Being Part of the NCIS Family

Fourteen

Liv POV

As I was talking to Andrew, the windows in the lab shattered and a shower of bullets exploded above our heads.

"HIT THE DIRT!" I screamed. I should've yelled for everyone to hit the ground, but since my brothers were all former military, they understood. Aaron and Josh tackled Abby to the floor and Andrew and I leapt at each other and fell. As we fell, Andrew's head hit the corner of Abby's desk. Hard. "ANDREW!" I yelled when we hit the ground. He was unconscious. I checked his pulse, which seemed a slight bit slow but otherwise fine. I dragged Andrew to Abby, Aaron, and Josh in ballistics and away from the main part of the lab, where bullets were still raining in.

"HOLD ON!" Abby yelled over the rapid bangbangbang of the gunshots. She crawled over to her desk and grabbed a first aid kit. She tossed it to me before crawling back quickly. I opened the kit and pulled out gauze, medical tape, and scissors, and got to work.

I cut a length of gauze and folded it into a square, which I had Josh hold on the wound. Then I wrapped the gauze around Andrew's head a few times and taped it. By then, the rain of bullets had finally stopped.

"ABBY! LIV! BOYS!" we heard Gibbs' voice yell, followed by the sound of his footsteps and a couple other sets pounding into the lab.

"BALLISTICS!" I yelled back as Gibbs burst into the room with McGee, DiNozzo, and Ziva on his heels. "Andrew hit his head-" I was cut off by a groan from Andrew. "-on the way to the ground, but otherwise we're all fine." I said.

"The hell you are. Clearly you haven't seen your face." Tim said before Gibbs could get a word in. I had noticed my face stinging a little, but I figured that maybe I'd gotten a small cut or two. I was not prepared for what I saw when I turned on my phone's camera.

"Oh my God." I said. My face was a bloody mess of cuts and scratches and one long gash going from my temple to my jawline. I wondered how that had happened, but it didn't really matter. That was going to leave a scar.

"Come here." Abby said, getting up and tugging my arm. I hoisted myself up and she led me to her desk chair. Gibbs followed with the first aid kit. When I had sat down, he started to clean up my bloody face, which stung like hell. When he was done, he put a couple band-aids on and then called Ducky.

"Hey, Duck." Gibbs said. "Liv and her brother are going to need stitches."

Ducky arrived soon after that, looking a little panicked. Gibbs had obviously told him to stay put, and he looked a little put off that he'd had to wait.

"My goodness, dear." was all Ducky had to say when he saw me.

"Oh wow." said another voice.

"If it isn't the autopsy gremlin." I said, smiling.

"Ducky didn't want to have to make anyone wait." I nodded.

"You do me. I want Ducky on Andrew." I said. "I'm better at holding still, and Ducky's better with squirmy people. Andrew hates needles, although he's not as afraid of them as he used to be." I said.

"Livvie." Andrew groaned in protestation. I smiled again.

"OW!" I yelled as Palmer started to stitch me up. "Warning?"

"Sorry, sorry." Palmer said, then finished stitching me up quickly. When he was done, I went over to Andrew, who was still on the floor with Ducky leaning over him, still stitching up his head. I laid down next to Andrew and grabbed his hand.

"You doing alright?" I asked Andrew.

"Fine." he replied through gritted teeth. I squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.

"Done." Ducky said, tying off the last stitch. He and I helped Andrew sit up slowly and scoot against a wall.

"Is everyone sure they're okay?" Gibbs asked, hoisting Abby up as Josh and Aaron pushed themselves up. Josh and Aaron looked themselves over and deemed themselves fine, but Gibbs hoisted me up. "Check them over." he told me. I did, and confirmed that they were fine. Then I helped Andrew to his feet and checked him over as Gibbs looked Abby over. Then Ducky and Jimmy came down the line and deemed us all okay.

"LIV! JOSH, AARON, ANDREW!" a panicked voice screamed followed by two sets of thundering footsteps.

"Monty!" I said as he and Derek stopped short in front of me and Andrew.

"Oh, God. Oh mo Dhia , ó mo Dhia ." Oh my God, oh my God. Derek said.

"I'm fine." I told him. "Andrew's mostly fine." I said. "We're fine. Táimid sábháilte. Calma tú féin síos , tá muid slán ." We are safe . Calm yourself down , we are safe . I told Derek and Monty. "Did you pick up our love interest?" I asked.

"Yeah." Monty said breathlessly. "She's in the conference room."

"Good job." I said. "I'll take care of her in a second." Gibbs shook his head.

"I will take care of our love interest. You are going to go to your place with Andrew and not come back until tomorrow." Gibbs told me. "McGee, take them in your car so she can't leave her place." Gibbs said. McGee nodded while I shook my head at Gibbs, who just smirked at me as we passed, although we didn't get out without giant Abby hugs, which were much appreciated. "McGee!" Gibbs called after us, jogging up. "Change of plans. You and I will stay with them. There was just an attempt on her" he said, gesturing to me, "life. We'll be protection detail until they go back to work." I rolled my eyes.

"Really?" I asked, exasperated.

"Yes, really." Gibbs said. "I don't want you to die til after me, we clear?" I grinned.

"Yeah." I said. "I'll never die before you. I'll die with you or after you. But you have to go first if I'm not with you, okay?" I asked and stuck my hand out. Gibbs shook it. We were waiting for the elevator now.

Ding! The elevator went off and we stepped on. As the doors closed, I realized my hands were shaking. I tried to make them stop, but Gibbs noticed before I could stuff my hands into my sweatshirt pocket. He flipped the switch, and the elevator stopped. He pulled my hands to him and held them against his chest to stop the shaking. I could feel tears in the corners of my eyes.

"When will this stop, Gibbs?" I asked, a tear rolling down my cheek. "Other people are getting hurt because someone wants me dead." I could feel myself almost crying and I fought for control. "Gibbs, Ziva almost died because someone wanted me dead. At least with the sniper, nobody else was hurt."

"Except we were all hurt when the sniper shot you." Gibbs said. I looked up at him through tears, my chest heaving with the effort of keeping my tears inside. I felt a hand on the small of my back.

"Almost losing you almost killed us." McGee said. Gibbs pulled me to his chest, wrapping his strong arms around me.

"Stay a while, why don't you?" Andrew said. "We can't lose you just yet." I could hear him choking up and then felt his arms wrap around me, followed by McGee's.

"Andrew's right." Gibbs said. "Stick around." That's when I couldn't hold it back anymore, and I began to sob. I went limp, and Gibbs, McGee, and Andrew lowered me to the ground, Andrew and Gibbs to my right and left, and McGee next to Gibbs. McGee had his hand on my knee, and Gibbs had his arm around me. Andrew was leaning into me protectively.

We sat like that for a while, and that's when I realized something. I had been wrong about just having double the family. I had double the reasons to live, too.