Author's Note: Welcome to the prologueto the story. Short but the set up for the rest of the story. Enjoy!
"NCIS, drop your weapons!" Gibbs commanded as they surrounded the armed men.
"We will shoot," Ziva added. Slowly, a few of the men put their weapons down. One man decided to press his luck. He turned and shot at Sarah. The bullet hit her thigh and she went down. McGee and Tony restrained the man and took away the gun. The rest of the men stayed where they were.
Ziva helped Tony and McGee take the men out of the building. "We'll meet you at the hospital, Boss," Tony said as they led the men out.
Gibbs ran over to Sarah. The wound was bleeding furiously, despite her efforts to stop it. He could tell she was fading fast.
"Stay with me, Sarah," he told the 22-year-old. He undid his belt and tied it above the wound to slow the bleeding.
"I'm trying, Gibbs." She reached out and squeezed his hand. She left blood in his hand as she pulled away. "I'm trying." She began to lose consciousness.
"Hold on, Sarah. Stay awake," he told her. She weakly nodded and concentrated on staying awake. Her face began to lose color and she was trying harder to stay awake.
She had tears on her eyes. "I don't want to die yet, Gibbs." He held her hand to reassure her.
Soon paramedics rushed in. They pushed Gibbs out of the way and worked to slow the bleeding. They temporarily covered the wound before loading her in the ambulance. One of the young paramedics came up to him and gave him a towel to wipe off the blood on his hand.
"You can meet us at Bethesda, sir." Gibbs nodded before climbing into his car and following the ambulance.
He picked up the phone. "Duck, they're taking Sarah to Bethesda. Get Abby and meet us there. Ziva, Tony and McGee should be there soon."
"What happened, Jethro?"
"She was shot while we were trying to apprehend the suspects."
"Oh god. Is she ok?"
"I don't know. She looked pretty bad when they loaded her onto the ambulance."
"We will be right there." He hung up the phone and concentrated on driving. It was a hard task since his thoughts were racing. Gibbs had lost his family years ago. It took him years to get over the loss. Now he had thought of everyone on the team as his children. The thought of losing a member of their close 'family' was an idea he wouldn't accept.
By the time Gibbs got to Bethesda, Tony, McGee and Ziva were already there. They noticed some of her blood on his shirt and a couple drops on his arm but didn't want to say anything. They didn't want to think about what could happen.
"Nothing yet Boss," Tony reported. He sat down in a chair near Ziva. Gibbs stayed standing until Abby came in and almost knocked him over.
"What's going on? Where is Sarah? Is she ok? Oh my god!" She gave Gibbs a hug. "I'm so worried." He comforted her until she let go and found a seat near McGee. Ducky and Gibbs sat down near the rest of the team. No one spoke until the doctor came out a few hours later.
"Family for Sarah Wallace?" The team sprang up.
"That's us," Gibbs explained.
"I'm sorry to say she did not make it. She lost consciousness from the blood loss, and we were unable to revive her. We did everything we could." Ducky walked up to him to talk about arrangements. Abby started to cry. McGee held her while she cried. Tony put an arm around a shocked Ziva while he tried to process the news in his mind. Gibbs excused himself and went to make a call to the director. He also had to inform her boyfriend, Jordan about the incident; something he was not looking forward to.