Tony was walking towards the cafe near the navy yard when something caught his eyes. It was a name, written in red and bold font on the glass door of a small shop.

Alison.

It was a small antique shop, run and managed by an old woman named Alison.

During his whole career, Tony had stepped in that shop only once and it was because he'd heard some suspicious noises coming from the inside and had thought that it was better to go in and make sure everything was alright.

It'd been at least two months ago and the mere thought of it sent a cold shiver down his spine. Just how long had that psychopath been stalking him without him being any wiser?

Fishing around in his pockets, he pulled out his cellphone and quickly called Gibbs. "Boss, I think I know who this 'Alison' is." He paused shortly to listen to what his boss was saying, "no, it's the antique shop near the cafe. I'm going to-" he didn't get to finish his phrase as a sharp pain in his left shoulder took his breath away and moments later he found himself sprawled on the cold hard ground, gasping for air.

It was only then that he realized he'd been shot, most probably by a sniper and apparently it was supposed to be a kill shot into the heart which would've been if Tony hadn't stepped forward at the last moment.

Cradling his left arm against his chest, he crawled with his right arm and pulled himself behind a car, trying to come up with some ideas to save his life and the life of the old woman working in that shop.

His tired mind vaguely registered the sound of people screaming and running away and with some effort he pulled himself a little up to peep out and see if he could locate the shooter. Of course, that task wasn't as easy as it first seemed and Tony couldn't really locate his opponent but be had a pretty good idea where the shooter must've been hiding.

Sagging to the ground and leaning against the car that he was hiding behind, he looked around and spotted his cellphone a few feet away. Absently, he wondered how long it'd take him to get his hand on the device to call for help. But the thing was that he was feeling so drained, physically and emotionally, that giving it a few minutes before trying to reach for his fallen cellphone, suddenly sounded like such a great idea.

He wasn't sure how long he'd stayed in that position with his eyes closed, but to him it didn't feel like more than a minute or two before he felt a presence by his side. Opening his eyes, he found Gibbs crouching in front of him, putting his hands over the wound to his left shoulder and pressing down hard.

"Hey... Hey, Tony! You with me?" Gibbs said in a tone that he hadn't heard for a long time.

He wanted to nod and ask about the shooter; about Alison; about everyone else who'd been in that street, but he felt a bit detached from his body, so he just stared at the older man, his face slack and pale.

The added pressure on his throbbing shoulder brought him back and he barely had time to muffle the cry of pain.

"Answer me, DiNozzo." Gibbs growled.

"I'm-..." he coughed, "I'm good... Bo-... Boss."

"Yeah, I can see that." Gibbs, himself, looked kinda pale and distressed which wasn't a look that you'd see a lot on Gibbs. "What happened, Tony?"

Tony shook his head slightly.

"Gibbs, the shooter is gone;" Ziva's voice came from somewhere above his head. "The bullet must have come from the building." She pointed towards somewhere behind Tony and he would've turned around to look if he hadn't come to the same conclusion earlier; or maybe if he had any energy left.

"You and McGee, go check the building." Gibbs ordered and when he found McGee still hovering over Tony, he growled. "Now, McGee. There's nothing you can do here."

"Hang in there, Tony." McGee said curtly before quickly walking away with Ziva.

"Did you hear him, DiNozzo? Hang in there." Once again, Gibbs' tone was gentle.

"Not... Not going anywhere." Tony sighed. "Alison?" His eyes widened and his breath hitched as he tried to push himself up.

"Easy." The ex-marine instructed and stopped him before the younger agent could move any further. "I sent an agent to check the place. She's not there. Some young man is working today."

Tony frowned, when had that happened? He was sure he hadn't been lying there that long. "How did... you-"

"We were on the phone; remember?" Gibbs answered the unfinished question. "You stopped talking and then I heard people screaming. I thought you-" he trailed off and Tony looked up with bewilderment. "Hang in there. You're gonna be alright." Gibbs continued.

Tony wanted to comply and say something, but his eyelids had another plan and drooped despite his wish to stay awake.

"DiNozzo? Tony!" Gibbs shook him gently to no avail; the man under his hands was out for the count. He was losing blood pretty fast and it was scaring Gibbs more than he'd like to admit.

He wasn't ready to lose another agent and he sure as hell wasn't ready to lose Tony. He'd never ever be ready to lose Tony; not to another team and definitely not to death. It just wasn't an option.

Earlier, he'd thought the worst when Tony had stopped talking so abruptly and he'd heard terrified screams coming from the other side of the phone.

Despite his yelling, and even pleading, the younger man wouldn't answer him which was why Gibbs had been pretty sure he'd find his agent on the ground with a bullet hole between his eyes and it'd filled him with dread, almost bringing tears to his eyes.

He'd thanked any gods that might be listening when he'd found Tony crouching behind a car and although the amount of blood that had covered the sidewalk was alarming-there was a trail of blood on the ground, showing that Tony'd pulled himself towards the car-, at least the younger man still had a chance; it wasn't over yet and Gibbs was determined to keep things that way.

"What do we have here?"

Gibbs blinked in surprise when he realized that he'd been so caught up in deep thoughts that he hadn't noticed the paramedics arriving.

"Gunshot wound to the left shoulder. He's lost too much blood already." Gibbs knew that he didn't need to mention the last part since it was clear how much blood the younger man had lost, but he wanted to make sure they knew how dire the situation was. Moving his blood covered hands, he let the paramedics have access.

"What's his name?"

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."

The girl nodded and smiled at him like she wanted to comfort him with her eyes. Gibbs would've rolled his eyes and growled something rude if she wasn't in charge of saving Tony's life.

"Alright, Agent DiNozzo, think you can open your eyes for us?" The other paramedic who was a man slightly older than the first paramedic tapped Tony's face. Looking at his partner, he said, "Hook him up to a bag of Saline and inform the hospital." He himself started to take care of the wound for the moment to slow down the bleeding.

"We need to move fast; you coming with us, Sir?" The girl addressed Gibbs while doing what she was told.

Gibbs took a look around and noted the NCIS agents who had the whole area under control; Agent Ross, the Lead Agent of another team nodded to him, indicating that he knew Gibbs needed to go with Tony. "I'll tell McGee and David that you're gone. Go, Gibbs and tell Tony to get well soon."

Making up his mind, Gibbs hopped in the back of the ambulance, trying to stay out of the way so the man could save Tony's life while the girl drove them to the hospital.

It didn't take them long to reach Bethesda and from there, things happened way too fast for a tired man like Gibbs to remember every single detail.

Three hours later, Gibbs was still standing behind the doors of an operating room, hoping against hope that Tony wouldn't succumb to the pain, blood loss and more importantly the despondency that he clearly had been dealing with recently.

Gibbs, once again, cursed himself for playing an important role in putting that forlorn look in the younger man's eyes. Hadn't Tony been through enough?

"You here for Agent DiNozzo?" An old doctor asked as soon as he spotted Gibbs standing in the waiting room.

"How's he?" The Lead Agent asked instead of directly answering the question.

"He pulled through. It wasn't easy, but we managed to stabilize him and repair the damage to his shoulder. He's lost quite a lot of blood which will take some time for us to replace and the bullet has torn muscles, ligament and tendons and shattered his left collarbone; but a couple of inch lower and it'd have gone right through his heart. So he's been lucky if you ask me."

Gibbs would never say it out loud, but the thought of a bullet ripping Tony's heart apart would haunt his dreams for a long time. "Will he be alright?" He needed to make sure; the damage sounded severe.

"It's too soon to say anything about a full recovery, but we're cautiously optimistic. We did everything we could for now. He's going to need lots of rest and then weeks of physical therapy to regain full function and sensation of his left arm and it's gonna be painful, but with the right amount of exercise and enough time he should be fine."

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... TBC ...

A/N: I'd love to know what you think.

Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and alerts. :)

All mistakes are mine.

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