a/n - the site was being weird yesterday after I posted the second chapter of the day, the story link never moved up in the current story list. Weird. Anyways, two chapters were posted yesterday, and here's another nice meaty one for today. Enjoy. When I work out a scene and have a certain moment in it that I love, it's great when you guys love it too. Thanks.

Another FBI sedan arrived as McGee's stretcher was being wheeled out. Tobias Fornell was out of the car and running towards them before the driver had the car completely stopped. "Tim, my God, is he all right?" He reached the stretcher and saw the dark purple welts McGee's open shirt exposed. Immediately, he turned to Sacks. "Report!" When he realized Sacks didn't know, he repeated his order to DiNozzo in a snarl that had the NCIS agent stepping back.

McGee reached out and touched his arm. "Nobody's fault, just doing my job. I'm okay."

"We're going to have to discuss your definition of okay, young man." Tobias brushed Tim's hair back as he studied him. "How am I going to explain to Emily that Uncle Tim got hurt on the day of her science fair?"

"It's not until this afternoon, I'll be fine by then. It's just a couple of bruises."

"And some possible cracked ribs." Ron beat Tony to the announcement as they glared at each other.

Behind them, Gibbs looked at the older agent that drove Fornell to the scene. "Uncle Tim?" Thompson introduced himself before he explained.

"Tim's been helping Emily with her project for the annual school science fair." Thompson moved away to speak with Fornell before Fornell climbed in the ambulance with McGee. The other three FBI agents returned to their vehicles and followed as they left the embassy compound.

Stuck at the embassy, Gibbs watched the ambulance pull out of the driveway carrying his man, but accompanied by FBI agents. DiNozzo moved to stand next to him.

"There's just something wrong about that, Boss."

*Whack*

"Then let's solve this damn case and get him back."

---NCIS---

"What have we got so far?" Gibbs was short with Ziva as he stormed back inside. She blinked, but immediately started her report.

"Ducky is on his way, the scene is secure, the deceased is Maroof Antar. He was a groundskeeper here until about three months ago when he was fired because of his infatuation with Ambassador Haddad's daughter. The Ambassador is upstairs with his private physician and Yasmeen is with him." Once the official report was done, she showed more concern. "Is McGee all right? He should have someone at the hospital with him."

When Gibbs grunted and passed her as he went back into the study she turned to DiNozzo. "Tony, what has happened?"

"He's with his FBI buddies. Fornell went in the ambulance with him." Tony turned and looked out the window and down the street the ambulance had taken. She could see the muscle in his clenched jaw twitch. "You were right, he's in trouble, Ziva. Serious enough that they have him wearing some high-tech vest under his clothes."

Tony made a fist and she thought he was going to punch the wall. Instead, he stared at his hand while he slowly and deliberately opened it and flexed his fingers. "I really wish he was having a wild affair with Fornell instead."

Ziva reached out and interwove her fingers with his. "Me too."

---NCIS---

Gibbs took the stairs two at a time, ignoring the Secret Service agents, the private security, and the foreign soldiers milling around and headed straight for Ambassador Haddad. The Ambassador didn't seem surprised and waved away his bodyguard. "Agent Gibbs?" When Gibbs nodded, he continued, "how is your man, will he be all right?"

The honest concern he saw blunted some of Gibbs' anger. "He should be, he's being taken to the hospital as a precaution. We'd like to sort all this out so we can join him. Are you and your daughter up to answering a few questions?"

Haddad waved his daughter over to join them. He looked her straight in the eye as he answered Gibbs. "Of course, Agent Gibbs, explain your concerns about Yasmeen's clothing purchases. Unfortunately I did not see the amount in question before the shooting started." Gibbs handed him the papers he had retrieved from the study downstairs.

"Your closets are not that large Yasmeen, where are the clothes you have bought every month?" As Gibbs waited for her to answer her father's question, DiNozzo and David came into the room. Ziva stood behind the young woman and gave her a verbal nudge to get her started.

"There were no clothes, were there?"

She looked up at Ziva, then over at her father before shaking her head. "No, my friends work at the stores. They charged my credit card and gave me the cash"

"Why? Don't I give you enough? What do you need all that extra money for, child?"

Gibbs almost felt sorry for the clueless father. "It gets expensive supporting two boyfriends, doesn't it?" She nodded and started crying again, but he pressed her for more. "Did they know about each other?"

"Maroof found out."

"About Staff Sergeant O'Dell?" She nodded again as her father swore under his breath. Gibbs gave him a glance before resuming the questions. "Was he angry about your involvement with Staff Sergeant O'Dell?"

"Yes."

"Did he plant the bomb that exploded at the recruiter's office?"

She leaned her forehead against her father's uninjured side. "I'm sorry, Papa, I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

---NCIS---

Fornell decided he needed to work more on his glare, because McGee was sitting up on the small bed in the emergency room. "Damn it, kid would you stay still. The doctor isn't done with you yet."

"He went to get the paperwork for my release. Sacks can drop me off at headquarters after I change my shirt. You need to get going for the science fair."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you are not going back to NCIS today." Sacks jumped in the middle of the discussion before Fornell could even take a breath. "The only place I am dropping you is the bed at the safe house."

McGee turned to Fornell. "Are you ready to give Gibbs the location of the safe house?"

Tobias hung his head. The friend in him wanted to be able to show Gibbs that his boy was fine, was safe, was being taken care of. The agent in him knew the more people that knew about the safe house, the less safe it became. "You know we can't do that, Tim."

"Then I need to go back, at least for a few hours." McGee was trying not to move more than he had to. "Listen, convincing the Boss that I'm all right was hard enough when I was standing in front of him. He and Tony watched me get carted off in an ambulance, do you really think they're going to ignore that?"

After one more failed attempt at the glare, Tobias threw his hands up in the air. "Fine, Ron will drive you there and stay with you until Gibbs gets back. I'll be there to pick you up after Emily is finished and then you're going back to the safe house and you're going to stay there. Is that understood?"

"Until Thursday."

Fornell knew he was going to regret asking. "Why Thursday?"

"I have a presentation for Director Vance."

"Kid…"

"No." McGee stood, swaying for a moment before he straightened. "Those bastards have taken everything from me. We all agreed that I needed to maintain an illusion of normalcy so we didn't tip our hand. My meeting with Vance is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, end of discussion." He pulled on his shirt, not bothering with the one remaining button and pointedly not looking at the two blackened holes.

"You're starting to sound like Gibbs, you know that?"

McGee grinned at Fornell. "Thanks. I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Behind them Sacks covered his laugh with a strangled cough. Fornell found his glare was much more successful on his own agent.

"It wasn't meant to be nice." He waited as the doctor came in and gave his last minute instructions. Once the door closed on the retreating physician, he shook his head. "What the hell, let's get out of here."

---NCIS---

Palmer followed the sedan into the Navy Yard, turning at the last moment to pull into the loading zone assigned to the coroner's van while Gibbs parked on the other side of the building. Gibbs intended to break the news to Abby and drop off the evidence from the embassy shooting before heading for the hospital. Tony and Ziva carried in the boxes while he prepared to tell Abby what had happened. He took her hand and led her to a chair.

"What's going on, Gibbs, what's all this?" She looked over the evidence and back at Gibbs. He kept his voice low and soothing, knowing how she would react.

"Abby, I need to talk to you about Tim."

"He's upstairs, what about him? I tried to give him a hug to tell him that I forgive him for cheating on me and those FBI guys he's been hanging out with wouldn't let me touch him.

"Upstairs? Now?" Gibbs and Tony exchanged a look while Ziva called up to McGee's desk. When Abby tried to get up, Gibbs didn't let go of her. "Abby, he was shot a few hours ago. He was wearing a vest, but he took two slugs to the chest."

While Gibbs tried to explain the situation to Abby, Tony took the more direct approach and opened the bag containing Tim's NCIS jacket. One bullet hole was apparent on the jacket, but Abby's trained eye spotted the damage to the zipper from the other shot. "These would have been fatal, Gibbs."

"I know, Abs. Now, do you want to come upstairs with us and try it again? He's probably hurting too bad for a big hug, but I'm sure he'd like a little one."

"Why was he wearing a vest?" She was staring at the jacket, running her fingers over the damage. "Were you all wearing vests?"

Tony took back the coat and laid it on the table. "Those FBI guys upstairs put him in the vest. He's tied up with some case of theirs."

Abby never said she wanted to go upstairs, but she didn't object when Gibbs lifted her up and took her with him.

Despite Abby's report that McGee was upstairs and Ziva's confirming phone call that he was at his desk working, Gibbs didn't relax until he walked into the bullpen and saw him hard at work on the computer. He didn't stop until he was able to lean against the side of the desk and take a good look at his agent. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine as long as I don't try to move or take a deep breath." He tried to balance the worrisome words with a smile, but Gibbs wasn't distracted.

"Why are you here, then? You should be resting someplace or still at the hospital."

"I'm gonna be off the grid for a few days while my ribs heal. I wanted you to know that I was all right and safe. Wasn't sure if a phone call would cut it."

One thing Gibbs knew was that McGee was right. A phone call would not have cut it. "Will you be safe? When can you tell me what's going on, Tim?"

"I would tell you if I could, boss. There is one thing I can promise you, though."

"What's that, McGee?"

"You'll be read in before it goes down. I told Fornell today that I wouldn't do it otherwise."

Relieved by that simple statement, Gibbs leaned forward and rested his hand on McGee's shoulder. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Uncle Tim, Uncle Tim!" Both Gibbs and McGee looked up as Emily Fornell came running up to McGee's desk. Gibbs caught her as she came around the desk.

"Easy there, kiddo. Uncle Tim doesn't need to be jumped on right now."

"I know, Daddy told me he got hurt." She slipped past Gibbs and wrapped her arms around Tim's neck. "We're going to take good care of you till you're all better."

"Thank you, sweetie. You're the best nurse I could ever have." Tim gingerly returned the hug before leaning back in his chair. "Now tell me about the science fair." Emily smiled and pulled a blue ribbon out of her backpack.

"I won, Uncle Tim. I did it just like we practiced, and I won first place." While Tim and the rest of the team fussed over Emily as she told about her presentation, Gibbs slipped away to corner Fornell.

Fornell didn't have to guess what Gibbs wanted. "Jethro, I give you my word, I'll take care of him like he was my own."