As McGee escorted Elle Charlton down to his car, part of him cursed himself for opening his mouth in the first place, but the other part of him was happy at the thought of spending more time with Elle. She was quiet as they headed downstairs, and he could see that she looked exhausted. More so than she had earlier in the day. She wasn't crying anymore however.

"Could we stop by my apartment so I can get a few things?" she asked as they pulled out of the parking deck. "I could use a change of clothes."

"Sure," McGee agreed. "Not a problem."

For the next ten minutes, the only talking between them was Elle giving Timothy direction to her apartment complex. He wanted to talk to her, get to know her, but he didn't feel like now was exactly the right time to do that. Later, maybe, once the case was closed, he would be able to become acquainted with her.

"I'll only be a few minutes," Elle assured him, climbing out of the car as soon as McGee parked in front of the building.

"You need any help?" he wanted to know.

"Nah, I'm good," she replied. "Thank you, though, Agent McGee."

When Elle got upstairs to her apartment, she easily let herself inside with the key that was hidden under the fire extinguisher at the end of the hall. Her knock-off Prada handbag was still in Will's house, which was considered a crime scene, so she couldn't get it back.

Closing the door behind her, she turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin. Scott Harper, her ex-boyfriend, was standing there, waiting for her.

"Scott! What are you doing here?" she demanded to know. " You broke in?"

"I didn't break in, baby. I used the spare key you leave outside, but then I put it back, in case you came by. I'm glad you're here. I think we should talk about what happened."

Elle shook her head, trying to hide her fear. This was the farthest Scott had ever gone to get to her and she was beginning to wonder if Agent Gibbs was right and he had murdered Will. "I'm not talking to you," she declared, turning and heading towards the door.

Scott grabbed her arm roughly and whirled her around angrily. "You're gonna talk to me, you little bitch!"

Elle struggled against him with all her strength and finally escaped his grasp, then made a mad dash to her bedroom. She slammed the door behind her and locked it securely, then pulled her cell phone out of her pocket along with the business card Agent McGee had given her earlier. It had his cell phone number on it and she dialed it with trembling fingers.

"Don't make me come in there, Elle!" Scott threatened from the other side of the door.

Elle moved closer, holding the phone up to her ear. "I'm calling the cops, Scott, so go away and leave me alone."

"Hello?" McGee answered the call on the other end of the phone.

Suddenly, the bedroom door crashed open and the edge of it hit the left side of Elle's face and making a deep gash over her eyebrow. The blow knocked her to the ground, dazed and stunned, and the phone tumbled across the room.

"Why did you have to file that damn restraining order, Elle?" Scott yelled, barging into the room and jerking her to her feet by the collar of her jacket.

"Because you're a monster!" she sobbed loudly. "You killed Will, didn't you?"

McGee, on the other end of the phone, instantly realized that something was terribly wrong upstairs. He grabbed his gun, badge, and cuffs off the back seat and then bolted towards the building.

Timothy had never been a very athletic person, but he'd always managed to pass the yearly physical. Right now though, he was running so fast that even DiNozzo would have been proud of him. He still had his phone to his ear and he could hear Elle sobbing and begging for mercy. Harper was still yelling angrily and he kept hearing noises that sounded like someone hitting someone.

When he reached the fifth level, he realized that Apartment 528 was on the other end of the hallway and he fairly flew down the long corridor, his gun already out and ready.

He got to the door, shoved his phone into his pocket, and then broke the door down with his shoulder.

"NCIS!" he shouted, entering the apartment.

"McGee!" Elle screamed from the bedroom.

"Shut up!" a male voice yelled. His words were followed by solid smack and a loud whimper.

McGee hurried to the bedroom doorway and aimed his weapon the man who had Elle pinned to the bed. Her face was covered in blood and her tears were mixing with it, making for quite the gruesome sight.

"Step away from her," McGee ordered angrily, trying to focus his attention on Harper and not on the injured Elle.

"This girl ruined by life!" Scott insisted, shaking Elle roughly.

"Please, McGee," Elle begged him. "Please, do something!"

"You have three seconds," McGee declared, trying to maintain his cool composure. "One…." Harper didn't move a muscle, but he gave Elle another smack.

Finally, McGee lost it. He took a shot and hit Harper directly in the shoulder. The enraged man staggered backwards, then collapsed, clutching his shoulder as blood poured through his fingers.

"Elle," McGee said, keeping his gun aimed at Harper and holding out his other hand to her. She grabbed it and scrambled off the bed and stood behind him, leaning against his back and sobbing.

"I need you to take my phone and call Gibbs," McGee told her, pulling his cell out of his pocket and slipping it into her hand. "Tell him what happened."

In twenty minutes, Gibbs arrived at the scene along with an ambulance. He was soon followed by Ziva and Tony.

"Wow! Looks like McGee is really taking his work out of the office with him," Tony commented, seeing the EMTs take Harper out on a stretcher.

"Looks like he gave Elle a pretty good beating," Ziva remarked. Elle was sitting on the kitchen counter letting the EMTs clean and stitch up the deep gash on across her right eyebrow. Her lip was also cut and her cheek was bruised.

Tony winced. "Ouch! That doesn't look pleasant. I'd say McGee got the guy back pretty well, though."

Gibbs walked up to his two agents. "It's about time you two got here," he told them.

"What happened, Boss?" DiNozzo asked curiously.

"Elle stopped by to get some clothes while McGee waited in the car. When she was inside, Harper showed up and started beating her. Elle managed to get a call off to McGee. He shot him in the shoulder."

"Looks like the Cowardly Lion finally got some nerve," Tony remarked, looking at McGee with a little admiration for once.

"I want you two to go with Harper to the hospital," Gibbs ordered them. "I'll take care of things here and let McGee go with Elle to get her checked out."

"It looks like she is going to need a lot of stitches," Ziva observed.

"You think?" Gibbs asked dryly.