Disclaimer: NCIS is not my creation or property- I own all the DVDs though.

AN. My best friend (who I'm staying with) is letting me borrow her internet, and I felt bad for leaving you with a cliffhanger. I'll be back tomorrow though, after I see the Harry Potter Exhibition in Sydney!

Chapter 14

When McGee looked up, it took him a moment to realise what he was seeing. Gideon was lying on the ground near him, dazed but conscious. McGee hastily handcuffed his hands together before he could move and hauled the suspect to his feet.

It was only then he realised that Gideon was not bleeding nor had any obvious wounds. Turning in horror, McGee saw Tony lying on the ground. His legs were moving, so McGee knew the Senior Field Agent was conscious, but the mere fact he was silent spoke volumes as to his unasked question that was if Tony had been shot.

"Tony!" he cried out and hurried over.

Tony was gasping, and McGee could see a stain of blood steadily running down his arm.

He frantically dug his cell phone out of his pocket and dialled for an ambulance. When he hung up, he experienced a whirl of panic, completely unable to remember the NCIS protocol for what to do with a suspect when an Agent was down.

Usually, if anyone was going to be injured on the job, it was usually when the whole team was out.

Looking around, McGee saw that the side window of the restaurant had security bars on it. Making up his mind on how to act, he pushed Gideon over and arranged the handcuffs so that they were around one of the bars, ignoring the fact that Gideon seemed to be in shock that he'd shot a federal agent.

McGee also suspected he had fallen and hit his head with the force of the recoil from firing the gun.

Then, he hurried to Tony's side.

"Tony?"

Tony's green eyes flickered to McGee, but took a moment to focus on him.

"Hey… McGoo."

McGee pressed down on the wound, which made Tony gasp in pain. He had been shot in the shoulder, but McGee couldn't see an exit wound, meaning the bullet was still embedded in there somewhere. More worrying was the large amount of blood Tony was losing.

"Gideon's a crappy shot, huh? Or… do you think… he was aiming for the shoulder?" Tony chuckled and McGee rolled his eyes.

"Tony, why don't you stop talking for a moment? There's an ambulance coming, you're going to be fine. Just keep your eyes open, okay?"

Tony tried to scoff, but the effect was lost on McGee. "Please, Probie. DiNozzo's-"

"Yeah, I know. DiNozzo's don't pass out," McGee finished. "Just hang on, Tony."

Tony nodded, but his vision was blurred and he was finding it hard to stay conscious, despite what he'd just said… or had tried to say to McGee.

"Probie, I need you… to give a message to Jemma."

McGee was alarmed. "What? No, you're going to be fine, you can tell her yourself," he insisted but Tony shook his head.

"I'm not saying I'm going to die. But you're going to have to call her, and she's going to be freaked. This… is her first time with the reality of dating a Federal Agent. Please, Tim? It's important?"

The use of McGee's first name was what convinced McGee that Tony was serious, and as he nodded he could hear sirens approaching in the distance.

"Ok, Tony. What's the message?"

McGee had to take Gideon back to NCIS, so once the paramedics had whisked Tony away to Bethesda, he loaded Gideon into the car and drove much faster back to the Navy Yard than he usually would.

"Boss!"

Gibbs looked up and McGee didn't miss the alarmed look that flitted over his face when he saw the blood on McGee's hands.

"What happened?" he demanded, standing up.

McGee swallowed hard. "Gideon… he shot Tony."

The very air seemed to freeze as Gibbs and Ziva tried to comprehend that news.

"What do you mean, McGee?" Ziva asked sharply.

McGee explained what had happened in the alley. "I- I had Gideon put in interrogation room one. But Tony…"

Gibbs was already preparing to leave, Gideon could become accustomed with their interrogation room for a few hours. "Let's go. Call Abby and Ducky, tell them to meet us at Bethesda. And tell Ducky not to let Abby drive."

"What about Jemma?" Ziva asked Gibbs, who hesitated.

"I'll call her," he decided.

Gibbs drove to Bethesda, and for once no one protested that he drove way over the speed limit or may have broken several traffic laws as he did so.

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," Gibbs said to the nurse at the desk in the emergency room.

"He was brought in not long ago with a gunshot wound."

The nurse didn't seem perturbed by his gruff tone, she just clicked on her computer. "He's in emergency surgery," she told them. "Are one of you able to fill in his admitting paperwork?"

"Yes, I'm his emergency contact," Gibbs replied, already holding out his hand for the clipboard and paperwork.

The nurse nodded. "Very well. I'll let the doctor know you're here for when he gets out of the operating room."

Gibbs nodded in silent thanks, and gestured for McGee and Ziva to follow him to the waiting room.

"Gibbs!"

Gibbs turned to see Abby hurrying towards him, Ducky and Palmer not far behind. "Where's Tony? What happened? Is he okay?"

Gibbs put his hands on her shoulders to calm her. "He's in surgery, Abby. We don't know anything yet. Can you do something for me?" he asked gently, knowing from experience it was best to keep Abby busy in times like this.

She nodded. "Anything for you, Bossman," she replied, forcing a smile.

"I need you to call Jemma," Gibbs told her, deciding maybe it was better for Abby to call, given that she and Jemma were becoming friends.

Abby gaped in horror. "Jemma! She's going to freak, Gibbs."

"I know. Don't tell her what happened," he warned her. "Just get her here. Got it?"

Abby nodded and hurried outside to make the call, where she could get reception. Gibbs sat down to fill in the paperwork, and noticed McGee was quiet.

"McGee?"

"I'm sorry Boss, I screwed up," McGee confessed. "It's my fault Tony got shot. Gideon tackled me when I chased him into the alley, and he got my gun-"

Gibbs stopped him with a pointed stare. "Tony's going to be fine, McGee," he assured him. "And yeah, Gideon got your gun. It's happened to all of us at times."

McGee remembered when Kate had lost her gun to a suspect, a Navy SEAL on the run from NCIS to hunt down his wife's murderer and felt marginally better.

"And it won't happen again," Gibbs continued sternly and McGee nodded immediately.

"No, Boss."

Abby returned a minute later, her face still worried. "Jemma's on her way. I told her Tony was hurt, I didn't say what happened."

"Hopefully by the time she arrives we may have news for her about Anthony's condition," Ducky said.

"Tony will be okay, won't he Gibbs?" Abby asked in a small voice.

Palmer answered before Gibbs could. "Come on, Abby. I mean, Tony survived the plague. You think a bullet's going to stop him?"

Abby gave a small smile and Gibbs gave the ME Assistant an approving nod.

Jemma took a bit longer to arrive than the others, she'd had to find someone to cover her classes before she could leave the school. She was trying to keep herself calm, but she couldn't help but flashback to how she'd felt on 9/11, when they'd heard the news, and Jemma had known her father would be going into the rubble to try and find survivors.

When she reached Bethesda, and found the others in the waiting room, she was trembling slightly.

"What happened? Is Tony okay?" she asked shakily.

"He was shot in the shoulder chasing a suspect," Gibbs told her quietly. "He's still in surgery, but he'll be fine."

The colour drained from Jemma's face and she swallowed hard. "Ok," she said slowly, trying to take it all in.

She was on the verge of tears, completely overwhelmed and unsure what to do with herself. McGee watched her sympathetically, and then remembered what Tony had said earlier.

"Oh! Tony- he- he gave me a message to tell you," he said, fumbling for his notepad. "I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget."

Jemma looked surprised and hopeful as McGee pulled out his notepad and flipped through the pages looking for the message Tony had dictated to him before the ambulance arrived.

"Here."

He handed it to Jemma, who took it with a shaking hand. They all watched as Jemma read the paper quickly, and were all taken back as Jemma caved in and burst into tears.

Gibbs reacted on instinct, and pulled her into his arms as he would and had with Abby and Ziva. Abby and Ziva watched sadly as Jemma sobbed into Gibbs' shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she murmured finally, pulling away and wiping her eyes.

"Don't apologise. It's a sign of weakness," Gibbs chided her gently and Jemma chuckled tearily.

"Come sit down."

He guided her to a chair and sat down beside her. Ducky rose to his feet. "Mr Palmer and I might go fetch everyone some beverages. I know you, Jethro, will take coffee. Jemma, what would you like?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Dr Mallard."

"Get her some tea, Duck," Gibbs said to the ME, who nodded and disappeared, beckoning Palmer to follow him.

"What did the message say?" Ziva asked Jemma cautiously, wondering what message Tony had left that had gotten her so upset.

Jemma held out the paper so the Mossad Officer could see for herself. Ziva read it aloud.

"Somehow I've fallen under your spell, and somehow I'm feeling, it's up that I fell."

"It's one of the lines from As long as you're mine… from Wicked," Jemma explained softly, although McGee and Abby had both recognised the words.

"I am assuming that this line has particular significance for you and Tony?" Ziva guessed and Jemma nodded, fresh tears in her eyes.

"Yeah…. I, uh…"

Her voice broke slightly, but Jemma continued anyway.

"It's our song. After Lucy and I first saw the show, we started this running joke… that we weren't going to wait around for Prince Charming, we wanted a Prince Fiyero," she said, blushing slightly.

"When I met Tony… after our third date, I was talking to Lucy and I told her that I'd met my Fiyero. She mentioned it to Tony a little while ago, and it just… it became our song."

"How did Tony take that?" Abby asked and Jemma laughed.

"That as long as I didn't make him wear the jodhpurs, he was more than happy to be Fiyero to my Elphaba."

Abby stifled a snort and all eyes turned to her.

"Sorry," she apologised. "I just had a mental image of Tony wearing those pants…"

McGee blanched. "An image I didn't need, Abby."

Jemma couldn't stifle a giggle at his facial expression, and Ziva smiled.

"Tony will be all right," she assured her. "Knowing him, he will wake up from surgery and start quoting every film that involves a shooting."

Jemma nodded, that did sound like him. They sat in silence for a while, letting Jemma gain control of herself. Palmer and Ducky returned with the drinks, and Jemma sipped at her tea quietly before asking,

"Does this happen a lot?"

Abby frowned. "What? Tony making film references? Have you not met Tony?"

Smiling slightly, Jemma shook her head. "No, I mean… Tony getting hurt," she clarified.

Abby, McGee and Ziva exchanged looks and Jemma rolled her eyes.

"Guys, Tony's been an NCIS agent for eight years and a cop for what, six years before that? And besides the fact none of the stories he tells me involve him getting harmed in any way, I'm not naïve enough to believe that. Besides, my dad was a fireman."

"Did he get hurt a lot?" McGee asked and she shrugged.

"Nothing too bad. A few minor burns, some smoke inhalation… a falling beam once gave him a concussion. But nothing too bad, until…"

"How did he die?" Ziva asked, guessing the end of her sentence.

"He died on 9/11. In the South Tower," Jemma replied quietly. "He was helping to evacuate people from the building when it collapsed."

No one in the room but Gibbs had known that, and an awkward silence fell, no one quite sure what to say.

"The cargo box!" Palmer suddenly blurted out and all eyes turned to him in confusion.

"What are you talking about, Jimmy?" Abby demanded.

Palmer stammered nervously under their gaze. "Uh, you- you asked about Tony being hurt. And there was this one time, he and Ziva were trapped in a cargo box and he got shot, remember?"

Ziva rolled her eyes. "He was not shot, he grazed his arm on a packing crate."

"He was shot!" Abby insisted.

"Whether it was a bullet or the crate, it was still only a graze," argued McGee.

Jemma frowned, bewildered. "How did you get trapped in a cargo box?" she asked Ziva, who sighed wearily.

That was how they passed the time waiting for news on Tony's surgery, telling Jemma various stories of how Tony had been injured on the job, and then funny Tony moments while under the influence of painkillers.

Finally, a doctor emerged from the waiting room, a chart in hand.

"Family of Anthony DiNozzo?"

Gibbs and Jemma were the first to stand, and the doctor nodded in acknowledgment as he headed over to them.

"How's Tony?" Jemma asked immediately.

"He's fine," the doctor assured them. "We removed the bullet and stitched up the wound. He'll have to have them in for a week and might have to do some light physical therapy on his shoulder, but he'll be fine. We want to keep him in overnight, just because of the amount of blood he lost, but he's awake and alert, which is a good sign."

"Can we see him?" Abby asked eagerly.

"Maybe just one of you for now," the doctor replied. "He's still a little groggy from the anaesthetic."

Ziva, McGee, Abby, Palmer and Ducky resumed their seats automatically. It was just routine that when Tony was injured, Gibbs was the first to see his Senior Field Agent.

Surprising everyone however, Gibbs turned to Jemma and nodded towards the hallway.

"Go," he ordered quietly.

Jemma, looking much better than she had when she'd first arrived at the hospital, beamed at Gibbs. Before anyone could blink, she'd planted a swift kiss on his cheek, and headed off with the doctor to see Tony.

Gibbs smiled to himself as he resumed his seat. It was official- Jemma was part of the family now. Gibbs was pleased about that.

AN. For those who don't know, jodhpurs are very tight pants. I think mostly worn by equestrian riders... but I could be wrong about that, so don't quote me.