A/N - Glad you like this one. I'm currently sitting in my son's hospital room. He was admitted to the hospital close to his college last night and then transferred by ambulance to another hospital a few hours later. They get really nervous when a patient presents with a fever of 105.

Gibbs looked up when DiNozzo came into the squad room at a full run. "Where's the fire?"

"Murder at Bethesda, suspect may have a hostage." He grabbed his handgun and an extra clip, Gibbs and Ziva only a few seconds behind him as they headed for the elevator. Gibbs waited until the door closed behind them.

"This didn't come through dispatch, how did you know?"

Tony braced for the explosion. "McGee's the witness, and the possible hostage."

"What?" Gibbs automatically reached for the emergency stop. "What in the hell is going on, DiNozzo?" Tony's hand shot out and blocked Gibbs before he could stop the elevator.

"Tim's in trouble and needs us now."

Seeing the look on his senior agent's face, Gibbs let his hand drop back down. "Ziva, you drive; Tony, I want a full explanation before we get to Bethesda. Is that understood?"

True to his word, Gibbs waited until they were pulling out of the parking lot before turning to Tony. "Why is McGee at Bethesda and not at some ski resort? Was he in an accident on his way out of town?"

Tony was too angry and too worried to pull any punches. "He used his vacation time to cover a very risky and possibly career ending surgery, Gibbs. He didn't have anyone to be with him in the recovery room and he thinks he saw a murder being committed."

Gibbs had a hundred questions, but forced himself to focus on the most pressing matters. "You're convinced that he actually saw that?"

"The phone was taken away from him before I could get any more than that, but he was scared, Boss. He was scared and begging me to help him. Palmer said that the meds they had him on wouldn't cause that kind of hallucination unless they really screwed up his dosage."

Gibbs finished DiNozzo's thought. "And if that's the case, then he's still in danger, just a different kind."

"Yeah." Tony stared over Gibbs' shoulder and out the windshield. "Either way, he's in trouble and alone."

"But why?" Ziva glanced up at the rear view mirror, making eye contact for just a second. "Why is he alone? What is wrong with McGee and why would he hide it from us?" Gibbs shook his head.

"Not from all of us, Ziva." The pointed look he gave DiNozzo was impossible to ignore.

"I found out by accident, Boss, he didn't want any of us to know because..."

"Because?" The raised eyebrow told Tony that only total honesty would be accepted.

"Because when he was injured, none of us took it seriously – either time."

This put McGee's vacation in a whole new light. "Vance knew?"

"Yeah, he did. What does that say, Gibbs? The least experienced member of our team felt more comfortable going to the Director than to any of us. I don't know about you, Boss, but it was one hell of a wake up call for me."

It wasn't until the third time that Ducky glanced over at Palmer that he finally started asking questions, somewhat unsettled by the intense focus his young assistant was showing. "Mr. Palmer, is there something I should know before we arrive at our destination? Perhaps the location of said destination?"

Jimmy figured by now, Gibbs was getting an earful from DiNozzo, which gave him a boost of confidence. "Tim McGee had major reconstructive surgery on his arm this morning. He thinks he saw someone murdered in the recovery room right after he regained consciousness, but the phone was taken away from him before we could question him." Any other day he would have been thrilled to have rendered the older man speechless, but he was too worried about his friend to even register the reaction.

They were almost at Bethesda before Ducky was finally able to speak. "What on Earth... what kind of reconstructive surgery... why didn't I know... good heavens, did Jethro know about this?"

"I knew because I'm the one that drove him to the hospital the second time he was injured and Tony found out by accident. McGee figured nobody else cared."

"Why would Timothy believe none of us cared?" Their arrival at Bethesda gave Jimmy an excuse not to answer.

If the nurse in charge of the recovery room at Bethesda expected their arrival, she covered it well. "I'm sorry, if you're here to see a patient, you'll have to wait until they've been transferred to a regular room."

Gibbs pulled out his badge as he shook his head. "We're here on official business and we're not waiting." Sidestepping her, he walked into the large room and started doing a visual sweep, looking for both his agent and any sign of suspicious activity. Tony and Ziva started their search on the other side, while Ducky and Jimmy went straight to the nurse's station and started looking for McGee's name on the tall stack of binders that held the hard copies of each patient's file.

"The file isn't here, Jethro." At Ducky's proclamation Gibbs looked over at DiNozzo who shook his head. Ziva was more forceful with her concerns.

"He is not here, Gibbs, what is going on?"

"Perhaps if you told us which patient you are looking for?" The blonde nurse looked calm at first glance, but Gibbs could see a tenseness around her eyes that set off his gut. He watched closely as he answered her question, putting extra emphasis on the title.

"Timothy McGee, Agent Timothy McGee."

Tony picked up the narrative. "We know he was in recovery, so where is he?"

If anything, her smile became even more brittle. "His name isn't familiar, but we've been very busy and we're shorthanded since it's near the holidays. I'm sure it's just a matter of his surgery running late. If you leave your number with the clerk outside, we'll let you know when he is ready for visitors. Now, I will have to ask you to leave. Your presence here is stressful for the rest of the patients."

"Not until I know what happened to my man and we finish investigating the crime he witnessed." Gibbs stepped close, forcing her to move backwards until the counter at the nurse's station stopped her.

While the battle of wills was going on in the center of the room, Ziva was double checking the empty cubicles around the perimeter. The room was almost full of semiconscious surgery patients, with only three empty cubicles. One was clean and obviously ready for a patient to be wheeled in, while the other two showed signs of being recently occupied. They were in the corner furthest from the nurse's desks and next to each other, fitting Tony's claim that McGee had seen something he shouldn't. Snapping on a pair of gloves, she carefully poked through the full trash bin next to where a bed would be. "Gibbs, I found something." She held up her hands, holding a broken iPhone and a small, flat battery. "It looks like McGee's."

There was no warmth in the blue eyes as he stared at the nurse who'd been challenging him, even as he barked out orders to his team. "Bag and tag it and everything else there. DiNozzo, get me all the security footage. Ducky, they've probably moved the body to the morgue already. Take it back to the Yard."

"An identity of the deceased would be helpful, Jethro."

Gibbs wasn't sure if they could trust anything they'd be told by the woman or any of the other staff. "Take them all, Duck. Not going to give them a chance to swap identities on any of the bodies." Ignoring the horrified expression on the Medical Examiner's face, Gibbs pulled out his phone and dialed. The Director would need to be informed before dozens of bodies showed up and he'd need to use all the clout of his position to soothe the feathers Gibbs was about to ruffle.

Vance hadn't even slammed his phone down yet before he was on his feet and yelling for his assistant. She was in his office within seconds. "Yes, Sir?"

"Gather every agent currently aboard the Yard, non-field personnel, too. Gibbs will be conducting a floor by floor search of Bethesda and he needs the manpower."

"The whole hospital, Sir?" Pamela couldn't help but blink. The entire complex was a large, sprawling maze of structures. "May I ask what we're looking for?"

"Not what, who. Agent McGee vanished from the recovery room shortly after having surgery and he may have witnessed a murder. He needs to be located quickly not only because the killer probably knows what he saw, but so that he can receive the proper medical care. Gather everyone in the squad room, I'll brief them as soon as I update the SecNav."

The Chief of Surgery was taking the situation seriously when Gibbs began handcuffing his nurses, starting with the blonde. The rest of the nursing staff was allowed to continue to care for the patients, under the team's supervision, until replacement nurses arrived from different areas of the hospital. The first agents to arrive were tasked with transporting the nurses and the evidence back to the Yard, while the rest were spread out to search for their missing man.

Charlie Evans walked into the lab with a box of evidence for the first time since a heart attack had ended his career as a field agent. As much as he missed the action out in the field, he hated the reason for his temporary return. Two members of the CCU followed him in with the rest of the boxes, but beat a hasty retreat, leaving him to sign the evidence over to Abby. He knew she hadn't been called up to the squad room for the briefing and he was wondering exactly how to explain the situation to her. She looked up and dashed towards him.

"Charlie, I haven't seen you in, like, forever. What are you doing with an evidence box, does that mean that you're back out in the field?" She hugged the older man tightly, not noticing the arrival of Director Vance in the lab.

"It's been a long time, Abby," after a moment, he gently pulled her loose, "but I'm just helping with an emergency case." He took a deep breath and prepared to tell her what had happened.

Vance chose that moment to step in. "Thank you, Agent Evans, I'll take it from here."

Abby couldn't help but notice the relieved look on Charlie's face as he hastily left the lab without saying another word. "What's going on, Leon? What case is so much of an emergency that you'd have him back out in the field?" She started to reach into the evidence box to see for herself, but Vance took her arm and led her to her office and sat her down in the chair before perching on the corner of her desk. "You're starting to scare me, Director. If it was something bad, Gibbs would have come told me himself. Oh, my God, is that it, did something happen to Gibbs?"

"Gibbs is fine, Miss Sciuto."

"Then it's Tony? What happened, did someone try to frame him again, or blow him up, or..."

"No, it's not DiNozzo." Vance rushed to cut her off before she could build up a head of steam.

"Ziva?" Now she started to look uncertain.

"No, Abby, it's McGee."

"McGee? No, can't be. McGee's always fine." She started to stand, but Vance blocked her path.

"No, he's not fine, he hasn't been for quite some time. He had a very risky operation this morning, and now it appears that he was kidnapped from the hospital recovery room after witnessing a murder."

Abby shook her head in disbelief. "You're wrong, Director, Timmy is fine. He's just on vacation."

"Agent McGee took two weeks vacation to have the surgery. After that, he will be on desk duty for quite some time. That is assuming that he survives whatever happened to him this morning and regains the full use of his arm and hand." Under the circumstances, Vance wasn't in the mood to babysit the sometimes childish woman, so he laid down the law and carefully watched her reaction. The top evidence bag in the box was the one with the remains of McGee's cell phone in it and he held it up in front of her. "This is part of the evidence gathered from where McGee disappeared. We know that someone, more than likely the murder suspect, physically took this phone from McGee when he tried to call for help. On the off-chance that there are fingerprints or DNA, I would suggest you start there. Now, are you capable of doing this, or do I need to bring in another lab technician?"

"McGee is really missing?" She slowly reached out and took the bagged phone. "I can do this, Sir, I will. I'll find every scrap of evidence the killer left behind, but how are we going to find McGee?"

"Leave that to Gibbs, just give him something to go on, Miss Sciuto, and do it quickly. I don't know about Gibbs' gut, but mine is telling me that McGee is running out of time." Vance gave her one last hard look before leaving, another call to the SecNav the next thing on his agenda.