A Nightmare on M Street
Epilogue
It had been two weeks since the final confrontation, three weeks since the FBI had first contacted the team, and still they had nothing. Fornell informed Gibbs that Thorne was almost beside himself, convinced that the whole thing was some sort of conspiracy to ruin his career, and that he personally, although unofficially, blamed Fornell for the whole mess. Gibbs said nothing, but Fornell suspected he knew a lot more than he was letting on. Par for the course.
Tim had finally returned to his apartment the day after his last dream about Talbot, happy to be home, and slightly amused that his teammates still insisted on staying with him. This led to more movie watching than he had ever cared to experience, although he had successfully put his foot down when Tony suggested a certain series of 80's horror "classics", threatening to make him sit through every 80's horror remake in existence if he persisted. He was backed up by both Ziva and Abby.
The old nightmares that had plagued Tim for years were finally gone. When he mentioned this to Ducky, the M.E. suggested that perhaps he didn't need them any longer, and that his role in the case that had spurned them was finally over and his conscience had allowed him a well deserved reprieve.
When his vacation time came up, Tim scheduled a flight—chartered, not commercial—to Jacksonville, where he paid a visit to several cemeteries in the area. He left a total of fifteen roses, one at each of fifteen graves, with the last and most recent still bearing the evidence of its creation.
A book about Talbot's life and death was published a year later, with the proceeds going to victim relief organizations. It sold well, even though the events following Talbot's execution were not mentioned. Many were surprised that the author, a previous New York Times Bestseller list alumnus, had switched to non-fiction. Others were not surprised at all.
As time went on, the memory of what the members of the MCRT had experienced faded to the point where some, but not all, wondered if all of it really just had been a dream. Of those who still remembered, they took comfort in the knowledge that, real or nightmare, it was truly and finally over.
Right?
The End