AN: Thanks for your comments!
"Get up," Max ordered, gun pointing at McGee.
"I…I can't."
The gun moved until it was pointing at Tony and McGee felt a déjà-vu. "You'll figure out a way," Max said calmly.
McGee moved to slide off the bed slowly, knowing that if his body had not been receiving a steady dose of pain medication, movement would have been impossible. Adrenaline also went a long way in helping him. He slid his legs from the bed, grateful for the sweat pants the hospital had provided him.
The trembling that Tim had been able to hide when he talked to Tony grew. He felt his legs shaking as he stood, and he leaned heavily against the bed.
"Let's go."
"What? Is your plan to just…walk out of here…holding a gun? You…you do know that's a little ob-obvious."
Max grabbed his arm and pulled McGee in front of him. Tim stumbled, moaning as the movement jolted his injuries. "I'm just a doctor taking a patient for a walk." He pushed McGee forward, shoving his gun into the pocket of his lab coat.
Slowly, McGee stumbled from the room, Max's grip the only thing keeping him from falling to the floor as they shuffled to the elevator.
"Try anything and I won't hesitate to shoot you."
Tim looked around the busy hallway, stunned that no one realized something was wrong, and that no nurses or doctors questioned why he was walking around, when it was obvious he shouldn't even be out of bed. He leaned against the back wall of the elevator, shutting his eyes as he tried to marshal his strength. Max's warning was unnecessary. Tim wasn't going to try anything until he had a chance to get the upper-hand. And that wasn't in an enclosed elevator, where he had no chance at getting away.
It wasn't until the elevator stopped and Max pushed him out that McGee knew where they were going.
"The morgue? Well, that's…original." Apparently he was still channeling Tony.
"Shut up," Max growled, as he pushed at Tim impatiently, annoyed at the slow progress they made down the hallway. When they finally reached the empty morgue, Max gave a particularly vicious shove, and McGee landed heavily against one of the tables. Pain stole his breath and he felt himself starting to sink to the floor. Max grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, one arm against McGee's throat, the other punching him hard in the side. "I've been waiting for this moment."
In the next instant, McGee was crashing backwards into one of the carts, the objects lying on its surface falling to the floor with a deafening noise. Max was suddenly in front of him, wrapping his hands around his neck. Tim choked, his hands flying to his neck as he tried to pull Max's hands away. His vision was starting to grow fuzzy at the corners, and he couldn't help but realized the irony of the situation. He had completely expected to die when he was missing, had actually come to peace with his impending death…and he was saved. Just minutes ago, he was starting to relax. Tony was alive and McGee wasn't worried that someone would run into his room and kill him. And now he was perilously close to dying…in a morgue…
His hands stopped clawing at Max's hands, falling back onto the cart that he was pushed against. He was not giving up! He was tired of being a victim! The whole time he had been missing, he had been unable to fight back, but this time…this time he could. If he could find something to fight with, that was…He felt around the top of the table, searching…His hand bumped into something and he acted quickly, knowing he couldn't last much longer. He swung his hand with as much strength as he could, and the metal pan he was holding hit Max right in the head. Max swore, his hands falling from Tim's throat. Tim coughed, landing on the floor as his legs finally gave out. He wasted no time trying to scramble away from Max.
Unfortunately, Max recovered quickly, too quickly for McGee to get far enough away, and he sent a vicious kick that hit Tim right in the ribs. He curled up around the pain, groaning in agony. Max took a step back and pulled out his gun, waiting until Tim was looking at him before he spoke. "Goodbye, Agent McGee."
Tim saw movement out of the corner of his eye and gave a faint smile, "Goodbye, Max."
Max tilted his head in confusion before tightening his finger on the trigger. A gun went off, and Max gasped, eyes wide in surprise as he looked down at the circle of red steadily growing over his chest. "No…" He groaned, before falling to the floor, his eyes wide, but unseeing.
McGee sucked in a breath as he looked away from Max and met Tony's eyes. The fierce concentration and anger in Tony's eyes faded into concern as he dashed forward. "Probie! Are you okay?"
"Guess…guess we're even…now," McGee said.
Tony forced a smile at McGee's comment, putting his hand on Tim's shoulder to stop him from standing.
"Hold on," he said, before turning to kick the gun away from Max's limp grasp and leaning down to put his fingers on his neck. Satisfied the man wasn't going to be any more trouble for McGee, he turned back to Tim. "Can you walk?"
McGee nodded quickly, anxious to get away from the dead body.
"How…how did you know…we were in the morgue?" Tim asked as he leaned on Tony to stand.
"I had hospital security going through the footage from the security cameras, but I was already on my way down here...gut feeling. Not a very original choice, was it?"
Tim snorted, "I thought you would say that."
Tony didn't say anything; he just looked at McGee in curiosity over that statement. He wrapped his hand around McGee's arm to stop him from swaying. "I hate to break it to you, but I am so not carrying you out of here like a damsel in distress. Are you going to be able to walk?"
Tim gave a short laugh. "Good to know, and yeah; I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? Because I only have the one arm right now. There's no way I'm going to be able to catch you if you fall."
"Don't worry…I'll be fine, Tony."
"Okay, here we go." Tony wrapped his arm around Tim and they took a step forward, Tony's grip tightening when he felt McGee start to fall.
"McGee! Come on, McGee; don't do this to me!" He grimaced as Tim pulled him to the floor, the movement pulling at his shoulder. He rolled his eyes when he saw Tim had passed out. "Oh, yeah; 'Tony, don't worry! I can walk!'" He scoffed. He knelt down besides Tim, doing his best to make him more comfortable. He let his hand rest on Tim's head for a moment, eyes shutting as he relived those horror-filled moments when he regained consciousness and found Tim and the mysterious 'doctor' missing, his phone ringing as Gibbs called to warn him too late to be on guard. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about how unfair it was; that Tim had survived, barely survived, a horrible incident only to be killed when that whole incident was supposed to be over, when he was supposed to be safe.
He pulled out his phone; he needed to get Tim back up to his room and Gibbs needed to know their missing suspect had been found and that Tim was okay.
This time, it really was over.
AN: A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! By the way...reviews make wonderful presents...just saying... :D One more chapter left!