Yes... I apologize in advance for this story. I dreamed it (hence the random first person point of view but no one anyone's ever heard of). Yeah, it was such a vivid dream that I had to write it down. And I feel like it's well-written, so there's no need not to post it... please don't hate me...

POV Special Agent Alison Waters

It was just a normal mission. Catch a murderer, locate a terrorist cell, diffuse a bomb. Okay, not quite normal. But nothing we couldn't handle.

It shouldn't have ended like that.

The worst part was going back to the office and seeing his desk. On that ride from the airport, no one said anything. At one point Tony opened his mouth to try and make a joke, lighten the mood. But he couldn't. Not after…

This job is dangerous. We all knew that when we signed up. They've all lost experienced the loss of a coworker or boss before…Agent Todd…Director Shepherd… But I wasn't here when that happened. And having been through it before obviously doesn't make it any easier. From the looks of things, it makes the whole process harder.

Then there were those few moments with Abby. The worst of the worst. We stepped off the elevator, and she was there waiting for us, along with Ducky. Abby smiled at each of us, then asked, "Where's Gibbs?"

She looked at me, then Tony, then McGee, then Ziva. Ziva was the only one who could meet her eyes. And Ziva just shook her head. There weren't any words.

"Oh, Ducky!" Abby wailed. "Gibbs is… I let him out of my sight for one minute! Now…now…oh, Ducky! Who will be there to give me a CafPow at the exact moment I figure something out in a case?" He hugged her, but he looked as though he was in a state of shock. We all were.

How could something like that happen to Gibbs? If it can happen to Gibbs, I hate to think how easily it could happen to the rest of us.

We were all there. Why did it have to be Gibbs? Why couldn't it have been me? I've been here the shortest amount of time. It would have hurt them all less to lose me. But to lose Gibbs…

"Don't you dare think that, Alison," Abby says sharply. "You're just as important as any of us."

That's just too much to handle. I start crying. "Thanks, Abby. But Gibbs…"

She's crying too. "I know." But she doesn't. She didn't have to see him die like that. Which is good because as badly as Tony, Ziva, McGee and I are taking it… I think it would have killed Abby inside.

That beeping is going to keep me awake for months. It was so faint. I don't know how Gibbs even heard it over the clanking of the truck. But suddenly he shouted, "There's a bomb somewhere on this truck! Get everyone out!"

All five of us and the driver grabbed one of the wounded men. I don't remember what put us in that makeshift ambulance in the first place. I don't even remember the details of the case that put us in Iraq in the first place. It doesn't matter. None of it matters. The only things that are important are the numbers. Seven wounded. Six capable of carrying them.

We got six of them a safe distance away, and after placing his charge on the ground, Gibbs immediately turned back. "I'll go, Boss," Tony said.

"No, DiNozzo," Gibbs shouted over his shoulder. "You stay here."

"But Boss—" Tony protested.

"I said stay there!"

Tony hung back, and we all watched as Gibbs reached the truck and pulled out the last wounded soldier. It was a marine. Gibbs held the kid in front of him, ducked his head and ran. And we watched. We just stood there and watched.

The ambulance exploded. Pieces of it went flying in every direction. And Gibbs fell. Just like that. One moment he was running. The next he was on the ground bleeding.

We got to him in seconds, but he was already gone. Killed instantly, the ambulance driver said. Ziva agreed with him. But the man Gibbs had been carrying was no worse than before. Gibbs' body had shielded him from the blast. They weren't close enough that the explosion itself got him; it was the shrapnel made from the truck.

Now, as they lower the coffin, all of us are crying, even Ziva. Abby is dressed in nothing but white. She told me earlier it's because Gibbs would have wanted her to be strong. I don't really understand. But if it makes Abby feel better, it really doesn't matter if it makes sense or not.

A young man in uniform comes up to us on crutches. His face is cut and bruised. The last soldier. Quietly he says, "I know you probably blame me for what happened."

"I wish I could," Tony says. "I wish I could put a face to the bastard who killed Gibbs. But none of it was your fault."

The young man nods. "Thank you. And I don't know what to do to thank your boss for what he did. I never could have been that brave. I can tell he was a very good man."

"He was," Ziva agrees. "But you have one thing wrong. Gibbs was not being brave. To show bravery you must be afraid but do your duty anyway. Gibbs was not afraid. Gibbs was never afraid to do what is right."

The soldier stares at us a moment. When he doesn't say anything, McGee says, "He died the way he would have wanted to die, if given the choice. He died saving someone else."

Very quietly Tony adds, "He was a marine, too. He never forgot that." At Tony's next words, the young marine's eyes turn glassy with tears. "Semper fi."

"Semper fi," the rest of us whisper.