Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I wrote this quite a while ago, but I didn't like the direction it was going in and wanted to rewrite it. I never could get something that I liked any better, so here is the first draft.

Tony hit the ground first; a little too hard, but really not bad for only his second jump. A few seconds later, Gibbs made a perfect landing about 20 yards to his right. Tony was the only one of the two men to look up, scanning the skies above for McGee. In the glare of the newly risen sun, he couldn't locate him, and then he heard him land right behind him.

He heard him hit too hard.

Way too hard.

Two seconds after Tim hit the ground, Tony was out of his chute and running towards his friend, who lay motionless on the ground. He could see Gibbs making his way towards McGee out of the corner of his eye but he didn't make eye contact with his boss.

He dropped to his knees beside the injured man. He was unconscious but Tony was relieved to see him breathing. Tim groaned and opened his eyes just as Gibbs arrived.

"Don't try to move." Gibbs ordered. "Can you tell us where you hurt?" But Tim's eyes slipped closed again and he didn't respond.

While Gibbs was assessing his injuries, Tony cut him from his chute, which he could see was a tangled mess. This is my fault. He thought to himself. If it wasn't for me, he would have landed safely at the airfield like we planned. Tim had no business jumping out of a plane.

In fact, Tim had been terrified at the very idea of it, and when Gibbs had flatly told Tony "No", he had breathed a sigh of relief.

But Tony wouldn't take no for an answer. He had pressed and pressed; arguing that he and Gibbs were both experienced jumpers and stressing that they would get to her so much faster this way.

That was what had ultimately caused Gibbs to change his mind. He wanted to reach her as badly as Tony did. Finally, he decided that the two of them would jump but he had adamantly refused to let Tim follow them.

Tim hadn't really argued. He wanted to help Ziva, but he was not at all sure that he could actually bring himself to jump out of a perfectly good plane. That a person could do something so dangerous voluntarily had never made sense to him.

Gibbs headed to the back of the plane and checked over the chutes for him and Tony. He chose the nearest two, which looked well packed and in good working order. Then he went up front to let the pilot know that their plans had changed.

The second that Gibbs entered the cockpit, Tony was up. He grabbed another chute and shoved it into Tim's lap while he gave rattled off some rapid fire instructions.

"Pay attention to how we strap ours on. You'll need to make it out of the plane as quick as you can so we can find each other on the ground."

There was no response from Tim, who simply stared at the alien looking bundle sitting in his lap.

Tony didn't seem to notice and continued his instructions as he glanced nervously toward the front of the plane. "Pull this cord about 30 seconds after you leave the plane. There will be two straps to pull on for steering. You're smart, you'll figure out how they work with no problem."

He was still talking as he took the chute from Tim and crammed it under his seat just as Gibbs exited the cockpit. "There's an emergency cord you can pull if anything goes wrong."

He looked up at Tim and said "You'll be fine. I promise." Then he continued, flashing his trademark smile. "Don't worry. Gibbs won't blame you. He'll know it was my idea." His smile slipped only a bit at that thought and brightened as he continued "He'll forgive me… eventually."

But he had been wrong.

Tim was not fine. Tim was dying. Tony and Gibbs watched helplessly as he struggled to breathe. There was nothing they could do for him and Tim was clearly in agony. Both of his legs were obviously broken, and the blood trickling from his mouth showed them that there were internal injuries that couldn't be seen.

He had been very wrong.

He forced himself to look at Gibbs and saw that there was one thing he had gotten right. Gibbs knew that this was his idea; his fault.

He didn't care if Gibbs would forgive him for this. He would never forgive himself.

I almost published this chapter as a stand alone story, but it grew organically out of this one and I didn't want to cut it out. Please let me know what you think about it as part of this story & I'll have the next chapter up very soon (I promise!). By the way, I haven't forgotten about Ziva, but you had to know a rescue mission would involve some risk for our boys...