I was gonna update this weekend, but Charlie was a derp and didn't give me her notebook. Anyways, this chapter will be fairly depressing...just a fair warning. This chapter is also the reason I made Charlie write an alternate ending.

Oh, and I wanted to give a shout-out to CriminalMindsLove1 (love that penname, by the way), who guessed my quote correctly. If you didn't know, my quote was from the character of Barney Stinson from the show How I Met Your Mother.

Disclaimer:...You know the drill. I don't own NCIS, blah blah blah. Moving on to the actual story!

Xhail slept soundly on Tony's back, covered by his coat, while he trudged though the snow. Tony coughed and his mind wandered back to the syringe Chad had stabbed him with. Had it made him sick? Were Gibbs and Tony dying at that very moment? Had Xhail and Ethan been given the same thing?

Tony's eyes flicked to Gibbs, who was stumbling through the snow, leading the group. Gibbs was dying. The infection mixed with whatever sickness Landon had given them was taking its toll. His body couldn't fight both at once.

Xhail stirred and lifted her head slightly. She asked to be let down and walked in between Gibbs and Tony with Tony's coat wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Ethan ran up and clung to his sister, both of them desperately trying to get warm. At the back of the group, someone whistled the tune 'Stand By Me'. Tony laughed to himself.

"What's so funny, DiNozzo?" Gibbs grunted.

"I forgot to make a movie reference," Tony laughed. "And I just had one handed to me."

"What's that?"

On any other day, Gibbs wouldn't have asked, but at that moment he needed something to take his minds off the pain that was steadily growing. The infection hadn't spread to his lungs yet, so he was lucky. The others didn't know how bad off he really was, not even Tony. Gibbs could hardly walk. They needed to find civilization soon or he was going to die out there.

"Stand by Me," Tony said.

"Never seen it," Gibbs replied.

"Come on, Boss," Tony whined. "It's right down your alley!"

"What's it about?"

"These kids who follow train tracks through the woods in search of a dead body. You see, they think they'll get rich if they find it. So the kid, Chris's, older brother overhears them talking about the money, so it becomes a race to find the body. It ends in a tie and the older brother almost kills Chris because he wants the money. It's a great movie."

"And how does this relate?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, uh, they walked in the woods," Tony stammered.

"That's a long shot, DiNozzo."

Tony turned to ask Xhail and Ethan what they thought, but he found them to be gone. In fact, most of the group was gone. They had stopped about twenty feet back and gathered around something. Tony and Gibbs joined the group and tried to get a look at what everyone was gawking at.

Tony pushed through that crowd to find that Xhail was the source of the commotion. She lay in snow, crying softly, whispering she couldn't go on. Tony scooped her into his arms and held her tightly to his chest. An unspoken statement, saying they were to move forward, moved through the group. Tony hung towards the back of the group with Xhail and Ethan while Gibbs led the way alone.

"Do you really trust this guy?" Tony overheard a man named Hank ask his wife Sonia.

She shook her head. "I don't think he has a clue as to where he's going. He's going to get us all killed."

"Hey," Tony interrupted. "Gibbs knows what he's doing. Just be grateful he's saving your life."

"Like he saved that little girl?" Hank asked, smugly pointing to Xhail in Tony's arms.

Xhail moaned softly and buried her face in Tony's chest. Tony was about to reply rudely when he thought better of it. Hank turned away with a smug smile on his face. Anger bubbled inside Tony. He couldn't let the idiot get away with what he was saying about Gibbs.

Hearing the commotion in the back of the group, Gibbs stopped, causing Daniel and his mother Corinne to run into him. This action sent white hot pain though his side. Slowly he made his way to the back of the group to find Tony arguing with Hank and Sonia.

"There a problem?" Gibbs asked.

"As a matter-o-fact, yes," Hank said. "My wife and I are concerned that you have no clue what you're doing and that maybe you should let someone else, like myself, to lead."

People began to notice the exchange and gathered around them. Some completely trusted Gibbs and others weren't sure where their alliance was, and they were the most interested in what was being said.

"Do you even know where we are?" Hank asked.

"Do you?" Gibbs replied.

"No," Hank admitted. "But I know a handful of people here don't trust you."

Gibbs glared at him. "We are in Pennsylvania. The Appalachians, to be exact," he said.

"How do you know?" Sonia asked.

"I grew up in Pennsylvania; I know when I'm home."

"Pennsylvanian or not, I still don't trust you," Hank yelled.

Whispers broke out through the crowd, some agreeing with Gibbs, others agreeing with Hank. Tony didn't like where this was going. If Hank took charge, he'd probably order them to leave Gibbs and Xhail to die because of how sick they were, then walk off in the wrong direction and get everybody killed.

"If you don't trust me, then get out of here," Gibbs growled.

"I will!" Hank spat. "And everyone who agrees will follow if they know what's good for them."

Hank and Sonia stalked off, followed by a considerable amount of people. Gibbs moved forward without looking back. If those people wanted to get themselves killed, it wasn't his problem. Tony carried Xhail to a clearing where they decided to stop and rest for the night. Corinne and Daniel built a fire and everyone gathered around to keep warm. They left a special place for Xhail, Ethan, Tony, and Gibbs. Gibbs politely denied the spot and it was quickly taken up.

Rod volunteered to stay up through the night and keep watch. Everyone laid down in the snow and fell asleep. Tony tried to stay awake, but sleep claimed him.

;LASKDJC;OAKSMD;VLAKJSDF

Tony found himself in a room with a faint orange glow. The room had no doors, windows, wall, ceilings, or floors. It seemed he was walking on thin air. Then all of a sudden, bodies lay everywhere. Bodies of the people he had been traveling with. Gibbs lay at his feet. He was still alive, but barely. All the people around him had mangled bodies, but Gibbs looked almost the same. It was the infection taking his life.

"Hang on, Boss," Tony said, kneeling beside him.

Laughter filled the room. Tony looked up to see Landon standing in front of him, an insane grin twisted on his face. He held a rifle in his hands and it was aimed at Gibbs. Tony moved between his boss and the gun. Landon lowered his weapon and laughed at Tony.

"You go ahead and kill him then," Landon told Tony.

A gun appeared in Tony's hand and he fired it at Landon. The bullet slowed down and dropped to the ground before it got a chance to hit the psycho. Landon fired his rifle and Tony clamped his eyes shut, waiting for the impact that never came. Instead he heard a grunt of pain from Gibbs.

Tony covered the wound on Gibbs's chest. Blood smeared on his hands and tears spilled out of his eyes. Gibbs wheezed and tried to say something, but all that came out was a gurgled cough. Gibbs closed his eyes and Tony panicked.

"Boss, keep your eyes open!" he screamed.

Gibbs forced his eyes open and stared up at Tony, unsuccessfully trying to mask his pain. Tony plead with Gibbs to hang on. His heart jumped into his throat when he saw the pool of blood gathering under his mentor.

"If you kill him now, it would be a mercy shot," Landon informed Tony.

Once again the gun was in Tony's hands. Landon told him to put it to Gibbs's head, and he did so.

"Now pull the trigger."

Tony shook his head and held back a sob. He couldn't do it, he wouldn't kill Gibbs. Gibbs just watched him, fighting off the numbness that was taking over.

"He's in pain," Landon said. "Put him out of his misery."

Tony again shook his head. Landon leapt onto his back and grabbed his hand, forcing him to hold the gun tight against Gibbs's temple. Landon put a knife to Tony's throat, causing drops of blood to fall from where the knife met the agent's skin. Gibbs's blue eyes met Tony's green. Tony mouthed 'I'm sorry', not caring it was a sign of weakness. Gibbs nodded slightly, he understood and he wasn't mad.

Tony pulled the trigger. Gibbs's head snapped back, but his eyes remained locked on Tony's. There were glazed over and a dead gray instead of the marvelous blue they had been in life. Landon and the bodies evaporated into thin air, leaving Tony alone with his dead boss.

Tony gripped onto Gibbs for dear life. He hugged him and cried, confessing how Gibbs was like a father to him. Tony wished it had been him; he wished he would've let Landon kill him. But Gibbs understood, he didn't want Tony to die. But his words fell to deaf ears.

Gibbs's body disappeared and Tony felt himself falling. He wouldn't ever stop, he was falling forever.

A;SLDIFJA;LWKNF

Tony woke with a start. The first thing that popped into his mind was to check on Gibbs. Tony sat up and gazed over at his boss. Gibbs's back was arched and he seemed to be in pain, but Tony knew he wasn't going to die. At least not that night. Tony laid back down.

The sky was pink from the approaching dawn and the fire was nothing but ash and red coals. It would've been a beautiful winter scene had there not been forty dying people in the picture.

Tony rolled over to find Xhail's beautiful eyes staring back at him. She had Tony's coat wrapped tightly around her small body, tears welling up in her eyes. Tony immediately knew something was wrong.

"Tony," Xhail choked out. "I'm scared."

Tony sat up and cradled Xhail in his arms like a baby, her long brown hair covering her face. She was violently shivering, so Tony pulled Xhail closer to his body, trying to transfer his heat to her. One second Xhail was light as a feather, the next she seemed like a thousand pound weight. Her chest ceased to rise and fall and her heart stood still. Xhail's eyes were lightly closed, almost as if she were sleeping. As if she was still that wonderful, amazing, alive child.

Tony furiously wiped away the tears leaking from his eyes and set Xhail in front of himself, then he began chest compressions. Tony felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Gibbs kneeling beside him, shaking his head slightly to tell him it was too late. Without thinking, Tony shrugged off Gibbs's comforting hand and pushed him away. Gibbs grunted in pain when Tony made contact with his infection. Tony's eyes widened in terror and he turned to face his boss, but Gibbs held up a hand to quiet him before he could say anything.

"I'll go get Ethan," he said tiredly.

Gibbs draped his coat over Tony's shoulders, leaving him kneeling over Xhail's still form, and weeping quietly.

And that is why I made Charlie write an alternate ending. I pretty much knew Xhail was gonna die from the beginning of the story, and yet I still ended up getting attached to her. Charlie got attached to her too. And because I'm too lazy to type much right now, I will now end with my quote:

"I'm not insane, my mother had me tested."

(Hint: Its from another comedy show. I will probably use alot of quotes from those)