Abby stood there, worried and confused as to what happened as Tony continued to call for Gibbs on the phone. "Tony?" She touched his arm.

He swung around to face her, panic clearly written on his face. "I need your keys. I need to go..."

"What happened?" She dove for her purse in the living room.

"I dunno...I...he might've gotten into a wreck..." his voice cracked as he spoke, taking the ridiculously chunky set of key-chain-mess from her.

"I'm going with you," she told him, just as worried, but trying not to freak out since Tony seemed to be doing it for the both of them.

He didn't reply to her as he tore out of the house toward her car with her on his heels. They were on the road within seconds, Tony calling an ambulance to a possible accident scene at the mall he knew Gibbs had gone to. Once he ended the call and retried Gibbs' number, to no avail, he stepped down harder on the gas.

"He wasn't going fast," Tony said, but to no one in particular besides himself. "He was stuck in the traffic. Couldn't be that bad, right? It's the mall... It's just...someone backed into him and he dropped his phone. Yeah...that's gotta be it." He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince.

"And he's out there probably giving the other driver the death-glare," Abby added.

Tony nodded, willingly accepting the explanation. But remained silent the remainder of their journey...

11 00 11 00 11

"Shit!" Tony yelled as they pulled into the long line of traffic at the entrance road to the mall. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!" He hit the dashboard with a heavy, angry fist.

Normally, Abby would've protested the language...and possible destruction of her beloved vehicle. But she completely understood and felt his frustration.

"Fuck this. I'm going by foot," he said as he threw the car into park.

"Now wait a minute!" Abby yelled, causing him to pause and look at her. "I'm not waiting here while you run off, Tony. So pull the car over, put on the hazard lights, and lock her up. I'll come with you."

Tony narrowed his eyes and looked down at her combat boots. "I really hope you can run in those things, Abs..." He met her eyes again.

And run she could. They weren't her usual platforms. Though not the most comfortable running shoes, she was at least able to keep Tony within her sights as he tore off, obviously much faster than her.

Tony couldn't remember the last time he'd run so fast for what seemed so long. Weaving between the stopped cars as they honked, he pressed the speed-dial to try Gibbs again, and held the phone to his ear with high hopes.

Flashing lights pulled his gaze into the parking lot a few yards away. Somewhere beyond the ambulance and tow-truck was hiding his destination. Tony quickly changed his route to head in that direction.

As he neared, the ambulance took to start driving away. He jumped in front of it, waving his hands and yelling for them to stop, before pulling out his ID and pressing it against the driver's window. The driver stopped and rolled down the glass. "Sir? The NCIS guy was taken in another bus," he told him.

"How bad?" Tony asked, out of breath.

The driver shrugged. "No idea, sir. We didn't get here until after they left. Emergency road is a bit narrow, and the second victim isn't badly injured, so we were more cautious getting in."

"What happened? Do you know?"

"Driver of the truck had a seizure for unknown reasons; foot slipped from the break and slammed down on the gas. He hit the passenger side of your man's vehicle. That's all I know, sir." The driver's gaze drifted somewhere behind him as Abby approached, quickly as her shoes would allow her.

Tony's eyes flitted around as he tried to figure out what to do next. "You said your patient isn't badly injured... Could you wait here for a minute? Give us a lift to the hospital?"

"We left our car parked in the lot right at the road entrance," Abby elaborated. "Even if we get back there, it'll take hours to get back out."

Her puppy-dog eyes convinced the driver. "Sure thing, ma'am."

"Thank you," she gave him a small smile, then watched as Tony made his way around the vehicle just as the tow truck was hauling Gibbs' car onto its bed.

His hands went immediately to the top of his head, grabbing onto fistfuls of hair at the sight of the destruction. The oversized pickup that had hit him seemed fine, other than a messed-up grill. But Gibbs' Challenger had been crunched like a Styrofoam cup, which seemed impossible.

Tony's gut twisted as he watched the car hoisted onto the tow. His breath lost running was not returning to him, and he felt tears begin to sting his eyes. The gasp he heard beside him, told him that Abby was thinking the same thing he was... They had to get to Gibbs...

Tbc...