Okay, so this is chapter...14 of The Road to Freedom. That means only two more chapters, including the alternate ending. And I guess I can now tell you what happens in the alternate ending...Xhail isn't dead in the alternate ending. I know thats really unrealistic, but it was mainly written to keep me from killing Charlie over Xhail's death. Anyways...none of you guessed my quote from last chapter! The quote was said by Zaphod Beeblebrox (cool name, right?) from the absolutely amazing book 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. I recommend you read it, its a good book.

Disclaimer:

Me: I own NCIS!

CBS: No you don't! Now stop lying or we'll kill you!

Me: Okay, fine, I don't own NCIS! *shoots CBS an irritated glare*

Tony detached himself from Ziva and McGee and slowly made his way to Gibbs. Tony was angry. Gibbs had broken his promise. Tony kneeled in the snow beside his boss and placed his hand on Gibbs's head, he was still semi-warm. Ziva sat beside him and put her arm around his shoulders. McGee and Bree joined them and the four cried together.

"What happened?" McGee finally asked.

"I'm not sure," Tony said. "He had some kind of surgery and got an infection."

Ziva held back tears as she lifted Gibbs's shirt. An improperly healed scar showed on his abdomen, surrounded by red feverish skin. Tony saw the slight rise of Gibbs's chest and scrambled to his feet.

"Tony, what-?" McGee asked.

"He's alive!" Tony exclaimed.

Tony picked Gibbs up by one armpit and McGee picked him up by the other. They began to drag him out of the woods. Death was not going to get his way. Tony felt sick to his stomach, not because Gibbs was dying, it was the stupid little bug Landon had given him.

Gibbs's eyes fluttered open, the world was moving so fast around him it was a wonder he didn't throw up. He heard voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Gibbs tried to move, but his body protested. He remembered pain, then falling into darkness, but the pain had been replaced with a dull numbness that was slowly creeping along his body. He almost wished for the pain to return. Then he saw a flash of red hair.

"Shannon?" he croaked.

McGee nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Gibbs speak. McGee didn't know if Gibbs was actually seeing Shannon or if he was seeing Bree and though she was Shannon. Both scared him, the first told him Gibbs was dying quickly, and the second told him Gibbs was dying and delusional.

"Shannon?" Gibbs asked.

"Bree, stand in front of him," McGee instructed.

Bree shot McGee a strange look, but did as he said. A ghost of a smile crossed Gibbs's face when he caught sight of Bree. Tony didn't know what Shannon looked like, but Gibbs was seeing her in Bree. He tried to reach out and touch her, but his arms refused to work. Bree was confused but kept it up, whatever is was that she was doing.

Ethan was standing by the car when they broke out of the woods. He had several blankets, a box of cereal, and a cup of coffee in his arms. Ethan opened the car doors when he saw them coming. Ziva sat in the driver's seat, McGee took shotgun, Tony, Gibbs and Ethan sat in the back and Bree sat at their feet. Ziva sped off for the hospital.

Gibbs smiled warmly at Bree, so she held his hand. It seemed to make him happy. Ethan wrapped one of the blankets around Gibbs's shoulders and tried to feed him some Lucky Charms, but he wouldn't eat them. Tony tried giving him the coffee, but Gibbs wouldn't take that either. Finally he gave up and started munching on the cereal.

"Where'd you get these?" Tony asked Ethan.

"That man's house, the others practically tore the place apart," Ethan replied.

McGee threw Tony his cell phone and told him to call Abby.

"Abigail Sciuto, forensic scientist extraordinaire."

"Hey, Abby, I've got a question," Tony said.

"Who is this?" Abby asked.

"If the marshmallows in Lucky Charms are the charms, then is the gross cat food nobody eats called Luckys?"

"Tony?"

Tony grinned. "The one and only."

"Oh my God!" Abby gushed. "Are you okay? What happened? Where are you?"

"Whoa, slow down, Abby."

"Where's Gibbs?"

Tony froze and looked over at his boss, who was being held over a cliff by such a breakable thread. Tony didn't want to tell Abby that her hero was holding onto life by the skin of his teeth. Gibbs's eyes were closed and his head was rolled to one side. Tony's heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

"No able espanol."

"Tony!" Abby exclaimed.

"Can't talk, Abs, we're in Pennsylvania on our way to a hospital. I'll have McGoo call you when we get there."

"What-?"

But Tony had already hung up.

Tony shook Gibbs none too gently and his eyes opened then snapped shut again. Tony growled in frustration and began to shake Gibbs, who refused to stay conscious.

"Boss, keep your eyes open."

Gibbs opened his eyes to find everything was a big blurry blob, but recognized his senior field agent's voice. Tony had come back for him. Gibbs didn't want to die in front of Tony, so he held on. He would die when he was alone.

"Just hang on, Boss," McGee said. "We're almost there."

McGee? It was McGee! Had they been saved? Gibbs tried to speak, but all that came out was a strange gurgling noise. Ethan jumped hearing the sound. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Tony watched in pure terror as Gibbs's eyes glazed over. He checked his neck for a pulse and was relieved to find one.

Ziva swung into the hospital parking lot. Tony and McGee dragged Gibbs out of the car and into the ER. Even in his unconscious state, Gibbs refused to let go of a terrified Bree's hand. They weren't separated until the doctors detached them and rushed Gibbs into surgery. Bree took a seat next to Tony and absentmindedly braided and unbraided her long red hair.

"Now who are you?" Tony asked.

Bree smiled sheepishly. "Your replacement. Brianna "Bree" Rain."

"How have they," Tony nodded to Ziva and McGee, "been holding up?"

"They never stopped searching for you guys," Bree said. "Vance told them to quit, he said you guys were dead, but they didn't believe it. They searched 'illegally' for the past month."

Tony nodded thoughtfully and began to pace the waiting room. McGee ran to call Abby and Ducky. Ziva cleaned her gun, but her eyes never left the door Gibbs had disappeared through. Ethan fell asleep with his head resting on Ziva's shoulder, who oddly didn't seem to mind. Ziva saw movement out of the corner of her eye so she focused her attention on that.

Ziva found Tony sprawled on the floor. She checked him over and called for a doctor. Ziva couldn't understand what happened, one second he was fine and the next he was on the ground. Tony opened his eyes as the nurses loaded him onto a gurney, Ziva could get lost in those pools of emerald green.

"Ethan's sick too," he said before he was wheeled away.

A small blonde nurse came and took Ethan. Tony and Ethan were placed in a room together, a thin green curtain separated them. Tony fell asleep and was awoken to arms wrapped around his body in a hug. He opened his eyes to find Abby and Ducky smiling warmly at him. Just the sight of Tony was a miracle in their eyes.

"Gibbs?" Tony asked.

"Still in surgery," Ducky told him. "We haven't heard anything yet."

Tony nodded and noticed Ethan standing by his bed, sipping a hot chocolate and munching on a cookie. Abby handed Tony a cup of chicken soup, which he swallowed in one gulp. Ducky told him to slow down or he would throw it all back up, but that didn't slow him down.

"The doctor said you're good to go," Abby said. "We were waiting for you to wake up."

Just at that moment, McGee burst in with a wide smile stretched across his face.

"Gibbs is out of surgery, Room C17."

Tony threw off his covers and sprinted down that hallway until he came to Room C17. He entered to find Gibbs asleep on a bed, some of his skin color returned. Tony tiptoed to the bed and sat down next to it. He nearly screamed when he saw Bree doing the same thing on the other side of the bed. Bree was holding Gibbs's hand.

"I thought it would comfort him," Bree explained.

Tony smiled. "So how do you like NCIS?"

"It's not the job for me," Bree admitted. "I handed in my resignation an hour ago. I'm going back to school to be a vet."

"You're not leaving because we're back, are you?"

Bree nodded. "I never wanted to be a special agent, but when I got mixed in with the kidnapping business I felt like I had to help them find you."

Voices. Gibbs heard voices. They sounded far away, but they were steadily growing closer. His eyelids felt like they had lead weights on them, but he forced them open. The first thing he saw was Bree and he snatched his hand away, causing her to gasp. Then his eyes fell on Tony.

"Mornin', Boss."

"You saved them, and me?"

Tony didn't know what to say, so he just nodded.

"Good job, DiNozzo."

I totally loved Tony's question about the Lucky Charms! No offense if you actually like the gross cat food stuff. Oh, and before I forget, I want to tell you that Charlie is now writing a new story! Its called Nothing Is Ever Forgotten, and you should keep an eye out for it. It might take me a while to get it posted since Charlie's too busy now to write constantly. But I should have started posting by December. If I don't, just send Charlie a private message and yell at me. And then Charlie will be writing another story after that one called In The Blink Of An Eye...I'm pretty excited for that one cuz it involves an asylum. And there's OCs based off of a lot of people me and Charlie know. You should totally read that one too. Its not started yet, and I won't start posting until sometime next year, but I think it might be Charlie's second best story. Wow, I just realized how much I was rambling...Anyways, onto my quote! And you should know this one:

"We gotta stay alive long enough to not get dead."