The seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes turned to hours. There was not one person in the hospital who had not heard about the courageous struggle, the young agent was fighting. Tim was still unable to evade the darkness threatening to take his life, over, and over again. Yet each time, he pushed through the darkness, opening his eyes, and relying on the hopeful faces of his team to get him through. Doctors tried giving Tim pain relievers, and every time he refused.

"They'll send me to sleep, and I won't wake up." He rationalised to them. His decision was highly respected, he would deal with whatever pain was forced on him, if he could win this battle. He would do it 1000 times over, just to see Abby's beautiful smile. Night fell, and Tim was still battling against the darkness, still trying to overthrow him. Ducky, Jimmy, and Ziva were forced to leave, as the doctor enforced to them, that the large amount of visitors was only stressing him further. They attempted to remove Tony from the room, but he refused to leave, he would not abandon his friend, his 'brother'.

By midnight, it was actually becoming easier to fight the darkness, still threatening to consume him. He knew, that one side must triumph, he could not let go, would not forfeit. Abby held his hand all night, comforted by Tony and Gibbs seated either side her. It had been almost ten minutes since the darkness had threatened him, he was beginning to feel stronger, and determined to fight for as long as it takes. Another ten minutes passed, and he was still alive, feeling no longer jeopardized, a refreshing feeling of control flooded into his body. "Thank you." Whispered Tim, his manners still overriding his pain.

"Way to go Tim!" Tony commended, even Tim smiling now, he would live to fight another day.

A young nurse woke Tim early the next morning, he was exhausted from the strenuous fight he undertook the previous day.

"You're looking much better today sir," exclaimed the nurse politely. She was very pretty, however Tim barely noticed thanks to Abby, his love, Tony did though, of course.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a bit better, and umm call me Tim." She nodded, and busied herself with the iv beside Tim's bed.

"Do you know if I can, well… survive this?" Tim asked the nurse,

"You are very strong, you should make it." She smiled politely again, Tim still looking troubled.

"Did I not answer your question?" she fished. She didn't really answer what Tim really wanted to know, yet he was too embarrassed to push the question further. As she leaned over to fix the drip in his arm, she whispered so that no one else could hear,

"Would you like them to leave so you can ask, whatever it is that is troubling you?" He nodded naturally, and she smiled sweetly.

"You guys just need to leave for a minute okay, I just have to check him over." Gibbs, Tony, and Abby filed out of the room, leaving Tim and the nurse alone.

"I was wondering because it was so contagious, how long will it be before I can… you know."

"Oh right! It'll be about two weeks, you think you can deal with that?" She giggled,

"Yeah, I'll live," he smiled,

"I'll bring them back in." she winked and left the room.

The days were becoming easier to live through, however, despite Tim feeling considerably better, there was still no talk of him being released. It had been two weeks, and Tim was in a very good mood. The doctors had claimed that Tim was no longer contagious, and would be able to go home tomorrow. Abby had been seated beside him, squeezing his hand when he heard the good news, she reached over the small bed and kissed him passionately. Gibbs was clearing his throat loudly, trying to reach them, that this was not the best time, however they had been waiting for this moment for weeks.

"MCROMEO!" Tony yelled from the opposite corner of the room. Abby pulled away from Tim, and sat back down in her seat.

"There goes rule number 12…" Gibbs sighed, yet somehow he knew, that he would not have the same problems with McGee and Abby, as he had encountered in the past.

"We're goin' to leave you to it," Gibbs smiled, and winked in Abby's direction. Abby jumped straight back out of her seat, and continued where she had been interrupted.

"As soon as I get out of here…" Tim began, "You're moving in." he continued, unsure whether he should be regretting his decision. Abby squealed with excitement,

"I would be delighted Timmy!" she squealed again. Gibbs entered the room again, however not before knocking, just in case he was interrupting something, again.

"Could I speak to Timmy?" Gibbs chuckled, and Abby skipped out of his cramped room.

"I know you're still recovering, but if you hurt Abby, God help you." Gibbs threatened.

"I could never hurt her, she was the one who hurt…" Gibbs eyebrows creased, and he nodded. Gibbs had known that Abby had made the difficult decision to split up with Tim some years ago, and essentially it had been caused by his rules.

"Hey, I'm just warning you." He made the trademark Gibbs stare, and left the room, signalling for Abby to re-enter.

"What was that all about Timmy?" Abby asked light heartedly,

"He was just telling me about how if I hurt your feelings, he was basically going to castrate me." He smiled, but a look of fright was still visible on his innocent face. Abby giggled, and embraced Tim again.

"Just so I know, I am your girlfriend now right?" Abby questioned embarrassingly.

"Of course Abbs! I love you, although I did before, and that didn't change…" Abby placed her finger over his lips, "anything," he mumbled, and they began to kiss again, their relationship was now as he had always fantasised.

Gibbs burst into the room again, "You're allowed to go home whenever you're ready." He mumbled, "Just don't…do anything that would… exhaust yourself McGee, you're still recovering." Abby was laughing at Gibbs poor attempt at telling them not to do the inevitable; Tim nodded and squeezed Abby's hand in a poor attempt to stop her from laughing hysterically. Gibbs rolled his eyes, and stumbled out of the room, he knew it was inevitable, but he couldn't stand to see a possible split in the team if this were to end badly.

The car trip back to Abby's house was strange, Tim was still unable to drive, and Abby hated driving anyone else's car, since hers was definitely… one of a kind. Abby had to collect all of her belongings from her apartment, to move into Tim's, as much as she was sad to leave her cosy apartment; it was on the best of circumstances.

Her bag was packed, and she was soon back behind the wheel, driving to their new home. Tim's mind was practical, despite all of the excitement, he was worried about how he could possibly store all of Abby's belongings in his already small, and crowded apartment. Abby was obviously not bothered by Gibbs warning, as they spent the best night they ever had together, definitely a change from the hospital scenery.