Chapter 3

Wow! Thank you everybody for responding so quickly to this story! It made my day :) sorry it took a while to update. I was stuck at my mom's for the weekend and sadly we have no internet. But it gave me extra time to write more than one chapter :)

"Oh dear, Jethro. Is it all-?"

"Yeah, all of it's his, Duck."

Ducky and Jethro stood in the doorway of the backdoor watching Ziva quietly take pictures and a blood sample. They all knew it was McGee's but it was a crime scene and it was standard procedure. Palmer was nervously patching up the dog- even though it didn't deserve care- and Ducky was still a bit in shock to go see what he was really there for.

"H-How did he look?"

"Not good, Duck. Not good."

"Good lord. I'll definitely be praying for him. And Anthony is with him you said?"

"Yeah."

Ducky nodded as he turned back into the house to take care of the dead body. He was so thankful that Timothy wasn't one of them. A neck wound with that much blood didn't look good for the young agent.

"A-Alright, the dog is a-all set to be taken back f-for evidence," stuttered Palmer. He tried not to look at the giant pool of blood next to him, because, truthfully, it was making him sick. Normally those types of things wouldn't faze him, but that was a friend's blood. He was barely able to hold it in when Agent Todd was on the autopsy table. He just prayed McGee wouldn't have the same fate.

"Thanks Jimmy," Gibbs said as he watched Palmer bring the dog to their car. As much as he didn't want the damn dog in the same breathing space as them, it was the job. He turned back to Ziva and sighed.

"Ziva, you all done?"

"Yes Gibbs," she said quietly as she stood up.

"I'll see you at the hospital, Duck."

Ducky nodded, not looking up from the dead body as the two agents made their way back through the house.

"Hold on. Why don't we wash up first," Gibbs said gesturing to both their blood caked hands.

Ziva looked down at her shaking hands, forgetting that there was blood on them. She nodded as she went to the bathroom while Gibbs went to the kitchen sink. In five minutes, the engine to the car revved and they were on their way back to NCIS…no matter how badly both of them wanted to be at the hospital.

~+NCIS+~

Tony looked down at his best friend sadly as he held the cold hand tightly; both, of which, were covered in blood.

"You gotta pull through for me, man. What am I gonna do without a Probie? I don't wanna have to break in a ne-" Tony couldn't finish his sentence as he clenched his teeth together. He wasn't gonna cry, he wasn't gonna let his mask falter; not when Tim needed strength the most.

"I swear to god, I'll never forgive you if you die. And that dog? I'm gonna rip it to shreds and Abby will never forgive me. You don't want Abby mad at me right? I'm too loveable." As expected, no response.

Tony looked away from Tim's closed eyes and stared at the long tube coming out from his mouth. Damn this is all so wrong! He ran his cleaner hand down his face tiredly and closed his eyes. None of this was supposed to happen to McGee. He wasn't a danger attracting person unlike him or Gibbs. It should have been him; it should have been him to be fighting for his life, not Probie.

Suddenly, the sound of rapid beeping brought him out of his guilty thoughts. It could only mean one of two things: Tim was waking up or… he was about to flat line. Slowly, he opened his eyes, afraid of what he might see, and looked down at his friend. His heart nearly plunged to his feet when he saw Tim's eyes fluttering open.

"Tim?"

Tim lazily brought his eyes over to Tony and the older man squeezed McGee's hand in encouragement.

"Hey, buddy. You're in an ambulance. Old Yeller took a bite out of ya," Tony smiled.

Tim just looked at Tony with a blank expression, wondering what the hell was going on. He was in so much pain, and his neck felt like it was on fire. Worst of all, something was choking him. He brought his hand up to his mouth, but was stopped by Tony who lowered it back down to the gurney.

"You have to keep that in. You…you stopped breathing."

McGee looked at the senior agent for a moment before looking away. His eyes began fluttering close again, exhausted and in pain.

"McGee? Come on, buddy, stay awake…please."

Was Tony pleading?

Even though it was a huge shock for McGee to hear Mr. Prankster and sometimes insensitive plead, he was too tired to dwell on it. He closed his eyes and let the darkness take him away.

Tony watched as Tim's eyes began rolling to the back of his head. Almost immediately, the machines went haywire. McGee's heart had stopped.

"Get the paddles!" A paramedic yelled. "Sir, you are gonna have to move to the back of the vehicle while we get him stabilized."

Tony nodded numbly, clearly in utter shock, and he moved to the back of the ambulance. He watched in horror as, once again, the paddles met his friend's bare chest. Once again causing McGee to convulse upwards and once again fall back down to the gurney. In what seemed like hours, they managed to resuscitate Tim and then in barely a second, he flat lined again, but luckily just as they reached their destination.

"Shit!" Swore the paramedic as he and his partner opened the door. "Geez, I don't know if this guy's gonna make it, Barry."

"Well, we at least have to try," said Barry the paramedic before yelling to incoming nurses and doctors. "He's crashed!"

"Come on, Probie," he whispered as he watched Tim's limp body be wheeled into the hospital. "You can't give up or Gibbs will have both of our asses." He made a move to follow the group of medical staff behind the double doors, but was held back by a nurse.

"I'm sorry, sir. Only medical personnel are allowed behind there. In the meantime, I have some papers for you to fill out." The nurse looked at the distressed and inattentive man in sympathy. She put a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "He'll be okay; he's in good hands."

Tony looked down at her and smiled weakly. "Thanks." Without hesitation, he grabbed the papers from the nurse's desk and went to go sit in the ever so familiar chairs. Now, to play the worst game ever invented: the waiting game.

~+NCIS+~

Ziva and Gibbs drove in silence, only the sound of the dog whimpering and growling in the backseat. It took Ziva all her willpower not to go back there and strangle the animal. It wouldn't help the case and it surely wouldn't make McGee better. She shivered as she looked out of the window. She had ditched her jacket, stuffing it in the truck, because she couldn't bear to look or smell it any longer. She figured Gibbs hadn't done the same, because he was, still, in too much shock to do anything but drive at the moment. They pulled into the garage and at the same time, they saw Abby wheeling a cart out of the way. She noticed them and smiled before turning her back to the car. The two agents shared a fearful and worried look; Abby wasn't gonna take this news very well.

Putting the car in park and shutting it off, Ziva stepped out and Abby instantly greeted her.

"Hey, Ziva, whatcha guys got for me?"

"Uh, umm, there's a dog in the back. It's evidence."

"Aww, a poor dog involved in a murder? I highly doubt it had anything to do with it, though," Abby said cheerfully, not even noticing how pale Ziva was, the nervousness in her voice, or that Gibbs still hadn't got out of the car. Abby opened the door and immediately noticed the wound on the dog.

"What happened to him?"

"He was shot, Abby but-"

"Shot! By who? When I get my hands around the person who hurt an innocent, defenseless animal they're gonna wish they were never born," she said angrily and turned to face the agent. "Who shot him, Ziva?"

"Tim," the Israeli whispered.

"McGee! McGee shot this poor animal?" She shouted. She turned around and threw her hands in the air. "Where is the bastard? Is he hiding, like a coward, from me? Oooh, when I see him, I'm gonna rip him a new one. I'm gonna-" Suddenly, she felt two strong hands on her shoulders. The person turned her around and she saw it was Gibbs. That's when she noticed. The blood…and a lot of it

"Gibbs a-are you hurt?"

Silence.

"What happened? Whose blood is that, Gibbs?"

More silence.

Abby looked fearfully at Ziva who was looking down at the floor. If Gibbs and Ziva were there then where were Tony and McGee? She put two and two together and she gasped.

"What happened? Did something happen to Tony? Please tell me he's okay."

"Tony's fine, Abs," Gibbs whispered.

Abby's eyes grew wider. "No, nonono. It can't be, not McGee! It's all just a stupid joke right? Please tell me it's not true." Tears began trailing down her face and she gripped onto Gibbs blood soaked jacket.

"I wish I could Abby."

"I-Is he, is he… that's too much blood, please tell me he's not-"

"He's not dead, Abby, but it's not looking good right now."

Abby's knees grew weak and she would have fallen to the floor if Gibbs hadn't been holding her up.

"C-can we go see him?" She sniffed.

"Yeah, we're going in a bit. We have to put that thing in a kennel."

"Gibbs, we can't put the poor dog in a-"

"That poor dog nearly killed McGee, Abby!" Ziva burst out angrily.

"I know but…he still deserves to be out and about, not trapped in a cage. See how sad he looks."

"Who cares about the damn dog, Abby? Tim is fighting for his life, because that thing decided to use him as a chew toy."

"It's not a 'thing,' Ziva, it's a he! He probably didn't know better, he was probably just defending his master like any other loyal animal would do. A person with a gun isn't exactly a welcoming sight!" Abby shouted back at the agent.

"Are you listening to yourself right now? You would rather have Tim be dead? You would trade a human being for a monstrous animal? How could you be so insensitive? I bet if Tim were to hear what you have been saying, he would not want you visiting him at all. Ugh, I cannot believe you." Ziva stalked off towards the elevator, ignoring the stares from the other occupants of the garage.

Abby stood still, completely in shock. She had no idea what to say to that. She looked at Gibbs and immediately she saw the face of disappointment.

"Gibbs, I-"

Gibbs sighed and shook his head. "We'll be leaving in five minutes. Be ready." With that he followed Ziva into the elevator.

"But Gibbs," she whispered. Looking around, she saw all the other NCIS techs mumbling and glaring at her.

"What a total bitch."

"Look at that mutt; it should be locked up at a pound."

"The dog and the girl."

"I don't get what others see in her at all."

Abby looked down at her feet before glancing at the dog in the back. "Come on," she said, grabbing the leash and going back to her lab.

~+NCIS+~

Bethesda Hospital Waiting Room

Gibbs screeched to a stop in a parking space close to the hospital entrance. The ride had been extremely quiet and awkward. Abby was alternating her puppy dog eyes from Gibbs to Ziva to the window. But neither Ziva nor Gibbs returned her gaze; they were both pretty pissed with the way she acted back at the garage. Tim was their friend and she cared more about a dog- more recently discovered, coked-up dog- than someone she's known for five years. It was unbelievable.

The three quietly made their way to the emergency waiting room and searched for DiNozzo. They found him sitting in the far corner, a vacant expression on his colorless face. Ziva was the first to make it over to him and she gently placed her, now cleaned, hand on his face. She also noticed that Tony seemed to have cleaned up, too. Good thing, because she wouldn't be able to handle seeing Tim's blood again.

"Tony. Tony, are you alright?" She whispered.

"Huh? Oh hey Z. When did you get here?"

"A few seconds ago, are you alright?"

"Oh yeah, just peachy," he said sarcastically. "My best friend was just mauled by a blood thirsty mutt and I watched him die three times…so, yeah everything's great."

"There any news on him yet?" Gibbs asked, ignoring Tony's sarcastic remark.

"No, I've been here forever and they haven't given me a damn thing! He…when we got here, he stopped breathing. He was freakin' dead when I last saw him, Boss!"

"Hey!" Gibbs said head slapping his agent. "Yelling isn't gonna do us any good."

"Yeah you're right, Boss. Sorry…Hey, Abby are you okay?"

Abby was sitting far away from the group and truthfully, Ziva was glad for that. She didn't want to be near that selfish woman right now.

"What's up with her? I mean I know she's probably devastated for McGeek's life but usually she'd being crying her eyes out and curled up in Gibbs' arms.

"She's not," Ziva said, anger in her tone

"She's not what?"

"She's not 'devastated for Tim's life.'"

"What?" Tony chuckled in disbelief. "No, that can't be right."

Ziva sat next to Tony while Gibbs went over to the nurse's desk to see if he could get any information whatsoever.In the next five minutes, Tony's sorrow, guilt, and fear all disappeared, instantly being replaced with sheer rage. Ziva had to restrain him from storming over to Abby and causing a scene.

"What the hell was she thinking? McGee is practically her puppy that does whatever she wants and this is how she acts? This is how she responds to her best friend being severely injured? God, I can't believe it!"

"Tony calm down."

"I can't calm down, Ziva! Her attitude towards McGee lately has been pissing me off. No one's allowed to hurt my little brother and she's taking advantage of him, making him take all the blame for her careless mistakes and she doesn't give a damn about it. And, as of right now, I couldn't give a damn about her."

Abby flinched when she overheard this. Truth was she couldn't blame him or the rest of the team for hating her. What was she thinking when she said those things; when she defended Jethro- which was what she named the dog- that nearly killed McGee? But, he was just a dog and he was also drugged, so she couldn't really blame the way the poor dog had been acting. McGee came at it with a gun and it had to defend itself, right? Oh, what the hell was she saying! No wonder the team hated her right now; she was aninconsiderate, selfish, and uncaring person. The animal tried to kill her best friend. Well, she didn't know how much Tim would want to be friends with her after the way she has been treating him lately. Maybe this near death experience would make him realize that he was getting tired of her crap and then he'd never forgive her. Abby put her face in her hands and began crying. How could she be so heartless?

~+NCIS+~

1:17pm

It'd been five hours since the incident and four hours since the whole team had gotten to the hospital. Ducky and Palmer arrived a little after eleven and took their place with the team. Ducky had also wondered why Abby was sitting alone, but once Ziva told him about the event in the garage, he knew why. He had been a little more caring, not wanting to go and slap her in the face, but he was still pretty angry at the scientist and how ridiculous she acted.

2:20pm

What was taking the doctors so long? But wasn't no news good news? Why wasn't anyone giving them a damn answer? Gibbs had questions running through his head as he watched the double doors with a hawk's eye. Occasionally, he would look over to Abby, whose head was still in her hands, and then to Tony and Ziva, who had fallen asleep. Tony's head was leaning back against the wall, snores emanating from his open mouth, and Ziva was also snoring loudly, her head propped against Tony's shoulder. He smirked at the sight and returned his gaze back to the doors.

3:05pm

"Family of Mr. Timothy McGee?"

Finally.

The deep voice broke Gibbs out of his rambling thoughts, Tony and Ziva from their sleep and Abby from her guilt session. Ducky, who had gone to get everyone coffee, was just down the hall and when he noticed the doctor, he quickly waddled over to the man.

"Yes, that's all of us," he said for the group.

"Really?" The doctor asked suspiciously.

"Yes, really." Tony said impatiently. "Now how's Tim? Can we see him?"

Gibbs smirked. "You'll have to excuse him; he's just really worried for his brother."

Tony looked at his boss and the two shared an inconspicuous glance before looking back to the doctor.

"Well, okay then. My name is Dr. Morris and I've been attending to Tim's injuries." Then his face grew grim. That was definitely not a good sign.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news."

TBC

A cliffhanger! Sorry, I couldn't help myself :) Will Tim live? Will Abby stop being a total bitch and will the team forgive her? God, I made her sound so mean in this chapter, but then again the dog tags episode made me- and probably many other Tim-lover's out there- very, VERY angry, right? But I don't know if she would actually not see the blood on Ziva right away or if most of the team "hated" her or anything else (besides being a total bitch) she does in this chapter sooooo...yeah. Bear with me for that. Anyways, stay tuned to find out and don't forget the awesome reviews! :) Buuuut since it took me so long to update this chapter, I'm gonna update chp4 soon. And by soon I mean like in 30 minutes :) You guys waited long enough.