iraqis found me. They’ve been keeping me occupied until recently. Thought I’d come say hi to old friends."

Oh, yeah the pieces were fitting together much too neatly now, "You left that body in the marine uniform for us to find."

"Oh, good. You got it then."

The satisfaction in the other man’s voice made Gibbs slightly nauseous. "Leo, this is crazy."

"Crazy?" the voice on the other end of the line was nearly insane with fury. "Crazy is being left for dead as bait for the Iraqis following us. Crazy is losing over 10 years of your life as a prisoner of war, a prisoner that no one even knew about. Crazy is losing your wife and son because they think you’re dead. Someone has to pay for the time I’ve lost. And it’s your turn to pay, Gibbs. I’m going to take away everything you care about, then I’m going to kill you."

Gibbs kept his voice calm, refusing to rise to the bait the other man dangled, "What have you done to DiNozzo and McGee?"

Leo chuckled, a low evil sound that sent chills up Gibbs’ spine. "They’ve had a little accident. Didn’t you know? You know those SUV’s, they’re really not safe. They roll and when they blow up, damn it’s impressive. I’m thinking there probably aren’t any survivors down there, but I’m going down to make sure." The false sympathy dripped from Leo’s voice.

"Leo, no!"

"Talk to you later, Gibbs."

"If you hurt them…" Gibbs was left holding his phone when the line went dead. "Kate?"

"Abby got him, Gibbs," she assured him. "He’s on a cell, and his location is…," she turned the screen so he could see. They were on the right road, but they were still too far away to be of any immediate help to their friends.

Grimly, Gibbs drove into the night. He intended to arrive in time to do more than collect the bodies of his agents.

Leo might not have been dead in Iraq, and Gibbs truly regretted the tragedy of that. But if he hurt Dinozzo and McGee he was going to be dead in the here and now.

*****

Leo stumbled down the hill, following the path of destruction left by the SUV.

Damn but it was good and mangled. He surveyed the wreckage with the satisfaction of an artist. Careful of the still smoldering mess he checked inside: there were no bodies, no charred carcasses, no sign of victims of any kind.

While it was a little disappointing that he couldn’t call Gibbs then and there and tell him the fate of his men, Leo was pleased that the game would continue.

At least for a little while longer.

He scouted the area, finding the place where the two agents had lain, the ground still warm, spatters of blood stained the earth. He judged it hadn’t been long since they had left. Studying the tracks carefully, he smiled in malicious pleasure. Oh, yeah, at least one was injured by the halting steps and the uneven prints he found.

Things were just getting better and better. He was going to have fun tracking these two. Then he’d find Gibbs and hand him the bodies of the men under his command before he killed him.

Revenge was sweet.

It was all he had left, but it would do, for now.

*****

"Gibbs?"

Kate’s voice intruded, scattering his thoughts, things he hadn’t thought about for 14 years. He’d been remembering a hell he’d thought he’d left behind.

"Gibbs?" she asked again anxiously. "Who was that?"

"Leo Maxwell Morgan," he told her.

There was a beat as she absorbed the import of the name. "But he’s dead. Isn’t he?"

"Evidently not." Gibbs gripped the wheel grimly, willing a little more speed from the car. Every second passed was one more second that Leo was stalking DiNozzo and McGee.

"What happened?" she asked quietly.

"I was in Desert Storm, Kate, I was part of a four man team that went ahead of the strike force, scouting the area, trying to determine troop strength and position."

"Yes?"

"We were deep in occupied territory, surrounded on all sides by the enemy when we stumbled on a squad of Iraqi soldiers…. Leo was hit." There’d been so much blood, bright red on the beige and chocolate pattern of their BDU’s, too bright. "Thompson… Thompson checked the body. He said Leo was dead. I believed him. Why wouldn’t I believe him?" His voice was bleak.

"Gibbs, you didn’t know. It was war."

"I should have checked myself," he said stubbornly, refusing to be let off the hook. Gibbs own worst critic was always himself. He shook himself and glanced toward the map showing their position. "What’s our ETA?"

She glanced at the map, "It’s hard to say, Gibbs."

"Say, Kate."

"We’re ten, fifteen minutes behind him, Gibbs."

There was silence in the car as they drove on into the night.

*****

McGee wasn’t entirely sure, but he suspected that on top of all the rest of his injuries, Tony was cracked. Completely off his rocker. Why else would he, Special Agent Timothy McGee, be out in the middle of nowhere on a cold night with a branch covering their tracks?

Tony thought they were being followed.

Tony was the one with the experience and the instincts. So, although McGee seriously doubted that he was in his right mind, he was doing what Tony wanted.

He had to admit it, if only to himself, that he was really worried about the other man. Tony wouldn’t thank him if he were to say it out loud, McGee knew that. Tony thought he was indestructible and insisted that he was fine. While at the same time, he put most of his weight on McGee and could barely hold his head up.

McGee really hadn’t wanted to leave him alone so he could wipe out their tracks in the dirt. Tony had insisted he just needed to rest for a second. God, he hated the macho act that Tony always put on. Sometimes he wondered if there really was more there, or if what you saw really was what you got.

Then there were moments when the façade cracked and he saw the real Tony beneath, the kindness that he didn’t often let show. The fact that he cared. McGee wondered what had happened to him that made him think he had to maintain that facade.

He surveyed his work critically. He certainly couldn’t see where they’d been. Hopefully no one else could either. He pulled the branch along behind him, obscuring his prints as he made his way back to where Tony waited.

He approached quietly so as not to disturb the other man if he was resting. He got to where he thought Tony should be, but there was no DiNozzo. He took a step forward, stopping when he heard the cock of a gun.

"Tony?"

"McGee?" The voice echoed in the darkness coming from everywhere at once.

"Yes."

"Good, I need help."

McGee turned in a circle trying to figure out where Tony’s voice was coming from.

"Over here, to your right."

McGee followed his voice to find Tony slumped against a tree several feet from where he’d been left. His face was even whiter, if that was possible, pinched with pain. His gun was held loosely, hanging at his side.

First order of business, McGee carefully took the gun and put on the safety before opening Tony’s jacket and putting it back in its holster.

"Thought… I heard something," Tony explained.

"You probably heard lots of things – birds, dogs, animals."

"No, I heard something," Tony insisted. His eyes were fever bright. "Did you make the false trails, like I told you to?"

McGee sighed, yep, Tony was cracked, completely. Thing is, you couldn’t tell the difference from Tony on a good day.

"I did, although I don’t know who could be following us."

"Whoever shot out our tires," Tony stubbornly asserted. "Whoever sent that body to Gibbs. There wasn’t ever a witness, you know."

McGee pulled Tony’s arm over his shoulder. "So, you’ve told me several times."

With Tony leaning heavily on McGee, they continued their halting flight into the night.

*****

Leo really liked these boys. They were thorough, he had to give them that. He’d been able to follow their trail easy for a while, but then it had disappeared completely. Any lesser man might not have been able to find it again. But he wasn’t just any man. He was marine trained to track, and it was going to take someone a hell of a lot better than these two to elude him.

Still, they were doing alright. They’d slowed him up a little. He liked that. It kept the hunt going. And that’s what he liked. The thrill of the hunt. Knowing that the prey was running, but they weren’t going to escape. He was just too damned good. But let them think they’d outsmarted him for a little bit. Make them overconfident.

He found the occasional sweep mark of the branches that obscured the footprints, the small spots of blood here and there. Yep, he was on the right trail, right enough. They’d slowed him down, but they sure hadn’t stopped him. The boys just really didn’t know what was on their tails. That was alright, they’d find out, soon enough.

******

Walking for what felt like forever, it seemed to Tony that they were no closer to finding the main road. He knew McGee thought he was crazy for insisting that they were being followed, but he couldn’t shake the feeling there was something behind them in the darkness, gaining ground every minute.

He found himself shivering, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. The night was becoming downright cold. And if that wasn’t enough, each step was a new adventure in pain. It cut through Tony like a knife, stealing his breath away and making the world whirl around him.

McGee was his touch point; his arm around Tony’s waist kept him grounded and in the here and now. It would be oh-so-easy to let everything go and drift away to where the pain couldn’t touch him. But he couldn’t do that. McGee didn’t stand a chance against whoever was following them and McGee didn’t deserve to die tonight.

Hell, neither one of them did. And they weren’t going to, if Anthony DiNozzo had anything to say about it. He was determined that they were both going to get out of the night alive.

Gibbs wouldn’t accept anything less from him.

He ground his teeth against the pain and the cold and decided that he needed something to think about besides how bad he felt.

He needed a distraction, "Hey, McGee, tell me about your book."

There was silence as McGee tried to process his strange request, "Book?"

Tony almost had to smile at the confusion in the other man’s tone, "Yeah, you know, you said you wrote."

"Oh. You really want to know?"

"Sure, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know."

"Okay, I write mysteries."

Even as they talked, Tony kept his senses alert for subtle changes in the night, different noises, things that moved that shouldn’t. "Yeah, I know that, McGee. Tell me about the characters in your stories. Are there any hot babes?"

"Well, no. My main character is a detective. He’s kind of a geek, you know, he likes computers…"

Tony stumbled and they had to pause while he regained his breath, "Kind of like you?"

McGee chose to ignore the jibe, "You’re supposed to write about what you know. I know about computers and technology."

"Nobody’s going to read that," he didn’t know how much longer he could keep going. Grey was beginning to creep in at the edges of his vision and McGee’s voice sometimes sounded far away, and then it was startling close.

Just one step at a time, he could keep going one more step. Tony began to count his steps. One…

McGee didn't seem to be aware of his distress, he just kept talking, which was a good thing, it kept them moving forward, "At the moment it’s not for anyone to read. It’s just for me. Besides Abby likes it."

"You let Abby read your stories?"

Five, six, seven…

"Sure."

"You know what you need in your stories?" He just needed to keep McGee talking and they’d make it.

Ten, eleven…

"I’m sure you’re going to tell me," McGee muttered under his breath.

Tony grinned despite the pain, he didn’t think he was supposed to have heard that, "What?" he asked innocently.

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen…

"Uh.. nothing, tell me what I need," Tony could feel McGee’s blush.

"Your geeky guy needs to have a partner."

Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four… he was on a roll now.

If he could just keep breathing he would make it, "A handsome guy, kind of street wise, who knows all the bad guys and gets your guy out of scrapes."

Their steps had slowed, "And I wonder who that is?" Tony had a feeling McGee was on to his tactic.

"Hey, write what you know," Tony reminded him.

Twenty-six….

"Okay, a handsome street-wise guy. What’s his part in the story?"

"He has to teach the geeky guy everything he knows before the other guy gets himself killed."

Thirty, he’d made it to thirty. That was a good thing, right?

"You think I’m going to get myself killed?" McGee sounded surprised at the mere concept.

"In the book, McGee," Tony reminded him.

"Oh, okay."

"And yeah, I’m sure this geeky detective of yours is just gonna trust the wrong person and get himself killed. Now that’ll make a good story."

Thirty-five…

"That happened to you, didn’t it, Tony?" McGee’s voice was so low, Tony could barely here it.

Tony paused startled. McGee really was learning, "What are you talking about, Probie? I’m here, aren’t I?"

McGee pushed, "Or someone close to you. A partner maybe."

There was silence and they just walked. Finally Tony said, "Sometimes trusting the wrong person doesn’t get you killed, it gets other people killed." He didn’t want to think about it, he was supposed to be counting.

Forty… Or was it Fifty. He’d lost count now, and had to start over.

One…

McGee didn’t know what to say, "I’m… uh… sorry."

"What? We’re talking about your story detective here, remember?" Tony’s voice was rough, and he swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. He didn’t need those memories now.

He’d lost count again, and didn’t know if he could start again.

"Oh, right, sure we were."

They walked along in silence, Tony trying to remember where he was in the count when some change in the night alerted him.

He stopped, listening intently, "Did you hear that?"

Tony could practically see McGee’s ears stretch as his head swiveled taking in the night around them, "No, I’m sorry, I don’t hear anything."

There was no time for Tony to explain what had alerted him, he wasn’t even certain himself. He just knew they had to do something. Fast. The pain was pushed aside as he formulated a plan, "Listen, McGee, this is what we’re going to do…"

Tony outlined his plan quickly and succinctly, keeping his attention focused on every sound and whisper from around them.

*****

"Do you see anything?" Gibbs asked.

Kate strained to see something, anything, out the window that might tell them what had happened to Tony and McGee. But try as she might, she didn’t see anything. Just darkness. "No, sorry, Gibbs."

"This is about the position where Abby tracked Leo’s call, there’s got to be …" he slowed the car even more as he spotted something in the headlights.

Kate held her breath as she peered out into the murky darkness trying to figure out what he saw; then she saw it, too, skid marks across the road. Gibbs braked to a halt, and they both ran to follow the marks.

They stood on the side of the road, their flashlights marking the path the SUV had taken as it disappeared down the ravine. Without a word, they took off down the hill, slipping and sliding down to the scene of the accident.

Kate couldn’t believe that anyone had gotten out of the vehicle alive. It was obvious it had rolled several times as it came down the hill, it was crushed and misshapen. The acrid stink of gasoline and burning tires filled the air. It was with trepidation that she checked the inside of the vehicle. Nothing.

There was nothing and no one there, except ...

"Gibbs." Shining in the beam of her flashlight was blood, lots of blood. "Where are our guys?"

"Now that’s the question, isn’t it?" Gibbs asked. He played the beam around the site, trying to see if he could spot anything to give him a clue. He quickly found the track where a body had been pulled from the SUV.

"Kate." He followed the track, until he found where the body had lain. He saw the footprints that indicated one of his men was upright and ambulatory. He saw where both of them had eventually walked away, or one walked and the other lurched. He also saw that another set of prints followed behind. "Kate call an ambulance and get them here."

Without waiting for her answer, he took off into the darkness, leaving her to pull out her cell phone and rush after him. No way was she leaving him alone out here without backup.

******

Tony had never thought about the danger of being the bait before.. It was just a given of the job he did; sometimes you put yourself out there for the bad guys and said, ‘Hey, I’m here. Come and get me.’ There was always a rush that came from the danger. If he were honest, he’d have to admit that he liked it.

But this was different. Always before he had been the one in control of the situation. He could pull the plug anytime that he felt things were out of control, but this time he had no control. No one knew where they were. He had no idea of who the bad guy was, or even if there was a bad guy out there. What if everything was just a product of his fevered imagination and he had himself and McGee jumping at shadows?

It didn’t help that he was injured. He just felt even more out of control if that was at all possible. He could feel the weariness descending upon him in waves, the need to just shut his eyes and let everything go. But he couldn’t do that.

McGee was out there depending on him to carry out his part of the plan; to lure in whoever it was that was out there following them, by making himself look as vulnerable and helpless as possible. Make him, whoever ‘him’ was, think that Tony was alone and waiting for McGee to get back with help.

Tony figured he was holding up his end of the plan pretty well, helpless pretty much described his situation. Since he couldn’t even move to defend himself, he was pretty much helpless in every sense of the word. And it was a situation that he didn’t much like.

It was damn cold, too, and he was having trouble holding onto consciousness. Some field agent he was being. He really hoped that Gibbs didn’t find him like this. It was important to him to always be at his best around Gibbs. The boss’s good opinion meant a lot to him. And Tony could just imagine what Gibbs would say if he found him, bloody and broken in the middle of nowhere, clutching his gun and jumping at shadows.

"You messed up, DiNozzo," that’s what he would say. Tony could almost hear him. Or was he beginning to hallucinate things now?

There was a snap coming from the darkness and Tony froze, his senses at full alert. His heart thumped loud enough in his chest he was certain McGee could probably hear it from where ever it was he was hiding.

Was it McGee out there? Peering into the blackness trying to make shapes out of the bleary shadows, he knew McGee had to be out there, somewhere. It was his job to watch Tony’s back and wait for the bad guy to make an appearance. He was doing a really good job, too. Tony didn’t have any idea of where he was.

Licking his lips, Tony realized he was getting thirsty, and the shivers were starting to take their toll. McGee had insisted that if they separate, Tony take his jacket as a second layer against the cold. He’d tried to protest, he really had, but for once, McGee had stood firm. Tony zipped both jackets up around his neck, not that it did much good. The cold was seeping up from the ground he sat on, stealing any warmth that his body might have once had.

He relaxed a little when there weren’t any more noises, he decided it was probably an animal out in the night. His fevered imagination began to wonder what kind of animal would be out on a cold dark night that could cause a branch to snap. How large would it have to be, how hungry? How much did he look like a to-go meal?

He roused, realizing that he’d had his eyes shut, his head leaning back against the tree. How long had he been out? He looked up at the sky hoping to get a glimpse of moon or stars or something to help him know how long he’d been in the open, alone. The sky was overcast and cloudy giving away no clues.

Had it been that way when he’d started out from NCIS headquarters? He couldn’t remember. Details were starting to get fuzzy and the world around him was getting strange…

He couldn’t seem to focus on anything. He licked his lips again. What he wouldn’t give for some coffee right now, or even just one of those bottles of water that Kate carried everywhere she went.

He wondered what Kate was doing. Had she and Gibbs finished up on the body? Was she out with Dwayne or Digger or whoever it was she was dating? Was she warm and dry, drinking water with her dinner? He really hoped she was.

Tony leaned his head back and closed his eyes, just for a second. He’d only leave them closed for a second.

******

Leo grinned, watching the injured agent from his hiding place in the shadows. Oh, yeah, this was going even better than he could have planned. He circled around keeping an eye out for the other agent.

There was a loud snap from somewhere close by. Leo froze, keeping one eye on the injured man whose eyes snapped open. The kid searched the area frantically, his gun at the ready. Leo noted the fine tremors, the way the gun shook in his grasp.

Yea, he could take that one any time he wanted.

His target now was the other agent, the one who was lying in wait for him. The hunter was becoming the hunted. Leo would eliminate him, leave his message for Gibbs and be on his way…

*****

Kate had no idea what Gibbs was actually tracking. She suspected that the man was actually part blood hound. The night was cloudy and there was no light for him to see by, yet he kept moving steadily forward, following signs and clues that she couldn’t see for the life of her. But she trusted him as she had never trusted anyone before. So she followed, her gun at her side, ready for anything.

She’d directed the emergency vehicles to meet them back at the site of the crashed SUV. She had no idea where their chase might actually lead them. Remembering the blood in the SUV, she dreaded what they might find at its end. She was surprised that they hadn’t stumbled across a body yet. No one could lose that much blood and still be moving.

Unless, of course, it was DiNozzo. The man was so stubborn, he’d keep moving just to prove her wrong. She didn’t know what it was that put them at odds most of the time. Maybe it was some sort of sibling thing that she really didn’t want to think about, each of them competing for Gibbs’ approval. Somehow she had always thought herself above that sort of petty rivalry, but Tony just brought out the worst in her.

But he also brought out the best in her,- they were a good team when they set aside their competitiveness and worked together. And Tony could always do that when it came right down to it. Gone was the silly, vain, egocentric Tony who competed for everything. Kate was always amazed when he was replaced by the competent caring man who could anticipate her moves and work in tandem with her, almost seeming to read her mind.

A shout from Gibbs pulled her from her thoughts. She ran towards his voice, almost stumbling over him. He was on his knees, a body on the ground at her feet. She almost stopped breathing herself in shock. She knelt for a closer look.

It was McGee, his face drained of all color and as far as she could see, not breathing. Gibbs straightened his body into the rescue position, tilting his head back and checking his airway, then he started breathing into the other man’s mouth. Kate put her hands in position on his chest and waited for Gibbs to finish.

God, what had happened? Where was Tony? There was no time for questions as Gibbs looked up at her, bidding her wordlessly to begin the compressions that would keep McGee’s heart pumping.

She started the compressions, pressing firmly and evenly, Gibbs keeping count for her, "…thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Stop, Kate." He had to reach out and take a hold of her arm to stop her.

She rocked back on her knees and watched as he breathed into McGee’s mouth. Before he could do so, McGee gasped as his body took over control. His eyes flew open, and he tried to move away from them, the fright and horror evident on his face.

"McGee," Gibbs took hold of his shoulders firmly, pushing him down. "Breath, just breath. You’re safe."

Caught up in a nightmare of his own, McGee’s eyes flicked from Gibbs to Kate and back again. It took him a moment to take in their faces. Then his mouth worked and he tried to speak, but no sound issued forth.

"Slow down, McGee, it’s alright. We’ve got you now."

McGee’s eyes squeezed shut and tears of frustration leaked out. He shook his head wildly. "No," he mouthed. Kate could make out that much, at least. "Not alright. Tony."

Kate heard a shout from the trail they had come down. She saw flashlights bobbing in the night.

Gibbs steely gaze flicked up to Kate, "Go get them. We need to get McGee to the hospital now."

But what about Tony? The words almost spilled from her mouth, but she stopped them, damned them up. There was no time, she had to get help for McGee.

Then they’d worry about Tony.

She raced back up the trail to lead the emergency personnel to their injured team member.

*****

It was taking too long. Gibbs knew it. Every second he delayed looking for Tony was a second closer to the young agent’s death. But he couldn’t leave McGee. McGee was his responsibility, too.

He could see the same fear in Kate’s eyes as she watched him watching the paramedics work on McGee. He could see the accusation she would never speak.

If they found Tony dead, it would be his fault.

He kept an eye on the emergency workers as they took care of McGee. He was conscious but he wasn’t really with it. His brush with death had left him groggy and confused. He kept trying to see past the oxygen mask and the people surrounding him, his forehead creased as he tried to make sense of the confusion.

Gibbs knew how he felt.

While the paramedics worked on McGee, Gibbs flicked the beam of his flashlight around the area trying to find some idea of what had happened to his other agent.

The local cops had arrived and they were continuing the search for DiNozzo, but Gibbs needed to be involved. He needed to be doing something himself to find his missing man. Why had Leo killed one man and taken the other? It didn’t make any sense.

His cell rang and he moved back a few steps, keeping McGee in sight. "Gibbs," he spoke into the phone curtly.

"Gibbs, this is Abby. Have you found them?" He could hear the anxiety in her voice.

How did he tell her exactly what he’d found? He knew how Abby felt about McGee. It was his job to know. How was he going to tell her this? "What do you have, Abs?"

There was a pause as if she wanted to say more, but then she continued, "Okay, Gibbs, I pulled up the files on this Leo Morgan guy."

"What did you find?"

"Nothing past when he was supposed to have died back in the Gulf war, but did you know he had a wife and son?"

The words echoed in his head, and the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Gibbs finally saw the whole picture, "Nancy and Ben Morgan," he nodded although Abby couldn’t see it.

Leo had never mentioned having a wife and a kid, but it’s not like they had time to get to know him. He’d been a last minute insertion into their team when their own fourth member had broken his foot, they hadn’t really had time to get to know him before his ‘death.’

"How do you do that?" She complained. "And yes, Nancy Morgan was his wife. Benjamin Maxwell Morgan aged thirteen, is his son." There was a pause and she asked again, "Gibbs, Tony and McGee, have you found them?"

Thinking furiously, he told her, "Listen, Abby, we found McGee."

"You did? Gibbs, where? How?"

"Listen to me, Abby, I don’t have time for this. McGee’s been injured. I need you to meet him at the hospital. Get a guard on his door and don’t leave him alone for anything. Do you understand, Abs?" No way was Leo getting another chance at his people.

Gibbs had to give her credit, Abby didn’t ask what or why, she just said, "Will do, Gibbs. Tony?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"We’ll find him, Abs, don’t worry. And Abby, take Ducky with you. I want him to look at McGee and give me an assessment."

"Will do, Gibbs." The phone went dead in his hand.

"Gibbs," Kate called out to him from McGee’s side. She hadn’t left him, except to make way for the paramedics. "McGee wants to talk to you."

The injured man was loaded on a gurney now, snugged in for transport. Even in the inadequate light provided by flashlights and emergency lights, Gibbs could see the bruises beginning to form around McGee’s throat, fingers were clear to see.

"McGee."

"Tony." McGee’s voice was a bare whisper.

"Sir," one of the paramedics protested, "he shouldn’t be speaking."

"Please," McGee pleaded, his eyes flicking from Gibbs to the paramedics and back again. "Got to."

"It’s okay, McGee," Gibbs told him. "Take it easy. Where’s Tony? Do you know?"

McGee tried to sit, but failing that, he pointed into the night. "Gotta get him. Hurt… bad."

"We’ll get him, McGee," Kate said from behind him. "We’ve got to get you to the hospital now."

"No," the man asserted stubbornly. "Tony. Gotta get Tony."

Gibbs liked his determination. "You’re going to the hospital, McGee, that’s an order. Kate and I will find Tony."

That seemed to reassure him. McGee’s eyes began to flicker and then shut. Gibbs nodded at the paramedics to take him away. He watched until they disappeared into the darkness.

"Gibbs?" Kate asked quietly.

"Abby called." He waited until all it was just the two of them again. The area around them was trampled, impossible to find a trail, but he flicked the beam of his flashlight around anyway. His thoughts were going in circles trying to track sight-lines and retrace his agent’s steps.

"And?"

"Nancy Morgan is Leo’s wife." He began to cast about in a wider circle.

"As in Tony’s little brother?" she asked incredulously.

"That would be the one." He nodded, "I want you to get someone on her door, a round the clock guard. Then you and I are going to check out a hunch."

He stopped as he found the spot where a body had sat. He knelt, touching the packed earth. He held his bloody fingers up for Kate to see.

She didn’t flinch, her mouth just tightened as she flipped open her phone.

There was another set of prints next to where Tony had sat. A set of prints that wasn’t McGees. Leo had DiNozzo, Gibbs was certain of that.

They had to hurry, Gibbs was certain of that, too. DiNozzo’s time was running out. Even if Leo didn’t kill him, blood loss was going to do it for him.

****

Nancy Morgan sat next to the phone trying to read the book open in front of her, but knew she was failing when she had to re-read the same page three times. She glanced over at her son.

He appeared to be playing one of his video games, but she could tell that his mind wasn’t really on what he was doing either, when he was killed yet again. He cursed softly as he reset the game and then glanced back at her guiltily.

"Sorry, Mom," he mumbled.

She smiled gently, "I’m worried about him, too, Ben. I’m sure Agent Gibbs will call when there’s word about Tony."

He threw down the controller and came to sit next to her on the couch, "But shouldn’t they have called by now? I mean it’s been a long time. They’re the government. Tony’s always telling me about the cool stuff they have to find people."

"They also have a lot of work to do. I’m sure they’ve got more important things to do than to call us back. Don’t worry, Tony will call us when he’s able."

She put her arm around him, and he didn’t pull away from her as had been his want lately. He was too old to be ‘mothered,’ at least that’s what he told her. It felt good to just sit with him, his head on her shoulder.

There had been a time not so long ago, when she had despaired of ever getting through to him. He’d hit his teen age years and suddenly thought he knew everything. He didn’t seem to have any use for her. When he began to hang out with a some rough kids and sneak out at night, she’d decided it was time to take back control.

One of the things she knew he needed was a strong male influence. She’d gone to the Big Brother program to see if they could help her. At first, upon meeting Tony DiNozzo she’d worried that she’d make a huge mistake. He’d seemed to be as big a kid as her son, and just as juvenile. But a few nights spent together had made a huge difference in Ben’s attitude. He never talked much about their time together, but she’d noticed lately that there was a lot of ‘Tony said this,’ and ‘Tony thinks…’

She knew she had a lot to thank Tony DiNozzo for; and, despite what she’d just told her son, she was worried about him. She kept hearing the sound of tearing metal before the line had disconnected.

The sound of the doorbell disturbed their quiet moment. Nancy felt a small clutch of fear. She knew it was silly, it could have nothing at all to do with Tony, but still she took a deep breath before opening the door.

Seeing the man waiting there, she gasped.

"Mom?" Ben called from the couch.

"Hey, Nancy," Leo greeted her, before casually sauntering into the room.

Nancy stood rooted to the spot, unable to speak or move. This was a ghost from her past that she had never thought to see again. Leo walked past her going straight to Ben.

"So, this is Ben?" He asked.

Ben had never met his father. Leo had died before the boy was even born. So to Ben, this interloper was a stranger and Ben stood defiantly. His body language said he was ready to defend himself and his mom if necessary.

"Leo, my god, what happened?" Nancy whispered, finally finding her voice. She hurried to stand next to Ben. "They said you were dead. It’s been so long." There were so many questions she didn’t even know where to start.

"They were wrong," he told her and just stood there, giving her time to take in the fact that he was alive.

Nancy studied his face. She was horrified to find that it was a mass of scars. She could see her husband had been through something terrible. She could see it, not only in the scars, but in the awful pain she saw in his eyes. There was something else there that made her tremble, hate. There was hate in his eyes as he watched the two of them. His eyes were predatory and calculating.

Suddenly Nancy was afraid for herself and her son.

"Mom?" Ben asked again. "Who is this?"

"I’m your dad, Benjamin," Leo answered before she could speak. "I’ve missed a lot and I’m here now to make up for that. In fact we’re going to start right now."

"Leo?"

"Dad?" Ben’s voice was tremulous. He took a step towards Leo.

Nancy knew he’d missed a lot growing up without a father. He’d never said it to her, but she knew he envied the boys with father and the things they did together.

He turned to back at his mother with puzzled eyes, "You said he was dead."

"They were trying to keep us apart, son," Leo’s voice was hard with hate.

So much hate, Nancy suddenly realized this wasn’t the man she loved anymore. She didn’t know what had happened to him, but it had changed him.

"But not anymore," he continued, "You want to come with me now?"

Leo held out his hand to his son. Ben took another tentative step forward, but then stopped. "We can’t leave right now."

"Not ‘we,’ kid, just you. I’ve only come for you."

Nancy held her breath waiting for her son’s answer.

"I can’t leave my mom. I mean I want to get you know you, but…"

Leo exploded, "You’ll do as I say, you’ll come with me now or else."

Nancy had learned a long time ago that her son didn’t respond well to the ‘or else.’ She saw his back stiffen and he took a step back.

She put a hand on his shoulder, frightened. "Ben?"

"Stay out of this, Nancy, you made your choice when you had me declared legally dead."

She moved so that she stood between her son and her husband, "Leo, I had to move on. Ben and I needed closure," she insisted.

She didn’t see the blow coming. She just felt herself fly across the room until she hit the wall, her breath was knocked from her in a startled whoosh. Her legs gave out, and she slid down the wall.

Ben was there beside her, "Oh, god, Mom. Are you okay?" He shook her shoulder and she did her best to rouse herself for her son’s sake. But it was no good, the darkness pulled her down.

*****

When she came to, she had no idea how much time had passed. Her head throbbed and when she touched the back of it gingerly, her fingers came away wet and sticky. There was quiet all around her.

She stood, still shaky, using a hand against the wall to prop herself up. The house around her was cold and she walked on wobbly legs to find the front door standing open.

"Ben?" The silence of the house frightened her. Clutching the railing, she went up the stairs, "Ben?" There was nothing, just oppressive silence. She stood there on the stairs, tears were beginning to well and she wasn’t sure what to do. First Tony, now Ben…

A sound at the door startled her and she took the last few stairs quicker than she should have in hopes that somehow it was Ben at the door. Jerking the door open, she nearly fell into the arms of the policemen she found there. She stared stupefied, unable to understand why they were there.

"Ma’am," one of them asked quietly, "are you alright? Do we need to call you an ambulance?"

She shook her head, the tears starting to fall, "No…, my son…" she took a deep breath as she tried to steady herself and tell them what had happened, "my husband, he’s taken my son."

She knew she wasn’t making any sense, but the policemen seemed to understand what had happened. One of them helped her to sit, while another one talked on the radio.

"Ma’am," the officer at her side said, "do you know where your husband has taken your son?"

She shook her head numbly, unable to speak. Leo had been dead to her for over ten years, it had almost destroyed her when she’d gotten the news that he was dead. But she’d survived and moved on because she had to, for Ben.

Now he was back. He was a different and dangerous Leo, and he’d taken her son.

*****

The ambulance trip was a nightmare for McGee. The siren was a constant distraction, screaming in his ears, scattering his thoughts before he could marshal them into any sort of order.

The paramedic hovering over him made him nervous, because he couldn’t remember exactly why he was in the ambulance. His body felt distant and numb, he couldn’t determine what exactly was wrong.

There was something he needed to remember, something important to Tony, but he couldn’t seem to get his brain to work. Which was a problem for him, because no matter what else was happening in his life, he’d always been able to count on his brain. Now, when he needed to be able to concentrate, his mind kept wandering off on tangents…

Abby? Where was Abby? Maybe she would know what had happened to him. "Abby?" He peered up at the strange face leaning over him.

"I’m sorry, sir, I’m not Abby," the paramedic answered in an even voice. The tone was just creepy, like he was a mental case and she had to keep him calm.

And then it came to him, they were trained to use that tone to keep their patient calm. Was he a patient? Why? "Where’s Tony?" Shouldn’t Tony be with him? Tony was the one who needed the ambulance, not him.

There was something important about Tony he was supposed to tell Gibbs, but he couldn’t remember what.

"I’m sorry, Mr. McGee, you were the only victim at the scene." The paramedic didn’t pause in her ministrations, he could feel her fingers on his wrist.

There was a beeping tone in the ambulance that blended with the scream of the siren to fill his mind. It pushed out all the other thoughts there, he couldn’t think past the beep and the screams. Why didn’t someone just turn them off so he could think.

Tony? Something about Tony? What was it?

The beeping tone turned into a drone.

"He’s coding," the woman yelled at her partner. "How far away are we?"

"We’re there," her partner said as he turned into the emergency exit, the medical personal ready and waiting.

The drone of the siren was gone, and the steady beep was back.

"Gotcha," someone said triumphantly.

McGee was too tired to even open his eyes and find out who or why.

*****

Gibbs drove, gripping the steering wheel grimly, his thoughts as heavy as his foot on the gas pedal. They had no real idea of DiNozzo’s injuries other than McGee’s, "Hurt… bad," and the blood they’d found at the site. A lot of blood, soaking the ground where DiNozzo had sat. He had to find his missing agent and soon.

Gibbs sense of urgency was kicking in big time. Their time… Tony’s time was running out and he had nothing other than a hunch of where to start looking for him.

And he just couldn’t shake the feeling that the whole situation was his fault. Leo was a step ahead of him, and Gibbs didn’t like that. He had orchestrated the entire scenario so far: from the dead body they’d found that morning, to the phone call that had sent DiNozzo and McGee out looking for a non-existent witness, Gibbs knew that now. Now this mad rush to nowhere, Leo Morgan had been leading the NCIS around like a dog on a leash.

Well, Leo had been in control too long. Gibbs headed the car into the night determined to take back control.

His cell phone rang and he pulled it from his jacket, flipping it open one handed. "Gibbs."

Beside him, Kate stopped working on the computer, listening breathlessly to his side of the conversation.

"Special Agent Gibbs?" The voice on the other end of the line was crisp and professional. "This is Office Stevenson with the DC police. My partner and I responded to the call to get someone to Nancy Morgan’s house."

"Are you there now?"

"Yes, sir, and I’m afraid that we were too late."

Damn, a step behind, again. It was getting old fast. "What happened?" Gibbs asked tiredly.

"The perp, Leo Morgan, was already here. It seems he took the boy, Benjamin Morgan."

"And his wife?"

"We’re with her now. She’s suffered a minor concussion. We’ve called for an ambulance to take her to the hospital."

"Make sure someone goes with her to the hospital. I’ll get someone from my office to meet you there to take over guard duty. And have someone stay at the house until someone from my office gets there to collect the evidence."

"Will do. Agent Gibbs…"

Gibbs could hear the hesitation in the other’s voice, "Yes, officer?"

"The wife is pretty shook up. She’s really worried about what the guy will do to the kid."

"We’ll get him back, tell her that."

"I will, sir. Thanks." The line went dead.

"Gibbs?" Kate asked when he didn’t speak, worry in her voice.

"It’s Leo, he paid a visit to Nancy Morgan’s."

"And?"

"He took the kid," Gibbs said simply. There was no gentle way to say it.

Leo Morgan had just upped the stakes. They had to work fast if they were going to save Tony’s life and get Nancy Morgan her son back.

One-handed Gibbs clicked the speed dial on his phone. It was answered quickly, as if the person on the other end was waiting for him to call.

"Abby."

He didn’t even identify himself, "You at the hospital yet?"

"Just getting there, Gibbs. What’s up?"

"I need you to talk to McGee as soon as possible. I need any information that you can get from him. This thing is escalating and we need to get control."

"Will do, Gibbs. Any word on Tony?"

"You’ll know when I do." He knew he was being short with her, but there was only so many times he could say that he didn’t know anything. It was an intolerable position and one he was working hard to fix. "Call me when you know something."

"Sure thing."

"Abby," he called, thinking of something else he wanted her to do.

"Yeah, Gibbs?"

"You got your equipment with you?"

"Never leave home without it."

"Can you triangulate on Leo’s phone again?" It was a long shot, but it was one they had to try.

"Before or after I talk to McGee?"

He knew how much she needed to see McGee, to make sure he was alright. He also knew how much it cost her to ask that. It was one of the reasons Abby was part of his team. "I’m sorry, Abby, but before. It might give us the jump we need to find DiNozzo in time." If they were lucky, but luck hadn’t been on their side all night, why should he expect it now?

He heard the quick intake of breath on her end and then the simple, "Sure thing, Gibbs, I’ll get right on it."

"Send it to Kate’s computer if you get anything," he instructed.

"I will, and Gibbs…"

"I’ll call you the second I know anything, Abs."

"Thanks, Gibbs."

He flipped the phone shut, slipping it back into his pocket. Abby would do everything in her power to help them find Tony, he knew that. He trusted his people to do their jobs, and they trusted him to pull them out of the fire when they fell in.

He hoped he was going to be able to come through for DiNozzo in time.

*****

As Gibbs drove, driving to god knew where, he hadn’t seen fit to share with her where he was going; Kate balanced the computer on her lap. She worked trying to find any information on Leo Morgan that they could use to help them find the man. And Tony.

… Tony…

She just kept remembering McGee’s body the way it had looked when they first stumbled over it. She’d seen plenty of dead people in her career, she’d even shot a few of them, but she’d never seen the body of a friend dead before. She was terrified that when they finally found Tony all they were going to find was his body, lifeless and cold as McGee’s had been.

She couldn’t imagine Tony that way. If there was a word you could use to describe Tony – it was alive, alright also infuriating and juvenile, but most definitely alive. He could find something joyful in every situation, whether it was flying in a Gulf Stream to Cuba or figuring out the mystery of crop circles.

And, as irritating as she found him sometimes, she did value his friendship and she’d never trusted a partner more. It was weird that sometimes she wanted to shoot him herself, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him in it. As annoying and snarky as he could be, he was also warm and compassionate, a side he rarely showed anyone, but she’d seen it peak out upon occasion.

She flashed on the memory of McGee’s dead, lifeless body. Only this time it wore Tony’s face. She took a deep breath, pushing it from her mind, she had a job to do and it wouldn’t help them to find Tony and the boy, Ben, if she lost it.

There was a beep and a message from Abby popped up on her screen. Opening it Kate found the current coordinates for Leo’s cell phone. Pulling up the map she found they were almost on it.

"Gibbs…" She looked up to tell Gibbs and she found they were slowing. The car was pulling up in front of a dilapidated, run-down house.

Located in the middle of nowhere, far from any sign of civilization, the yard was overgrown with grass and weeds. The road that led to the house wasn’t even paved. Gibbs turned off the lights and parked in front of the house. Kate checked her gun quickly before following him out of the car.

"Gibbs," she called out softly.

He turned to her, impatience etched in every line of his body. "What?"

"According to Abby, Leo’s here. Or at least his cell phone is."

He nodded curtly. "You take the front, I’ll go round to the back." He strode off around the house, not even waiting for her answer. He seemed to blend with the shadows and disappear right in front of her eyes.

Every nerve tingled as she made her way slowly to the door. She felt exposed with no one at her back. That was where Tony was supposed to be. She knocked on the door and announced herself, "NCIS."

The silence was complete. She didn’t even hear Gibbs. She knew they needed a warrant to search the house, but she tentatively tried the door anyway. It turned easily in her hand and the door swung open.

The stillness inside pressed against her. She called out again, "NCIS."

She took a step inside, listening intently, her gun at the ready. She told herself she wasn’t breaking and entering - technically, the door had been open. This was the kind of logic she’d learned from Tony.

It was still and close inside the house, a layer of dust coated everything. Shining her flashlight around, Kate found a track of footprints in the dust on the floor. With signs like that to follow, she didn’t need to have any special tracking skills to follow.

Grimly she crept along, alert for any movement. The footsteps lead her down a long hallway, closed and dark, it almost like the walls were closing in on her. She kept expecting Leo to jump out at her at any moment.

She paused at the archway into the living room. Taking a deep breath she swept in just as someone entered at the same time from the back. There was one trembling heartbeat while they faced each other, guns leveled at each other.

"Down, Kate," Gibbs instructed, lowering his own gun.

Shaking a little, Kate let her own gun drop.

He swept the room with his flashlight and she saw a glint of metal. Sitting in the window was a cell phone.

Gibbs strode over to it, pulling gloves from his pocket and snapping them on before picking up the phone.. From where she stood Kate could see there was a note taped to it. Moving to stand next to him she saw that it read ‘better luck next time.’

Kate wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard Gibbs growl before he thrust the phone into his pocket and stalked out of the house. Kate hurried after him.

*****

Abby snapped the laptop closed, shoving it back into its case. She’d done what Gibbs had asked her to do, now she was determined to see McGee.

She made her way through the hospital corridors, shuddering at the smell of antiseptic and sickness. No way did she like hospitals. They were too messy, not like her lab where she knew where everything was located, where everything had a place.

It wigged her a little that someone she knew had actually died, but it also intrigued her. Her curious nature was already devising tests she could run on McGee to measure the effect that dying had had on him – once he was recovered, of course. But first she needed to see him, to touch him, to know that he was alive and well.

Then she’d kill him for all the worry he’d caused her.

She saw the room number the nurse had given her – 412. Everything looked quiet with just a man standing guard at the door. She nodded at him, flashing her NCIS ID. He waved her in.

McGee lay, apparently sleeping, next to him sat Ducky, flipping through a magazine. She approached, a little unsure of herself. It wasn’t something she was used to feeling, she liked being in control of everything in her world. She just never knew what to say to people lying in hospital beds.

Hearing her step, McGee’s eyes opened and turned to her. They brightened at the sight of her. "Abby." No sound came forth, but she recognized her name on his lips.

"Hey, McGee, how you doing?" She tried for casual, but it sounded false, even in her own ears.

The bruises around his neck were beginning to form, ugly black and blue, evidence of the violence he’d encountered. His eyes were huge, and his mouth worked with no sound issuing forth, but she could still understand what he was trying to say, "Tony."

Ducky stood protesting, "Now I must insist that you not exert yourself, dear boy, you could do permanent damage."

McGee’s mouth set determinedly and he turned a mutinous look in Abby’s direction.

"Ducky, I think he has something to tell us."

With a small nod, he formed words again. Abby watched his lips intently, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She shook her head helplessly.

McGee’s wild-eyed gaze searched the room, trying to find some way to communicate with them. Finally his eyes fell on her computer case and he reached for it. Immediately understanding what he wanted, Abby pulled it from its case. Opening it, she booted it up before turning it where he could work on it.

Even as drugged and out of it as he was, McGee’s fingers flew across the keys, pulling up screens as he worked quickly. His lips kept moving, repeating something over and over.

Intently she watched until finally she thought she made out, "Fathers and sons.’ He kept repeating it over and over again. Like it was something important that he couldn’t forget.

She touched his shoulder and he glanced up at her with fevered eyes, his fingers never pausing on the keys. "Fathers and sons? Is that what you’re saying?"

His eyes brightened as he nodded solemnly then he bent back over the keys. Abby looked at Ducky questioningly. He shrugged as mystified as she.

They watched helplessly as McGee continued to work, his eyes narrowed in concentration, his breathing erratic. Abby didn’t know if the increasingly urgent beeps from the machine McGee was hooked up to were good or bad, but when a nurse came in to see what was happening her eyes widened and she left at a run.

The three in the room just ignored her.

McGee looked up at them triumphant, pointing to the screen. Abby leaned in over his shoulder reading what was printed there.

She smiled at him, reassuring him that she understood what he was trying to tell them, "You are the man, McGee," she told him as she quickly picked up the phone and dialed Gibbs.

McGee closed his eyes and slumped back in his bed, completely exhausted.

*****

Tony was numb. He wasn't sure where he was or even what exactly had happened to him. He just was, existing in a plane of nothingness.

Maybe he was dead.

True, there were no fluffy clouds or angels sitting around playing harps as he had always been led to believe he’d find if he was lucky enough to actually make it to the celestial realm. Maybe those amenities were reserved for the truly good, people like Kate. She was the best person he knew. He teased her about it unmercifully, but that was just to keep her humble. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. Yeah, she’d be sure to rate a four-star heaven.

On the other hand he was really glad he wasn’t in the fiery pit his father always predicted he’d end up in. There were no demons poking him with pitchforks, dispensing the eternal torment his father had told him he deserved on more than one occasion.

Actually, of all the variations on heaven and hell that he’d encountered, and in his years in law enforcement he’d experienced quite a few personally, this was the most desirable. Just floating in a gray haze with no pain, no worries. He could get used to it.

Except… There was something tickling the back of his brain. Something he was supposed to take care of…

McGee.

Where was McGee?

No, no thinking. Thinking was bad. Thinking brought pain and the overpowering smell of blood.

Except… That tickle was still there, urging him to think, to remember.

McGee. Trust Probie to haunt him in the afterlife, too.

He just couldn’t sink into the grayness of oblivion until he knew that McGee was okay. Once he found out what had happened to McGee, then he could shut his eyes and not worry... or think... or feel.

Just the act of thinking about McGee seemed to bring him back to his body. The pain flared into being with a suddenness that stole his breath away. Trying to remember how to breath, he attempted to take an inventory to find out where the worst of his injuries were, but it was too much, there was no part of him that didn’t hurt.

He cracked an eyelid to find that he wasn’t where he thought he should be, either. No longer was he outside, stretched out on the hard, cold ground where he expected to be. Now he was inside. His cheek rested against a hard wood floor, the smell of his own blood filling his nostrils. The blood smell was also mixed with a slightly fishy odor. He didn’t know if it was the odor or just nausea brought about by shock and injury, but his stomach threatened to rebel.

The one good thing about the whole situation was that it was a little warmer. It wasn’t warm by any stretch of the imagination, but the chill of the night air and the wind that had been worrying at him was absent. How had he gotten there? Now that was the question that truly scared him.

He didn’t remember anything past the point of sitting under that damned tree waiting… He had closed his eyes only to wake up… here.

Where ever here was.

And where was McGee? Someone had been following them, that much was obvious now, and that someone had taken him, but what had happened to McGee?

"Move, DiNozzo," Tony could almost hear Gibbs voice in his ear. "You need to find the answers for yourself." He was going into shock, he knew it.

He listened, trying to ignore the mass of pain that was his body. Dimly he could hear voices. They were far away, in another room beyond his prison, voices raised in anger. There he heard footsteps outside his door and Tony raised himself on one arm to confront his jailer. It was the best he could manage.

The room was dark, so he couldn’t actually see the man silhouetted in the doorway. But he had a big, hulking shape as he stood there blocking the light from the hallway. It was the first glimpse Tony had of the man that he was certain was responsible for the crash of the SUV, for his current condition. He probably knew what had happened to McGee.

"Where’s McGee?" Tony demanded, his voice a bare whisper.

"Last I saw of him, he was dead," the hulking shape spoke.

Tony felt a thrill of fear, but refused to believe him. "You’re lying," he spat out.

The shape shrugged. "Believe what you want. I left him as a little gift for my pal Gibbs."

It was a clue, the man knew Gibbs. Tony tucked the fact away for future study, "Speaking of Gibbs, you know he’s out there looking for me don’t you?"

That elicited a low evil chuckle from the man, "Shows how much you know Gibbs. For instance, did you know that he must like your friend McGee more than you? He stopped for a dead McGee, just let me walk right away with you." There was a gloating tone to the other man’s voice that Tony didn’t like.

Tony wasn’t sure what the man was talking about, he couldn’t make sense of it, and his arm was beginning to shake, it was all he could do to hold himself upright. "He trusts me to take care of myself," Tony asserted defiantly.

McGee wasn’t dead, he couldn’t be dead. No, McGee had gotten away somehow. Right now he was working with Gibbs, they’d come rescue Tony together. Except Tony didn’t intend to wait around for them.

"Bullshit, you don’t even know Jethro Gibbs," the contempt in the other man’s voice was plain, as was the hate. Whatever was between this man and Gibbs, it was personal.

"Is that Tony?"

Tony frowned at the voice he heard from beyond the man. He knew that voice.

A small body pushed it’s way past the man and ran to kneel next to Tony.

"Ben?" Tony concentrated, trying to figure out how and why Ben Morgan would be involved in this. Ben was supposed to be at home.

"Oh, God, Tony. Are you okay?" Ben reached out hesitantly to touch him gently on the shoulder.

"Hey, kid, I’m unbreakable. I thought you knew that." Tony drew up the strength from somewhere to smile at him.

Where had Ben come from? Why was he there? There were too many questions for Tony’s aching head to process.

"I told you, Benjamin, this isn't a friend of yours," the man at the door spoke, taking a threatening step into the room.

"You just leave him alone." Ben stood, facing the other man, placing his slim body between the huge man and Tony.

The other man’s manner seemed to gentle a little as he considered the boy, "You can’t believe them Benjamin, the things they told you about me. I love you, I want us to be together. Fathers and sons, they should be together."

It was all too much for Tony to process. Ben’s father was dead, he’d died in the Gulf War before Ben was even born. At least that was what Nancy Morgan had told him.

"It’s okay, Ben," Tony said, "I’m okay. Go with him." At least the man didn't seem disposed to hurt Ben, and it might give Tony time to think and figure a way out for himself and the kid.

Ben turned to Tony, the uncertainty etched in his young face. Tony nodded encouragement.

With his chin raised and his back stiff, Ben left the room. The man tried to put a hand on his shoulder as he passed, Ben shrugged it off.

The man shut the door behind Ben and just stood there, the boogeyman from every child’s nightmares. The shape in the dark that was waiting until you were unaware to come for you.

Tony couldn’t help it, his arm wouldn’t hold him up any longer. It collapsed under him, and his cheek hit the floor with a thud. The man crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Before Tony could mount any sort of a defense, however weak, the man had him in his meaty grip, hauling him up, pinning him against the wall.

Tony’s entire body was consumed in pain, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t breath, he couldn’t move. He would have welcomed the greyness again if it had been an option. But soon enough, his vision cleared and he felt the cold steel of a knife at his throat and a voice, hot in his ear.

"You leave my kid alone," the voice said.

"I’m… not…" Tony struggled to push back the pain so that he could get his voice to work, "I’m not the one who would hurt him," he managed to get out knowing he was courting disaster. But for some reason this guy wanted him alive. Otherwise he would already be dead. At least that’s what he hoped.

He thought he might have miscalculated when he felt the knife press deeper, piercing the skin, this new pain trumping the others. Then the pressure was gone and the arm that was holding him up let go.

Tony fell like a ton of bricks, hitting the floor hard. Before he had time to move, a foot connected solidly with his back.

He barely heard the man’s voice through the haze of pain and misery, "When I come back, you’re going to be dead."

Tony shut his eyes, unable to move, to defend himself, he was sure he was going to die, despite what the man said. But the next blow never fell. There was footsteps and the door opened and closed with a slam.

Tony just lay with his cheek pressed to the floor. He didn’t know what to do. How was he going to get himself and Ben out of this one? He decided that now would be a good time for Gibbs to show up. Just this once he wouldn’t mind being rescued.

*****

Gibbs swept his flashlight around the room, trying to pick up any sign, any clue, that might help him find DiNozzo before it was too late. Before his time ran out.

The seconds just kept ticking by and he found himself no closer to any answers that were helpful.

There was nothing in the empty house, just the set of footprints in the dust. And the cell phone, which carried its own message plainly. Leo was severing the lines of communication. He wouldn’t call again. The next time Gibbs spoke to Leo it would be face to face.

Gibbs prowled the entire house one more time, just to make sure he didn’t miss anything obvious. Kate was outside, calling for a forensics team, even though he knew it was more an exercise in having something to do, than because he expected them to actually find anything.

Jethro Gibbs had been trained by the same US Marine Corp. that had trained Leo. He knew how to leave only the evidence he wanted to leave. Leo would know the same things he knew. Anything they found in the house was what Leo wanted them to find. What they needed now was information that Leo didn’t know they had.

The ringing of his cell was a welcome distraction to his thoughts. "Gibbs, " he answered, still playing the light around the house, casting strange fearsome shadows on the walls.

"Gibbs, it’s Abby. I think we might have something," she was breathless with excitement.

"That would be a first tonight." Gibbs didn’t allow himself to hope she might be right. Hope turned too quickly to bitter disappointment.

"Okay, Gibbs, prepare to have me rock your world," Abby ignored the impatience and the sarcasm in his voice. They were all worried about Tony, "McGee’s been searching property records and he’s found the record of a property owned by one Leo Morgan, Sr., a hunting cabin." She waited breathlessly, waiting for him to make the connection.

"Just tell me, Abby."

"Gibbs, I think that he, I mean McGee, thinks Leo took Tony there."

Abby’s words made little sense, "McGee found?" Gibbs last sight of McGee hadn’t given him any hope that they’d get any useful information from him in time to help them find Tony. And now he was up and working? He tried not to let the skepticism he felt color his tone, "And just why does McGee think that?"

"Well, uh…" Abby stammered, that wasn’t good. "I can’t actually ask him that, Gibbs."

"And why not, if he’s well enough to be playing computer geek?" Gibbs flicked off the flashlight and shoved it into his pocket so he would have a free hand to rub his temple.

"He’s not really well enough, Gibbs. He can’t speak a word, and the doc’s here now." Her voice lowered, "She’s pretty pissed that we let him work in his current condition. She’s giving him a pretty heavy sedative." Abby sounded aggrieved about the whole situation herself.

There wasn’t one of them on his team that wouldn’t get up off their deathbed to come to the aid of one of their teammates if need be. McGee was no exception, their current situation was a good example of that. Gibbs had felt that McGee would be a good addition to their team, he was glad to find out that his feelings had been justified.

"Did you explain to the doctor that McGee might be our only hope of finding DiNozzo?" He could hear raised voices in the background.

"Ducky’s trying, Gibbs, but the Doc’s really insistent. She’s threatening to throw us out if we endanger him again." Abby faltered, "She… she might be right, Gibbs, McGee doesn’t look good."

He ran a hand through his hair trying to calm himself. Of course the doctor was right, they couldn’t loose McGee in the search for DiNozzo. It was all just so damned frustrating. "Okay, Abby, send what you’ve got to Kate’s computer. We’ll take a look at it. At the moment, it’s all we’ve got."

"Will do, Gibbs." She paused, hesitating a little, then she continued, "Gibbs, I don’t know if it helps, but McGee, he kept whispering ‘fathers and sons,’ over and over. I don’t know what it means."

Gibbs considered her words, ‘fathers and sons.’ It might just mean something. "Thanks, Abs." He added, "Abby. Stay there with Ducky and McGee. Have someone from the office bring you anything you might need, but don’t leave them alone, okay?"

"O.. kay."

He could hear the question in her voice, but he didn’t elaborate any further, "Put Ducky on the phone."

There was a brief pause as the phone was passed from one set of hands to the other. He heard a muttered, ‘Gibbs, needs coffee.’ He smiled there in the dark where there was no one to see it. Abby was so right, he did need coffee.

But he needed even more to find DiNozzo alive and well.

"Yes, Jethro?" He heard Ducky’s melodious English tone. Somehow it always helped him to talk things over with Ducky.

"Tell me about, McGee, Ducky."

His last sight of McGee hadn’t been reassuring. He hadn’t even been sure his young agent would make it to the hospital alive. The fact that he was still hanging in there and trying to help comforted him somewhat.

"It’s bad, Jethro, I won’t lie to you," his friend told him.

"Didn’t ask you to, Ducky. What did that bastard do to him?"

"Strangled him with his bare hands," Ducky’s outrage was apparent in his tone. "You can see his fingerprints on our young Mr. McGee’s throat. Quite barbaric. I once saw a young man…"

"Ducky, can you tell me the story some other night?" He didn’t have time for it.

Tony didn’t have time for it.

"Why certainly, Jethro," the doctor took no offense. He’d known Jethro long enough to know how focused he became. "But I had a thought."

"Yes?"

"Well, if your Mr. Morgan had really wanted Timothy dead, aren’t there more permanent methods? For example, while there is some bruising around the spinal cord, it’s not been severed or broken. In fact, it appears that he took great care not to crush the larynx or the spinal cord."

Jethro nodded thoughtfully, "I was thinking the same thing myself, Ducky. There was no reason he couldn’t have broken McGee’s neck or crushed his larynx. Hell, he could have crushed his skull, or killed him a dozen other ways and there would have been nothing we could have done about it."

Ducky’s voice was slow as he worked out Gibbs reasoning, "So, what you’re saying, he killed Timothy, but didn’t intend him to die?"

"I think he meant to slow us down, Ducky. I think we were close, we had to be in order to resuscitate McGee. He killed him to slow us down," the fury in his voice was palpable. How did you make a decision like that? Stop and try to save one man or go on and hope to rescue the other. Either choice left one man in peril. He didn’t like the choices Leo was handing him.

"You didn’t have any choice, Jethro, you couldn’t have left Timothy there for dead," Ducky pointed out, trying to help exonerate some of his guilt. But there was nothing that was going to alleviate that until he had his whole team together again, alive and well.

It was some sort of twisted game, Gibbs knew that. Would he leave one man for dead to rescue the other? Some sort of twisted re-creation of what had happened to Leo in Iraq. Did he intend to keep Tony and torture him the way he himself had been tortured?

That would happen over Gibbs’ dead body. And maybe that’s what Leo intended, too.

"What about this information about the cabin, Ducky. How reliable do you think it is?" Gibbs asked. Was McGee in his right mind?

Ducky always could hear the unspoken question. "I honestly can’t say, Jethro. Young Timothy seemed quite determined that it was where you would find Anthony."

Gibbs sighed, he was going have to make the choice of whether to stay or go on his own. "Alright, Ducky, thank you. And, Ducky, stay with them… Abby and McGee, don’t let them out of your sight." He didn’t intend to give Leo the chance to grab anymore of his team to use against him.

"You didn’t even have to ask, Jethro," Ducky assured him. "We’ll be alright, go find Anthony," there was no doubt in Ducky’s voice that they would find DiNozzo. His confidence in a determined Gibbs was absolute.

Gibbs just wished his confidence in his own abilities was as sure. "I will, Ducky, thanks."

He flipped his phone shut, walking to the car. Kate was clicking away on the computer, looking through the information sent by Abby.

Pointing at the message, she told him, "Abby said McGee kept saying ‘fathers and sons’."

He leaned down to peer over her shoulder, "She told me, too. Any idea what it might mean?"

She sat, one manicured fingernail tapping the case of her computer as she thought. Gibbs heard each tap as the passing of the seconds. More time slipping by…

Tony's time was slipping by.

"Okay," Kate frowned pensively. "Leo’s taken his son as well as Tony, right?"

"Right," Gibbs nodded encouragingly, letting her think.

"Well, what if he feels like he’s been cheated out of 14 years with his son?"

"What has that got to do with this cabin, Kate?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

He needed a clear line of reasoning that led to that cabin before he took a chance and went haring off on the word of an injured and possibly feverish team member.

"What did you do with your dad when you were growing up, Gibbs?"

He was surprised by her question, but he answered, trying to figure out where she was going, "He took me to the baseball games. He taught me how to pitch, he coached my little league team…"

"So, if you wanted to connect with a son you didn’t know you had, what would you do?" She was watching him with bright eyes, obviously excited about where her own reasoning was taking her.

"I’d take him to the baseball game, buy him a glove, teach him to pitch…" suddenly it began to make sense to him. "Okay, so if Leo wants to get to know his son, where would he take him?"

"Where he and his dad used to go, wherever that might be," she answered. "But how did McGee know about this cabin? Is this where Morgan, Sr. might have taken his son?" She tapped a finger on the screen.

"McGee’s sedated, we sure as hell aren’t going to get any more information from him in time to help DiNozzo." Gibbs cast his own thoughts back, trying to remember the little he knew about Leo Morgan, back to the mission into hell.

They hadn’t had much time for personal recollection. What little there had been… "I remember we were hiding from an Iraqi patrol, crouched inside a hole, just him and me. We talked a little about where we’d rather be. Anywhere but here, I said."

"My dad used to take me hunting," Leo told him wistfully. "We had a cabin and we’d go there for a week at a time, just hunting and fishing. It was cool and green. Not like this place. Wish I was there now."

The patrol passed then and they’d joined up with the rest of their team, holed up in another corner. It had been later that day that Leo had been hit by a sniper, taken out of their team as quickly as he had been thrust into it.

"My gut says we go, it’s the only lead we’ve got." Eyes crinkled as he stared at the deed on Kate’s computer screen, hope stirred in Gibbs for the first time. Was this the lead he’d been searching for? That little bit of information that Leo didn’t know they had?

She nodded in agreement, "That was my thought, too. This looks like a place you’d take a kid. There’s good hunting, a lake near-by for fishing. It’s a long shot, Gibbs…"

"But it’s the only one DiNozzo has." He nearly ran to the driver's side, climbing in and starting the car. He noted the route to the cabin briefly as he pulled out, tires spinning and gravel flying under the wheels.

Beside him, Kate swore under her breath, or maybe she was saying a prayer, as she clicked her seat belt.

And the seconds just kept ticking by…

******

It took him some time, but Tony thoroughly investigated the room he’d found himself thrown into. Pushing aside the pain as best he could, and ignoring the rest, he levered himself up. He soon decided ‘room’ was too generous a word,- his prison was little more than a closet, with only bare walls and the door that his captor had used. He crept along, tapping on the walls, examining the floor, but, as far as he could tell, the only way out was through the door.

If it was just himself, he might take the chance, go through that door and make a run for it. But he wasn’t alone; he had Ben to think about as well. When he left, Ben was going with him.

When he reached the door, he stood listening to the muted voices on the other side. He couldn’t hear exactly what was being said, but at least it wasn’t shouting or violence.

Was the kid okay? He thought Ben was safe, at least for a little while longer, the guy had seemed to be a little gentler with him, as if he wanted to make a good impression with the kid. Tony wasn’t going to take any bets on how long that might last though. The perp hadn’t appeared any too stable. He rubbed his head, wincing when his hand came in contact with the bruised and torn flesh there.

Wearily Tony sagged against the wall, at the end of his strength. Normally he was a glass-half-full kind of guy; he worked hard to view the world as a cock-eyed optimist. Working with Gibbs, you had to maintain a sense of humor about things; but in this case, he was quickly becoming frustrated.

There were too many questions and no answers, and no way out that he could find. There was nothing in the room he could use as a weapon and his gun was gone. Tony assumed his captor took it; but for all he knew, it could still be under the tree where he and McGee had laid their trap.

The dirt bag said he’d killed McGee, but Tony refused to believe that until he had proof positive in front of his eyes. The only thing he knew for certain was that this guy had a beef with Gibbs; his voice had been pure venom when he talked about him.

Hell, most people had a beef with Gibbs, fortunately most of them weren’t taking it out on his team.

The only bright spot in his inventory was that he had his knife. Gibbs rule #9 – never go anywhere without a knife. That rule had served Tony in good stead once, although he really hoped he didn’t get into a knife fight with the guy holding him. The man was big and Tony wasn’t in any shape to engage him hand-to-hand.

Who was he trying to kid? On a good day, Tony wasn’t in shape to engage this guy hand-to-hand.

He allowed himself to slide down the wall and rest for a second. He needed to conserve his strength. The shivers were getting worse, and he was finding it harder and harder to fight them off. He knew he had to figure a way out soon, shock and blood loss were taking their toll. And even if his injuries didn’t get him, the man on the other side of the door was going to come back again soon. Tony had a feeling that he wasn't going to like it when that happened.

Trying to warm his hands a little, he shoved them deep into his jacket pockets where he encountered a hard cold shape. Hope flared when he pulled it out to discover his cell phone. He thought he’d lost it way back at the SUV, blown up with the rest of their gear. It looked like it had been stepped on, but it was basically in one piece.

His hope flickered and died when he flipped the phone open to see that it was dead in his hand. There was no tone, no lights – nothing, nadda, zip.

Despair washed through him, he was going to die, and possibly Ben, too, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Get a grip, DiNozzo," he told himself sharply. "No way are you going out like this. You’d never hear the end of it from Gibbs." Just the thought of his boss gave Tony the strength to swallow his despair. Gibbs wouldn’t quit, neither would he.

Turning the phone, his fingers feeling clumsy and thick, he saw that the back panel and the battery were loose, barely connected to the phone. With all that had happened, he was lucky that the battery hadn’t become separated and been lost forever.

Holding his breath, he pushed everything back into place, feeling it slide and lock. He turned the little phone, his fingers shaking and hit the ‘on’ button. His breath whooshed out in relief when the light came on and the phone beeped.

He glanced up at the door fearfully. It would be just his luck to find the phone and have his bad guy come back through the door and take it away.

He really needed a break.

He really needed this break.

He pushed the speed dial number for Gibbs. Each second felt like an eternity as he waited for the call to be processed. He listened as it rang, once… twice…

"Come on, Gibbs, answer your phone," he muttered.

Finally he heard a weary and tired, "Gibbs."

It made Tony felt better just hearing that gruff voice.

"Boss?" Now that he had him on the phone, Tony wasn’t quite certain what to say.

"DiNozzo?" Tony wasn’t sure he’d ever heard that particular combination of relief and amazement in his boss’s voice before. "Where in the hell are you?"

He kept his voice low, hoping that there was no one standing on the other side of the door listening to him now, "Wish I knew, boss. Listen, I’m in a situation here…"

Gibbs interrupted, "DiNozzo, I know." Those two words told Tony more than an entire hours briefing. Gibbs knew he needed help and he was on the case and looking for him. "What’s your condition?"

Tony considered the question, but there was really nothing Gibbs could do about any of his injuries, so there wasn’t any reason to worry him with them. "I’m fine, Boss, but I’ve been taken by some guy who doesn’t seem to like you very much. I don’t know what happened to McGee, and this guy has a kid here, too. His name is Ben…" Tony knew he wasn’t making sense, but he couldn’t stop the words, he had to make sure that Gibbs knew everything.

Gibbs’ voice reflected his impatience, "McGee’s fine, Tony, we found him. Now listen, the guy’s name that has you is Leo Morgan, and he’s bad news. We’re headed to where we think your location is now."

"Think?" Somehow that wasn’t terribly reassuring.

"Don’t interrupt, DiNozzo. We can triangulate on your cell again, and verify your location. We’re on our way now. And DiNozzo, you’re going to stay alive. You got that?"

"Sure, Boss." It was an order; he didn’t have any choice now.

"Good. Now hang up and don’t waste your battery."

Oddly enough, Tony was reluctant to hang up and sever his connection to his boss. He felt strength and determination flowing through the phone into him, Gibbs’ strength and determination. Gibbs knew where he was, he was coming.

Swallowing past the lump that was suddenly in his throat, Tony said, "Alright, see you soon, Boss."

And the phone clicked in his ear. Gibbs was gone, but he was on his way. It helped.

Tony switched the phone to vibrate, his sense of caution telling him it wouldn’t be good to have it ring when the bad buy was present. He didn’t want to lose the only ace he had.

He felt oddly invigorated just knowing that Gibbs was on his way. He was going to get out of this. He was going to get Ben out of this.

He surveyed the room once more. He’d had his moment of defeat, but that was past now. There was a way out, he just hadn’t discovered it yet.

Pushing himself to his feet, he began to tap on the walls with new determination.

*****

Ben watched the man who called himself his father with wide, frightened eyes. Once he might have welcomed him with open arms, and a blind belief that he was the answer to his prayers. But Ben had seen what this man had done to his mother, casually slapping her across the room without a thought or second glance.

Ben was haunted remembering her, slumped over against the wall, blood trickling down her cheek. In his frightened imagination, he thought she was dead. The thought scared him, not just because he loved his mother but also because he was afraid that it meant he would now belong to this man. Leo? If he and Tony managed to escape, would he be returned to the big man’s custody just because Leo said he was Ben’s father?

Ben didn’t think so, and in any case, he was confident that Tony wouldn’t allow it. Tony was pretty important; he would take care of it. The thought of Tony made his stomach clench. He kept thinking of him, in the little room down the hall.

He’d never thought of Tony wounded, it had never occurred to him that Tony *could* be wounded. Tony had always seemed to him to be big and strong, able to defeat any opponent.

In his daydreams sometimes he’d imagined that Tony would fall in love with his mom, and the two of them would marry, and then Tony would be his dad for real. He didn’t really think it was going to happen, most times he thought his mom didn’t even like Tony. But that’s what he thought, in his daydreams. Sometimes.

He clenched his fists, trying to figure out what Tony would want him to do. Ben remembered the way he’d looked before, kind of sick and bloody all over. He didn’t like seeing Tony like that. His eyes kept turning down the hall, looking toward the door where he now knew Tony was.

What would Tony do? Ben just kept wondering. He surely wouldn’t be sitting tucked up in the corner hoping not to be noticed. Tony would be doing something to get them rescued.

Ben’s gaze darted around the room, trying to see if there was anything they could use to help the two of them escape. Maybe he could sneak in to see Tony and tell him the layout of the cabin, or smuggle him in something to use as a weapon.

There must have been something in his face to draw his fathe… no, Leo’s attention.

"You know you don’t have to be afraid of me," Leo said gruffly. He sat at the table, an impressive array of equipment in front of him. Ben had no idea what most of it was, but it looked dangerous.

Ben’s favourite times with Tony was spent watching movies at Tony’s place. Tony loved to watch the cop thrillers and he’d point out to Ben all the things they did wrong: building bombs, car chases, blowing things up. Ben had a feeling Leo knew exactly what to do with the equipment in front of him.

Ben gulped down a breath and stood, going to stand at the table. He raised his chin defiantly "You hit my mom," Ben told him, "why wouldn’t I be afraid of you?" Ben was determined not to let the other man see just how frightened he was, but mostly he’d moved closer to get a better look at what was on the table.

Leo laughed softly, "You got balls I’ll give you that. I was afraid with you growing up with just your mom, you’d be some soft, sissy boy."

Ben didn’t recognise all the equipment on the table, but he knew the dynamite and the timers. He took a chance and asked, "What you doing?"

Leo raised a surprised eyebrow, but answered, "We’re liable to be getting some company sooner or later. I want to make sure they get the proper reception." He stood, stretching his back. He began to shove several of the bundles of dynamite into a duffel bag. "Now, I’m going to go out and set the perimeter. You stay in here, out of trouble."

His eyes met Ben’s, they were steely and grey, like Ben’s own. If he’d doubted this man was his father, just looking into his eyes told him otherwise. "And don’t even think about going back and talking to the agent in the back room. I won’t hurt you, but I also won’t hesitate to punish you if there’s need for it."

Ben nodded that he understood. He backed into his corner and sat with his head on his knees until he heard the door close. Without a second thought, he grabbed the car keys from the table where Leo had left them and headed for the back room where Tony was waiting.

*****

Tony was just finishing another round of investigating the room when he heard footsteps in the hall. Tucking the knife into his sleeve, he set himself for whatever might come through the door.

The steps had been light and hesitant, Tony didn’t really expect Morgan to come through the door. Still, he was surprised when the door inched open and Ben poked his head into the room.

"Tony?" He peered around the dark room searching for his friend.

"Ben!" Tony was so glad to see the kid, he wanted to know if he was alright, but he also didn’t want him putting himself in danger. "What are you doing in here? Where’s Morgan?"

Ben glanced quickly over his shoulder as if he were afraid just by speaking his name, the man would appear. "Leo’s gone out to set the perimeter," he said it like he’d been repeating it to himself over and over, so he wouldn’t forget. Then, "Tony he hurt my mom. I think…" his eyes welled with tears. "I think she may be dead. We need to get out of here, Tony. I think he’s going to hurt you some more." The boy looked down at his toes, "I’m afraid."

Tony limped over and put a hand on the boy’s shoulder, it was tense and knotted. "It’s okay, Ben." He shook the shoulder until the boy looked up into his eyes. Tony gazed deep into Ben’s eyes, speaking quietly, "I’m afraid, too. But fear’s a good thing, you know, it can be your friend as long as you use it and don’t let it take control of you. You know what I mean?"

Slowly Ben’s face tilted up, returning Tony’s searching gaze. He swallowed and replied, "No, I’m sorry, Tony."

Tony squeezed the tense shoulder. "Hey, it’s okay, Ben, I don’t know what it means either." He quirked a smile at the boy, "But I heard it in a movie once, and I’ve always wanted to say it."

His tactic worked, Tony could feel the small shoulder under his hand relax, just a little. "Now, you said this Morgan guy, he’s gone to set the perimeter? With what? Do you know?"

Ben shook his head, "He has all this stuff, dynamite and things I’ve never seen before. And Tony, there’s this." He held out his hand with his prize dangling from his fingers - the car keys.

Tony’s smile widened, "Who’s the man!"

He couldn’t help himself, he pulled Ben into a quick embrace. For once Ben didn’t push him away, his teenage dignity offended. He held on tightly, letting go reluctantly.

"What say we blow this joint?" Tony asked lightly, smiling down at Ben. He gripped Ben’s shoulder again for balance and pushed himself off against the wall.

"Uhm, Tony?"

"Ben?" They really couldn’t afford to be wasting any time, but the boy was so serious.

"Uhm… Where are your shoes?" He pointed down at Tony’s feet.

For the first time, Tony realized his feet were bare. He bit his tongue to keep the expletives from slipping out. Why hadn’t he noticed that sooner? Not like he had anything else on his mind.

Okay, he was barefoot. It wasn’t a big deal. They were going to go to the car and drive away. Even if there was gravel outside, he could deal with it. They’d be okay.

He wriggled the toes on his good foot. "I needed a new pair anyway. What say we go shopping tomorrow?"

Ben smiled at that, and Tony felt victorious. They left the room cautiously, Tony limping along, using the wall to keep himself moving straight.

"You know it’s a real good thing you found those keys. I thought we were going to have tunnel out."

The boy regarded him askance from the corner of his eye, "Tony. We wouldn’t have time for anything like that."

Tony hid the small smile that escaped with a low moan as he stepped wrong. The kid was so like McGee sometimes it was frightening, never quite knowing what to take seriously and what to let slide. Kate had caught on much quicker.

"No really, Ben, we could have done it. It would have been just like in the Great Escape."

"The Great Escape? I don’t think I’ve seen it."

"Oh," Tony let out a quick laugh, "great flick. A bunch of POWs in a Word War II prison camp decide to stage an escape…" he trailed off as he got a look at the main room.

He out a low whistle, there was enough explosives scattered around to blow up half of DC. And Morgan had gone to ‘set the perimeter.’ They had to get out and warn Gibbs.

Tony made his slow, halting way to the windows and canted a curtain to look out. He was careful to avoid casting a shadow that could be seen outside. All that was visible beyond the cabin was black, inky darkness. There was no light of any kind to give him any indication of what might lie beyond.

"Do you remember what was out there when you came in?" He asked Ben.

"It was dark," Ben said slowly, striving to remember what he saw when he arrived.

"I know, kid, but was the road paved? Are we close to the city?" Tony asked questions, trying to jar his memory. As he spoke, he surveyed the room, looking for anything he might be able to use as a weapon. He couldn’t believe it when he spotted his own gun on the table with the dynamite and the electronic equipment.

"No, we drove a long way, at least it seemed that way… and the road outside is a gravel road…. and there’s lots of trees."

"That’s good, Ben, real good." Tony smiled approvingly at his young friend. "What say we blow this Popsicle stand?"

Ben just nodded.

"Good. Now, listen to me, Ben, when we leave here, stay with me. Stay down and move fast. And if Morgan shows up… if anything happens, you make a run for it." He pulled the phone from his pocket and gave it to the boy. "Gibbs is number one on the speed dial. Do you know how to use it?"

The boy nodded solemnly. "But Tony…"

"Don’t interrupt, Ben, we don’t have much time. You run and don’t look back if anything goes wrong. You find someplace out there and you hide until Gibbs comes to get you. You got that?"

"But what about you?" There were tears in Ben’s eyes. Tony was sorry to put them there, but Ben had to know that Tony was serious. If he was recaptured, no way was he giving Ben back.

"Ben, I can take care of myself. And I’ll do better if I know you’re okay. Now, if Leo shows up what are you going to do?"

"I’m going to run…"

"And then what?" Tony prompted

"I’m going to hide…"

"Until?"

"Until Gibbs comes to get me."

"And he will come to get you, Ben, you can count on that. Leroy Jethro Gibbs will never let you down. Always remember that."

"I will, Tony," Ben nodded solemnly.

"Good. Now, it’s about time we get out of here." He gestured for Ben to turn the light off. He made his way to the table and picked up his gun. Checking to make sure it was still loaded, he shoved it into its holster.

"Let’s move, Ben, time’s a wasting."

Tony wanted to run; he felt it deep in his gut that they needed to get out of that cabin and down the road as fast as they could. But the reality was that he couldn’t run,- it was all he could do to put one foot in front of the other. Any moment he was going to fall flat on his face. It was just a matter of time. He kept the smile plastered on his face anyway for Ben’s benefit. The kid didn’t need to know how bad he felt.

He cracked the cabin door and surveyed the landscape. There were trees silhouetted against the night sky, just like Ben had said. He spotted the car parked just in front the cabin. It was only a few steps away, they only had to cross the wide porch and they’d be good to go. He marked out their path, his gaze sweeping the porch, one, two, three steps, no more…

He didn’t know how he saw it, maybe it was light from the room behind him, but there was a glint on the floor of the porch. Upon closer examination he found that the floor was scattered with shards of glass.

"Son of a bitch," he said under his breath.

"Tony?" Ben wasn’t quite sure what was wrong, but he sensed the hesitancy in Tony’s manner.

"We’ve hit a roadblock, kid. Let me think for a sec."

Standing quietly behind him, Ben allowed Tony the quiet he needed to think.

There was no choice. They had to go now. There wasn’t going to be a next time. Morgan wouldn’t allow them another chance.

Tony calculated the distance across the porch – three steps. He could do that. What was a little more pain with all the rest his body was already enduring?

He could do it.

He had to.

*****

It had been a relief to actually talk to DiNozzo, hear his voice, and know that he was alive. Still, Gibbs couldn’t shake the feeling that it was too easy. There was no way that he should still have his cell phone. Even if Leo was arrogant as hell and thought DiNozzo was completely out of the game, he still should have found the phone and disposed of it. That was just sloppy and Marines weren’t sloppy as a rule.

Leo Morgan was playing them. Tony was the bait, and he and Kate were the rats being drawn into his trap. Only Leo didn’t know they were already on the way. It was Gibbs’ hope that Leo had miscalculated with McGee. Whatever he’d told the injured man to tip him off about the cabin had been inadvertent. He hoped that they could get there quickly enough to deflect any reception party that Leo Morgan had for them.

At least that was Gibbs’ hope.

He kept an eye on the map where the location of Tony’s cell phone was highlighted. Every mile brought them closer to his missing agent. But Gibbs wasn’t going to be happy until he actually saw DiNozzo with his own eyes.

The gravel road forced him to slow his speed to a virtual crawl although Kate still had her eyes closed. She clutched the dashboard as if her life depended on it.

Gibbs just ground his teeth and kept driving. It seemed that was all he had done all night, drive from one disaster to another, always a step behind.

Smoke rising from the trees off the side of the road ahead of them drew his attention. He saw a break in the foliage where it appeared that a car had gone off the road.

Slamming on the brakes, they skidded to a stop. Kate had her seat belt off and was out of the car before he could even put it in gear and turn the ignition off. He followed her, gun and flashlight out.

They found the car just off the road, ploughed into a tree. Its wheels were still spinning and the headlights were on, but there was no sign of life. He gestured for Kate to check out the passenger side of the car. She threw him a mutinous look but did as he instructed. Cautiously Gibbs circled around to the driver’s side, his gun out and held to the ready. He used his flashlight to reveal the interior of the car.

What he found made his stomach twist.

Tony was there, slumped over the wheel, unconscious. There wasn’t even an air bag to cushion the damage. Beyond him, Gibbs could see a smaller shape lying against the passenger door.

"Gibbs," Kate called, "I’ve got the kid over here."

Gibbs assessed the situation rapidly. Somehow Tony had managed to get the keys to the car. Rather than wait for rescue, he’d taken off on his own, and gotten precisely this far.

Surveying the countryside around them, Gibbs saw no sign of Leo Morgan. Was he out there, just waiting for Jethro Gibbs to let down his guard? Would he take Kate the next time or Abby or Ducky? Gibbs was determined to not give up any more of his team to the madman.

He didn’t know how long they had before the other man showed up. Gibbs had no doubt that it would be soon.

"Kate, call an ambulance. I’m going to check DiNozzo over and see if we can move him in our vehicle. How’s the kid?"

"Unconscious," she said shortly.

Gibbs pulled at the door; once, twice before it opened with a squeal of tortured metal. Quickly he checked his young agent for a pulse. He was relieved to find it, even if it did seem slow and sluggish. He checked Tony’s neck and down his spine for signs of injury. When he found none, he pushed Tony back in the seat gently.

His face was a mess, bruised and bloody from its impact against the steering wheel. At Gibbs’ touch, Tony shuddered and pulled away, moaning in pain. "Stay away, son of a bitch," he said without even opening his eyes, he hit out at his captor.

Gibbs caught the weak fist easily, "Tony," he said, gripping him as securely as he could without hurting him further.

At the sound of the other man’s voice, Tony went still. His eyes slitted open and he regarded Gibbs in surprise. "Boss? How’d you get here?" Simple amazement and immense relief could be heard in his voice.

"Getting your sorry butt out of here, DiNozzo. How badly are you hurt?"

At that moment there was an explosion from somewhere beyond the trees, the fireball lighting up the night sky briefly. Tony smiled tightly, "Left him a house warming gift when we left." He roused enough to look towards the passenger seat, "How’s Ben?"

Kate was there, checking out the little boy, "He’s fine, Tony. He’s hit his head. Nothing worse than what happens to us every day when Gibbs is driving." Under the circumstances it was a lame attempt at humour, but it helped to lighten the mood.

He sagged back in the seat in relief. Gibbs patted his cheek, "Stay with me, Tony, we need to get you out of here."

"You’re telling me!" Tony agreed amicably, making no attempt to move. Gibbs had a feeling that Tony wasn’t moving under his own steam any time soon.

"DiNozzo, I’m moving you now,- is there anything I should know about your condition?"

"Uhm, left leg’s bad and the feet… well, they’re pretty much hamburger right now. Morgan’s little security measure back at the cabin."

Tony’s word made little sense until Gibbs got him turned in the car seat and saw that the bottoms of his feet were oozing blood from multiple cuts.

"Think some of the glass is still in there, boss." He said matter-of-factly, like he was giving facts on a report during a briefing.

"Shit, DiNozzo." It was one more item on the list of the things that Leo Morgan was going to be paying for when Gibbs caught up with him. That list was growing longer by the second.

"It looks worse than it is, boss, really," Tony tried to assure him. "Ben got the worst of the glass swept away before I took off after him. Guess he missed some though." He shrugged, then made an effort to stand, using the car frame to leverage himself up. He actually stood for a bare second before falling forward.

Gibbs caught him before he hit the ground. Tony was a dead weight in his arms. "DiNozzo?"

The injured agent was out again, which was probably just as well. Gibbs knew him well enough to know that Tony would never stand for being carried. Bending, he let Tony fall forward over his shoulders. Holding onto his arm and leg, Gibbs stood, balancing his cargo.

"Kate? You got the boy?"

He could see that Ben was conscious, if out of it.

"I’ve got him, Gibbs." She helped the boy out of the smoking wreck, leading him toward their vehicle.

"Put him in the front," Gibbs called out to her. "I need you to ride in the back with DiNozzo."

Whereas on a normal day she might have protested being stuck in the back seat with Tony, today Kate just nodded and pulled the seat belt down strapping Ben in securely.

Then she crawled into the back and helped Gibbs arrange Tony. She sat with him leaning up against her, his legs stretched out across the seat. Gibbs could see the care she took with her injured partner, trying to make him comfortable even though he was still unconscious.

Gibbs took one last look around the sight. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that anything was over just because he had all his people back.

Leo Morgan wasn’t finished with Jethro Gibbs and the NCIS yet, not by a long shot.

*****

The door of the cabin opened, a bare sliver of light spilling out into the night. From his place crouched in the shadows afforded by the trees, a smile slid across the face of Leo Morgan as he watched. This had been the favorite game of his captors. Let the prisoner think he had a hope of escape, give him a little rope, see how far he could get before they pulled back on the lead, bringing him to his knees.

He had escaped from the Iraqis twice. They had allowed him to think he’d gained his freedom twice, only to be recaptured each time and brought back to his hellish prison. They’d done it to break him, destroy his hope. In the end they did it just to toy with him because he had no information that was useful to them.

It was ironic, but in the end his rescue had come from his own military, a military that thought him dead. He’d finally been able to escape when his prison had been hit in the most recent bombings by the US as they looked for Al Qaeda.

He’d barely dared to hope that it was true, that he had somehow escaped when his captors lay dead around him, sprawled lifeless in the ruins of his prison. It had been nearly a day before he could actually bring himself to crawl out of the rubble and stumble away. No one had questioned him, no one had seen him, as he left his own personal hell behind.

Now his only goal in life was to make those people pay who had stolen his life from him. His Iraqi captors were dead; Jethro Gibbs would be next and then Thompson and Miller – his so-called teammates who had left him for dead.

Right now, this moment, it was DiNozzo’s turn. DiNozzo who thought he could steal Ben from him.

He’d left the gun where the other man would be sure to find it, conducting a test of his own. He’d been curious as to whether Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo would try to escape; or, upon finding his gun, would he stay and try to play the hero and take his captor out himself?

The door opened further and Morgan could see a shape in the doorway. He saw Ben slip past onto the porch and begin sweeping at the floor haphazardly with something wadded up in his hand. "Damn." Somehow they’d seen his parting gift for DiNozzo, a lesson on the foolhardiness of escape.

He watched as the man took one halting step and then another, following in Ben’s wake. He could tell by the absolute stillness in the way the agent held his body when he stepped on a stray piece of glass.

Leo felt grim satisfaction knowing that he was causing the other man’s pain; even if it was only a physical pain, quickly past. It wasn’t the soul deep pain that tore at Leo’s soul. The pain that came from loosing everything he ever loved.

Another step, another piece of glass found, and another. Then they were off the porch and headed to the car.

DiNozzo stumbled and would have fallen if Ben hadn’t been there to provide an anchor. Morgan felt hate sear him at the sight of the man with his hand on Ben’s shoulder – his son’s shoulder, knowing that Ben was choosing to go with a stranger over staying with his own father.

Oh, yes, DiNozzo would pay. Leo looked forward to making him pay, slowly and painfully.

He didn’t really blame Ben, though. The kid had only known he’d had a father for a few hours now, there’d been even less to actually get to know him. It wasn’t nearly long enough to see that the things he’d been told all of his life just weren’t true.

Leo just needed the opportunity to let the boy get to know him; to show him that all the things he’d been told weren’t true. They’d have plenty of time for that soon enough. For now, he watched as the car pulled away with his son in it.

Leo did reluctantly admire the tenacity of the other man. To be able to drive with those cuts on his feet, shit, it had to be painful. The car fishtailed a little as DiNozzo gunned it a little too hard in the gravel. He barely slowed though as the car disappeared from sight.

He almost had to laugh. They wouldn’t be getting far, not in that car.

Leo finished setting the perimeter before he took off after them. There was no need to hurry. He knew where they were going; there was only one road to the cabin, and the car would be out of brake fluid long before they hit the main road.

Leo did look forward to seeing DiNozzo’s face when he realized that he’d been had. When the car went out of control and he found himself back at the cabin, a little more battered, a little more beaten. That’s the way his own captors had broken Leo himself. Taking away his hope a little at a time until there was nothing left but hate and rage.

Once he was done with DiNozzo, maybe he’d take the pretty agent next – Caitlin Todd. He’d been in Iraq a long time, it’d been a long time since he’d even seen a women. Yeah, Todd would be a good choice next. That would really cause Gibbs to suffer, to think about what Morgan might be doing to the female agent. Oh, yeah, he smiled in pleasure at the thought.

The night lit up around him when the cabin blew. The concussion knocked him flat and he lay there on the ground stunned, cursing his own stupidity. Shit! How had he not seen that he’d just left all the tools and supplies necessary for DiNozzo to construct a bomb?

Obviously he’d miscalculated badly, thinking all the other man would have on his mind was escape. Debris rained down around him, flaming remnants of all that was left of the cabin littering the ground around him.

He gritted his teeth as he stood – time to retrieve DiNozzo, time for payback. He knew lots of painful ways to make the other man pay. He was going to die by bits and pieces, his life bleeding away slowly, drop by drop.

He set off down the road at a trot. It didn’t take him long to find the place where the car had finally ran out of brake fluid and careened out of control off the road. He followed the trampled underbrush until he found the ruined car where it came to an abrupt halt when it crashed into a tree.

Everything was quiet, but he was still careful approaching the car. He’d given DiNozzo his gun back after all; not before he’d removed the firing pin, but it could still be used as a weapon. Crouching out of the line of sight of the car, he crept up on the vehicle from the passenger’s side. There were no signs of life. He cautiously stood, opening the door quickly. The inside was empty, the occupants long gone.

"No!" He couldn’t help it. The exclamation was out before he thought.

Casting about, it wasn’t hard to find fresh tracks from another vehicle.

He didn’t have any proof, but Leo knew that it was Gibbs in that other car. Somehow he’d found out about the cabin. He’d arrived in time to take DiNozzo and Ben away.

Leo was alone again.

*****

Kate winced at every pothole they hit, every jar that caused the car to bounce. There wasn’t a sound in the car as Gibbs’ drove. Not that they had anything to say.

With his head on her shoulder, Kate just concentrated on holding Tony so that he was cushioned against the bumps and jars of the car as they drove down the uneven, unpaved road. She could feel his heart beating against the hand she had clasped against his chest, keeping him steady against her.

From where she sat, she could see that her partner was covered in blood, it’s metallic odor filled the backseat with its stench. So much blood, it was everywhere, she felt like she was covered in Tony’s blood, too.

She knew that he was out of it, but she still tightened her arms around him as Gibbs gunned the engine and the car fishtailed in the gravel as they picked up speed. She understood the need for urgency in the situation. They had to get Tony to a hospital and quick. They’d rescued him, but if they didn’t get him to medical help soon, he’d still be just as dead.

While she knew that their ordeal wasn’t over, she felt a huge load lift from her now that he was back with them. It was the not knowing where he was, what was happening to him that had weighed against her.

Now she held the reality in her arms, now he was her responsibility to keep safe. It was an unreal feeling to know that Tony was so helpless. She was used to him taking the lead, sometimes it was almost a competition between them.

It occurred to her that it could have been McGee and herself in that SUV when it went over that ravine. Would she have been able to do as well at keeping herself and her partner alive if their positions had been reversed? She wanted to think so, but she just didn’t know.

Sure, she’d been in a hostage situation when she, Ducky and Gerald had been held by a terrorist at gunpoint. But she hadn’t been able to use the knife against the dirt bag that had held them hostage. It still haunted her dreams.

Tony stirred in her arms, moaning softly, mumbling, "Gotta keep going, can’t stop..."

She’d heard the comment about his feet, had a quick glimpse of the damage to them. How he’d continued walking on them she didn’t know. Of course, DiNozzo was stubborn; it was one of his more irritating traits. And one of his most endearing.

She vowed silently that Leo Morgan was going to have to come through her to get to Tony. There was no way he was going to be allowed to hurt her partner again. It didn’t matter how obnoxious he might be, how juvenile and petty at times, she knew a Tony few other people saw. She would fight to protect him with her own life.

She could feel him shivering in her arms. Shock and blood loss were taking their toll on top of everything else he had suffered during the night. They had to get him to a hospital and quick.

"Gibbs?" The single word held all of her concern and worry.

"I know, Kate, I’m going as fast as I can on this damn road. Is the ambulance going to meet us?"

"As soon as we hit the main road," she assured him.

She felt the car fishtail again. She hoped they would make it to the hospital without Gibbs killing them all. She tightened her hold just a little more so that she could keep Tony safe.

******

McGee awoke with a jerk, the laughter ringing in his ears, half expecting that arm to still be around his neck, choking the life from him.

He knew a moment’s dislocation as he tried to figure out where he was. Then he caught the distinct odor of disinfectant and he remembered that he was in the hospital after a nightmare encounter with a madman. He had thought he was dead; breathing became difficult just thinking about it.

He was safe, he kept telling himself that. But what about Tony? He had left Tony alone with no one watching his back. Vaguely he recalled communicating something important to Abby, fathers and sons, but had she understood it?

It was dark and quiet in his room and there was a weight on his arm. He looked down to discover a dark head lying there. It was Abby, sleeping with her head on the side of his bed. Her hair was down, spread across the sheets like a curtain.

He reached out to tentatively touch a silky strand, just let it slide through his fingers. He smoothed a hand over her head, so glad to find her there. She fascinated him. She had a perpetual frenetic quality about her; she was always in motion, except when she slept. She slept with abandon, limbs askew as if she were embracing whatever the universe was sending her way. He loved to watch her sleep.

She stirred under his hand and turned to peer up at him with sleepy eyes.

"Hey, McGee."

"Hey, Abby." His lips moved, but no sound came out, she seemed to hear him anyway. Reaching up, she entwined her fingers with his.

"Tony?" he asked hoping she would understand.

"Gibbs found him," she said soothingly. "He’s in surgery now."

"Surgery?"

Abby seemed adept at reading lips, probably due to her deaf parents. She frowned, "It was bad, Tim, I don’t know all the details, but he’s been in there for a while now." The she smiled at him, trying to ease his anxiety, "You should have seen Gibbs. He wouldn’t let anyone in or out of the operating room without proper ID and a blood test until Ducky went in to keep an eye on things. He promised to come and give me an update when they’re done."

McGee’s fingers tightened around her hand, "happened?"

"I don’t know the whole story, but Gibbs said to tell you that you did good. Coffee’s on him."

"Really?"

She smiled, "Really." She brushed his forehead with her fingertips, "You really need to go back to sleep. The docs threatened to throw me out the last time you were awake."

He could still hear the maniacal laughter ringing in his ears. He didn’t want to go back to sleep.

His fingers tightened on hers and she knew instinctively what he needed to hear, "Don’t worry, I’ll be here when you wake up."

He closed his eyes then and floated off into sleep, sure in the knowledge that she was there to keep the bad man away.

******

It had been a long night. And it looked like it might be just as long a day, but for the moment Gibbs sat next to DiNozzo’s bedside, just watching the other man breathe, feeling fortunate that all of his people were still alive.

It had been touch-and-go for a while with Tony in the early hours of the morning. His blood loss combined with shock and his other injuries had created a nightmare for the medical personnel to deal with. But now he was out of surgery and sleeping peacefully.

It was funny, but in sleep DiNozzo looked more like a ten-year old kid than ever.

He’d come close to loosing him, Gibbs was sure of it. If DiNozzo hadn’t kept his head and kept working to get himself out, Gibbs knew that he wouldn’t be sitting at the younger man’s bedside sipping coffee. But that’s what made DiNozzo unique, he never gave up. He kept fighting long after the time when most men would just give up and accept whatever happened to them.

Gibbs had been reluctant to even let him out of his sight for the doctors to take care of his injuries. When they had wheeled him into surgery, Gibbs placed himself outside the door inspecting each and every person who went into the room until, at last, Ducky had volunteered to go in and observe. It had gone a long way to easing Gibbs’ mind about the continued safety of his young agent.

Now, his team was all in one place, resting, in various degrees of comfort. Gibbs himself wouldn’t budge from DiNozzo’s side. He knew the other man wasn’t likely to wake up for some time yet, but he just needed to be there and see to his safety, even though there was a guard standing outside, guarding both DiNozzo’s and McGee’s doors.

Ben Morgan had been put in with McGee. His mother slept in the chair at her son’s side. The rest of his team he’d sent to a safe house to rest, they also had a guard on their door. No way was Leo Morgan getting a chance to come at him through his team again.

He sipped his coffee just watching the rise and fall of DiNozzo’s chest. He listened to the hums and beeps of the machinery that surrounded him satisfied that they were monitoring his condition, administering his medications properly.

While he might seem to be relaxed to anyone else, he kept an eagle eye on the people who came in and out of the room. There was still so many ways that Leo could get to his people. None of them were going to be truly safe until he was caught and put behind bars.

It was terrible what had happened to him all those years ago. Gibbs regretted it with every fiber of his being. It was one of his own personal rules, never believe what someone else tells you, always check it out for yourself. He hadn’t followed his own advice that time, and his team was paying the price now.

He vowed there, in the silence of the room with the sleeping DiNozzo as his only witness that it would stop here. No more of his team would pay the price for his mistake. Leo Morgan had lost his one advantage, the element of surprise. Gibbs was ready and waiting now. And he wasn’t giving up anyone else that he cared about.

A change in DiNozzo’s breathing caught Gibbs’ attention. He leaned forward, watching the inert form anxiously.

"Gibbs?" Tony’s voice was barely a whisper before his eyes fluttered and opened.

"You’re supposed to be asleep DiNozzo, don’t you ever follow orders?"

"Hey, boss, gotta keep em guessing." With an effort he expanded his gaze to the rest of the room. "Hospital?"

"Oh, yeah, Tony, you’re going to be here for a while."

"Nurses hot?"

"I’ll leave that to you to decide, DiNozzo. Go back to sleep."

Tony shifted restlessly and moaned a little. "Wow! That hurts."

"You really messed yourself up good, DiNozzo."

His eyes drooped and Gibbs could see that sleep was pulling at him, but he stubbornly blinked and gazed up blearily, "McGee?"

Now Gibbs understood why the other man was awake. "He’s a little banged up, but he’s okay. He’ll be getting out of here a lot sooner than you will."

"Good." Tony gave a little nod of his chin. He was loosing his fight with sleep. He eyelids were starting to close and his voice slurred a little. Gibbs had to concentrate to understand, "He did okay tonight, boss…. I’d be a crispy critter if it weren’t for him."

"From what I can see, you both did pretty good tonight, DiNozzo."

That got his attention, "Really," Tony gazed up at him, eyes wide in startlement. "Wow, thanks, boss."

"Go to sleep, DiNozzo, that’s an order."

"Sure thing, boss," even as his spoke, Tony’s eyes shut and his breathing evened out. He slipped back into the sleep his body needed to heal.

Gibbs leaned back in the chair, making himself as comfortable as possible. Outside the sky was just beginning to lighten on a new day.

*****

The next time Tony woke the sun fell through the window, warming him with its light. Ben sat next to his bed, staring at him solemnly. "Ben?"

The kid looked a lot worse for their midnight adventure; there were scratches on his forehead, taped with a butterfly bandage. His face was mottled with bruises, probably from where it impacted with the dashboard. His eyes were haunted as his gaze met Tony’s.

"Hey, kid." Tony cleared his throat, wishing desperately for something to drink. "How are you doing?"

Ben shrugged. Tony shifted uncomfortably as Ben’s eyes took in Tony’s condition – the bandages, the myriad lines and the tubes connected with his body. When his eyes made it back to Tony, they were full of tears.

"It’s not as bad as it looks, really," Tony kept his tone light, trying to alleviate Ben’s fear, but he could see that it wasn’t working. Ben was completely freaked out about what had happened. Couldn’t blame the kid, Tony was freaked about what had happened to them.

He tried to move, to reach out to Ben, to reassure him; but he found that his body wouldn’t move, it felt heavy and lethargic. With an effort, he was able to move his hand to grasp Ben’s.

"I’m sorry, Tony, I just…" Ben’s voice trailed off uncertainly. He bit his lip as he tried to swallow back the tears.

Tony frowned, trying to figure out what to say to ease Ben’s mind. His mind was as heavy as his body, his thoughts moving sluggishly. He suspected it was the result of really good drugs, the kind they only gave you in the case of serious injury. While he was glad the drugs were keeping the pain at bay, he wished he could think; he wanted to say something to ease Ben’s obvious fear, he just couldn’t think of any words that were more than one syllable.

Ben’s fingers closed around his then, squeezing. Tony could feel his reassurance in the grip of his hand, the assurance that they were going to get through this together.

Then the room seemed to shake around them as an explosion could be heard from somewhere too close. The lights flickered and went out as the machinery around Tony paused a moment and silence surrounded them.

An alarm began to sound from somewhere and shouts could be heard from the hallway beyond the door. Then a back-up generator must have kicked in, because the machinery began to work again.

"What the hell…" Tony began to tear at the IV’s and the lines that were tying him to the bed. Something had happened and he couldn’t just lie in bed waiting for it to come to him.

*****

The hospital cafeteria was busy. It was filled with the sound of people talking and the clink of silverware as breakfast was served. Floor-to-ceiling windows let the morning sunshine stream in, lending a false sense of cheer and brightness to the room.

While there was a number of hospital personnel there between shifts or stopping in for their daily intake of caffeine; many of the people at the tables were hushed, taking breaks from their vigils at loved ones sides in much the same way Gibbs himself was doing. The faces he saw were pale, stretched thin with worry and too little sleep. Gibbs knew exactly how they felt.

He sat, sipping a steaming cup of coffee. It was the first time he’d left DiNozzo’s bedside all night. Sitting in the uncomfortable chair hour after hour had left him stiff and achy. Needing to walk and stretch his legs, he decided to stop by the cafeteria and get fresh coffee. Sleeping soundly with a soft snore, Tony had looked to be out of it for some time.

He had been surprised when he opened the door to Tony’s room to find the boy, Ben, outside, arguing with the guard posted at Tony’s door. Gibbs nodded that it was alright and opened the door for the boy to enter. The boy hadn’t seen Tony since they’d been separated the night before. He just needed see his friend, make sure that he was indeed all right. It was that same need that had kept Gibbs at Tony’s bedside all night.

From his position in the corner Gibbs had a good view of all the exits and entrances. He saw Ducky enter, his gaze sweeping the room. It didn’t take him long to find Gibbs where he sat, brooding.

Nodding a good morning across the room, Ducky made his way to the counter where he bought himself some juice. Then he negotiated the tables of diners to sit with Gibbs. There was a moment of silence as they sat, each lost in their own thoughts.

"How is young Anthony this morning?" Ducky asked finally, breaking the silence.

"Sleeping."

"He’s young and strong, Jethro. He’ll be fine." Somehow Ducky’s soothing tones weren’t working this time to calm his fears.

Gibbs sighed, "I know that, Ducky. I’m more worried about Leo, what his next move will be."

As if in answer to his unspoken question, the room rocked with an explosion. The windows blew out scattering glass everywhere, upending tables and diners, leaving the dining room looking like a scene from a war-zone.

******

Nancy Morgan awoke with a jerk, disoriented, unsure of where she was. Then the memories came flooding back – Leo showing up at her door, taking Ben, hitting her. She sat with her eyes closed, the memories washing over her.

What had happened to turn her loving husband into the monster she had seen last night? It wasn’t just the physical scarring on his face that had been horrific. She hadn’t even recognized her husband in the eyes of the man that she saw last night.

The fact that he took their son and could threaten the lives of other people proved to her that Leo was profoundly changed. She kept her eyes squeezed shut, trying to deny the tears that she could feel welling within her.

Once her life had been idyllic with a loving husband and a child on the way. Then Leo died in Iraq and she’d been alone. She had been so lost without him. Many nights she cried herself to sleep, clutching his pillow. Finally she managed to get herself together, mostly for the sake of their unborn son.

Now, to have him return like this, to find out that he had been alive during all the intervening years. What horrors had he faced, what nightmares had he lived? Some part of her still loved Leo and always would. But the other part hoped that Special Agent Gibbs caught him soon, before he could hurt anyone else.

Rubbing her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears along with her fear, she stretched in the chair. She could feel the sunshine on her face and knew that morning must have come at last. Despite the fact that she started at every sound during the night, she must have slept, at least for a while. Cracking open eyes caked with sleep, her heart began to thump in fear when she discovered that Ben’s bed was empty.

All vestiges of sleep gone, she sat up, her body protesting the sudden move after hours spent curled in the chair next to Ben’s bed. Across from her, she could see that Agent McGee still slept soundly. It reassured her a little. Surely if there had been an intruder, if Leo had returned to take Ben, it would have woken them both with the struggle? Besides the other woman, Abby had been in the room with them most of the night and there was a guard outside the door. Leo couldn’t have taken Ben again.

She stood, stretching, trying to calm her racing heart, when the concussion blast from an explosion knocked her from her feet. The lights flickered and dimmed around her, finally going out completely.

She heard an alarm begin to sound…

******

Kate’s reflection in the mirror frowned back at her. A night spent sleeping on a couch too small for her body had left her cranky and out of sorts. She pulled a comb through her hair, but it didn’t seem to be doing much good, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot and her teeth felt like they were covered in little fuzzy slippers. She scrubbed at her teeth with a finger and splashed cool water on her face, but neither really helped to refresh her. She decided that what she really needed was coffee.

Abby entered the bathroom with a little bag in hand. She also had the look of someone who had spent the night in an uncomfortable chair. Her hair was mussed and sticking out at odd angles, however, she looked way too perky for such an early hour of the morning.

"Morning Kate."

While Kate’s real inclination was to punch Abby for her sweet smile and bright tone, she settled for, "Hey, Abby."

Abby didn’t seem to notice her mood. She turned on the water and put her bag down, pulling out a toothbrush and toothpaste.

"You carry a toothbrush with you?" Kate asked.

"Never know when you’re going to need one," Abby teased, waving the toothbrush in Kate’s face. "How’s Tony? Ducky never came to tell me last night."

"Tony’s…" It was hard to say how Tony was. The doctors tried to be positive every time they talked to them, but Kate could hear the guarded tone in their voice.

She profiled people for a living; she could see that while they were giving them the facts, the doctors weren’t telling them everything about Tony’s condition. It was too early to burden Abby with it, so she settled for a neutral, "They tell us Tony’s doing as well as can be expected. As for Ducky, I think he thought you were asleep. He didn’t want to disturb you."

"What made him think that?"

"Oh, the sleeping and the snoring." Kate knew how the other woman would respond and she wasn’t disappointed.

"Get out! I do not snore."

"Whatever," Kate gave in with a smile. "Gibbs wants to have a debrief in McGee’s room this morning. He’s hoping Tony wakes up later so he can get a report from him." She ran the comb through her hair one more time, and finally gave up, shoving it back in to her purse in exasperation. "We need to catch this Morgan guy and soon."

Abby seemed to understand that the real source of her anxiety wasn’t her hair, but her worry for Tony. Her eyes met Kate’s in the mirror. "He’s going to be okay, you know."

Kate didn’t even have to ask which ‘he’ Abby was referring to, "There was just so much blood, Abby, I’ve never seen so much blood." The smell of it was still on her, even though the nurses had found her a pair of scrubs to replace her own spattered, soiled clothes.

Abby’s hand covered hers briefly before returning to her own morning rituals. "You know, Tony, anything to make you feel sorry for him. You wait, next week, he’ll be using this to get you to do his work for him."

Kate met Abby’s encouraging smile with a small smile of her own. "I know, but… we came so close to losing him, losing them both tonight. It just makes you think, you know…"

Her words where interrupted by the explosion that ripped through the bathroom, tumbling walls and porcelain fixtures like leaves caught in the wind. Both women were slammed against the walls, neither where aware when the lights went out plunging them into darkness as an alarm began to echo through the halls…

*****

Stunned by the violence of the explosion, Gibbs lay still a moment, trying to gather his wits. Even though he had been on the far side of the room, away from the blast point, the concussion had picked him up, tossing him against the wall. With some effort, he crawled out of the wreckage of what had once been a pleasant hospital cafeteria. He stood slowly, using the wall to balance himself before turning to survey what was left of the room.

It was a scene straight from his worst nightmare. Tables and chairs were upended, strewn around the room. Under them people lay like broken dolls with arms and legs askew, blood was everywhere. He could hear the crackle of flames as smoke began to billow, filling the room with its toxic fumes.

Even as Gibbs climbed to his feet, others around him were beginning to stir. People began to call out, looking for loved ones who had been sitting next to them scant moments before. The injured began to call for help, crying out in pain and fear.

Realizing that Ducky hadn’t emerged from the rubble, Gibbs began to frantically search for his friend. He tried to search methodically. Logically Ducky had to be close, he’d been sitting across the table from the man. Swiftly he moved tables and chairs and pieces of the ceiling in the area around where he himself had been thrown without finding the medical examiner.

Quickly the smoke was beginning to become a problem. It swirled through the room, hampering the efforts of those searching for the injured. The crackle of flames was getting closer although Gibbs couldn’t identify where the fire was exactly. He could just feel it looming like a beast waiting to pounce.

Grimly Gibbs kept looking; he knew Ducky had to be there…

Somewhere.

****

Judging from the shouting and screaming from the hallway, something was terribly wrong.

And there was no way Tony was staying in a hospital bed, waiting for someone to come rescue him. The explosion that had rocked his room hadn’t been an accident.

He remembered the pile of explosives in the cabin where he had been held. He thought he’d blown it all up, but then he flashed on Ben’s voice telling him, "Leo’s gone out to set the perimeter."

There had been more explosives, Tony hadn’t gotten it all. So, now Morgan had caught up with them, and all of Gibbs’ team was in one place.

Frantically, Tony tore at the tape holding the IV in place on his wrist. It came away with a smear of blood, mixing with the solution still dripping from the IV line. He pulled the breathing tube from his nose, and threw the covers away.

He knew the drugs were definitely the good kind as he put his feet on the floor and felt nothing through the layers of bandages they were swathed in. He’d pay the price later he knew, but for now he had to move.

Ben stood beside his bed, as if rooted to the spot, seemingly unable to move. The kid had already endured more than anyone should have to deal with.

"Ben," Tony put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, giving him a gentle shove toward the door just as it opened.

Tony felt his gut clench at the figure that stood there.

"Hey, DiNozzo, you left without saying goodbye," Morgan said pleasantly, stepping nonchalantly into the room.

*****

When Kate came to, she opened her eyes to nothingness, blackness. She told herself it was because the lights were out and firmly refused to think anything else. Lying on the floor, her cheek was pressed into the cold tile. Tentatively she pushed herself up, and managed it without too much trouble. Doing a quick internal check, she thought her only injury was a massive headache.

With trembling fingers she investigated, finding a sizeable lump on the back of her head. It hurt just to think about touching it. Her fingers came away suspiciously sticky and damp. Dismissing her own injury, she began to search for Abby. She needed to find Abby and they needed to get out of the bathroom.

The only problem was she had no idea where exactly 'out' was.

It seemed ludicrous to think that she was lost in a hospital bathroom, but the darkness was disorienting. Everywhere she tried to put her hands she found debris that she couldn’t identify. Her head ached and she had no real idea which way was out.

She could hear an alarm sounding stridently in the hallway and decided that was the direction she needed to go, but first she had to find Abby. She scrabbled around, searching among the debris. She found lots of concrete and the smooth steel of the doors, but no warm, living human flesh.

"Abby?" her voice echoed strangely in the room, distorted.

But it elicited a faint moan from her left. Feeling her way, shifting debris out of the way when she could, Kate slowly inched her way to where she thought she’d heard the moan. She nearly cried when her fingers connected with something soft and yielding. And warm.

"Kate?" Abby’s voice was weak and raspy, but she was alive.

"Here, Abby." Kate ghosted her fingers up Abby’s body to find the rest of her. Abby stirred and Kate could feel her trying to sit up.

"Lay still," she told the young woman firmly.

"Kate, we’ve got to get out of here, this was no accident," Abby said.

Kate knew the urgency. She could put two and two together and come up with Leo Morgan. "I know, but we’ve got to make sure that you’re not hurt." She ran her hands down Abby’s arms.

"I’m not," Abby assured her pushing her hands away.

"Abby?"

"At least, not bad enough to keep me in here," Abby’s voice was getting stronger. That was a good thing. "Help me up."

Despite her own misgivings, Kate found Abby’s elbow and they stood together, supporting one another.

"Now which way is out?" Abby asked when they were both upright.

They stumbled in the direction that Kate thought the door should be. It seemed like an eternity before they actually found it. They emerged into a hallway filled with smoke and people running back and forth mindless of the two who were standing upright. Their priority was the people who couldn’t help themselves.

That was all right with Kate and Abby, they knew where they were going and they didn’t need well-meaning medical personnel keeping them from their goal. Holding on to one another, supporting each other, they made their way down the hall.

*****

Someone was shaking him and McGee flung his arms up to protect himself. The arms on his shoulders retreated and he heard someone call his name.

"Mr. McGee, please wake up."

The agitation in the voice was enough to convince him to open his eyes. The woman staring down at him was someone he’d never met before. Lifting himself, he looked around the room questioningly. Abby was gone, and in her place stood a stranger.

"Abby?" He managed to croak out.

"She’s gone. There was an explosion, close. Mr. Gibbs is gone, they’re all gone. What are we supposed to do?"

‘They’re all gone,’ it rang in his ears along with the evil laughter he couldn’t seem to rid himself of. What did she mean? And an explosion?

He became aware of the alarm. It had intruded into his dream and now he could still hear it now that he was awake. If there’d been an explosion, that meant one thing…

Leo Morgan had found them.

The room spun around him as he sat. The woman flung her arms around him to hold him up as he sagged, but determinedly he put his legs to the floor and stood. She kept her arms around him as he moved to the door. It didn’t matter that his brain felt like it was made of jello and that thinking was difficult. If there’d been a bomb, McGee knew whose work it was. And he was determined to make the man pay for all the injury that he had caused – to McGee himself, to Tony, and to a little boy who was innocent of all this.

It didn’t matter that he couldn’t take a step without thinking that he was going to fall on his face. The only thing that mattered was getting out of the room and finding the rest of his team.

*****

Gibbs dug through the ruble desperately, afraid of what he was going to find. His hands were red and bleeding from searching through the debris and the glass, but he kept on doggedly. He knew that Ducky was there somewhere; he just had to keep looking. Finally he spied a hand; and, as he shifted the debris, he found a body.

When he spied the white unmoving face of his friend, Gibbs was certain Ducky was dead. Desperately he put two fingers on the other man’s throat, looking for a pulse. He sagged a little in relief when he found it, beating steadily beneath his fingertips.

The smoke was beginning to fill Gibbs lungs, and he fought against the urge to cough. The crackle of the fire became more urgent as did the calls of the wounded, terrified beyond reason.

"Ducky," he called urgently, patting his friend’s cheek.

Ducky’s eyes opened and squinted up at him. "Dear boy," he extended a hand to Gibbs, "what was that?"

"A diversion," was Gibbs grim answer as he helped the other man to sit.

Ducky’s face paled even further as his appalled gaze took in the state of the room. "From your Mr. Morgan?" Ducky asked as he carefully stood. Gibbs kept a hand on his elbow, steadying him.

"I’m afraid so." Without any evidence to substantiate his feelings, Gibbs knew the explosion was the work of Leo Morgan. The man had been a demolitions expert. If you wanted something blown up with the maximum amount of boom, Leo was the person you called.

"You realize he must be stopped." Ducky’s mouth was set in a hard line as he surveyed the demolished room.

Around them people were beginning to stir. Cries from the injured began to fill the room. Getting his equilibrium back, Ducky moved to help those nearest him.

"I know that. Are you okay, Ducky?" Gibbs urgently needed to be out of that room, but he had to make sure his friend was alright first.

"I’m fine, Jethro. You go make sure the rest of our people are alright. I’m going to see what help I can be here."

Gibbs didn’t like leaving Ducky there alone, but he needed to check on his team. He bent and pulled his throwaway from its holster around his ankle pressing it into Ducky’s hand.

Ducky stared down at it, appalled. "Jethro, exactly what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Protect yourself," Gibbs called to him as he disappeared from the room.

*****

Tony put his body between Morgan and Ben. He could see that the corridor beyond the big man’s body was filled with smoke, thick choking smoke. The high thin wail of the siren continued, punctuating the shouts and the cries of whatever was happening out there.

Tony found himself filled with rage at what the man had done to get to him, to get to Gibbs.

"You bombed a hospital?" Tony held himself ready, waiting for just the right moment. There was no way Morgan was taking him, or Ben, without a fight. He might not be able to put up much of a fight, but he wasn’t going easily. Then a new thought chilled his soul – maybe Morgan wasn’t here for him this time. Where was Kate? Where was Gibbs?

Leaning easily against the door jam as if he had all the time in the world, the man just smirked, "It was just a little diversion, so we could talk uninterrupted."

"You could have killed your son." Tony could feel Ben pressed in against his back, hiding as best he could from Morgan.

Tony resolved that even if he couldn’t escape he’d find a way for Ben to get away.

Morgan’s eyes narrowed dangerously, "You know what I did in the Gulf War, DiNozzo? I blew things up. You wanted something blown up, you came to Leo Morgan. I know how to set a bomb to cause the most amount of damage; I know how to target a specific area –like that cafeteria right downstairs. Too bad Jethro went for coffee like that. I expect they’re scraping what’s left of him off the floor right about now."

At that moment someone turned the alarm off. The silence it left behind was profound. Morgan’s eyes flicked to the hall just briefly, a half-second, maybe less. It was enough time for Tony to take his chance. Using the only weapon he had available to him, he used his whole body to ram Morgan, sending them both careening into the hall.

He knew he was only going to get in one good shot, and he was right. Morgan was up quickly and hit him with a casual swipe of his hand. Tony was knocked off his feet and went sliding down the hall until he came to rest against an object that had been hidden by the smoke. It was the guard that had been stationed outside his room, and McGee’s. Tony couldn’t tell if he was dead, but his face was a strange waxen shade and there was a thin trickle of blood staining his lip.

From somewhere Ben was at his side, shaking him. "Tony?"

"Run, Ben, go now." The boy didn’t look convinced. "Find Gibbs, Ben." Tony tried to put all the urgency he could into his voice.

The boy nodded and scurried away just as Leo appeared again in the smoke. He reached out to grab his son as he ran past. The boy was quick and lithe and easily avoided him.

Afraid that Morgan was going to follow him, Tony shoved himself upright. Strength of will was all that was keeping him standing on his feet. He launched himself at Morgan one more time, just as the man turned and took a stop to follow Ben.

"No, you don’t." Tony tackled the other man around the knees and they both went down in a tangle.

Again, Morgan was up way too easy. He stood over the fallen man and Tony saw his death in the other man’s eyes. Still he wasn’t ready to give up. He pushed himself backwards, trying to get the space to stand, to act.

Morgan began to stalk him. Slowly, step-by-step, he gained on the fallen man until he was standing over him once again. He brought his foot down and put it on Tony’s chest. At first lightly, but then pressing harder and harder.

"Bastard," Tony hissed, not willing to admit defeat. He wasn’t going to give the other man the pleasure. "Go to hell."

The door to McGee’s room burst open and McGee was a blur as he attacked Morgan with the only thing he could find, the metal chair that Abby had sat in all night. He swept up with it, hitting Morgan across the chest and away from Tony; and then again, down over his head and shoulders. The man went down hard and Tony scuttled away, trying to breathe.

McGee had managed to draw blood, but it was still too little. Morgan swatted away the chair as he wiped his bloody mouth. He scooped up McGee with one hand, the fingers matching the bruises already on the man's throat.

"I thought I already took care of you," Morgan growled. "I guess I’ll have to do the job right this time."

Tony could tell that Morgan was getting tired of the game. He just wanted blood now. He set himself to move, but Leo must have seen it. Lashing out with a booted foot, he caught Tony in the hip, then again in the back. Tony curled in a ball trying to protect his head.

"Morgan." Gibbs’ voice rang out in the hall.

From where he lay, Tony saw Leo smile. He turned to Gibbs, still gripping McGee by the throat.

Gibbs appeared then, out of the smoke, his gun at the ready; aimed steady at Morgan’s head. A small movement down the hall drew Tony’s eye and he saw Kate creeping from the opposite direction, her gun out also, a deadly gleam in her eye.

"Well, Jethro Gibbs, glad to see you made it to the party."

Gibbs didn’t react by so much as a twitch to Leo’s taunt. "Just let McGee go, Leo, this is between you and me."

"See that’s where you’re wrong, Jethro. You robbed me of my life. I’m going to make you watch as I take everything you care about, then I’m going to take your life."

"And what’s that going to prove, Leo? It’s not going to get your fourteen years back. It’s not going to make your son love you." Gibbs’ words were like a bullet, each one hitting their mark.

"You leave my son out of this," Morgan snarled.

"You’re the one who brought your son into this, remember, Leo. Now let my people go, and you can do whatever you want with me." Gibbs kept advancing, one step at a time, drawing ever closer.

Kate stumbled over something in the smoke and the sound echoed down the hallway. Morgan’s grip on McGee loosened just a fraction. Instantly McGee took the opening and twisted from his grasp, throwing himself to the floor.

Shots rang out from both ends of the hall and Leo Morgan’s body twitched as the bullets ripped through him.

To Tony it was if he fell in slow motion, the surprise etched into his face. He fell at Tony’s feet, his hand outstretched, the blood already beginning to pool beneath his body.

There was shocked stillness then as Tony realized that it was well and truly over. He couldn’t make his body move, but he sagged backwards in relief and shut his eyes.

It was over at last.

*****

It was a sad group that met in Tony’s room two days later to debrief. Sitting at the foot of Tony’s bed, Kate’s head was bandaged where she had required several stitches to close the gash she had received. Gibbs, leaning against the wall sipping coffee, had sustained myriad small cuts and bruises on his face and hands from the explosion. McGee sat quietly in a chair, a folder open on his lap, reporting in a raspy voice. His throat was still mottled with bruises and he only talked when absolutely necessary. Tony, the only one still officially in the care of the hospital, had a tendency to fall asleep in the middle of his sentences.

All in all it had probably been the world’s shortest debriefing. They were all too aware of what might have happened if the team hadn’t been at the absolute top of their game.

"I guess Morgan must have had some conscious left after all," Kate continued with her report. "The bomb was placed to cause damage and to disrupt services, but there were no fatalities in the bombing of the cafeteria." She flipped her notebook shut as she concluded her report.

"I don’t think that was conscious, Kate, I think it was blind dumb luck." Gibbs commented dryly. "Don’t forget there are still several patients in ICU. No, he wanted us alive, that’s the only reason this wing of the hospital isn’t so much rubble right now."

Tony yawned widely and blinked around the room, seeming surprised to see them all there still. He shifted slightly, wincing, "So, this guy, Leo Morgan? He was a prisoner of war for fourteen years and no one knew? Part of me feels really sorry for the guy."

All eyes turned to him in disbelief.

"DiNozzo, he tried to kill you." Gibbs spoke slowly, in the tone you would use if you were speaking to a child. "He left McGee for dead, Abby has a broken collarbone, Agent Balboa has a concussion for the trouble of standing outside your door trying to protect your sorry ass, and you feel sorry for Morgan?"

Kate winced as Gibbs voice rose in tenor. It was a good thing Tony still looked so fragile or Gibbs would have swatted him on the back of his head, she was sure of it.

Tony had the grace to look abashed, "I know, boss. Hey, I’m not saying I condone what he did, I just meant… well he lost everything. Poor bastard."

There was an uncomfortable silence as they all thought of the price they had paid for Leo’s Morgan’s loss.

Kate cleared her throat and tried to change the subject, "What I want to know is how did Morgan even know what road Tony and McGee were going to be on Friday night? There were, I don’t know," she waved her hand vaguely, "a half-a-dozen routes they could have used to get where they were going. How did he know they were going to be on that one?"

Tony shifted looking distinctly embarrassed. "I.. uh… I think I know the answer to that one."

Gibbs fixed Tony with his unrelenting stare, "Yes, DiNozzo?"

They all waited as Tony picked at the blanket, "Well, early on I thought this car might have been following us. But then when we turned off, it passed us and I didn’t see it again. I just didn’t think…. " he shrugged. "In hindsight, I can see that it was Morgan and he just got far enough ahead of us that he could shoot out our tires." He shut his eyes and Kate thought he’d gone to sleep again. But then he opened them and glanced guiltily at McGee, "I messed up, boss, and I almost got us all killed."

Kate had to hide her smile, somehow Tony always seemed to take on the guilt when things went wrong. There was no way this was his fault.

For once Gibbs agreed with her. "No, DiNozzo, you did good. You kept your head and you kept yourself, and McGee, and Ben alive. Some days that’s all you can do."

Tony’s mouth was a round O of surprise.

Gibbs pushed himself off the wall, "Come on, Kate, McGee, we need to get out of here, and let DiNozzo get his beauty sleep."

Kate patted his good leg as she left. McGee hung back, gesturing he’d catch up with a wave of his hand. Kate nodded, following Gibbs to the door.

Alone with McGee Tony waited expectantly, trying not to yawn.

"So, Tony, do you really think my detective is too naïve?"

The question took Tony a little off-guard, it wasn’t where he thought the conversation was going. He took a moment before replying thoughtfully, "I think he’s learning, Probie, I think he’s learning."

McGee smiled shyly, pleased. "Maybe, you’ll uhm… read some of my stuff sometimes?"

Tony couldn’t keep the yawn from escaping, "Sure, I’d like that," he answered around the yawn. Despite himself he found his eyelids drooping. He rallied long enough to add, "You really should ask Abby to see her new tat."

McGee paused with his hand on the door. He turned back and smiled at Tony, "In your dreams, Tony. In your dreams."

Tony smiled to himself as the door closed behind McGee. Probie was definitely learning.

*****

Tony sat in the wheelchair fidgeting with the file in his lap. The hospital was finally setting him loose, and he was psyched. He wasn’t going home, his apartment wasn’t really set up to cater to a man in a wheelchair and Tony would still be off his feet for a few more days.

Gibbs had volunteered to let Tony come home with him, but Tony had declined quickly. Working with Gibbs was one thing, living in his house was quite another. No way was Gibbs going to have the opportunity to smack Tony for leaving his underwear lying on the bathroom floor.

Nancy Morgan had asked Tony to come stay with her and Ben. Ben had been quiet and moody ever since their encounter with his father. She thought that Tony might be able to talk to him, and help him through whatever was bothering him.

He was all ready, the hospital had signed him out, he had all his prescriptions and Abby had brought him a bag from home. Now all he needed was Nancy and Ben to come pick him up and he was good to go.

The door of his room opened and Ben stood, a little uncertain, his mother right behind him.

She smiled brightly, "You ready to go, Tony?"

"You don’t know how ready I am, Nancy. You sure it’s not going to be too much trouble?" While he did appreciate the chance to spend some time with Ben, he didn’t want to get in the way.

"No," she assured him, "I think it’ll do Ben good to have you around for a while." Spying his bag setting on the floor at Tony’s side, she picked it up. "Why don’t I take this? And I’ll bring the car to the front door. I’ll meet you there?"

"It sounds like a plan." Tony nodded his agreement, watching Ben from the corner of his eye.

Ben stood awkwardly, watching his toes as his mother picked up Tony’s bag and left the two of them alone.

"My mom’s making me go see a counselor," he said forlornly when the door was shut.

"It’s probably a good idea. I have to see one, too, you know," Tony told him.

"Really?" Ben looked up at him surprised.

Tony smiled, "Really, I’m hoping she’s ho…" suddenly aware of the fourteen year old he was talking to, he amended his comment, "nice, I hope she’s nice." Ben nodded agreement, and then went back to watching his toes.

Tony wasn’t sure, but he thought he knew what was going on in the kid’s head. He took a shot, "You know, Ben, what Leo Morgan did, it’s not your fault."

It must have been a pretty close guess, because Ben’s eyes widened and his cheeks flamed bright red, "But Tony, he was my father," Ben protested, "I just…"

"No, Ben," Tony was still getting used to the wheelchair. He cursed under his breath at it as it took him a minute to maneuver the thing until he was sitting beside Ben. "That guy who did all those things, that wasn’t your father."

He picked up the folder that had been sitting in his lap. "This is your dad." He opened it and handed it to Ben.

Inside was a picture of a smiling man, Leo Morgan, in his marine uniform. "But, Tony…"

Earnestly, Tony over rid the boy’s protests, "No, just listen to me, Ben. What happened to him in Iraq changed him. After what happened to him there, who knows what any of us would do. But this man," he tapped the folder, "this is your father. He was a hero. He saved a lot of people, including Gibbs. That’s the man you need to remember as your father. Not the crazy guy who kidnapped you and terrorized us."

Ben’s gaze moved uncertainly from Tony to the picture and back again. "You sure, Tony?"

"I’m sure, Ben. Oh, and I have something for you," he dug around in his pocket until he found the small object that Gibbs had given him. He pinned it on Ben’s collar, "You are now officially an honorary NCIS agent."

"Wow." Ben’s eyes were shining now. Tony felt like he’d done something good. "Thanks, Tony."

"You’re welcome, Ben. You did good. You were pretty brave back at that cabin, getting the keys. And if you hadn’t gone to find Gibbs, well…" Tony’s voice trailed off. They were getting back into territory it was probably best not to explore right then.

But Ben didn’t notice, "Do you suppose I could come to your office someday? I could help you with your work, and ride with you when you go arrest the bad guys."

Tony had to smile at the kid’s enthusiasm, "Well, maybe not just yet, but someday…"

It was enough for Ben. He took hold of the wheelchair and navigated Tony out of the room and down the hall, talking the entire way about his new career in the NCIS.

Tony wondered wryly how he was going to break the news to Gibbs about their new junior agent. Hell, knowing Gibbs, he already had an assignment for Ben.

The End