Tim's shallow breathing and bluish tinge to his skin, most noticeably his lips and fingers ripped his heart open. Quickly, he slapped down on the nurse's call button before running to the door and yanking it open.

"Get a doctor, NOW!" Gibbs yelled at the agents on guard duty.

Gibbs' mind retreated behind a fog of shock and disbelief as things started happening around him. Vaguely, he heard running feet, shouting voices; saw faces, caught phrases:

weak pulse, dilated pupils, Codeine, med poisoning, opiate, his brain... stop breathing, Gastric lavage NOW!, Narcan, shot, spray the nasal cavity. Let's go!

Suddenly his agent was being taken from the room, his bed wheeled out quickly. Startled back into the here and now, making an attempt to shake off his shock, Gibbs went in search of some answers. He started with his own team, yanking out his cell phone as he stumbled back into a chair in shock.

"Boss?" Tony's worried voice came through the phone. Gibbs calling at this hour couldn't be good.

"You, Ziva and Abby get over here to Tim's room now Bring your gear! Give Ziva the keys!"

Snapping the phone shut, Gibbs next went after answers from the Agents on the door.

"I want the names of everyone who entered this room since he was placed in it!" Gibbs barked. "Give it my team when they get here!"

Stomping down the hall, he marched over to the nurse's station and demanded to speak with the Night Shift supervisor.

"I want a rundown of every single thing that was done to and for my agent since he was put in that room! Every drop of IV. Fluid, every medication and every single person that entered his room and why!"

"Agent Gibbs, I understand that you're upset. I sympathize, really, I do..." The robust woman bravely tried to calm him down.

"You don't understand anything! My agent was just almost killed in his bed; right under your nose and mine! Don't stonewall me! My agent's life is on the line!" Gibbs raged at her.


Tony snapped his phone shut and hollered. "Drop what you're doin, both of you! Grab your gear and let's go!"

"Tony!"What's going on?" Abby asked in alarm.

"You, too, Abby! Let's go!" Tony hollered as he raced out.

Several short minutes later they were all in the elevator heading out. Tony had yet to explain what was going on and nerves were beginning to stretch tight with worry.

"Tony! What's going on?" Abby demanded.

"I dunno, Abbs. Boss called and said for the three of us to get there right now." He refused to add anything to that because he didn't' want either Abby or Ziva getting upset. They all needed to keep their heads. They'd find out what was going on soon enough.

"Something must have happened." Ziva declared with concern.

"Something bad." Tony agreed with his heart in his throat as he limited his answer.

"Why would you say that, Tony?" Abby asked with rising worry.

"Because he told me to give Ziva the keys." Tony said in a tone that expected that answer to explain enough for now.

It did.


As the team raced to the hospital in almost complete silence, Tony called Ducky, knowing Gibbs would feel better and be more able to calm down if the M.E. was there to help. Ducky wouldn't want to be left out of knowing about whatever had had happened. either. If Tim's health had been messed with, well whoever had been dumb enough to cross that line again had a date with death, through the wrath of Ducky, with Gibbs and company next in line to take them out. Tony prayed Tim was okay, but his gut was screaming at him that if Tim was okay, Gibbs wouldn't have sounded the call in the first place.

"Hello?" Ducky answered groggily on the third ring.

"Ducky, sorry to wake you, but something's happened at the hospital!" Tony got straight to the point

"Anthony? What's happened?"

"Don't know. Gibbs called, told all three of us to get over there right now. Sounded real pissed. Maybe even scared, Ducky."

"Oh, Dear heavens! I'm on my way! How long before you arrive there, Anthony?"

"Not long, Ducky. Ziva's driving, on Gibbs' orders." Tony knew Ducky would understand what that meant.

"Oh, my! I'll be there as quickly as I can."

"Ducky, he doesn't know you're coming. He's expecting Ziva, Abby and I." Tony warned.

"Noted." Ducky said as he ended the call.

A short fifteen minutes later found the team, including Ducky, racing to Tim's room from the elevator. The place was now swarming with people, most of them nurses and security officers. In the midst of it all, was one thoroughly angry Gibbs having it out with an equally pissed off Doctor.

"Somebody needs to tell me what the hell's wrong with my agent now!"

"Jethro! You must calm yourself. Do you want Timothy to hear you like this?" Ducky reached the younger man and placed a firm and calming hand on his arm. Locking eyes with him, Ducky firmly and quickly deflated Gibbs' overwhelming rage, but not his rising fear. Grasping Gibbs' arm, Ducky propelled him further away from the terrorized nurses, pissed doctor and very angry security guards. None of them appreciated being dressed down by a pissed off NCIS agent.

While Ducky got a handle on Gibbs, Tony calmed the security guards after he requested the details of what was going on, in a tone that made it known he wasn't asking at all. Ziva calmed Abby and advised her to wait in Tim's room and keep Tim company. As Ziva turned to talk to the Agents who had been guarding the door, Abby's scream echoed through the hall; "Oh, my God! Where's Timmy?"

Gibbs immediately ran to Tim's room to calm Abby while Ducky went in search of some hard answers and an update on Tim. Ziva returned her focus to questioning the agents on the door, knowing Gibbs and Ducky had things under control and that they needed answers fast. And Tony, realizing the same thing as Ziva, when straight for forcefully requesting the security tapes from the last six hours.

As soon as Gibbs got Abby to understand what had happened, he told her to take the bag of whatever it the i.v. that had been feeding Tim its' contents and test it; fingerprints drug screens; the works. He couldn't see anything else that might have caused whatever it was that had almost taken his agent's life, maybe still would.

Thirty minutes later, the chaos had been calmed; explanations given, people were being questioned and tapes were being reviewed. Calm was restored. The crisis was over, Ducky reassured the team that Tim had thankfully survived the Codeine poisoning due to the life-saving procedure that pushed the overdose out of his system quick enough that his body was now reacting positively to the treatment to counteract the near fatal respiratory misfiring the overdose had brought about.

Now all that remained was the investigation and getting Tim somewhere safe. Even amidst the fury of the doctor, pissed that NCIS had confiscated the bag of iv fluid in question, Gibbs held his ground, demanding the hospital cooperate with NCIS and not the other way around. The battle was being waged thankfully, in an office, away from sleeping patients, including Tim.

Ducky had attached himself to the young man's bedside as soon as the team dispersed to do their jobs and refused to budge Abby would have done the same, but she needed to get the iv tested and then needed to help Ziva piece together what had happened as Tony conducted the interviews. Neither Doctor nor nurse could sway their decision to conduct the investigation right then or even successfully threaten to have any of them removed because it was after all, the middle of the night. and patients were not to be disturbed. All four of the NCIS employees did get an awful lot of practice in with glares that would have done Gibbs proud.

Tony had even taken his fate in his own hands with a phone call he'd never thought he'd ever have to make. Calling Leon Vance in the middle of the night was not on Tony's list of things he wished to do in his lifetime. Then again, desperate times called for desperate measures. Tony considered this desperate; desperately out of control in terms of a pissing contest seriously getting ugly with no hope in sight for a peaceful resolution. Even though the war was in an office, the voices traveled well.

Leon hadn't put up any kind of protest or even shown any kind of displeasure. That in itself raised a red flag with Tony, but he decided it was more important that Vance get his ass in here and put out the fires and help get Probie outta here before something worse happened to him. Fifteen short minutes later, Tony got his wish as Leon made his appearance. Tony silently pointed him toward the raised voices in the Doctor's office.

Knocking loudly on the door, Vance didn't wait for an invitation before pushing the door open and stepping inside. Immediately, both men already inside froze; Gibbs because he was shocked to see Leon at this hour and here; and the doctor because he was shocked someone had just barged into his office in the middle of the night and while he was already having it out with someone in his office.

"Gentlemen, I think we need to settle this right now." Vance said calmly. "What seems to be the problem?" Leon directed the question at Gibbs, knowing the Doctor would be going off on him in a second.

"Someone in this hospital tried to kill McGee tonight and almost did! Abby's testing the IV he was given." Gibbs told him with the tone that let him know he wasn't in the mood for office politics or rank and file bull crap. "I want McGee taken somewhere safe. Now!"

"Your agent is in no condition to be moved right now! And who the hell are you?" The doctor fired the first statement at Gibbs before volleying the demanding question to Vance.

"And whose fault is that? We're moving him before he doesn't wake up the next time!" Gibbs raged.

"His Boss." Leon calmly answered the doctor with a nod in Gibbs' direction. "And he's right. Agent McGee will not be staying here. Our M.E. will be taking over his care now. I understand he was only being kept here to monitor for infection and swelling from his gunshot wounds. Now, he's got more problems. I wll not stand by and let his life continue to be in danger." Leon calmly dictated. Pulling out his phone, he made a call while staring the Doctor down, silently daring the man to keep arguing.

"Dr. Mallard, get a full report on exactly what care Agent McGee needs to fully recover. Do whatever you need to do, get a copy of his chart, secure the medication, the works. I'll be there in a minute. Prepare to get Agent McGee moved as soon as possible!"

"Director, I don't advise that we move him right now. His body's been through a terrible ordeal and he needs to rest." Ducky warned.

Gibbs looked at the Doctor, somewhat calmed down now that he had Leon on board. "Put him under so we can move him without risking his health!"

"Director, I heard Jethro's request and while it is an option, without proper transportation, we're still risking his recovery." Ducky replied before the Doctor could.

"Then we borrow an ambulance." Gibbs reasoned in the tone he used when he had no intention of settling for any other solution.

Vance looked at the Doctor, waiting for a fight; a fight that didn't come. Silently, the man nodded in agreement and picked up his phone,

Ziva seemed to be the only one not aware of what was going on, as she had her hands full with painstakingly going through the video footage. Abby was able to lend a hand after she got the tests running on the IV bag."

Thirty hectic and tense minutes later, everything was packed up to be completed at NCIS; Tim was packed up, sedated and moved out, into a waiting ambulance. Gibbs took the driver's seat, glaring at the Paramedic who'd' foolishly believed he'd be driving. Toning down his glare, Gibbs asked the guy to assist Ducky with Tim for the trip, leaving the passenger seat empty. Abby climbed in silently, her eyes filled with worry and anger together.

"He'll be okay, Abbs. We'll make sure of it." Gibbs vowed as he kissed her on the cheek and sent her an encouraging smile so she'd allow herself to calm down. He felt better when he saw that she was calming down. Gibbs knew that none of them would be completely at ease until they were all back on the yard, safe in their own building.

Tony, Ziva and Vance mapped out and gone ahead to scout the route, between the three of them, they made sure no one was tailing the ambulance or waiting to ambush it. Vance had already called ahead and had the building searched, cleared and debugged. Every able available employee on the night shift was used to get this done. None of them was told why or given any time table; they had only been told that it was a Security Breech Drill and they needed to beat the best time on record. Since he couldn't even recall ever doing one before, Vance had no idea what that best time on record actually was, if there was one. Hopefully, he'd been convincing enough that it would be done by the time they got there.

Thirty extremely tense and heart in the throat minutes later, Agent Tim McGee was safely set up in a room designed for emergency shelter in case of a natural disaster with the bonus of having electric capability. Once he'd been set up and everyone had gone back to their tasks, only Ducky remained by Tim's bed. The young man had been through hell and would not only need a medical professional watching over him, but a friend to keep his panic away when he awoke in a strange place.

Gibbs had nodded in appreciation and understanding at Ducky's declaration to stay with the young man. Heading down to Abby's lab to see what they had to work with, Gibbs finally breathed a sigh of relief. They'd done it!

Tim was home safe!