AN: This chapter was difficult to write, and probably has some plot holes, especially involving timing of what happens. Its fiction though so hopefully it works out okay. As always, thanks so much for the reviews - So great for boosting confidence when I hit rough patches and I appreciate each one more than I can say :)

*****

Anthony DiNozzo, Sr. nervously checked his rear view mirror as he drove the winding roads that led to the old farmhouse. The road he was driving was seemingly deserted. He hadn't seen anyone else driving in quite some time. The NCIS team was likely already in place in the wooded area by the farmhouse. Agent McGee had made it sound very simple, but they all knew it was anything but that. He was just to follow the instructions of the kidnapper. McGee and the team would make their move when McGee felt it was appropriate to do so. He finally reached the farmhouse and pulled his car up in front. The money was in a briefcase beside him on the passenger's seat. He picked it up, got out of the car and waited for someone to come out of the house, hopefully with his son.

*****

Sheldon smiled as he saw the car pull up in front of the farmhouse and DiNozzo Sr. get out of it. "Time to get this show on the road," he said. "When I get back here with the money, we'll split it up and get the hell out of here. DiNozzo can reunite with his kid and everybody's happy. You keep an eye on these two. I shouldn't be long." Not noticing Sam's look of disdain, Sheldon headed outside.

"Mr. DiNozzo," Sheldon greeted as he walked toward DiNozzo Sr. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you.

"Where's my son?" DiNozzo Sr. asked, not bothering with preliminaries. "I want to see him now."

"All in good time. He's inside the house." His eyes greedily went to the briefcase. "That's the money?"

"Yes," DiNozzo Sr. nodded.

"Well, please don't take it personally if I don't trust you, but I would like you to open the briefcase. I want to see for myself."

"Then you'll take me to my son?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sheldon said impatiently, licking his lips in anticipation. "Come on, open it."

The briefcase was opened and Sheldon's eyes lit up as he looked at the neatly bundled stacks of green. So intent was he on looking at the money, that he never even noticed the female agent until her gun was pressed up against his back. "Do not say a word," Ziva instructed. "Throw your weapon down, now."

*****

"Cover me," Sam directed Pete the minute Sheldon had walked out the door. "If Gibbs tries anything, you blow DiNozzo away."

Gibbs could only watch helplessly as Sam approached him and Pete kept his gun aimed at Tony's head.

"I bet this is making you crazy, isn't it, big man?" Sam pulled a set of handcuffs out of his jacket pocket and shoved Gibbs forward roughly, cuffing his wrists behind his back. "Knowing I can do whatever I want to your little buddy and you can't do a damn thing about it."

"I know that if you touch a hair on his head, I'll make you pay," Gibbs replied calmly. "There won't be a place far enough away for you to run where I won't find you."

Sam gave a mock shudder. "Ooooh I'm so frightened, Agent Gibbs." He scornfully rapped the top of Tony's head and grinned at Gibbs. "There, I touched him. I won't be holding my breath waiting for you to hunt me down though."

Thinking Gibbs had hit him, the sharp rap to his head roused Tony. "What'd I do, boss?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"You didn't do anything, Tony," Gibbs said softly. "Go back to sleep."

"Kay..." DiNozzo obediently nodded and his eyes slid shut once again.

"No. I want him awake." Sam hit DiNozzo again, harder this time. The agent whimpered as the painful hit startled him into full awareness.

"Leave him alone," Gibbs growled, incensed that he could do nothing to stop this guy who obviously had more than one screw loose.

"Or what?" Sam sneered.

"Are you really so pathetic that you need to pick on someone who's been poisoned, handcuffed and has no way to defend himself?" Gibbs asked, shaking his head in disgust. "You probably bullied little girls in the schoolyard when you were a kid."

"You comparing your agent to a little girl?" Sam laughed. "Anyhow, so what if I did?" He shrugged carelessly. "I'm sure they grew up to be bitches."

This guy was a real piece of work. "Why don't you take on someone who can actually challenge you?" Gibbs asked. He was dying to get his hands on him. "Get these cuffs off me and let's go."

"I don't think so, Gibbs," Sam replied with a snicker. "I'm a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them." Realizing that time was growing short, Sam turned his attention away from Gibbs and headed into the kitchen, returning only moments later with the container of kerosene.

"What are you doing, Sam?" Pete watched in bewilderment as Sam started to pour the kerosene onto the floor near the front door.

"Just taking care of business, Petey boy," Sam replied with a glint in his eye as he slowly moved around the room, strategically splashing the liquid. "You might want to think about getting out of here pretty quick."

"B...but why? Sheldon didn't say anything about this."

Sam's eyes darkened dangerously. "Who died and made Sheldon boss?"

"This was all his idea. He..."

"I don't care whose idea it was. He's fucked everything up royally."

But Sam...these guys didn't do anything...they can't hurt us."

"No, but I can hurt them."

Gibbs was sick with horror at what Sam had planned for them. "What the hell...you're going to burn us alive? Why? That doesn't even make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense to me and that's all that really matters." Sam stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a book of matches before turning towards Gibbs. "You've got a decision to make, Agent Gibbs. With your hands cuffed, it's impossible for you to help your friend, but I'm not going to stop you from leaving here. So you can choose to save yourself or you can stay here and die with Agent DiNozzo."

"Uncuff him." Gibbs' voice was harsh, but there was desperation in his eyes. "Damn it. Let him go!"

"No can do, Agent Gibbs. Last chance, Pete, unless you want to stay here and fry along with them." He backed up towards the kitchen where the back door was located and struck a match against the matchbook. Pete hurried after him, casting a brief look of apology at the two men they were leaving behind. He felt bad about the agents, but not bad enough to risk his own neck for them.

"See you in hell someday." Smiling evilly, Sam dropped the lit match onto the kerosene-soaked floor, watching as the flames began to erupt. He gave a mock salute to Gibbs, then turned and fled with Pete on his heels.

"You've got to get out of here." Tony tried to hide the panic he was feeling. He didn't want to die alone in a flaming death trap, but he sure as hell didn't want Gibbs going along with him if it could be avoided.

"I'm not leaving you behind, DiNozzo," Gibbs said as he managed to get to his feet.

"Please, boss," Tony pleaded. "Think of Abby. She'll be devastated. You can't do this to her." Gibbs ignored his agent as he searched frantically for a solution to their predicament. All he could see though were the flames which were beginning to spread.

Tony started to choke on the fumes and thickening smoke which was already affecting his weakened lungs. "Boss, get the hell out of here," he gasped.

"I'm going into the kitchen to see if there's something you can use to cut through the chain on those cuffs."

"There's no time...please just go!" Tony said breathlessly, watching until Gibbs disappeared from sight. They were separated now, just like in his nightmare. He knew that he would never see Gibbs again. He started coughing again and buried his face into the arm of his jacket. His chest hurt and he was having a difficult time breathing. His only consolation was he was pretty sure he would lose consciousness before the flames got to him. He really didn't want to feel the pain of burning to death. He just prayed Gibbs would get out before it was too late.

*****

Sam laughed giddily as he and Pete made their way out of the farmhouse. He couldn't remember when he had had so much fun. He only wished there was a way to watch the torment first-hand without being burned himself.

"NCIS! Throw your weapons on the ground and put your hands behind your heads."

"Shit," Sam muttered as he did as he was ordered. Just when everything was perfect, this had to happen...story of his life...this really sucked.

McGee and Ziva approached the two men and Ziva bent down to retrieve their discarded weapons from the ground.

"Listen!" Pete blurted out as his hands were cuffed behind him. "He set the place on fire. You'd better get those guys out of there quick or they're both goners."

"You jackass!" Sam yelled furiously. "Why did you open up your big mouth?"

"You're the jackass," Pete retorted. "Maybe if you had been keeping a lookout instead of torching the place, we could have gotten away."

"You are both jackasses," Ziva said coldly as she cuffed Sam, taking pleasure in fastening the cuffs as tightly as they could.

McGee looked towards the house and saw the wisps of smoke coming out from the open door. "Ziva, call for help!" Without hesitation, he ran into the house, almost colliding with Gibbs who was in the kitchen, red-eyed and coughing from the smoke.

"McGee!" Gibbs was so happy to see the young agent he could have kissed him. "Get Tony! He's cuffed to a radiator in the living room. Hurry!"

"I'll get him, boss. You need to get out of here."

Knowing there was nothing he could do to help, Gibbs nodded and headed out of the house. Once he got outside, he sank onto the ground in exhaustion, taking in huge gulps of fresh air as he waited anxiously for his agents to emerge from the burning farmhouse.

As Gibbs exited the house, McGee entered the living room in search of Tony. He covered his nose and mouth with his arm, trying to protect himself from the smoke and blistering heat. He could hardly see anything through the thick smoke, but finally made out Tony's form, slumped unconscious against the wall. "Tony!" Barely managing to avoid the flames, Tim made his way to Tony's side. Knowing he had no time to lose, he grabbed his gun and easily shot through the chain of the handcuffs, freeing the agent. "Come on, let's get you out of here, Tony." He hoisted Tony's dead weight into his arms and at first turned towards the front door, but it was totally blocked off by flames. He then went back the way he had come in. The flames were seemingly everywhere. For a moment, he thought they were trapped, but he finally was able to find his way out of the fiery blaze.

"Tony!" Ziva ran to Tim and helped him lower Tony to the ground beside Gibbs. Tim was coughing violently, but Tony lay perfectly still. "He is not breathing," Ziva stated and she immediately began to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Tony hovered somewhere between two worlds, watching the scene below him. It was pretty cool actually, almost like watching himself and his friends as the stars of a real life movie. Gibbs had gotten out of the house safely and that just meant the world to him. After everything the man had done for him over the past few days, Tony was just so relieved that he was safe. And he had to give props to Probie...he had really outdone himself, risking his life by running into the burning house to try to save him. He was especially glad he'd gotten him out before he had burned to a crisp. There was Ziva, right by his side, frantically trying to revive him. It was clear how much they all cared for him, and he would miss them like crazy, but he didn't think he would be returning. He had never felt like this before...well and strong with an amazing sense of peace and tranquility...no more pain...no more worries...this was where he wanted to be...

AN2: I know... I know :) I'm sorry...I guess I'm kind of evil leaving it like that, but it was a good stopping point for this chapter. I actually never expected it to go there - it just kind of happened that way.