8

They had talked long into the night because Jimmy had been right; after today it had to be about Tim, not about them. So for one last time they attempted to verbalise their guilt and shame, to get out in the open things that they should never have left unsaid, or undone.

"He helped me so much at Christmas, even got us into MTAC; and I wanted to hug him, to thank him properly. But I thought he was still trying to adjust to everything, I wasn't sure he'd want it so I gave him a kiss instead…if I'd hugged him I would have known what he was doing…"

Ducky gave her hand a gentle squeeze as she stumbled over her words; she looked up at him with a watery smile.

"I let him down Ducky…there…there's been a distance between us since I didn't believe in him…I was waiting for him to give me sign that he forgave me…but I shouldn't have waited, it was up to me to make the first move, and the second…until…oh Ducky, I messed up so bad."

"As did I Abigail, I had other things on my mind…Mother, the house…and I lost sight of Timothy."

Tony had been unusually quiet, but he had to shoulder some of this blame.

"Wasn't just you…we all got caught up in our own stuff, I asked Tim to come for movie nights at my place…he came a couple of times, then he always seemed to be busy…I mean he never really did that much with us outside work…kept pretty much to himself…I honestly thought things were getting better for him…"

Jimmy gave a wry smile.

"Maybe that's what we all wanted to think Tony. It made us feel better to think he was recovering from his ordeal, not that he was going through another."

"That is what I find most terrible in all this."

Ziva had been sitting quiet, and apparently calm as she listened to the others.

"Once Ducky asked me how I knew Tim had not committed those terrible crimes…I said how could you not know. Tim was so easy to read, his every thought and emotion plain to see, yet now…Now he could hide this from us all, even me…of all that has befallen him I am saddest that we have forced him to dissemble, and become so good at it…"

"Don't you go taking blame for any of this Ziva!"

Gibbs couldn't let her think that she was in any way culpable for what had happened to Tim.

"I started this, and I should have finished it…I offered to resign, but Tim…he didn't want that…maybe I should have gone…"

"And how exactly would that have helped him Jethro? More than anything he wants the team to be together."

"I'm not so sure Duck. If that TV show goes ahead, do you think he'll want to stay then?"

"Do you want him to stay Agent Gibbs?"

Jimmy had to be sure, if they were going to help Tim back to full health, he had to know that Gibbs wanted him on his team. Gibbs was silent for a few heartbeats.

"More than I've wanted anything in a long time. Don't you see? I have to…atone somehow…I put him through hell, not once…three times…the original charges, then the attack, he could have died then, my fault…now this film…he just can't get away from it…and I started it…You know I hadn't remembered telling Fornell to get him out of my sight, but Tim has…that day is like a black hole to me…I was so…I was beyond angry…and that anger blinded me, for that alone I can never forgive myself. I broke my own rules and set one of my own people on the road that nearly ended his life. So yes Jimmy, to answer your question, I want him to stay. I want him around so that I can show him every day that Ican do better…I will do better."

"Then let us help Agent Gibbs…we've all done wrong by Tim, to a greater or lesser degree, but if we work together, and if the Director can stop that broadcast, I think we can get him to stay. Look how hard he's worked to stay with the team, he could have walked away any time in the last year, but he kept fighting because all the time he knew he was innocent…now…now I think he's almost given up…we can't let him do that."

They all agreed it was first things first, Tim would be out of the hospital in the morning, so they needed to get Ducky's guest room ready, there would be shopping to do, high-protein drinks, easy to digest food, foods with a high potassium content…anything that would help him stop that slide into near starvation. Ducky would pick up Tim's meds when he went to collect him tomorrow, Tony had the apartment keys and would collect the stuff that Tim had asked for. They worked out a schedule to make sure someone would be free to stay with Tim at all times…they had to know he was eating and drinking when he should, they'd allowed him to neglect himself for way too long…

Tony breezed into Tim's room bright and early next morning.

"Hey Tim, I got your…"

The bed was empty, and Tony's smile faded instantly, to be replaced by deep concern.

"Hi Tony, you're early."

Tim emerged from the bathroom, hair still damp from the shower, his now overly thin frame enveloped in an ill-fitting hospital gown. He saw Tony's concerned expression, and tried to make a joke.

"Not exactly Armani, is it? Hospital gowns have to be the most unflattering…"

"Stop it! It's not funny…look at you."

Tony dropped the bag on the bed and moved slowly toward Tim, he didn't know what to say, yet again in the face of the physical manifestation of Tim's mental torment, Anthony DiNozzo; master of the smart come-back had nothing to say. So he took a leaf out of Abby's book and gave Tim a hug.

"Fine friend I've been Tim, I should have seen this and put a stop to it."

"You've been as good a friend as I let you be Tony, it just got easier to keep everyone at arm's length…won't happen again."

"It most certainly will not young man. Let me look at you, did you get much sleep Timothy?"

Tim didn't even try to evade the question.

"Not much Ducky…I keep thinking about ZNN…I think…I should resign now…that way NCIS won't be harmed by all this…"

"Absolute stuff and nonsense! You will do no such thing; Director Vance has a meeting with ZNN later today, let's wait and see what happens before you make any rash decisions."

They all waited, but the answer Vance received was not the one they had hoped for, The World This Week would go ahead, and the producer was determined that the footage of Tim's attack would be broadcast. Tim had almost collapsed again at that point, it had been his last hope, faint as it was; he knew he couldn't go into that studio…he also knew that by not appearing he lent credence to the accusations against him, but he simply could not face the cameras. Eventually Ducky got him to take a sedative, and he was getting some much needed sleep.

"He was just making a start on opening up to us Jethro, allowing us to help him, but this…I fear he will retreat again, and we may not get him back this time. When they name him as a suspected child abuser, and he's not there to speak for himself…"

"Then someone will have to speak on his behalf."

"Director Vance has agreed to appear?"

"Yeah…and it won't just be Leon…"

It took Ducky a moment or two to take in the full meaning of what Gibbs had said.

"Jethro? You…you're going to…"

"I'm going to do what I should have been doing for the past year Duck; I'm going to have Tim's back."

It was quiet in Ducky's lounge as they sat waiting for The World This Week to begin. Ducky had not been at all surprised when they had asked if they could watch the show at his home. They all wanted to be close to Tim when they showed that footage. Tim was sitting on the couch, flanked by Abby and Ziva; Ducky, Tony and Jimmy were seated on various chairs ranged around the room to give the best view of the TV screen. Ziva leaned in and whispered to Tim.

"If it becomes too much for you, let me know, you do not have to stay."

His sad smile gave the lie to that comment; he had to watch this, just as he'd had to watch the footage the first time…

The interviewer had made the introductions, and the two men waited impatiently for her to give the word for the film to be run. Francesca Nolan, so they had been informed by Tony was often called Frank. Tony's contact at ZNN told him she had more balls than most of the men who worked there…Gibbs and Vance were not likely to get an easy ride from her. Gibbs' stiff demeanour was in stark contrast to Vance's practised ease in front of the cameras. But if you looked in his eyes, they all knew that look, he was ready to fight.

"I'm Francesca Nolan, and this week we bring you proof that there are people in this country who are prepared to take the law into their own hands in order to protect our children, we ask, do they bring justice, or anarchy? We have pictures showing one such group meting out their brand of justice on a man they considered guilty of sexual offences against children…I must warn you that the film we are about to show carries a viewer advisory, there are images of extreme violence."

Everyone in the studio had seen the footage before, but repetition certainly did not lessen the impact of the pictures now being broadcast coast to coast. Ducky had called Tim's parents to warn them about the show, but he knew that despite his pleas, they would be watching…

As the edited version of that awful footage came to an end Francesca swung round to face her guests.

"The man we saw there has been provisionally identified as an employee of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service; Director Vance, can you confirm that you know this man?"

"I can, that is Special Agent Timothy McGee."

"And is he still employed by your agency?"

"He is, and before you ask Ms Nolan, the reason he is still a Federal Agent is because he is not guilty of any crime."

"You're trying to say that this man is innocent?"

"Not trying, stating it as an irrefutable fact, Timothy McGee has done nothing wrong."

Gibbs leaned forward in his chair and pointed at the monitor.

"So you tell me, why don't you show the whole thing?"

"As I said, the images are very graphic, and show a level of violence that we don't feel it appropriate to broadcast."

"But you feel it appropriate to drag an innocent man's name through the dirt. Shall I tell your viewers another reason you're not showing the rest of that…because however hard they punched him, and kicked him, however loud they screamed at him, Special Agent McGee refused to admit that he had done any of the things of which he was accused. He told them; and I have no idea where he found the strength to do it, he told them they could do whatever they wanted to him, but they would never get him to say that he was guilty."

"That's what he told me too."

Vance and Gibbs had been so focussed on Francesca Nolan; they hadn't even noticed the newcomer to the set.

She was not amused to have an unscripted interruption to her show.

"And who exactly are you?"

"Special Agent Fornell; FBI. It was my mistake that started all this, over a year ago I walked into NCIS and arrested McGee, because I believed flawed evidence. And because Special Agent Gibbs took my word, we put an innocent man through a year long nightmare…he almost died after that attack, did your sources tell you that? He was left all night in sub-zero temperatures, left to die…because I behaved like the greenest rookie, and didn't check and double check the evidence."

"Wasn't all on you Fornell, we both took that initial evidence at face value, if I had stopped for one minute to check what the FBI had given me; but I was blinded by my rage that children were being hurt this way…like a fool, I believed the evidence without having my own people go over it."

"Yet now you ask us to listen to you, why should my viewers believe you now Agent Gibbs?"

"Because I'm here...and I have never, repeat, never had any desire to appear on live TV. You ask your news reporters how easy it is to get me to talk on camera…doesn't happen. Someone told me, someone who really knows him, that Special Agent McGee only made one mistake in all this...he trusted me, and that's true, I dropped the ball and let him face hell alone...that ends now. If there is anyone out there who thinks Special Agent McGee is some kind of target…then think again. We left him exposed to attack once before, and since…I guess we lost sight of the burden he was carrying. That won't happen again, ever. I will protect him any way I can, and I know the other members of my team feel the same…"

"Are you advocating your own brand of vigilantism now Agent Gibbs?"

Vance put his hand on Gibbs' wrist.

"Let me answer this…Special Agent McGee is an NCIS agent, a strike against him is a strike against my agency, and it will be dealt with as such."

"Are you saying you would act outside the law?"

"I am saying no such thing. If a person attacks an innocent man, there is no need to act outside the law…but be absolutely certain of this; I will use every legalmeans within my power to protect him."

This interview was not going the way Ms Nolan had pictured it, and she was delighted when her producer cut to a commercial break. He ran onto the set.

"We're done with this. Frankie, we'll go with that story on the state visit…Director Vance, I see you meant what you said."

"I told you not to show those pictures Mr Hudson, I warned you that this story angle was all wrong, but you didn't listen."

"I'll be sure to listen to what you have to say in future Director, and tell Agent McGee…"

"Don't…you've done enough. He doesn't need any false sentiment from you. Let's go Agent Gibbs, don't know about you, but I could use some fresh air."

Tim was still sitting open-mouthed; he couldn't believe what he'd just seen…and heard.

"They don't want me to resign?"

Tony was grinning broadly.

"Where did you get that idea from…come on Tim, I know we screwed up big style, but that was then, this is now…"

"What Gibbs said…about you all…protecting me…did you know about that?"

"You bet. Team McGee at your service 24/7!"

One Month Later

The team had been true to their word. Tim had been back at work, and in the field for two weeks, and although he was still much too thin, he was starting to put on some weight, his energy levels were much better, and his self-confidence was slowly returning…it was still a slow process, and the team was always on the look-out for any trouble.

This bright morning they were processing a crime scene, everyone intent on the tasks in hand. So they weren't aware of the man who slipped by the crime scene tape and made his way toward Tim.

"I thought I recognised you; saw you on ZNN."

Tony caught a glimpse of the intruder and was by Tim's side almost immediately.

"You need to get behind the tape."

"Oh…crime scene yeah…I just wanted to shake his hand."

He put out his hand to Tim.

"I'm Grady Hicks, shouldn't be here I know, but I wanted to say…what you went through…no one should go through that; even a guilty man deserves a fair trial, and you are innocent. For you to come back from that and still do your job…way I see it, that's real courage, and I just wanted to shake the hand of one of the bravest men I've ever seen."

Slowly Tim reached out his hand, and Hicks grasped it firmly, gave a hearty shake and was gone. Tim watched him ducking under the tape, and turned to his team mates with a bemused smile on his face. He knew this wasn't likely to happen much, but that even one person had taken the time to say and do what Hicks had done, it gave Tim a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe things could work out, and Team McGee could win through after all.

THE END

There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.

Og Mandino

/tmp/uploads/FF_2167702_