A/N: None of he characters are mine I'm only borrowing them. This story is based before Jenny was killed.

Chapter 1

It was just another typical day at NCIS. The team was investigating yet another murder. A young Petty Officer had been thrown off a fourth floor balcony and had died on impact. It had happened the night before, but the body was only discovered the following morning by a passing jogger. The jogger called the police, who after arriving at the scene, discovered her ID, so had called NCIS.

"DiNozzo, McGee, check the apartment." Gibbs ordered as they arrived. "David, take the joggers statement. I'll be with the body, waiting for Ducky."

"Yes Boss." They replied together and split to do their tasks.

Tony and McGee took the stairs to the fourth floor and headed for the petty officers apartment.

"Ok McGoo." Tony chided. "You collect evidence, I'll shoot and sketch."

"Fine." McGee sighed and started examining the scene.

10 minutes later McGee was in the bedroom when he heard a gun shot. He quickly drew his weapon and ran to the living room. He found a big muscular man fighting with Tony. The man was holding a gun and Tony was fighting to keep the gun away from him. Tim could see a hole in Tony's shirt surrounded by a dark stain.

"Drop the weapon." McGee ordered, training his gun on the man.

"Shoot him McGee." Tony growled as the man pushed him further away from McGee.

"I won't warn you again." McGee warned. "Drop your weapon."

"McGee." Tony growled again as the man pushed him towards the balcony.

"Drop the weapon." McGee ordered again and when the man continued to struggle McGee fired.

The bullet hit the mans leg. He let out a shout and stumbled against the railing as he continued struggling with Tony. The man was now leaning against the railing holding Tony in front of him so McGee couldn't get a clear shot.

"Let him go." McGee ordered

"Or what?" the man asked gruffly just as they heard a creaking sound.

"Oh shit." the man yelled as the railing came away and man started to fall. He grabbed onto Tony as he fell, bringing Tony with him.

"Tony." McGee yelled running to peer over the balcony. What he saw below nearly made him sick. The man was lying on the ground with his legs twisted at awkward angles and was surrounded by a pool of blood. Tony was laying on top of him un- moving.

McGee ran from the balcony and hurried down the stairs.

"What the hell happened McGee?" Gibbs barked when Tim arrived down.

"I uh, is Tony alright." McGee stuttered.

"He's alive." Gibbs confirmed. "Ducky is checking him. The other guy is dead."

McGee hurriedly explained what happened and then he and Gibbs joined Ziva and Palmer to wait to see what Ducky said.

"The ah, the cop, outside the room is unconscious." McGee said after a minute. "It looks like he was hit on the back of his head."

"I'll get the EMT's to check him after they check Tony." Gibbs sighed. "Where the hell are they?"

"We only rang a minute ago." Ziva said.

"Ducky how is he." Gibbs asked approaching the M.E. who was leaning over Tony.

"He has a gun shot wound to the abdomen." Ducky said moving his hand to show Gibbs. "I can feel an exit wound on his back, but I can't move him until I get a backboard. That was quite some fall and I don't want to make any damage worse by moving him."

"Ok Duck." Gibbs replied. "They should be here in a few minutes."

"The sooner the better." Ducky said. "He has lost quite a bit of blood already."

"Do you think he will be ok Duck?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"I don't know Jethro." Ducky sighed. "If he hadn't landed on this chap, he would be dead. We will have to wait to get him to the hospital. Ah here is the ambulance now."

"About time." Gibbs muttered as the EMT's ran to Tony.

"McGee, David, get back upstairs and finish collecting evidence. Ziva retake all pictures of the scene."

"Yes Gibbs." Ziva replied.

"Yes boss." McGee added and both quickly returned to the apartment, as Tony was loaded onto the backboard.

"Can you go with him Duck?" Gibbs asked "I need to finish up here."

"Yes of course Jethro." Ducky replied. "Mr Palmer, can you bring both our guests back for me?"

"Yes of course Doctor." Palmer replied and started getting the second body ready for transport.

"Call me when you know something." Gibbs said as he started to help Palmer.

"I will." Ducky replied as he climbed into the ambulance.

The team spent the next half an hour going over the crime scene and collecting the evidence. When they had finished they returned to head quarters to start the reports. Ducky had yet to ring with an update on Tony's condition.

"I'll take these down to Abby." McGee said taking the evidence.

"I'll do it McGee." Gibbs said taking the box from the younger agent.

"Boss I." he protested.

"Do you want to be the one to tell Abby about Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"Uh, no boss." Tim replied and went to his desk.

"I thought not." Gibbs said and headed down to the lab.

When he arrived the music was blaring as normal and after several attempts to call Abby, Gibbs moved behind her.

"Abby." He said into her ear, causing the Goth to jump.

"Gibbs." Abby yelped. "Don't sneak up on me."

"I called you, you didn't hear me." Gibbs replied.

"Oh sorry." Abby replied turning down the music. "What can I do for you?"

"I have evidence for you." Gibbs replied handing her the box.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked taking the box and putting it down. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah Abs." Gibbs replied. "There was an accident at the scene."

"Oh God, who got hurt? It was Tony wasn't it?" Abby cried. "It's always him."

"Yeah it's Tony." Gibbs confirmed. "He's been brought to the hospital. Ducky is with him."

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"I don't know. He fell from a fourth floor balcony." Gibbs said. "I'm waiting for Ducky to call with an update."

"Oh Gibbs." Abby cried and threw herself into Gibbs arms.

"He'll be fine Abby." Gibbs assured hugging her tightly. "This is Tony we are talking about. He's going to be ok."

"Of course he is." Abby said pulling away from Gibbs. "Ok from now on positive thoughts only. Now go do your work so we can go visit him."

"I'll let you know as soon as I hear from Ducky." Gibbs said as he left the room.

"You'd better Mister." Abby called after him.

Gibbs went back to his desk and started his report. They were nearly sure the guy who had shot Tony, was the same guy who killed their petty Officer but they had to wait for the evidence to be processed to confirm this.

It was another half an hour before Ducky called. He informed Gibbs that Tony had been taken into surgery to repair the damage from the bullet. He also informed him that Tony had broken his back and there was a possibility that he would be paralysed.

Gibbs then told the others what Ducky said and then went to break the news to Abby.

"He'll be fine Gibbs." Abby assured. "His percentage for surviving the plague was really low and he survived. He'll be fine. If there is the slightest chance he won't be paralysed, then he won't be."

"Hopefully Abs." Gibbs sighed. "Ducky said he should be out of surgery in an hour or so. I'm going to head over there as soon as I'm done here."

"Oh good I'll come with you. Is he in Bethesda?"

"No, University hospital was nearer so they brought him there. We'll get him moved to Bethesda as soon as he's stable."

"That's good, he'll be better off there." Abby agreed and Gibbs went on his way.

The rest of the day passed very slowly for the group. The team had identified the man who had shot Tony as Martin Zarco. He had been involved with Petty Officer Maria Sarsfield and all the evidence showed that he had killed her.

When it was finally time to leave, the entire team and Palmer headed to the hospital.

When they arrived, they were directed to the waiting room where they found Ducky.

"Any news Duck." Gibbs asked.

"I'm afraid not Jethro." Ducky sighed. "He is still in surgery. It has been going on quite a bit longer than expected."

"Have they said anything?" Gibbs asked.

"No, not since after I've spoken to you. It may be that they have to be very careful not to move him too much in case they damage his back any further. Now I'm going to get some coffee."

"Thanks Ducky." Gibbs replied and took a seat.

Half an hour later, one of the surgeons came into the room. "Are you here for Anthony DiNozzo?"

"Yes." Gibbs replied and they all stood up. "How is he?"

"We've managed to stop the bleeding and repair most of the damage." He replied. "The exit wound was very close to the spine and with the fall, we are not sure how it will affect him."

"When will we know?" Ducky asked.

"We will have to wait until he wakes up." The surgeon replied. "The problem is we need to keep him as still as possible and because of the bullet wounds, it would be very painful for him to wear a brace."

"So what are you doing for him?" Gibbs asked.

"We are going to keep him sedated for the time being, to let the wounds heal a bit before we can put him in the brace." He replied "As soon as we have him in the brace we'll let him wake up and see how he is doing."

"How long are you going to keep him sedated?" Ducky asked.

"For the rest of today and tomorrow at least. We will see how the wounds are healing and then we'll decide when we can wake him."

"Ok thank you Doctor." Gibbs replied. "When can we see him?"

"He's in recovery at the moment. We will be moving him to ICU in the next hour. You can visit 2 at a time. Now I'll just warn you he still on the ventilator and we are going to leave him on it until we wake him. With the problems he's had with his lungs we are being cautious."

"Thank you Doctor." Ducky replied.

"I'll send a nurse to get you when we have him settled." The surgeon said as he headed back to Tony.

"At least he's come through the surgery ok." Ducky sighed.

"What about the rest of what he said. What does that mean for Tony?" Gibbs asked.

"Well as I mentioned before he has broken a bone in his back. Now normally to repair this, the patient would be either put in a brace or have the bone fused. In Anthony's case they can't fuse it because of the damage from the bullet. Therefore they need to put him in a brace. Now the brace is generally quite tight to prevent movement and with Anthony's wounds, this will be quite painful so they want to wait as long as possible before putting the brace on."

"Will he walk again?" McGee asked.

"I'm afraid we will have to wait until Anthony is awake to determine that." Ducky sighed. "They did say earlier they could see some damage to the spinal cord but they don't know to what extent."

"Oh poor Tony." Abby sobbed.

"He'll be fine Abbs." Tim assured giving her a hug.

The group spent the next hour waiting patiently to see Tony. A Nurse eventually came to bring them to Tony's room.

"Now only two of you at a time." She said. "And only a few minutes each. 1 person can stay with him after that."

"Ducky you and Palmer can go first." Gibbs said. Ducky nodded his agreement and he and Jimmy went to the room. They returned a few minutes later and McGee and Ziva went in. When they returned it was Abby and Gibbs turn. They quietly opened the door and entered.

"Oh Tony." Abby gasped when she saw him. He was laying in the bed attached to a lot of monitors and machines. There was a sheet covering him from the waist down. His abdomen was covered in a thick layer of bandages and there were leads attached to his chest.

"He's going to ok Abbs." Gibbs assured. "We need to be strong for him."

"I know Gibbs." Abby sighed "I just need a few minutes to breakdown, and then I'll be strong for him."

"Ok Abbs." Gibbs replied. "I'll stay here tonight with him. You go home and get some rest."

"Ok Gibbs." Abby replied as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Call me if there is any news."

"I will Abbs, see you tomorrow."

"Night Gibbs." She replied and left the room and headed home with the others.

"What am I going to do with you Tony?" Gibbs sighed as he took a seat beside his agent's bed. "You have to be ok; I need you on my six."

The only response was the sound of the ventilator. Gibbs sighed and made himself as comfortable as possible for the long night ahead.

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please review.