"Tell me you've got something, Ducky?" Having a theory and a suspect, Gibbs wanted to prove it and put this case, and all its complications, to bed so he could focus on what was wrong with his team.

Ducky was staring at the body on the table, a troubled look on his face. "Colonel Harden bled to death, Jethro, but I haven't a clue how it wasn't caught in time."

"Talk me through it, Duck."

"Very well," Ducky pointed out the fresh surgical cut on the victim's chest, overlaid with the y-incision from the autopsy. "Colonel Harden had a triple bypass sometime early this morning, but one of the repaired arteries did not hold, yet the sutures look fine."

"He was bleeding into his chest cavity?"

"Well, yes, but the moment his blood pressure started to drop, it should have been caught. Not just caught, but alarms should have been going off. There's no indication that anything was amiss until his blood volume was so low that it interfered with his heart rate. At that point, CPR was started, which literally squeezed the last of the blood out of his veins."

"Accident or murder?"

"At this point I can't prove either, I'm afraid. Hopefully Abigail has his blood work done and can shed some light on the subject." Ducky walked over the videophone. "Abby, my dear, any results on Colonel Harden?"

Hey, Ducky, some weird stuff in the Colonel's blood.

Gibbs leaned over Ducky's shoulder. "Define weird."

Gibbs, you haven't come seen me in ages.

"Been kinda busy, Abs. What ya' got?"

Massive amounts of Heparin and Dopamine, I'm sending over the print-out now.

"Oh, my." Ducky's eyes widened as he looked at the results. "Abby, can you determine exactly when those drugs were administered?" They watched her scrunch her forehead as she thought about it.

If the drugs were given at least an hour prior to death, I should be able to detect it when I run the tissue samples, right now I've just been working on the blood samples.

Gibbs recognized the expression on Ducky's face and knew those tissue samples were important. "Tissue samples are on the top of the list, Abs. Need it ASAP." When she nodded, he turned away to hear Ducky's theory, but she wasn't done.

Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs.

"What is it, Abby?"

Where's Jethro?

"What?"

Jethro, what arrangements did McGee make for Jethro?

"Abby, I didn't even know McGee was going to be in the hospital, how would I know where the dog is?"

But...

"Abby, the surgery was planned. It's McGee, I'm sure he planned everything out. Now, get busy on those tissue samples." This time he reached out and turned off the screen. "Talk to me, Ducky. What do those drugs do to the case?"

Ducky looked disturbed by the findings. "Heparin is used to both thin the blood and break up blood clots."

"That what caused him to bleed out?"

"More than likely, yes, but it's the high levels of dopamine that is the most troubling." When Gibbs raised an eyebrow as a silent question, Ducky continued. "It's used to increase blood pressure in a crisis situation, but the man had heart surgery, the last thing he needed was an increase in blood pressure. A sudden drop in blood pressure should have suggested a hemorrhage and the last thing that man needed was either of those drugs in that high of a dosage. One thing I do know is that was a deadly combination. Unfortunately, without knowing when the drugs were given, there's no way to determine if this was deliberate or gross negligence."

"It was deliberate."

"Your gut telling you that, Jethro?"

Gibbs shook his head. "Don't need my gut, I've got McGee. He may not remember what he saw, but whatever it was, it was enough to convince him. That's good enough for me."

"How is he?" Ziva quietly closed the door behind her. Tony was already on his feet.

"Sleeping now, thanks for getting here so quick." Behind him Palmer nodded to her but didn't interrupt them. "I want to get these new samples back to Abby. Let's see just who Probie was fighting."

"Tell Gibbs I will return after Agent Klein arrives to stay with McGee."

Tony stood and pulled on his coat. Originally, he'd called for an agent to pick up the sample, but Ziva had sounded distressed that she'd not been able to spend any time with their friend so he didn't argue when she offered to trade places with him. Before he was at the door, Ziva had taken the chair and was leaning close, watching McGee sleep.

Gibbs slammed the door when he entered the interrogation room, but Capt. Brenda Andrews didn't even flinch. Knowing she was going to be a tough nut to crack, he sat at the table, watching her for almost ten minutes before he spoke. "Colonel Harden shouldn't have died."

She didn't seem surprised he knew which patient to focus on. "In an ideal world, Agent Gibbs, no patient would ever die."

"That so?"

"In an ideal world, we would have enough nurses and enough time to give proper care to every patient."

"So, it was all a mistake, because you were so... busy?"

Brenda smiled, but her eyes were still cold. "It happens more than one might imagine. As tragic as it might be, it's not criminal. I'm sure the Colonel's wife is already discussing her options with a lawyer, but malpractice is not under NCIS's jurisdiction. Now, as fun as this has been..." She moved to stand, but Gibbs beat her to the punch, leaning over her.

"Before you go, let's talk about the care Timothy McGee received. Do you always store your patients in the basement?" She stiffened slightly, but the neutral expression on her face never wavered.

"What an odd thing to ask, Agent Gibbs, but I wouldn't know what happens when a patient is removed from the recovery unit. They're supposed to be moved to the ward, but that's not my responsibility."

This time Gibbs let her stand, but now there were two MP's standing in the doorway. Gibbs gave her a smile as cold as the one that had just slipped off her face. "I believe your commanding officer has some questions for you. Something about conduct unbecoming... I'm sure we'll be talking again soon after he's done with you, Captain Andrews." After she was taken away, Gibbs closed his eyes and rubbed at his face, not opening his eyes until he heard the door open again.

Vance leaned against the door frame. "Military justice can only hold her for so long. If we don't have a way to prove it was murder by then, we'll have to release her. I do not want this woman to walk, Gibbs."

"She won't." Gibbs didn't say anything else as he left the interrogation room and returned upstairs to find Tony instead of Ziva in the squad room. Tony recognized the expression and rushed to explain.

"McGee got a piece of his attacker, we think. At least there was DNA under one of his nails. I brought it back to Abby and Ziva is with McGee."

Gibbs froze as he started to remember some details from the video footage.

"Boss?"

"DNA?"

"Yeah, maybe from when they fought over the phone."

Gibbs was already on the move and by the time DiNozzo caught up with him, they were in MTAC, Gibbs barking orders to one of the techs. "Pull up the footage from when the mystery patient arrived." As soon as it was up on the screen, Gibbs asked for a still shot to be grabbed of the nurse. DiNozzo stared at the image.

"Wasn't she..."

"Yeah." Gibbs leaned over the tech, looking closely at the screen. "Now, fast forward to when we arrived."

Once the two images were side by side, the one difference was apparent. Captain Andrews had changed from a short sleeved uniform to a long sleeved one immediately after the Colonel's death. A quick phone call to the MP in charge confirmed a scratch on her right arm, but she was no longer talking to anyone. Everything combined was enough circumstantial evidence for a warrant and Capt Brenda Andrews was on her way back to the Yard, being compelled to provide a DNA sample.

"Welcome back, sleepyhead."

"Ziva?" Still half asleep, McGee tried to raise his left hand to rub his face before remembering that it was strapped down.

"How are you feeling, McGee? You do look better than when we found you." She brushed his hair back, and then seemed embarrassed by her actions.

"I still don't understand what happened. Tony said I was attacked, but I was already in the hospital when it happened." McGee watched Ziva's expression as she debated what to tell him. "Ziva, please, what's going on?"

Glancing over at Palmer before coming to a decision, Ziva nodded to herself before speaking. "We believe you witnessed a crime while in the recovery room. You were given drugs to cause amnesia and then left down in the basement, in a lesser used hallway. Luckily we found you before it became life threatening."

"A crime? I saw a crime being committed? What happened?"

Ziva smoothed the blanket over McGee. "Since more of your memory is returning, perhaps we should not speak of the details as to not taint any memories you may regain."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Is that why you and Tony are taking turns being here, am I in danger?" Ziva froze, her hand on his shoulder.

"We want to keep you safe, but we are also worried about you. Tony and Palmer may know more about why you had surgery, but I do not and I do not understand why you felt necessary to hide it."

McGee looked away. "I'm sorry, Ziva, but it seemed like my problems were just an annoyance to the rest of the team."

"No, McGee. If we made you feel that way, then it is I who is sorry."