Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or it's characters.


"We're late, it's your fault Tony!" Ziva said, heading to the elevator.

"What? Are you kidding? I'm not the one who forgot to stop at the traffic light and I'm not the one who got arrested by a cop because of it, Ziva!"

"Maybe, but you distracted me." She elbows him.

"Easy, easy, I don't wanna stain my new shirt." He said moving away his fritter.

The elevator doors opened, Tony and Ziva were about to get out of it when Gibbs, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, pushed them back inside with his other.

"What have we got?" Tony asked, because it was obvious that they had a new case.

"A Marine's dead body was found behind a nightclub." He thought a few seconds and added: "The Blink, Ducky and Palmer are already there."

"The Blink, are you sure?" Tony repeated.

"Yes, I am. What's wrong with it?" Gibbs asked between two mouthfuls.

"Nothing's wrong, it's just…you know…it's a Strip club, boss!"

"And you know that because…?"

Ziva started to snicker.

"Because…because McGee told me!" Tony said, very proud for having found an answer so quickly.

"About McGee, where is he?" Ziva wondered.

----------

McGee waited his turn in the bank queue and although he left his apartment one hour earlier this morning he would probably be late at work. In front of him was an old man walking with a stick therefore he couldn't decently ask him to miss his turn. All he could do was waiting and find a good reason to explain his late to Gibbs. Suddenly, something lightly touched his leg. He looked down to see a blue furry dog. He kneeled down to pick it up then turned round and held it to his owner, a little boy around one year old who was stirring in his mother's arms.

"I think it's yours." McGee said to the baby.

"I'm sorry." The mother said with an awkward smile.

"Don't worry ma'am it's not a big deal." He answered while she took the toy from his hand to give it to her son.

Not more than a few seconds later, the blue dog was on the floor again, and again McGee picked it up.

"Are you trying to drive your mom crazy?" McGee asked smiling at the little boy.

"I think he'll manage it soon." She answered trying to calm down her son who was now crying.

"What's his name?"

"Ethan, his name is Ethan."

"Hi Ethan!" He said to the child. "Oh Sorry, I'm totally bad-mannered, I didn't even introduced myself, Timothy McGee." He held his hand out but soon realized that she was too busy to shake it back.

"Haley Parker, nice to…" She started but was interrupted by the bank clerk who called out for McGee.

He began to move forward then stopped half-way.

"You should go first." He said looking back at the young woman and pointing in the direction of the window.

"Are you sure?" She asked him surprised.

"Of course I am."

She grabbed the baby's bag and went passed McGee. "Thank you, Timothy, you're probably the last gentleman in the world, do you know that?"

"Uh…you're welcome." He said smiling to her.

McGee looked at his wrist and there was no doubt anymore, he would be late at work.

He was lost in his thoughts when he felt something strange, he turned towards the doors and saw a man who concealed his hand in his coat. He immediately understood what was happening. When the man had drawn his weapon, McGee had no time to think anymore. He ran towards Haley and Ethan.

"Down!" He shouted to them. The man had already started to shoot through the entire bank.

McGee finally arrived at their height so he lay down on them to protect them from the bullets. When the man had finished shooting, he started gathering all those who were not wounded at the back of the bank. Then it was Haley's turn. She tried to get up but was held back by the weight of McGee's body. The man caught him on his left shoulder and violently turned him over.

"Oh my God!" Haley exclaimed seeing McGee's chest bleeding. She put her hands on the wound trying to stop the haemorrhage but the guy dragged her by force at the back with the others.

A few seconds later, two shots rang out.

----------

It was now raining outside. Gibbs parked the car in front of the night-club, the three of them got out of it and reached the alley where Ducky was doing the preliminary exams.

"Tony, Ziva, go inside and see what the owner can tell you." Gibbs said kneeling down next to Ducky. "Do you have a TOD?"

"The body temperature would place the time of death to about 7 hours, so probably between 1:00 and 1:30am." Ducky answered. He then checked the victim's hands.

"Anything else Ducky?" Gibbs asked impatient.

"Well, judging by the scratched knuckles, I would say that he was involved in a fight and that apparently he lost."

Ducky turned the Marine's head towards Gibbs and pointing to a very bad wound he said:

"His head violently hit the pavement so a shock was probably the cause of death, but I won't be able to tell you more before the autopsy, Jethro."

After they had questioned Larry Dobson, the owner, Tony and Ziva joined Gibbs outside.

"Talk to me!" Gibbs said curtly.

Ziva started. "The victim was there for his future brother-in-law's bachelor party and we've got a name…" She looked for it in her notepad. "Derek Lawson!" She then added.

"Good and what about the other guys who were there?"

"Nothing yet, but Derek Lawson booked the club for his party so it will be easy to find them all." Tony answered.

"Does anyone have news from McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"I tried more than three times and no answer." Ziva replied.

"Keep trying, I wanna see him at his desk when we'll be back."

"Ok Gibbs!" She said as she dialled McGee's number on her cell phone.

----------

The bank was now silent except that phone which doesn't stop ringing and the only movements were Haley's who was running towards McGee with her son in her arms. She knelt down next to him. He was barely conscious.

"Tim? Tim, open your eyes!" She ordered him. She gently put her left hand on his head and pressed his wound with the right hand. "Tim, please." A tear was running along her cheek and ended up on McGee's.

He slowly opened his eyes. He tried to say something but no sound came out of his mouth, he cleared his throat and tried again.

"Are you ok?" He finally asked.

"I'm ok, we're both ok, because of you." A little smile took shape on her face.

"Did I hit him?" McGee wondered.

She turned round and stared at the hold-up man's motionless body.

"Sure you did!"

At the same time the cops' cars and the ambulances stopped in front of the bank.

"Tim, hang on the help is here." She implored him but he didn't hear. He had just stopped breathing.

The cops entered first in order to secure the bank and they were near followed by the paramedics. One of them ran towards Haley who was asking for help.

"What happened to him?" He asked while opening his bag.

"He has been shot…on the chest…he doesn't breathe anymore, please help him." She was completely panicked.

"How long? …how long without breathing?"

"I don't know, a few seconds, maybe one minute."

The paramedic tilted McGee's head.

"I'll intubate him."

Then he cut McGee's shirt to check the wounds, he also asked for help. Immediately another paramedic joined him.

"What have we got?" He asked.

They rolled McGee.

"Single gunshot in the back, exit wound in the chest, close to the heart." The first paramedic exclaimed.

----------

Tony and Ziva were in front of Lawson's house door and judging by all the decorations outside, the wedding would take place over there. They rang the doorbell.

"Let me talk first." Tony said.

"Why?" She wondered.

He started laughing. "Oh, you know exactly why, Ziva!"

She was about to reply but they heard steps behind the door. Then a woman, about fifty years old, opened to them with a large smile.

"Mrs Lawson?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, can I help you?

Tony flashed his badge. "Special Agent DiNozzo, NCIS."

"What is that about? Because as you can see we're very busy here, there's my son's wedding today."

"We're aware of that ma'am, but we have to talk with Derek. It's very important." Tony said trying to convince her.

"Stay here, I'll send him."

After a couple minutes, a young man appeared on the front door, apparently already dressed up for the wedding.

"Derek Lawson? Special Agent DiNozzo and Officer David, NCIS." He flashed his badge again. "We have to talk with you, it's about Sergeant Adam Ellis."

"What's going on?" Derek asked as he made them enter.

"I'm afraid we have some bad news." Tony said with compassion.

"What? Do you wanna say that Adam is dead?"

"We found his body very early this morning." Ziva said.

"Sorry for your loss." Tony put a compassioned hand on Derek's shoulder. "We know it's tough but we have to ask you a few questions." He added.

"Uh…Yeah…I understand." Derek answered while sitting on the couch. He seemed to be very shocked.

"How long did you know him?" Ziva asked.

Derek scratched his head, trying to remember when he first met Adam.

"I think it was in 1991, we were both ten."

"So you were good friends?" Ziva stated.

"Adam is…was my best friend. And he was about to become my brother-in-law." Tears filled up his eyes. "Oh my God, does Sasha know about that?" He added.

"Sasha?" Tony asked.

"Yes, Sasha Ellis, she's my fiancée and Adam's sister. Did someone tell her?" Derek said worried.

"Our boss is with her right now." Tony confirmed.

"She must be devastated. I have to see her."

"We understand that, but just one more thing before we left, could you, please, give us the names of all the people who were at the party last night?" Ziva asked.

"Of course, yeah, wait a minute." He stood up.

At the same time his mother just entered the room.

"Mom, we have to cancel the wedding!"

----------

Back in the bank.

"We have to bring him to the hospital before his state get worse."

One of the paramedics held McGee on his shoulders and the other on his feet.

"On my count…one, two, three."

They laid him on the stretcher.

"Ma'am are you ok?" The paramedic asked Haley seeing all the blood on her.

"Uh…yes, yes I am…it's not my blood." She wiped up her hands on her shirt.

"The baby? Is he alright?"

She turned round and hugged him as hard as she could.

"Yes, he is." She answered.

"You should better come with us at the hospital so a doctor could check if everything is ok." One of the paramedic said while putting the stretcher in the ambulance.

"Ok." She climbed in the ambulance and sat near McGee.

The ambulance was on it's way to the hospital. Haley was feeling useless watching all this blood flow out of McGee's wound. She was trying to keep Ethan against her and prevent him of seeing that awful scene. Suddenly she worried.

"What's that beeping?"

"Oh no, no, no! Cardiac arrest. How long to the hospital?" The paramedic yelled at the other who was driving.

"Three minutes!" He yelled back.

"You're gonna bag him." He said to Haley.

"What? I don't know how to do that!"

"Just press every 5 seconds!" He answered while he started the CPR.

She put Ethan near her, mustered her courage and just did what he said.

"How is it going behind?" The driver asked after a few seconds.

"Still no pulse."

Haley put her hand on McGee's face, slowly she approached her head from his' and whispered something in his ear.

----------

At her desk, Ziva was calling all the men of the list. Once her last call was done, Tony walked towards her.

"You were smiling!" He said.

"No I wasn't." She answered.

"Yes you were, oh yes you were…" He repeated.

"Stop it, Tony!" She ordered. "If you don't I'll kill you." She warned him.

"You don't even know what he looks like." Tony said with a mocking look.

"I know that he didn't look like a 4 year old child, and he seemed to be very charming, not like you! It's enough for me!"

They were interrupted by Gibbs who came back from his visit to Sasha Ellis.

"Something new?" Gibbs asked Ziva.

She started to tell Gibbs what she had got after all her phone calls, but Gibbs' cell phone rang. He picked it up and said nothing before he hung up.

"It was Ducky, he wants us downstairs." He said already on the move. "Today!" They both followed him as fast as they could.

-----------

Ducky was in front of the autopsy table asking the victim what happened. While examining his hands, he noticed something.

"Palmer, give me the…" Ducky started, but Jimmy handed him what he wanted before he asked. "Thank you, Mr Palmer!" Ducky replied. He took some epithelial cells from under Adam Ellis' nails. "Take it directly up to Abby." He said.

As he walked out, Jimmy almost jostled Gibbs who was rushing towards Ducky. "Something new Ducky?"

"Good question, Jethro. I called you because I found something very interesting." Ducky said.

"Go ahead Ducky."

"The analysis I made revealed a lethal rate of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid in his blood, best known as GHB."

"The date-rape drug?" Tony exclaimed.

"Yes, but GHB can also be taken on a regular basis and lead to a physical addiction." Ducky rectified.

"So that's what happened, an overdose?" Gibbs asked for confirmation.

"That's not what I said Jethro, the shock is still the cause of death, but it's on you to find out if it's an accidental fall or if he has been helped."

Gibbs was almost at the door.

"I already send a DNA sample to Abby!" Ducky called out.

"Thanks Ducky." Gibbs answered.


A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you will review it!