Did someone mention trouble?
Driving back from the hospital, Tim felt drained. Here he was driving Gibbs' beloved car that the man had built up with his own two hands, helped generously after the fact by his father and for some reason was trusting Tim to drive it now. That realization was keeping Tim on his toes and it was all he could do to remember to breathe behind the wheel. On top of his worry about his backseat passenger, it was a lot on his shoulders. It felt like the weight of the world.
As he kept his eyes on the road, a piece of his mind veered off course and settled on his emotional struggle wrapped up in taking Shyanne to see her daddy. It was really hard to watch that precious little girl suffer through this ordeal and not baby her too much or cuddle her to death and douse her with sympathy running over. It had been just as hard to do as the nurses insisted and let Andrew sleep instead of waking him up to visit with his daughter. Not being allowed into his room had left Tim no choice though, much as it had hurt him not to let Shyanne visit with the still recovering man. It brought to mind the need to spoil her to make up for it.
But, from his own experience he'd gained from helping to raise his sister, some eight years younger than himself, Tim knew that keeping as much normalcy in a child's life in the midst of a crisis such as this was key to maintaining their mental balance. Glancing in the rearview mirror as he stopped at the red light, he smiled at the sight of her in her car seat behind the passenger seat, softly humming to her doll as she rocked it in her arms. There you have it. Normal.
Returning his eyes to the road in front of him as the car behind him honked, Tim checked the light, noticed it had indeed turned green and eased his foot off the break. Feeling the classic car begin to move forward, Tim glanced over as his eyes took in the a blur of a big blue road hogging vehicle coming toward him. Taking in the breakneck speed it was coming at, as if their light was the one that had just changed to green. Tim stomped on the bake as he yanked the wheel hard to the right, hoping against hope that the other driver would miss them, but making damned sure if it didn't, his side would be the one they hit. "Hold on tight, Shy!" He yelled to her.
WHAM!
*****NCIS*******
Tim felt the car spin, the impact as the other vehicle slammed into the middle of Tim's side of his car, pushing them into the next lane of traffic with the light having already turned green, forcing them into the path of an oncoming four wheeled machine with an engine, trouble. WHAM!
Thank God, that hit was in the front on her side! Tim thought as he felt himself being bounced around, his head hitting the steering wheel and bouncing back into the seat, was it just once? Everything began to fade away, the screaming from the backseat, the sound of metal slamming into metal. Was that just once, too? Please, God, don't let her be hurt! Tim prayed, just before everything went black.
*****NCIS*******
Shyanne was beyond scared. Mr. Tim had turned the car so fast, she'd thought he was doing something wrong. She'd looked up and saw the car up close as it hit them, now that it was stuck to them. Even ash they spun around, she saw Mr. Tim's head hit the steering wheel and bounce back. She felt the car being moved and felt them being hit from the front on her side when they did move. But, most of all, she felt very, very, scared! And she felt alone. Mr. Tim wasn't moving. Mr. Gibbs wasn't here. Shyanne was alone but was too scared to get out of her seat. After all, every adult in her life had drilled it into her head not to ever get out of that car seat until they told her to.
Nothing hurt. She was just really scared, for Mr. Tim and for herself. Was he okay? This was a car accident, wasn't it? Tears began pouring down her face as she began to sob with overwhelming fear. This was how Mommy and Kira and Gammy and Granny all died, wasn't it? She never heard the pandemonium outside, as her emotions overloaded. Was Mr. Tim going to go to heaven now too? He had to wake up to answer her! As best she could, she slowed her crying down and the sobs dwindled away, leaving her only the tears and the sniffles. Now she could wake him up! She began yelling through her tears. "Mr. Tim! Mr. Tim! Mr. Tim!'
*****NCIS*******
"…im. Mr. Tim!..." returning to consciousness took more work than Tim could manage but the screaming of his name pulled him through it. Blinking to clear his vision, he forced himself to make his hands and arms work. Once he'd gotten them to work, wiping his eyes in hopes of clearing his sight, unbuckling himself so he could check on Shyanne. Shyanne! His heart dropped as he took in the sight of both cars that were now keeping Gibbs' car sandwiched in.
"Shyanne! Honey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" He asked her urgently as he worked to get his phone out of his shirt pocket, silently thanking God that he hadn't been thinking clearly enough to take it out earlier and lay it in the seat like he usually did.
"I'm... okay, Mr. ...Tim." The little girl told him around her tears. "You ...scared... me!"
"I'm sorry, Honey. It's gonna be okay, sweetheart, don't cry."
"But this is a acc…dent!"
"I know, honey. But you and I are both okay, right?"
"I think so."
"Right. Okay. We just need to sit here and make a phone call. All right?"
"Are we calling Daddy?"
"No, Baby. We're not disturbing daddy. We're calling for the people that take care of accidents."
"Oh."
And Gibbs. Tim muttered as his heart dropped to his boots. Dialling 911, Tim quickly gave their information and location. When they asked him to stay on the line, he declined, insisting they had no life threatening injuries that necessitated keeping the emergency agency's line tied up and he had another call of his own to make. Ending that call, he checked on Shyanne once more. "How you doing?"
"I'm okay." She said with as much firmness as she could muster.
"Good." Tim reassured her with a smile.
"Mr. Tim, why do you have to call Mr. Gibbs?" Shyanne asked.
"It's his car."
"Oh. Is he gonna be mad at you?"
"Yeah, that's a pretty safe bet." Tim replied dejectedly without giving it any thought. Without moving his head anymore, he continued to look at her as he got her to focus on what was important. "Okay. You and I both need to sit real still until the EMT's come check us over. Can you do that?" Tim asked her slowly and carefully so she'd understand the first time.
"But, Mr. Tim! You already moved!" Shyanne worried.
"I turned my head to check on you, yes. But that's all the moving I'm gonna do." Okay?" He reassured her. "Look We'll keep each other company til the get here okay?"
"Are they coming?" She continued to worry.
"Yes, sweetie. I promise you, they're on their way."
"I'm sleepy." She whined.
"No, We can't go to sleep right now okay?"
"Why not?" the five year old's bottom lip was beginning to stick out as she began to pout.
"Because we need a doctor to look at our boo-boo's first. OK?" Tim told her without hesitation, his tone firm enough he knew she'd take him seriously.
"Then we can go to sleep?" Shyanne asked with blatant hope in her tone.
"As soon as they tell us it's okay." Tim smiled at her. "I promise."
"Do you still have to call Mr. Gibbs?"
"Yeah." Tim raised the phone back up and hit the right button to call the man who was about to be more pissed at him than he'd ever been before. With a resigned sigh borne of fear, physical shakiness and absolute worry, he waited, taking the plunge, he wasted no time with greetings as the man answered the phone already on alert.
"Tim? Somethin' wrong?"
"I'm sorry, Boss." Tim offered nervously but with abject remorse.
"What happened, Tim? Are you all right? Is Shyanne all right?"
The arriving sirens overtook Tim's ability to hear anything Gibbs said. Frustrated and overloaded, Tim could only swallow hard around the tightness in his throat as he made sure he told Gibbs what the man needed to hear. "We're okay. Just got hit , pushed around and hit again. I think I totaled your car, Boss. I'm so sorry."
"Sir? Are you hurt Sir?" A young paramedic asked loudly as he arrived at Tim's glassless window.
"I want MR. GIBBS!" Shyanne cried out, scared now that there were new people in funny clothes bothering Mr. Tim while he was on the phone.
"Gotta go, the EMT's are here, Boss." Tim snapped his phone shut and looked back at Shyanne and offered the obviously stressed little girl an encouraging smile. "Everything's gonna be okay, sweetie. Ssshhh. Calm down. Okay?"
"SIR!"
"Just check Shyanne over first, please? I'm okay. I made sure neither one of us moved." Tim firmly stated without looking away from her.
"Mr. Tim moved his neck to check on me!" Shyanne told on him as a woman paramedic appeared at her window and began opening her door. "Is he gonna die now?"
"No, sweetie. Mr. Tim's gonna be okay. He was very smart not to let either of you move around." The cute female paramedic patiently explained to Shyanne. "We're gonna put a neck brace on the both of you to make sure you don't hurt anything by accident that might already be hurt, okay?"
Tim needed them to understand exactly what they were dealing with when it came to the 5 year old and he needed Shyanne to stay reminded that this accident was nothing like the one that had taken the three special members of her family to heaven and away from her. "Shyanne. I need you to remember that this is not Mommy's accident. Okay? Can you do that?"
Shyanne's lip trembled as she nodded.
"I promised you we're gonna be okay. And we are because these guys are here to make sure of it. Okay? So, do what they tell you, all right?"
"Okay, Mr. Tim."
"Okay. No one's gonna let anything bad happen to you." Tim vowed.
"Do you promise?" Shyanne asked with all seriousness.
"I promise."
"I promise you too, sweetie." The lady paramedic told her solemnly. She looked at Tim and nodded at him to let him know she got the message.
**********NCIS***********
Gibbs had felt his heart almost jump out of his chest as he'd taken that call from Tim, heard the physical pain in the young man's voice, the worry, sensed the helplessness he was feeling and the guilt about that stupid car.
Hearing Shyanne let it be known that she too, was upset and needed Gibbs, had the older man bolting for his truck, desperate to get to both of them. Leaving the resounding squeal of tires in his wake, he made his way towards where Tim had to have been coming from since he'd just come from taking the little girl to visit with her father.
Feeling it from both sides on this one, Gibbs' heart was racing and his compassion was already running over for the both of them. It wasn't long before he'd reached the scene of the accident. Parking as close it as he could get, he bulldozed his way through the crowd as politely as he could, forcefully insisting he was the victims' father and grandfather and was needed by both until at long last, he was allowed to see Tim and Shyanne, both of whom were already being moved to the waiting ambulences.
"Tim!" Gibbs stopped only when when he'd reached his agent's gurney. Taking Tim's hand in his own, he brushed the young man's hair back off his face with the other hand as his eyes traveled to Shyanne's gurney to see for himself that she was in fact all right..
"I'm so sorry." Tim said again as he looked into his boss' eyes. "I know that car was your pride and joy – from your dad. "
"Tim – it's a car, son. You're what's irreplacable." Gibbs looked down at his agent as he spoke to him, his tone soothing and parental as his long dormant abilities to be a dad kicked in.
Swallowing hard, Tim could only nod. "Where's Shyanne?" he panicked now that she'd been taken from the car and out of his sight.
"She's right here, Sir." The female paramedic reassured him as she continued to focus her attention on the little girl.
"Why is she so quiet?" Shyanne? Honey?"
Using his hand to cup Tim's cheek, Gibbs tried to calm him. "Easy, Tim. I've got her. You just let them take care of you."
Fear for the little girl's possible injuries left Tim shaking with worry. Tim couldn't tear his eyes away from those blue ones he was trusting in right now. His world was being shaken like a snow globe and he still couldn't feel anything to hold onto - except Gibbs' strength and his promise to be there.
"She is okay. And I will be there, son." The Team Leader vowed, seeing Tim desperately search for something to hold onto.
"Thanks, Boss." Tim whispered as exhaustion threatened to take him under.
"TIM!" Gibbs' hated to see his surrogate son lose the battle to stay awake what with the possible injuries he might have still not having been found or tended to.
"It's okay, Sir. We've got him. Go with the little patient." The male paramedic encouraged him with a nod in the direction of Shyanne's ride.
Gibbs nodded at the EMT's that were loading the now withdrawn Shyanne into her own ambulance "Any injuries?"
"None that we can see." The female EMT told him.
"Give me a minute?"
"One minute." The warning was given to remind him they really needed to move.
Gibbs jogged up to the nearest cop who was actively writing something down and shooting photos of the wreck. "Who's in charge?"
The cop looked up and straigtened up. "That would be my Captain. And you are?"
"NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. MY agent and my granddaughter were in the middle car. "
"Beauty of a car, I'll bet – before this. "
"Yeah. It was. Mine."
"Ooh. Sorry."
"I need copies of everything sent to NCIS as soon as possible. Can you make that happen?"
"Yes, Sir. I certainly can."
"Okay. Good. Thank you." Gibbs turned and jogged back to Shyanne's ambulance and got up in it, perching himself on the edge of her gourney. "Shyanne. Honey, talk to me."
"Mr. Gibbs?" Shyanne asked with tears in her eyes.
"Yes, Honey?" Gibbs snuggled her even closer when the sight of her tears almost tore his heart out again.
"Are you mad at Mr. Tim?"
"No. Why would you ask me that?"
"He broked your car."
"Honey, he didn't break my car. The people that hit him did that. And even if he had broken it, I wouldn't be mad at him. What's important is that neither of you got hurt." Gibbs reassured her quietly .
"Promise?" She begged as she tried to quiet her sniffles.
"Promise."
**********NCIS***********
Two hours later Gibbs was sitting in the waiting room with Shyanne, who'd been given a clean bill of health with no injuries. While Tim was still being subjected to a battery of tests to make sure of his own similar diagnosis, the youngest and the oldest of the three, patiently waited. Sleepy and finally being left alone to get comfortable, Shyanne was drifting toward sleep while she remained tucked up in Gibbs' lap, just as she had been earlier that morning.
Between the double hit in the car and the scary ambulance ride, not to mention all the poking and prodding by the doctors, she was more than ready to skip out on everything going on around her and get some rest. In an effort to help, the silver haired man kept one of his hands on her back, making small circular soothing motions as she closed her eyes.
"Hey Pretty Girl!" A new voice rang out from the doorway of the room. Startled, Gibbs and Shyanne both look in the direction the voice came from.
"UNCLE DUT!"
In a flash, Shyanne was out of Gibbs' arms and flying across the room into the arms of the newly arrived man who happened to be the spitting image of her father, well, almost. There was no doubt they're brothers or that Shyanne loved him dearly, her repeated calling out of his name giving testament to that. "Uncle Dut! Where were you? Daddy got hurt! Did you bring Luke?"
"I know, sweetie. I know. Uncle Dut's sorry he couldn't get here sooner. But, he's here now. Okay? No, Luke's not with me. But ya got me!"
"Okay!"
"C'mon, Uncle Dut needs to talk to Agent Gibbs." The young man directed his niece as they walked over to Gibbs together.
"Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Tim are nice, Uncle Dut! Mr. Gibbs got me a dog! Oh, no! Mr. Gibbs! Rex is probly hungry!" Shyanne prattled, full of exciting things to tell her beloved uncle.
Gibbs smiled reassuringly at her. "I fed him before I came, sweetie. I promise both of 'em are fine."
"Good!" Shyanne stated firmly.
The little girl's uncle stuck his hand out, obviously looking for a handshake. "Agent Gibbs. Dustin Edwards. I owe you a lot. Lookin' after my older brother, takin' care of Shy, makin' sure the person responsible's…..well…. you know."
For Shyanne's sake, Gibbs accepted the handshake, but said nothing. Dustin nodded. Sighing heavily, he made a request. "Can you give me just a sec?"
Gibbs nodded and watched with a wry smile as the younger man took his niece by the hand and led her to a chair just ten feet away from them. Dustin Edwards sat down next to his niece and pulled out his phone. "Sweetie, do Uncle Dut a favor and stay right here and watch Peppa Pig on his phone? Or play one of the games I have on there for you. okay?"
"Peppa Pig! Thank you, Uncle Dut!" Shyanne scooted back in her seat and turned her full attention to the phone her uncle handed her.
Traversing the length of the room, Dustin drew Gibbs away from his niece and stood at the window, obviously wanting to talk, both of them keeping a sharp eye on the 5 year old as they stood side by side now.
"I spoke with Captain Reynolds. He filled me in on everything., including the fact that he told you I already hired a lawyer to get custody of Shyanne. I'm not trying to start a war here. I'm doing what I think is right for Shyanne."
"Your brother…."
"I'm not Jordan, Agent Gibbs. I would never hurt my brother or his daughter!" Dustin threw out angrily, while trying to keep his voice quiet.
"Didn't say you'd hurt them. Was tryin' to tell you that your brother 's the one who asked that she not be allowed to go with anyone in his family." Gibbs told him, his tone clearly irritated.
"That doesn't surprise me. Andrew's always suspected foul play in Mamma's accident. He hasn't dealt with her death or Renee or Kiara's very well. Hell, even Renee's mother's death has been hard on him. He loved her like he loved Mamma, almost." The young man replied, his eyes glued to his niece across the room.
"And he thinks one of you in the family has something to do with it."
"Yeah." Dustin breathed out in a tired sigh. "What he can't accept is that no one wanted Mamma gone. Renee maybe – she could be a real….witch – especially to Andrew. But he loved her so much, he put up with anything. " Dustin continued to look over at Shyanne for a long minute before he looked back at Gibbs. "NO one would have EVER hurt Kiara like that or taken her away from Shyanne like that or their mother away from the girls like that!"
"Uncle Dut?" The five year old's worried call sounded from across the room.
"It's okay, sweetie. We're just talkin'."
"Okay." Shyanne returned her attention to the phone
"Can't go against his wishes. Have to hear it from him." Gibbs stood firm in his position.
"Okay. Okay. Then let's talk to him. I need to talk to him anyway." Dustin agreed calmly.
"When they'll let us in."
"I'll go check with the nurses." The younger man began to walk across the room towards the door.
Gibbs didn't move to go with him.
Dustin looked back as he stopped. "You're not comin'?"
"I've got an agent still bein' checked out."
"Oh, right. The car accident. I'd ask her about it, but I don't wanna be bringin' anything up for her, ya know?"
Gibbs' respect for the man wedged up a knotch. Still, he couldn't let him take Shyanne without confirmation from Andrew. Somehow he doubted that would happen. Then again, as firmly attached to the man as the 5 year old was, might just mean it will happen.
"I'll go talk to the nurses while you wait. Is he all right, your agent?"
"Hopefully just bumps and bruises." Gibbs replied.
"Mr. Tim made sure that car didn't hit me, Uncle Dut!" Shyanne piped in, obviously hearing more than they'd given her credit for. "Then he went to sleep."
"Well, we'll have to thank him then, won't we?" Dustin asked her as he bent down and kissed her noisly on the cheek before talking to her. once more. "Uncle Dut's gonna go talk to daddy's nurses. Okay?" I'll be right back."
"Promise?" Shyanne asked with obvious worry.
"I promise! Look. you can stand right here in the doorway and watch me while I talk to them if you want."
Shyanne hopped down from her chair and planted herself in the doorway, her eyes not leaving her uncle.
Gibbs chuckled as he picked up the chair she'd vacated and set it down where she could still see the man, picking her up and setting her gently down in it without a word to disturb her concentration. Watching for Tim's return with one eye while watching over Shyanne with the other, soon had the silver-haired man wishing for a fresh cup of hot coffee as worry for him began to settle in. Tim had lost consciousness. Had his agent fessed up about that to his doctors here? How bad of a hit did he take from that steering wheel?
With a mental sigh of exhaustion, Gibbs realized he hadn't even spared a moment's thought to look at the state of his car back at the accident scene. He hadn't even cared about it. His only thought and concern had been Tim and Shyanne. Truth be told, he still didn't care to see it. The accident report would reveal it all to him, anyway.
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind, than he was treated to the sight of Tim being wheeled back towards him, still compliantly sitting in the wheelchair he'd been rolled towards the x-ray technician's room a while ago. With his eyes looking like they were glued wide open, his hands listlessly laying in his lap, his surrogate son was the epitome of exhausted mixed with miserable. Instantly, Gibbs was on his feet and making sure Tim knew he was still there for him.
His tone, quiet, parental and compassionate, the silver-haired man, stooped down to Tim's level and spoke to him. "Hey. How ya feelin'?"
Tim tried to smile at him but couldn't muster it. He ached all over and he had zero energy. The headache from hell wasn't helping either, especially on the heels of all the hurtful poking and prodding he'd just endured. He'd been promised pain meds as soon as he ate a bite of dinner but didn't even want to think of trying to force his stomach to accept anything. A tiny smile crossed his face as he caught sight of Shyanne hopping down from her chair to come join them. "Mr. Tim, are you okay?"
"Yes, Honey. Just tired and sore. Are you okay?" Tim told her as he forced himself to reach out a hand to take hold of her little one.
"I'm fine and Uncle Dut's here to get me and we're gonna go see Daddy and Daddy's gonna let me go with Uncle Dut and we're gonna take my new doggie home and everything!" The little girl's exuberance as she bounced where she stood on her toes was contagious and a lift to their spirits.
Tim looked at his boss in confusion. "Uncle Dut?"
"That…would be me." The man in question returned to their midst and introduced himself to Tim. "You're Mr. Tim, I take it?" Dustin asked with an engaging small laugh.
"That'd be me." Tim admitted quietly. "You're Andrew's brother."
"Here to help, not hurt." Dustin kept his meaning bland for his niece's sake.
Tim nodded tiredly as he physically began to fade. He couldn't deal with any of this right now.
Gibbs nodded at the orderly waiting to take Tim to his room. "We'll be right behind ya."
"No visitors under…."
"This little minx is the exception to the no one under the age of 8." Tim's doctor added as he walked in to talk to Gibbs. "Brief visits only, though. Ten minutes, tops. Agent McGee needs rest."
"Actually, Shyanne and I are going to visit my brother." Dustin intervened.
Gibbs looked decidedly unhappy about that. Tim knew the boss needed to be there for that. "It's okay, Boss. I'll be fine."
The older man nodded as he looked down at Tim. "I'll check in you in a few."
Silently, Tim nodded in agreement. He didn't want the boss worried about him or even focusing on him. Silently, he nodded at the orderly helping him and together they crossed the threshold of Tim's room, quietly closing the door behind them and the doctor who'd silently witnessed it all.
