Deputy Director Hayes looked more in control than he had when Gibbs had last seen him, but not by much. He was a politician, not someone with the background of a field operative and Gibbs planned on using that to his advantage. For now, he let the man think he had the upper hand. He took the offered seat, as DiNozzo stood behind him.

"Thank you for coming, Agent Gibbs. I'm sure we all want this unpleasantness behind us. We looked into the matter and discovered one of our agents had developed a rather unhealthy interest in your Agent Todd. He's confessed to planning the abduction of Agent Todd and of actually kidnapping Agent McGee in anger when Agent Todd eluded him."

Gibbs never moved. "His name?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"His name. When we take him into custody, I'd rather not call him 'hey you'."

"He's confessed, he's agreed to plead guilty, why should he be in your custody rather than ours?"

The sweat was back on the other man's lip, Gibbs noted as he leaned forward. "He should be in our custody because it was our man he kidnapped, our man he attacked, our man that is lying paralyzed in a hospital bed. Our director is looking forward to seeing him sitting in one of our interrogation rooms before he leaves for his lunch at the White House, so we are in a bit of a hurry." The threat was as clear as it was unspoken.

The former cop blinked as the Deputy Director placed the call transferring custody of one Matthew Albert Dickerson to NCIS. Tony promised himself that he'd never, ever play poker against Gibbs.

---NCIS---

Gibbs sat across from Matthew Dickerson in Interrogation Room One. They had been in there for over thirty minutes without Gibbs uttering a sound. Dickerson had not been as silent, but so far had not said any recognizable words, not even to complain about being handcuffed to the table. His twitchiness was getting on Tony's nerves as he watched from the observation room. Even the AV tech was getting restless, waiting for something to happen. When there was a sound, it wasn't from the interrogation room, but from the door to the observation room opening. DiNozzo jumped, but covered it up by spinning towards the door. Kate stood there, chewing on her lip before she came all the way in.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Probie." He watched as she moved closer to the two-way mirror, still chewing on her lip.

Kate shook her head. "Balboa, Ducky and Abby are with him. Was it really about me? Did he do those awful things to Tim just because he couldn't get to me?" She finally turned to Tony, expecting answers. Answers that, unfortunately, he couldn't give in front of the technician.

"I'm sorry." Even as he said the words, he knew how she would interpret them but he couldn't help himself. Beyond the glass Gibbs finally moved, making it even worse as he took a photo out of his pocket and laid it on the table between them. Even from the observation room it was plainly clear it was a picture of Kate. Dickerson picked it up and started running his fingers over it. Kate rushed out of the room without a word. Tony started to go after her, but Gibbs finally started talking, freezing DiNozzo in his tracks. There was an insinuating tone in his voice Tony had never heard before.

"So you like our Katie? Wanted to spend some quality time with her?" Gibbs reached out and took back the photo, leaving it just out of reach of the handcuffed man. Dickerson still didn't say anything. Gibbs kept his fingertips on the picture as he continued to bait him. "I hear you had a special evening planned for the two of you. Jest you, her, and a couple of cattle prods."

That made Dickerson look up. "I wasn't going to hurt her, I love her."

Gibbs gave a snort. "Right, we always torture the ones we love."

"No, no, it wasn't like that at all." As Dickerson spoke, Gibbs leaned forward, now he had the man moving in the direction he wanted. When they started to justify their actions was when they always slipped up.

"So you were just going to show her a good time? What about your buddies? Were they just wanting to show her a good time too?"

Dickerson tried to reach for the photo again, but Gibbs kept it just out of reach. "No, I wouldn't have let anyone hurt her."

"But you let them hurt McGee, why?" Dickerson didn't answer, but kept reaching for the picture. Gibbs kept at him. "Why? Why hurt McGee? Why did the CIA go after our people?"

Gibbs immediately noticed the difference in body language as Dickerson clenched his hands and shook his head so he increased the pressure. "They set you up to be the fall guy, didn't they? We have enough evidence to prove everyone that was there; just tell us who was in charge."

"I can't."

"You'll go to prison for the rest of your life if you don't tell us."

The now ex-CIA agent looked up, fear obvious on his face. "They'll do worse than you can ever do to me."

Gibbs stood and kicked his chair across the small room before bending down to whisper in Dickerson's ear. "Don't be too sure about that." He slammed his hands down on the table, making the other man jump before leaving the room. Dickerson sat, handcuffed to the table, the photo just out of his reach.

Tony didn't turn around as Gibbs entered the observation room. "Now what, Boss?"

"Now we let him stew for a while."

"He's CIA, are you sure he's gonna break?" Gibbs looked almost pleased when he answered.

"Oh, he'll break."

---NCIS---

Gibbs went straight from headquarters to the hospital. Standing outside McGee's room he got a status report from Agent Sykes from the Pentagon team. He agreed with the man, Agent Todd was too tired and stressed to continue at this pace. What Sykes didn't know, and what Gibbs wasn't about to tell a near stranger, what was truly driving her dedication. The conversation he needed to have with her required both patience and coffee, neither of which he had much of at the moment. The patience he could drag out of his reserves. The coffee required a detour to the waiting room.

Numb from hours of security videos and still unsettled from watching Dickerson's interrogation, Tony finally made his way to the hospital. This would be his first time there since McGee had regained consciousness. With a silent nod, he acknowledged the agent outside the hospital room and quietly went inside. Kate was standing next to the bed, wiping McGee's face with a damp rag while a nurse was hanging a small IV and attaching it to the line already going into his arm.

"What's wrong?"

He didn't like the look on Kate's face, but it was the nurse that answered. "Agent McGee is developing pneumonia. It's not unexpected under the circumstances and we've caught it early." She leaned across the bed and touched Kate's arm. "I'll be back later to check on him. You should really get some rest."

Tony waited until the nurse left before coming up next to the bed and studying his young partner. In addition to the bruises and visible injuries he had already seen there was now an unhealthy sheen of sweat on his skin. His eyes were sunken with even darker shadows underneath them than had been there only a few hours ago.

"He didn't need this on top of everything else." Kate's tone was sharp and Tony directed his focus to her. She looked even more exhausted than McGee and the hand holding the cloth was shaking. Making a decision, he reached out and plucked the cloth out of her hand.

"Time to go home, Kate."

She looked frantic at the thought of leaving. "What? No, Tony, I can't." Kate tried to retake the cloth now in his hand but when she reached out, Tony grabbed her hand instead.

"McGee's not going to get better overnight, Kate. We need to pace ourselves. Besides, you got to be here when he woke up." There was something in his tone that made her really look at him. He looked raw and vulnerable and something else she couldn't identify as he continued. "Tonight's my turn, okay?"

"Okay." She wanted a better look at him, but he was already turned back to watch McGee. "You'll call if something happens?"

"Yeah." Tony watched Kate gather her things and walk out the door. She spoke to the agent in the hallway briefly before leaving in the elevator. After the door slid shut behind her, he looked down to see two tired green eyes staring back at him.

"Hey, you're awake." Now that they were alone, he could really study the other man and again didn't like what he was seeing. "You look like crap, Probie."

"Kate gone?"

Tony rewet the cloth and started to wipe down McGee's face. "I sent her home, thought we could have a boys night, how does that sound?" He tried to sound cheerful and upbeat but knew he was failing miserably. McGee didn't call him on it; instead he was still focused on Kate.

"Is she all right, she acts like what happened to me is her fault, somehow."

Tony hated it when the kid looked at him like this. Under the pain and the fever and the confusion was such a need for the truth that Tony couldn't lie to him. "After dinner Friday night you changed a flat tire for Kate. They kidnapped you right after that."

"They were after her?"

Again, questions that were unsafe to answer in such an unsecured room. The best DiNozzo could do was be vague as he wrapped his hand around McGee's. "Maybe. We don't know, but Kate has convinced herself that they were."

"What they did, better me than her." McGee's voice was no more than a whisper and for a second, Tony wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.

"Do you remember anything?" Everyone had assumed the Rohypnol had erased Tim's memory and he mentally kicked himself for never asking. "Anything at all about what happened?"

He was obviously sliding into a medicated slumber. "Not really… just… keep having nightmares about drowning… and burning… how can you burn… and drown at the… at the same time… hurt so bad, Tony… don't let them… please, Tony…"

"I won't, kid. I won't let them hurt you again." Tony kept murmuring reassurances until the younger man gave into his exhaustion. He didn't even realize he was crying until he felt a teardrop land on the hand he had around Tim's. DiNozzo watched the droplet slide down the length of his finger before dropping down onto Tim's thumb. Acting more on instinct than conscious thought he took his own thumb and rubbed the moisture away. He looked up to see Gibbs standing at the foot of McGee's bed. At first he was mortified to have his boss see him crying, but then he saw the light reflecting off the moisture on the other man's face.

---NCIS---