A/N: This is the promised sequel to The Deadly ABCs. It literally picks up right where the other left off. Another serial killer has appeared out of the woodwork and this time, he appears to be focused on Tim himself. Tim hasn't really recovered from his problems in the last story and now, his already-battered psyche has to withstand another assault. The others are worried about him but they don't know how worried they really need to be. The other NCIS team (Balboa, Torrance and Jensen) are present as they were in the previous story. This is a serial killer story and it does get a little gruesome at times.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS and I'm not making money off this story.

Don't Be Afraid
by Enthusiastic Fish

Chapter 1

What scares you, Agent McGee?

The words bored into his brain. For Tim, everything else seemed to stop. His mind couldn't break away from a horrifying thought that was beginning to form. The almost normal feeling he'd had was gone. Vanished as if it had never been at all. What was left was a growing horror that there was another serial killer who had now fixated on Tim himself.

Tony had left to tell Vance that it might not be over yet, but Tim couldn't get himself to follow. He just stood there, by his desk, the letter in his hand. He read it again.

Ahrendson was only the first student. Can you find the master? What scares you, Agent McGee?

A is for Acrophobia
The Wordsmith

What was he going to do?

"What scares me?" he asked, softly.

That this is all my fault.

"McGee."

He kept reading and rereading that question.

What scares you?

"McGee. Tim!"

Someone was shaking him. He looked up and saw Jensen looking at him with concern.

"What's going on?"

Tim held out the letter. Jensen took it with a furrowed brow. But that confusion didn't last long. He looked up again.

"Where did this come from?"

Tim just shook his head. For some reason, he couldn't make himself say anything. He just stood there.

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head again. Then, there was someone behind him.

"Where did this come from?" Jensen asked again, but this time, he wasn't looking at Tim.

"The mail," Tony said, grimly. "Where's the envelope, Tim?"

What scares you, Agent McGee?

That sentence hammered in his brain over and over again.

"Tim! Snap out of it!"

Then, Tony met Tim's gaze and his expression changed. He grabbed Tim by the arm and pulled him out of the bullpen.

"Get the envelope down to Abby, could you, Will?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Tim heard all that going on around him, but really, all he could think about was that one sentence.

What scares you, Agent McGee?

It was suddenly very quiet and he was being pushed down onto a chair.

"Tim, come on. Talk to me. You're freaking me out."

"This... It'll be about me, Tony," Tim whispered. "If anyone else dies..."

"No! No, you can't start doing that to yourself. If this guy is legitimate, you need to be able to think and work and you can't if you're blaming yourself!"

"Tony, he's going to be using me. Anyone he wants to kill, it's going to be about me."

"Then, we just need to stop him before he can do it. Come on, man. You know this kind of thing. He wants to throw you off, get you off balance, keep you from thinking straight. Don't let him! Vance is calling Fornell over. We're going to see if we can hit the ground running. You need to get through this."

Tim tried to listen to him, tried to get away from the panic that was setting his brain on fire.

"Now, he started with acrophobia. Fear of heights, right?"

Tim nodded.

"We know that you're scared of heights."

Tim nodded.

"Okay. Maybe that means it's all going to be about your fears and not about an alphabet again. What else?"

"Uh... I don't..."

"Get your mind in gear, Tim. What else?"

"Taking tests... uh... seasickness and everything... um...maggots. I don't know..."

"He's calling himself the Wordsmith. Does that mean anything special?"

"Making words? Using words? Maybe... Uh... Maybe he's a librarian."

"Ahrendson was a librarian."

"Yeah. He was."

"Okay. Someplace we can start. Focus on getting this guy, not on the idea that it might be your fault. It's not. Do not start thinking it is, Tim. You hear me?"

Tim nodded.

"You ready to get to work, then?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Good. Let's go."

Tim took a deep breath and nodded. He heard Tony, but he didn't quite believe him.

This was going to be all about him, and he knew it.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony could see that this was going to be bad for Tim if this guy started trying to get at him by killing people based on his own fears. And actually, Tony was irritated that he'd spent all that time trying to get Tim through the guilt he felt about Ahrendson, only to have someone else start hammering on Tim's already-battered psyche.

Still, Tim did go and sit down at his computer. He stared at the screen for a few seconds and then took a deep breath and started typing. Tony walked over, hoping to give Tim some encouragement, get his mind focused on the right things.

"What are you thinking?" Tony asked.

"Ahrendson was trained as a librarian," Tim said, his voice determinedly calm. "It looked like he first met Amy Davis at a library. Maybe he met this...guy there, too."

"Makes sense."

"I'm checking to see if we can find out where he had library cards and where he worked."

"We can have Fornell's people do some checking on the librarian in South Carolina."

Tim nodded, but Tony could see that Tim's mind was only half on the work he was doing.

"Tim."

Tim just shook his head, and Tony got that he wasn't supposed to say anything more. Maybe that was the best option, given that Tim had shown, in the worst way, that he wasn't quite over his guilt from the last case. If Gibbs was back to normal, it would be easier because Tim would see, every day, that something was just the way it had been, but he wasn't. The lye had almost killed Gibbs and he wasn't through recovering yet, for all his impatience and resistance to taking the time he needed.

Tony went back to his own desk and sat down, thinking about whether or not there was anything he could do right at this moment. Out of a need to be doing, not just sitting, he pulled up the file on the Ahrendson case and started looking through the information they had about Ahrendson. If he was truly a student of this man, this Wordsmith, then, there should be something in Ahrendson's file that would give them direction. Ahrendson was dead, but his information remained.

Paul Ahrendson had no family. He had been an only child. His parents were dead. He never married. He had been the quintessential loner. No one really considered him a friend. This would be difficult to figure out.

...unless this guy really does plan on killing someone.

Tony hated thinking it, but it was true. If they couldn't find a clue from Ahrendson, they would have to wait until the Wordsmith demonstrated his sincerity by committing murder. The worst of it was that he had tracked in on Tim. Why? They hadn't said anything to the press about Tim being the one who figured things out. Tim hadn't wanted that fame and no one had insisted on giving it to him. Ahrendson had clearly known about Tim.

And that means that he must have passed on the information to his mentor...if that's what this Wordsmith actually is.

"Tim, do we have all the records from Ahrendson's phone and computer?"

There was no response. Tony looked over and Tim was staring at the computer with a glazed look. He was not working.

"Tim!"

Tim jumped and looked at him.

"What?"

"Do we have all the FBI records of Ahrendson's phone and computer?"

Tim shrugged.

"This could be important, Tim! Focus!"

"Remember that Ahrendson wasn't in his apartment for the three months he was on his killing spree. He might have been before that, but not after."

"Oh, yeah. Well, do we have them anyway?"

"We should. Why?"

"Because if this Wordsmith isn't just blowing smoke, how did he know about you? You haven't been in the news."

"You think Ahrendson must have told him."

"Yeah."

"Then, it wouldn't be on his home computer anyway or his phone from his apartment."

"True, but maybe he contacted him about this stuff before."

"The FBI never found anything," Tim said, dully. "You know that they'd be watching for any sign of planning."

"The FBI can make mistakes."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean they did."

"Okay, Tim, I know you're freaked out about this, but you need to stop it. The best way to get over it is by finding this guy. The sooner we do that, the sooner this can be done."

And suddenly, Tim demonstrated just how not over this he really was. He stood up and started shouting, ignoring all the looks from the people in the bullpen.

"And how are we going to do that, Tony? How? We know nothing about him! Even when we knew who Ahrendson was, we didn't find him! The only reason we did is because he messed up! That's it! This is the master, not the student! How are we going to stop him when we don't know anything about him? All we know is that if there's another victim it's because of me! Don't tell me that I have to get over it!"

There was a kind of stunned silence at the end of Tim's rant. Tim stood there, breathing heavily as if he'd just finished running a race. Everyone was staring at Tim. Tony was halfway out of his chair, unsure of what to do or say to calm Tim down.

And then, Tim looked around at all the people staring at him before walking out of the bullpen. Tony quickly stood up and followed Tim out. He saw Tim headed for the stairs.

"Tim, wait!"

Tim didn't. He kept walking, but he wasn't running. So it wasn't like he didn't know that Tony could keep up. Tony decided to take that as an indication that he didn't mind being followed.

Tim walked down to the first floor and then walked out of the building, across the street to Willard Park. He sat down on a bench and covered his head with his hands.

Tony walked over and sat down beside him. He waited for a few minutes while Tim sat in silence.

"Tim?" he asked.

"You know what scares me, Tony?" Tim asked softly.

"What?"

"That this is all my fault. No matter what else. I'm afraid that this is all my fault."

"It's not."

"It doesn't matter what you say, Tony. Fears don't have to be rational. Half the time, the reason they're fears is because you're irrational about them."

"So what you're saying is..."

Tim stared at his hands. "That I'm going to be afraid of this no matter what anyone says. He asks what scares me and that's what scares me. I'd face all the rest of it if I didn't have to face this."

Tony suddenly looked around. Was anyone around close enough to hear? He saw Jimmy who waved briefly and looked a little concerned. Tony just waved back. Otherwise, the park appeared empty. Good. Last thing they needed would be for the would-be serial killer to hear Tim confessing what his worst fear was.

"Can you at least promise me that you won't try drinking your worries away again?" Tony asked, wondering when they'd stepped into a parallel universe where Tim was the one who might overdo it.

Tim smiled at the ground. "I'd have to drink myself into an alcoholic coma to get rid of this."

"Does that mean you'll promise?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good. Okay. I'll accept that you're going to be stressed about this. I'll accept that, but I need you to keep it together enough to work on it. Can you?"

And if Tony was honest with himself, he doubted whether that was the case. What was worse was the expression on Tim's face that said he was thinking the same thing.

"I don't know, Tony. I'd say that you should just take me off the case, but I don't think that'll be possible. Whether you like it or not, this guy has already made it about me. Whether I'm working on it or not, I'm part of it."

That was unfortunately true. No matter what they did, if this Wordsmith had decided to focus on Tim, then, they had no option but to accept it.

"Can you at least try?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Come on, let's go back in."

Tim sighed. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"I know. Come on." Tony stood up, hoping that Tim would follow suit.

Thankfully, Tim did.

"What are you going to tell Gibbs?" he asked.

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he's going to be around again. He's not going to want to be kept out of it but..." Tim trailed off without completing the thought.

"Let's worry about that when we have to. I'm not lying to him, McGee. And I don't see how you could possibly keep this from him anyway."

"I know."

Whatever was going through Tim's head, he clearly wasn't going to share it at the moment.

But Tony would take what he could get. The initial shock seemed to be ebbing a little bit and Tim was attempting to think about it rationally. He was failing, but he was trying. They walked back into the building together and returned to the bullpen. There were looks their way, but Tony just met the curious gazes until everyone else got back to work.

Well, almost everyone.

Jensen came over as soon as Tim sat down at his desk. Tony knew that they were friends, but Jensen could be more abrasive than Tim might need right now.

"Tim, are you all right?" Jensen asked.

Tim looked up at him and shook his head.

"No, I'm not, and I won't be until we catch this guy, so maybe you could do me a favor and get everyone to not ask me that question? Just tell them that the answer will be no for the foreseeable future."

Jensen smiled. "I can try."

"Thanks."

Then, showing a surprising amount of tact, Jensen just patted Tim on the shoulder and walked over to Tony. He leaned over Tony's desk and spoke in a low voice.

"Anything I can do?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"If there is let me know. I don't like seeing Tim like this."

"Neither do I."

Jensen nodded and headed back to his own desk. Tony stood up and saw Jensen speaking to Balboa. They were both glancing over toward Tim's desk so Tony guessed that he was bringing Balboa up to speed and relaying Tim's request. Well, everyone would know about this within an hour if they didn't already. It might be better that way. Maybe it would give Tim the support he definitely needed.