Chapter 7.

Author Note: I appreciate the fact that nobody killed me over the course of posting Chapter 6 and getting around to posting Chapter 7. However, I have to tell you that it doesn't get any better in this chapter either. Sorry!


"Ashley, it's okay..." she soothed, turning to Steve for some support. But Steve wasn't there.

She turned to look for him, only to find him standing directly behind her, the barrel of his gun pointing directly into her face.

Jenny stood up quickly, looking around for Ziva and McGee for help. But they couldn't move, because if they did, Steve would most likely shoot them; neither of them had their own weapons on them – it was against NCIS policy to carry your weapon within the agency.

"Don't move..." Steve warned her, keeping his voice low. He looked different to how he'd done at the hospital. His eyes were wilder. Ducky had been accurate when he'd been reading the chat sessions; it did seem that Steve could reel in his obsession and calm down slightly, but only for short periods of time before he snapped. His gaze turned towards Ziva and McGee and he flung them pairs of handcuffs. "Chain yourself to your chairs ... NOW!" he barked, moving the gun to train it on them. Still perfectly able to shoot Jenny if she happened to move.

She could see Ashley in her peripheral vision, her face tear-stained as she cowered beneath the table, shaking. The other two agents done as they were asked of, and when Steve was satisfied that they were unable to move, he turned his gun towards Jenny again.

"Why?" she asked of him, simply. Because it was a fair question.

"I loved her." His voice was hard, cold. Jenny doubted he was even capable of true love. "Every night I'd talk to her through that computer. She was so ... inspiring. She had this unique view of everything. She took me out of the dark. But she refused to speak to me at school. Not a word. She looked at me like she didn't even know me." His voice became strained. "I loved her and she treated me like filth," he spat the last word at Ashley who flinched away from him, her tears pouring faster down her cheeks. "I never wanted to hurt you, Ashley.." he said softly, reaching out, smoothing down her hair. Ashley closed her eyes tightly, her muscles tensing at his touch.

"You killed her family!" Jenny shouted at him, her attempt to distract him from Ashley. "You almost killed her!"

"I didn't want to!" he answered, almost before she'd finished speaking. "I had no choice. Those people were poisoning her. I saw her with that gun in the bedroom. I had to stop her from doing something stupid... I had to save her. But she changed her mind. Once I'd killed her family, she changed her mind. She didn't want me anymore!" He paused and turned towards McGee and Ziva. "Hey! What are you doing?" He sounded desperate, panicked. He lifted his gun, and pointed it at Ziva. McGee shouted, but it was too late; the bullet hit Ziva's abdomen, just above her right hipbone. She buckled in pain, her face white in a second.

Behind Jenny, she could hear the screaming and panic that ensued within the agency at the sound of the gunshot. She had no doubt that the agency was in the middle of evacuating right now. That nobody was about to come to their rescue until the building was emptied.

She had to get Ziva to a hospital.

She shouted on Steve, getting his attention. "Hey ... you shouldn't have done that," she told him, keeping her voice calm. "The building's on high alert now, the shutters will be coming down any second, and you won't get out of here." He smiled sarcastically.

"Neither will you."

She nodded, shrugging. "Don't care 'bout me. You can have me, but Agent David, she needs immediate medical attention or she's dead. I'm begging you, let her out of this building and I'll give you whatever you want." He seemed to consider that, and for a second, she thought he was going to fold. But he shook his head, that cruel smile back on his face again.


Leroy Jethro Gibbs took a sip of his coffee as he turned the car into the street that led onto NCIS headquarters. He thought it to his testament that he was able to drive his car and drink from a coffee cup at the same time, but that thought withered away when he noticed how the entire street was occupied with people. Then there were SWAT teams, and an FBI van and he was sure he spotted Fornell. And Metro were here? He swallowed back the bile in his throat and abandoned his car, running towards the building, stopping when he spotted his senior agent standing on the grass, talking to a tall, burly looking man.

"Tony!" he barked, and the man lifted his head and winced.

"Boss, I've been trying to call you for the last twenty minutes. This is Agent Jake Bradford, from Metro." The name clicked.

"You're Jenny's partner..." Gibbs realised, nodding his head respectfully, turning back to Tony. "What the hell is going on here?"

Tony exchanged a painful glance with Bradford and then bit his lip. "Evacuation. I was in the bullpen – nobody was there. Then there were these shots – break room, I think. I was about to investigate, but it was like a goddamn tidal wave of people, and security won't let me back in the building." A helicopter sounded overhead, and whatever he was going to say died on his lips at the enormity of the situation. The whole of NCIS was evacuated. He frowned. Jenny, Ziva, McGee were nowhere to be found. And it couldn't be a coincidence that the break room nearest their bullpen was where the hostage situation was taking place – because he didn't believe in coincidences. That left Ashley as the suspect with the gun. He shook his head to himself; that wasn't even possible.

And then he got it. Steve Wilson. The orderly.

"Tony, got your phone?"

"Yeah." He whipped it out.

"Do a background check on Steve Wilson ..." he demanded, moving away. Looking for Fornell.

He found him standing near the entrance, conversing with Director Morrow, who looked haggard and agitated. He fixed Gibbs with a warning look which Gibbs ignored. It wasn't the time. He knew Morrow was probably furious for not having been briefed on this case, and what it entailed, but honestly, there hadn't been the time and it was far too late now. He'd seek forgiveness later, if it was necessary.

"Plan, Tobias," he demanded.

Fornell turned to him, and answered promptly. "We're setting up SWAT teams around the building. The break room has windows only along one side, so it's not easy, but the team will be going inside too; he's not getting outta there alive, Jethro."

"Yeah. You're damn right he's not." He stormed over to Tony again, and demanded the information he'd been looking for.

"Steve Wilson went to Ashley's school, Boss. He's been prescribed anti-depressants in the past, has been to counselling ... he's a train-wreck. He's been shop lifting and selling drugs and all-sorts since he was a kid." Gibbs didn't wait to hear the rest of the list. He was already at the entrance to the building when a security guard stopped him.

"Excuse me, Sir, you can't go in there..."

Gibbs tilted his head. "Wanna bet?"

"Excuse me," the third voice was one Gibbs didn't immediately recognise. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name..." Gibbs turned to see Agent Jake Bradford – the man that Jenny had so aptly named 'Butch', standing beside him, addressing the man that was preventing Gibbs from entering the building.

"Agent Laird, Sir," he replied.
"Agent Laird," Bradford repeated. "I've been asked to cover you. You are in charge of the back entrance, round the corner on the right ... 'bout the third door along," he dictated and indicated along the side of the building. Agent Laird looked at Gibbs, but Bradford chuckled. "Don't worry about him. I'll make sure he doesn't get in."

Agent Laird moved away from the door, around the side and once he was out of view, Bradford turned to Gibbs. "SWAT teams are travelling from the left and the right of the break room in about ..." he checked his watch. "Ah, thirty seconds. You get a head-start. Bring Jenny out here in one piece, Gibbs." His warning was clear, and Gibbs suddenly realised why Jenny trusted the man standing in front of him. He nodded, but said nothing else, disappearing inside the doors and taking the stairs two at a time.

By the time he reached his floor, he was breathless. The place felt eerie without the usual hustle and bustle. Everything was exactly as it had been left; paperwork and coffee cups sitting on the desks, monitors flicking through photographs of cases, someone's desk phone began to ring.

Gibbs moved through the bullpen to the back corridor, trying to keep as quiet as possible, knowing that if Steve heard him coming, everything could be a whole lot more dangerous than it already was.

The sight of Ashley, McGee and Ziva in the break room alone made him lower his weapon, approaching McGee and helping him out the handcuffs. That's when he noticed the blood.

"Ziva," he tapped her face gently, bringing her back from the brink of passing out. Her olive skin was a sickly white colour; she'd lost a lot of blood. He released her too and looked at McGee, about to put the entirety of his faith in the hands of the youngest member of his team.

"McGee, get Ziva and Ashley out of here. Use the stairs, and exit through the front door. Get Ziva to a hospital as soon as possible – we clear?"

McGee nodded, letting Ziva lean heavily on his shoulders and beckoning Ashley to lead the way. Just as they were about to move from his point of view, McGee turned. "She's in interrogation, Gibbs. Jenny and Steve, they're in interrogation."

Gibbs watched the three of them move away, and took a deep breath. He lifted his gun once more and began to move.