AN: This took AGES, and I apologize for that fact. BUT this is the final chapter for this installment of Contingency! I hope it meets your expectations, and possibly exceeds some as well :)

Also, please check out my book, Version 2.0 (by C.M. Adams) which you can find on amazon for kindle or paperback. The second book in the series will be finished by the end of this summer, and I wrote both while writing the Contingency series, so you'll see where some of it has a bit of similar mindset, while being completely different at the same time. Please please do check it out...support this starving artist! You never know where I'll end up in the future, and I won't forget the people who supported me while I was still at the beginning~

*~.~*

Tony strolled into the bullpen with his backpack slung over his shoulder. It'd been three months since he got out of the hospital. He'd been back to work for a while, but today was especially special.

"Good morning, probies!" he smiled as he took a seat.

"What're you so happy about?" McGee asked, looking over suspiciously.

"Oh nothing," he shook his head. "Actually, I'm kinda pissed. But at the same time, I'm pretty relieved."

"What does that mean?" Ziva asked, standing and walking to his desk.

"I found a gray hair this morning," he grinned.

She narrowed her eyes. "Why does this relieve you?"

"It means he's aging," Tim understood suddenly, and stood to join them at the desk as well. "It means...he really is back to normal."

"I haven't been able to do anything lately, I mean with the uh...ya know...abilities," he said quietly. "So I kinda had a feeling that was the case. But this is kinda the proof, right?"

"How do you know you did not have it before?" Ziva asked.

"Because he obsessively checks every morning," McGee supplied.

"I do not," Tony retorted. "It's before I go to bed, thank you very much."

"What a coincidence, DiNozzo," Gibbs said as he rounded the corner into the bullpen.

"What's that, Boss?"

"We've got a case to solve before you go to bed, too," he told them as he gathered his gun and badge from his desk.

*~.~*

Things had escalated quickly out in the field. A witness they'd gone to question had suddenly become a suspect. McGee was ordered to search the outside perimeter, Tony and Ziva the inside of the house, as Gibbs continued to question the suspect in the living room. It was when Ziva looked to Tony for a moment, after hearing something change about the way he was breathing, that she realized something was wrong.

"Tony? Are you alright?" she turned to him and saw his hand was on his stomach. "Your injury?"

"No," Tony shook his head. "Not the same thing. Just...I dunno. Feel sick to my stomach suddenly."

"Did you eat something different this morning?" she turned her attention back to their search.

"No. Didn't eat anything, actually," he replied, then groaned. "This sucks."

"Perhaps you should sit down," she told him. "We are finished, anyway."

"Okay."

They headed downstairs, something nagging at the back of Tony's mind the whole time.

"Anything?" Gibbs approached them speaking quietly, glancing to their cuffed suspect on the couch.

Ziva shook her head. "Nothing."

"Take the suspect to the car," he told her, then turned to Tony, noticing then that he looked a bit off. "You okay, DiNozzo?"

"Yeah, Boss. Just feeling a little sick to my stomach. I'll be okay."

"Good," Gibbs nodded, skeptically. "Go get McGee. See if he's found anything, and let's get the hell outta here."

Suddenly that nagging feeling in Tony's mind became a ringing in his ears, and he hurried outside to look for his partner. "McGee?" he called out, quickly rounding the corner of the house into the back yard. There was no sign of him. "Tim, where are you, man?" he shouted as he began running the entire perimeter. It was then that he found a discarded NCIS ball cap lying in the grass, the ground disturbed as if there'd been a struggle. "Oh no...oh god no..." Tony panicked when he saw droplets of blood in the dirt. "Gibbs!" he shouted just as the older agent was walking out of the house.

The lead agent heard the worry in his SFA's voice and hurried around to the side of the house where he heard his voice originating from. He put it together himself as he approached. The look of pure panic on Tony's face, the hat on the ground.

"Boss, he's gone. Someone took him," his voice shook. They both looked around, frantically searching for some indication of where whoever took him might have headed. Their search led them to the street, both looking up opposite directions as Gibbs pulled out his phone to make a call in about the sudden development.

"Where is McGee?" Ziva looked to them from where she stood outside of the car, after having just put the suspect in the back seat.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Gibbs frustratedly replied, then shouted into his phone as the other line picked up. She listened, eyes widening as he told dispatch that they had a kidnapped agent. Then she, too, was frantically scanning the area.

"Oh god...don't lemme die..."

Tony shook his head at the weird sensation tickled his ears. He could've sworn he just heard...

"Shit shit shit...Gibbs is gonna kill me..."

"Tim?" Tony looked all around where he stood, in search of where Tim's voice was coming from.

"Tony?"

"Where are you? I can't..."

"Tony, are you...are you talking to me in my head? Oh god...I...she must've hit me harder than I thought..."

"Tim, where are you?" his eyes stung, the nauseous feeling becoming overwhelming.

"I...think I'm in the trunk. We're moving."

"Did you see who took you?"

"It was the neighbor. The lady next door. Redhead. Is this real? Are you really...you?"

"Tony, who are you talkin' to?" Gibbs looked at him with narrowed eyes, his phone at his side now.

Tony worriedly met his boss's eyes. "I...think McGee and I are... I dunno, Boss. Somehow he's talking to me. It's the neighbor. Redhead next door. He's in the trunk of her car and they're moving, but he doesn't know where."

"Find out what kinda car she drives and let's put a BOLO out," he shouted, then put the phone back to his ear.

"It was a navy blue 2012 Kia Soul," Ziva provided from memory. "License plate read '1FINEDAY'."

Gibbs relayed the information on the phone as he headed to the driver door. "Get in!" he ordered. Ziva got in the back with the suspect while Tony climbed into the front passenger seat. Gibbs had them moving before his door was shut all the way.

"He still talkin'?" Gibbs asked Tony without looking away from the road.

"I don't..." Tony shook his head, a bit confused with the feelings that seemed to bounce around in his head. "He's scared. He doesn't think it's real. This thing..." he glances nervously to his boss. "Honestly, I'm not sure I do either."

"Well so far it's all we've got to go on, so I hope to hell you're right," Gibbs stated gruffly.

"Um..." the suspect in beside Ziva looked at the two men in the front. "Are we on a high-speed chase? And what are you talking about."

"If you do not wish to be blindfolded and gagged, I suggest you shut up," Ziva flatly replied.

"St- stopped...he's stopped," Tony breathed quickly. "There's a really bright light, like the trunk's being opened."

"Where, Tony?" Gibbs impatiently asked.

"Where...where, Tim...where?" he was squeezing his eyes shut, trying to see beyond changes of feeling, movement and light. "What do you see?"

"This is your accomplice!" Ziva suddenly realized as she looked wide-eyed at the suspect beside her.

"Huh?"

"Why else would one of our agents just happen to be taken right outside of your home?" she spat, then grabbed the back of his hair and yanked his head back harshly. "Tell me where she is taking him, now! And maybe I will not kill you where you sit!"

"Wait! Just- ow! Just...listen! I worked for her! Not the other way around, okay? I didn't do anything!"

"Where is she taking my agent?" Gibbs yelled, glancing in his rear view.

"What's the matter? Your resident psychic not cutting it for ya- ow!" Ziva yanked his hair again. "Hey I dunno, alright!"

"Is there a place she's had you meet her before?" Gibbs asked, patience gone.

"There's just this one... It's one of those parkin' garages that nobody really uses much over the third level. Kimart's. We meet at the top. It's not far from here."

"Why would she take McGee there?" Ziva asked, looking to Gibbs in question.

"Maybe thought she'd buy herself some time," he screeched to take a left toward the garage.

"Or perhaps she intends to drop him off the top," Ziva grimly suggested, her worried eyes meeting Gibbs' in the mirror.

"Guh...c-can't..." Tony struggled as his breaths came more quickly, and the other agents looked to him. "Can't breathe, it's so hot..."

That's when Gibbs' phone rang in his pocket.

"That's probably her," the suspect said.

Gibbs fished out the phone and held it to his ear.

"Agent Gibbs. By now you've noticed your agent is missing," the woman sounded smug on the other line.

"What do you want?" Gibbs asked.

"I want to make a trade," she told him. "You have my partner. I have yours. The difference, Special Agent Gibbs, is that I have no qualms about ending your partner's life. You, on the other hand, couldn't."

"No reason to," Gibbs replied. "No use to us dead."

"And you agent is no use to me either way. Right now he is running out of time. There is only so much heat a person can take before their brain starts to melt."

"Where are you?" Gibbs asked, angrily.

"I will be behind the shut down filling station on Tenth and Renaldo Avenue. You bring my partner to me, and I will tell you the location of your agent."

"How do we know he's not already dead?" he shouted back, glancing to Tony to let him know that this was just a tactic.

"Keep asking questions, and he will be, because you were too late to save him."

"Fine. Fine!"

"You have fifteen minutes, Agent Gibbs. Do not be late."

Gibbs ended the call and nearly threw the phone.

"Boss, drop me off," Tony insisted. "Drop me off at the garage and then go get that bitch. I can get to him."

"What if that's not the right place?" Gibbs narrowed his eyes.

"It is," he replied. "I'll call you if it isn't. But I know it is, Boss. Please! He's running out of time!"

The garage was in sight. Tenth and Renaldo was ten minutes away. "I'll call for an EMT to get you both," he said as he screeched to a halt in front of the garage. "You tell me the moment you have him!" he shouted as Tony was out the door in a flash.

"Yes, Boss!" he ran toward the door to the stairs...

*~.~*

McGee was helpless, tied up in the back seat of the Jetta, duct tape over his mouth. The sun was beating down so hot, and this car had been up here before they'd arrived, anyway.

When the woman first shoved him into the car, his feet hadn't been tied. She couldn't lift him, in reality. She had to wait until his was in the car before hogtying his limbs together. With a gun pointed at his head, there wasn't much he could do to fight back while she was there. He relied on his sense of Tony in his head to distract him. Once she left, though, he'd struggled to break free of his bindings and try and get out of the sweltering heat of the car.

She'd done this on purpose. He'd die if he was in there for very long. And though he knew that, he could do nothing to save himself. It was getting harder to breathe, like he was under water. Hot, boiling water...

"Hey, probie, now don't you dare give up on me!" he heard Tony's voice and cracked open his eyes. But no one was there. "I'm almost there! I'm here, Tim, I promise. I just...ya never realize how hard seven flights of stairs at high-speed is on an empty stomach, until it's too late."

"I'm dying," he said out loud. "I've lost my mind and think I can hear Tony in my head..."

"Yeah, well...I guess we've both lost our minds then," Tony replied. "And you're not gonna die, because I'm gonna save you. I'll be damned if I climbed seven damn flights for nothing! Where the hell are you, McGee? Oh wait...I see it..."

"Only car up here," Tim replied. "'s'at really you?"

"I know it's the only one up here, McObvious! But it was kinda not noticeable until I got past the smoke stack. And yeah it's really me, damnit, I'll prove it to you."

A banging sounded on the window closest to his feet, and he sluggishly looked down at it. There stood a worried looking Tony, pulling frantically on the door handle to find it locked. Tim closed his eyes, relieved that he had rescue, or content to die if it was just a hallucination from the heat.

"Close your eyes, Tim!" Tony shouted and Tim heard it in his head and with his ears, muffled from the barrier between them. His eyes already closed, he simply laid there and waited. Then he heard a gun fire and the sound of breaking glass, and that was it. Everything went blank. Everything went dark.

Tony reached in hurriedly to unlock the doors, then pulled his arm back out so he could open the back door and get to his partner. "McGee, I gotcha!" he called, grabbing hold of Tim's ankle. When there was no response, Tony realized his eyes hadn't opened again. "No," Tony shook his head, gut dropping as he searched for that connection they'd had just moments earlier and found nothing.

He desperately pulled the younger man from the car, cradling him in his arms like a child, and ran toward the ramp where he could put him in the shade.

Tim weighed about as much as a woman, Tony noted, saving for later jokes when his partner was okay. He had to be okay. There was no two ways about it.

Once he reached the shade, he nearly collapsed to the concrete, barely holding onto McGee as he did. The ground was cool, even if the air was still a bit musty, so he laid him down on it and shakily reached his fingers to his pulse point, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt it beating strongly. Tim's skin looked red, like he'd spent the day at the beach without sunscreen. The fact that he'd only been in the hot car for half an hour made him feel all the more strongly about how stupid people were to leave their animals in their car when they ran into the store. Even with a cracked window, which Tim hadn't even had the luxury of. And the higher elevation and fact that the car had been sitting in that direct sunlight all day, combined with how little mass the younger agent had on his body, made for fast cooking.

He pulled out his cell and dialed Gibbs...

*~.~*

"You sonofabitch!" the kidnapper shouted out at her partner in crime as they stood outside their cars behind the filling station, guns drawn. Gibbs had ordered her to drop her weapon, and once she realized they'd found Tim already, she had no choice but to give herself up. "I did that for you!"

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I didn't have a choice!"

When Ziva had her in cuffs, Gibbs holstered his weapon and called Tony back, worried about their teammate and wondering if the ambulance had arrived to get them yet. "How's McGee?" he asked when Tony picked up.

"He looks like hell," Tony told him. "I hear the bus coming up. Wish I'd brought water, though he hasn't woken up since I pulled him from the car. I'm worried, Boss."

"We're bringing these two in, and I'll meet you at Bethesda, Tony. Just hang in there."

*~.~*

By the time Gibbs got to the hospital, McGee was up and feeling better, being treated for heat exhaustion. As Gibbs approached the room he was being treated in, he heard him and Tony talking.

"So we've got some kind of...connection now," Tony said, quietly. "That was real," he said it as if he was trying to convince himself in addition to Tim.

"It had to be," he replied. "Everything you said you heard, I said. And vice versa. What does this mean? I mean...does it mean you're still...um..."

"I dunno about all that," Tony said. "There's no sign of any of my other...things. Maybe this is just...residual. And it's just you and me. Maybe because of what I did to bring you back. Something kinda...clicked together in us or something. That sounds a little gay..." he looked off to the side for a moment.

"You're an idiot."

"An idiot who totally saved your ass!" Tony retorted. "Need I remind you that you let yourself get kidnapped by a girl?"

"She came up behind me and put a gun to my head, Tony. Her gender had nothing to do with it."

"And redheads can get the upper hand before you know there's anything coming," Gibbs said as he chose that moment to enter the room.

"Boss," McGee greeted. "I'm sorry..."

"Wasn't your fault," he approached the bed. "How're you feeling?"

"A lot better, thanks. You got her?"

"They'll be put away for a long time," Gibbs assured him. "Duck says you'll be good to come back to work tomorrow. Desk duty."

"Boss, I'm fine," he insisted.

"Hot weather will effect you for a few days, still. You need to take care of yourself of you'll be worse off," he ordered.

"Don't worry, Boss," Tony said. "I'm gonna stay with him and make sure he follows doctor's orders." Gibbs looked between the two agents. "Besides, we've got a lot we should discuss, now."

Gibbs cocked his head in thought for a moment. Then he nodded. They would have plenty to discuss. The ability to communicate with each other in a way no one else could, could be as troublesome as it was helpful. He wondered what this meant for Tony. Or Tim, for that matter. He wondered what their future would now entail...

But that...is another story...

~Fin~