0500...

"Go take a nap, Probie," Tony insisted as he watched the agent yawn for the hundredth time at his desk.

Tim turned to look at Tony, "You know I can't do that, Tony. I'm standing by to track for Gibbs and Ziva if they call."

"I can keep watch for ya," he offered as he stood. "You can crash on the floor here by my desk and if they call, I'll wake you up." McGee considered the option, skeptically. "On one condition, of course," he grinned.

Tim cocked his head, "I knew there'd be a condition."

"Just wanna see the ring, McGoo," he smirked as he approached the desk. "You said you'd show it to me anyway. And now we've got a free moment."

"Oh," Tim blinked and looked down before reaching into his top drawer for his keys.

Tony crouched down beside McGee's chair, "Sorry about your plans getting ruined, by the way."

"It's okay," Tim told him as he unlocked the drawer. "I'll do it tonight." He pulled out a small white cardboard box and slid the blue velvet box from inside of it. He handed the box to Tony who opened it eagerly.

"This is...wow," Tony carefully pulled the platinum band from its place in the box. "Four carats?"

"Yeah...I wanted to get something bigger, but...well, she's a dancer and I thought maybe it would be a little overkill-"

"No, this is...this is really nice, McGee. Hell, I'd marry ya if this was for me," he stuck it back in its place.

"Somethin' you two wanna let me know?" Both agents' eyes widened as the slowly turned their heads toward Gibbs' voice. He was standing a few feet away in the bullpen, appraising their positions; Tony crouched down in front of Tim with an open engagement ring box in his hand.

Tony realized within moments what it must have looked like, and he abruptly stood, handing the box to McGee, "It's not what it looks like, Boss. That's McGee's engagement ring. Not- not for … it's for Kendra, Boss..."

Gibbs cocked his head and raised his brows as he looked at his younger agent. Tim shoved the box back into his drawer and locked it, "Sorry, Boss. I was keeping it here so she wouldn't find it."

"You're askin' her to marry you, Tim?" he asked. McGee nervously nodded at his boss.

"Even with your many, and very wise, warnings against marriage, in mind," Tony told him.

Gibbs smirked, "Good for you, McGee." He made his way around his desk to sit. Tim smiled, relieved that he had his boss's blessing, however unneeded it might have been; this made it all the better. "Both of you go get some sleep," he told them.

"But what about the Petty Officer?" McGee asked with a furrowed brow.

"We've chased down every lead we had. Abby's on her way in and she can go over what Ziva and I picked up while we were out. In the meantime, go find someplace to crash for a while. Ziva's usin' Abby's futon, so that's out."

"Ducky doesn't have any bodies up for autopsy," Tony said. "Guess we could take the cold tables..."

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0817...

"McGee," Tony shook the sleeping agent. "Hey, McGee, wake up," he said a bit louder.

Tim began to stir, "Whadya want..." he mumbled.

"Baltimore PD found the Petty Officer's body," he said, regretfully.

Tim pushed himself up and opened his eyes to look at him, "She's dead? How long were we sleeping?"

"Not our fault," he told him as the agent stood off of the table. "Their M.E says she's been dead at least 24 hours. Ducky's on his way there, now. Gibbs and Ziva are already out the door. We need to meet 'em at the scene," he explained as they made their way to the elevator. "We're takin' your car..."

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"I'd have to concur with the preliminary examination, Jethro," Ducky said as he leaned over the Petty Officer's body. "She was dead before her kidnapper ever made demands."

"Cause?" Gibbs asked.

"I'll need to get her back to my lab to be sure, but it would seem that it was, in fact, accidental."

"Accidental?" Gibbs narrowed his eyes as he crouched down beside him.

"Notice the redness around her eyes," he pointed out. "Most likely, she was suffering from allergies; not so uncommon this time of year."

"What's that got to do with anything, Duck?" Gibbs asked, impatiently.

"The duct tape over her mouth... My guess is that she was bound and stuffed into the trunk of her captor's vehicle, where he wouldn't have noticed her inability to breathe through swollen sinuses."

"She suffocated," Gibbs surmised.

"And he dumped her body once he realized what had happened," Ducky said as Gibbs cell began to ring.

Standing, Gibbs fished his phone from his pocket, "Yeah. Gibbs."

"Boss, we found the Petty Officer's missing car," DiNozzo said on the other line. "It's right here in Baltimore. Abandoned; but there's been a report of a stolen car nearby."

"Street cams?"

"Got Abby uploading as we speak," he informed. "We're pulling evidence from the car now, Boss."

"I want that car sent to Abby when you're done."

"On it," he ended the call.

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1330...

"Hey, Tony," Abby waved from the screen on Tony's laptop where he sat in McGee's car. "I know who you're looking for. His name is Bradley Archer," she pulled up a picture for Tony to see on the screen. "He's been convicted of petty theft, possession of narcotics, all the fun stuff that goes with that...he's on parole, but failed to show up to his probation officer last week. I think he's on the run..."

"But he's doing a really crappy job of it," Tony added. "He could've gotten to Mexico by now."

"Maybe. But I don't think he wants to. He kidnapped that Petty Officer in hopes to cut some kinda deal. I don't think he meant to hurt her; it was just an unfortunately huge oversight that completely foiled his simple plan to get out of trouble."

"Simple plan, Abby?"

"Well...simple in his mind," she explained. "Think about it; when someone skips their probation officer meeting, it's usually because they'll fail the drug test, right?"

"Sure," Tony shrugged.

"Archer's strung out on narcotics, panics when he misses his appointment, grabs the closest and most seemingly defenseless person he can find, ties her up, throws her in the trunk and steals the car."

"Then he hides around for two days before even thinking about calling anyone," Tony surmised. "Probably never left DC, kept checking the trunk. I'm guessing he gave her water or she would've died before she did."

"Yeah. I found two discarded strips of duct tape with her saliva on it, in the trunk."

Ducky suddenly came into view on the screen, sporting scrubs, "Yes, the reason we believe they never left DC in those first couple of days, is the fact that she'd been able to survive in the same position without compromised breathing. The pollen count in the air right now in the Baltimore area is far higher than it is here."

"That'd explain why he didn't feel the need to check on her for a while, I guess," Tony said.

"Indeed. Um...where is Agent Gibbs, Anthony?"

"What am I? Chopped liver?" he narrowed his eyes in offense. "I dunno where Gibbs is."

"I'm tryin' to take a nap," Gibbs' voice sounded behind him and Tony jumped before turning to see his boss sprawled out uncomfortably in the back seat.

"Jesus, Boss! When the hell did you get back there?" Tony's heart pounded in his chest, and he could hear the soft giggling from the computer.

"I was in here before you were," he replied. "Where's McGee and Ziva?"

"Went to get us something to eat. Should be back soon."

"Takes two agents to get lunch now?" Gibbs asked as he pushed himself up to sit.

"I think McGoo had a phone call to make," Tony grinned.

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"You're in Baltimore?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah. The missing Navy officer turned up dead. Now we're trying to find the guy who did it," he was sitting in his car as Ziva was still inside the cafe waiting on their order. "Hopefully we'll find him soon so I can get back there. I still owe you dinner."

"Honey, I'm not upset that we couldn't do dinner," she assured him. "But you've been at work for nearly two days without any sleep. How are you even functioning?"

"I got a few hours in autopsy," he defended.

"You slept in autopsy... you're gonna take a shower before you come over, right?" she laughed.

"Ducky keeps his cold tables very clean," he said, returning a small laugh. "But yes, I will shower before coming over."

"I'm kidding you, Tim. But seriously, don't bring dinner. I'm actually going to attempt to cook, this evening."

"You sure?"

"Don't worry; Andy's gonna talk me through it," she giggled. "I've got a fire extinguisher standing by, and the Chinese place up the street on speed dial if all goes to hell."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," he laughed. "I'm sure I'll love whatever you make. And hopefully, I'll be there to try it."

"I hope so too, Tim. I miss you..."

"I miss you too," he said, eying Ziva as she came out of the cafe balancing a tray of drinks and a large bag of food. "I gotta go, but I'll call you on my way back to town." He ended the call and quickly got out of the car to relieve Ziva of the drink tray.

"Thank you," she said. "Did you have a nice chat with Kendra?" the corner of her mouth turned up. Tim blushed as he opened the back seat and set the drinks down on the floorboard. Ziva's cell rang and she placed the bag of food in the back seat before answering. "David."

"Hey, Zi," Tony's voice sounded from the other end. "Sending a pic of the guy we're lookin' for to your and McGoo's phones. His name is Bradley Archer. Might be strung out on narcotics."

"Okay," she replied flatly.

"BPD said they recovered the second stolen vehicle. So he's drivin' something else now, I assume, unless he's on foot. No one's reported anything else stolen yet."

"We will keep an eye out."

"You guys on your way back with lunch yet?" he asked.

"About to be," she replied, then ended the call. "Let me drive, McGee," she told him. He gave her a questioning, if not frightened, look. "The stolen car was recovered, but no report of another vehicle being stolen yet. Tony sent a picture of the man we are looking for to your phone."

"Why do you need to drive, again?" he asked with narrowed eyes as she approached him outside of the driver side door.

"So that you can do your...magic thing you do on your computer," she said, waving her fingers around on an imaginary keyboard. "Perhaps you can figure out if there is a way to see if he stole another vehicle."

For a moment he simply stood there in thought. "I guess I could try and access street cams again," he said as he made his way to the passenger side. "But I'll need an address from Tony for wherever BPD found the car..."

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"Boss, we found him!" McGee shouted into his cell as they tore down the street in pursuit of Bradley Archer. "Caught sight of him right before we pulled onto the street where you're located. He spotted us and took off."

"Where are you now?" Gibbs shouted back as he started the engine, Tony pulling his seat belt on as he listened to the conversation.

"Following him up Jamison Avenue. He's heading south."

"We're on our way," he replied, ending the call abruptly and throwing the car into drive.

"Take it they're tailing Archer?" Tony confirmed.

"Yeah. And we're gonna take a shortcut to the other end of where he's headed; cut him off." Gibbs slammed onto the gas pedal, Tony silently thanking the heavens he hadn't had lunch yet as he gripped the door to keep steady.

*~.~*

McGee gripped the door for dear life as Ziva sped after Archer's car. "Hold on, McGee," she warned. "He is turning." Tired squealed as she followed pursuit. What she hadn't expected, however, was for Archer to have done a 360 and start heading back toward them at an alarming speed.

"Ziva, look out!" Tim yelled. Ziva slammed on the brakes, but the cars impacted. Ziva immediately exited the driver side door and drew her gun as she made her way to Archer. The man didn't move. His face was covered in blood where it had smashed through the windshield before he fell back into his seat. She reached out, cautiously, to check for a pulse.

"He is dead," she called as she looked back toward McGee. She was startled to see Tim slumped back in his seat; eyes closed. "McGee!" she holstered her weapon and ran back to the car. There was a small gash near his right temple and blood trickled down to his jawline. Ziva threw open the door. Her hands hovered over him, almost afraid to check for a pulse. "McGee?"

Suddenly his eyes opened, "Wha- what happened?" he blinked.

Ziva breathed a sigh of relief. "Archer is dead," she told him. "Are you alright?"

"Think so," he moved to take off his seat belt and they heard a car pull in behind them; tires screeching to a halt.

Tony and Gibbs quickly got out of the car and headed toward them, "What happened?" Gibbs asked.

"Archer is no longer a problem," Ziva reported as Tony went to see for himself. "McGee is hurt."

"I'm fine," Tim insisted as he pushed himself out of the car.

Gibbs stood close in front of him, looking over the agent, and settling his eyes on the head wound. "Your head's bleedin', McGee."

"Yeah, but I'm fine. Really," he told him as he shut the door. "More than I can say for our lunch, though." Gibbs looked at the mess that covered the back seat and smirked.

"Hey," they turned to Tony's voice as he held up a finger. "Ya hear that?" It took a moment, but there was a clear sound of knocking coming from the trunk. Tony met Gibbs' eyes before grabbing the keys from the ignition and rushing to the trunk with the team. As he opened the trunk, they were met by the muted scream of a terrified, bound woman.

"It's okay, Ma'am," Tony told her. "We're here to help you..."

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"Yeah, Abby, everyone's okay," Gibbs assured her over the phone.

"Did you hear about the chopper incident?" she asked.

"Been a little busy..."

"Apparently, a medi-vac helicopter crashed into a residential area downtown. It's all over the news."

"Anyone hurt?"

"Besides the people in the chopper? They haven't found anyone yet. But it's kinda freaky to think it happened so close."

"Lots of things happen so close, Abs... We'll be here a few more hours, at least. I'll see you when we get back," he ended the call. A tow-truck was loading McGee's car behind him, and his team was standing nearby the ambulance as they checked over the woman they'd found in the trunk. Gibbs walked up to stand in front of his team. "Ducky's on his way back here to get Archer's body," he told them. "How you holdin' up, McGee?"

"Better than my car," he winced as he watched the tow-truck pull away with it.

"I am sorry, McGee," Ziva told him. "I should have anticipated-"

"It's not your fault," he told her. "It's okay, really. It's just a car."

"The girl is fine," Tony told them. "Apparently, Archer didn't hurt her. She's still a bit shaken, but no need to go to the hospital. Her husband's on his way to get her, now."

"Tha's good," McGee slurred, and suddenly was falling over.

"Whoa, Probie," Tony caught him with Gibbs' help. "Maybe you should let the medics take a look at you, after all."

"'M fine, Tony. Jus' a little dizzy."

"You could have a concussion," Gibbs said as they led him to the ambulance. "And your head's still bleedin'. Let 'em check you out."

"Okay, Boss..." then everything went black...

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tbc...

A/N: Okay guys...normally, I wouldn't ask this...but I'd like to know if people are even interested in this story, 'cause honestly, I'm not used to this little of feedback. I know I'm going a little slower than normal, but that's because I'm sick and doped up on cold meds; thought process has slowed some.

Long story short, I'm more motivated when I know someone's liking what they see. I can't know unless you tell me! ;) thanks!