Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who nor NCIS.

September, 23, 2010 was the day that McGee manned up and finally became a hostage. Everyone else on Team Gibbs had taken a turn—even Ducky, for God's sake. Unfortunately for McGee, his hostage experience wasn't a normal run-of-the-mill one. No blissfully few hours of terror before Gibbs came busting in to save the day.

Nope. It was more like living the movie Alien.

McGee knew Tony would've laughed smugly at him for making a movie comparison. But it was the only logical connection he could make in this highly illogical situation. First the guys had started speaking some weird language. Then they had turned not human.

Things had gone decisively downhill after that.

There was a lot of gesturing, and McGee was pretty good at charades, so the whole knife-against-his-throat deal wasn't exactly necessary for his comprehension. In fact, it was actually detrimental to his ability to think clearly, and McGee was rather glad when they went on to merely hitting him to get their point across.

He thought he might've fainted at that point, but the past two days were a bit of a blank spot, so he preferred to think of it as a strategic move on his part.

After all, they needed a conscious hostage to interrogate.

Being kidnapped by aliens was tiring, McGee thought wearily, shrugging his shoulders in a bleak effort to get some blood flow into his wrists. The handcuffs—his handcuffs—were chafing quite a bit, and the fact that he was cuffed to a wooden chair didn't help matters.

He was hoping Tony had found some help, but that was doubtful. After all, if the guy they had sent after him was like the others, Tony was probably being digested. Or whatever those guys did to their victims.

Tony had been pretty quick to steal his gun back on the way out, but McGee was certain that nothing short of an atom bomb would take care of the aliens.

His imagination, always fruitful, was starting to lead him down the gruesome fantasy route of the aliens being like Hannibal Lecter, when he heard a strange, pulsing noise that made him crane his neck to look at the locked door that led to the outside.

"Tony?" he called out cautiously. "The coast's clear!"

"Okay, McGee," came Tony's whisper. "Do you got it?"

"Yes," came a voice coloured by a British accent, of all things. "Opens all locks except deadbolt locks. And wood. Handy little gadget this. Only one like it in the entire galaxy."

Who exactly had Tony gotten to help?

The door swung open, and a young man stepped into the room, holding what looked like a penlight. He was followed by an attractive young woman, Tony and another unfamiliar young man.

"There we go," said the young man holding the penlight. He looked pleased. "Hullo, I'm part of the rescue party for one Timothy McGee."

"That's me," McGee croaked out.

"Ah good." The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "I was afraid we might've gotten the wrong prison. I'm the Doctor. This is Amy and Rory Williams."

Rory looked smug at this, for reasons that were currently lost on the concussed McGee.

"No time to explain, Doc," said Tony, who motioned for the Doctor to release McGee.

He complied, protesting a bit about the shortening of his name.

"Oi, it's the Doctor, you know," he said, bending down to use the penlight to apparently open McGee's handcuffs. "That's my proper name. A proper noun. None of this nickname rubbish. Never had a nickname before. I'm fairly certain that I don't like them one bit."

"So how do you know that you don't like them?" Amy pointed out, smirking.

McGee rubbed at his wrists, feeling rather cliché for doing so. But sometimes the movies did get it right. There was something important he had to tell Tony. Oh...right...

ALIENS.

But he hesitated, looking at the strangers. He didn't want them to think he was crazy, but it couldn't wait any longer.

"Tony," he began urgently. "The guys who kidnapped us. They're aliens!"

"Big purple reptiles called Flrn," Tony said. "Catch up, McGee."

He slapped him on his back.

"What, did you encounter a galactic dictionary out there?" McGee asked, confused.

"Something better, actually. Me." The Doctor fingered his bowtie smugly. "Know a lot about aliens, I do. Travel most of time and space—"

"That's great, Doctor," Amy said patiently. She turned to McGee and Tony. "You've got to cut him off before he really gets into it."

"Okay, Tony, who are these people that you got to rescue me? Where are Gibbs and Ziva...and why are you bleeding?"

"They're helpful strangers...sort of. I have no idea. And I was shot."

"Shot!" McGee exclaimed. "How did that happen?"

"I had a close encounter with a handgun—how do you think, McGee?" Tony grimaced. "It's fine. We need to get going. They'll be back."

"I thought you took care of the aliens?"

There was a sudden roar of rage from the other side of the door and McGee gulped.

"You didn't kill the aliens?"

"Doc over there takes it personally."

"Okay, boys, now that we've had our little reunion, I think it's time to run."

The redheaded woman—Amy—grabbed Rory's hand and pulled him towards the exit. McGee thought this was a sensible idea and followed suit. He looked back to see Tony standing near the Doctor.

"I'm just going to have a little chat with them. Don't you worry about me," the Doctor said cheerily.

"Tony?" said McGee uncertainly.

"I can't just leave him here alone," Tony said. "You go with the other two. Make sure they stay safe. Take my gun."

He pulled it out of his waistband and handed it to McGee, who took it, too distracted to make any disparaging comments about where it was kept.

"Take them to Gibbs and Ziva."

"But Tony—" McGee protested weakly.

"I'm senior field agent, Tim," Tony said sharply. "And your responsibility right now is to make sure the civilians are safe. Go."

McGee swallowed, and tucked the gun in the front of his pants where he could better reach it. Sometimes Tony had good ideas. He took in his friend's weary face, the bloody wound spreading even as he resolved to protect an alien that he had only met a few hours ago.

He hoped this wasn't the last time he saw Tony.

"Be safe," he said, at a lost for anything else to say.

Tony half smiled. "Always am."

And McGee gave one final nod and chased after Rory and Amy.

The Doctor looked over at Tony. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"I know," Tony said, settling himself down the same chair where he had been held hostage.

"I can take care of myself."

"No offense, Doc, but there's five of them and one of you. It's better to even the odds."

"We're not going to fight. I'm just going to ask them very nicely to leave Earth."

"And if they don't do nicely?"

"I'll use my sonic screwdriver. Best tool to have, that. More useful than your fists at any rate."

"I'm watching your six," said Tony shortly.

"My six what? Ribs? Cortical areas? Spinal fissures?"

"I'm your back up."

The Doctor smiled indulgently. "You humans."

The door crashed open and Tony realized he was wrong. There were ten reptilian creatures.

Ten to two.

Tony had never been good at maths, but he was fairly certain that was not a good ratio to have for a situation he was hoping to escape alive.

The Doctor showed no signs of panic, instead greeting them in an annoying cheerful manner. He was remarkably blasé for someone who was about to get his head bitten off and swallowed. The front Reptile rumbled back, crossing his arms and pointing at Tony, who stood up.

He nervously realized that he was alone with the Doctor, whom he knew nothing about, other than apparently he was an alien, who did some time travelling. Alone with eleven unknown aliens (Ten Flrn plus one Doctor), with nothing preventing either side from making a deal and taking him back to their ship. Tony glanced at the Doctor, hoping that his gut was right, and the alien was a good guy. He really did not want to be kidnapped again.

The leader rumbled in a final sort of way, and the crowd disappeared fully.

Tony gaped at the empty doorway disbelievingly.

"That was it?"

"Uh, yeah. Told them who I was. Told them to leave Earth. That about did it."

"That was very anti-climactic."

"These things often are. D'you want some tea?"

"Tea?" Tony repeated dumbly.

He realized with a jolt, that his shoulder wound was beginning to throb and the world weaved around him. There were two Doctors standing in front of him, talking incessantly about tannins, whatever those were.

Tony attempted to take a step, but ended up more curled over the chair, trying to stay upright through the dizziness and pain. He closed his eyes, feeling his body tremble unsteadily, and knew that his legs about to buckle.

"Come on, then," said the Doctor from a long way away, and Tony felt his good arm being flung around skinny shoulders.

He took a step forward and leaned all of his weight on the Doctor, half –expecting them to fall over again. But the alien apparently possessed some sort of superhuman strength, because he was a deceptively good full body crutch. With an effort, Tony opened his eyes and they made it to the doorway, painstakingly slow.

"Never...done...this...before..." the Doctor panted out, sounding more out of breath than Tony.

"You're doing a good job," Tony said, grimacing.

Sirens blared through the air and Tony stopped instantly.

"That's Gibbs," he said thickly. "It's Gibbs."

And with that final sentence, Tony fell unconscious, taking both himself and the Doctor down to the dusty ground for the second time that day.

"This is most unusual," the Doctor said to himself from where he was crushed underneath Tony's body. "Most unusual."