A/N: Thanks, as always, for the wonderful reviews. I made a promise that I'd make this posting a little quicker, so SPN Mum, I'm sorry it took an extra day to punch something out. This one was harder than I thought it would be. :( I hope you all enjoy!

McGee groaned, turning onto his side and finding his head in Abby's lap. She had slid into bed beside him and had dozed off sitting up, her head drooping forward slightly as she breathed lightly through her nose. He smiled a bit, even though he was in pain. He couldn't help but appreciate that Abby had hardly left his side, and that she was determined to stay with him until he met whatever end was waiting for him. By the way things felt, he knew it wouldn't be long.

Carefully, he shifted, not wanting to wake her up, pushing himself to sit up on the edge of the bed. The effort winded him, leaving him gasping as quietly as he could manage for air. His fists clutched the bed covers and he shuddered, bowing his head forward as he tried to compose himself.

Mentally, he kicked himself, more than upset that he had ignored the fatigue and weakness that had plagued him for the past few months, chalking it up to the diet he'd been on. He'd let the bruises slide as bumps and scrapes he'd picked up on field assignments. The illness had been given an open door to walk right in and set up shop, quickly ravaging his body.

He wasn't ready to die, but he could already see the end looming in front of him. The harder he fought, the faster it seemed to come at him, and he was frightened. His only source of solace was his family, his team, and the fact that Abby had chosen to be at his side every waking moment. The fact that an angel had told him he was needed didn't seem to matter. He'd already weakened to the point that he couldn't walk by himself since he'd spoken to Castiel in the hospital.

It took him a long while to regain his breath, giving him a chance to think about what had woken him in the first place. He'd been distracted when he woke by the effort of sitting up, but recovering had given him time to think about why he was up. Something was wrong and he could feel it. The nagging feeling had woken him from a deep sleep.

"McGee?" Abby murmured sleepily, her hand searching the bed beside her.

"I'm here, Abs," he answered quietly, feeling her scoot up behind him on the bed, her arms snaking around his torso to hold him securely to her.

"Why are you up?" she asked, her voice muffled as she pressed against his back.

"Something's wrong out there, Abby." He sighed in frustration, placing a slightly shaking hand over hers. "I need to be with the team. What's going on?"

"They've got everything under control, Timmy." She adjusted her hold on him, nuzzling against his neck. "You just need to focus on getting better."

"I can't!" He frowned. "Damn it, I can't sit in here knowing that the team is working without me."

She carefully untangled herself from the cover, unwrapping her arms from his torso so she could move to sit beside him, looking over at him in resignation. "I can go check, Timmy, but you're gonna wait here 'til I get back."

He nodded, knowing he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He wasn't moving without help, and that wasn't by choice. She pushed herself to her feet, making her way to the door and closing it securely behind her. She made her way to the kitchen, hearing the raised voices coming from inside. From the sound of things, McGee had been right. Something was terribly wrong. She stepped around the corner, standing awkwardly in the doorway, watching the mayhem in front of her.

She knew they'd sent Ziva in undercover to the shelter where everything was supposedly happening, and she knew that the footage on the computer they were pouring over was what was happening where Ziva was. What she couldn't understand is why everyone appeared to be so upset. The footage was streaming without a hitch; everything appeared to be going as planned.

"How do we snap her out of it, Sam?" Tony demanded.

"I don't know!" the younger Winchester exclaimed irritably, his fingers pounding away at his own keyboard. "You got anything yet, Bobby?"

"Nothin' concrete. Plenty to look up about huntin' horns." The sound of pages flipping coursed through the phone.

"We need to pull her out of there now," Gibbs stressed, his hands gripping the back of Tony's chair as he leaned over the senior field agent's shoulder, taking in what was happening on the screen.

"What's going on?" she asked in a small voice, her eyes widened slightly. "What's wrong with Ziva?"

Gibbs stepped back, pacing over toward her. "McGee okay?" he asked instead of answering her question.

"Yeah, for now." She looked up into Gibbs' intense blue eyes, worry flaring to life at the deflection of her question. "He said he could feel something was wrong and sent me out to check. What's going on, Gibbs?"

"Somethin' hinky, Abs," he sighed, running his fingers through his short, silver hair.

"Hinky? Really?" She glanced over his shoulder, trying to discern for herself what was going on.

"There's a woman on the inside there that Ziva was sent to see. She's a counselor. Had her hypnotized in ten seconds flat."

"Is her cover blown?" Abby's eyes widened as they snapped back to the man in front of her, worry written plainly on her face.

"Don't think so. Doesn't look like she remembers anything." He glanced back over his shoulder. "Has answered everything like she's Ariana."

"Then how do you know...?"

"I've been on enough ops with her to know when she's faking and when she's not," Tony answered distractedly, a statement which would have been sarcastic in any other circumstance.

"Timmy will want to join you guys," she whispered, worrying her bottom lip.

Gibbs nodded, stepping past her and moving down to the occupied room. He let himself in quietly, moving over to his sick agent and offering him a hand up.

"Was I right?" McGee queried, letting his boss slip an arm around his waist to hold him up.

"You were right, McGee."

They made their way slowly back to the base of operations, Gibbs pulling a chair over next to Tony's so McGee would have a clear view of everything that was happening. The young agent watched the replay of the footage in interest, his eyes flicking quickly over the stills that Abby had managed to pull while Gibbs was helping him down the hall.

"I've seen that before," McGee mumbled, more to himself, as he studied the image of the pendant they all seemed so interested in.

"What?" Sam asked, looking over at him.

"In a dream, a few weeks ago." He narrowed his eyes, looking at it closer. "I was taking a break from working on the Deep Six books...had a dream about a woman wearing a necklace exactly like this." He gestured toward Sam's computer, pulling up a fresh browser and typing as he spoke. "Gave me an idea for a new book, so I did some research..." He gave the computer back to the younger brother, settling back in his chair as he tried to find a more comfortable position.

"Valkyrie?" Sam breathed.

A silence seemed to settle over the room as the brothers looked toward one another, confused. Another look was shared between the NCIS team, and they simultaneously shifted to look at the Winchesters, disbelief on their face.

"Wait a minute," Tony said firmly, holding up a finger as his brow furrowed deeply in an attempt to comprehend what had been said, "these women...valkyries...are things of myth. Nordic mythology."

Dean hung his head, bracing himself with his hands on the back of Sam's chair. "If there's one thing we've learned with our past, mythology doesn't always stay mythology." He looked up at Tony, a great sadness clouding his green eyes. "If these women are valkyries, I don't like what this is all pointing to."

Sam made a small noise of agreement, his eyes traveling back to the monitor as many unpleasant thoughts filled his mind.

"What exactly is it all pointing to?" Gibbs demanded.

The younger Winchester looked up, shaking his head. The team wasn't going to like the possibility.

tbc...