A/N: I apologise if the medical jargon or facts are a little twisted. I did take the time to look stuff up for this. Lots of time.
Enjoy!


Four hours later

The crime scene was processed, McGee's car towed back to Abby's lab and processed and all of Tim's team was now restlessly waiting for news of his condition. Abby was only able to be there because she had requested that Vance give her as much help as possible with the forensic testing on everything. She didn't want to be at it all night. No, they had to have answers sooner than one person could provide.

Vance had given her all the help she'd asked for in the form of extra people who knew forensics and had even taken the time to talk to her about the notes. After talking with Abby, the Director had then gone to the hospital to talk to Ducky and Gibbs; both of whom, he'd located in the waiting room; one sitting patiently with worry written in every line of his face,while the other paced restlessly with the look of murderous intent written all over him. Sitting down with both of them in the cafeteria, making them eat something, even though they hadn't heard any update on Tim, had taken a herculean effort on Vance's part. He'd gotten it accomplished though and once he'd gotten caught up on the case as much as he could be, he had headed to the crime scene to see for himself, what had taken place out there, leaving Gibbs to check the security detail out, and be there for the update on his agent.

Tony and Ziva had been shocked to see Vance show up at the scene. Both of them cautiously processing the scene, looking exhaustively for the shell casings, hoping to find them when he arrived. When he'd noticed the sherrif's officers standing guard at the scene, Vance had automatically checked the area visually himself. Seeing up close and personal, the water level of the river, the tire tracks where Tim had left the road and gone airborne, had shaken Leon.

Seeing Gibbs' agents look so somber while they fought to hold in their obvious anger and concern, had hit a compassionate nerve in Vance. It wasn't every day that one of your teammates came this close to dying, and might still. Vance had known that worry was going through their minds and he'd felt for them. As he'd watched their progress in the search for the shell casings, he'd been as relieved as they obviously were when the two casings were finally located in the tall grass on the side of the road, some ten feet back from where the car had left the road and gone airborne.

"Good work. Anything else left to process here?" He'd asked them.

"No, Sir." Tony had answered quietly, leaving no doubt where his heart was at the moment.

"Okay. I'll take those back to the lab. You two go on and get to the hospital. As soon as Ms Scuito gets the tests on these going, I'll send her along." Vance had promised.

Tony and Ziva had gratefully gotten in their Agency cars and left with no argument or wasted time.

Vance had kept his word and it had only been a short hour later before Abby had joined them in the waiting room. Ducky had taken her aside and explained to her what they hadn't told her earlier. Hearing that Tim had been shot twice had quickly brought Abby to tears and almost to hysteria, but Ducky had managed to calm her down with the reminder that no one wanted to keep it from her; but they had done it for her own good; and for the good of getting the forensics done without her losing focus so she could be here now when it counted.

Gibbs had spent the last four hours pacing, drinking coffee and praying. He couldn't help but fear the worst. Two gunshots was a scary scenerio in itself. Added together with the hypothermia that had been bad enough to turn Tim's lips blue and it was downright frightening to consider how Tim might be faring from it. The only thing that had calmed the situation was the fact that Tim's family had been unreachable. Them not being here to be terrified and worried about him, helped keep the emotions that were radiating around the room somewhat controllable.

Vance had attempted to call Tim's parents and his sister, only to be told the three of them were on a ski vacation in New Hampshire. To make matters worse, they were staying in a remote cabin, "trying to experience the best that nature has to offer". Well, at least this way, they'd hopefully have something solid to report to them when they were able to contact them.

Ducky was the first to notice the approaching E.R. Doctor and he quickly stood and headed toward the entrance to the waiting room. Dr. Stewart approached the bedraggled group anxiously waiting for news on their fallen Agent.

"Agent McGee?" he asked only because he had to for the record.

When the entire population of the waiting room approached like a starving herd that smelled fresh meat, Dr. Stewart put his hands out to keep some space between them and waited for them to get quiet so he could be heard.

"As I'm sure you're aware, Agent McGee was suffering from Moderate Hypothermia. His core temperature was 31 degrees, just a hair above Mild Hypothermia. This actually aided in keeping his other injuries from becoming worse for him. His metabolism had slowed enough that he was not bleeding internally too badly, nor was he shivering, due to the shock his body was experiencing. "

"Now, in regard to the bullet wounds. I must say your Agent is one very lucky young man! The 1st bullet made an entrance wound on the left upper back; in a cross section of Deltoid Muscle and Teres Minor Muscle, The path of this bullet was from back to front; where it nicked the 3rd rib before it moved straight through, leaving 'textbook' indicators of entry and exit."

"The 2nd Bullet's trajectory was visible on the right; point of entry was the Clavicular Head of Pectoralis Major muscle. Had that bullet been one ½ inch to the left, it would have hit his lung. As it was, it nicked his left scapula on its' way out; the exit wound being just below that. Again, he was fortunate, with the straight path of this bullet."

"He is extremely fortunate that no organs were hit. And even though he has serious muscle damage, a bruised rib on one side and a bruised scapula on his other side, to contend with; Agent McGee is extremely lucky it wasn't worse."

"We used an Angiography to check for blood vessel damage, as well as complete x-rays to make sure we found all the damage that was done. The first step after verifying the bullets were no longer inside, was, of course to go and repair what damage we could. Then his treatment began; debris removal, aggressive cleansing, irrigation and to be on the safe side, a tetanus shot update."

"He's been placed preventative antibiotics and i.v. fluids and will be monitored for the next few days for any signs of secondary infections or delayed swelling. Barring any such complications, he should make a full recovery, He can expect to have to undergo lots of rehabilitative therapy and will need help for a while. As I understand it, he is a full-time Field Agent?"

"Not until he's completely healed up, Doc." Gibbs vowed with the tone no one ever argued with. There was no way in hell he'd mess with Tim's recovery and he would make damn sure Tim didn't rush it either. Hearing that his agent was gonna be okay lifted the world off Gibbs shoulders and brought forth cheers from Abby and Tony, as well as smiles of relief to all their faces.

"What's his room #?" Gibbs asked, unwilling to pussyfoot around about seeing his agent.

"Agent Gibbs..." Dr. Stewart tried to explain that his patient needed his rest and wasn't up to visitors.

"Dr. I do not want my Agent to be left alone, his security detail is waiting to be told what the room # is and so are we. He will not be allowed to wake up without his team there for him" Gibbs' tone once again, accepted no argument.

"Only family..." the doctor tried to explain.

"You can save your 'only family are allowed to visit' crap. His family is unreachable, snow skiing in New Hampshire. We are his other family, Now. What. Is. His. Room. Number?" Gibbs came back at the Doctor with even more force in his tone.

"312" the doctor finally relented, knowing when he needed to quit the fight.

"Make sure everyone that goes in his room, is checked by the Security Officers at his door!" Gibbs bit out, still pissed that this Doctor had wasted so much time in a pissing contest with him.

As the group headed to Tim's room, the somber mood seemed to settle back over them, as if reminding them that Tim had been through hell, had almost died, and still had serious recovery to get through. Looking through the window to his hospital room, they all seemed to take a deep breath in tandem. Tim looked so broken and sickly, it broke their hearts.

"He's alive." Gibbs breathed out, reminding them all of the miracle they'd been granted.

"He's gonna be okay"