Chapter 2
Gibbs walked into the hospital room, partially still angry and vowing revenge to whoever hurt his baby sister, whoever had Jenny, but partially realizing how lucky he was that Shelby had made it this far. The position of the gunshot, the amount of blood lost, the fact that it had taken far too long for the ambulance to get to them due to a bus accident nearby…everything had been against her.

Shelby's blue eyes opened, looking around the room, trying to focus, and he forced a smile for her. "Hey."

"Hey." Her voice was quiet and she seemed so tiny, so fragile. "You okay?"

He could help but smile. Only one other person could be hurt and still worry about him. "Yeah. I'm doing fine. Ducky's talking to your doctors, so you're going to be fine too. Get out of here real soon."

"Is Jenny okay?"

He paused, trying to find the words to tell her without upsetting her. He finally realized that there was no good way to say what he needed to. "We think the people that shot you took her." He could see her blue eyes welling up with tears. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. We'll find her." He paused for a moment. "Honey, I need to know...Do you remember anything about what happened?"

She shook her head. "I know we went shopping, because we've had it scheduled for two weeks, but...I don't remember going or getting there. The last thing I remember was fighting with you."

He nodded, the words having haunted him from the moment he'd gotten the call. "I'm sorry, honey. You know I didn't mean that, right?"

She nodded. "I know."

He watched her as she drifted back to sleep and then woke up again, startled, trying to fight it. "It's okay. It's the pain meds." He brushed some hair out of her face. "I'm going to leave Tony here with you, okay? He's going to make sure you have whatever you need." He didn't tell her the real reason he was leaving Tony there was that if the kidnappers thought she knew anything, knew that she'd lived, they might come back.

"Tony?" Her face lit up briefly.

"Yeah. Tony. Try to stay out of trouble, okay? And I'll bring Jenny to see you just as soon as she comes home." He tried to make his voice sound matter-of-fact, like there was no other outcome, much more assured than he actually felt.

"Okay." Her voice was quiet again and he felt a twinge of regret at leaving her, but was leaving her with the only agent he knew he could entrust her to.

Gibbs walked back outside, looking older than his years, and Tony Diznozzo approached him. "Boss?"

"I want you to stay with Shelby. Anything happens...call me." He wished he could be in two places at once, but knew he'd be more useful actually doing something than sitting and waiting.

Tony nodded. "First thing, boss." He knew Shelby being shot was killing a part of his friend, remembering his wife and daughter, knowing just how lucky Shelby had been.

"Thanks, Tony." He walked off as Tony looked into the room. Shelby was so pale and still that he barely recognized her and his heart broke.

He had met Shelby Gibbs years ago, on Spring Break, when he'd been an oversexed fraternity jock and she'd been a freshman from another school that didn't know his reputation. She'd been the first female he'd ever known with both beauty and brains; the fact that she was as opinionated and stubborn as her brother didn't hurt either. He didn't believe in soul mates, but, if he had, Shelby would have been a prime example of his. She'd been the only girl he ever liked that he didn't sleep with, a fact that he credited for their long friendship. When he was looking to get out of Baltimore, it had been her who'd introduced him to Gibbs, talked him into giving NCIS a try. She was still his best friend, even after sixteen years, and one of the few girls he'd ever really loved.

Gibbs met up with Ziva David and Tim McGee at the NCIS garage. "We got the contents of Shelby's car," McGee said. "There's not much here. Some packages, cds, sunglasses…"

"Anything useful, McGee?" He asked, not liking to look through his sister's things, but knowing if there was a possibility that it could tell him where Jenny was, he was going to look through them.

He shook his head. "But…" He started and then stopped.

"But what, Tim?" Gibbs gave McGee as much as attention as he could muster.

"Jenny's coat's here, along with her purse," Ziva answered for him.

He thought about what they were saying and realized how cold it had been during recent nights, how cold it was outside as they stood there, and Jenny didn't have her coat. For the first time, it made everything sink in, everything seem real. "Ziva, wake Cynthia up. Tell her to get here now. Ask her about anything and everything that might have happened in the past few weeks." He hadn't noticed that Jenny had been upset, but then again, he wasn't really paying that much attention either. "Tim, go up and do the same to Shelby's office. Check her computer, everything, and then go to her place, check there." It occurred to him, briefly, that he could be reading the situation all wrong, that they'd shot Shelby, trying to kill her, and taken the witness, not knowing who they had. Although it seemed improbable, he had to check from both angles, not able to afford wasting time.

"What can I do?" Abby Scuito asked from behind him, none of them having noticed her come in.

He turned and looked at her, grateful for the help. "Do your stuff on the car. I want to know fingerprints, hair samples…"

"I've got their fingerprints on file," she said, thinking of them having to get printed to work at NCIS. "But not DNA."

"I'll get you some." He promised.

She nodded. "Gibbs?" She hugged him and then let him go. "You're going to get her back." He nodded. "Is Shelby okay?"

"Yeah. Tony's babysitting." He hugged Abby back, his eyes catching Jenny's coat. "Let's get to work."