Title: I Did Say Shoot Him
Summary: AU. Episode 18x05 Head of The Snake. Tony never left NCIS, has his own team now and joins McGee and Gibbs at the airstrip where Gibbs shoots McGee. Tony is angry at Gibbs and confronts him about it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Tony could feel the anticipation mounting. Sitting in the car next to Tim, knowing Gibbs was on the roof of the tower, rifle in hand, sniper senses on high alert.
"Got eyes on you, DiNozzo, McGee." He said in their ears.
"Copy that, Boss." Tony replied.
"No sign of Bishop or Merriweather." Tim said.
"Hold your position." Tony tuned out most of what was said then, mostly about the tower height and wind direction, until he heard Sloane's voice.
"We got a plane!" She said.
"Where?" Gibbs growled.
"Uh…east. East of you." Sloane said.
"Near the hangers, DiNozzo." Vance snapped.
"Got it." Tony replied.
"That's Merriweather." Gibbs said.
"Have a visual. In pursuit." Tim reported.
"Thermal imaging shows a pilot. Two passengers." Vance said.
"That's got to be Merriweather and Bishop." Tim said.
"Merriweather is not doing the trade, guys! They're taking off." There was a pause in chatter when Tony stepped down harder on the gas trying to get far enough ahead of the plane to cut it off.
"What the hell is that?" he heard Vance in his ear, "Oh, god."
"A bomb." Sloane gasped.
"A what?!" Tony pulled across in front of the plane, McGee jumped out and pulled his gun.
"NCIS!" He yelled. Tony watched as McGee started to advance on the plane.
"MCGEE!" He shouted but the Agent kept moving. Tony could hear Vance and Gibbs in her ear, Tim couldn't hear them, for some reason his comms were down.
"McGee! It's a trap! There's a bomb on that plane. Get out of there, now!" Vance snaped.
"All right, Boss, cover me. I'm going in." Tim said.
"McGee, get your ass back in the car." Gibbs snarled into comms.
"TIM!" Tony shouted again.
"Tim, raise your hand if you can hear me." Gibbs said, nothing no response.
"His comms are out. DiNozzo, can you hear me?" Vance checked to make sure.
"Loud and clear, Director. I've tried to call him back but he'd ignoring me." Tony said, his tone was worried.
"That plane's gonna blow, Gibbs. Get him out of there, now." Vance ordered.
"What about Bishop?" Sloane asked.
"You want one dead agent or two? Gibbs, do you copy?" Vance growled.
"Copy." The first gunshot missed Tim by inches.
"TIM! Get back in this car!" Tony shouted getting out of the car and watching his friend.
"He's not stopping." Vance stated.
"He's not gonna stop." The second hit his shoulder. Tony fought the urge to run to him, he knew who was shooting, and he knew why, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
"Gibbs! What are you doing?!" Sloane voice sounded in comms.
"What he has to." Vance said.
"Damn it, McGee. Stay down." Gibbs sighed.
"Gibbs…you're gonna have to shoot him. Stop him. I'll run to him and help him, but stop him." Tony said into his comms, knowing Gibbs could hear him.
"Copy that, DiNozzo." The third a final shot rang out, dropping McGee like a stone.
"TIM!" Tony's voice rang out, both across the airfield and their comms, he ran to his friend, pressing down on the wound in Tim's leg, knowing that it was bleeding far too much. But Tony just pressed harder trying to slow the bleeding, even as the heat from the explosion rocked them both and Tony felt the hair on his arms singe.
Tony was sitting by McGee's bed when the door opened. Tony knew he'd told him to do it, but he still feels like it was Gibbs' fault that McGee is here.
"You couldn't shoot him anywhere else but the thigh?" Tony whispered.
"Biggest area." Gibbs shrugged.
"Yeah, but your shot nicked his femoral artery, Gibbs! He could have died if I wasn't there!" Tony snapped.
"Lucky you were then." Gibbs said.
"I should have tried harder to stop him, then he wouldn't be here." Tony said.
"You can't always stop them, Tony." Gibbs told him.
"But Tim is my little brother, Gibbs. I'm supposed to look after him. I'm supposed to protect him." Tony said, firmly.
"He's not on your team anymore, Tony. Not your responsibility." Gibbs said.
"Maybe not. But he's still family. I know you were following orders, but I didn't say thigh." Tony snarled.
"No, you didn't. you wanted me to shoot him though, to stop him." Gibbs said.
"This not my fault. This is all on you!" Tony snapped.
"Yeah, DiNozzo, it is. All on me. But you are the one who told me to shoot him!" Gibbs argued.
"I didn't tell you to kill him!" The silence was deafening, "You know what? I have to go; my team has got a case." Tony said brusquely.
"DiNozzo…I don't regret my choice; I do regret the position of the shot." Gibbs whispered.
"Yeah, Gibbs. I know." Tony murmured as he closed the door behind him and left his ex-boss in the hospital room sitting with the man that he had missed the femoral artery of by one millimeter. You got to live with that now, Gibbs, Tony thought, but you were right…I did say shoot him.