Chapter 1

"McGee, hold on" Gibbs spoke as he applied pressure to the freely bleeding wound on McGee's chest. Ziva had Landon handcuffed on the floor and Tony was consoling a very emotional Abby. The paramedics arrived and Gibbs was moved but McGee clung weakly to his hand so he was allowed to come in the ambulance with McGee.

Ambulance

"Boss ... tell Abby ... I'm Sorry... my fault" he gasped out the words as breathing became increasingly difficult and he felt himself passing out.

"You will get to tell her yourself McGee."

"Please ... tell her" he spoke weakly before he stopped breathing. The paramedics placed a tube down his throat to breathe for him.

An hour later, Tony and Ziva entered the surgical waiting room. "Where's Abby at DiNozzo?"

"Ducky picked her up and said he'd sedate her for the night. How is McGee doing?"

"Not good, he stopped breathing on the way here and his heart stopped once while they were treating him in the ER."

Three hours later, a surgeon entered the waiting room, "Family of Timothy McGee"

"His sister is on the way, I'm his boss, and this incident was work related."

"He made it through the surgery; however he lost a lot of blood and he seems to have slipped into a coma. Right now all we can do is wait and see if he wakes up."

"Can we see him?" Tony asked.

"Yes, maybe he'll respond to you"

Tony was shocked at how still and pale McGee was and the ventilator tube coming out of his mouth just made things look so much worse. "Hey probie, I know you probably don't want to right now, but you need to wake up for us. Abby needs you; heck the whole team needs you. Please try to wake up for us." He was a little sad that he didn't get a response even if he hadn't really been expecting one.

The next day, Abby was allowed to see Tim. "Timmy, why did you jump in front of that bullet for me? I love you and don't want to lose you so please wake up." She got no response. A nurse entered and went to Tim's IV and started injecting meds as well as hanging a new IV bag. "Nurse, what are you giving him?"

"The shot was pain medication and I'm hanging an antibiotic that the doctor ordered. Keep talking to him honey, I truly believe that patients can hear what's going on around them when unconscious." Abby nodded in response.

A Week Later

Things were quiet at the office without Tim. Abby had returned to work and was working on some samples from another team's case when her phone rang.

"Forensics"

"Is this Abby Sciuto?"

"Yes"

"This is Doctor Jagman from Bethesda. Agent Gibbs asked me to call you with any updates on Agent McGee's condition."

"What's wrong!?"

"Nothing at all. He has not woken up yet, but he is breathing well enough on his own that we have taken him off the ventilator."

"That's great; does that mean he will wake up soon?"

"I really don't know what's going to happen, for now all we can do is continue to wait. But coming off the ventilator is a step in the right direction."

"Thank you Doctor."