Tony jumped up from his chair, ready for action.

Except he wasn't sure what that action should be.

"We don't know where they are except somewhere in Virginia - and Virginia isn't really that small of a state," Tony said, more than just slightly agitated. He didn't like not knowing what to do, and the thought of his friend 'not doing so well' was stopping all rational thoughts from entering his head.

"We could get Abby to run a GPS trace on McGee's or Palmer's phone," Ziva suggested.

"Yeah, that could work," Tony said, relieved to have something to do. He was about to turn to go make the trip downstairs when a voice froze him in his tracks.

"How long have you been back?"

Tony and Ziva looked up to see Gibbs heading down the stairs. His tone hadn't been very pleasant. They glanced at each other and Tony gave Ziva a nod, letting her know he would break the news.

"Maybe an hour," Tony said, "but Boss-"

Gibbs didn't let him finish as he was already at Tim's desk, glaring at his monitor.

"Where the hell is McGee? I told him to let me know when you got back. He's got -"

"Boss!" Tony yelled. Gibbs' head snapped up, an unpleasant look to match the irritable tone of his voice.

"McGee was -"

"GibbsGibbsGibbsGibbsGibbs!" Abby yelled as she ran into the room, followed by Ducky at an only slightly slower speed. "We haven't heard from them and we can't get a hold of them and we don't know what's going on!"

"Abby, what are you -"

"McGee was shot!" Tony yelled, causing a vacuum of noise as all turned to stare at him. Lowering his voice, but not the urgency of his tone, Tony continued on. "We heard from Palmer just two minutes ago. He said that he and McGee had been shot and McGee's not doing too well. He didn't say where he'd been shot but he said McGee was shot in the abdomen. We lost contact with him before I could ask anything more."

From that moment on the bullpen was a chaotic whirlwind of hand gestures, pacing and moving between computers as everyone compared notes and explained to each other what they knew about the situation as quickly as possible. Then they had to pinpoint exactly which hospital Tim and Jimmy would most likely be taken to.

After that it was just a matter of Gibbs getting another team to make the trip to Augusta County to process the crime scene and Ducky calling in a favor from a colleague.

Within twenty minutes they were loaded into one car and heading for Augusta County Hospital in Fishersville, Virginia - an all-too-far three hours away. Tony, Abby and Ducky sat in the back with Ziva and Gibbs up front.

Ziva drove.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

Thirty minutes into the drive Tony's cell phone chirped to let him know he had a voicemail.

"Your phone didn't even ring," Ducky said, confused.

And then he watched as Tony paled as he listened to the message. It didn't escape Abby's notice either.

"What's wrong?" she asked with a frantic edge to her voice, her nerves already frayed to the nth degree.

"That was a message from McGee that he left hours ago, letting me know he was heading for Virginia," Tony said. He let out a short unamused bark of laughter. "My stupid phone has been doing this for weeks now - not giving me my messages until hours after they're left. I guess it's time to change services."

Gibbs glared at him and then turned to Ziva.

"And McGee didn't try calling you?"

A soft blush brushed her cheeks.

"I forgot my cell at home this morning. I didn't think it was important enough to run back and get because I was with Tony all day."

Gibbs had to fight the urge to headslap her - her driving was scary enough without brain damage.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

Just a little over two hours after they left D.C. they reached their destination. All of them tumbled out of the car and ran into the hospital, not concerned about making a dignified and professional entrance. The poor woman at the reception area was the same women who had answered the phone each of the five times Gibbs called - and the ten times Tony called. She had refused to give them any more information other than that Jimmy was "serious" and Tim was "critical." By the sixth call she would answer, calmly say "No change" and then hang up.

"We're looking for Special Agent Timothy McGee and Jimmy Palmer, " Gibbs said tersely as he reached the reception area. The other four crowded up close behind him, staring the receptionist down.

The woman behind the counter slowly looked up from her work. Her glare smoothed out into understanding when she saw how anxious and worried the people standing before her were.

"I wondered when you would get here," she said, giving them a soft smile. "Unfortunately there's still no change."

Ducky took over then, gently bumping Gibbs out of the way.

"Hello my dear. I am Dr. Donald Mallard and I work with Jimmy Palmer and Agent McGee. Is there any way you can tell me what is going on with them?"

As so many people had before her, Shirley Yonker was immediately swayed by the gentle smile and soft British accent of Ducky.

"Well…" she hesitated before shrugging. "I can tell you that both Mr. Palmer and Mr. McGee are currently in surgery. If you head up to the third floor you'll find the waiting room for surgery. I'll send a message up to let them know that you're here for both of them."

Shirley smiled at Ducky.

"You can try to convince their surgeons to talk to you when they're out of surgery Dr. Mallard." She gave him a wink and was delighted when he winked back.

"Thank you very much for your help, my dear."

Ducky turned away and the smile dropped from his lips. Everyone had to scramble to catch up with him when we began to all but speed walk away.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

An hour and a half later found them sprawled out in the waiting room.

Ducky and Abby shared a couch. Ducky flipped methodically through a magazine on fishing that had been discarded on the coffee table. He would finish with it and then go back to the beginning again. Abby was tucked up against Ducky with her feet curled up on the couch. Her eyes never left the Employees Only doors that kept her from getting closer to her friends.

Gibbs had a love seat to himself. A nearly-empty coffee cup was clasped in one hand and another cup sat next to him on an end table. The cushion next to him was occupied by a newspaper that he had looked through but hadn't really read.

Ziva sat on the edge of one of the hard-backed chairs. She would polish her knife, examine it closely and spin it a few times before repeating the process. Early on one of the nurses had walked over to tell her to put it away, but a triple-threat glare from Ziva, Gibbs and Tony caused her to spin in her tracks and walk away.

Tony was slumped bonelessly in a comfortably cushy chair and gave every appearance of being asleep. But he was the first on his feet when the Employees Only swung open for the first time since they had been sitting there. The rest of them followed a moment later.

A doctor stood there, looking tired but satisfied.

"Anyone here for Jimmy Palmer?"

Ducky made it to the doctor before anyone else.

"Yes, we are."

The doctor smiled. She always preferred for there to be many anxious people worried about a patient than for there to be no one there at all. Although usually the anxious friends and family weren't such a strange group as this one.

"I am Dr. Gina Wright and I performed the surgery on Mr. Palmer's shoulder. The bullet managed to miss the major nerve and blood vessels but there was quite a bit of muscle damage and tearing after the fact. He will more than likely need physical therapy."

"When shall we be able to see him?" Ducky interjected.

"As soon as he's out of recovery and into his room you will be informed by one of the nurses."

Gina grinned then, despite the anxious looks she was receiving.

"Shirley - the woman that was at reception when you came in - called up and warned us about the lot of you. She also took it upon herself to call your NCIS and get medical records sent over. It seems like both Mr. Palmer and Agent McGee have listed you as a medical proxy, Dr. Mallard," Gina said, nodding at the older gentleman Shirley had described.

"Hmm, I don't remember signing those forms," Ducky said, a bit confused.

Gibbs coughed behind him.

"Jethro?" Ducky turned and lifted his eyebrows, clearly asking for an explanation.

"They were in a stack of papers you were signing to get off your desk. You're a proxy for all of us."

Ducky narrowed his eyes.

"I would've been happy to sign them without the subterfuge."

Gibbs shrugged. "It was after Kate, Duck. You weren't too open to hearing about anyone else being hurt."

Ducky nodded reluctantly, "Well, yes, I suppose."

Then his eyes lit up as he turned back to Gina, who had been watching with barely-hidden amusement.

"This means then that you can tell me about Timothy."

Gina couldn't help it anymore - she grinned.

"Yes, yes I can. And I'm going to pretend that no one else is here for I'm sure you would just repeat everything as soon as I was gone."

A small smile was her answer.

Her own smile dropped away as she switched into professional mode.

"Okay then. I just checked on Agent McGee and he is still in surgery. The bullet ricocheted around his abdominal cavity but did the most damage to his intestines. They're still working on repairing that damage, but Agent McGee should be out of surgery within the next two hours. He'll have to be kept in intensive care for a while - he's at a high risk for sepsis."

Ducky nodded knowingly.

"Agent McGee's doctor is Dr. Greg Peterson. He'll be informed as soon as he's out of surgery to come out here to fill you in on Agent McGee's condition. In the meantime I will be in the on call room, but if you need to speak to me please don't hesitate to get one of the nurses to come get me."

"No, no my dear. You get some sleep. We'll be just fine out here," Ducky said, patting Gina on the arm.

Gina smiled gratefully and turned to leave. Then she remembered one more thing.

"Oh, Shirley has a message for you." Gina dug a piece of paper from her pocket. "She said: 'Tell that bunch from NCIS that when I called medical records for Palmer and McGee I eventually ended up speaking to a Director Vance. Warn them that he didn't seem too pleased that I was informing him that one of his best agents and his autopsy assistant were both in a hospital in the middle-of-nowhere Virginia.'"

Gina lowered the piece of paper and then had to walk away quickly before she started laughing at the five comically paling faces. She managed to make it to the on call room before bursting out into laughter.

"Jethro, I do believe that as team leader you have the honor of calling Director Vance and filling him in," Ducky said, trying not to grin.

Gibbs looked from Ziva, to Tony, to Abby. To a one they were all looking at anything else but him. He bit back a sigh and left to go explain everything to Vance - as much as they knew, at least.