Title: The Beginning Of The End?(Maybe Not)

Author: Josette Grover

Feedback: jgrover@tm.net

Fandom: Navy NCIS/Man From Uncle/HIghlander

Pairing: Leroy Jethro Gibbs/Donald (Ducky) Mallard

Synopsis: Ducky takes matter into his own hands when his lover works himself into a collapse. But everybody knows the saying about the best laid plans of mice and men.

AN: This is the first in a series of short stories if anybody wants to see any of the others. You'll know the one of the other shows by the end of the story. The other show is mentioned in the story and will make appearance in a later story.

The Beginning Of The End?(Maybe Not)
By Josette Grover

Gibbs opens his eyes, blinking in surprise to find he's been moved to a bed in his sleep.

"Good Morning." Ducky says, turning around in the chair as he hears Gibbs moving in the bed.

"How'd I . . "

"Get in bed? I put you to bed last night after I found you asleep at your desk. You have got to stop doing this." Ducky says, standing over the hospital bed and glaring at his lover.

"We got the bastard, that's all that counts."

"No, that is not all that counts. You are not going to work yourself into another heart attack, and that's final." Ducky growls, his hands on his hips, "We are leaving in an hour for a two week vacation. You are not to think about the job during that time, instead, you're going to wonder if it's humanly possible for me to fuck you to death."

"Oh, really," Gibbs drawls, his eyes beginning to lose the haunted look that had caused Ducky to slip a sedative into his lover's coffee.

"Yes, really. You're awful at taking care of yourself, and Anthony is nearly as bad. I've already told him, Abby and Katie that I didn't want them at the office for the next two weeks and I wasn't above making it a medical order. Now eat," Ducky orders, sitting the breakfast tray on the
table over Gibbs's lap, "The sooner you're done, the sooner we're on our way home to pack."

"And why are we packing?" Gibbs asks, picking up the fork and beginning to eat, knowing Ducky will sit down and feed him himself in one minute if he doesn't.

"We're going to be spending the next two weeks at a bed and breakfast an hour from here. By the time we get back, I want you tanned and to have gained five pounds. You'd still be ten pounds underweight, but it's a start at least." Ducky smiles as Gibbs finishes breakfast and tosses him a pair of cut-off pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Where's my suit?"

"In the office, along with your gun. And they're going to stay there until I say otherwise, understand?"

"Mother hen from hell." Gibbs mumbles fondly as he gets dressed.

:"Damn straight. You're worse than a two year old. (And I thought Napoleon was bad about taking care of himself, you're ten times worse)

Ducky and Gibbs are leaving the building when a shot rings out of nowhere. Ducky shoves Gibbs in the shelter of the doorway as he takes off running across the parking lot.

(When did Ducky get so fast?) Gibbs thinks as he slides down the side of the door, the streak of blood bringing Tony running from where he'd been rooting in the trunk of his car.

(Damn Tony, wondered why you always wore that oversized watch. Must have hurt to get that tattoo on your wrist. Where'd the lightning come from, it was a clear day just seconds ago? Ducky, why are you carrying a sword?)

Ducky reaches over and closes Leroy Gibbs sightless eyes as the younger man takes his last breath.

"Anthony, help me get Gibbs into my car before one of the guards comes. That shot has to have been heard by somebody." Ducky orders, bending down, planting his shoulder in Gibbs' gut, and lifting him onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

Tony looks in shock at the car keys Ducky shoves into his hands. Ducky sighs, seeing from the blank look in his eyes the young man isn't really aware of what's going on.

"Tony, take my keys and unlock my trunk." Ducky orders.

Tony unlocks the trunk, wincing as Ducky dumps Gibbs body into the trunk and shuts it before looking around. Nobody seems to have taken notice of the shot, so Ducky takes the time to plant a quick kiss on Gibbs' forehead before shutting the trunk.

"Tony, snap out of it." Ducky orders, grabbing the younger man by the shoulders and shaking him lightly. "According to this," he says, touching the Watcher Tattoo while quickly checking the younger man's pulse," you know what's going on. Call somebody and have the scene cleared up. Then come to my house later tonight. I'll explain it all then."

"You knew?" Tony says as he grabs for the cell phone and camera he had dropped when he saw Gibbs had been shot. Dumping them in the trunk of his car, he walks into the building, returning ten minutes later with the tapes from the security cameras.

"What are you going to say if the police happens to show up?"

"Why should they? Somebody heard a shot fired, but we're a law enforcement agency. What they heard was one of our technicians testing a firearm found in a crime scene." Ducky says calmly as he gets behind the wheel and starts the car.

Tony picks up the cell phone from the trunk and dials a familiar number.

"I need a clean-up crew," he tells the Watcher at the other end, "My Immortal was ambushed about fifteen minutes ago. Yes, I'll make a complete report for the records later. Now transfer me to Joe Dawson, I think he needs to know this."

"Joe's Place, Mike speaking."

"Mike, it's Tony DiNozzo. I need to talk to Joe if he's not busy."

"Watcher business?"

"Ohh yeah," Tony says, moving his phone between shoulder and ear as the clean-up crew arrives. Less than ten minutes later, all blood traces are gone and the body is taken away for disposal.

"Joe Dawson here, what's the matter Tony?"

"Joe, my Immortal was attacked earlier today. I thought I'd better let you know so you could break it to his family before they learn it through the Watcher grapevine. What? Yes, I know Adam's Immortal, he saved my ass a couple years ago and got killed as thanks. Yes, this is a scrambled and secure line, Adam made sure of it before he gave the phone to me. Wanted me to be able to get hold of him without anybody listening in. Listen Ducky's fine, he took the other Immortal's head, but his lover was killed in the ambush. I think he needs his family here."

Joe looks up in shock as Adam moves across the room, he had been arguing with Connor and Duncan MacLeod about something or other, and grabs the phone out of his hand.

"Tony, are you sure Donald's fine?" Methos asks his foster son.

"Positive, he just took off. But he's going to need you, Napoleon, and Illya if you can get here soon enough. I don't think Ducky's going to go rogue, but he needs his family around him."

"Ducky?"

"You didn't know? He's going by the name of Donald Mallard these days, but everybody calls him Ducky."

Adam quietly begins to bang his head against the bar. "I am going to strangle that boy when I get my hands on him."

"Like I said, get here as soon as you can. He's going to need his family here."

"What happened to his lover's body?"

"Ducky took it with him."

"Donald took the body with him?"

"Yeah, the only thing I can think of is he didn't want to leave his body here because it couldn't be explained without revealing the fact he was the intended target, or. . ."

"He might be a newbie Immortal." Adam says, "I hope so, Agent Gibbs is a nice fellow. A little too focused on the job, but I'm sure Donald was taking care of that."

"Ducky told me to come to his house later tonight, he'd explain everything then."

"Tony, did you recognize who attacked him?"

"No Joe, I didn't. Have there been any reports on the fight?"

"Nope, this is the first I've heard about it."

"I told the clean-up crew I didn't know who he was. They said something about running a check on him when they got back to headquarters."

"I'll keep an eye on my e-mail for anything they send me."

"Tony, go home. You sound like you've had a shock. Go home, take a hot shower, fix yourself a drink, and take a nap. You'll feel better and I'll pick you up when Illya, Napeleon and I get into Washington."

"Okay, Dad."

"Dad?" Joe asks as Tony hangs up the phone on the other end. Adam grins at the shocked expression on Joe's, Connor's,. and Duncan's faces as he dials a familiar number.

"Illya, Napoleon," he says in Russian, "pick up the phone if you're there. Donald's been attacked in Washington. He's okay, but his lover has been killed."

"Father?"

"Oh good, you're there." Adam says, reverting to English when the man once known as Napoleon Solo picked up the phone. "I'm at Joe's bar, how soon can you pick me up?"

"Illya's filing a flight plan with the airport right now. We should be in Seacouver in a couple of hours."

"Good, pick me up at the bar."

"We'll be there." A second voice says before the phone is hung up.

"Who did you just call?"

"My son Illya and his lover Napoleon. Donald is their son, my grandson."

 *

Tony shuts off his phone and settles behind the wheel of his car. He fumbles with the key for a moment before finally getting it in the ignition and pulling out of the parking lot. He realizes that Adam must be right, he is in shock, and once in his apartment turns the heat up and walks to the bathroom for a hot shower.

Ducky pulls up in front of his house, using the garage door opener to bring the car directly into the garage. He'd always thought his family was a little paranoid about security precautions before, but
he's thankful for them now. He unlocks the kitchen door and props it open with a doorstop before opening the trunk.

(It's not like I can just carry Gibbs inside like a bagful of groceries.) He grunts under Gibbs' dead weight and he pulls him from the trunk.

(How can somebody who is fifteen pounds under his ideal weight be so damn heavy?)

Ducky drops Gibbs onto the kitchen table, and holding his back as he straightens up, heads for the bathroom for his black bag. Returning a couple minutes later, he cuts the blood-stained shirt off Gibbs and reaches for a scalpel.

Removing the bullet takes about ten minutes. Dressing him in a clean pair of pajamas and settling him in the bed they share when Gibbs spends the night, and which seems to cold and empty despite the number of blankets and pillows he piles on the bed when he sleeps alone takes another fifteen minutes.

Ducky reaches for the phone, frowning when he gets Anthony's answering machine.

"Anthony, it's Ducky. Pick up the phone."

(I told him to go straight home. Something's wrong.)

"I'll be right back." Ducky murmurs into Gibbs hair. Leaving a note on the nightstand for Gibbs to stay put if Ducky wasn't back before he got back, Ducky gets back into the car and heads for Tony's apartment building.

Donald hears the water running in the bathroom as he picks the lock on Tony's apartment. Gibbs would have a fit if he knew that Ducky could pick locks like that, but he's currently lying on the bed in Ducky's spare room.

"Tony, it's Ducky. Are you okay?" he asks as he heads for the bathroom. He hurries into the bathroom when he realizes the sound from the bathroom is not just water running. Ducky pulls the shower curtain back, finding Tony huddled in a fetal position crying as the cold water beats down on his back.

"Ohhhhhh Tony," Ducky turns the water off, throws a towel over Tony, and pulls him out of the bathtub. "Come on, let's get you warmed up." He says, leading the sobbing young man to the couch where he covers him with two blankets from the hall closet.

"Tony, open your eyes." Tony hears from far away as he lies shaking under the blankets. Ducky rubs the sopping hair with a towel, and smiles as Tony finally looks up at him.

"Drink this, slowly." He orders as he holds a glass of wine to Tony's lips. Tony makes a face at the taste, but sees the look in Ducky's eyes and finishes the small glass. Ducky lowers Tony's head back into the pillow and holds his wrist as his eyes close and he falls asleep, snoring slightly.

"What the hell was I thinking leaving you alone like that? I'm lucky you weren't in an accident on the way home." Ducky shakes his head in disgust at his own stupidity, and leaving a note for Tony to call him when he wakes up, leaves the apartment.

Once back at his house, he walks into the bedroom, finding Gibbs in bed where he'd left him. Pulling the blanket down, Ducky looks at the small pucker scar on Gibbs chest that is the only sign of the bullet wound that killed him. Ducky then looks at the through and through bullet wound in Gibbs shoulder, left by the first bullet that had hit him. Ducky smiles at the sight of smooth skin, instead of the torn flesh he had seen when he'd first put Gibbs to bed.

"Now you just have to wake up and everything will be okay. Everything's going to have to be okay, I don't think I could handle losing you twice."

* 

Two hours later, the buzz of an approaching Immortal causes all three Immortals to look at the door. The door opens and two men cautiously enter the bar. They visibly relax when they recognize the figure leaning against the bar, a glass of beer in his hand.

"Illya, Napoleon," Adam says, getting up and grabbing the bag he'd run to his apartment to pack.

"Hello Father, glad to see you again. I only wish it were under better circumstances." The man once known as Illya Kuryakin, now going under the name of James Thurgood MacDonald, pulls the older man into a hug.

"Don't get mushy, Illyusha." Methos growls in mock annoyance as Napoleon Solo, now going by the name of Dean Maxwell James grins in amusement. Methos hasn't changed a bit since they last saw the older man a couple decades ago.

"Care to introduce us to your friends?" Napoleon says, sitting on a barstool so he has a clear view of the doorway. He trusts Illya to keep an eye on the other Immortals in the bar in case something happens. He knows from Methos' letters the older man behind the bar is Joe Dawson, head of North American Operations for the Watchers.

"Where are my manners?" Methos says sarcastically. "May I introduce the Highlanders, Duncan and his cousin Connor MacLeod. Our Bartender is Joe Dawson."

"The airport says it's going to take about an hour before the plane's ready for takeoff. Care to tell us what's going on?" Illya says, ignoring Methos sarcasm with the ease of long practice.

"I got a call from Tony two hours ago," Methos says, looking up at the clock behind the bar, "saying that Ducky had been ambushed earlier today."

"Ducky?"

"Your son is currently going by the name of Donald Mallard, according to Tony everybody calls him Ducky." Methos says sourly.

Illya drops his head against the bar, lightly pounding it against the wood as Napoleon laughs. "Definitely your son, Napasha. He didn't get that sense of humor from me." Illya scowls at his smirking lover.

"Nope, he just got his rugged good looks from you." Napoleon says, kissing the frown off his lover's face.

"Tony says that they were ambushed coming out of the NCIS headquarters. Ducky took off after the attackers, but his lover Agent Gibbs was killed almost instantly."

"His lover Agent Gibbs? NCIS headquarters?" Napoleon and Illya ask simultaneously.

"Donald, I am not going to call him Ducky, has been working for the Navy Criminal Investigations Service as a coroner for the last ten years. The NCIS investigates cases involving Marine and Naval personnel."

"Didn't he learn anything from all those years we were in UNCLE?" Napoleon says, getting up to pace the bar. "You don't get involved in working for the government. It's too dangerous. You die at the wrong place and time, and you spend the rest of your life in a lab."

"Who's Agent Gibbs?"

"According to Tony,"

"And who's Tony?"

"Tony is Donald's Watcher. He's a former Baltimore cop now working for the NCIS. He's also your younger brother, I took him in as a foster child nearly twenty years ago. Agent Gibbs is a former Marine, they've been together about ten years. I met him a couple years ago, he seems to be a nice man, but very driven. Tony said he'd had a heart attack a couple years ago and Donald has been keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't work himself into exhaustion again."

"Sounds like Donald finally found himself somebody. About damn time."

"Tony says Donald took the body with him. I'm thinking either Donald couldn't leave the body there because he would have to admit he was the intended target or. . ."

"He took the body because Agent Gibbs, he does have a first name doesn't he, is a newbie Immortal."

"I'm hoping it's the second option. Agent Gibbs, his name is Leroy Jethro by the way, is very protective of your son."

END PART 5