Author's note:

have to warn you I have a mean streak and love a good cliffie...so here is the next one, but I cant promise it is any better than the last in terms of being left hanging!

Enjoy...if thats the right phrase!

Chapter 17

Ducky's shirt sliced cleanly open; a few spots of blood bubbling onto his now bare chest, where the scalpel had nicked his skin, Ducky drew in a sharp breath but said nothing his eyes wide and staring in terrified fascination at Restin's actions.

Restin paused and looked at Ducky

"I hated all of you, the few, I should have been part of it and if it hadn't been for Gibbs I would have" he said bitterly

"You cannot blame Jethro for your being dismissed, you stole evidence in order to frame an innocent man" Ducky declared, deciding that if he was indeed to die he did not have to stay silent any longer.

"Gibbs should have kept his mouth shut" Restin declared angrily, glaring down at Ducky, the scalpel forgotten in his hand. "He was the one that told Matthews, he deserves all he is getting, as did you all, the few all dead" he laughed crazily, Ducky looked at him confused

"Constance isn't dead Scott" he said quietly, sure that Restin must know that, he went cold at Restin's laugh

"Yes she is, she died an hour ago" he laughed again, "that was where I went, I needed to check on her status, the nurse was most sympathetic to Constance's grieving brother" he told a shocked Ducky, laughing at the grief in Ducky's eyes and face.

"I had forgotten that you were close to her, but not as close as Gibbs, it has been so much nicer to know that she didn't die outright, that Gibbs might have thought he had a second chance with her" He paused, his eyes narrowing at the shock on Ducky's face

"Ahh Doctor, you really are naive sometimes, we all knew that they were in love, and that she didn't leave because she had a yen for search and rescue, she left because Gibbs told her she was too young for him, he broke her heart and I smashed it too pieces" He crowed in delight. Ducky felt his grief welling, not just for the death of Constance but also for the pain Jethro would feel at her loss.

Restin seemed to notice the scalpel in his hand again and stared at it for a moment

"Oh well Ducky enough chit chat, time to get on with it, I don't want Gibbs interrupting us now do I?" he asked

"Perhaps you don't Scott, but I suspect Ducky does" a voice said from behind Restin.

Restin spun round to see Gibbs, and Tony standing just inside the doorway, both guns trained at him. He turned to glare at Ducky for a moment, his eyes gleaming with hatred, with a sudden movement he lunged at Ducky and thrust the scalpel into his chest. The report of two guns firing filled the room and Restin's body jerked as the bullets hit his body, he seemed to stand still for a moment before his body fell on top of Ducky's blood pouring everywhere.

Gibbs and Tony rushed forward, Kate rushing in form the back entrance, Tony pushed Restin's body away from Ducky and checked for a pulse, finding none he looked up at Gibbs bending over Ducky.

Gibbs's breathing came hard and fast at the sigh of the scalpel sticking out of the left hand side of Ducky's Chest.

"Get an ambulance Kate" he shouted as he felt for a pulse, relieved to find one. Kate already had her phone out calling for aid; she stepped forward and looked down at Gibbs and Ducky. Blood seeped out of the wound; Ducky's face had taken on a pallor and greyness that scared her deeply

"Their on their way Gibbs" she said gently, taking hold of Ducky's cold hand. She then turned to Tony, still stnading over Restin's body.

"Tell McGee to bring the car here, then tell Abby to meet us at the hospital" she said quietly worried not only for Ducky but for Gibbs. They had all heard Restin gloat at Constance's death, and what Restin had said about her and Gibbs's relationship.