So the friend I am working on 'Fatherhood' with asked for a angst and sorrowful filled one-shot with Tim-centric and a supportive team after the loss of a family member. This is what came of that. I don't know NCIS or it's characters sadly. Wish I did, but I don't.
Tim scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed, sitting back in his chair. It had been a long week - two weeks - as the team had caught a double homicide. Not only had their murderer - now thankfully in custody - killed a Marine but also that Marine's six month pregnant wife. Team Gibbs had worked around the clock only getting a few hours sleep behind their desks as they rolled through all the evidence to find the killer. When they finally caught up with the apparently jilted ex-lover of the wife - who picked the Marine over him - Team Gibbs had settled down to write up their reports.
Finally done with his own - revising and reediting to make sure he left nothing out - Tim had saved the report and then sent a copy to the printer. He could hear the hunt and peck clacking of keys next to him as Tony tried to finish up his report, and the steady but forceful clacks from Ziva across the room. Gibbs of course was nowhere to be seen at the moment, but Tim knew the older man was lurking around with coffee in hand. Tim stood and stretched as he made his way to the printer just as Gibbs came around the corner. Tim was thankfully quick in turning his body out of Gibbs' path before they could collide and spill the coffee.
"Sorry Boss." Tim mumbled as he continued to the printer.
When he turned with report in hand it was to find both teammates and team leader staring at him. "What?"
"How did you do that?" Tony stood from his own chair.
"Do what?" Tim's face scrunched up in confusion.
"Avoid running into Gibbs? You always run into him like that. It's like you know when he's coming a spill his coffee."
Tim chuckled and shrugged. "I've had enough practice when getting up from my desk just as he's rounding the corner. Guess it was kind of just instinct."
Gibbs smirked as he sat down at his own desk and barked at Tony. "Report finished DiNozzo? You're not leaving that desk until it is."
"Almost Boss." Tony sat back down and after one more glance towards McGee he returned to his computer.
Tim stuffed his report into a folder and using the edge of Gibbs desk to sign his own name before handing it over, Gibbs' hand already outstretched for it.
"Still to early to release you. Work on cold cases."
Tim nodded and returned to his desk. Silence succumbed once more save for the clacking of keys from Tony and Ziva's desk. Ten minutes later Ziva was handing Gibbs her own freshly printed report. They all heard Tony huff but ignored him. Ziva pulled a cold case for herself and settled back down to wait for the end of the night. An hour passed before Tony finally handed his report into Gibbs.
"Cold cases."
"Right." Tony frowned hoping they could get an early night after these last two weeks before returning to his own desk.
Just as he sat down Tim's desk phone rang. Without even looking up from the folder he was ready Tim snatched up the receiver and put it to his ear. "McGee."
Tony watched as Tim's green eyes - usually bright and clear - became dull, glazed over, and unfocused. He slightly stood from his chair. "Boss."
Gibbs' own head looked up from where he was reading over Tony's report and marking it for mistakes. He looked at his senior field agent who was watching his junior agent. Turning his attention to McGee alarm bells instantly started going off. Now having the attention of all three Tim didn't even notice as they all stood to rally around his desk. They knew it was bad news but they waited until he hung up the phone.
"Yes Sir. Thank you for..." Tim's mouth snapped shut and he dropped the phone down, missing it's mark completely. He just sat there.
They could all hear the dial tone beeping through the phone as Gibbs picked it up and sat it down correctly in it's cradle. He never let his eye leave his youngest agent's face as he watched the unshed tears form and his mouth wobble.
"McGee..."
And suddenly Tim was up out of his chair, racing for the bathroom. Tony moved to follow but Gibbs caught his arm. "Give him a minute Tony."
"Boss. What if it was Sarah? Or his mom?"
"Or Penny?" Ziva added.
"Give him a few minutes. If he doesn't come out in five you two can go and check on him." Gibbs told them as they all returned to their desks, worrying about their friend and teammate.
In less then two minutes agent came running, falling into the partition that separated Gibbs' desk from the desks behind. "McGee is going postal in the bathroom."
Gibbs was instantly up and moving. He could hear his agents close behind him. There were already a few collected around the door but they parted when they saw Gibbs coming. Gibbs made it just through the door and froze. Tony and Ziva were right behind him. They all watched in horror as Tim punched the mirror - by the looks of things for about the third or fourth time. The trash can was knocked over, a dent in it where the agent had probably kicked it - hard.
Gibbs reacted as he saw McGee aim another punch. He stepped up behind his agent and wrapped one arm around his shoulders and the other around his waist, pinning one arm at his side while pulling the younger man's back against his chest. "Easy Tim. Easy."
Tim struggled to get free while screaming through his tears but Gibbs didn't let go. He turned them away from the sinks and mirror as Tim hunched over and his knees buckled. Gibbs couldn't stop them as they fell to their knees, and he winced as his knee connected with the hard ground - he was going to have bruises tomorrow - and the crunch of the broken glass that littered the floor. Tim was still fighting - still screaming - as Gibbs held on tight. The younger man's hands were torn up by the broken pieces of mirror and as McGee hunched over again he laid his hands down flat on the ground over the glass before making fists, picking up pieces as he did.
"No Tim. Stop." Gibbs released his arm around McGee's waist and gently laid it over one of his wrists, circling his fingers around the wrist and gently squeezing. "Let it go, Son."
And like that Tim opened his hands and the glass fell back to the floor. Not all as Gibbs slowly and carefully turned both hands upwards to get a better look. Some smaller shards were stuck in cuts, blood bubbling out around them. Gibbs wrapped his hand back around a wrist and held on as the tremors wrecked through his agents body. His screams had died down to whimpers as he clenched and unclenched his hands.
Gibbs could see Tony and Ziva watched from the door. Behind them many other agents were also watching. All wide eyed as they had never seen Tim McGee act out like this before. He was always so calm, so gentle. This was new territory for all of them. His team had seen moments of anger and despair from the younger man before but nothing like this. Never like this. Gibbs caught Tony's attention.
"Call Ducky."
Tony nodded and pulled out his phone. Once he knew that was being taken care of Gibbs turned his attention back to McGee. "Come on son, talk to me here."
Tim opened his mouth a few times but the words wouldn't come at first. Then when they finally did they tumbled out between cracked heaves of pain. "They're all dead... all dead... Mom.. Penny.. Sarah... All dead and he didn't tell me."
Gibbs closed his eyes and tightened his grip around McGee's shoulders as Tim once again screamed as the tears ran down his face. He was having troubles breathing but Gibbs couldn't get him to concentrate and follow his breaths. He knew Tim was about to have a panic attack. "Slow Tim. Take a deep breath with me, please. You're hyperventilating. I need you to breath with me."
Tim nodded that he had heard and tried to match Gibbs breathing against his back as he slumped in defeat. He was just calming down as a loud commotion erupted at the door. Tim flinched and burrowed back into Gibbs. "Easy. It's just Ducky." Gibbs took his hand from McGee's wrist and wrapped it around his upper arm to further steady the younger man.
"Jethro, heavens what happened?"
"McGee had a little accident with the mirror." Gibbs watched as Ducky knelt in front of them and tutted as he carefully looked over McGee's bloodied hands. He looked up to find Tony with his arms wrapped around Ziva's back, tears running down his own face as he watched his friend - his little brother. He saw more then heard the shutters coming from Ziva as she buried her face in Tony's chest. He could see tears on other agents faces as well - mostly the women. All from seeing young Tim McGee breaking down from the loss of his family. A family all of NCIS knew Tim was extremely proud of, and protective of, and close with.
"Jethro."
Gibbs turned his attention back to McGee and Ducky. "Yeah."
"We need to get him to the hospital. There is glass in the cuts that need to be removed and would be best there."
"Ambulance?"
"Don't think that is neccessary. Anthony can drive us."
Gibbs nodded before turning his face back to McGee to softly speak in his ear. The moment Ducky had arrived McGee had gone silent. His sobs not even making a sound now. "Okay Tim. We're going to take this slow. We need to stand up. Ducky will hold your arms, don't use your hands because of the glass alright?"
Tim nodded slowly.
"Okay. Count of three then. One.. two.. three." Gibbs stood and with the help of Ducky they had Tim on his feet again.
Tim swayed but with both men still holding him he stayed upright. Gibbs took a moment to adjust his hold on Tim and tuck the younger man into his side, careful of his hands. All Ducky was able to do was loosely wrap the hands in gauze to keep the blood from dripping. Gibbs opened his mouth to tell people to move but they were already doing so. A dozen or so agents quickly but quietly moved out of the way, giving them enough room to get through. Ducky was first with Gibbs and McGee folowing. Tony and Ziva followed up the back and they all made their way to the elevator, Tony and Ziva taking a detour to their desks to grab guns, phones, and coats.
Down in the garage Tony quickly signed out an agency sedan. He helped Gibbs settled McGee into the middle of the backseat and just as he was about to get in himself he watched as Gibbs climb in instead. Ziva helped Ducky into the passenger side before turning to Tony.
"Abby and I will meet you there." Ziva dropped her eyes into the car at McGee who was tucked up against Gibbs again, his head resting on Gibbs' shoulder. She watched as the older man whispered words none of them could hear.
Tony nodded as he realized their resident Goth did not know. He watched Ziva head back for the building before scrambling into the drivers seat and getting them on the road for Bethesda. Every minute he glanced into the rearview mirror to check on his Probie only to find he and Gibbs never move a muscle. Gibbs was still talking to McGee with words the rest of them could not hear.
Fifteen minutes later Tony was pulling up to the emergency doors of Bethesda. He let his three passengers out before going to find a parking spot. It was another ten minutes before he was running back inside himself. He was expecting to find Gibbs sitting in the waiting room but it was empty. He caught the attention of one of the nurses.
"Excuse me, my boss just brought in my fr... little brother to get glass removed from his hands..."
The nurse smiled and nodded as she pointed. "Your brother is just down there, he was asking for you."
"Really?" Tony looked down the hall.
"I'll show you." The nurse started walking and Tony automatically followed.
They didn't move far, only about four rooms down before she nodded towards a closed door. Tiny thanked her as she stepped away. Taking a deep breath Tony quietly opened the door and slipped inside. He froze as he saw Gibbs sitting on the bed behind McGee, his arms wrapped around the younger man much like they had been back in the men's room. McGee was paler then he'd ever seen him before and whimpering into Gibbs' neck. Ducky and another doctor were sitting in front of McGee, a table between them.
Tony stepped to the side to see Tim's hands resting over a bowl full of liquid Tony know wasn't water. It was mixed with blood. Tim's hands were beet red, not just from the blood. The hospital doctor had a magnifying glass and tweezers and was very slowly looking over McGee's hands for any tiny slivers of glass.
"Tony..."
The voice was so soft he almost missed it. When he looked up Tim was watching him. He plastered a smile on his face and walked around the bed to stand behind Gibbs and McGee. "I'm here Probie." Tony watched in wonder as each cut was checked for glass, washed and scrubbed clean. He could see the tremors in McGee's body as Gibbs held him close, still talking to him like nobody else was in the room. Tony knew that was the only thing keeping McGee steady right now.
Twenty minutes later the doctor pulled away. "Alright Agent McGee, I believe I have gotten all the glass out. I will leave Dr. Mallard to dress the wounds while I get you a prescription for some pain meds. Are you allergic to anything?"
"Tylenol." McGee whispered, not opening his eyes.
The doctor smiled and patted his knee. "No worries. You'll be getting something a little stronger then that."
Ducky replaced the doctor on the stool to bandage Tim's hands and the doctor quickly left the room. Tony walked back around to stand next to Ducky.
"Tim." When McGee opened his eyes to look at him he continued. "Could you tell us what happened?"
McGee's eyes became unfocused and new tears formed but he took a deep breath to keep himself steady. "They were on a road trip. Mom, Penny, and Sarah. Sarah just had her first paper published. We had all gone out to dinner to celebrate the night before we caught this last case. They wanted me to go with them but they were leaving in two days. A sort of spontaneous thing."
Tim's breath hitched. "I knew I wouldn't be able to get the time off that quickly but I had promised to at least ask." Tim looked sideways at Gibbs as he continued. "But we caught the case before we even sat down. By that night I knew there was no way I could leave. Sometimes their road trips took two or three weeks, depending on how they felt. I told them once the case was over I would ask for a day or two off and meet them wherever they were at that time. Sarah seemed satisfied with that."
His voice hitched again. "They were in Arizona when it happened. Their car rolled down a steep inbankment. None of them made it to the hospital."
"When?" Gibbs asked.
"Tuesday." Tim let the tears fall again.
"That was six days ago." Tony panicked. "And you were just contacted now?"
"They called the Admiral. He made the arrangements to bring them back to DC."
"When is the funeral McGee?"
Tim screwed his eyes shut and whispered. "Yesterday."
Three people in that room cursed under their breaths as it all sank in. Tim's father had deliberately left his own son out of his family's funerals. Gibbs was angry and wanted nothing more then to find the Admiral himself. Tony's heart broke for his little brother. To be so cruelly ignored like that Tony could not fathom. Ducky's own heart broke for the younger man in front of him for many different reasons. Losing family was not an easy thing to overcome but he knew Jethro would be the one to keep Timothy afloat as he grieved.
"All done lad. Once the doctor returns with that prescription I suggest Jethro take you home for some rest."
They knew just how exhausted McGee really was when he didn't even protest. Tony decided to head back to the waiting room to see if Ziva and Abby had arrived. They had and as soon as he was through the door he had to brace himself to catch Abby without them both falling to the floor.
"Oh it's so awful. Timmy's family!" Abby was crying and Tony wrapped his arms around her, much like he had when Ziva had broken down at Tim's admission of what had happened back in the men's room. "Where is he? How is he? I need to see him. He needs a hug!"
"He's going to get through this Abs. We're going to make sure of it." Tony gave her a squeeze before pulling away, which was not an easy feat with the Goth. "I need you and Ziva to do me a favor. Tim is going to stay with Gibbs for a while so he's going to need some stuff from home. I need you girls to go and get it for him. Clothes, toiletries, books to read. What you think he'll need." Tony watched as Abby's hair bounced as she nodded. "No laptop though. It's going to be tough enough for him to hold a book with his hands the way they are right now. I doubt he can type on his laptop."
"How is he suppose to read then?" Abby sniffed.
"I'll hold the book for him." Tony gave her a quick smile. "Now go. They're releasing him soon and I'm sure we'll be beating you to Gibbs' and Probie will want his things soon."
"You're right." Abby stood up straight and turned. "Let's go Ziva!"
Tony watched them go, waiting until they were out the doors before turning around to head back to the room. He stopped when he saw Gibbs and Tim already standing there. Tim gave him a grateful smile.
"Thanks Tony."
"I didn't really do anything."
"Don't think I could really handle a hug from Abby just yet. Keeping her busy keeps her from breaking my ribs. At least for now."
Tony nodded. "We ready to go then?"
"First dose of pain meds are taken just need to stop to fill the prescription." Gibbs replied, still with McGee tucked into his side.
Another twenty minutes later the agency sedan pulled into Gibbs driveway. Ducky and Tony helped Gibbs get McGee tucked away into the guest bedroom downstairs as the pain meds had already knocked him out. Gibbs and Ducky were just leaving the room - Tony opting to stay put to watch over his little brother - as Ziva's car pulled into the driveway. Gibbs opened the door to meet Abby on the porch, keeping her from storming the house.
"He's asleep and I need you to be quiet and calm." Gibbs looked straight at her. "Think you can do that for me?"
Abby's eyes were wide with unshed tears and she nodded, her hair bouncing against her shoulders and face. Gibbs watched her for a minute before nodding and opening his arms for her. She barreled into him and he held on while she cried. He stepped them to the side to allow Ziva to pass with two bags from McGee's apartment. After a minute Abby finally stood up straight and wiped at her eyes.
"Can I sit with him? I promise to be quiet."
Gibbs nodded. "Tony's with him now."
Five minutes later Gibbs was leaning against the door jam watching his 'kids' care for each other. Tony and Ziva had pulled chairs from the dining room and were sitting near the bed closest to McGee's sleeping form. Abby had commandeered the other side of the bed, her boots laying on the floor at the foot of the bed. She was curled into Tim's side, carefully adjusting his hands when he would move them to tuck under his face. He knew Tony had already filled the girls in on the conversation in the hospital room. Gibbs wasn't completely sure he would be able to get his agent through this but he knew they wouldn't be alone. The team would rally around their currently fallen friend and brother and help hold him up until he was strong enough to do himself once again.
One Week Later
"You ready?" Gibbs put the car into park outside the cemetery.
It had been a struggle to make sure Tim took care of himself after the devastating news of the loss of his grandmother, mother, and little sister. His hands were healing and after a week of staying with Gibbs on medical leave - Gibbs took vacation days to care for his agent - Tim was finally going to be returning to work. He would only be on desk duty and on restricted hours as it was still not good for him to be using a computer for too long while his hands still healed. Abby and Ziva had gotten a collection together to pay for the bathroom Tim had destroyed and then some - the rest went to getting something for the grave for the family of one of their own. Gibbs had been ready to offer his own paycheck to fixing the bathroom when Vance had shown up at his house the following day to check on his agent - but he hadn't been surprised when his girls had already started up the collection. Most of NCIS had pitched in.
Tim looked out the window and took a deep breath before nodding. Getting out of the car he stood waiting for Gibbs to round the car and for the others to emerge from the second car. Tony, Abby, Ziva, Ducky, and Jimmy all saddled up to them. Taking another breath Tim looked around him at his team. "Thanks for being here for me. Not just for today."
Tony clapped him on the back. "Nowhere else we'd rather be Probie."
Tim smiled as the followed him through the cemetery. It didn't take them long before they had found the gravestones they were looking for. Abby had done a search earlier when Tim had announced he was ready to visit his family. To say a proper goodbye. When the reached their destination the six of them stood back while Tim continued forward. They waited until they got a signal he was ready for them to move closer. Once he did they all moved to stand around him once again. Gibbs and Abby flanked him while Ducky stood to Gibbs' other side with Jimmy next to him. Ziva stood next to Abby and Tony stood behind and between Tim and Abby, his hand on Tim's shoulder. They stood there in silence for almost fifteen minutes before Tim turned his head towards the sky and closed his eyes. Tears streaked his face but he stayed silent. After a moment he took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and looked around him at the family he still had, and smiled.
"I'm ready to go home now."