Title: With a Roar
Characters: Tim and the team
Genre: Um..Drama?
Rating: T
Challenge: The (Un)natural Disaster Challenge
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
With a Roar
The bright headlights of the rental sedan cut across the road, deserted for miles in all directions of the NCIS major crimes response team. Tim McGee blinked himself awake in an attempt to keep his vision sharp. Both sides of the road were bracketed by fields, baby stalks of corn just breaking through the dirt.
Motion in his periphery drew Tim's eye and he tensed slightly as a buck and doe darted towards the road. He opened his mouth to call a warning, but his boss had already seen them. Gibbs slowed the car with a smirk at his youngest agents expense. The deer sprinted across the black top and the sedan continued on.
They had landed at Lambert-St. Louis airport earlier that afternoon. A young Ensign at Norfolk had violently beaten his CO to death at 0700 that morning. The entirety of the attack had been captured by the office security cameras and Tony had jovially claimed that this would be their quickest closed case in months. That all they had to do was pick up Ensign McCay and he would actually make it home to his date for once.
He was wrong of course.
Ensign McCay had hopped on the first flight available at Dulles airport to fly him to St. Louis. McCay had been born and raised in Wayne county, Illinois, his parents still lived there. He was running home. The MCRT had quickly booked the next flight. Tim had called ahead, demanding that airport security hold Ensign McCay until NCIS arrived to take him into custody. But when their flight landed they were met by apologies and pointed fingers. With a curse Gibbs had dragged the two unfortunate guards responsible into a conference room to get what information he could while Tony and Ziva left to procure a rental car. Tim was left sitting outside the conference room alone, guarding the field kits as he plotted the quickest route to McCay's childhood home on his laptop.
Tim yawned and glanced over his shoulder as a loud snore erupted from the backseat. Both of his teammates were out cold. The sight of the two sprawled across each other brought a smile to his face. Ziva's legs were curled up against the door, her back resting across Tony's lap. Her cheek rested against his seatbelt buckle, he didn't doubt there would be an impression left when she woke up.
The senior field agent was twisted in his seat, cheek resting on the window. The glass misted slightly with each soft exhualtion of breath. His long legs stretched over the hump of the middle seat, feet mingling with Ziva's on her side of the car. If she had been awake Tim was sure she would have kicked them back into his own side of the car. But she wasn't awake, thankfully, or Tim would never have been able to take an adorable photo of the two sprawled all over each other, courtesy of his iPhone. He had already sent the picture to Abby and had no doubt that it would have circulated all the way to the San Diego office by the time they returned.
Thunder rumbled in the distance as he turned back to face the road. Leaves and branches in the trees that occasionally ran alongside the road were beginning to whip as the wind began to pick up. Tim's brow furrowed as he tried to recall the weather forecast he had watched that morning. He had only paid attention to the local weather, not anticipating that they would be spending the night in the Midwest instead. He knew that they were calling for strong storms in DC tomorrow afternoon though. It would make sense that the Midwest would suffer through those storms tonight.
Another rumble of thunder startled him from his thoughts. That one was much closer! He glanced out the window, trying to get a good look at the sky before he heard Gibbs's quiet chuckles. He glanced into the backseat for a third time. It was only Ziva. Gibbs was smirking when he righted himself and Tim wouldn't help but grin. He was about to comment when a sound froze the words before they left his throat. His eyes dropped to the radio, volume turned down low as to not wake their sleeping colleges. Gibbs's fingers were already on the dial, raising the volume. The alarms were loud and long, an intentional irritant to catch the listeners attention.
"The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning until 12:00 AM for the following counties in Illinois,"
Tim felt the blood drain from his face, his ears began to ring with memory of winds howling like a freight train. Even as the voice on the radio began listing counties in the path of the storm alphabetically he was digging his phone from his pockets. He fought to keep his hand from shaking as he tapped the touch screen, unlocking the phone and quickly pulling up the maps application.
"If you are in the direct path of these storms we request that you take shelter immediately."
Gibbs was looking at him, all smirks and humor erased from his face. Tim didn't need to vocalize an answer to the unasked question as he raised his eyes from his phone. He only nodded. His bosses foot dug the gas pedal deep into the floorboards.
"Can you pull up a weather radar on that thing? See where we are in the storms path?"
Tim shook his dead. He could, technically, but he could find a much better radar if he used his laptop.
"If I had my laptop I could, but it's back in the trunk."
Gibbs jerked a thumb violently over his shoulder.
"Get it!"
Tim nodded as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Once upon a time the thought of riding with his boss would have him frozen in his seat until the vehicle was securely in park. Never would he have thought he would be able to unbuckle his seatbelt and climb partially into the backseat. Back then he never had thought he would have lasted five years on Gibbs's team. But he had.
Tony and Ziva grumbled sleepily as he shoved them roughly away from the center of the backseat. His fingers dug into a crack in the seat cushions and he pulled it down and away to reveal the small access hatch into the trunk. He growled with impatience to find it securely locked. Turning he shook Ziva's shoulder. Not the safest method of waking the ninja assassin, but he was in a hurry.
"Ziva. Ziva! Wake up, I need you to unlock this for me."
The Israeli woman barely stirred, swatting at his hands instead. Tim sighed and wiggled his body further into the backseat. Gibbs swatted violently at his feet and Tim stilled. It wouldn't be a good thing to accidentally kick the driver while the car was speeding along in the triple digits. Tony groaned, slowly rubbing a hand over his face.
"Damn Probie, if this is your idea of a lap dance you've got a lot to learn."
Tim sighed, shoving Tony's legs away from him and renewing his efforts to wake Ziva.
"Ziva, please, I need you to unlock this for me quickly."
She answered with an irritated sigh.
"I am tired McGee. Would it not be quicker to pull the car over and simply jump the trunk?"
Tony snickered.
"It's pop the trunk Zee-vha. You jump the engine."
McGee resisted the urge to smother his face in the seat cushions.
"Yes Ziva but we're in a hurry. We don't have time."
"Ziver!"
All three agents jumped at the harsh bark from their boss, Tony and Ziva snapping into wakefulness almost immediately.
"Ziva unlock the damn hatch now!"
She twisted in her seat, hands digging the lock picks from her back pocket in one smooth motion. She made quick work of the cheap lock and sat back as the small door fell open. Tim dragged himself further over the seat, eyes straining to see into the darkness of the trunk. Feet swinging in the air, he shoved field kits out of the way as he searched for his laptop case. Tony grabbed a hold of his knees to keep him steady, or possibly to keep him from kicking their boss again, and leaned forward, a concerned expression on his face.
"What's the rush boss? Did Ensign McCay take off again already?"
Gibbs shook his head and turned the volume on the radio up louder.
"We are now receiving several reports from storm watchers all across Southern Illinios. So far we have only two confirmed reports of tornadoes actually touching down, but the storm is producing many wide-spread funnel clouds."
Tim shoved himself back into the passenger seat, dragging his laptop behind him. He wasted no time whipping it out of the case and punching the power button. Tony and Ziva leaned over the seat, both silent for once as they listened to the report on the radio.
"We recommend that everyone in the immediate listening area take shelter immediately. A basement is the safest location in the event of a tornado but if a basement is not available a closet in the interior of your home would be the next safest location. If you are on the road we suggest that you take shelter in a nearby building or ditch. DO NOT take shelter under an overpass or attempt to out run the storm. We at WTHI will keep you updated on all your weather needs-"
"Boss," Tim's voice shook slightly as he eyed the Doppler radar provided by a local news station. "I'm no meteorologist but I'm pretty sure that when this storm reaches up we're going to be smack dab in the middle of it." He fought to keep his voice and breath steady and relaxed slightly when he felt Tony gently squeeze his arm as he leaned over his shoulder to look at the screen. Together they watched the red, yellow and green blobs that indicated the severity of the storm sweeping across the southern half of the tall state. He took a deep, calming breath, unable to believe what he was about to do.
"There is a town a few miles down the road from here." He locked eyes with Gibbs and swallowed. "They should have a Walmart or something where we can take shelter. We can make it there before the storm hits, but." He paused, took another deep breath. "But you're going to have to drive a little faster."
Tony and Ziva's eyes darted to the speedometer, already in the triple digits, and quickly dropped back into their seats. Tim distantly heard the clicking of their seatbelts but his eyes were held captive by their bosses gaze. There was a question there, a slight furrowing of his brow alongside a miniscule frown.
He couldn't hold the piercing stare for long. Tim's eyes dropped back to his laptop, swallowing reflexively and wetting his lips. He hated it when the team discovered any of his irrational fears. Other than human nature he had no real explanation for his fear of heights or his hatred of maggots.
But this fear of storms, tornadoes in particular, was hardly irrational and Gibbs could see that. He had no doubt that once everything was settled and they were safely back in DC that the two of them would hold up the elevator with a lengthy conversation about it. But now there were more important issues at hand. Gibbs's eyes held a promise, but for now he let it go and increased their speed.
-NCIS-
Tim hadn't seen a plain old Walmart in ages. These days everything was updated to 'Super.' But the building behind the telling blue and white sign was a regular old Walmart. They weren't the only vehicle pulling into the medium sized parking lot. Families sped off the road, pulling into the lot and parking in any available space, ignoring that there were no parking spots left.
Gibbs ignored the full lot, pulling up behind a blue pickup truck and throwing the car into park. The agents quickly slipped out of the car, joining the river of people flooding into the building. The sky was dark, with a violent yellow overcast. The wind was beginning to whip violently, sending stray carts rolling across the pavement. Blue shirted employees were directing refugees into the building, pointing everyone into the center of the store.
Tony paused at the door and turned. Shielding his eyes against the wind he stared out towards the south western sky.
"Are you sure you aren't just over reacting a little Probie? The sky really doesn't look that bad."
Several civilians glared furiously as they hurried past, Tony didn't resist the urge to make faces at them as they went by. He turned when he felt a firm grip latch onto his forearm. A strong pull spun his around to drag him inside and he expected to see his boss. Instead Tony was surprised to see Tim, starring over his shoulder wide-eyed with fear. He let himself be pulled along as a wide smile broke across his face.
"Jeezus Probie, calm down! It's just a storm, no big deal right?"
Tim glared but didn't loosen his grip. Turning he hitched his laptop bag higher onto his shoulder and searched the crowd for Gibbs and Ziva. He spotted them in the center of a mob of terrified civilians, badges waving in the air as they fought to keep people calm. Tim and Tony drew their own badges as they neared, nodding with acknowledgement to the thankful glances of a few ruffled employees.
"Scuse me, Excuse me, Federal agents coming through. Make a hole!"
As the people calmed, they parted and the agents were reunited. Gibbs pulled the laptop from Tim's shoulder, pushing him into a sitting position on the floor and dropping the computer onto his lap. He stuck a finger into his youngest agents face, locking their eyes to ensure that his order was heard.
"You pull up the radar, don't move from here until you have a SitRep for me."
Tim nodded, glad to have a task to set his mind too. Settling on the floor he quickly set up his laptop and connected to the internet. It didn't take him long to reopen the new channels radar. He zoomed the screen in closer until the small town they were taking refuge in appeared on the screen. He watched and fought the nerves that twisted in the pit of his stomach as he looked back up towards his boss.
"Boss, it's almost on top of us now. The storm itself if moving at approximately seventy to eighty miles an hour. I'm also monitoring a local storm chasers feed. There is a funnel cloud just south and west of here…" He swallowed and looked back down at his screen. "The storm chasers are pretty sure that it's about to drop."
A loud wail echoed through the building. For a moment there was an eerie silence as everyone took in the sound. Then, almost in unison, all the children in the building began to scream and cry. Tony grimaced and covered his ears as Ziva's hand shot for her Sig.
"Gibbs what is that noise? Is someone using the storm to cover up a robbery?"
Gibbs quickly made her re-holster the weapon, not wanting to incite any more panic. Then he pulled her down onto the floor with the others.
"It's not an alarm Ziva, that's the town's tornado siren. You need to get down! Make yourself as small as you can and cover the back of your head with your hands."
Ziva nodded, slowly dropping to her knees and mimicking the posture of the others around her. Tony glanced at his friends with weary eyes as he did the same. This situation seemed much more serious that he had thought. All the "Twister" quotes that he had thought up died prematurely on his tongue. Tim knelt, covering his head as he fought to breathe regularly. He squeezed his eyes shut and again the roar filled his ears.
The sky had changed almost in an instant, the day had began so perfect. The car barreled down the road, radio blaring warnings against exactly what they were trying. The sky was dark, but not dark enough to hide the beastly whirlwind coming up quickly behind them. Timmy twisted around in his seat, taking his eyes away from the monster, as his mommy began to cry.
Then the roaring in his ears was real. It was off in the distance still, but it was real and approaching quickly. Time felt his hands clench into fists. His breaths came in quick short gasps, he knew he was near to hyperventilating and he tried to calm himself. But as the howling winds drew closer the roar became more distinguishable.
It sounded like a freight train. Timmy locked eyes with his mommy as she pulled the car off to the side of the road. Just like the people on the radio had said, they weren't able to out run the tornado. Together they jumped from the car but Timmy stood, staring at the beast bearing down on them with a terrified awe. His mommies shaking hand grabbed his arm, hard enough that it would bruise later, and yanked him into the ditch. She ignored the mud and the trash as she pushed him down, covering his smaller body with her own. Timmy felt tears leaking from his eyes as his mothers tears wet the back of his neck. Their screams were stolen from their throats as the beast passed them by
The building began to violently shake on its foundations as the howling winds struck. Fluorescent lights, hung up high near the ceiling, shook on their hangings, flickering off and on before going permanently dark. People all around were screaming, but the sound was covered by the howling of the winds, the roar of the freight train and the screech of the metal roofing as it was pried up. In a moment of mild insanity Tony's mind called up the story of the Three Little Pigs, hidden in their homes with the wolf at the door.
"Let me in, Let me in little pig. Or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in!"
Tim fought the urge to scream, but quiet whimpers of fear broke through his resolve. His blood pounded in his ears and he felt his eyes misted. What level was this tornado? Would they survive if the roof was ripped off? That storm so long ago, when he was a child, had only been an F1. Was this storm stronger?
He felt a firm hand cover his own, another shield on the back of his head. Glancing up Tim caught Gibbs's icy blue eyes. The boss was saying something but over the noise he couldn't hear. He focused on his lips to make sense of what was being said.
"Calm down Tim. Everything will be fine."
Despite the screeches of metal, the screams and the howling all around him, Tim nodded. He allowed Gibbs to push his head back down and he closed his eyes. Slowly he took a deep breath. By his sides he could feel Tony and Ziva shifting restlessly. He slowly exhaled and reopened his eyes. To his right Ziva was starring at the ceiling with a sense of awe in her eyes. Tim knew that tornadoes were a rarity in Israel. This was probably Ziva's first experience with one. A deep inhale and he glanced to his left. Probably Tony's first experience as well, judging by his reaction. The senior field agent was curled into a ball, eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted. His lips moved, repeating the same phrase over and over again. 'Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin!'
Gibbs was calm, an anchor keeping his people grounded. His spare hand planted firmly on top of Tony's head but his eyes were watching Ziva. Tim blinked and his breathing returned to normal. Taking slow deep breaths he rested his forehead on the cool tile floor. Already, outside the howling winds were beginning to die down.
-NCIS-
The parking lot resembled a war zone. As federal agents, the closest thing to leadership in the building full of civilians, the MCRT was the first to make the perilous journey outside. The glass surrounding the entrance has shattered, covering the floor with tiny sparkling shards. It just hadn't been able to withstand debris in the form of a car.
The team stepped carefully over the glass, starring with astonishment at the state of the parking lot. Cars and trucks were scattered about like a child's toys. Some were upside down or on their sides, a few were stacked on top of other cars. Few still had all four wheels on the ground. At the edge of the lot the blue and white Walmart sign laid, sparking, on it's side, surrounded by downed power lines. On Gibbs's orders Tony went back inside to inform the civilians that, with so many lines down, it would be safest if they remained inside until the rescue crews arrived.
Tim starred past the parking lot. This town wasn't large, homes surrounded the store on all sides. At least, homes had surrounded the store. Gibbs and Ziva skirted around power lines as they made their way to the nearest home. It was demolished. The roof and two walls had collapsed, the two still standing didn't seem very steady.
Tim trotted back inside and left his laptop at the front desk, requesting that a few employees keep an eye on it. When Tony reemerged from the store the two set off. They carefully avoided the dancing cables and made their way to another damaged house. Tony talked as they walked, but Tim didn't respond and Tony didn't seem to mind. They both had their own ways of handling stressful situations. Although when Tony stopped, staring at his partner with a raised eyebrow, Tim imagined that he should at least listen.
"Sorry, what did you say?"
Tony sighed dramatically, throwing his hands into the air with exasperation.
"You could at least pretend to be listening! Sheesh, I've been conversing with myself for the last three minutes."
Tim flushed.
"I'm sorry Tony. I'm just a little distracted. What was it you said?"
"I said, that someone should call and have another team sent out to pick up Ensign McCay. I don't think that we're going to be going anywhere soon."
Tim nodded, fishing through his pockets for his iPhone. They should have called earlier, if McCay hadn't gotten caught in the storm as well it would be the perfect cover for his disappearance. He grimaced as the phone was unlocked and Tony looked over in concern.
"What's the matter? No service?"
Tim didn't answer, just showed him the screen. Twenty-four missed calls from Abby. Tony winced and wrapped a supportive arm around his younger friends shoulders.
"That is not a task that I envy McWeatherman. Although, I would enjoy listening over the speaker."
Tim starred at his phone with misery until an idea came to mind. He grinned, shrugging off Tony's arm as he hit a button on speed-dial. Tony frowned.
"I know that there are some parts of your relationship that I have no desire to know, but there is no way this call should make you that happy McMasochist."
Tim grinned.
"Oh I've just found someone else to foist responsibility onto."
Tony grinned with realization as the ringing disappeared and a gruff voice answered on the other line.
"Yeah, Gibbs."
-NCIS-
Tim was having a serious case of déjà vu. A loud snore from the backseat announced that Ziva had finally fallen asleep. Tim glanced over his shoulder into the backseat with a smile. Tony's head was thrown back, his mouth hanging wide open. His knees looked scrunched. For now they were both remaining on their own sides of the car, but Ziva was tilting slowly to the right and Tony's knees were twitching.
As he twisted back round in his seat he caught Gibbs watching him. For a moment they sat in silence, then Gibbs spoke.
"So I take it that wasn't your first tornado?"
Tim shook his head, starring at the dash with a faint soft smile.
"No, my grandparents lived here in the Midwest when I was a kid. They had tornado warnings all the time when we would visit."
Gibbs stayed silent watching his agent from the corner of his eye as he encouraged him to continue.
"There was one visit, just a little while after Sarah was born. Dad was deployed out at sea so we came for a visit. One day we left Sarah with Grandma and Grandpa and went out shopping, just Mom and me. We hadn't had much time alone together in awhile." He smiled, remembering how wonderful that day had been. "It was great, a beautiful day. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky. The radio kept saying that there was a storm coming but we didn't believe them."
He sighed and leaned back in his seat, fingers caressing the strap of his laptop bag.
"It came out of nowhere, right behind us. I remember looking through the rear window and thinking that a monster was chasing us. The radio always says that you shouldn't ever try to outrun a tornado, to get off the road and down in a ditch. But Mom thought she could make it, we were just a few miles from the turnoff to Grandma and Grandpa's house when she realized there was no way we could."
Tim took a deep breath. He tried to pretend that his colleges were still snoring in the backseat. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, he didn't know who it belonged too and he didn't look up. If he did, he wasn't sure he would have been able to continue.
"She pulled off to the side and dragged me into a ditch. She laid down on top of me to shelter me. We were both crying and her tears kept falling on my neck." His voice broke and another hand touched his shoulder. "The damn tornado didn't even go over us! It went by a mile to the side. But it was so damn terrifying. We were both screaming, I remember screaming. But I couldn't hear it. All I could hear was the wind howling like a freight train. We were both fine, hell the car was fine. We got back inside and drove home." He looked up into the three sets of eyes watching him and flushed. He looked away with a nervous smile. "Everyone was fine. It was just an FI on the Fujita scale and the tornado didn't hit any towns, just woodland and cornfields. But I was terrified of storms for a long time afterwards."
Tony and Ziva sat back, removing their hands after they both gave him a reassuring squeeze. For a moment there was silence, broken only by the quiet music on the radio. Then Gibbs asked.
"So what was that tornadoes level on the Fujita scale?"
Tim smiled, glad to have a question to answer.
"That tornado was and F3 out of five. The wind speed would have been at about one-hundred and fifty-eight to two-hundred and six miles per hour. They tend to rip roofs and walls off of well constructed houses. Some have been known to overturn trains and uproot trees."
In the backseat Tony whistled with appreciation. Ziva's dark eyes stared at Tim from the backseat.
"If you and your mother had been hiding in a ditch during and F3 tornado you would not have likely survived, would you?"
Tim swallowed and nodded.
The Israeli woman nodded as well, then smiled.
"Then I am very glad that that tornado was not an F3 tornado."
Tim laughed and nodded.
"So am I Ziva, so am I."
-END-
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