Sequel to "Let Her Cry"
Let her cry, if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing, if it eases all her pain
Let her go, let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be, let her be
"Let Her Cry "
by Hootie and the Blowfish
As the team carried on with their slow progress of going through the cold cases on their desks, no one noticed beyond the flicker of an eye when Gibbs' phone had rung. They'd carried on as normal when he'd answered it and didn't pay any noticible attention when the Team Leader announced to whoever he was talking to, that that he'd be right there or when he'd gotten up and left, leaving them to carry on with what they were doing. On the other hand, they had all noticed when their peaceful quiet working mode, was interrupted by the shrill ringing of Tim's cell phone. Tim wasted no time in answering it.
"Agent McGee."
"Out front, by the memorial bench. Now."
"Be right there." Tim answered to the already dead air in his ear. Vaguely, his brain struggled to piece together what seemed to be going on. First Gibbs got a call summoning him somewhere. The boss had asked if 'she' had a name. Then he'd left, presumably to go talk to this 'she' and now Tim was being summoned by the boss. From the edges of the outstretch of logic within his thinking ability, only one name came to mind that fit with what seemed to be going on. Breathing out a sigh of frustration, Tim moved toward the elevator with only the briefest of explanations offered to the senior most member of the present team member. "Been summoned by the boss."
Lengthening his stride, Tim turned and hurried for the stairs, knowing he'd already wasted precious moments stopping to think this through before he'd moved and would probably be getting glared at if he were any later than the fastest time he could get there in. Not even bothering with signing out through Security, Tim loped through the parking garage and slowed his stride only when the bench came into view. Surprisingly enough, Gibbs was nowhere around. In fact, the only person there was, just he'd feared, Sarah.
Again, Tim felt the need to breathe out a sigh of frustration. He hadn't talked to her in two weeks. Two weeks ago, she'd almost cost him his job. It had been a sacrifice he'd been willing to make, only after she'd put him in the position to have to make it in the first place. Tim hadn't found a way to work through that sense of being disrespected by his own sister yet. It was bad enough he was disrespected daily by Tony and even the others on occasion, but to have his own sister do that to him and on some levels, worse than Tony usually did; was just more than he was able to process just yet. It was all he could do to keep his head on straight right now with everything this job threw at him and with the team still being pissed at him over his book and not bothering to hide it. Every day was a struggle in itself without trying to add another problem that needed to be solved, to the mix.
What was she doing here? Why had she asked to talk to Gibbs? And why would she do it behind his back like this? Better yet, why would Gibbs tell him to come talk to her, as this apparently had been what he'd wanted when ordering Tim to come out here?
Looking around once more, he still saw no sign of the boss and although he wasn't surprised by that; though he was certainly relieved about it. The last thing he wanted to do was have to discuss this with the man who barely tolerated him as it was. Biting the bullet, Tim walked up to the bench and silently sat down beside his pensive sister.
"Hi." She greeted him softly, letting her eyes search his face to see what he was thinking.
Without looking at her, he asked the first question he wanted the answer to. "Why?"
"Why what, Tim?"
"Why are you here talking to Gibbs, Sarah? What could you possibly have to talk to my boss about and behind my back like this, at that?" Tim's anger escaped his control and filled his voice.
"I had to talk to him, Tim. He's the only one who understands." Her voice shrunk in the face of his anger.
"Understands what?" His voice dropped back to that of concerned big brother.
"What it's like to live with pieces of your life ripped out because you can't remember everything that happened." She replied, tears filling her eyes and choking her voice.
"Oh, Honey." He whispered as he turned and opened up his arms to her.
"Oh, Tim! I'm so sorry I hurt you and I…" she cried as she threw herself into her big brother's arms.
"Sssh. It's done. It's over. Sssh." He soothed as he enveloped her within his arms and rubbed circles on her back to calm her amidst the storm.
Sarah quieted after a minute of allowing herself to cry, but she remained within the safety of her big brother's arms.
"Okay now?" Tim asked quietly in her ear.
"Yeah. Thanks to you. And Agent Gibbs."
"That the only thing bothering you, Sarah?"
"No."
Tim huffed out a breath of resignation. "You're gonna make me pull this outta you just like always, aren't ya?"
Sarah sat up out of his arms and looked at him in complete seriousness. "No. But, Tim, you have to admit you've been avoiding me ever since…."
"Sarah. I was dealing with a lot; still am. I don't have the strength or the energy or …. the strength to deal with what happened."
"What happened?"
"C'mon Sarah, don't act like you don't understand what I'm trying to say."
"You mean what happened when I bullied you into not going to your boss when you should have."
"You disrespected me, Sarah. I'm a sworn federal agent and you put me in a horrible position."
"You could have…"
"DON'T!" Tim barked at her. Getting to his feet, he turned and glared at her. "Why did you apologise if you're just gonna turn it back on me anyway? THIS is what I don't have time for, Sarah! Or are you still trying to get me fired?"
Huffing out an angry breath, he walked away, back toward the parking garage, away from his sister before he said something he wouldn't be able to take back; or she did.
"McGee."
Tim froze in his steps, looking around for the boss, only to find him step out from behind the first car in the garage.
"Boss." He replied in shock as he tried to catch his breath back.
"She's hurtin'."
Tim looked down, suddenly ashamed of his knee-jerk reaction back there.
"Look at me."
Doing as he was told, Tim looked at his boss.
"Your job has nothing do to with this."
"Boss, it has everything to do with this!" Tim disagreed with all seriousness.
"She wasn't exactly thinkin' straight at the time, McGee."
"I know, Boss."
"Think this is the first time I've seen you hold a grudge."
"Boss, I had to cover for her… I lied to you…for her!"
"That why you're still so angry at her?"
"Yes."
"McGee, you're her big brother. Go back to acting like it." Gibbs quietly instructed as he turned and walked toward the elevator, leaving Tim standing there. "See you tomorrow."
Blinking in surprise, Tim walked back to the bench where his little sister was still sitting and once again looking lost, her shoulders slumped and her head down. The boss' words rang in his ears, their deeper meaning coming to mind. Big brother. Family. Families forgive time and time again. Big brother. Protect. Protect and forgive.
"Hey."
Sarah sat up straight, sorrow filled eyes hesitantly rose up to his own. "I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Now, tell me what you need from me." Tim said softly as he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her to him.
Tim sits at his typewriter tapping away at his 'free writing', the only writing he ever allows himself the luxury of during these moments when he's not focused, when his mind takes him back to the conversation he had with Sarah just a few hours ago:
**Flashback**
"I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Now, tell me what you need from me."
"I need my big brother back. Just like he was before; always there for me, no matter what."
"I can do that. I'm sorry I fell down on the job, Sarah."
"It's okay. You're allowed. Just next time, Tim? Let me in, okay? Talk to me; tell me straight, alright? I'm a big girl, I can take it." She smirked at him.
"Yeah, you are." Tim admitted reluctantly. "So, what do you wanna do with the rest of the day?"
"Are you serious? You have the rest of the day off?"
"Yup. Gibbs apparently things fixing things with your family is more important than working cold cases; or at least in this case, he's making an exception. I think you made an impression on him."
"Wow. I really do like that man!"
"C'mon, let's get outta here before I never hear the end of this from Tony."
"Tim?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's go to your place. I wanna cook for you."
"Okay."
**End Flashback**
The sound of Sarah humming and softly singing breaks into Tim's memory. He sits back and listens to her before standing after a minute and walking into the bedroom to see her standing at the window watching the rain as she sings the same set of lines over and over again with soft humming in between the sets.
Let her cry, if the tears fall down like rain
Let her sing, if it eases all her pain
Let her go, let her walk right out on me
And if the sun comes up tomorrow
Let her be, let her be
She's in full flow and he has the urge to go and stand beside her, but her beautiful voice and the return of happiness to her face stops him and he stands there, just letting her sing.
~~FINIS~~