Yea , was my fault lol. I'm a plonker, I uploaded the same chapter twice. Sorry :)
Early Wednesday morning
Everything went in slow motion.
The Russian man started to pull his finger slowly back, Zach dived from where he was leant up against the wall with his dad and Aunt, Gibbs tried to grab his wrist to pull him back before he ended up getting shot but he missed. Zach ran two steps, his aunt screaming and his dad yelling out for him, he pushed himself off his feet, and rugby tackled the man roughly to the ground.
Bang! The pistol went off, missing Zach's head by millimetres, and embedding it's self into the wall next to him.
The teenager and man wrestled for the upper hand, Zach trying to get the gun off him, while the man tried to push the blond off him. Gibbs got up, planning to join the fray, but his son seemed to have the upper hand, so he stood by to watch, ready to step in if his son was going to get hurt.
Gibbs was oddly proud as he watched the boy head butt the man, and used the man's distraction to quickly pry the gun from his hands. He rolled to his feet, pointing the pistol at the Russian, and looked far too comfortable in that role for Gibbs comfort.
"You are so under arrest dirt bag!" He grinned, looking over at his dad for reassurance.
Gibbs shook his head smiling, Abby tucked under his good arm safely. They didn't notice until it was too late, the man swore in Russian, and used his feet to kick the teenager's legs out from under him. The gun clattered to the floor, and the man stretched out his arm to reach it, only to have his hand crushed underneath Gibbs' boot.
"Uh… bloody bastard!" Zach groaned, climbing back to his feet and rubbing his backside where he landed hard on the concrete floor. "And don't say I can't swear dad, because this situation calls for it."
"Didn't I just say two minutes ago not to dive at anyone with a gun again?" He raised his eyebrows incredulously.
"Hey, I got us out of here didn't I?" He was unabashed.
"You got us out of here? You forgot about getting dropped on your ass quick enough." He told him.
"This is why I killed my father" The man muttered in Russian, bringing the agent's attention back to him.
Gibbs used the butt of the gun, bringing it down on the back of the Russian's head, knocking him out. He wanted to kill the man for a having the nerve to kidnap his son and the woman he thought of as a daughter, but he didn't want to do that in front of the two, it wasn't right.
"Come on, we don't have much time. Keep quiet and stay behind me." The agent poked his head out of the door, looking both ways before signalling with his head for them to follow.
Zach took hold of Abby's hand, letting her squeeze it painfully tight, as they followed his dad. He was in awe as he watched the man in the field; he was just so… cool. He had his right arm, which Zach knew was his writing hand and so therefore must have been his shooting arm, held tightly to his body, and he was using his left hand, quickly sweeping the hallway and keeping his eyes and ears trained for any sign of movement or sound.
Gibbs sent three rounds of as soon as he had target of the man, shooting him dead. He didn't have any other choice with this man because he was holding a weapon, his only concern was that his son would have seen it, but thankfully the boy was behind the wall out of sight, hugging Abby to try and stop her shaking.
"NCIS!" They heard Callen's shouting from the door, and the three of them made their way over, Abby rushing over to give her husband a hug.
"Looks like I saved you this time, huh Jethro?" G grinned over.
"Actually, you're late. We were just leaving" Gibbs handed the pistol over, and snagged his own weapon from off the side where the men had put it earlier.
"Want a lift to the hospital?" The blond agent asked, and Gibbs nodded gratefully. His arm was excruciatingly painful, and now he wasn't focused on getting out of here alive he could feel it just that bit more.
"Okay, McGee, do you want to drive them? I'll handle the clean up here." He tossed the key's over to McGee, knowing the agent wouldn't want to leave his wife.
Gibbs had been rushed into surgery as soon as he got to hospital. The doctors had assured a panicked Abby and Zach that he was fine, but they wanted to get the bullet that was still lodged in his shoulder out as quickly as possible, since it had been in there a long time already and they wanted to minimize the risk of infection.
"Zach, let's go to the hotel. Your dad will be fine; he'll be sleeping off the anaesthetic for a while after his operation anyway. He'll want you to get cleaned up and get some rest" Tim told the teenager.
Abby had been checked out and had a perfect bill of health, not even one scratch. And Zach had gotten the cut on the back of his head cleaned up, stitched, and a bandage put around it, something which he was planning to get rid of as soon as possible. The doctor had ordered him bed rest, and for Tim to wake him up every hour to check on him because of his concussion.
"No, I'm fine here" Zach said determined. He wasn't going to leave his dad in some hospital until he saw with his own eyes that he was alright.
"Zach, come on, it's late, or early, depending on how you look at it, we're all tired. I promise I'll bring you back first thing when you wake up later" Tim said softly, trying to cajole the boy into leaving.
"I'm not leaving, Uncle Tim. You both can go, but I'm not going till I've seen him"
He watched the teenager's jaw tighten and the determination in his eyes, it was an image of his father. That's why Tim gave in, because he knew he would never win a fight with someone who inherited his leader's stubbornness.
"We'll wait then, just until you see your dad." The older man sat back down in the waiting chairs next to the teenager, Abby left telling them she was going to find out what was taking so long.
Tim knew that even if he got the teenager to agree to leave, he would have still had a heck of a job convincing Abby to leave. She had been pacing non-stop, hassling the nurses whenever they came back through the double doors leading to surgery, she was talking a mile a minute and now she had gone to hassle the nurses some more.
A image of his aunty holding the moody nurse that was on reception by the throat, telling her to let her in the room, had Zach chuckling to himself. It wasn't very funny, but because all the tension from before had gone, and because he was so tired, it was pretty humorous for him.
"What's funny?" Tim asked curiously.
"Just thinking… reckon Aunty Abby has gone to give the moody cow a piece of her mind?" The blond's lips turned up.
"Oh god, I hope not" Tim groaned. The last thing he needed at the moment was to be going down to securities office to collect his wife for harassing staff.
Zach laughed at that. It seemed by his uncle's reaction that it would definitely be a thing Abby would do.
The minutes, and the blond tried to find a comfortable place to rest his head, and ended up with it on his uncle's shoulder because that was the best place. He didn't seem to mind anyway.
"Do you think my dad is going to be mad with me?" The teen spoke all of a sudden, surprising the agent because he thought he had fallen asleep.
"For coming to LA, and running circles around your grandpa? Or jumping in front of that gun?" Tim smiled softly.
"Who told you about the gun… Abby did didn't she. I was thinking about the first thing you said. On a scale of one to five, how angry was he when he saw me outside LAX?"
"A six." Tim replied, not missing a beat. "And I think your grandpa is way angry with you too, so was Vance, and I think Ducky might be annoyed too."
"Ducky? What did I do to him?" Zach groaned, was there anyone who wasn't angry with him?
"When you disappeared the first time, he was out looking for you in DC for hours. Don't worry, you are not the only one in trouble. Sarah and Jayden are too when we get back." Tim patted him on the knee, getting him to look up at the double doors that they were bring a drugged up and sleeping Gibbs back through.
"That makes me feel so much better" The teen said sarcastically, before looking and running over to the side of the bed, along with Abby who had gotten word of the nurse that the operation was over and had rushed back.
"Your dad is fine Mr Gibbs." The doctor told him "The bullet only hit flesh. He's just sleeping off the anaesthetic and he will have some anti-biotic to take to stop infection. He'll be good as new before you know it"
Zach looked down at the bed, seeing his dad had an IV in his left arm, and his right shoulder was bandaged up with a sling on his arm. He looked peaceful, and even when he was sleeping the man still held an authority around him.
They followed Gibbs to his room, which Tim suspected would be empty the second the man woke up. And Zach sat on one side of the bed, while Abby sat on the other. The young agent signalled for his wife to get up, so they could give the son a bit of privacy with his father.
Zach was grateful, watching as they shut the door behind them, and he took his dad's good hand in his. He was transfixed on the bandage covering where the bullet hit, that he didn't see his dad open his eyes until he felt his hand being gently squeezed.
"Dad!" He shouted excitedly, reminding Gibbs of a young Kelly shouting for him on the rare occasion he picked her up from school.
"Shhh…" Gibbs smiled.
"Sorry" The blond mouthed sheepishly.
Gibbs shuffled over on the bed, making room and patting it with his hand "Come here bud, you look exhausted"
It had to be around four in the morning; it was no surprise that he looked tired. But he didn't waste anytime climbing on the bed and letting his dad wrap a protective arm around him, both of them lying back and looking at the ceiling.
"Thanks son" Gibbs said softly.
"What for?" Zach frowned confused.
"For saving my life." He told him. "I'm so proud of you, you know? Even if you did disobey what I said earlier, but if you hadn't acted, who knows where we all would have been."
The teen swelled with pride. This was the best moment of his life so far he decided. "Does that mean you're not angry with me then?"
Gibbs snorted at that. "Nice try. I'm still furious with you, but it can wait. I just wanted you to know how proud I am of you. McGee wouldn't have even known where to look if it wasn't for your quick thinking about hiding the phone. And you never backed down to Petrov. If you still want to be an agent, I'll help you get on track to do that"
"Really?" Zach smiled; trying to sit up to get a look at his dad, but the man kept him laying down.
"Yep. As long as you bring home good grades, and behave yourself, I'll get you an internship on my team" He promised him.
The teen yawned "Can I get a gun?"
"Not a chance. Go to sleep son, we're going to have to be up in a few hours" Gibbs shut his eyes, wondering why he mentioned the offer when he wanted his son to go to sleep. It was a bad move by him.
"Kay, love you dad, you're the best"
"Love you too bud"
The anaesthetic was still in Gibbs body, it was only because he was so stubborn that he had managed to wake up before, but he soon fell back to sleep, his son's breathing evening out not long after. It had been a long day for him, for both of them, and they need some shut eye.
"Aww.. Look at them" Abby squeal whispered to Tim when they came back into the room to collect the teen, a feat impossible if you weren't Abby.
"Abs… Abby! What are you doing?" He whispered panicky, when he saw his wife taking pictures of a sleeping Gibbs.
"I'm sending a picture to Jack… and Ziva. They're too cute together"
"Yea, but lets just get out of here before Gibbs wakes up and kills you!" Tim scrawled a note and left it on the bedside table for Gibbs to find when he woke up later.
"Relax Timmy, Gibbs would never hurt me" She quickly left the room though, clearly she didn't trust her statement too well when she was sending pictures of Gibbs asleep around.
A/N: Thanks for your reviews.