Gibbs told Tony to take Laura home and that Kate and McGee would meet them there.

Tony snuck a glance at Laura sitting next to him in the silent car. She seemed to have folded in on herself and he was angry. Angry about the circumstances that caused her pain and a little angry that she wouldn't accept any comfort from anyone other than Gibbs.

As they drove Laura's thoughts were of Daniel and the grief she felt pouring out of her. Tony had tried to console her at the office and she retreated behind her steadfast emotional wall. Afraid that if she let his gentle concern in, she would start crying and not stop. And she needed to be strong right now and clearheaded. The hug from Gibbs had been unexpected and she was surprised at how comfortable she had been. He just exuded a sense of calm and security that she craved right now. She felt a little bad about that knowing full well that Tony had seen the entire thing. Tony really was trying to be nice, and she suspected that his interest in her was genuine, but her common sense was telling her that he just wasn't the long haul type, especially with a woman like her. And she wasn't about to let anyone in for a here today, gone tomorrow fling.

When they reached her apartment building and started walking inside they both stopped in their tracks when the sound of a gun being cocked rang through the parking lot and a deep voice telling them to freeze. Laura felt the cold steel against her temple and froze, as did Tony. His quick assessment of the situation was that there was just no way that he could take out all three before they killed him and Laura both.

The gunmen recognized Tony as being a cop and pulled his cell phone and gun. They threatened to shoot Laura if he tried anything and that they just wanted the flashcard Daniel had given her. Laura tried to play dumb but they wouldn't listen.

They were dragged into a van and the men, dressed in fatigues and ski masks, kept demanding the flashcard. Laura looked to Tony for how to handle the situation. He started talking, using all the hostage situation techniques he knew. He received several punches to the face and gut for his efforts.

They drove to the library and the gunmen forced Laura to reopen the library and disable the alarm. Once in the library the gunmen ordered them into Laura's office. The mouthpiece of the three gunmen kept screaming in Laura's face that he wanted the damned flashcard. No matter how many time she told him that she didn't have it he just wouldn't believe her.

They ransacked her office looking for the flashcard. The ringleader was getting louder and more frantic as time went on. He finally put his gun to Tony's head and made another demand for the flashcard. His two accomplices both started shouting that they weren't going to be involved with killing anyone.

Seeing the gun to Tony's head Laura broke, she cried out that she had turned the card over to NCIS.

The men argued for quite a while about what to do with them, the mouthpiece wanted to kill them, the other two just wanted to lock them up somewhere and get away. Luckily for Laura and Tony the majority rule won out and they were shuffled off to the supply room off behind the main desk of the library.

It was a small room, a large closet really, that had only one door and no windows. They were ungracefully thrown inside and the two men left. A moment later the mouthpiece entered the room and snarled some obscenities. Tony had put himself between Laura and the gunman and she screamed when he fired point blank at Tony. Tony fell immediately and Laura found the gun aimed at her. She felt the white-hot pain and realized she had been shot, and as she lay on the floor bleeding the last thing she remembered was hearing something being dragged up against the door. They were trapped.

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"Hey. Stay with me. C'mon open your eyes." She heard him say through a fog.

"Just five more minutes mom."

"Very funny Laura. No sleeping on the job."

"Okay okay. I'm awake."

Tony took a good look at her face in the harsh fluorescent light of the room they were locked in and didn't like what he saw. She was extremely pale and her eyes wouldn't focus. And she was having major problems staying awake. He knew she had lost a lot of blood before he was able to get the gunshot wound in her shoulder bound and he was afraid of her losing consciousness. His chest was killing him, the vest stopped the bullet but the impact still did a number on his ribs.

He had to keep her talking, keep her awake until his team found them, "So what do you like to do on the weekends Laura?"

She tried to focus on his face, and hesitated before answering him. She didn't consider herself to be all that normal a person and for some odd reason his opinion of her mattered and she didn't want to appear to be the total nerd that most people thought she was.

When she didn't answer he prompted, "Laura?"

She decided to use her handy self-defense mechanism, humor. But nothing witty came to her. Damn. So she used honesty instead and in a quiet voice said, "I like movies."

"Hey now that's something I know all about. I drive my team nuts sometimes with my movie trivia…" he rambled on. Tony was very pleased to find something to talk to her about that they had in common. She intrigued him. He had been trying to charm her from the first time he met her and she seemed immune. She was friendly and polite but she just wouldn't let him in. Wouldn't give him anything of herself, and it surprised him because he had seen how she was with Gibbs and how open and almost flirtatious she had been. He thought it was odd that there was something about himself that made her put up a wall. But he was Tony DiNozzo and would find a way to win her over. He always did.

He made her talk about movies for a long time, they had similar tastes but their approach to movie appreciation differed. And he liked that she actually argued a few points with him, he had the feeling that when she was a hundred percent that she would give him quite the run for his money and he was oddly looking forward to it.

They moved onto other topics and they were surprised at how much they had in common. And what they differed on still complemented the other.

"So do you get to travel a lot for your job Tony?" she asked.

"Some, but most of the time there's not enough time for sightseeing." He told her about some of the places he had been to recently, and some of the places he had been on vacation. She shared some of her travels and again they found that they had similar tastes in vacation fun, although she was adamant about hating being out in the sun something that he really enjoyed.

"What's your dream vacation Tony? Everybody's got one." She asked. She was getting very weak and it was a struggle to keep her eyes open, but she was enjoying the conversation very much and just wanted him to keep talking. He was so animated and seemed to find enjoyment in just about everything.

"I keep thinking about South America. Rio would be a lot of fun." He went on and on about it and she smiled as she listened. He was so animated and alive.

"I can picture you, just sitting at some outdoor cantina in a linen suit with a glass of some local wine and your sunglasses on, just soaking up the sunshine and the music and watching the pretty girls." She teased.

He gave her a big smile and nodded, "Yeah, would be a rough vacation wouldn't it? So how about you, where would you go?"

She looked down a little embarrassed, and he caught it but didn't say anything. He could see that she was getting very tired and when she spoke her voice was weak, "Its silly but I would love to go to Tuscany. Go see all the little out of the way places and just soak it all in. The food, the wine, the people, the countryside, just all of it." He could see something like regret flash across her face as she said it and she still wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Mmmm that sounds good too, not silly. That would have to be a two-weeker though. Wouldn't want to rush it."

She murmured, "Yeah." softly and her head dropped off to the side unconscious.

"Laura?" He called trying to wake her back up. He tried several more times to revive her but couldn't. All he could do was hope that Gibbs and the team found them soon or she might not make it.

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When she opened her eyes it took her a moment to realize that she was in the hospital. And when she made the mistake of moving the stabbing pain in her shoulder reminded her why.

"Son of a…" she started to curse until her eyes came to rest on the smirking face of Tony DiNozzo who was sitting in a chair in the corner.

"Yeah we all say that our first bullet wound, just try not to move around too much. I'm glad to see you're awake. You had me worried." He teased.

Her throat was bone dry and croaked out, "How long?"

He got up and found a cup of water and a straw and held it for her to take a sip, "Two days."

She took a good look at his face, he looked tired and like he hadn't shaved in a few days, "Tell me you haven't been sitting there for two days staring at me."

He gave her a little sideways grin and teased, "Well not the whole two days, but I did get to see you drooling in your sleep quite a bit." He didn't tell he that it was very close to the whole two days, with only a couple of quick trips home to shower and change. He was out on a medical leave because the bullet to the vest had cracked two ribs. Gibbs would also never tell either of them that he had come into the room yesterday to see Tony asleep in the chair near the bed holding Laura's hand while she was unconscious, he just smiled and left.

She groaned and tried to swat him with her uninjured arm but he was too quick and she winced at the pain the movement caused.

"Do you want to hear about our glorious rescue?"

She shifted around a little to get comfortable and nodded. His team had been busy. It turned out that PFC Hanson and his two friends did in fact rape the intern and photograph it, but it was Hanson alone that killed the girl and also killed Daniel. All three were currently in custody. The team had been frantic when they found Tony's car at Laura's apartment building with no sign of them. The library was one of the first places local police searched and didn't see anything out of place. It wasn't until four o'clock in the morning when Gibbs was in his car scouring the roads leading away from Laura's apartment that his gut really kicked in and he went to the library. Looking in the main door nothing looked out of place, scouting around the outside he looked in the window of Laura's office and saw that it was trashed. Walking back to the front entrance he glanced in another window and saw a sliver of light from underneath a door. He moved quickly and picked the lock and went in. He shoved the desk blocking the supply room door out of the way to find an unconscious Laura and an injured Tony trying to throw himself against the door to move the desk blocking it.

"We were both lucky to be alive. And I found someone that likes movies more than I do, didn't think it was possible."

He chuckled, "Well maybe as much as you do. I think it's a tie." He gave her a more serious look and a gentle smile that made her feel warm all over as he said, "Seriously Laura I'm glad you're okay. You gave me a good scare."

She almost couldn't keep up the eye contact, his gaze was so intense. She smiled back at him, "Thanks for taking such good care of me Tony."

"Anytime."

The nurses then arrived and Tony was shooed out of the room. He decided to head into the office although it was late; he knew Gibbs would still be there.

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