Author Note: Took a Christmas break. Hope you all had a merry Christmas. Thanks so much to everyone for the reviews they're great. I've tried to take in some of the feedback as well and made some adjustments in this chapter hopefully to your liking. Enjoy!

Chapter 3- Forgotten Skills and Memories

"Mcgee, you are not going out there without a weapon!" Ziva stood up from her chair and held hers out for her partner.

"Ziva are you crazy? If they decide to come in here what will you defend yourself with?" Mcgee looked like he was about to give a Gibbs smack right to the back of her head.

"I got somethin baby.." Miss Crawford disappeared into the back room.

She returned shortly carrying two shotguns and a box of bullets. She leaned one up against the fireplace and handed the other over to Mcgee. She divided the box of bullets up and handed half to Mcgee as he stood with a shocked look on his face that this sweet little lady was bringing all of this weaponry out.

"Good to go shooga" She smiled and Mcgee returned it.

"Don't worry about me Ziva… just watch out for Tony and Miss C. and I'll be back soon with help" Tim had held a reassuring grip to Ziva's arm while he spoke.

Ziva was not going to put up anymore of a fight. They needed help, and right now Tim was their only way.

He followed Miss Crawford into the back bedroom where she showed him a window he could use to sneak out of the back of the house, hopefully unseen.

"Be careful honey…" She whispered as Mcgee slipped out and away into the cold.

Gibbs and Ducky were moving at such a swift pace, with eyes on the tracks in the snow, that it was only by chance that he looked up to see the figure coming towards them.

Gibbs slowly drew out his weapon and put a hand on Ducky's shoulder to stop him from any further movement.

Tucker spotted the two men in almost the same second that they had caught sight of him. He tried quickly to turn and run back to his brothers, but was brought down by his already weak ankle.

Seeing the opportunity at hand Gibb's ran in and stood over the boy, weapon aimed and ready to shoot.

"Federal Agents… lemme see your hands" Gibbs ordered to the young man.

Tucker shakily raised his hands and placed them on top of his head.

"Check him out Duck" Gibbs kept a trained eye and a steady gun on the suspect as Dr. Mallard approached him.

After searching the pockets and boots, and patting the man down thoroughly, Ducky came away with only a hunting knife.

"It seems this (handing the knife over to gibbs)… and (turning to look at suspect for confirmation) a very badly sprained ankle is all that we've got here Jethro." Ducky concluded.

Gibbs lowered his weapon. And approached the suspect, handcuffs out.

"Where are your friends?" Gibbs began cuffing the suspect roughly while asking him, to show he meant business and it was going to hurt a lot more if he didn't start talking.

"Up the hill just a bit more." Tucker nodded in the direction he just came from.

"What kind of manpower and weapons are we talking about?" Gibbs looked him square in the eye, Tucker knew he had to tell him everything and that it better be the truth.

"Ta..two of them, my brothers, Mark and Todd. They've each got a shotgun and my rifle… huntin knives too.. and Mark might have a handgun… I .. I don't know for sure." Tucker looked up at Gibbs, he could tell the younger man had told the truth.

"Were you chasing the NCIS agents through the woods?"

"Tha what?" Tucker had never heard of NCIS

"There were federal agents in that car that wrecked… did you chase after them!" Gibbs was losing patience not knowing what lay ahead of him and whether or not he was wasting time.

"Yea… yea we were chasing somebody… they saw us… ugh…they had saw somethin we didn't want em' to….they got hold up in Old Lady Crawfords cabin up there.." Tucker again looked in the direction from which he had just come

"So what happened?" Gibbs wasn't sure if he was about to walk up the mountain and find his team slaughtered.

"When.. when I left nothing had happened yet… Mark is pretty particular…he wanted everything done right….no evidence.. you know."

"Yea.. I know." Was Gibbs only response. "Duck take him back up to the van with Abbs. Tell her to call in for backup and find the driveway that leads to whatever house is up there."

"And where may I ask will you be in all of this?" Ducky gave Gibbs a weary eyebrow.

"I'm going to get my team back!" Gibbs saw no need for further discussion and with that took off swiftly through the woods picking back up on the trail they had stopped along.

"Be careful Jethro!" Ducky yelled out after him "… and bring them back safe" he whispered to himself. "Alright young man.. lets get you up the hill" Ducky helped Tucker to his feet and they began their slow climb to the top.

Agent Timothy was out of breath as he finally reached the top where the road was. Out of breath he bent over and retrieved the cell phone from his coat pocket. He stood and sighed with much relief at the two tiny bars steady and strong at the top of the phone.

He quickly dialed Gibbs number as he began to walk up the road, retrieving better signal as he walked, but had no success in reaching him. He figured Ducky may be the next best person to call.

"Hello?" A worried female voice came over the phone

"Ducky?" Mcgee questioned

"MCGEE!!! Mcgee… where are you? Are you okay? Are you with Tony and Ziva? Is anyone hurt?" Abby screamed into the phone so loudly that Tim had to take the phone from his ear momentarily.

"Abby, abby, abby.. calm down…but we do need help .. now!"

"I know Tim, I know. We saw the accident and the dead man and footprints and oh my goodness are you okay? Where are you!"

Tim looked up and saw a NCIS labeled van at the top of the next hill, and a tall dark figure standing next to it.

"I think I'm down the hill looking at you Abbs.." Tim scrunched his eyebrows at how peculiar the situation was.

"Mcgee!!" Tim noticed Abby wasn't even on the phone anymore, instead she was running full speed down the hill towards Mcgee.

"Abby watch the…." Mcgee jumped forward as his friend skidded on the icy hill just in time to break her fall.

"oh my gosh Mcgee are you okay.." Abby quickly got off of her friend.

"Yea.. I think so" Mcgee stated sorely and sat up slow from the ground.

"Mcgee your face!" Abby gasped as she saw the spreading bruise underneath his eyes and the dried blood under his nose.

"does it really look that bad?" Mcgee winced as he reached up and touched it

"Does it feel bad?"

"kind of…" Mcgee closed his eyes for a second noticing the intensity of the pain for the first time. But he couldn't do this, not now, he couldn't become weak and vulnerable, he had been going on pure adrenaline, which was fading now. He still had friends in danger though, still had a mission. Exhaustion and an unknown concussion had a mission of their own, however, and consumed him quickly. "Abbs… tony…" His eyes closed and he collapsed against his friend.

"Mcgee… don't do that.. its not funny!" Abby tried to rouse him but no such luck.

Ziva sat waiting, wondering when the villains outside would make their first move and how she would single handedly deal with it. Her concentration was broken quickly with increasing moaning coming from Tony.

She went to his side to join Miss Crawford who was already seated beside him. She noticed his skin looked more pale than it did before and he was sweating profusely.

"He looks worse yes?" Ziva asked Miss C

"He's gone into shock…I've put an extra blanket on him.." Miss Crawford just looked at Tony with the concern of a mother in her eyes.

All of a sudden, like he awoken from a nightmare, Tony flung himself into a sitting position, grabbing the back of his injured leg and screaming.

"What can we do!" Ziva was getting angry that Miss Crawford, who was apparently a veteran nurse, would not do anything. "DO SOMETHING!"

The older woman had tears in her eyes as she whispered " I… I can't" her face looked like it had seen a ghost and Ziva noticed her looking toward a picture on the fireplace's mantel.

It looked like it was a little bit younger Miss Crawford and a gentleman, both had smiles on their faces and arms wrapped around each other. Ziva began to understand.

"What happened.." Ziva retrieved the picture and looked back at Miss Crawford who now had a tear running down her cheek.

"We had just moved out here… about ten years ago… he worked with local law enforcement… they were trying to pinpoint a local drug operation around here… we were driving home from dinner one night…. he told me that he had just received Intel about where the operation was…. we had just come around a bend when we heard the gunshot……hit the front tire and sent us into a swerve that ended us in a tree….. he…. he was hurt bad…..I managed to get him out of the truck….. but he already wasn't breathing…. I started CPR…" Miss Crawfords face grew more depressed as the final memories came back to haunt her. "I tried… and tried… and tried…. and I just tried til' I had no more…. But I couldn't, I couldn't save him…" She reached up and wiped away the small stream of tears. "I never wanted to touch another patient for the rest of my life… I'm just no good.. no more use… I couldn't even save the man I loved…I just couldn't" Miss Crawford fell silent.

Ziva got down on her knee's beside her. "You are NOT a useless woman… you have many skills… I know that it is hard to lose someone and feel like it is your fault… I have done it myself… and I will not lie and say that I did not blame myself… but I did learn to move on.. to know that I couldn't let that take who I was away…. You Miss Crawford.. you are a nurse, a great nurse… and this is my partner.. and I'll be damned if I am going to sit here and watch his broken body torture him to death.. you can help him, I can help him.. show me how!" She locked eyes with Miss Crawford and knew she had gotten through.

It was like Ziva was in the room with a whole new woman; someone with a completely new fire, a new confidence, and desire for life.

Miss Crawford quickly uncovered Tony's lower half from underneath the blankets.

"He's got a dislocated hip… we need to put it back in… it's gonna hurt like hell, but once its back, we'll see him improving… he'll still be in some considerable pain… but with that concussion there won't be much beyond that point except for getting him rest and eventually to the hospital where they can take x-rays and give him medications or whatever they deem appropriate."

"Okay.. so what do we do.." Ziva was standing and ready for action.

"You stand here and hold Tony down, comfort him and keep him calm.. I'll do the rest."

Miss Crawford moved to his lower half. Positioning her hands over his thigh and knee.

"Ready now.. hold him tight"

Ziva laid, practically pressed, her body forcefully against Tony as he lay there semiconscious murmuring and tossing his head fervently side to side.

"Here we go!"

Ziva was glad for the warning given by Miss Crawford. As soon as she yanked Tony's leg down he tried to sit up and began to scream as before. Miss Crawford quickly and accurately lined the free hanging leg back up and shoved it up back to its position 'POP' it sounded worse than the actual outcome.

"Did you break something?" Ziva looked down at Miss Crawford who had completed her task.

"No baby, that was normal… don't worry none… see" She pointed down at Tony.

He began to stir. He felt the tension in his body let go, he felt a huge relief from the constant pain that had been haunting him in his darkness. He felt like he could return to reality, or at least make an attempt.

Ziva noticed the pink color begin to blend back into his ashen cheeks as he fought to open his eyes. Then there they were, shiny and green, staring up at her as if to say thanks. Tony was back in touch with the real world… looking into his partners eyes…when suddenly something was wrong.

Those eyes, her eyes, they widened, they became full of fear, of pain, of defeat. It happened so fast, yet seemed so slow to him as he watched them shut, watched her fall.

He hadn't even been alert enough to hear the cracking of gunfire from outside. He only noticed that as the body of Ziva David hit the floor, the blood pooled from underneath her. He felt the strong hands of Miss Crawford pulling him down to the floor and out of sight from the window.

Where was his training and his instincts? He felt useless. He reached down and let his fingers slide through Ziva's hair. The only part of her he could reach at the moment.

"Zee..va …" Tony's eyes already passed along to Miss Crawford his concern and brokenness for his partner.

"Ugh uh.. no ma'am.. not on Miss Crawfords shift" the elderly half crippled lady crawled across the floor of that cabin quicker than a marine going through training exercises. She retrieved some shirts from the sofa and quickly applied pressure to Ziva's wound on her side.

"Looks like the bullet went clean through son" She assured Tony that although injured, Ziva would make it…. that was… if any of them made it out alive.

Damn! Gibbs cursed himself as he heard the echoing gunfire from just up ahead of him. I'm coming guys, just hold on! The lead agent picked up his speed in light of the newly developing situation.

(up at the NCIS van)

Abby had managed to wake Mcgee and help him walk back up to the van where she had been met by Ducky and Gibbs' suspect. Abby had just hung up the phone with the director and given them a location for the back up when the shot had sounded through the mountainside.

"Oh dear" Ducky looked in the direction of the sound

"Was that a gunshot Mcgee!" Abby's heart began to race again in worry for her friends.

"Yea.. it was only one though… I don't know if that's a good thing.. or a bad thing." Mcgee reached over and squeezed her hand.

"Well do something Mcgee! Don't just sit there…" You could hear the worry and frustration in her voice.

"Abby, Abby .. calm down. Mr. Timothy here is in no shape to be rescuing anyone… back up will be here any minute now.. and I'm sure Jethro has gotten to them… lets just hope for the best" He gave her the best smile he could come up with for the moment. And sat on the tail of the truck.. just waiting.

NOTE: the final chapter will be up soon! Hope you've enjoyed so far.