Title: Things to Do in D.C. When You're Dead

Written for the If Today Was Your Last Day Challenge

Genre: Suspense/Angst/Friendship (and a little bit of Sci-Fi)

Characters: Basically the whole team and an original character. Yes, I'm picking on Tim again.

Warnings: well, look at the title and the name of the challenge and take a wild guess ;) Post Season 8, so there may be a few spoilers. Nothing major.

Disclaimer: Still don't own, and still just playing. Yadda freaking yadda.

A/N: Title was inspired by the movie Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, but the plot is completely different. My muse is utterly evil, I tell you. Evil.

Chapter 1

Tim awoke to throbbing pain in his head and neck, a pain which he was soon able to follow down to his wrists and ankles. He was tightly bound to a chair, his chair, in his apartment. He was fairly certain. He blinked several times, trying to clear the fog from his brain, but some of the fuzziness remained.

"Ah. You're awake."

Tim turned to the sound of the voice: soft, mellifluous, yet cold as ice.

"Who…?"

"I'd tell you my name, or at least for whom I'm doing this, but I doubt you'd remember."

"Why?"

"A much more interesting question. It's been awhile, but you know, as they say, 'revenge is a dish best eaten cold'."

Tim felt a chill trickle down his spine as his head suddenly became much clearer. "Revenge for what?" he managed to ask.

"You killed my sister."

"I…what?"

"Well, not directly. Your hands are clean in that regard, but she's dead because of you, because of what you didn't do."

"I didn't…?"

"No. She should have been protected, but you weren't fast enough. You took too long to get to her."

Suddenly, horribly, it clicked.

"Erin? Erin Kendall?"

"So you do remember. Impressive."

The old pain resurfaced as Tim remembered the young woman who had witnessed a murder and had then been killed by the same man. She had been strangled to death in her apartment while Tim had watched helplessly from his stake-out post. He felt a lump in his throat as he tried to express his regret.

"I'm sorry…"

"No, you're not. Not yet, but you will be."

Tim remained silent but his mind was racing, trying to imagine just what the man would do to make him sorry, and if it was humanly possible to stop him. He pulled against his restraints but they were almost cruelly tight.

"You know, it's funny. You and Erin were a lot alike: both smart, both geeks. Computers and math, it was your thing." He leaned closer to Tim, and while he could see the faint resemblance, he could never have imagined the look of utter malice that this man wore ever appearing on Erin's face. "It's too bad you didn't stick with the computers and leave the law enforcement to competent people." He leaned back with a smile, obviously seeing that he had struck a nerve as Tim felt a surge of anger.

"I'm where I belong," he said in a low voice.

"Again, not yet, but you will be." He glanced at the clock, which read 11:55. "Just enough time to explain, so don't interrupt." He walked over to the kitchen and returned with a syringe. "Erin wasn't the only genius in our family, you know. Ever since I was a kid, I've had an interest in biology, which eventually grew to include biochemistry, and then..." He paused and smirked. "Something we have in common: a degree in biomedical engineering. Lately I've been working on a little something, just a hobby of mine. It's a synthetic toxin: no antidote, no cure. It's designed so it takes exactly twenty-four hours to kill. Now, for the first, oh twenty-two hours, you won't feel it working at all. After that, you feel little twinges, nothing more. When hour twenty-three hits, though, you'll be in agony. Nothing will relieve it, nothing will stop it, except, of course, when the twenty-four hours is up and you finally expire. I imagine it will be quite a relief."

Tim stared at him in horror, not so much from the description, but from the fact that he was so sure how it worked.

"You've…you've tested it before."

"Oh yes. Believe me, it wasn't too hard to find some deserving guinea pigs. My little sister had spectacularly bad luck with men. They strung her along but dropped her when she didn't give them what they wanted. She was better off, to be honest, but I just couldn't stand to see those who broke her heart go unpunished."

"Erin…wouldn't have wanted that."

"Oh, and you knew her that well? Maybe you'll get a chance to ask her when all this is over." He gave Tim grin that sent a chill to the very pit of his stomach. "Or maybe you'll just go straight to Hell like all the rest." He walked over to the counter again and withdrew a stack of paper from his bag. "Here are all of my notes regarding the toxin. Feel free to give it to your co-workers so that can see for themselves that I'm telling the truth. You're going to die, Tim, and it's been a long time coming. I'm just sorry it couldn't have been sooner." He pulled a stopwatch from his pocket and checked the clock. "Well, no time like the present." He drove the syringe into Tim's shoulder, eliciting a yelp of pain from the bound man, and pressed the plunger as he hit the button on the stopwatch. He yanked the needle out and carefully set the syringe and the watch on the desk.

Tim could feel a slight burn as the poison worked its way through his system but the sensation quickly faded. He looked up at the man and his eyes widened when he saw that he had a knife. The man caught Tim's alarmed expression and let out a soft chuckle.

"Oh, don't worry, Timmy, I'm not about to put you out of your misery so soon. You need to take your punishment like a man." He moved behind Tim and he could feel him cutting through the restraints at his ankles and then the ones at his wrists. Tim tried to fight back but he had been stuck in one position for too long and his limbs wouldn't respond.

"Feel free to call your team. They won't be able to help, but I'm sure it will take some time to convince them of that. Hopefully not too long.

Tim tried to stand and fell out of the chair, hitting the floor with a thud. He looked up at the man with hatred in his eyes and the man just smiled.

"Welcome to the last day of your life, Agent McGee." He opened the door and disappeared into the hall, allowing the door to shut on it's own with a soft click.

Tim struggled to his feet and managed to reach his desk where his cell phone lay. He picked it up with one shaking hand, and, after a brief pause, dialed a number. He waited, praying for someone to answer and he was finally rewarded with a rough response.

"Yeah?"

"Boss…I…I need your help."

TBC…