Hello. So, this is my first NCIS fic. Got into the series a while back, but it always takes me time to build up enough confidence to post in a new fandom.

Anyway, having watched 'Pyramid', I felt something had to be written because poor Jimmy got so overlooked. As in, one moment he being rescued from a hostage situation and then we don't even see until the next season when everything is 'fine'. This is a form of case fic, so everyone is featured, but there's a heavy emphasis on the Autopsy team.

The story's complete, so I'll be updating regularly, but I can't say every day; worklife has a way of getting in the way. On that note, while I'm trying to become a doctor... not that kind of doctor, so I sorry for any medical inaccuracies; it's for the same reason you should never try to use to internet to diagnose yourself.

Disclaimer: Don't own the show or characters and I'm only writing for fun.

When Jimmy Palmer first dived to the ground, his heart was pumping with adrenaline, his brain was racing through thoughts faster than he could catch them and his whole body was struggling to obey any instructions. It was when he landed that the horrible wetness began to dominate his mind. It was cold and the water had found itself all over his body. He was unsure he would ever be able to get dry again.

The noises around him barely touched his ears. There were gunshots and breaking glass, but it almost sounded like it was in a different building, not just four feet away. The main sound Jimmy concentrated on was EJ's soft breathing, bathing in the knowledge that there was somebody else in the room alive. It wasn't steady, but at least she'd dived down in time.

He got down in time, right? He couldn't feel any pain, but frankly it was so cold now, he could've lost his arm and he wouldn't have noticed. He couldn't even see properly at this stage, even if his eyes were open.

There suddenly was searing warmth on the back of his neck as a hand came to rest there. His breathing picked up even more. 'They hadn't shot Cobb. He was going to die.'

"Easy, easy, Jimmy. It's just me." Gibbs' voice broke through and Jimmy began to slowly reduce his breathing. He didn't open his eyes yet, though. He wasn't ready for that, he decided.

The hand moved away and a few seconds later, Jimmy's arms suddenly flopped to his sides as his wrists were released. In some ways, this was worse as his shoulders ached from being pulled back for so long. That was when he noticed his head was aching.

"Jimmy. Jimmy? Can you sit up?" Gibbs' voice was softer than ever, at least where Jimmy was concerned. And use of the first name? Something bad had happened. And Jimmy was sure ten seconds ago he knew what.

"Boss?" Another friendly voice. "He OK?" The voice sounded alarmed.

"DiNozzo, where are the EMTs? Kort hasn't regained consciousness."

"You think I care...?"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs suddenly barked, way too close for Jimmy's comfort. The Autopsy Assistant jerked in reflex until he found himself curled around and his arms wrapped around his body for warmth. Gibbs muttered a curse. The hand returned to his neck, resting there in what Jimmy thought should be a comforting gesture. However, now the association with Gibbs, and an angry Gibbs at that, made Jimmy's stomach crawl. Gibbs' attention rarely ended well for him.

He needed to do something. Gibbs left people to their jobs. So if he had a job, Gibbs would leave him to it.

"Couple of minutes out still. We didn't know what Cobb had planned so we kept them out the way."

"Kort's out and I don't know how severely injured he is."

"EJ needs them as well."

"Uncle..."

"You'll be checked over. To please me." "EJ, let them check."

Two voices. The concerned Uncle and concerned lover. Caring for the injured.

"Kort is currently injured worse," came her breathy argument.

Injured. Injured people needed doctors. Palmer was almost a doctor. He was also had a thought flash through his mind. He opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden light.

"Pinch," he said, unsure as to how loud he was.

Obviously not loud enough as the next thing Vance said was "His concussion could be fairly bad. And my jacket won't keep him warm enough."

"Pinch."

"Well, I can ask McEMT how far away they are again."

"Pinch!" This time it was loud enough to get the attention of Gibbs, who paused for a second, then made the decision to leave Palmer to pinch Trent's arm. The Autopsy Assistant watched the effect of the small pain stimulus.

"Hmmm...?" came the response. "Later..." The agent winced. "Got a pillow? The floor isn't too comfortable."

"Trent? How you feeling?"

"Like a brass band is playing in my head and the trombone is going right down to my stomach."

"Rib can't be too good," deduced Gibbs, taking off his jacket now and padding Kort round. "Stay still."

"Didn't know you cared, Gibbs?"

"Oh we still need to chat." The agent grimaced, and Jimmy wasn't sure if it was from pain or the threat of Gibbs.

Good deed done, Jimmy felt the water and cold again. The wind had changed direction and was now blowing through the open window, right across Jimmy. He shivered again and turned to get his face out the worst of it. There he caught a glance of:

"EJ!" he said. The woman was wrapped in her Uncle's jacket and his arms were firmly around her as she sat on the floor. However, the stress of the day was evident on her face. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, Palmer."

"Gibbs, for heavens' sake, keep your man in order. My niece doesn't need this," sighed Davenport annoyed. Jimmy pulled back at this very important man's angry tone, huddling his knees closer in. Anything to keep warm.

"Hey!" butted in DiNozzo, but before he could continue into what could be career suicide, EJ cut him off.

"I think he may have hit his head when Cobb pulled him from the ME van."

That made sense. Jimmy could remember it vaguely.

"Regardless..."

Whatever onslaught Jimmy was going to face was interrupted by McGee announcing the EMTs. Kort disappeared in the first waft of people to flood into the room. The second gathered around EJ and took her downstairs, all on SecNav's insistence. Thus, Jimmy settled in, the wind from the broken window making him even colder, causing the water to freeze on his skin, or so it felt. He closed his eyes as even they got cold and waited.

He was unsure how much time had passed before something rustled around him. Blanket his mind provided and he pulled it closer.

"Hey Palmer," came McGee relaxing voice. "EMTs will be with you shortly OK? You hurt anywhere in particular?" Palmer managed a shake of his head. "Think you can sit up?" Palmer thought for a second then gave a small nod. A pair of hands grasped under and Jimmy unfolded his and opened his eyes so he could help. Eventually, he was sitting, knees pulled up towards him and rested his head on them. "You OK?" asked McGee as his face came into view. Jimmy nodded, just as the friendly face of an EMT came into view.

Just as the stranger settled down in front of him, a harsh cry of 'McGee!' went up and aside from a small smile of apology, the agent wasted no time in scurrying to wherever he was needed. So it was left to two EMTs to get pad Jimmy with heat packs before getting him down the stairs he'd previously been forced up.

The ambulance journey was nice enough and when he arrived at the hospital, Jimmy was passed between nurse and doctor and nurse and doctor until he was dry (though he still felt wet), had clean scrubs and was linked to an IV that took care of the fall in his blood sugar levels. No wonder he was so out of it he thought as he lulled himself to sleep.

...NCIS...

Gibbs surveyed the scene. It was still a mess, water being blown over everything, but the evidence had been picked up. The scene below had been covered in glass as well, which made things potentially dangerous. At least they knew what happened. They just needed enough evidence to prove they weren't covering anything up for the inquiry that would follow.

"Boss," Tony came up behind him. "EJ's been discharged from hospital. Gone home with her Uncle. Kort been patched up and is staying there to be monitored, but I'm wondering how quickly he'll try to escape."

"Vance has a guard on him for now. Needs to be debriefed." Both men took that comment in, knowing what kind of debrief Vance was after. "Palmer?"

"Staying overnight as well. Need to keep an eye on his blood sugar levels." Gibbs grunted to acknowledge. "Guess Vance will have called Breena so she can fuss over him."

Gibbs didn't respond. With the knowledge that all three victims were in good hands, his mind was wandering back to another family call he had to place. Leyla and Amira needed help to plan a funeral. A very special funeral.

...NCIS

Ducky scrubbed up alone. He'd been told Palmer was fine, but needed to be taken to hospital for a check over. It was hardly surprising.

He'd enlisted McGee's help to peel Cobb off the car after his rather unfortunate descent. However, Ducky was hard-pressed to feel any real sympathy for the man currently lying of his cold metal tables. He'd conducted so many autopsies due to his actions, including that of Mike Franks. He could understand his anger, but Mike wasn't the cause of it and neither were the sailors killed at the beginning.

And certainly not Jimmy Palmer.

When Ducky had heard the news that his assistant had been pulled by the throat into leaving with a serial killer, well, his stomach immediately tunnelled through his body and into the floor. The boy was, unfortunately, expendable to Cobb. Ducky had had to cling to hope that in Cobb's advanced mental state maybe the innocent could be spared.

Given the alternative was finding Jimmy dead and thrown aside like a piece of unwanted rubbish, Ducky stuck with that hope.

He was thus relieved to find his services were only required for one person and it was a man who started it all.

"Well, now, Jason Cobb," he said, leaning over the body. "Let's see if we might find out why."

...NCIS...

Vance stared at the phone. He'd dug out the information to EJ's family and put a quick call through to her next of kin, namely her parents. They had been surprisingly calm about the situation, or as much as Vance felt he could reveal. The Director had the feeling that the dear brother was going to have to answer a few questions, given his role in the Navy, and when they realised that SecNav was the reason their daughter was targeted, they might have a few more questions for him later. Thus, he let the matter lie for now.

Next came an interagency call to the Director of the CIA. Well, his deputy took the call, considering the time of night, but it was no longer that urgent and it would reach him. Kort would probably send his own report to the agency anyway, so there'd be something on record of what happened. It was unlikely he'd lie to them.

Finally came the quick phone call to Palmer's mother. At least, he dialled the number. It rang out. Too late in the night he guessed. Without a number for Breena on file yet, something Vance should prompt Palmer to add, he'd have to wait until the morning. Jimmy was in hospital overnight; he would probably just be sleeping.

...NCIS...

Jimmy had been sleeping. He'd dropped off a few hours earlier, but came around at about 2am to escape... cold. And wet. His dreams hadn't take any physical form yet. Maybe he was too exhausted. But he'd definitely awoken to the feeling of water clinging to him.

Now fully awake, he still felt rather damp, and battled with the idea of getting up to dry himself. An IV, he could easily reattach that, but the back of his mind did register the fact that it was warmer under the blankets than outside of them.

However, eventually the desire to get dry won out and he disconnected the IV as he lurched towards the bathroom. He thanked whoever it was who'd decided to place him in a private room. Inside were towels which he knew were meant for him.

He stripped off and rubbed himself down, getting into every crevice of his body. The lack of actual water meant the action turned his skin a faint shade of red, but he carried on until he was sure he covered every spare inch.

Once complete, he wrapped it around himself, wandered into the main room, slumping into the comfy chair which was unoccupied. Part of him knew he should put pants back on, but right now the slightly rough, absorbing material of the towel brought him greater comfort. He'd sit here, just for a short while, feeling a little drier.

The room was dim. He didn't have his glasses on so everything was blurry, but he could make out the forms of his bed, a table, another chair and the doorway which went out onto the brightly lit corridor. The silence eventually persuaded his eyes to slide close and...

He opened them in a flash as he felt the chain around his neck, pulling him so he almost fell over backwards. He wished he'd have been able to do something more about it, but his one foray into self-defence with Ziva had left him certain it wasn't his calling. Besides, in future he wasn't going to get into elevators with suspects.

The shock of the memory made him restless again, just as he heard the footsteps of a nurse coming down the corridor, probably to check things. He dutifully made his way to the bathroom again where he pulled his top on and grabbed his pants. Unbeknown to him, though, was that they had been lying in a few splashes on the floor. As he pulled them up, the wetness touched his leg and he let go as water seemed to crash over his body again.

"Mr Palmer?" came a voice, supposedly belonging to a nurse. "Are you alright, Mr Palmer?" The nurse came to a stop outside the open door and Jimmy thanked his lucky stars that this nurse was male. "Do you need a hand, Mr Palmer?"

"Erm... no. Sorry, I was just going... I just needed the light from outside. Light in here is too harsh." The nurse nodded his understanding and Jimmy internally sighed his relief.

"Well, you finished and I'll be here to get you back in."

"Oh, really, I can..."

"I need to reinsert your IV," he explained.

Jimmy nodded in defeat. He proceeded to use the toilet, thinking he might as well. Once finished, the nurse helped him back in and reattached the IV. Jimmy felt pretty helpless at this stage, but he sat back and enjoyed the feeling of being bustled over for a minute or so. The nurse obviously took this to mean the patient was content and left the room without another word after he was done.

Jimmy snuggled beneath the blankets, but sleep was now evading him. Or rather, every time he shut his eyes, he felt like he was choking. He burrowed deeper and decided to wait it out until the morning.

Once enough hours had passed and the sun was sufficiently high in the sky, he reached across to phone Dr Mallard. He was sure his boss wouldn't deny him the day off from all that happened, but he might be needed to give statements or something. Unfortunately, he ran up against the autopsy answer-phone and had to settle for leaving a rather stutter-y message to explain he wouldn't be in, but he'd be reachable.

It was only after he put the phone down that he realised his mobile was still back at NCIS. 'Oh well' he thought. 'I'm sure they'll be able to get hold of me if they want.' And with that, he finally slipped back to sleep.