Blah, I know, I'm terrible for leaving this go so long. I promised a quick update and I think I left you all hanging longer than I did last time. Sorry about that! :( I did mean to get it out quickly, but I had writers block for a while and couldn't get past it.

But I'm better now, and here's a new update for you all! :)

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

"NCIS! Put your gun down!"

"Put down your weapon!"

"Back away slowly!"

"Put it down, now!"

The mass of voices filled the room in a ringing combination of confusion; words tumbling over one another, reverberating off the barren walls. But to Tony, it was possibly the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

He was going to be okay. He was safe. Among the mix of voices he could easily pick out Ziva, McGee, and Gibbs. They'd come for him. Just like they always had.

"Put down the weapon, West." Gibbs voice rang out clearly as the others quieted.

West, glancing quickly, took in the sight of several federal agents, all of whom had weapons expertly trained on him. He licked his lips nervously, shifting his gaze quickly back to DiNozzo so he didn't have to witness the terrifying sight around him.

He needed to do this. There was no other way. Agent DiNozzo had to be killed and he couldn't allow anything to stop him.

"West." McGee took a single, cautious step forward, "Put the gun down." He said this calmly, as if speaking to a fellow acquaintance or friend. Yelling and anger seemed to only make the man nervous, it was time for a new approach.

"You don't want to get in trouble in West." He continued, carefully taking a second step.

West jerked his head in McGee's direction, as if shooing away a particularly pesky fly; he clenched the gun tighter in his grasp.

Gibbs glanced once at Agent Keller. They exchanged a meaningful look before Keller nodded and took a few steps back, instructing his team to do the same. No need to spook the man further when he was already obviously on edge.

"He's right West." Gibbs used a calm tone that he certainly did not feel. He wanted to shoot the man to be honest. He wanted this over. He wanted Tony safe.

He glanced over to his hands were handcuffed above his head and he had blood on his face and shirt. He looked tired, worn and beaten. But he was there. He was alive and breathing and they still had a chance to save him.

"Come'on West, you don't want to do this." he coaxed, hoping he sounded assuring.

The laugh that erupted from West's mouth was frightening to say the least, it sounded maniacal, like something from a horror movie.

"I don't have to?" He yelled, "Of course I have to! Its the only way to get justice."

"This isn't justice, West." Keller's ruff, quiet voice spoke, "We know about your brother and I know you want to justice for what happened, but this isn't the way."

"Of course it it!" West snapped viciously, "There's not other way! No-one else will do anything! No-one else cares! It has to be me." His voice quieted on the last sentence, sounding defiant and sure.

"No, doesn't have to be you. This isn't you." McGee coaxed gently.

The laugh this time was sharper, almost whip-like, "You don't know anything about me!" He snarled viciously, "Nothing! And you don't know my brother either! He didn't deserve to die like that! He was a good man!" West's hand's shook and his eyes saddened as he added quietly, "He was my brother."

McGee blinked once, glanceing back to Ziva and Gibbs once before focusing his attention back to West. "You're right, West. He didn't deserve that. No one deserves that."

This time West nodded in agreement.

Encouraged, McGee continued. "No one deserves that. Not your brother. Not Agent DiNozzo. He doesn't deserve this, West. I know you hate him for what happened to your brother, but he doesn't deserve to die this way either."
This, however, was the wrong thing to say.

"No, no, no, no!" West snarled, gripping his handgun tighter, eyes narrowing in on Tony. "You don't understand! My brother was innocent! He never did anything wrong! And Agent DiNozzo," West swallowed past the lump in his throat, "Agent DiNozzo k-killed him. He took his life away from him. He took my brother away from me! He deserves this! He deserves to die!"

Gibbs spoke this time. "No, he doesn't. No-one deserves this, West. DiNozzo doesn't need to die." He hoped the desperation he was feeling, the plea he meant in those words was not heard.

West shook his head deliberately, ignoring him.

They didn't understand. No-one ever understands. DiNozzo had to pay for what he had done. He had killed him. He had taken Daniel from them. Had destroyed their whole family. He needed to die. He deserved to die.

And he had to be the one to kill him. Life for a life. Simple as that.

He swallowed thickly. If he had to go out with DiNozzo, so be it.

And with that, he fired.

Despite his best attempts not to give in, Tony cringed and shut his eyes tight.

The echo of two shots reverberated off the walls, bouncing around omniously in the silence that followed.

Pain. Blinding, white-hot pain.
He clenched his eyes shut in a vain attempt to ward off the on-coming pain.
Everything was blurred. It was all one big mass of noise and blaring. The voice, yelling, sounded dense and thick, as if on the other side of a thick fog.

He cracked his eyes, tried to make sense of the confusion.

Colors flashed in front of his eyes, just as blaring and loud as the noise.

He snapped them tight again.

Please. Please, let it end. Let me pass out. Let it stop.

The voices got louder, shouting and angry.

Just let it go away. Just please stop.

He could feel them now. There were people moving around him, moving past him; the voices increasing in volume again as they neared.

Please go away. Please let them stop. Just leave me alone... Just leave me alone to... what? Die? He didn't want to die. At least, he didn't think he did. Right now, amidst this sharp, horrific pain, he wasn't quite so sure any more.

"Tony!"

He jerked once. He knew that voice. McGee. They'd came.

"I will call an ambulance!" Another voice, female this time, yelled. Ziva.

"DiNozzo! Hey, DiNozzo, can you hear me?" A ruff voice asked. Gibbs. They were all here. They'd made it. They'd found him. Just like always.

"Boss, he's not waking up!" McGee's voice wavered, panicking slightly.

"Ya' think, McGee?" Gibbs snapped. Worry. They were worried about him. If he wasn't in so much pain, he would have smiled.

"He won't wake. I told you, he's dead." He nearly flinched. West.

"Shut up!" Gibbs' voice snapped harshly.

"He's-" West started again.

"Speak once more and I will be forced to rip off your arm and beat you with it!" Of course Ziva would say something like that.

"Come'on, DiNozzo, you can do. Come'on, wake up." He felt a rough, calloused hand, tapping his face.

"Boss, I don't think he's going to respond, what'd we do?"

Okay, he'd had enough. All this commotion was about to kill him.

He sucked in a deep breath and tried to shove aside the pain for a moment. It didn't help much.

"How about all of you shut up for five minutes. You're giving me a headache."

He heard McGee sigh, Ziva scoff, and Gibbs growl.

A smirk played at his lips, as he carefully cracked open his eyes. The pain was still coming fast and hard, but maybe if he tried to ignore it would go away... Yeah, right.

He peeked up, the light coming in through the doors slightly blinding. Gibbs and McGee kneeled on either side of him, stareing back.

Glancing around he spotted Ziva, standing next to a hand-cuffed West, gripping his arm tightly, as she looked at him expectantly. He also noted the blood-soaked strip of cloth wrapped round West's arm. That was strange. Usually Gibbs would have aimed for his head, not his arm. And Gibbs certainly would have caused more than a graze.

He decided to ignore that for now and attempted instead to throw Ziva his most winning, reassuring smile, but judging by the way her frown deepened and her brow creased in concern he was pretty sure it came out looking more like a pained grimace.

"Hey, DiNozzo."

He slid his eyes back over to meet Gibbs'.

"You okay? You hurt anywhere else?" He surveyed him quickly, checking for any other injuries other than the throbbing wound the bullet has left just beneath the the younger man's clavical that McGee was tending to.

" M' just peachy, Boss." Tony managed to gasp out between clenched teeth.

Gibbs nodded slowly before gently patting the man's arm. "You just hang in there, Tony. We got ya'."

Tony nodded mutely, showing he had heard.

"He is alright, yes?" Ziva asked, pulling West with her as she moved a few feet closer to get a better look.

The first reply she received was a sharp gasp of pain from Tony as he jerked back from McGee's hands as the man applied more preassure to his wound.

"He'll be okay." McGee, though pale-faced and slightly wide-eyed himself, assured.

"Speak for yourself, Probie." The SFA hissed out, screwing his eyes shut.

McGee's lips quirked half-heartedly. Even laying in a warehouse floor in the middle of no-where, bleeding out on the floor, and the man could still throw a dig in there.

Fisting the most of his jacket together, he pushed tighter against the wound as the blood gushed between his fingers.

Tony gave a pained groan and McGee couldn't help but wince in sympathy.

"Sorry, Tony." He muttered, knowing the words would do nothing to ease the pain the other man was feeling but he couldn't help but feel bad for adding to that pain.

"Mmmm." Was all the response he got from his partner as the man bit down on his lip, trying to keep from crying aloud again.

"Hang on, Tony." Gibbs gripped the man's uninjured hand, "Ambulance is almost here."

And true to Gibbs' word, said ambulance arrived three pain-filled minutes later, tries screeching as the driver soared through the door into the warehouse at a speed that would have rivaled that of a Nascar racer. Or perhaps even Gibbs.

McGee and Gibbs were shushed aside quickly as two paramedics hurried Tony onto a stretcher with perfected ease.

"BP is dropping a bit. His heart rates fast. We'll need to get him there. of the paramedics, a young blond-haired girl, rattled off to her partner.

Her partner nodded in response and jogged around to the front to report to the driver as the blond started effciently hooking Tony up to IVs and heart-monitors.

"Hang on, hon," She soothed Tony as he hissed quietly in pain, "I'll get you something for that." She patted his arm comfortingly before slipping back into the truck to grab a morphine drip.

Taking the moment of quiet calmness, McGee sidled up to Tony's side quickly, hoping to check on his injured partner once more.

"You okay, Tony?" He whispered quietly, afraid if he spoke much louder whatever thin shred of luck they were hanging onto at the moment would snap and something terrible would happen again.

Tony moaned quietly, not bothering to open his eyes as he answered. "I'll be alright, McGee."

Tim nodded once, aware Tony probably wouldn't see him, but not sure what else to say.

He looked up, glancing around the room.

Keller and his team were taping off the building, already in the process of bagging evidence and taking photos. Ziva was hauling West, none-to gently, over to the van. And Gibbs was standing, watching the commotion of the paramedics, as they zipped back and forth, readying to load Tony in the vehicle for transport.

As if sensing eyes on him, which he most likely did, Gibbs' eyes slid over to meet McGee. He offered a small, reassuring flash of a smile before turning a careful eye back to the paramedics. Probably waiting to tear them a new one should they even think about making a mistake with Tony under their care, McGee mused.

He looked back at Tony's too pale complextion. His eyes were still closed, but by the sounds of his slightly labored breathing, he was far from sleep.

McGee gripped his hands as he took note of the wrap the paramedics had put over Tony's injury, already soaked with blood.

Speaking of blood... He glanced down. He was still clutching his jacket in his hands. It was torn and nearly saturated with the red liquid.

It was only a thin jacket so it hadn't provided much of stop for the flow of the blood, but at the time it was the best he had to work with. So much for the Armani suit. It may have looked good, at one time, but it didn't really provide much help when needed.

He nearly smirked at the thought of what Tony would say if he pointed out that simple fact about his precious suits to the man.

Now that was an idea...

He looked back up at the older agent, barely concealing a smile.

"You owe me three hundred dollars." he spoke suddenly.

"Yeah, how do you figure that, McGoo?" Tony asked, actually cracking an eye open to look up at the younger man in curiosity.

"That was one of my best jackets." He smirked cockily in the way Tony usually reserved for him.

He was rewarded with grin and small chuckle which was exactly what he had been aiming for.

"Whatever you say, Prob-ay." the other man said, still grinning.

As the woman came from out the back of the ambulance, carrying the IV drip, she smiled warmly at Tim before starting to hook-up the drip to Tony's arm.
Noticing Tony's winch as she slid the needle beneath his skin, McGee quickly picked up their conversation.

"Could use a whole new suit, actually." He teased.

This actually earned him an amused snort. "Probie, you could use a whole new wardrobe."

Tim smiled, the familiar banter as soothing to him as it was to Tony. He opened his mouth, preparing his reply, only the be halted by a soft hand on his arm.

Glancing down he was met with the light brown eyes of the paramedic.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we need to move him now."

"Oh, of course." He quickly stepped back several feet as she and her partner grabbed an end of the stretcher and starting carefully loading the other man into the awaiting van.

McGee frowned slightly as Tony's breath hitched lightly when they settled him in. And did he become paler?

No. It was his imagination. Tony would be was in the capable hands of two trained paramedics. What could go wrong?

Apparently, everything could.

The younger man had only turned round and taken a few steps towards Gibbs and Ziva when suddenly a horrific sound filled the building.

"He's flat-lining! Hand me the paddles, we're losing him!"

So... yeah. An even worse cliff-hanger, I know... But... well.. I couldn't help it, lol.

I can't promise the update will be any quicker this time, but I'm going to try.

Soo...now that I've left you with another evil cliffhanger, what do you say to leaving a review? :D lol

They really do brighten my day. :)