A/N: Wow, I am so sorry this update has taken so long, but I've had serious writer's block and life in general has gotten in the way of writing. Anyway, hope you like this chapter. Usual disclaimers: I own nothing NCIS
A few hours later, Tony and Ziva had returned, and had found 2 weapons in Richmond's house. Abby was running tests on them and the others were running more background checks on Richmond and Marks, trying to gain any extra information that may help the case. As Gibbs made his way back into the bullpen after a coffee run, he felt relaxed, and confident that he has this panic disorder, as he'd heard it called, under control. After setting his coffee down on his desk, he walked over to the copy machine and became distracted by the news channel that was playing on one of the plasma screens in the office. There has been a break in at a warehouse on the same complex as the one where Maddie had been held, and as the pictures flashed in front of him, Gibbs began to feel his grip on reality loosen. The cameras panned to show the area of wall that had been taken out as his car had plunged into the river, and his breathing began to become shallow, panic setting in.
Surprisingly, it was Ziva who first noticed the change in Gibbs, and she looked over at Tony and McGee and whispered, "We have a situation." before walking over to where their boss stood. "Gibbs, are you alright?" she asked softly, noticing the other people going about their business in the office. He looked at her, and she had to hold back a gasp, she had never seen the look of fear that was in his eyes before, not on him anyway. At this point, Tony and McGee had joined her, standing in such a way that the group was shielded from the eyes of others in the office. "Boss, you OK?" Tony asked, trying to hide the worry in his voice. Gibbs shook his head, his shoulders shaking violently as he struggled to breathe, and remain upright.
The group gently guided him back to his desk, and as he reached it, his legs gave way. The team quickly lowered him into his chair and McGee stepped forward, "Gibbs, look at me. Can you tell me what's wrong?" he asked. Gibbs looked at him and replied, "Maddie, couldn't... didn't save her. Couldn't do it." Tony placed a hand on Gibbs' shoulder, and said, "I got Maddie, she's alive, she's alright. Just try and relax, Boss." McGee nodded, "Just relax and breathe, Boss, you're OK." Slowly, Gibbs began to get his breathing back under control, as Ziva kept watch over the group, scanning the office for onlookers and shooting a death-stare at anyone who paid the group more than a passing glance. After around five minutes, Gibbs looked at his team, and smiled, briefly. "Thanks, guys. I'm going to go see Abby, keep working the case for more intel. See if we've missed anything." and with that, he got up and walked towards the elevator.
When he got to Abby's lab, he saw her in the ballistics lab, about to fire one of the 2 weapons found at Daniel Richmond's house, and watched as she fired, then retrieved the slug. When she turned to look at him, he signed, "Got anything?" and was rewarded by Abby nodding, before quickly walking back into the main lab. "Oh, I got something alright. I got the gun that fired the slugs we found in the body." she said, walking over to a work bench. "Meet, your murder weapon, Gibbs. I managed to pull 2 sets of prints from it too, one was Richmond's, which was pretty much expected. I'm still running the others. Might take a while. Hey, Gibbs, are you OK?"Abby asked, noticing that the colour had not quite returned to the former Marine's face. "
"Yeah, I'm alright Abbs, just uh... another panic attack." he replied. Abby was about to launch into a hug, when a machine beeped, heralding the arrival of a match. "Well, Gibbs, I've got your murderer. Say hello to Leighton Marks." she said, after punching a few keys on her computer.
"Nice work Abbs." Gibbs said, and began to leave. "Time to take this dirtbag down." He went back to the bullpen, and gathered the team.
"Time to get our man." he said, and the team all smiled as the saw a glimpse of the old Gibbs they all knew and loved, returning.