A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back with a rather short story. This one happens during season 12, but as far as I can tell at this point, this doesn't contain any spoilers! (Not that it matters, because you've either stopped watching the show, or have watched the whole thing; either way, you know what's happening on the show!)

Anyway, the T rating is solely for the swear words that might leave the characters' mouths; no violence, or, at least, nothing more than what you see on the show!

And there might be OOC moments ahead, but that, too, depends on how you see everyone and the show! And it, definitely, was needed for the sake of the story!

That's it! Hope you enjoy this story and let me know what you think.

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. Guilt or Grief .

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"Agent DiNozzo?"

Someone was calling him.

"Please."

Hmm, why was she begging him to answer? And, why was he so tired? And who was she anyway? And why was she sounding so panicky?

"Somebody, HELP!"

Whoever this person was, she needed to yell way louder than that if she expected to be heard over the sound of water.

Wait, water?

Why was every sound so muffled and what was that noise that sounded a lot like water pouring down and where the hell was he, anyway, and just what the hell was going on?

That was when memories flashed through his mind as he remembered a few things that probably would explain his killing headache and the current situation in general; they were driving back from Richmond to DC. Gibbs was driving and he occupied the passenger seat, while Bishop took her usual place in the backseat. There was someone else with them... Someone... A woman... Yes, there was a woman with them. A witness.

'Holy shit', they were driving a witness back to the Navy Yard and that was when the accident had happened. Well, it couldn't be called an accident since Tony was sure they were being shot at and thanks to Gibbs' less than safe driving, controlling the car had become impossible and apparently they'd somehow ended up in the water.

Again; water? Huh, that explained the sounds he'd been hearing and apparently he'd hit his head or something during their monumental fall, hence the killing headache.

If he could grin, Tony would've done so right then as he felt triumphant about solving his mystery.

'But wait, damn. Water. They were stuck in the water.'

His eyes flew open and he jerked forward as the realization finally hit him- and it hit him really hard!

The pain that followed the jerking awake almost sent him back to unconsciousness, but being the stubborn, pigheaded man he was, Tony clung to consciousness and concentrated on his breathing instead of the pain until he felt a bit more coherent.

Blinking slowly, he tried to bring everything into focus and that's when he started to panic a little bit, at least on the inside.

The left side of the SUV was already filled with water, which meant Gibbs was almost under the water and since the older man was unconscious, soon, Tony was going have to relive the day that he'd hoped he'd never go through again; the one with Maddie Tyler and a dead, drowned, Gibbs and him having to revive the man by performing CPR on him; he just didn't want to think about losing Gibbs again.

The only problem was that this time, he was stuck in the car, as well. Well, when it rains, it pours.

Turning around in his seat, he found Ellie in the backseat, also unconscious, but at least she seemed to have a few minutes before going completely under the water.

And then there was Grace; the young woman who they were escorting back to the Navy Yard.

"Agent DiNozzo?" She sounded breathless. "Oh Thank God. I thought you were all dead."

"Hey." Tony croaked and he was surprised to find his voice so weak. Pushing his problems down for the moment, he concentrated on the woman in the backseat. Seemed like for the moment, she was safe from the water, but Tony knew it'd only take minutes for her side of car to be filled with water, too and since he was the only agent awake between them all, it was his duty to save them. And if he was going to get them all out of that wet hell, he had to act fast, because the moment he found a way out, the car would immediately be filled with water and then they were even more screwed, and then there was the fact that whoever had shot at them, could be still out there.

Damn. Damn and double damn. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Grabbing his seat belt, he freed himself and pretended he didn't notice the blood on his shirt.

Taking a good look around and assessing the situation, he first pulled Gibbs towards himself to make sure the older man wouldn't drown just yet. His attempt to wake him or Ellie was unsuccessful, so he decided to take the next step. He had to take them out and he had to start with the witness, because as much as it pained him to leave his friends in the car, he couldn't let the civilian take the brunt of the situation and especially not when she was their responsibility.

Biting his lip to control the pain and dizziness, he turned around and started to get to Grace.

"Grace. I'm gonna get you outta here. OK? You alright?"

"I'm... I'm not hurt too bad, but... But I don't think you can get me out by yourself." The young woman answered honestly.

"What do you mean?" Tony looked at her worriedly and that's when he saw what the problem was. She was probably stuck there between the front seat and the door and a piece of metal had disappeared under her shirt, where it was wet with blood. "Shit."

"Yeah." She chuckled. "But, like I said, it's not too bad, at least not now; why don't you get your friends out and then call for help for me?"

Tony looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "Grace, the moment I open a way out of here, the car will be filled with water. I can't leave you here."

"Oh." She clearly hadn't thought of that.

"Yeah, Oh." Tony smiled, but on the inside he was cursing himself, his luck and his situation. Why couldn't it be Gibbs that was the conscious one, being forced to make the difficult decision?

How could he make a decision like this? Why did it always have to be him making life and death decisions when his friends were involved? I mean what were the chances of it happening over and over and over again? He didn't want to be logical and think that with a job like his, the chances were usually high.

'Suck it up, Anthony. Act now. Panic later.' He muttered under his breath and took a deep breath which was a mistake because pain almost made him scream.

"Are they alive?" Grace's voice brought him back. "I mean I know Agent Bishop is, she's breathing, but I couldn't wake her up and Agent Gibbs and neither could you, so... I don't know."

"They're alive... But they won't stay that way for long." He added the last part quietly, but Grace heard it anyway.

"Then do something. You can't save me, but it's not too late for them."

Tony closed his eyes briefly.

"I'll save you."

"Agent Di-"

"Tony."

"What?"

"With what we're dealing with, I think Agent DiNozzo is a bit too formal."

"Right." She chuckled. "OK, thanks. Well, Tony, I'm alive for now and believe me I don't wanna die, so I'll hang on, but would you please do something? If you try to save me first-"

"Everyone would die." Tony ended her sentence.

"Including me, probably. Not to mention you seemed to be seriously injured yourself."

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, sure." She actually rolled her eyes. "Med student, here. Remember?"

Tony sighed and glanced at Gibbs and saw that the older man was once again going under the water. OK, enough was enough. With Grace being stuck, the decision was kinda made for him; he knew he'd never be able to forgive himself if Grace didn't survive that accident and he knew Gibbs wouldn't forgive him either, but he couldn't let everyone else die because of that. It was a case of choosing the lesser of two evils.

He first freed Gibbs and then did the same with Ellie; next he looked at the doors and realized he wouldn't be able to open any of them; so once again he went for the windshield.

"Be ready to hold your breath." He instructed Grace before he started to kick the glass and when he got rid of it, thing started to happen quickly as water filled the car freely.

He grabbed both Gibbs and Ellie and pushed himself towards the light that was coming from the upside.

To him it seemed like hours before he was finally above the water and as he looked around, he saw that they'd gone over the railing of a bridge, so he swam towards the bank of the river and pushed both Gibbs and Ellie to the dry land, opened their airways and checked for their pulses. They both were still unconscious, but at least they weren't dead.

"Hey, you guys OK?" The voice he heard from above the bridge was one of the most heavenly things he'd ever heard. He knew they were safe from those who wanted them dead when he looked upwards and found a crowed looking down at them worriedly.

"Call 911."

"Already did. They're on their way."

"I'm a Federal Agent. And so are these two." Tony mentioned to his unconscious colleagues. "They're breathing, but I gotta go back. I still have got another person in the car. She's stuck. Send the rescue team down there the moment they arrive, will you?" He shouted the words and it was taking more energy that he thought was possible, but when the woman who'd been talking to him nodded, he knew that he'd at least made himself clear.

"I'll be right down there. We'll take care of your friends." She shouted back.

"Thanks."

Tony didn't waste any more time; he took a deep breath and went down again, hoping against hope that Grace wasn't dead.

When he found her, she was still not breathing the dirty water, but she seemed to be running out of oxygen, so Tony grabbed her face and looked her in the eyes.

She seemed a little surprise, but soon she understood what Tony was trying to do and when Tony covered her mouth with his own and sent his reserve of clean air into her mouth and lungs, she didn't let any of that precious air get wasted.

Tony was feeling lightheaded, but he needed to keep Grace alive, so he made another eye contact with her before going back up once again.

Soon he was back and repeated the same procedure and it became his routine for the next few minutes; he had no idea how many times he'd done that, but by the time he found two members of the rescue team beside him in the water, he was acting on autopilot. The blood loss, the pain, the lack of oxygen, the cold water and the stress of the situation had pretty much shut his brain off. So when he saw the oxygen mask over Grace's face, he knew there wasn't anything else he could do for her and just hoped that she'd survive this; he'd done his job to the best of his ability and seemed like he was done, so he just closed his eyes and let go.

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TBC...

A/N: I'd love to hear your thoughts.

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All mistakes are mine.

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