Tony was fascinated. As far as he could tell McGee was actually sleeping. His eyes were closed, his breathing was steady and his head was resting sloppily on his arms which were folded on the bench in front of him but if Tony moved the pizza within smell range, McGee would actually start suckling on it. He moved it back a little and watched as McGee stopped. He moved it within range again and watched McGee latch on. In out, in out.

His observations were cut short by Gibbs' sudden thwack on the back of the head. McGee sat straight up and was surprised to find a slice of pizza hanging out of his mouth. He caught it with one hand as it started to fall. For a moment he looked puzzled but then he shrugged and continued eating.

"Wow", he said through a mouthful of pizza, "That was a realistic dream".

"Whatcha got Abbs?" said Gibbs curtly.

"Oh, Bossman, you are so going to love this", she screeched, "Now this is the original recording", the snoring rang out again.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at McGee who looked down self consciously, still munching on his surprise pizza.

"And this is snoring off", the sounds of voices could be heard, "Great algorithm, huh?"

"Great", Gibbs agreed without enthusiasm.

"OK", said Abby seriously, "This is where it gets interesting." She turned the volume knob on the speakers.

A male voice said "Who did you select?"

A female voice replied "That one, that one, those three over there and him."

"The NCIS agent?" there was a low chuckle, "That took balls. Any problems?"

The female voice replied again, "Actually I nearly lost the blasted NCIS agent. He started to crash but he came back up all on his own."

"Well, that's good news anyway; the new formula seems to be helping."

"Yes. I'll do the top-up at 2 am"

There was a bold double knock at the door and the male voice swore, "He's early".

There was the sound of the door opening and then two male voices. As the second male voice came closer to the microphone, they all recognised Gibbs voice.

McGee had stopped chewing and was staring at the speakers in horror.

Gibbs face was a picture of rage. "It's not the doctor: it's the damn Captain", there was a distinct tone of malevolence in his voice.

"What happens at two?" asked Tony.

"Just hold on a moment", said Abby distractedly typing on her keyboard.

There was the sound of stomach rumblings and grinding over the speaker

"McGee!" Tony gave McGee an exasperated thwack over the head for something his stomach had done more than 36 hours earlier "we're trying to listen."

McGee almost, just almost used his elbow. It was at exactly the right height and he was in exactly the right mood. He decided to save it for another day when the atmosphere wasn't so tense. There would be other opportunities.

"Hold on, hold on", said Abby typing frantically, "I just haven't added those bits into the model. The other bit was primarily snoring so it was easier to filter out but this bit…"

"Abby!"

"Right, got it"

She played the recorded from 2 am. There was no conversation, merely light background shuffling until the woman in question moved closer to McGee.

"So Agent McGee", the tone of her voice sent shivers down McGee's back, "Let's see if you live through this one".

She sounded like she was up for a challenge.

They held a collective breath as they listened, somehow actually expecting him to die even though they knew full well he was currently sitting in the room with them.

"Maybe next time", she said ominously.

In the lab McGee gulped audibly. She had seemed so nice when he was conscious.

There was more shuffling and then some rather fluent swearing. Machines started beeping and there was the sound of paddles being charged.

The little group in the lab sat in solemn silence, waiting for the inevitable. Then they heard the phone call

"We lost another one".

Then came something more unexpected: "Yes, I tried the new antidote. It almost worked this time, I can feel it. At least it's masked."

It was Ducky who rose indignantly from his chair, "They're playing God and we've been testing the wrong damn bodies!"

They stared at him in silence as he paced the room, "They're masking whatever they are using to kill them," he explained, "What we need is the blood from someone who has had the original medication but not the antidote".

He stopped dead in his tracks. There was a maniacal glean in his eyes as he turned to McGee.

"Timothy"