[Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the latest episode of "NCIS"]
Insurgents attack doctors on a mercy mission in Togu, South Sudan, and since two of the five medical staff on the mission are U.S. Navy, NCIS is called in to track them down.
The call comes from Stan Burley, who tells Gibbs he got a mayday from a Navy doctor friend, who did volunteer work with International Doctors Group (IDG), a Doctors Without Borders-type group.
Bishop and DiNozzo head to IDG offices in D.C. to see the founder, Dr. Woods. While waiting, DiNozzo wonders, "What kind of doctor would sign up to get dropped into a war zone -- a crazy one?"
But he eats his words, when his ex, Jeanne Benoit, now Jeanne Woods, comes down the stairs. She leaves DiNozzo speechless for minute, which is hard to do.
They compare notes on the tragedy with Jeanne telling DiNozzo and Bishop about the mission, and Bishop filling Jeanne in on the fact that they found three bodies – Liz and two unidentified.
Back at NCIS, McGee fills Bishop in on DiNozzo's past relationship with Jeanne and how it came to a super bad end when Jeanne found out the truth that DiNozzo was with her as part of an undercover assignment. McGee says DiNozzo has hated himself ever since.
Jeanne comes to the morgue in hopes of identifying the burned bodies. One has braces, and she knows that is Felix. The other is an amputee, also not her husband. That means that Ensign Joni Ryan and David Woods could still be alive.
Cyril Taft comes to see if Joni is in the morgue. He tells Gibbs she is a good friend from when they served together on the USS Daniel Webster. In fact, she assisted with Gibbs' surgery.
Gibbs and McGee are going to catch a military flight to Sudan when Gibbs collapses and Cyril calls an ambulance. At the hospital, Cyril tells Gibbs that his team thinks he has been too quiet so he insists that Gibbs stay in the hospital for a battery of tests.
Abby and Bishop come to the hospital to tell Gibbs that DiNozzo, McGee and Jeanne are on the cargo plane to Sudan.
On the flight, Tony admits to McGee that it bothered him that he lied to Jeanne. He admits having been in love with her. It was a long time ago. Now her husband is missing and there is nothing to talk about. But he talks to Jeanne, who brings Tony up to date on her life.
Back at the morgue, Ducky discovers all three bodies had puncture wounds on their feet. That could be a tribal ritual, so Jimmy Palmer, Abby and Bishop try to track down a tribe with that practice.
Gibbs is out of the hospital and home. Cyril visits to tell him all his tests are normal, so the collapse could be stress related. People who have been shot and nearly died don't get to go on as if nothing happened. He tries to convince Gibbs to get therapy. Gibbs answers, "The only therapy I need is my job."
When Burley, DiNozzo, McGee and Jeanne arrive at the scene of the ambush, they find a girl hiding in the closet who tells them what happened, but not who did it.
They find a machete etched with a symbol, which they send to Abby to decode.
Just when Abby and Bishop figure out which tribe it is, Gibbs has another attack. He goes to see Cyril, who tells him he had to talk to a therapist for a year after he lost his son before he could go back to work. Gibbs agrees to talk, but not to a shrink. Only to Cyril.
DiNozzo and Jeanne have a heart-to-heart. She says, "After I found out the truth about my father and you, I needed something to make me feel good. I found that in work and David." DiNozzo tells her, "There is nothing I can say to make you forgive me. I won't rest until we find David."
Back at NCIS, they figure out that David and Joni were kidnapped to give medical treatment to General Ajak Gadet. So, the NCIS team in Sudan heads out to search for the missing medical staff. They find evidence that they are still alive but don't go where to go next. Gibbs sends them to Pehtok, where they find David and Joni, but there are too many of the general's soldiers and they need a diversion to sneak them out.
So Burley blows up the trucks and DiNozzo gets David and Joni. As they head to the Humvee to escape, they are attacked. Just then, a helicopter that Gibbs called in arrives as backup – and they make a clean getaway.
On the plane home, McGee tells DiNozzo, it has to be weird to see Jeanne with David. DiNozzo admits it is totally surreal, but the truth is he is happy for her.
Jeanne thanks Tony, and says she owes him. He tells her she doesn't. They are good.
The episode closes with Cyril coming to tell Gibbs that he discovered that Gibbs has a tiny patch of scar tissue that may be causing him discomfort. The smallest sneeze might feel like a heart attack, but in time, the scar tissue will fade.
As a result of the new diagnosis, Gibbs decides he doesn't need to talk to anyone. But Cyril tells him, "At the end of the day when your head hits the pillow, it is just you. Everybody is afraid of something -- even the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs."
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