DISCLAIMER: I do not own NCIS or any of it's characters.

Chapter 1

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs peered over his computer screen at the empty chairs in the Squad-room, with the arrival of Flu season he was missing two of his Team Members, Special Agent Timothy McGee and Officer Ziva David. The Bullpen was quiet other than the occasional frustrated groan coming from his Senior Field Agent, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, who was taking on a 'McGeek' type task at his computer. The Team Leader was a lot snappier than usual, everything seemed to be taking twice as long and for a man who wanted instant results it was proving to be an annoyance. A sudden loud cough from Tony had Gibbs locking eye's with his Agent as though daring him to catch the Flu like McGee and Ziva had.

"It's just a cough Boss," Tony said defensively, "I'm fine, really."

It would have been more believable to Gibbs if that wasn't the first time Tony had spoken in the past hour. "You catch the Flu and you're fired DiNozzo." He threatened, although he obviously didn't mean it, in fact Gibbs would be keeping a casual eye on his Agent, the Flu was something Tony needed to be wary of since his lungs were scarred from when he'd contracted the Pneumonic Plague.

The lack of retort from the Special Agent also didn't seem to be a very good sign, with a sigh Gibbs stood up and walked around in front of Tony's desk, "What's taking you so long, McGee would have had this done by now."

Tony looked up at Gibbs, obviously feeling somewhat peeved, "Yeah, well I'm doing the best I can." His face then took on a slightly lighter expression, "Anyway I'm almost done...I think." He rubbed his temples before typing some more.

"When you're done you can go home DiNozzo."

"Home?" Tony looked up again at Gibbs who was walking back to his desk, "But it's only 4." He started to type again, "Oh come on!" Tony called out, slamming his palms on the keyboard when his computer refused to do what he wanted it to do.

"It won't be by the time you've done that." Gibbs said as he sat down on his chair. Tony was about to reply when he started to cough again, noticing the look of pain on his Senior Field Agents face Gibbs added, "DiNozzo go home before you punch a hole through that thing."

If it hadn't been for his increasing headache Tony might have chosen to stay a little longer but instead he packed away his stuff and slipped his Backpack over his shoulder, "See you tomorrow Boss."

"Uhuh."

The sound of the Elevator doors opening was muffled by a loud sneeze, Gibbs looked up from his desk to see Tony shuffling towards the Bullpen, "I hate Colds." he mumbled, dropping his Backpack and slouching into his seat.

Gibbs was a little surprised to see Tony, after the day before he didn't think he would bother coming into work. After listening to his Agent cough, sneeze and moan all morning he wondered why he'd bothered coming into work, "You sure that's just a Cold DiNozzo?"

Before Tony had a chance to answer Gibbs' phone rang, it was his Forensic Scientist, Abby Scuito phoning to tell him she'd had a break in the case and also demanding to know why he wasn't down in her Lab. Gibbs had a way of 'turning up' straight after or just before she had a lead. Gibbs put the phone down and stood up, looking over at Tony.

"Abby's got something?" It was more of a statement than a question as he followed Gibbs to the Elevator.

The Elevator dinged and the doors opened, Gibbs walked out, "DiNozzo if you feel so bad you should have stayed at home."

"It's just a Cold Boss." Tony replied, walking out after him.

"Yesterday it was just a cough."

"Oh yesterday, when things were so much simpler." Tony said poetically before following Gibbs into Abby's Lab.

A Petty Officer had been killed and tied to a Billboard. Dr Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, Gibbs' Medical Examiner had found 3 bullet wounds, two to the victims chest and one to his head along with blunt force trauma to his skull. After performing the Autopsy the ME concluded that the Petty Officer had been killed after being struck on the back of the head with a blunt object. This later turned out to be a a frying pan, which McGee found stuffed in a dumpster, and Ducky also determined that the bullets had been fired Post Mortem.

Tiny pieces of wood were found in the victims hair which Abby had been running tests on to find out what tree it had come from, this was the reason why she had called them down into her Lab, not only had she found out the name of the tree it had come from, she had also found the whereabouts of that particular tree, in a small secluded town, just outside of Washington, which is exactly where Gibbs and Tony headed to, no sooner had she told them.

The only road leading to the small town was blocked off because of roadworks, forcing the Agents to travel off-road. Gibbs could feel his gut churning and it wasn't the grease-filled Cheeseburger Tony had bought him for lunch, something just didn't 'feel' right.

"Boss, are you sure there's no other roads we could have taken? Because driving off-road, on ice, isn't seeming like a great idea." Gibbs looked at him disapprovingly, "I'm just saying..."

Gibbs struggled again to keep control of the vehicle as they drove over more ice, he was about to ban Tony from saying anything else when a Jeep came out of what seemed like nowhere and rammed into the side of their car, sending it spinning out of control on the ice and hurtling into a ditch.

Tony blinked a few times before managing to get out of the car and chasing after them, somewhat unsteadily on his feet. Gibbs heard the sounds of shots as he struggled to free himself from his side of the car and hoped they were coming from Tony's gun. He scrambled from the car and out of the ditch to see Tony running after the Jeep.

Tony chased after the Jeep, firing at it as he ran. As the vehicle got further away he was forced to admit defeat, almost falling on the ice as he tried to skid to a halt. He turned back to Gibbs who was picking himself up off the floor, "Are you OK Boss?"

"Well, no DiNozzo, our Badguys are escaping and our only way of catching them is lying down there in that ditch!" He pointed to the mess that was his car, it was obvious they weren't going anywhere in it.

Tony lifted his Cellphone into the air, "I'm not getting a signal Boss, how about you?"

"Nothing." Gibbs answered, "We should head back."

"OK, well it looks like we're on foot from here." Tony started to walk away from the crash site.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted to him, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Right, sorry." Tony walked back to Gibbs, "Everything just kinda looks the same."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and the two men made their way back.

Gibbs walked slowly behind Tony, listening as his Agents cough got worse, "Do you want to rest for a while DiNozzo?"

"No, I'm fine." He managed.

"You don't sound fine." Gibbs leant his back against a tree trunk.

Tony sat down against a tree opposite, shaking from the cold, every breath he took burned from the icy air, "I should have stayed at home today." He complained, then sneezed loudly, "If I get the Flu I'm gonna kill McGee."

Gibbs tried his Cellphone again, there was still nothing and they hadn't been gone long enough for anyone to miss them. It was hard to tell how far they had drove into the middle of nowhere and the ice, along with their various aches and pains from the crash was slowing them down.

"DiNozzo, what are you doing?"

Tony opened his eye's, "Nothing, I was just resting my eyes." He replied somewhat sluggishly.

Gibbs pushed himself away from the tree, "Get up DiNozzo, we need to keep walking."

Tony groaned as his body protested to the movement of him getting to his feet, he pulled up his jacket collar and rubbed his palms together in a bid to make at least one part of his body warm, he felt thoroughly miserable, sighing as hard as the cold air would allow as he walked ahead of Gibbs.

"We're in the middle of nowhere with no vehicle, no signal while Ziva and McGee are at home, feeling sorry for themselves, and I'm not even sure we're going in the right direction. It was like an ambush, but how could they have known we were coming?" Tony turned around to see Gibbs lying motionless on the ground, "Boss!"