A/N: This is the sixth and, so far as I know, last part of my Knowers and Demons series. At this point, it's getting harder to address all the bits and pieces of this series in an author's note and it would be better to read the whole series. Each part in it is short, if that helps. This story is about the fracturing of reality and how Tim will be able to fix it...and what happens to him as a result. I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS, the lyrics to "Dreamcatcher" (Secret Garden) or the rhyming couplet which was written by Dean Koontz in his Book of Counted Sorrows. I am not making any money off this story, but it sure has been fun to write this series.

The Reality Contained Within
by Enthusiastic Fish

"There's no reality except the one contained within us. That's why so many people live an unreal life.
They take images outside them for reality and never allow the world within them to assert itself."
Hermann Hesse

Chapter 1

Tim stood looking over the world. It was as if he was standing on a ledge higher than anything else. He could see the cracks becoming larger and larger. The world was closer to breaking than it had ever been. Few could see it, and it was hard to watch the coming calamity and know that he had to wait.

It would be coming sooner than he had expected.

"I'm not ready," he said aloud.

"The world does not wait for you to be ready."

Tim looked at Greta as she appeared beside him.

"What will happen to you when this happens?"

"If you succeed, I will no longer exist in this form...as it should be. Death and Sleep will still exist, but not confined as we are to a personification."

"Confined?"

"Yes. This is not our natural state. We feel the strain as the world does."

"What about me?" Tim asked.

"What about you?"

Tim grimaced. He had known that would be the response, and his choice couldn't be based on whether or not he'd survive it. The world wouldn't survive if he did nothing.

"How long?"

"Not long."

"Is there anything I can do to get ready?"

"You can live."

"So...no, then."

Greta smiled and whirled away.

Left alone once more, Tim looked out over the world. It was cracking. Soon it would be destroyed...and then, he would have to fix it once again. It was so bizarre that he was the one to be doing this. It didn't make a whole lot of sense when he thought about it. He wasn't an important person. He was just a computer geek.

"...yeah, with an invisible tattoo of dragons that you can summon at any time."

Tim laughed quietly to himself and walked away from the edge. It was the world below him, but it wasn't a scene he wanted to get used to. If he had to see that cracking, it would be for as short a period as possible...and then, he'd figure out how to fix it.

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

Tim opened his eyes and sat up. The sun was just coming up over the horizon.

Dreams that weren't just dreams. He wondered if he'd ever have dreams that were just twisted pieces of his subconscious mind. Of course, as he already knew, if anyone knew about his reality, they'd think he was crazy. Sometimes, he was surprised that Tony had been so determined to stick it out with this strange world. Sometimes, he wondered if Tony would reject it at the end just so that he didn't have to worry about that nightmare he had.

In the two months since Tim had seen Tony's nightmare, he hadn't mentioned it. In fact, he and Tony had gone on as if nothing had happened. Tim had been forced to take a vacation since it was assumed that he'd burned out. Thankfully, he was only getting a couple of strange looks at work...at least that he'd noticed.

He could feel the strain of the world...no, not the world. It was the strain of reality. It was starting to crack. The Fracture would happen soon. Very soon. He wondered if it would be all at once, or if it would be gradual.

Will I survive it?

Did it matter? It didn't change what he had to do. He should just stop thinking about whether or not the repairing of the world would leave him alive or dead.

He got out of bed and forced himself to touch the power of the dreamer. He didn't like doing it, but he made himself to do so every day. He didn't want to give Greta any excuse for attacking him again.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, he opened his eyes and smiled. There was a sphere floating in the middle of his room. He walked over to it, stepped inside and saw a much larger world. There was a single tree, surrounded by waterfalls. He walked over and sat down beneath the tree. Then, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the complete peace he could get here. He knew that this was further destabilizing reality, but at this point, he just wanted it to be done. Nothing could hold it back and he finally understood that it shouldn't be held back. Break it so that it can be fixed.

It was a Sunday and Tim was planning on staying in here as long as he possibly could. When he opened his eyes, he could see his apartment beyond the sphere, but in here...it was just serene, the roar of the waterfalls drowning out any other sound.

Time passed. Tim didn't know how much, but he heard a knock on the door. Reluctantly, he stood up and climbed out of the sphere. He took a breath and let the sphere disappear and then he walked to the door. He peered through the peephole and saw Gibbs...with others he didn't recognize.

He opened the door.

"Boss...what's going on?"

Gibbs didn't look happy.

"Can we come in, McGee?"

"Sure."

Tim stepped aside and four men followed Gibbs into the room. Tim closed the door.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"You're the knower," one of the men said.

Tim looked at Gibbs.

"I didn't tell them."

"Yes. Who are you?"

"These are Watchers," Gibbs said.

"Okay. What do you want?"

"Reality is breaking. More and more things are happening that can't happen. Every day, it's getting worse."

"I know," Tim said.

"Then, why aren't you stopping it?" another asked.

"Because I can't. Not yet."

"Why not? Isn't that your function?"

Tim raised an eyebrow. These were people who had a link to the world that shouldn't exist, but they clearly didn't know all the details of what was happening.

"Yes, it is."

"Then, why aren't you doing anything?"

"Because it's not time. Not yet."

"If you wait much longer, reality is going to fracture!"

"Exactly."

The men looked at each other and then at Gibbs.

"You're going to let reality be destroyed?"

"Yes," Tim said.

One of the men lunged at him, shouting loudly. Tim fell back and reacted without thinking.

"Three into one!" he shouted.

The dragons burst off his hand and surrounded the attacker. The others shouted loudly in shock.

Quickly, Tim called the dragons back before they could harm anyone. They swirled around him, onto his arm, down to his palm. Tim curled his fingers gently around them and they vanished.

"Do not attack me," he said. "I may not be able to call them back in time."

The confidence was now missing from their faces. Gibbs looked surprised but he wasn't upset. On the contrary, he looked pretty pleased about Tim's reaction.

"Why aren't you going to stop it?"

"Because that isn't how it works. You can't fix something that's not broken."

"If reality breaks, how will you manage to be anywhere that will allow for repair?"

Tim understood that they were testing him. That was fine. If they wanted a demonstration of what he was, he'd give it to them. He closed his eyes and took a breath, touching the dreamer within him. He knew the moment that the dreamer took control because there was a unified gasp of horror. Tim knew that his eyes were gone, that the dreamer was now looking at them. When he spoke, even his voice took on a different timbre.

"I am not in reality, not if I don't want to be. Dreams are mine. I know what I have to do. I know when I have to do it, and you have nothing to say about it. You are Watchers, not doers. I will do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. Do not come here and attempt to force me to act. You will not survive the attempt."

He looked at them (wondering, idly, how it was that he could still see even when his eyes were gone), staring until they started to back away. They left, but Gibbs stayed behind. Quickly, Tim forced the dreamer back inside and took another breath.

"Impressive, McGee," Gibbs said.

"Thanks. Why were you–?"

"They knew that I was in contact with the knower. They told me to bring them to you."

"You're so obedient, Boss," Tim said with a smile.

Thwack!

"Were you telling the truth? Does the world have to break before you can fix it?"

Tim nodded. "Yes. Anything I did now would only be temporary. I have to...restart reality. Otherwise, it'll keep limping along until it breaks into too many pieces for anyone to repair."

"And it has to be you?"

Tim could hear the skepticism. He supposed he couldn't blame Gibbs for finding it hard to believe that his computer geek agent was the one to save the world. Tim wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't been him.

"Yes. It does. Unless there's another knower out there, another person like me who'd like to take on the burden. There are other knowers, Boss...people who have a bit more of a link to the other plane. ...people like Ducky who can feel the other world but don't know how to manipulate it, but I'm the knower. It has to be me."

"And Tony?"

Tim shook his head. "No. When it comes right down to it, Tony won't be involved. There's nothing he can do."

"You've said that before, apparently."

"But this really is true. He can't put reality back together. Only I can do that. He'll be affected like everyone will but, but he's not going to be involved."

"He won't accept sitting on the sidelines."

"He won't have a choice. There will be only one place in all of reality that isn't a sideline...and that's where I'll be. There won't be room for him."

"You know exactly what will happen?"

"Not exactly. But enough."

"And how will you keep him away?"

Tim smiled humorlessly.

"I won't have to keep him away. He won't be able to get to me."

"You have a link that says otherwise."

Tim shook his head. "It won't be there."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm going to remove it before this happens."

"How?"

"Don't tell Tony, Boss," Tim said, earnestly. "Please. When all this goes down...reality is going to be not reality anymore. I won't have to stay around and explain it to him. It doesn't matter how much he protests. I'm not going to risk..."

"What?"

Tim just shook his head.

"Don't tell him, Boss. Just don't tell him. It will only make what I have to do harder."

"And what do you have to do?"

"Save the world," Tim said. "The exact details wouldn't even make sense to you. They barely do to me."

Gibbs got a stern look on his face.

"I don't pretend to get all this stuff, but don't you just sit back and take something because you don't think you have the option of trying anything else. I know you can fight. Do that."

"It's not a battle, Boss. Not this time. There's no evil demon waiting in the wings to come swooping down and take over the world. The world is breaking and I have to fix it."

"Then, fix it, but don't assume that there's nothing you can do."

Tim smiled. "I wish there wasn't."

Gibbs smiled back.

"You know when it'll happen?"

"No. Not exactly, but it's coming. Very soon. It won't be a mystery to anyone who knows. Everyone will be afraid, but it won't be something you could mistake for anything other than reality being destroyed."

Gibbs nodded. He stared at Tim for a few moments and then he smiled again.

"Will you be at work tomorrow?"

Tim grinned. "If the world hasn't ended."

"Then, I'll see you tomorrow, McGee."

Tim nodded.

"Bye, Boss."

Gibbs started to leave but then he stopped and turned around. He took hold of Tim's wrist and turned over his hand, the tattooed hand.

"I never could see them before," he said. "I knew there was something there, but today is the first day that I've seen anything."

"That's because they're not supposed to exist."

Gibbs nodded. "They're not, but you are. Don't forget that."

Then, he left.

Tim stared at the door and then walked to the window. He looked out and then up at the sky. There was a distortion up there. Not especially obvious yet, but it was coming.

Tim clenched his fist, feeling the dragons trembling. There was a power he hadn't yet released. The dragons attacked on command. The dreamer devoured dreams, annihilated them. If he released the dragons with the dreamer in control...

He took a deep breath.

Would this be enough?

He hoped so.