Author's Note: Hello and a very good day to you all! I realize this final chapter is up with surprising haste but alas, I wanted to go ahead and finish this bad boy up. I have had a wonderful time wrinting this and hope you all enjoyed reading it as well!

Thank You!: I cannot say enough "thank yous" to cover my appreciation for everyone who read and especially to everyone who reviewed. That is what makes writing worth while because it reassures me that my mind is not the only crazy one out there. I do greatly appreciate the time you guys take out of your days to read and review, so again, thank you!

Disclaimer/Warning: Same as always, really. The characters aren't mine, I'm just borrowing them for some simple delight. And I tend to write all of my stories as though I were a writer on the show. So, I try to keep things cannon and refrain from language and situations you wouldn't hear/see coming from your television sets.

But, without further yacking, here is the final chapter!

The Basement - Part VIII

Tim's first reaction upon hearing the steady beeping of a heart monitor was simply to sigh. It didn't take long to remember where he was and why he was there, neither did the feeling of dread take too long to hit him full force. He hated hospitals and hated being the patient even more. Not because of the ailment itself, but because he hated people fussing over him and worrying. He hated having too much attention and more than anything else, he hated requiring someone else to help him with the simplest of tasks.

In other words, he despised being weak.

But he didn't really expect to spring back into action after multiple gunshot wounds. With that thought, however, came the more unsettling memories of the events that led him to this point. First of foremost, he needed to check on Tony. He remembered watching their captors force his partner to drink under the threat of shooting Tim - which they did anyway – and he remembered how quickly Tony's state of mind began to deteriorate.

Watching a close friend lose all control was quite possibly one of the worst things Tim had ever experienced and if he was the selfish type, he would choose bullet holes over what Tony went through any day. Regardless, he still didn't know how his partner had faired, only that Gibbs had ensured him that DiNozzo was okay. Then again, that could have been his faulty memory playing tricks on him.

Yes, he needed to wake up completely and inquire about his partner. Tim had no idea what they had drugged Tony with; it could have been poison for all he knew.

Deciding this was motivation enough to force his heavy eyelids to open, McGee finally complete his task after a deep, shaky breath. He was rewarded with a quick glimpse of a shadowy room and a sudden headache before he had to close them again. But after a few more blinks, he was finally able to keep them open.

A dim room greeted him along with an overall feeling of soreness. He felt like one big bruise but in all honesty, he didn't feel as bad as he thought he would. He certainly didn't feel as bad he did in the basement. He was fairly certain he had never been in that much pain ever. Explosions were bad with the heat and flying objects but three bullets was a new kind of pain. The kind of pain that made you wish it would all end as soon as possible, even if that meant death.

Tim tried to take a decent breath, hating how uncomfortable it was. You never really knew how many breaths you took until every single one sent sharp pains through your chest.

Just then, a movement in the corner of the room caught his eye. He slowly, painfully turned his head towards it and realized that Tony DiNozzo was scrunched up on a relatively small couch. McGee frowned at the sight and suddenly felt guilty. He knew how much Tony had gone through in that basement and now he had apparently felt the need to stay the night in Tim's room. He needed a real bed.

The good news, however, was that Tony had apparently been released from the hospital and appeared to be alright. Tim sighed and looked away, wondering what day it was and how long he had been in the hospital.

He looked at the monitors around him and wondered what all the little numbers meant. He could see that his temperature was ninety-nine degrees but that's about where his medical abilities stopped. His eyes then scanned the rest of the room and was pleased to see a pudding cup and what he assumed was a cup of water on the trey pushed over his bed. He fought through the pain as he reached up to grab the delicious looking pudding cup. He honestly wasn't sure if his stomach could even handle it but it didn't matter. He was going to give it a shot.

The coolness against his tongue was perhaps one of the best feelings he remembered in a long time. He also found a great deal of pleasure in the Andy Griffith Show repeat currently playing on the small, muted television screen. He relished the moment of simplicity amongst the craziness that was his most recent memories.

After scraping out the last bit of pudding he could find, he got a sip of water and then relaxed into his bed. He figured sleep would be coming soon but was just as happy to continue this little moment. He glanced over at Tony again and noticed that the man seemed a little more restless than before. He frowned and watched for a little longer until he seemed to calm down a bit. Satisfied, Tim turned back to the tv.

He finished up the rest of the episode, chuckling lightly at the frivolous humor. He sometimes wished today's entertainment resembled shows like The Andy Griffith Show and I Love Lucy again.

"Mmmphf."

Tim's head snapped over towards Tony once again and noticed he was even more restless than before. He also began to make grunting sounds. Even from the distance Tim could tell DiNozzo seemed scared at whatever he was experiencing in his dreams. Tim immediately flashed back to the basement as he watched Tony slip into delirium and eventually full-blown mindless rage. Even though Tim had already been shot at that point, he found himself terrified by his partner. Tony was a big man by most standards but he never lost his cool. Ever. To see him like that was… well, it was something he hoped to never see again.

More thrashing from the couch beside him pulled Tim from his thoughts. He was now feeling worried as he watched Tony begin breathing heavily. Tim really wasn't sure how well he could yell but he knew he needed to wake his friend up.

"Hey," he said, but it came out as hardly more than a whisper and was followed by a highly painful coughing fit. When he got himself under control again, he decided he would have to go with another tactic. Thankfully, as soon as his eyes fell on the empty pudding container, he had his answer.

Trying to use only his elbow and wrist, McGee threw the pudding cup and though it certainly hurt, Tim was pleased to see the cup bounce off of DiNozzo's head. He was even more pleased when Tony stopped moving and eventually opened his eyes. He looked confused at first but eventually his eyes found the pudding cup on the ground.

Next thing Tim knew, he was looking into the eyes of Tony DiNozzo.

"McGee!" Tony said excitedly as he got off of the couch. He then stopped suddenly and looked at the pudding cup again. "Wait, did you throw pudding at me?"

Tim raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Just the cup," he answered as loudly as his voice would let him. "I was nice and ate the pudding first."

Tony stared for a minute before he laughed. "Yeah… thanks for that. So how are you feeling?"

McGee shrugged, "Not bad. You?"

Tony circled the room somewhat nervously. "Me? I'm good. You know… hard to sleep. It'll pass, though."

Tim stayed quiet, just watching Tony pace the room. He wasn't acting like himself nor was he looking at Tim very much. It was to be expected and would probably take some time for DiNozzo to come to terms with everything. Hell, it would take Tim time as well. That basement wouldn't be leaving his memory anytime soon.

"But you've had a lot of sleep," Tony said with a chuckle as he circled back around.

"How long?"

"What?" Tony asked as he quickly glanced at Tim. "Oh. I don't know exactly, a day or two. I just got out the day-before-yesterday myself. But it was mostly cautionary."

"What was it then?" Tim asked, trying to sound as normal as possible. "I think Ziva said LSD or something."

Tony was walking away again now. "Yeah, yeah. Something. Made me a little crazy, you know? I didn't like that."

"No, I didn't either," Tim added quietly. He knew neither of them were much of the talking type. They didn't really do feelings but then again, sometimes you needed to step outside of your comfort zone a bit.

"Oh well, I got off easy," Tony laughed, "Three bullet wounds… I mean, a lot of people don't survive one. But three? You're like a bionic man. Oh! I wonder if they made you into Inspector Gadget. Say go-go gadget, Tim."

Tim chuckled lightly but could tell Tony was far from okay.

"In all honesty, I prefer the bullets," Tim stated quietly. That got Tony to turn around. He was suddenly staring wide-eyed at Tim. He knew Tony was probably feeling highly unwarranted guilt and that was the last thing Tim wanted.

When he didn't say anything, Tim continued, "I mean, it may take me a little longer to get back to work but I couldn't handle someone messing with my mind like that."

Tony's face softened and he eventually nodded. "Yeah, they did mess me up. Not like bullet holes but…"

He walked back over to the couch and sat down. He stared at the ground for a minute and McGee silently wondered if he was supposed to say something. If he was, he really had no idea what.

"I thought they killed you, Tim," he finally said quietly, his eyes still on the floor. "I actually… I actually saw you die. Or I thought I did. How messed up is that? I mean, they shot you but why would I imagine your head…"

He suddenly stopped talking and looked at McGee with a worried expression. He knew right away that the man was afraid his words would upset Tim but instead, they alerted him to the fact that Tony didn't remember what had actually happened. It made sense that he wouldn't, given his mental state, but Tim might actually be able to give his friend some peace.

"You imagined it because they told you to."

Worry turned to confusion as Tony's eyebrows lifted. "What do you mean?"

Tim took a breath and decided he would give a brief synopsis of what happened in that basement. He knew he'd have to give a full debriefing for paperwork's sake but for now, he would give the cliff notes version.

"I don't know how much you remember," he began, his voice a bit stronger than before even though his throat seemed to be a little worse. "But when they ambushed us and took us to the basement, I think the initial plan was just to hold us there until they figured out the next step. Eventually they decided to try the drug on both of us but that didn't happen."

"Both of us?" Tony repeated. "Then why did they decide to shoot you?"

McGee sighed as he repositioned in his bed. It felt as though his pain medication was wearing off but he would deal with that later. "They found out who I was. Or who my dad was, I should say."

Tony looked confused again and it honestly worried McGee that the man didn't remember the pre-drug parts of the day. Then again, Tim kind of envied him for that.

"They hated the Navy. But one of them especially hated a certain Admiral because his mother died while working on my dad's ship," he explained calmly, wondering how his dad would take this news. He mostly hoped the man never found out, however. "Once they took our badges, the one guy about flipped when he saw my name. So then the plan changed. They seemed to figure they were caught anyway so they might as well have a little fun. It makes even more sense now that I know they thought their little plan was going to work out whether they got caught or not. Wait… did they solve the case?"

McGee could see Tony shake himself loose from the story but Tim had to know. They last thing he remembered was writing something out to Gibbs who was looking for info on an attack.

"Yeah," Tony answered calmly. "Gibbs and Ziva and probably everyone else will be here soon. But they solved the case and no one got hurt. Except us and our friends, of course. They're dead, by the way. Not sure if you knew that."

Tim sighed in relief and nodded as he thought back to the moment Gibbs and Ziva appeared before him. "Yeah, I vaguely remember it. Gibbs and Ziva came storming in and everything was over in two minutes tops."

"So anyway, the plan changed?" Tony urged.

Tim yawned as he felt fatigue start to tug at him. "They decided they would go ahead and kill me but when they realized they could basically control what you were seeing by simply saying it out loud, it became a sick little game."

This time McGee was the one who trailed off. It had been surprisingly easy to relive everything up until now. Yes, the bullet wounds had been nothing short of brutal but Tim would never forget the sounds of Tony's yell. Especially the last one when he was told Tim was getting a headshot.

"So they told you what to see, and you apparently saw it," Tim finished up pretty quickly. "You can basically guess what happened next."

DiNozzo snorted, "The damsels in distress were rescued just in the knick of time by the daring silver fox and his trusted Israeli assassin?"

Tim laughed painfully and nodded. "Basically."

They grew silent for a moment and McGee once again found himself at a loss for words. He always wanted to be supportive of the people he loved but the relationship between him and Tony, as close as it was, wasn't exactly the easiest one to handle when it came to situations like this one. And that was mostly because they had never really been through one like this. Yes, Tony had been hurt pretty badly and had even come close to dying from the plague. But he had been strong and played it off once he was on the up-and-up. Tim, on the other hand, never got hurt. At least not severely, and with the added feature of Tony's mind being messed with… Tim just didn't know what to do.

"You want to watch some Andy Griffith?" he said suddenly, never really thinking it out. He wasn't really sure if DiNozzo was done with their heart-to-heart but he couldn't handle the silence anymore.

To his relief however, Tony's head popped up supporting what seemed to be a genuine smile. "I would love nothing more, McBarney Fife."

Tim rolled his eyes but had honestly never loved hearing one of Tony's nicknames more.

"Get the mute off," Tony continued as he laid down and snuggled into his couch. "I don't want to read it. Half the fun is their accents."

Tim sighed as he looked around for the remote. Tony must have thought he was taking too long, however, when he sat up once again.

"Gosh, Timmy," he said in one of the most ridiculous southern accents Tim had ever had the misfortune of hearing. "It's over yonder, attached to your bed."

Sure enough, McGee followed one of the many chords around his bed until he found the remote. He unmuted the television and was immediately greeted by a laugh track. Satisfied, Tony slumped back into his pillows.

Tim took another uneasy breath in, savoring it for only a moment before releasing it again. He felt terrible, he really did, and yet he felt like a major weight was lifted off his shoulders. The awkward conversation between him and his partner was over and it honestly hadn't even been that bad.

He was also surprisingly relieved by the fact that Tony was there. He didn't want to think much more about the basement and chose to focus on Mayberry instead. Within minutes, he felt his body start to relax and his eyes droop. One last glance at Tony revealed the man had already fallen asleep.

Satisfied, Tim sighed and closed his eyes. He somehow felt he would be able to avoid visiting the basement in his dreams for a little while and hoped the same could be said for Tony.

With that, McGee finally relinquished his death grip with consciousness and drifted off to the sounds of simple cops solving simple crimes.

END.

End Note: There you have it! I always wanted to save Tim's point-of-view for last and I found this conversation between the two to be both challenging and fun because, as I said in here, we have never really seen McGee serious hurt or in a very bad situation. At least not one that gave the rest of the team a lot of time to be worried or feel guilty or anything. So, I hope this was believable and in-character for everyone. But moving on... Once again, a humongous thank you for all you have done and for whatever you will do for this final chapter. If you have some thoughts, good or bad, I would very much love to hear them. Otherwise, I just hope yall enjoyed the story and come back if/when I write other stories. God bless! - Loren