Thank you all so much for the comments and the feedback. It helps to keep the muse motivated.

Tony drummed his fingers on the car's wheel in time to the beat of the music streaming out of the radio. He was working hard not to take his bad mood out on McGee. It wasn't the other man's fault that Gibbs felt their entire lives should revolve around the NCIS. If he were honest, Tony would have to admit that mostly his life was devoted to his job. But just once he would like Gibbs to ask if they had other plans before disrupting their lives.

He sighed, he knew should call and cancel his plans for the evening. But he was waiting, for what he didn't know. He just couldn't bare to cause the disappointment he knew would ensue from his phone call.

McGee sat next to him sulking. Tony wasn't sure why Gibbs had sent him along. He wasn't a really good people person. When it came to questioning witnesses, you needed someone with social skills, someone who could read body language and judge if they were telling the truth, see if they might be involved somehow. McGee was too easily led down the garden path. Tony knew that from personal experience.

"Maybe because he might learn from you, Dinozzo," Tony heard Gibbs as plainly as if he were sitting in the car next to him. Well sure he needed to learn, but that was no reason to ruin both of their evenings.

"Grrrr….," Tony growled as he applied the brake when the car in front of him slowed down. He could see the line of cars stretching ahead of him with their brake lights on and he reconsidered their route. He was still hoping to make it back to NCIS in time to salvage some small part of his evening.

"Hold on, McGee," he instructed, turning onto a side street.

"Are you sure this is the right way, Tony?" the other man asked, peering out his window anxiously.

"When you're driving you can decide which way we go, McGee." Skillfully he maneuvered the SUV and soon they'd left the line of cars behind. Technically this route was a little longer but there was no traffic so it might cut down on their travel time.

"Why do you do that?" McGee's asked idly.

He glanced at the other man quickly, "Do?"

"Why don't you just answer the question, 'yes, I'm sure this is the right way, McGee'?"

Tony hid a smile, "Why don't you just trust me to know where we're going?" he countered.

McGee was quiet a moment, staring out the window before asking hesitantly, "What case are we working on anyway?"

That did surprise Tony, "You don't know?"

"Dead marine, right?"

Tony nodded, "Yeah, but you heard Kate say that. What else?"

"You guys did this without me, remember. I was working with Abby on another case."

Dinozzo snorted. "Working with Abby. Right."

"I was," the defensive squeak was in his voice, and Tony smiled.

"Whatever you want to call it. Just don't let Gibbs catch you. I'd hate for us to lose Abbs. She's the best." Tony knew by the intake of breath that McGee had gotten the not-so-subtle dig.

"Anyway," he finally relented giving the other man a quick run down, "a body of a marine was found this morning in a deserted alley. There was no ID on the body, no name tag, no nothing to tell us who he was."

McGee was intrigued, "Fingerprints?"

"They were working on it." Tony checked his rear view mirror before turning onto the dark road that was his shortcut. They had left the city well behind now. The dark pressed in all around them, the lights of the car the only illumination to show him the way. Along their right was a guard rail and then a sharp drop.

"Well then how do we know he was a marine?" It was an astute observation, one that Tony had already arrived at, but wasn't voicing until they had more facts. He was impressed with McGee, he was learning.

"Besides the fact that he was in a marine uniform? We don't. But since the John Doe was in a marine uniform, we were handed the case. So let's hope this witness can help us out. I hate to see people get buried as a John Doe. There's got to be someone out there that knows who he is and cares if he's dead."

The thoughtful tone in Tony's voice caught McGee's attention. It surprised him that the other man might care about some nameless, faceless person. Since coming to NCIS they had been on permanent battle status with each other. It was the first time that he had seen any sort of chink in the air of bravado that Tony habitually wore.

"Hey, you want to grab the map out of the glove box there? I think this road should join back up to the main road in a few miles, I just want to make sure."

"You don't know?" McGee couldn't believe the man. He always charged ahead like he knew what he was doing. "What happened to trusting you to know where we're going?"

Tony flashed him that smile that always charmed the ladies, "So sue me. Just look will you?" Tony flipped out his phone while McGee dug through the glove compartment for the map. Time for the phone call. He punched in the number, keeping his eye on the road.

The phone rang in his ear and then was answered. "Hello."

"Hey, Nanc," Tony glanced over at McGee.

He had the map out, turning it, "Where are we?" he muttered to no one in particular.

"Tony? Is everything okay?" Nancy's voice sounded concerned. Well yea, he was due there right like 10 minutes ago.

"I'm really sorry, something's come up. I'm going to have to cancel tonight. Can I talk to…" There was a strange pop and the steering wheel spun wildly in his hands. The SUV skidded into a spin. Without thinking he dropped the phone, grabbing the wheel with both hands. "McGee, hold on," he instructed grimly as they headed for the guard rail.

There was a second as they hit the rail when they seemed to hang in the air. It gave Tony time to see what lay down the embankment. It so wasn't good. Then they hit the ground and started rolling. Incongruously the air bag inflated in his face, then something hit him in the head. There was an explosion of pain and everything went black…