A/N: Thank you all for your patience.
A special "Thank You" goes out to chelsea1234 & Shelbylou, for your help with this chapter.


Gibbs took himself out for a much needed fresh cup of coffee. This case; the murders and Tim's close call with death had everyone far enough off balance; it had Gibbs feeling like they were all falling in with some twisted game the bastards behind this were playing with them. He had to admit to himself, he was still reeling from Ducky's reaction.

In all the years Gibbs had known the Medical Examiner, Ducky had rarely, if ever, gotten that upset. Gibbs may not be a doctor but even he knew that different medications affected people differently, so it went without saying, that Ducky knew it too. Obviously; having seen where Tim landed out there where he'd been so ruthlessly shot at, topped off by the attempt on the young man's life at the hospital had thrown Ducky for quite a loop. Hell, they were all shaken by it. They would need to pull themselves back together quickly and figure this out before someone else got hurt or worse.

The strange pieces of this puzzle weren't just piling up; they also weren't sitting right with Gibbs' gut. First, there was the cell phone mystery. If Tim said he lost it, then he honestly couldn't find it when he'd been looking for it. This meant whoever was behind this was close enough to him or had gotten close enough to him to get their hands on it without Tim noticing long enough to notice. Unless there was a chance that the young man had accidentally forgotten somewhere or walked away from it for a minute and it had been taken then. But, that wouldn't explain how it got back into his gear bag without him realizing it. Everyone knew that Tim was never that careless with his work phone, anyway, so that possibility, in fact, wasn't even a possibility at all. The answer had to be in finding who was close enough or had gotten close enough to Tim to be able to get their hands on his phone without him having a problem with it and get their hands on his bag that would want to hurt him. Who did Tim know that hated Gibbs enough to go after one of his agents as an act of revenge?

Next up on the list of strange parts of this case, and Gibbs didn't like where this piece of the puzzle was leading them, not one bit; was Tim's reaction to his request for Elizabeth's phone number. As shocking as it had been, that only made it fit right in with the conclusion that had come to Gibbs' mind, and was setting up faster than quick-dry cement.

Did Tim know something? Had he seen who shot at him? Is that why he didn't want Gibbs to call Elizabeth? If he did, then when had he figured it out? If she was behind it, they would have to find her. The fact that she hadn't called looking for the near fatally wounded young man, still bothered Gibbs. It left too many unanswered questions and the only person who could answer any of them was in too much pain to be put through any hard questions he wasn't sleeping.

They would have to figure out more of the pieces before they drug him through any theories. Especially, if Gibbs was wrong. The last thing he wanted to do was cause the young man pain over this if he didn't have to. They had to protect him and themselves from that slim chance that Gibbs was wrong. But, the likelihood of that being the case was extremely slim and Gibbs knew it.

If this were any other victim, they'd be storming the gates of whatever avenue of information they had to solve it; personal invasion of privacy be damned. This shouldn't be handled any different. If at all possible, they would do this thoroughly without hurting Tim. The team had to get to the bottom of it any way they could. They would have to go through Tim's phone, as much as it would bother all of them to do it. How could they chase down this theory without violating Tim's privacy?

Yet another piece to this nightmare was the timing of the shooting. For Tim to have gotten shot twice the way he did, once in his chest and once in the back; someone had to be sitting there waiting for him; probably more than one some ones. It had been an ambush; a planned one, at that. Who knew his agent's exact location at that moment? It could have only been someone he would have called or who would have called him.

The more Gibbs agonized over it, the more he came back to the same unpleasant; hell, downright painful conclusion. Tim's Elizabeth had something to do with this attack on his agent. Somehow, the last frustrating puzzle piece; the notes; fit in here. Every fiber of Gibbs' being was screaming at him that it all came back to the woman who had wormed her way into her agent's life and taken his heart.

While Tim never discussed her with him again after that one conversation they'd had here that night, Gibbs knew there was no way Tim would have been dating this girl for this long, and not have committed his heart to her. It wasn't his way.

The delicate line between safeguarding Tim's trust in them and finding whoever had tried to kill him, was becoming blurred and Gibbs didn't see any way around it The conversation he and Tim' had had about this those three months ago came back to haunt him now:

"I think I found someone."
"Someone?"
"Yeah. A woman. A really sweet and wonderful woman. We've been dating for three months now."
"And this has you staying late and looking like the world's on your shoulders?"
"I can't handle another 'Amanda', Boss."
"You think every woman you meet now is another bad apple? That what this is about?"
"Not quite, if I did, I wouldn't have taken the chance dating Elizabeth."
"Good for you, McGee"
"Thanks, Boss."
"Checked into her?"
"Yeah. She's clean."
"Good for you, McGee."
"Thanks, Boss. I almost couldn't bring myself to do it."
"Start dating her or run a check on her?"
"Both."
"McGee, it's been six months. You still letting it rule your life?"
"It's hard for me to get past people dying because of me; among other things."...
"McGee, she didn't die because of you. She died because of who she was; what she chose to be."
"I know, Boss. It's just…."
"You finally took the chance and now you afraid of making a mistake again."
"Yeah."

"It'll be easier knowing that you know about it."

"Trust your instincts, McGee."
"I'm not sure my instincts are trustworthy anymore in my personal life, Boss."
"You haven't had a repeat occurrence have you?"
"No."
"Then your instincts are working just fine. Maybe even better than you think."
"Thanks, Boss."
"Just remember one thing, McGee. If you're not ready to do something, don't do it. The rest will fall into place, if it's meant to be."
"Thanks, Boss. Really."
"You're welcome, McGee."

It tore at Gibbs' heart to think that the first woman Tim attempted to seriously date since he'd almost been killed by the last one, would wind up being yet another painful journey down that road for the young man. The poor guy had been so careful and so cautious. Would he survive this if she was involved with trying to kill him?

This time was so much worse because his agent was the fall guy for something Gibbs had unknowingly done. Gibbs feared the answer to his questions as much as he feared his agent's reaction to the situation, should he be right. How does one survive a second woman being given your heart and trust, only to have her try to kill you? The boss had never before prayed so hard to be wrong.

As he arrived back in the squad room, Gibbs was reminded by his team's absence, that they were with Ducky, he quickly returned to his injured agent's recovery room, anxious to see how he was doing. The peaceful halls and quiet rooms bolstered Gibbs' hope that all was well. Arriving at Tim's room, he was relieved to find, that in fact, all was well. Tim was still peacefully sleeping and Jimmy, bless his heart, was still steadfastly staring at his patient, apparently too worried about missing something, to relax. Gibbs smiled a small smile and took pity on poor guy.

"Hey, Jimmy. Any problems?" Gibbs calmly asked as he laid a reassuring hand on the guy's shoulder.

"Oh, Agent Gibbs! Uh, Well, Um. No. he's been like a rock; hasn't moved a muscle the whole time you've been gone. His vital signs are normal. Whatever Dr. Mallard gave him sure did the trick." Jimmy bumbling long-winded answer reminded Gibbs of Tim's first couple of months on the team, those so many years ago, bringing a trace of nostalgic humor to the surface of the older man's mind. Allowing himself to offer a small smile, he strove to help the younger man stop being so petrified.

"Relax, Jimmy. Why don't you go find the rest of the team? They're probably with Ducky in the break room. When you find them, tell them I need to talk to them, will ya?" Gibbs asked quietly but calmly.

"Sure, Ah, Yes, Agent Gibbs." Jimmy answered as he practically flew out of the room and down the hall.

Allowing himself a snicker of amusement, Gibbs walked up to his sleeping agent and looked him over closely. His breathing still seemed normal and he wasn't moving around even now. Gibbs had gone for coffee, some 30 minutes ago and now he was glad he had. With Tim' sleeping peacefully, hopefully regaining some strength, the break had been perfectly timed. Watching the young man sleep, Gibbs couldn't help but feel heartache for Tim's future.

Although they'd watched him and helped him through tough times before; the older man feared, that this time, they may very well lose him and he prayed that this case and this close call with death wouldn't tear this young man apart. Somehow, his gut was screaming at him that he ought to know better. Especially, if he was right about Elizabeth. As the team returned to Tim's room. Gibbs immediately got back into the case; wanting it solved as soon as possible.

"Tony, get back to those notes, follow your gut and let me know what you've got. Ziva, I want those hospital security tapes gone through with a fine tooth comb! Bring me whoever carried that i.v. into McGee's room! I want an update in an hour. First, let's get down to the lab and make sure we're all up to speed on what we know so far. "

"Abby, I want you to do a trace on all calls on the phone you found in McGee's bag in the trunk. You find either of his other two phones?"

When Ducky came down the hall, Gibbs temporarily abandoned his agents to inquire if the M.E. was okay.

"Perfectly fine, Jethro. Don't know what happened earlier. Go on; find who did this to Timothy while I look after him!" Ducky replied. As Ducky settled back into his seat, once again on duty with his sleeping patient, the others went out, heading to the elevator. While they walked, Abby looked at Gibbs in shock.

"The other two cell phones are being dried out and it'll be a while before I can access any information from them. Wait! You want to dig into Tim's personal life? Gibbs! He'll never forgive us!" she accused.

"Abby, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. We need to find the person who did this" Gibbs reminded her as he pushed the elevator button for her lab's level. "We'll have to ask for his forgiveness later, after we get the person who did this."

"Gibbs, we already know they're after you! Why do we need to look anywhere else?" the lab rat questioned.

"Abby, you're forgetting something." Gibbs reminded her cryptically.

As Tony watched silently; his own brain scrambling to see what Gibbs was seeing, Abby looked at Gibbs in bewilderment. It took a split second before the light came on but then her eyes sparkled and it was clear that she had put together what Gibbs was trying to investigate

Before anyone could say anything else, they arrived at the lab's level and all piled into Abby's work space.

"Timmy doesn't lie. This means whoever did this somehow got their hands on his phone and his equipment bag without him noticing!" Abby exclaimed. "Gibbs, you are so right! It's gotta be someone he knows! Someone close to him …shot him!! Gibbs, who would ever wanna shoot Timmy? He's a good person! He doesn't hurt anyone!"

"Let's make sure we figure out who did it and get 'em, hmm?" Gibbs said as calmly as he could, despite his heart filled with rage and sadness on his agent's behalf. He needed Abby to get back to work, in top form and with all of her concentration where it needed to be.

"We ARE gonna find out who did this to him! And you ARE gonna nail them and bring them to justice!" Abby declared with gusto.

"Or we could just let Ziva have 'em." Tony said under his breath.

Every pair of eyes turned to Tony and all of them couldn't help but offer a small smile at his voiced sentiment that they all secretly shared, even if it was just for a second. They all knew it couldn't be handled Ziva's way, but there wasn't a soul among them that didn't experience that moment where they wished it could.

"Who does Timmy know that he would let near his things the way this had to be done?" Abby broke the silence with the question of the hour. Besides us, of course."

Suddenly a most unpleasant thought passed through Tony's mind. Before he could stop the words, they were out of his mouth in a loud rush of sarcastic anger:

"God, please tell me it's not another girlfriend!"