Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A.N: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed! You make me very happy! This one is quite a bit longer than the others, but my sister wouldn't let me split it in to two, lol. Thanks again to MatteaAM!

Leroy Jethro Gibbs just didn't know what to do. The evidence he had in front of him was telling him something he wasn't sure he could believe. The ballistics report showed that the slug pulled from the body of Rene Benoit matched a bullet fired from Jenny's gun. She couldn't have killed him, could she? It certainly looked like she would've if he hadn't disarmed her gun in her study. Had she just loaded her gun and gone after Benoit the moment he'd left her house? He couldn't believe it. That wasn't the Jenny he knew, the Jenny he trained.

He sighed, leaned against his boat and picked up his phone and speed dialled Jen. He knew that he'd have to tread carefully with her, but he was annoyed enough to demand the truth from her. He had gotten his revenge on the man who killed his family and in a roundabout way, Ari; it seemed she'd gotten hers on Benoit. He just wanted to know why she couldn't be honest with him. The phone was picked up rather slowly. Jen usually picks up on the second ring.

"Jen? Jen, you there?" The silence was giving him butterflies in his stomach and bad memories of when that Dempsey guy had abducted her. If that's happened again DiNozzo and Ziva better be dying or they're fired!

"Boss?"

"DiNozzo? Where's Jenny? Why are you answering her phone?" He felt the butterflies evolve in to a swarm of killer bees.

"Boss... the Director's been shot. We're taking her to the hospital."

He froze, his grip on his phone tightening. "The Hospital in LA?"

"Yeah."

He flicked his phone shut and just stared at it. His heart was heavy in his chest and his hands shook with shock. She'd been shot?! This couldn't be happening. She couldn't leave him. Not again. Not now. He forced his legs to move and ran up his basement stairs, his jaw clenched and aching from the pressure. It would be a long trip to LA so he was starting right now.

How had she managed to get in to trouble? She just went to LA for a funeral! Only you, Jen, he thought, remembering that time in Paris, when he'd had to rescue her from a letch, in broad daylight, halfway up the Eiffel tower, only you. He was thankful that at least Ziva and Tony had been with her. They were going to have a lot of explaining to do when he got there. The point of having a security detail was so that they protected her from harm. He couldn't be too angry though, she always had been good at giving people the slip.

The journey went by slowly, even with Gibbs driving like a mad man. He'd managed to get on a last minute flight to LA, taking 5 hours and grabbed a car, heading straight to the hospital. Gibbs had felt every second as it passed. How could this have happened? He'd had far too long to worry. Maybe he had been wrong sending Tony and Ziva; after all, not long ago they had been resentful of her very presence. Tony's voice over the phone had been saturated with guilt. Why? If they got in a fight, did they even try to help her? Or leave her to her death? Or was he just overreacting? He shook his head. His mind was coming up with conspiracies and negligence before he had the facts. Never assume.

He finally pulled in to the hospital car park, spotting a space and parking quickly, before storming to the entrance, through the doors and up to the desk. The woman behind it looked up and smiled, before his expression sunk in and she shrank back in her chair. He placed his hands on the top of the desk and leaned towards her, his foul mood filling the space between them, the Gibbs glare healthy and in play.

"Director. Jennifer. Shepard?" He enunciated every word clearly and she jumped in her seat before her fingers flew over the keyboard, bringing up the patients information.

"Sh-she's st-still in theatre, s-sir." She stuttered before quieting completely at his glare.

"Don't call me 'sir'." He softened his gaze a little as her face lost its colour, and asked where theatre was. She merely pointed in the vague direction. He sighed, closing his eyes. Maybe he should try NOT to scare the living daylights out of the hospital staff. His eyes snapped open as she found her voice.

"Th-the man who c-came in with her is i-in recovery, his m-muscle in his arm has been r-repaired…" She trailed off. He nodded his head as if it could make her carry on speaking. Seeing a way to be rid of the frightening man before her, she rattled off his room number. He nodded again and flew towards the unsuspecting patient. The lady sighed and sagged in her seat as he disappeared from sight. I really hope I'm gone before he comes back.

Gibbs rounded the corner, coming to a stop outside the man's room. This could be the man who shot Jenny. Cold fury coiled in his veins and he threw the door open, fully intent upon ripping the guy a new one, when his eyes rested on the unconscious man's face. Mike? His fury subdued for the moment, he closed the door more gently and went to sit at his side.

"Why are you here, Mike? Why were you with Jen?" He softly asked the sleeping man. He was pale, his left arm bandaged with small blood spots gradually leaking through. If Mike was like this, what the hell was happening with Jenny?! His sliver of patience left him and he jolted up from his seat and stalked into the corridor, looking for a doctor or nurse to find out about Jen's condition. A nurse rounded the corner and he walked up to her, blocking her exit.

"Do you know the status of Director Jennifer Shepard?"

"I'm sorry, I don't. I'll have someone come and talk to you as soon as there is something definite to report."

"I'm in this room." He pointed to Mike's room and watched her nod as she left. Then he wandered back to Mike's room and sat down next to his bed. "I can't lose her, Mike." He closed his eyes, steadying his breathing. It's not over yet. She's still being worked on because she is still alive. They were still working because she wasn't giving up. She's not leaving me. He flipped his phone open and called DiNozzo. He waited as it rang on, finally being picked up by an emotionally drained Tony.

"Boss? You at the hospital? Is there any news?"

"She's still in theatre. Know why Mike is here, DiNozzo?"

"He went with the Director to the hospital. I think he was with her when she was shot."

"You THINK DiNozzo?! Why don't you KNOW? Where were YOU?" He shouted, his anger coming back with full force. They HAD left her.

"She gave us the trip off. She said she was just going to do work…"

"She'd do work in the hotel! When she leaves, you leave! You do understand the concept of a protection detail, right!?" He leapt up and began pacing, a red haze of fury descending over his eyes.

"I thought she was meeting some guy for sex-something." He corrected himself.

"Sex? So you disregarded her safety because you thought she was getting off? Ever heard of an ambush? Did it ever cross your mind she may have been lured away? If she wanted sex she'd wait until she was home so she didn't have to worry about being disturbed by security!" He was shouting down the phone, his head throbbing in time with his heartbeat.

"I know that now boss, but-"

"Not another word, DiNozzo! I want to see the crime scene report here in three hours! If you can do that!" He hung up, violently crushing the button on his cell. He stopped pacing and leaned his head back, forcing all the air out of his body sharply. This is a nightmare! He'd sent his best agents to protect Jenny and they'd abandoned her.

"You shouldn't be so hard on them." The voice of his old mentor and friend croaked slowly. "They were only following orders." Gibbs turned to the bed and saw Mike looking at him. He looked dazed from the drug cocktail the doctors had given him, and he blinked a couple of times before seeming to focus. Gibbs sat back at his bed side.

"What the hell happened, Mike?" He knew his voice broke but he was too angry to acknowledge it. He watched the older man take a deep breath and then sigh.

"We were hoping to not involve you. This whole thing was supposed to be a secret." He stopped and looked around, frowning slightly. "How is she?"

"Still in theatre."

Franks nodded. "My pants pocket. There's a piece of paper."

Gibbs got up and picked up his bloody trousers, rummaging in the pocket till he found what he was looking for. He withdrew the blood soaked paper, trying not to think it was probably Jenny's blood and held it out to Franks.

"This is a code she wrote down in that diner. It's still legible. She was at Decker's funeral when she heard a code word that the three of you were to use if something went wrong. Oshimaida?" Gibbs looked up from the paper sharply. "She told me she screwed up. Didn't kill her mark. Said she believed Decker was murdered and she was next. Asked for my help to stop the woman, before she got you."

"We got out clean. There were no mistakes."

"Did you check?"

Gibbs looked away for a moment. "Why send Ziva and Tony away?"

"She didn't want them to get hurt."

Gibbs was silent for a while. "You were with her when she was shot?"

Mike looked down, unable to keep eye contact. "I left to get some water, got back just as the shooting started. I was only gone a few seconds but I realised something was wrong and went back. I was almost too late."

"You left her, too?" He whispered in disbelief. "Tony, Ziva AND you?!" He shook his head, as if it could change what he was hearing. "She was ALONE?"

"I was there in time, probie. It could've been much worse. If my gut hadn't told me to go back when it did, she could've died."

"She still might!"

Mike sighed. "She did this to protect you."

"How is dying going to protect me?" He asked softly, his voice full of emotion as he felt the tears threatening. Not yet! Not till this is finished! He swallowed, forcing his head to clear. "These numbers are going to tell me what exactly?"

"Hopefully, they'll help you find this woman and kill her."

He nodded, looking over the numbers. He could remember how to decipher the code, it would just take time, something he was going to have a lot of while waiting for word on Jenny's condition.

Tony's point of view next!