A/N: This story was written for the Long-Winded Title Challenge. Hence the long title. :) It stars Tim as per usual, but Tony, Ducky and Gibbs all have significant roles.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or its characters and, unfortunately, I'm not making any money off this story.

It All Comes Down to Nothing More Than Just a Few Minutes
by Enthusiastic Fish

Chapter 1

Every 44 seconds...within 15 minutes...as little as 5 minutes...100 beats per minute...At least 60 minutes...

Tim took a deep breath and shifted position to reduce the discomfort he felt in his chest. After days of being on stakeout, he would swear his body was starting to cramp up in protest of the uncomfortable conditions. Day after day of hoping to find some evidence and getting absolutely nothing and Tim was ready to go crazy. However, he was trying not to complain about it because Tony would just give him grief.

Still, it had been getting worse today. There didn't seem to be any position that relieved the discomfort. It didn't help that Tony was grumpy, too.

"You're getting fidgety, McGee," Tony said, not looking at him. "You're starting to get on my nerves. Knock it off."

"Sorry," Tim muttered. He didn't feel any desire to bicker about it. It would take too much energy.

"You're not the only one that's been here for the last two weeks, you know."

"I know that, Tony."

"Then, stop it. If you give away our position and make all this time worthless, I'll kill you."

"No one is going to see me moving in the car," Tim said.

"They might. And I am not going to start all this over again. So stop it."

Tim just took another breath and let the matter drop. But he couldn't stay still. He felt so uncomfortable. Everything just felt off. Maybe if he walked around a little bit.

Tony sighed with irritation at his renewed movement. Tim didn't want to deal with it. He opened the car door and got out, intent on walking off his discomfort, this feeling of things being wrong.

"Hey! What are you doing, Tim? We're not just out for a fun evening. We're supposed to be on stakeout in case these guys come back!"

Tim ignored him and started walking down the sidewalk, away from the car and away from the house they'd been watching. He felt like he couldn't get a good breath of air. He just needed to get over this. Suddenly, the discomfort became a strange tightness in his chest. He slowed down, wondering what was going on. Vaguely, he heard Tony coming up behind him, but he didn't turn around. He just couldn't seem to muster the energy. In fact, he started sweating like he was running a marathon.

"Tim, I know that we're getting on each other's nerves, but what's going on with you? You can't just leave a stakeout!"

He felt Tony's hand on his shoulder.

"Tony...I..."

Then, the tightness progressed abruptly to outright pain. For a few seconds, Tim thought it was just a momentary thing and would go away, but then, it got worse. The pain was intense and it felt like his heart wasn't beating right.

Tony turned him around and Tim could see the concern on his face.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked.

"Chest...hurts," Tim said.

Suddenly, it dawned on him what he'd just said. His chest? His heart? What was happening?

"Am I...having a heart attack?" he gasped out. It didn't seem possible. He was only in his thirties!

"I don't know," Tony said, but he was already pulling his phone out and dialing.

The pain had progressed to feeling like something was crushing his chest and he wasn't sure if he could keep breathing like this. He could feel sweat dripping down his face and trickling down his back. Tony grabbed him and dragged him back to the car. Tim felt Tony push him down onto the seat.

"Just relax, McGee, and don't die on me."

Tim managed to laugh a little, but it hurt a lot. It was like something was squeezing his heart tighter and tighter. He started tugging at his shirt, trying to loosen it.

"Not...planning...on it."

He said that, but he started seeing black spots. He wanted to tell Tony about it, but he couldn't seem to get the breath to talk. Before long, all he saw was black, and all he felt was pain.

Every 44 seconds...within 15 minutes...as little as 5 minutes...100 beats per minute...At least 60 minutes...

"I think my friend is having a heart attack," Tony said, hardly believing he was saying the words and meaning them. Tim was too young to be having a heart attack! How could he possibly be having a heart attack? This happened to people who were unhealthy, people who were old. It didn't happen to young, healthy guys like Tim. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was something else and it just seemed like a heart attack. Maybe it was indigestion. People had that and thought it was a heart attack, sometimes, right? Maybe it was just indigestion. Maybe...

The thoughts went through his mind, but he tried to keep himself focused.

"He said his chest hurts, and..."

Tony broke off and dropped his phone when Tim suddenly slumped down in the seat, eyes closing as his head lolled back.

"No, no, no! Come on, Tim! Don't do this to me!"

He shook him a couple of times, but Tim didn't appear to be breathing.

He picked up the phone again. "He just...passed out. I don't think he's breathing."

"All right, sir. What I need you to do is get your friend flat on his back and start performing CPR. Shoot for 100 beats per minute."

"Right. Right. I know how to do that," Tony said.

"We have your location and I've dispatched an ambulance. Just do CPR until they get there. I'll stay on the phone in case you need me."

Tony set the phone down and pulled Tim out of the car. Tim was so limp, almost seeming lifeless. Tony lay him on the ground and started performing chest compressions. They all were certified to perform CPR, but it had been a while since he'd actually done it. So instead of trying to remember all the numbers for alternating chest compressions and breathing, he just focused on the chest compressions as he'd been told.

"Come on, Tim. You are not going to do this to me," he said.

As he continued to perform CPR, hoping he wasn't screwing it up, Tony suddenly remembered what he'd been taught at a seminar once.

"If you need something to keep you in the right rhythm, just start singing 'Stayin' Alive' by the BeeGees. And it's fitting, isn't it? You're trying to keep the person alive by making sure their heart doesn't stop."

As soon as he'd thought it, the song popped into his head and he moved into the rhythm of the song.

"Stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin' and we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive."

How long would it take the ambulance to get there? Tony wanted to ask the 911 dispatcher, but he didn't want to stop CPR to do it. He'd just have to keep on, hoping that they'd get there soon. Very soon. This was tiring.

"You've got to pull through this, Tim," Tony said, a little breathlessly. "Whatever is going on, you've got to pull through it. Okay? Otherwise, I'll have to keep singing this song for the rest of my life. I'll never get it out of my head if you die while I'm thinking of it. ...and I don't care if that doesn't make any sense. You hear me? I don't care."

Tim didn't respond. He just lay there, his body moving a little in reaction to Tony's frantic CPR. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he could hear a siren getting closer and closer. Still, he didn't stop the chest compressions. Until there was someone on the scene who could take over, he'd keep it up.

He heard the ambulance and looked up as it came to a stop beside him. He didn't stop the compressions, but he was relieved to see the paramedics getting out of the ambulance.

"What happened?"

"He was acting a little weird, got out of the car and then, he started having chest pains. He passed out after a couple of minutes."

One of the paramedics took over the CPR, giving Tony a much needed break.

"Any history of heart problems?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Okay. What's his name?"

"Tim... Tim McGee."

"What a coincidence," the paramedic said. "My name is Tim, too."

They moved Tim onto a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance. Tony took one step forward, thinking he'd go along, but the EMT held him back.

"We're taking him to Virginia Hospital Center. Go to the ER and ask for him."

"Right."

The EMT closed the doors and then got in the front. Tony watched the ambulance pulled away. He let out a whoosh of air. What had just happened? How had things gone from irritating to possible death so quickly? ...and not death from a gun battle. Tim could have died from something that maybe was a heart attack. It just didn't make any sense!

Then, he remembered that the 911 dispatcher would still be on the phone. He picked up his phone from the ground.

"Hello?"

"Did the ambulance get him?"

"Yeah. Hey...how could he be having a heart attack? He's only in his thirties and he's healthy."

The dispatcher sounded sympathetic. "There could be a hidden genetic disorder. It could be that he's not as healthy as he looks. There are a lot of causes for heart attack, if that's what happened, but you got him help very fast and the time matters. It's usually a matter of minutes. He'll likely recover. I recommend that you go to the hospital so that you can be there when he needs someone he knows."

"Right. Thanks."

"It's my job. Good-bye."

Tony hung up the phone. One more loud exhale and he called Gibbs to let him know what had just happened.

Every 44 seconds...within 15 minutes...as little as 5 minutes...100 beats per minute...At least 60 minutes...

Tim was conscious of sounds around him, sounds and noise and... light? He opened his eyes a little bit. There was something over his face, too.

"Don't worry, Mr. McGee. We've got you under control. It'll all be okay."

That crushing pain was still there.

"Doesn't...feel like it..." Tim gasped out.

"I'm sure it doesn't. Now, my name will be easy for you to remember because it's the same as yours."

"Tim?" he asked.

"Exactly. And I'm not letting a fellow Tim die. We're almost to the hospital. Based on the ECG, it does look like you're having a heart attack, but people survive those every day. So don't sweat it."

"How...could I be having...a...heart attack?"

"It happens. I wouldn't dare diagnose it, right now. All you need to do is let us treat you for it."

"We're 30 seconds out. They're waiting for us."

"You hear that?" Tim asked.

Tim nodded.

"We're almost there and the doctors here are some of the best for cardio problems. How does the pain feel? How would you describe it?"

"It hurts," Tim said.

Tim smiled. "Yes, but tell me what kind of pain it is."

"Like...someone is...sitting on my chest and squeezing my heart. Hard to...breathe."

"Never had anything like this before?"

All Tim could do was shake his head. It was hard to get words out.

"Here we go!"

The voice that didn't belong to Tim was welcome since it seemed to mean that they were at the hospital. Before he knew it, he was being pulled out of the ambulance and moved somewhere else and there were more words and incomprehensible things being said about him.

There was so much activity around him that Tim wondered if he was even a part of it. There was talking and some crazy-sounding beeps. A lot of noise. It sure didn't feel like he was needed. It felt much more like he was extraneous to what was going on.

"Hello?" he asked in the midst of all the noise. "What's happening?"

Then, Tim was there again.

"Hey, Tim. Don't worry about a thing. These docs sometimes forget that the patient doesn't speak medicalese. They're going to take good care of you. In fact, I'm going to turn you over to Cheree, here. She's going to translate when you don't get it. All right? I'll check on you later and see how my fellow Tim is doing. Good luck, man."

Then, Tim was gone, but as he'd said, there was someone else there.

"Okay, Tim. I'm Cheree. We're going to see what we can do to take care of your pain. All right?"

All Tim could do was nod a little bit, but he did that. His world had mostly been distilled down to just his heart. That horrible pressure, the pain that made him wonder if his heart was going to explode.

He almost wished it would, just to get rid of this. It felt like it had been going on forever.

The chaos around him calmed a little bit and Cheree was back.

"Tim, you should start feeling better soon. We're giving you some medication that should get those arteries open and the blood flowing again."

He wished she would just do it and not talk about it. But after another eternity, he did start to feel better. He still felt terrible, but the pain eased off a little and he didn't feel like the squeezing was going to make his heart explode.

"ECG is looking better."

The voice from whoever was calm. Tim himself did not feel calm. He just didn't feel like he was going to die a painful death.

"Good, Tim. You're doing great. Just keep on like this."

"Like what?" he managed to whisper. "...not doing anything."

Cheree laughed a little. "You're doing exactly what you should be. You're letting us do the work and your body is listening to us. That's great."

"Is...it over?" he asked.

"Yes. Just relax and that will help."

Tim blinked a few times and turned his head toward where Cheree must be. He saw a nurse smiling at him encouragingly.

"Was that...a heart attack?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Never want...that again."

"I don't blame you. We're going to figure out what caused it and make sure it doesn't."

He still didn't feel quite right, but it was far and away better than he'd been feeling before.

"What now?"

"Now, we're going to get you to a room and we're going to start doing some tests to see what made this happen. We'll keep the ECG going and the oxygen supplement."

"What?"

Tim looked at himself and realized that his shirt was open and he had a bunch of sensors on his chest. He looked over and saw the heart monitor. He hadn't noticed any of that when it had been done. In fact, he hadn't even really noticed anything besides himself...or rather, besides his pain.

"Oh."

"If you feel the pain come back or if you start feeling like you can't breathe, just push the call button and we'll come."

"Okay."

They did move him out of the ER and got him in a hospital gown and he had the cannula and heart monitor as promised. It was only when he was alone that he had the time to really register what had happened to him.

I had a heart attack.