Abby was sitting beside McGee's bed when they arrived, holding his hand and silently watching over him at close range. Very close range; her face only was only six inches from his and she was peering at him intently as though she was trying to read his mind. Ziva was sitting in a chair engrossed in a magazine with her bandaged leg propped up on a third chair positioned in front of her and a pair of crutches leaning against the wall behind her.

"Hey Tony", said Abby quietly as they entered without shifting her gaze.

"Hey Abbs", Tony replied, matching the volume, "How's he going?"

"OK, they say", she looked up at him and noticed he had company, "Oh hi", she said without enthusiasm, "You must be McGee's woman: 'Spanish Rose' lady"

Ziva looked up suddenly from her reading to scrutinize the woman. She certainly looked better than the last time she had seen her. Not being kidnapped seemed to agree with her.

"Don't you start", Lieutenant Sullivan crossed her arms determinedly, "Tim's already given me an earful over that password".

"Well, it was cracked by a two-hundred year old M.E. with the ink still wet on his profiling masters." Abby pointed out.

"Yeah, but it kept you two up all night, didn't it?", Lieutenant Sullivan shot back, "I bet you were looking for a 10 character, mixed case, alpha numeric with special characters, weren't you?"

"Well, yeah", Abby thought that much must be obvious.

"Well, who do you think I was trying to protect it from?"

Abby eyed her suspiciously, and then decided to drop it.

Lieutenant Sullivan stared down at the frail body on the bed in front of her. He was heavily bandaged down one side and there seemed to be all manner of tubes radiating from his body at different points. His face was pale and drawn. She could hardly believe this was the same tall, strong man she had been spending so much time with recently. He looked like he was knocking at death's door with a personalised invitation. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Ziva spoke up quickly, "So how.."

Tony's eyes opened wide in horror and he shook his head frantically at her. Ziva had obviously gone to the same 'distract the crying woman' classes he had. If he had to listen to one more moment of geek courting, someone was going to die. And it wasn't going to be pretty.

"..was your trip over?" Ziva finished slowly giving Tony a confused look.

Tony closed his eyes in relief and then caught Ziva's expression. He rolled his eyes at her meaningfully and saw a smirk play across Ziva's lips.

Lieutenant Sullivan sniffed and dug out a soggy white mass from her purse which had obviously been a tissue in happier times. "Oh, he kept me distracted recounting how Tim and I met.." her voice cracked a little and Tony and Ziva steeled themselves for the onslaught.

As if on cue, McGee took a deep breath and his eyelids fluttered open. He blinked slowly at the image before him, decomposing Abby's face into its vector components in his mind and pattern matching across his internal databank.

"Hey Abbs", he said quietly.

"Hey McGee, how're you feeling?"

"Sore", he admitted groggily, "What happened?"

"Ziva's contact shot you," came Tony's voice from the other side of the bed.

McGee continued staring at Abby in confusion, "You sound just like Tony. I didn't even see your lips move".

Abby shook her head in amusement, "You're really not quite with us yet are you?" she patted his hand.

He frowned at her, "What day is it?" he asked.

"Friday", said Abby gently, "Friday night."

McGee's eyes opened wide, "Friday night", he gasped, "I've got to go!"

He struggled to sit up in the bed but fell back with a yelp as an agonising pain shot through his chest. He grimaced in pain for a moment, panting heavily.

"Abby", he said urgently through gritted teeth, "You've got to do me a favour…".

"Already taken care of.." this time McGee turned at the voice and saw her standing there.

"Oh, thank God", he breathed, "I didn't want you to think I'd stood you up."

"No, Tony tracked me down".

McGee gave Tony a puzzled look, "but how did you find her, I didn't tell you anything?"

"A good investigator doesn't need much to go on", Tony lectured him.

"Well, Tony, I must say I am impressed", McGee smiled tiredly at him.

"Well, girls", said Tony sending Abby a knowing glance, while offering his arm to Ziva so that she could lever herself out of the chair "We might want to leave these two alone."

Abby seemed reluctant to leave, lingering next to McGee's side as Tony gathered Ziva's crutches and passed them to her.

"Coming?" he prompted Abby again as Ziva hobbled towards the door.

"OK", she relented quietly and Tony put a friendly arm around her shoulder with the express purpose of guiding her out the door. Once he had her out, Tony shut the door firmly and ducked back to McGee's bedside.

"We'll be right outside", he said, "If you need to tell us anything".

As he spoke, Tony slid his hand under McGee's sheets. McGee looked up at him questioningly as he felt Tony's arm bumped along his own, but Tony only smiled. Then he felt Tony nudge his hand a couple of times with something hard and he took the hint and grabbed the item. It was a small box. Tony removed his hand quickly and watched McGee's face until he saw recognition wash over it.

"Thanks Tony", he said quietly.

As Tony left, McGee turned to the beautiful woman at his bedside. "I was, ah meaning to ask you something tonight," he started.

"I thought you might be", she smiled and pulled up a chair next to him.

He smiled at her, this was so much easier than he thought, except that he felt like crap and his eyes were threatening to crash down any second, "Would you, ah, consider, marrying me?"

"Of course", she smiled back.

McGee slid the small box out from under the bed and then froze. There was a gunshot hole through the center. "What the…"

But Lieutenant Sullivan just took it from him and opened it. "It's beautiful", she smiled, carefully extracting the partially mangled ring and wriggling it on her finger.

"Ah, that's not what it used to look like," he started.

"I like it", she laughed, "It's a one off! Besides, it reminds me of you."

"What, warped?"

"No, your job, what you do, how we met, all those things".

"I'm glad", he breathed and his eyes slid shut.