Inspired, believe it or not; by a spoken line in a cartoon!

Wow, these plot bunnies pop up outta nowhere, don't they?

Thank you Shelbylou, for your invaluable help with this chapter.

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

"NO! I will not listen to you! In case you've missed it, I'm an adult now! You can't do this to me anymore!"

"You're still my responsibility! You always will be. It's my job to keep you safe! Why can't you see that I know what I'm talking about?"

"Whatever! It doesn't give you the right to smother me like this! Stop trying to ruin my life! In fact, go away! Just leave me alone!

"Hey…"

"I mean it! I never wanna see you again!"

Shaking with rage, she stomped off in the pre-dawn darkness, her hair flouncing as she went. Anger literally vibrated off her leaving the air crackling in her wake. How dare he try to run her life like this! Who did he think he was, trying to tell her what to do anymore, she wasn't a kid! For God's sake, she was a grown woman! Why the hell couldn't he admit that and start treating her like one?

He watched her leave, his broken heart lying in pieces on the sidewalk in front of him. He'd failed her. Even worse, she'd been furious and rebellious, which meant she'd be acting purely on anger now instead of thinking rationally. God, don't let anything happen to her. Please let me be wrong!

Feeling the weight of responsibility weighing down heavily on him, he trudged wearily to his car with his shoulders stooped in defeat and stopped short at the sight of the flat tire, deflating him even worse. With a sigh of resignation, he took out his cell phone winced when he noticed that it was already 06:30 and made the necessary call that he knew without a shadow of a doubt, would send his day even further down the tubes. Wiping a hand dejectedly across his face, he manned up and did what he needed to do.

"Yeah. Gibbs"

He winced slightly at the sound of his boss' voice and felt the nervousness rise. "Boss, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna be late. I have to change the flat on my car."

"Get here when you can, McGee. " Gibbs' reply was unusually calm and settled him slightly. "Be quick about it."

"I will." He answered but was met with nothing but dead air. Of course, the man had hung up, he always cut the phone calls as short as possible. Shoulda expected that. With yet another sigh of resignation, Tim popped the trunk of his car and dug out his tire iron to get started changing his tire. Luckily, he kept his trunk nearly clear of anything else for this reason and it was almost no time before he'd shed his work windbreaker and rolled up his sleeves, and set about what he needed to do.

"Where the hell's McGee?" Gibbs barked into the quite squad room.

"Boss? Didn't he call you and say he'd be late?" Tony's forehead was crinkled with confusion at his boss' question.

"Two hours ago, DiNozzo! It doesn't take an hour and a half to change a damn tire!"

"Have you tried calling him, Gibbs?" Ziva asked calmly.

"Now, why didn't I think of that, Da'vid?" Gibbs' sarcastic reply wasn't lost on Ziva and she sat there glaring at Gibbs.

"GIBBS!" Abby's anxious cry carried through the squad room, interrupting the tense standoff between the agents. "Where's McGee? Why hasn't he been down to see me yet? He was supposed to be bringing me a copy of a cd I wanted first thing this morning! I was looking forward to hearing that band today while I worked!"

"He's late." Tony jumped in before anyone else could answer, earning him a glare from both Abby and Gibbs.

"He called to say he would be late because he was changing the flat tire on his car, Abby." Ziva tried to interject some calm into the increasing tension.

"What? How long ago?" the resident lab rat demanded, looking to her surrogate father for the answer she needed, knowing he'd give it to her.

"Long enough that he's late now." Tony muttered as he purposely sent his complete attention to the case work in front of him. He was unwilling to see anymore of the boss' anger directed his way, but for some reason he found himself unable to stop himself from voicing the comment anyway.

"HOW long ago?" she demanded loudly. Her anger and worry were tangible in her voice as it rang through the squad room.

"Two hours." Ziva admitted quietly.

"GIBBS! Why are you all here? Why aren't you out there looking for him?" Everyone cringed at her shrill voice as it got louder "You know Timmy's NEVER late!"

"Tried callin' him, Abbs. He's not answerin'" Gibbs told her quietly.

"Is his phone on? Cause if it's on, I'll have his location in a jiffy and you'll go get him, right?"

"It's on." Tony said without looking up from his work.

"Let us know, Abbs." The boss told her with more calm than he was feeling. His gut was agreeing with Abby's instant claim that something was wrong where his youngest agent was concerned. He was also angry; at himself for not looking into this sooner. Why hadn't he? What would all this wasted time mean for Tim?

The pain flared and seemed to overflow before he'd even woken up fully from the blackness that had stolen him away from the light. Even through the waves of agony, his brain tried to kick itself into gear with questions that begun to come to mind. They were almost relentless in their attack and left his head spinning. What the hell had happened? Last thing he remembered was lifting the spare tire out of the trunk of his car. Why was he in so much pain? How long had he been out? Why was he out in the first place? He opened his eyes and tried to focus but was met with nothing but pitch black darkness. He'd never been good at seeing in the dark. Great! Just Great!

Moving his head, he made an effort to try to check out his surroundings anyway but was unable to stop the moan of pain that escaped his lips as the movement jarred his pounding head. Even laying down like he apparently was, was painful and as he moved, a spot at the back of his head seemed to be where the pain radiated from. He knew that he'd probably gotten a fairly large goose egg there and tried to move his arms to check. God, I'm laid out like some sort of human sacrifice! He thought when he was met with resistance and felt his stretched out limbs starting to ache from the strain. With a groan, he tried to raise his arms slightly to see if he could relieve the pull slightly. He couldn't. In fact, moving only seemed to expedite the pain in his arms. It was only when he tried to move his legs, that he realized that he couldn't move those limbs either and trying to do so, sent waves of pain up them as well. Jeez, he felt like he'd gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson! What the hell had happened? Where the hell was he? Why?

Beyond the pain, his brain registered the limited mobility in all four of his limbs and realized each of them was strapped down by some sort of tether. Exactly what had been used to do the job and to what, was something he had yet to figure out.

"Guess you're awake. Looks like you didn't get enough of a beating to stay out for the count."

The rough voice startled Tim and he felt his breath catch for a beat. "Wh..? He couldn't find his voice enough to ask the questions burning in his mind. Who the hell was this guy? What was he gonna do to Tim? Why?

"Lemme guess. You're expecting me to answer a whole lotta questions now, Am I right?"

"Yeah." Tim managed to croak out through parched lips and discovered that his throat was agonizingly sore.

"Guess I can answer a few, since you won't be getting' anything else from me; like help or light to see with or whatever else it is you're used to. The little luxuries that have put you on that pedestal that you think you're on that lets you have no problem with telling people what to do. Go ahead, ask away.

"Why?" Came the quivering question.

"Interesting first question. I think I'll save that answer for last. Next question."

"Who r you?" Tim croaked. Every word that he spoke caused him discomfort and his throat felt as though it had been shredded with razor blades.

"Hmm. A friend. "

"Doubt it." Tim managed to get out.

"Oh, you didn't think I meant a friend of yours, did you? Nope, definatley not one of yours. Someone you know, though."

"Tells me… lot" Tim found the strength to push past the discomfort in his throat to tell his captor with enough attitude, that his anger wouldn't be missed.

"Don't get rude, man. You were raised better than that! I'm pretty sure you don't wanna make me mad. Besides, I could just leave, ya know. Ya know, I don't have to be here tryin' to be nice! It won't bother me to leave you here alone. No food, no water, no light. Tied. Helpless, Alone!"

"How'd…know.. I…raised?" The trapped young man asked between gasps for breath as the pain from his injuries assaulted him.

"Like I said, I'm a friend of someone you know. Don't make me repeat myself. I hate to repeat myself. You won't like it when I get mad. I'm pretty sure you're still feelin' the effects from the last time you made me mad."

"What? When…w…that?"

"Oh, about two and half hours ago."

"How'd I …d...that?" Tim asked hesitantly, his irritated throat severely hampering his ability to sound strong. He watched for anything that moved, hoping he'd finally be able to see something in the darkness because being in a darkened room with just a voice surrounding him was beyond sinister. He felt like he was guest starring in one of Tony's 'classic' movies.

"You weren't exactly cooperative when I told you to come with me." That voice spoke again only this time, it was much closer to him than before. While no physical body appeared out of the darkness, there did seem to be a pair of eyes almost glowing at him. Big green eyes that were boring a hole right through him. Tim doubted he'd ever forget those eyes as long as he lived.

"Why?" Tim asked again, finding a sudden surge of strength from within himself so that he could demand answers from his captor.

"I'm doin' a favor for a friend. You're almost out of free questions. Better ask carefully."

"Wh…What friend?" Tim asked as he found his own eyes glued to the ones staring back at him predatorily. Suddenly, Ti m shivered as tendrils of unease slivered under his skin and up his spine.

"Ya know, if' you'd just learn to stay out of people's lives and stop trying to tell them what to do, you wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Who's life?" Tim rasped out again.

"No more questions. Told you to ask carefully" The eyes vanished into the darkness as his captor walked away from Tim without another word.

"HEY! Damn it! What friend? Who's life?" Tim yelled out angrily even as his throat scratched painfully in protest.

The bone chilling noise of a heavy door banging shut was the only answer Tim got.