Yes, I know it's been awhile. Two more chapters to go after this one, which will be posted tomorrow and (hopefully) Wednesday.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Yadda yadda.


Part 3

Gibbs swore as he brought the MCRT truck to a halt, stopping just a couple of yards shy of the obstruction that blocked their path. The large pine tree lay completely across the road, its huge trunk a shocking reminder of the power of the storm that had blown through. Gibbs glanced over at Ziva and saw that she was struggling to remain composed, well aware of what the destruction they saw ahead of them might mean for the safety of the rest of their team.

Gibbs climbed out of the truck to get a better look at the obstacle in front of him. He rapped on the trunk and the hope that maybe it wasn't going to be as bad as he thought vanished. There was no way they could move the tree, and further down the road he could see similar debris blocking it. He turned back to the truck and saw both Ducky and Palmer approaching.

"It appears that the damage is much worse than we had expected, Jethro," Ducky commented when he reached the lead agent.

"It looks like someone went through here with a giant weed-whacker," said Jimmy, and blushed when he saw the look Gibbs gave him. "Sorry…"

"We must make it the rest of the way on foot." said Ziva as she joined them. "It is only another mile to the house."

Before Gibbs could respond they all heard the rumble of a large vehicle approaching. They turned and saw an extended cab pick up truck, obviously designed for off-road driving. After the driver brought the truck to a halt behind the M.E.'s van, Five burly men, all dressed in heavy camouflage jackets and caps climbed out of the cab and another emerged from the back of the truck. The driver approached Gibbs as the rest moved to the cargo area.

"You the Navy cops?" the man asked. "Ted, er, Trooper Elgin said you'd need some help getting to your people out at the Campbell place."

"Looks that way. Agent Gibbs." He tilted his head toward Ziva and then toward Ducky and Palmer. "Agent David, our medical examiner Dr. Mallard and his assistant, Jimmy Palmer."

"Gus Rickman." He turned and yelled back toward the truck. "Jesse! Bring some extra gloves." The youngest of the group nodded and returned to his job of unloading the truck. Soon they were joined by the rest of the men and Gus made quick introductions. "My sons: Bill, Craig, and Jesse; my brother Tanner and my cousin Dylan." The men all gave them brief nods, and Jesse handed pairs of work gloves to Gibbs, Ducky and Palmer. Ziva held her hand out for a pair and the young man blushed.

"Sorry, ma'am, I—" She gave him a withering look, took the gloves Palmer had been given and immediately turned to follow the men who were heading for the tree, chainsaws in hand. Gibbs smirked and shook his head, while Gus chuckled.

"Guess that answered that question. Better go get another pair for…Jimmy, was it?" Palmer nodded and Jesse ran back to the truck as the sounds of chainsaws filled the air.

"This area was hit bad," Gus yelled over the noise. "Ted's trying to get a med-evac chopper on stand-by, just in case."

"Appreciate that," Gibbs yelled in reply. He hoped they wouldn't need it, but after seeing the destruction first hand, he had begun to fear the worst.

The group made relatively quick work of the tree, cutting in into movable pieces and opening up a gap wide enough for the vehicles to move through. The three brothers ran ahead, clearing the smaller but still impassible pieces of debris from the road until they reached the next downed tree. To Gibbs, the process was taking far too long as his worry for his agents increased, but he kept silent and kept working, hoping that they weren't already too late.

Finally they reached the last curve in the road and the farm came into view, the sight of which caused Gibbs breath to catch in his throat and prompted a soft curse from Ziva. The destruction here was almost complete: the house was shifted off its foundation and tilted at a dangerous angle; the roof was completely gone and the remains of which were scattered across the surrounding fields along with most of what had probably been the barn and a few other small outbuildings; two huge trees that flanked the driveway were missing their tops, and the sight of an agency sedan crushed roof-first into one of those trees had Ziva jumping out of the truck before Gibbs had managed to bring it to a full stop and running towards the mangled vehicle. Gibbs threw the truck into park and ran after her as she called out for them.

"Tony! McGee!"

Gibbs saw Ziva reach the car and look inside before her shoulders slumped in relief and she turned to him.

"They are not here, Gibbs." She looked around, her usual calm façade all but gone. "Tony! McGee! Where are you?" Suddenly she froze and Gibbs followed her gaze. A pale, bloody arm was protruding from beneath a pile of debris about forty yards from the remains of the house.

Gibbs barely noticed that they had been joined by the rest of the group as he and Ziva ran towards their gruesome discovery. When they reached it, they immediately saw that it could not have belonged to either Tony or McGee, as neither man bore a tattoo on their left bicep.

"Aw, damn…"

Gibbs and Ziva turned to see the group that had followed them. The older men looked sorrowful, while the youngest looked as if he might be sick.

"Poor Lenny. Hell of a way to go," muttered Gus as he removed his cap and held it over his heart. The others followed suit.

"This is Leonard Campbell?"

"Looks like it. I remember when he got that tat." Gus sighed. "Guess we better tell the sheriff."

"No need. He's the reason we came out here in the first place. We'll handle it." Gibbs glanced at Ducky, who nodded and instructed Jimmy to go get their gear. "In the mean time, we still have two missing agents."

"Happy to help search for them, Agent Gibbs."

Gibbs thanked the man and gave the group brief instructions before they spread out to search the area while Gibbs and Ziva headed for the house.

"You do not think they…?" Ziva began as they reached the rickety building.

"I don't know, Ziva. DiNozzo!" he yelled. "McGee!"

"Tony! McGee!" Ziva echoed as they searched the rubble for signs of their team. Gibbs listened, hoping to hear a response, and fearing that he never would.

XXX

Tony checked his watch again and struggled to remain calm. It had been nearly two hours since the cave-in, and McGee was still unconscious. The bleeding from his newest head wound had finally stopped, and Tony was keeping a tight grip on Tim's wrist to assure himself it was due to natural clotting rather than the loss of a heartbeat. The pulse in the younger man's wrist was weak but steady, and Tony could only hope that it stayed that way until help arrived.

"Gibbs should have been here by now, Probie," he muttered. "What the hell is taking him so long?" There was no response, so Tony had to provide one on his own. "Yeah, I know, we don't know how bad it is out there. He's probably fighting treacherous roads and crossing raging torrents to get here. Not even Nature's fury can stop the man, right?" Still no response. "Aw, come on, Tim, don't do this too me. Do you have any idea what Gibbs will do to me if something bad…really bad happens to you?" He waited for some sort of response but Tim remained silent and still. He was so pale that Tony really had to rely on the weak beat he could still feel under the fingers wrapped around Tim's wrist to convince himself that his partner still remained among the living.

Tony sat in silence for a few more minutes, acutely aware that the temperature had been steadily dropping for the past hour and what that could mean for both of them.

"Alright, Probie, listen up. If you don't wake up right now I'm going to tell Abby about your freaky circus girlfriend. You know she'll never let you live that one down." He paused, waiting for some acknowledgement of the threat but Tim never moved. Tony felt a surge of guilt at his rather callous attempt to awaken his partner. He placed a gentle hand on the younger man's forehead and leaned over to speak in his ear. "Tim? You know what Gibbs would do in this situation, don't you? He'd tell you that you don't have permission to die. I know I'm not Gibbs, but…I'm not giving you permission either. Do you understand me, buddy?" For a moment Tony thought he saw a brief twitch of McGee's eyelid, but that was all. "Come on, man, I know you can hear me." Nothing.

Damn it…

Tony was about to try to rouse McGee one more time when he thought he heard a familiar voice.

"Tony! McGee!"

"Ziva?" He listened carefully, but he didn't hear it again. "Must be wishful thinking, Probie…"

He continued to listen, unconsciously stroking McGee's head, as much to comfort himself as his partner. Suddenly he heard another voice, one he had been hoping to hear.

"DiNozzo! McGee!"

"Boss?" He heard the first voice again.

"Tony! McGee!"

"Ziva?" He sighed in relief. "Told you they'd be here, Tim." He gathered all of his strength and yelled. "BOSS! ZIVA!" He paused to listen and grinned when he heard a response.

"Tony! Where are you?"

"CELLAR!"

He glanced at McGee, hoping that the yelling would finally awaken him, but McGee remained silent and still. Soon he heard footsteps and a face appeared in the gap above them.

"Hey, Boss. Damn am I glad to see you!" Tony's mood sobered quickly as he remembered his primary concern. "You need to get McGee out of here, Boss. He…I can't get him to wake up." Gibbs disappeared for a moment and Tony heard him tell Ziva to go get Ducky before he reappeared.

"What happened?"

"We came down here to get away from the tornado. McGee got knocked out but I woke him up. He was pinned by some beams, I got one of them off, but I couldn't budge the other one…did the best I could but my ankle's busted. We were waiting for help, just talking, and another part of the ceiling…floor, whatever came down." Tony pointed to the imbedded beam. "He warned me in time and I got out of the way, but…he got knocked out again. Been out ever since, probably a couple of hours." Tony took a deep breath. "He saved my life, Boss, and I…I can't help him."

Before Gibbs could reply, Ducky appeared next to him.

"Anthony, are you all right?"

"Fine, Ducky, except for my ankle, but McGee, he's in bad shape. We've got to get him out of here."

"Don't worry lad, we will." Ducky turned and called out instructions to Palmer to bring his medical kit. "Jethro, I need a way to get down there."

Tony relaxed a little as he realized help was coming for Tim and himself and he leaned over to speak to the still unconscious man. "We're going to get you out of here, Probie. Just hang on." He experienced a moment of terror when he could no longer feel the weak beat beneath his fingers, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realized they had slipped off the pulse point. He quickly found it again and his worry returned. Tim's pulse had slowed considerably. "Tim? Come on, man, don't do this, not now." The beat remained steady, but still too slow for Tony's comfort. "Ducky!" he yelled and immediately drew Gibbs' attention.

"Tony? What's wrong?"

"It's McGee, he…he's getting worse, Boss. Please, tell Ducky to hurry." He heard Gibbs barking orders, and soon he heard several unfamiliar voices before a rather beat-up ladder was lowered into the cellar and Ducky descended, followed almost immediately by Gibbs. Ducky carefully made his way around the debris and knelt by McGee's prone form as he started to examine him. Tony anxiously watched the M.E. as he checked over the younger agent and struggled to take McGee's vitals without moving him too much.

Tony let out a startled yelp when something touched his injured ankle and turned to see Palmer who stammered an apology.

"S-sorry, Tony."

Tony winced and returned his attention to Ducky. "How bad is he?"

The M.E. looked up at Gibbs, who had been silently watching both of his agents. "Please tell Mr. Rickman that we will be needing the emergency transport, as soon as possible." He turned to Tony. "I'll be able better assess him once we get him out of here, but right now his pulse and respiration are dangerously low." He pulled down the blanket and examined McGee's battered body. "Good Lord…" Tony leaned closer and winced as Ducky uncovered more wounds scattered across Tim's back.

"Anthony, please." He gave Tony a reproachful look before turning to his assistant. "Mr. Palmer, prepare Agent DiNozzo for transport."

"No, Ducky, take care of Tim first, he—"

"We need to get you out first, Tony, so we can help McGee," Gibbs replied and received a nod of thanks from Ducky.

"But—"

"Come on, Tony," said Gibbs as he and Palmer helped the agent up off the floor and helped him balance on one leg. Palmer secured a makeshift harness around him and soon two burly men appeared at the gap in the ceiling to help pull him to safety.

"Be careful of his leg," instructed Palmer, and, surprisingly gently, the men hoisted him out of the cellar and carried him to the MCRT truck where Ziva waited. She wrapped a thermal blanket around him and helped him climb up into the truck where she propped his ankle up into a slightly more comfortable position. He ignored her questions and Palmer's ministrations, his focus on the man still trapped in that basement.

XXX

After he saw that Tony was being taken care of, Gibbs returned to the cellar just as Bill and Dylan arrived with one of the gurneys from the M.E.'s van. He tried not to think about the significance of Tim being placed on a gurney that normally carried the dead and crouched down next to Ducky.

"How is he, Duck?"

"The sooner we can get him out of here, the better."

"Ted said the chopper can be here in about 20 minutes," said Bill. "That's the best they can do. Too many folks injured and not enough space at the local hospital."

"What's the next closest medical facility?"

Bill glanced at Dylan. "Probably Staunton," the older man replied. "It's about forty five minutes by car."

"We'll drive him there if we have to, then. First we need to get this beam off his legs." Gibbs and the two men worked on it and were finally able to move the larger timber away from McGee. Ducky gently felt the area where it had rested for far too long and grimaced. "I suspect that there are pressure fractures present, but I can't be sure without x-rays." He continued his exam and paused. "He has some swelling in his lower back, probably from the other beam. We must be extremely careful moving him. I wish we had time to wait for the emergency staff, but-"

"We can help," said Bill, and drew a surprised look from both Ducky and Gibbs. "Me an' Dylan are both trained as EMTs." Ducky studied them for a moment and nodded.

"All right, let's get started."

The two men and Ducky were able to get McGee onto the gurney without jostling him more than necessary, although Ducky was worried that none of their manipulations had managed to wake the agent. With the help of the rest of the Rickmans, they were able to raise the gurney out of the cellar and quickly carried McGee to the M.E.'s van. Tony saw them approach and started to rise from his seat in the truck, only to be restrained by Ziva and Palmer.

"Boss! Is he-?"

"He's alive. The med-evac chopper should be here soon. He'll be OK, Tony."

Tony nodded, although he didn't look convinced as he stared at the still form on the gurney.

Gibbs looked down at his agent and placed a hand on his forehead. He was much more worried than he wanted to let on, but he spoke to the unconscious man with the confidence his team expected of him. "You will be all right, McGee. That's an order."

TBC…