They worked through the night, catching what sleep they could in the squad room. Cable had been easy to find, snug and warm in his cosy family home; his wife had looked on uncomprehending as he was dragged away in handcuffs. Gibbs asked her.

"Did you ever stop to think where he got that black eye, and the bruises?"

"He…he said someone tried to mug him, on the Metro…that's what happened, isn't it Steve?"

In the face of the evidence and Baker's testimony, Cable gave up a DNA sample without argument. Abby would get to work on matching that first thing in the morning. Gibbs was back in the interrogation room.

"Where do we find Nye and Freeman?"

"I don't know Agent Gibbs; I know Nye from the League…"

"What League?"

"I thought Baker told you, the Anti-Paedophile League, we protect the vulnerable members of society from sex offenders; warn neighbourhoods and schools if there are perverts around."

"And when exactly did you start attacking innocent people?"

"Hey! You can't put that on me! Baker told us he was one hundred percent guilty; that you guys let him off…if I thought he didn't do it, I would never…"

"Never what Cable? Punch him? Kick him? Leave him to die in the cold?"

"That was Freeman's idea; you're not putting that on me. I wanted to leave him at a hospital, but Freeman said he deserved everything he got, and Nye went along with him…I didn't like it from the start, Freeman's not even a member of the League, but Nye, he's married to Freeman's sister. He said Freeman could get us a sure fire way of taking out McGee when he was alone, none of his Fed buddies around…"

Cable seemed to become aware that his words were having no effect on the stone faced man sitting across the table. His self-justification was falling on deaf ears, and he had the feeling that it would be a very, very long time before he would spend another night under his own roof.

Nye and Freeman had proved to be more elusive, but the team finally got an address for a house owned by Nye's father, he had died two months ago, and the property had been empty since.

Gibbs pulled up outside the house; he had driven at his usual pace through the quiet streets; at 04.35 there was very little traffic around. He had slowed right down as they got closer; he didn't want the sound of screeching brakes giving away their arrival. He signalled for Tony to cover the rear and followed Ziva to the front door. He rang the doorbell, gave them the opportunity to give themselves up if they were inside, no answer, he rang one more time.

"There is someone in there Gibbs."

"I know...let's go."

Gibbs kicked open the door and they burst into the hallway.

"Tony, they're coming your way."

The two men raced for the kitchen and their only hope of escape. Tony was in position, gun poised.

"Going somewhere?"

They halted for an instant, then turned again to try and go back the way they had come, but there was no going back. Ziva held her gun steady.

"Please run...I would like you to run so that I can put a bullet in you; I would like that very much."

The taller of the two men appealed to Gibbs.

"You can't let her talk to me like that!"

"She's Mossad, not NCIS; she does pretty much what she wants."

"I told you Mitch; we should never have gone after a cop."

"Shut up! I told you he got what was coming to him."

Freeman never saw the punch coming, but he felt it; he doubled over and gasped for air as Gibbs' fist made contact with his solar plexus.

"Boss; remember what Vance said."

"I'm done Tony, I'm just sick and tired of these bastards trying to tell me McGee deserved what they did to him."

Nye held out his hands for the cuffs, he didn't want this guy beating up on him, but Freeman was in a rage, after recovering his breath he tried to struggle free from Tony's grasp.

"Don't make me hit you too Freeman, I might enjoy it too much."

"Like I enjoyed hitting McGee? Oh that felt so good, he's a piece of scum and you all know it. Baker said it was all round the Hoover Building, you left McGee hanging. So what changed? Did 'Mr Look at me I own a Porsche' offer you money to change your minds?"

Tony pulled his arms behind his back and secured the handcuffs.

"Now would be a really good time to keep your mouth shut."

"Why should I? His kind, messing with little children, they don't deserve to live. He was so self-righteous; you know what he said to my boss? 'I put away killers for a living.' But all the while he was looking at filthy pictures of little girls. So when Frank told me about what he'd heard at his meeting I knew what I had to do."

"And what was it you had to do?"

Ziva's tone was quiet, but menacing. Freeman knew his hands were shaking, and he was starting to consider the possibility that they'd got it wrong. No, it had to be McGee; he needed to be taken down a peg or two.

"McGee brought his car into Elite Motors Wednesday, and I heard him tell my boss that he needed the car back Friday, said he was driving out to Luray for the weekend, maybe do some walking in Shenandoah if the weather stayed dry…there are some isolated roads out there…so I disabled the Lojack and fixed it so that he'd break down; and he'd be alone…just how we wanted him."

Nye couldn't stay silent any longer, Mitch was burying them here.

"You have to listen; the League, we do good work…I didn't know Mitch had another beef with McGee, I thought he was helping us to punish a pervert, not get back at some guy who could afford a better car than him. I'm proud of what we do, if we save one innocent child from these sickos, then we do good work!"

Gibbs put away his gun, and stood in front of Frank Nye.

"You set yourself up as protectors of society, but you're no better that the scum you're supposed to be protecting us from. You almost beat an innocent man to death on the say so of one incompetent technician. I'm sick of the sight of you, all of you. And tell me this; you're so proud of what you do, why do you wear masks; hide your faces from your victims? I'll tell you why, because you are low-life cowards, too scared to face the consequences of your actions. You are all going to prison for a long time."

Freeman let out a shaky laugh.

"Don't think so…even if you go to trial, no jury is going to convict us, there'll be parents, grateful that I tried to take out someone who could prey on their children."

"You won't need to worry about a jury Freeman, you conspired to murder a Federal Agent…I'm pretty sure that with a little work I can make this an issue of National Security, I understand the weather in Gitmo is wonderful this time of year…of course you don't get to see much of it, locked up for twenty-three hours a day. Let's move.

Gibbs and Tony grabbed the two men and led them out to the car. Gibbs knew he couldn't send these creeps to Gitmo, but it made him feel good to see how scared they were. It was just the tiniest bit of payback for what they did to Tim. He pushed Freeman into the sedan…Gibbs needed to get these men booked and locked away soon, if he had to spend another minute listening to their self justification, he wouldn't be accountable for his actions.

Abby had been sitting at Tim's desk waiting for them to get back, and she was running across the squad room as soon as the elevator doors opened.

"Hey guys! Ducky called, they're transferring Tim to Bethesda later this morning. His doctor says he's strong enough to travel, and it will be better for him to be in DC when he starts his recuperation. We'll be able to see him!"

She went around hugging everyone, but Gibbs stood back. No one was happier than he that Tim was on the mend, but he was pretty sure he would not be a welcome visitor.

Three hours later they were all in Tim's room at Bethesda; Gibbs had been persuaded to come along, mostly because Tim's parents were at Ducky's place getting settled in. The ME had offered them his hospitality, and although Andrew had initially demurred, Tim had warned them.

"You should just say yes….Ducky can be pretty…persuasive…"

So they had agreed, and would be on their way to the hospital as soon as they had freshened up from their journey.

The team had paperwork to do on this morning's arrests, but Gibbs had been happy to give everyone a break, and they did need to see Tim, to convince themselves that he was getting better. He was sleeping still, Doctor Patel had sedated him for the journey, but he was starting to look a little more like the man they knew, the swelling had gone down slightly, and although the bruising was still bad, at least they were able to discern Tim's features under the bruises, and that hadn't been possible the last time they saw him.

Ziva and Abby were sitting quietly by Tim's bed, Tony and Gibbs stood at the foot of the bed, waiting patiently for him to open his eyes.

"What are you doing here Gibbs?"

They all turned to see Ducky and Tim's parents framed in the doorway.

"Andrew, leave it; let them visit."

"It was bad enough I had to let him question Tim. I don't want to see him upset again."

"Dad...stop, please..."

Theresa gave her husband a glare of which Gibbs would have been proud, and hurried to her son.

"Hush Tim, don't worry. I'll speak to your father."

"I told him...there's been enough anger over all this...I want it to stop..."

"It will Tim, we promise. Drew, tell him."

Andrew took up position beside his wife.

"Son, if that's what you want, I'll do it."

"Thanks Dad...you and Gibbs...you should shake hands..."

Tim's eyes closed once more; Abby was worried.

"Ducky, shouldn't he be awake for longer?"

"Probably not today, the sedation will keep pulling him under. He'll be much better tomorrow, I promise."

Theresa nudged her husband.

"You heard what Tim said; do it!"

She stepped back and smiled at the woman beside the bed.

"Ziva, Tim tells me you're not one for hugging, but...could I?"

Ziva rose from the chair, her arms outstretched, and Theresa McGee held her tight.

"You saved my son Ziva...I don't know how to say...if you hadn't helped him when everyone else turned against him..."

Ziva was surprised to feel tears on her cheeks, and they were her tears; she had been so relieved to hear Tim speak, and now his mother's words...

"He is strong Mrs McGee."

"Theresa."

"Theresa, he is strong, he would have survived."

"No...prison would have been hell for him, but if he'd thought everyone believed those lies...he couldn't have come back from that. I know my son; you were his saviour Ziva, and ours."

Andrew stood to attention and gave Ziva a salute, then he smiled.

"Permission to give you a kiss?"

"Granted."

He kissed her cheek, and whispered.

"If it is ever in my power to do anything to help you, however big or small, please ask...it's yours..."

"Thank you, but you owe me nothing; Tim would have done the same for me, that is what friends do, yes?"

Andrew glanced around the room.

"It's what you did Ziva, maybe some of his other friends weren't so sure."

"Drew, what did Tim say?"

"Okay, I'll do it for him."

He moved toward Gibbs.

"He's a better man than I am Agent Gibbs, I don't know that I can ever forgive you for believing that Tim could do something so...inhuman. But he doesn't want any more bitterness over this, so I will shake your hand...but mark this, if you betray my son's trust again, I will come after you, and however much he begs me not to, I will make you pay somehow..."

"You won't need to do that; I won't let him down again."

They all waited a little longer, but Tim was sleeping soundly and they still had reports to finish; so they made their way back to the Navy Yard and got to work.

It was almost 5pm when Tobias Fornell signed in at the security desk, he didn't want to be here, didn't want to tell Gibbs what he knew, but he had to do it, after all he had been responsible for getting McGee into this mess. He hadn't been back to NCIS since the day they escorted McGee out of the squad room in handcuffs.

What was it about that case that had made every single move he made more heavy handed than was necessary? He didn't have to show Gibbs and the Director of NCIS those pictures, let them read the emails,; he could have let Gibbs look at it privately, deal with it in house. But no; he took it straight to Director level. Then the cuffs, they all knew McGee wouldn't run, so why use handcuffs?

As for lock-up…he'd done many things in his years with the FBI that weren't exactly by the book; he'd even laid a fist or two on a prisoner a few times, and he'd never regretted it, because it got results, and the bad guys went to jail. But McGee…he sat there looking so dejected, isolated, yet he never gave up protesting his innocence, not even after Gibbs had abandoned him. He wouldn't give Fornell and Sacks the satisfaction of getting an easy confession, so they hit him, more than once, and still McGee wouldn't say that he was guilty. Fornell sighed, he should have known then, when they picked him up off the floor and he'd said to them.

"You feel better now? You're not going to beat a confession out of me…I did not download any pictures of children being abused; and I will never, ever say that I did."

And if Fornell hadn't still been overwhelmed by the images he had seen, by the terrifying idea that someone could do those things to Emily; he would have seen it then. McGee didn't do it, couldn't…

After NCIS proved McGee's innocence and his report went to the Director Fornell knew that he and Sacks would be in trouble, rightly so; they'd used physical violence in an attempt to force a confession. If they had been fired, he wouldn't have been surprised, but they were both sent on an immediate transfer to FLETC for 'retraining'.

When they got back there was a two-week suspension without pay, and the incident had been duly noted on their personnel files. They'd been expecting worse, and the Director assured him things would have been worse if he hadn't received an email from Agent McGee.

"He said law enforcement couldn't afford to lose men of your calibre and experience,; but he also said I was to warn you, if he heard of you doing anything like this again, he would not hesitate to bring charges of assault against the two of you. You're lucky men, if it had been me, I don't think I'd have been so magnanimous."

So; much as he hated what he was about to do, Fornell owed it to McGee. He stepped out of the elevator and headed toward Gibbs' desk.

"Before you throw that punch Jethro, there's something you have to see."