Chapter 3

"So, how worried should I be?," Don asked Gibbs while the doctor was checking out Ande.

"Worried," Gibbs stated simply, taking a swig of his coffee.

"What exactly happened?"

"I told you, Ande should be the one to tell you."

"Yeah she should, but she's not telling me. She's not talking about it at all. So why don't you tell me, then maybe I'll have a clue about what's going on," Don said impatiently. Gibbs turned and looked him in the eye, sizing him up.

"Yep, Sarah was right." He half-smiled.

"Oh yeah, about what?"

"Ande gets it from you." This time Don half-smiled.

"So, does that mean you're gonna tell me?"

"Nope." Don started to protest, but the doctor came out then.

"OK, so do you want the good news or the bad news?," the doctor asked Don.

"How 'bout the good."

"Okay, the good news is there are no broken bones or internal injuries."

"And the bad?"

"Looking at her chart, this isn't the first time." Don glanced at Gibbs before turning back to the doctor. "That means that these injuries will probably take longer to heal."

"How bad is it?"

"Well, she's got a few bruised ribs, which are going to hurt for a while. Other than that, just some minor cuts and bruises."

"Thanks doc," Don told him.

"No problem. She can go home after a little paperwork."

"Thanks." The doctor smiled, and left.

"See, told you I was fine," Ande told Don when he came in the room. He smiled, happy she at least seemed to be acting like herself.

"What, I can't worry?," he joked back. She smiled.

"It gets annoying you know." She was glad he seemed more relaxed, but she knew he wasn't going to avoid the subject for long.

"Yeah, I know," Don agreed, knowing he didn't like it when his dad worried about him either. "Look, Ande -" She held her hand up to stop him though.

"Can it wait till later?," she asked. "I'm tired, and I really don't feel like talking about it now." Don sighed.

"You know we have to, right?"

"I know," she said sorrowfully.

"Alright, we'll go home, and you can get some sleep, but after that...," he trailed off.

"OK," she agreed, hoping maybe it would be easier after she slept.

"Ande?...Ande!," Alex said, waking Ande up out of her nightmare. She shot straight up in the bed, which hurt her ribs, when she woke up to hear Alex. The nightmare had been ten times worse this time, probably since she had a fresh memory to fuel it. It had been so real, she'd woken up in a cold sweat and realized she had tears running down her face. That was probably what had scared Alex, he hadn't seen her cry in a long time. She was very good at hiding her emotions, even from her brother.

"I'm fine," she told him, trying to sound convincing. She didn't want to scare him, she'd worked so hard to keep this away from him and she didn't want to ruin that.

"You don't look fine." She saw his face and knew she couldn't keep lying to him.

"You're right. I'm not fine. But Alex, I-," she started, but he cut her off.

"I know." He smiled. "You're trying to protect me." She smiled back.

"I just never want anything to happen to you. I hate seeing you hurt," she told him. Alex knew she was telling the truth, Ande had been looking out for him their entire lives. He wanted to help her now, but he had no clue how.

"The feeling's mutual," he said, trying to comfort her.

"I know." She smiled at him, then hugged him tight.

"OK, so what do we know so far?" Don and his team, along with Gibbs and DiNozzo, one of Gibbs' team who had arrived a few hours ago, were trying to find Carl.

"Well, it would help if I could put together a profile, but we don't know what happened last time. So I'm not sure how to assess him because I can't understand his fixation on Ande," Megan said. Don stared pointedly at Gibbs, then turned back.

"Yeah well, Ande's not talking yet."

"Well, do you think he'd go after Alex too?," David asked.

"No." Everyone turned around to see Ande standing in the doorway. "He won't go after Alex, just me," she told them.

"Why not?," Colby asked her.

"Because I kept him away from Alex," Ande told them bluntly. "I made sure he never went after him. Al doesn't know anything other than speculation."

"How'd you manage that? From what I can tell this guy will go after anybody," DiNozzo asked.

"Not necessarily,Tony," she answered, looking over at him, then back at Don. "Only people who get in his way." Don was staring at her, trying to figure out what to say.

"So, how do we find him?," David asked, diverting their attention.

"We don't," Gibbs stated, walking over to Ande. "He'll find her." Gibbs and Ande were staring at each other.

"We're not using her as bait, Gibbs," Don warned.

"We don't have a choice," he responded. He then took out his backup gun from the holster on his right ankle, and held it out for Ande. "You remember what I told you?," he asked her. She looked fragile, but took a deep breath.

"Shoot between the eyes," she said calmly, taking the gun from him. She checked it over quickly, then concealed it at her waist.

"Don't hesitate," Gibbs warned her.

"I know," she sighed. "I do, I'm dead." Don looked mortified at what was going on.

"What the hell you think you're doing Gibbs?," Don asked threateningly.

"Making sure she doesn't make the same mistake twice," Gibbs answered, in an equally threatening tone. "He almost killed her last time, this time he's not gonna settle for almost." Don looked over at Ande, who was trying to keep herself together.

"You ready to tell me yet?," Don asked as he walked over to his frightened daughter. She swallowed.

"Last time...Last time it started out like last night," she started, hoping she could keep herself together. "But then it escalated." She paused, telling it was harder than she'd thought, especially to Don. "He ended up stabbing me, but I'd grabbed his gun out of the closet...I shot him, but he survived." This was hard for Don to hear, but he knew it was harder for Ande to tell. "I flatlined for two minutes during surgery, and I was in a coma for three weeks."

"Ande..." Don wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how.

"I swore if I ever saw him again, I'd shoot the son of a bitch in the head." She was getting angry just at the thought of him. "But last night, I wasn't near a gun."

"Hey...," Don started, wrapping his arms around her. "It's okay, everything is going to be okay," Don said, trying to comfort her. Ande was starting to shake, but Don held her for a few minutes till she was able to calm down more.

Gibbs whispered something to Tony, and then left. Don noticed.

"I'll be right back, OK?," he told Ande. She nodded, then Don followed Gibbs into the elevator.

"We need to talk," Don said to Gibbs as the elevator doors closed. Gibbs shut off the elevator, for privacy.

"So, talk."

"What the hell you think you're doing giving her a gun?"

"Don't worry she's a good shot," Gibbs joked. Don wasn't laughing though.

"I know she's a good shot. She's a better shot than most of the people in this building, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna arm her and tell her to shoot the guy in the head."

"Look," Gibbs started exasperatedly. "This guy is not gonna stop until one of them is dead."