Jethro felt like he was having an out of body experience. Everything was moving in slow motion as he pulled up to the ER doors. They took Cassie from him and took her into another room. They were trying to ask him questions but he wasn't really paying attention. All he kept thinking was this is it. She wasn't coming back to him this time. Jackson helped him sit down in one of the chairs. The nurse was trying to get information from him and he was having a hard time telling her what she needed. He gave her the doctors number and that was all it took and she was gone again.

"Jethro," came Jackson's voice breaking through the fog in his head. "Leroy, are you with me son? Leroy pay attention," said Jackson.

"Huh?" he said looking at his father

"Your phone is ringing," said Jackson as the sounds of the waiting room woke him.

"Gibbs," answered Jethro. The voice on the other end sent a chill down his spine. It was Jenny. How was he going to tell her what had happened. He started to tell her but was interrupted by the doctor walking towards them. He handed the phone to his father.

"Mr. Gibbs, your daughter's levels were very low. I'm surprised that you traveled given her condition. I would have thought that her doctor told her to stay home.,"

"She's going through chemo is all,"

"No, she's getting a much more aggressive treatment at the moment. It's a clinical test that we've been trying out at major city hospitals. Her body had an adverse reaction and started to shut down. We are treating her now and she'll be fine, but she really should have stayed home."

"What are you talking about?"

"Here," said the doctor showing him the sheet he got from the D.C. hospital treating Cassie. It said the date of the start of treatment and what had happened up until they left.

"Where did this come from?'

"Well the doctor treating your daughter has been trying to reach her about her test results for three days and has gotten no answer. She called your office and talked to your boss and got your number here,"

"Dad, give me the phone," said Jethro. He talked to Jen who was telling him everything that she was told by the doctor. She told him she's be there in a day to be with him.

"Jethro, what is going on?"

"I'd like to know that same thing Dad," said Jethro walking toward his daughter's room

"She's stable and sleeping. She'll probably sleep for the next day or so to give her body time to recover. We can set up a room for you to stay in while you are here," said the doctor

"Thank you," said Jethro sitting next to the hospital bed where Cassie lay hooked up to the machines.

"What do you need Jethro?" asked his Dad.

"I need some damn answers, but I can't get them without Cassie. Would you call the team especially Tony and tell him what is going on?"

"Yeah," said Jack stepping out of the room.

Jethro sat next to Cassie for the rest of the day and into the night. Tony insisted to go with Jen when she said she was leaving. She agreed and they left and headed toward Stillwater. Jethro talked to Cassie trying to figure out why she kept this from him.

"I will not watch you die!" said Jethro trying not to fall apart. "You will wake up and we are going to talk about all of this. I will not lose you like this Cassie! You hear me? You are in so much trouble!" said Jethro breaking down on her bed.

The next morning Jackson came with coffee. The nurses checked her and the doctor said that she would probably wake at any time. Jethro didn't know what hell he was going to say to her about this. He understood it was her choice to go with a more aggressive treatment, but he figured it was something she'd want to talk to with him. He knew though all he wanted to do when she opened her eyes was to hold her. Jenny and tony both showed around 12 looked absolutely exhausted. He was so relieved to see them all he could do was hug them both.

"Why don't you and I go talk?" said Jenny seeing the look in his eyes.

"I don't want to leave her," said Jethro

"I'll stay," said Tony

"We'll just be right outside if you need us," said Jenny taking Jethro's hand.

Tony walked into the room and sat down next to the bed. He was angry that he once again was helpless. He was angry Cassie thought she knew better than her doctors. He was angry at everything for trying to take her away from him. All he wanted was for her to open her eyes and walk out of the hospital. He knew that she was stubborn and getting her to admit she screwed up was not going to happen, but getting her to realize how close they came to losing her would hopefully knock some sense into her.

Jenny was sitting with Jethro outside the hospital on a bench. They didn't say anything for a few minutes. Jenny knew that pushing Jethro at this moment to talk was going to do more damage than good. All she could do was to be there when he wanted to talk. The only thing he could do though was cry. Very few people had ever seen this side of him. Heck nobody on his team had seen this side of him. Jenny just held his hand and whispered she was there for him. When Jethro had gotten his emotions under control all he had to do was look at Jen to know that it really was going to be OK. He wasn't alone in this and he could lean on her. Being a man of few words Jenny didn't expect him to say much if anything. What he did shocked her. He leaned in and kissed her not a hard kiss but a gentle sincere kiss.

"Jethro," she said as he pulled away

"Jen," he said running his hand along the side of her face.

"We should go back inside," said Jenny finding her voice.

"Yeah, we should," he said trying to figure out what just happened between them.

They walked back into the room to find Tony asleep and Cassie actually starting to wake up.

"Cass," said Jethro stroking her cheek.

"Dad…hi,"

"Hi," he said trying not to get all teary on her

"What's going on? Why am I in the hospital?"

"You don't remember anything?" asked Jethro looking at her

"I was sitting with you and grandpa talking,"

"You fell on the floor and nearly died,"

"What? Tony? Jen?"

"We know everything Cassie. The alternative treatments not answering the doctors phone calls. You nearly died on us," said Tony trying to not scare her

"I…."

"We'll talk later," said Jethro as the nurse came in to check her. The doctor came by too. He told her how lucky she was to still be with them. He also told her what the other doctor had been trying to tell her. Cassie burst into tears just looking at her father. She never meant to scare any of them like this. She'd be surprised if they never talked to her again though.

"Calm down sweetie," said Jethro after her trying to hysterically control her breathing to talk to them.

"Cass, it's Ok, we are just happy that you are OK. Listen they said once your counts are back up they'll restart the chemo. You need to calm down," said Jenny

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you guys. I didn't want it to be true. I really believed it would work. I wanted it to work,"

"We know, but we need you to start by being honest about what you want. We want what is best for you, but if you won't tell us we don't know,"

"I promise I'll tell you whatever you want,"

"Alright just breathe Cassie," said Jethro trying to calm her down.

"Listen we are going to go for a little bit and let you rest. We'll be back later OK?" said Jenny seeing that Cassie needed some room to think.

"Yeah, sounds good," said Cassie yawning

They left the hospital and went back to the store. They didn't want to leave, but they all needed to get a new perspective and some sleep. Jackson cooked something for them all, but none were very hungry. Tony fell asleep in one of the chairs. Jenny went to the bedroom and fell asleep on the bed. Jethro tried to get some sleep, but was having a hard time after all the coffee he had drank. They closed the store early since they would probably go back to the hospital later. Tony did the honor of calling the rest of the team and telling them what was going on. Everyone was so shocked that they were practically on their way to see her. Tony assured them they had thing handled. He knew that Abby would need exra reassurance herself from Gibbs so her told her to call him. While he was talking to McGee about things at the office a boy came in the store.

"Hey, I believe the sign out front says closed until futher notice,"

"Yeah, well Mr. Gibbs never closes the store unless there is an emergency. Where's Cassie?" demanded the boy

"Who's asking?" questioned Tony staring at the kid. The last thing Cassie need was another guy trying to worm his way into her life after the last fiasco. Tony wasn't about to let that happen again.

"Who are you the store guard? Where is Cassie?"

"She's not here right now and if you must know I'm Tony her big brother," said Tony glaring at the kid daring him to keep charging at him

"Do you know where she went?"

"I can tell her you stopped by," said Tony

"Is her Dad here?"

"Yeah, he's in the back," said Tony watching the kid go back in search of Gibbs. Tony followed him trying figure out what he wanted.

"Eric, hi," said Jethro seeing him walk toward him

"Hi, Gibbs, is Cassie around? I missed her the other night and I wanted to make sure that she's ok,"

"Uh, Eric, you should sit down," said Jethro

"Ok," said Eric his stomach dropping and his face paling.

"Cassie is in the hospital. She's really sick right now and they want to keep her there until she's better. Did she tell you anything the other day while you were out?"

"No, but she got tired part way through our walk and slowed down. She looked pale and I kept pushing. Did I do this?"

"No! Listen, Cassie has cancer which is being treated, but a few weeks before we left town she switched treatment methods on me without telling. The doctor has been trying to contact us saying that the treatment is basically killing her. She passed out yesterday on the floor and we took her to the hospital. Her organs were failing, but they managed to stop it and she's being monitored. She's going back to regular treatments, but not until she gets her strength back. I know this is a lot to take in, but I know she would like to see you and tell you herself. We are going up later this afternoon to see her if you want to go," said Jethro watching the kids reaction.

"I would really like that," said Eric stunned to hear all of this.

"Sorry about giving you a hard time kid," said Tony behind him

"That's cool. I can understand why you'd want to protect her. She's an incredible girl with a lot to lose," said Eric shaking Tony's hand.