Chapter 7

Tim led his father down into the basement, and he watched as his father looked around curiously.

"This man builds boats in this small space?" he asked.

"Yes," Tim said. "He has for years."

The selkie looked around again and his brow furrowed.

"I see no way for them to get out."

Tim smiled. It figured that even a selkie would be flummoxed by Gibbs and his mysterious boats.

"No one does, but Gibbs manages it somehow."

The selkie nodded once and then refocused.

"I am sorry," he said.

"Sorry? You are? Why?" Tim asked.

The selkie smiled. "Because I am responsible for the law that has you bound."

"But I thought that the law was always there."

"On land, men make laws. They do not appear out of nowhere," the selkie said. "It is the same for selkies."

"But that must have happened a long time ago."

"Yes."

"How...old are you?"

"I do not know how to answer that question. I have lived for a long time. Longer than any other selkie."

"In the herd?"

"Longer than any other selkie," he said again. "Any other selkie who now lives. The one who bore me had been trapped on land by a human man but she escaped to return to the sea. As I grew, I survived while others died. The herd grew larger. Some of us left our original space and came to these waters. And I had lived longer. I and others who had lived long made laws to help us in these new waters. Only I remain of those who made the laws."

"You carry your age very well," Tim said, smiling a little.

And it was true. He might guess the selkie to be in his fifties, but no older than that. And yet, his mother had said that he hadn't changed in appearance in the thirty odd years it had been since she'd last seen him.

"Selkies do not... age. We grow and die."

Tim nodded.

"But you must not die at the hands of the herd."

It was said so calmly that Tim almost missed it.

"I know the law," Tim said. "You have to obey it."

"Unless that law is changed."

"How will you get them to change the law?"

"By forcing the herd to think. We live by tradition because it must be successful if it has lasted. We are saved by the law, but we should not be slaves to that law. I never intended the law to become hard as rock. The law was made, but it was made to be soft enough to change the shape if it became necessary. There are too many who make it rock, who make the law more important than the herd. The herd must survive, but you are a part of that herd. The herd does not exist without the selkies making it up."

"Will they listen?" Tim asked, trying to keep his focus where it needed to be and not on all the revelations he'd just had in the last few minutes.

"I do not know. Two have already listened, but two among many is not many."

"I don't want anyone to die for me, especially not you," Tim said.

"I do not wish to die for you," the selkie said.

Tim smiled. That was such a selkie thing to say. It was something that humans wouldn't understand. He was being honest in a way that many humans were not.

"Good. I'm glad we agree on that much. Will they give me a chance or will I just be killed?"

"I do not think they want to give you a chance, but I think that there may be enough to listen who will."

"I get it. They're afraid."

"No. We do not feel human emotions."

"That's a lie," Tim said. "Even you are partly human. You just said so. Most selkies probably have some human genes, so they have the capacity for emotions. You don't pursue them, and I get that. I'm not saying you have to, but the selkies are afraid of being discovered. And what happened last year only made the fear more real. You're not used to it, and it's making the herd react much more strongly than they might have a few years ago."

The selkie was quiet and then he nodded.

"You may be correct. Perhaps it is fear. Whether you are right or not, the problem remains of what we will do to keep them from allowing that fear to control them."

"Are you sure that you want to be involved in this?"

"I must be. There is no choice."

"Why not?"

"Because I promised the one you call your mother that I would always watch out for you. She required that promise of me when she gave you to the herd. I promised her. Because of that, I must be part of whatever happens to you. A selkie cannot break a promise and be what he is. That is why I have left the herd. If it was simply a matter of proposing a change in the law, I would do that with the herd. In this case, I must help you regardless of what the herd does."

"What if that leads to...violence?"

"Then, that must be. I do not wish it, but I will not resist it. I will fight to survive as I always have and I will fight to protect you if I must. They will be forced to understand."

"But how?"

"That is the question we must ask and answer very quickly," the selkie said. "If we do not, it will be too late make a decision."

"How much time do you think we have?"

"The time it takes for the fire in the sky to return twice, but no more. Perhaps less."

"That's not much time. How did you get down here so fast?"

"I believe it is called a car."

"You drove? You know how to drive?"

The selkie smiled. "I observed those you are with when we sought you out. It was simple."

"How did you get a car?"

"It was called a rental, I believe."

"But how... Nevermind." Trying to get at exactly how his father had managed to get hold of a car and drive it all the way down the coast without killing himself or anyone else was beside the point. "Will you try to keep my friends out of it?"

"Do you think they will allow that? I am doubtful."

"So am I."

"Then, it would be a waste of this time to try to stop them."

"Then, they should be in on it from the beginning."

"You wish their help to plan?"

"Yes."

The selkie quietly considered that for a few minutes. Tim was feeling more than a little antsy, but at the same time, he knew that the selkie was having to think very differently from how selkies generally thought. He himself had realized just how firmly ingrained the idea of avoiding human contact was, even after 20 years on land. And who knew just how old his father was?

"Very well," the selkie said, finally. "More of them means more to fight if it comes to that."

"I hope it doesn't," Tim said.

"As do I, but it is best to be ready. We should go now and join them."

"Okay."

They climbed the stairs and went back out to the living room.

"Well?" Tony asked.

"They will be coming," Tim said. "And..." He paused, still surprised at what his father had said.

"And I will not allow this one to be killed by the herd."

"So what do we do, then?" Abby asked.

"That's what we need to figure out and soon," Tim said. "And preferably without anyone having to die."

"Including you," Gibbs said.

"Including me," Tim said.

"Good. Just as long as that's clear," Tony said.

"It is."

"Will it come down to a fight?" Ducky asked.

"It is possible, but they will not want that," the selkie said. "Too many human deaths will lead to questions, and humans should not know about it in the first place."

"Does that mean us being there will make it worse, then?" Jimmy asked.

"It is possible, but you are known to be aware of our existence. That is not new information."

"Do you have any ideas?" Ducky asked.

The selkie shook his head. "This is nothing that has ever happened before. Nothing about this is something that has been experienced. Thus, I do not know what will work and what will not."

"Will they come inland?" Tony asked.

"Not all of them. It is much more likely that they will come here and wait for news that this one has gone to the sea."

"So we will have to go to them," Ziva said. "I do not like that idea. It is their advantage."

"It is mine as well," the selkie said, mildly. "And this one is also having an advantage, although he is young."

"He's not that young. He's in his thirties," Abby said.

"What does this mean?" the selkie asked.

"Abby, my dad is lot older than I would have thought," Tim interjected.

"How much older?"

"I don't know, but way older. Compared to him, I am young."

Abby got a curious expression on her face, and Tim knew she was seconds away from trying to grill the selkie to find out just how old he was.

"Regardless, advantage or not, we should focus on how we might be able to avoid putting anyone's fighting skills to the test," Ducky said, pulling the attention away from the selkie's age back to the issue at hand.

"It is good to be prepared to fight," the selkie said. "That is sometimes the only answer."

"I agree, but with the exception of myself, everyone in this room is prepared to fight to survive."

"You do not wish to survive?" the selkie asked. "Then, why do you live?"

Tim shook his head.

"We're getting off topic here, I think," he said. "If we're going to do this, we'll have to be prepared to go to the beach to do it. They won't come here."

"Yes, and they will come soon."

"Then, what do we do?" Abby asked. "Tim, you've been so happy and that can't stop. I don't want you to go back to what you were like before!"

Abby hugged him tightly and Tim smiled.

"That won't happen, Abby. No matter what else, that will never happen. I couldn't go through that again and survive it."

"And you should not," the selkie said. "It was much to ask one time, more than any other selkie could do. That you did it one time speaks to your strength."

Abby let him go and smiled but it was a worried smile because, Tim knew, she had heard the unspoken meaning to what he said.

I would rather die.

He didn't have to say it, although maybe he should, but he didn't want to give that additional distraction. It was one thing to say it to Gibbs. It was another to say it to everyone.

"If we will not come in force," Ziva said, "how will we stop this from happening?"

"We need to make them listen," Tim said. "I'm just not sure what is the best way to do that."

"Then, let's talk about that," Gibbs said, taking charge.

They began to discuss what they could do to get Tim free of the selkies. Tim said little. The selkie said little, but they were all there with the same goal.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

It was late in the evening and everyone had finally gone home. Well, almost everyone. Gibbs had decided that Tim was not going to be alone in his apartment until they figured this out. The selkie was also staying close by. Currently, he was in the bathtub, in his seal form, trying to listen for any whispers of how far away the selkies were from D.C.

No decisions had been made, no plans really formed at this point, but they were currently trying to figure out some way to get Tim to the sea but keep him surrounded until the selkies could be forced to listen to reason. Would it work? Who knew? Even though they'd lived with the idea of Tim being a selkie for more than a year, they knew next to nothing about the selkies themselves.

Now, Gibbs sat in the living room, looking out to the backyard where Tim was sitting, holding his own seal skin.

His seal skin.

Gibbs found that he was still a bit boggled by the realization that his agent was truly able to turn into a seal if he wanted to. He was also more than a little surprised that Tim had genuinely been able to hide this as long as he had. Months. He hadn't been able to hide his happiness, but no one had made the connection and for good reason.

Who could have imagined that Tim would be able to regrow his destroyed seal skin?

Even Tim hadn't known. His father hadn't known. No one had known.

So, even beyond the next couple of days, what now?

Finally, Gibbs got up and walked out to the back steps where Tim was sitting. He sat down beside Tim.

For a long time, there was just silence. Then, still without speaking or making eye contact, Tim held out his skin. Gibbs hesitated for a moment. Then, he reached out and touched it. It was supple and smooth. And alive. This wasn't leather or suede or any other type of dead animal hide. It was a real thing that was still living. The reality of this was becoming more and more cemented in Gibbs' head.

Tim was a selkie. He could turn into a seal.

Gibbs knew that Abby would want to figure out how all this worked scientifically, but Gibbs didn't care about that. He cared that this could truly alter how things worked on the MCRT.

Tim pulled the skin back and began to stroke it, almost lovingly. Still no words being said. They weren't really necessary. Gibbs could see that Tim's attachment to his seal skin was genuine. He had said it made him whole, and the more Gibbs saw him with it, the more he understood how accurate that description was. Tim was whole. No one had realized it simply because they'd never seen him that way before. Now that they had, it was almost painful to know how long Tim had lived without that feeling.

Then, finally, Tim sighed, still looking at his skin, not at Gibbs.

"All I want is to be happy, Boss. Why is that wrong? Why can't they just let me be happy for once in my life?"

Gibbs didn't say anything. It wasn't really a question that was supposed to be answered. Not right at this moment.

"The selkies are stealing my life from me just as much as that woman did when she took my skin. They're trying to destroy me, not because of anything I've actually done but because of what others have done in the past. Yes, I broke the law, but it's because of the fear they have of humans that this is their response. I nearly died last year, trying to protect them. Why would they think I'd betray them now?"

Another question not really wanting an answer. So Gibbs didn't answer it. He just sat where he was and listened.

"It's like I've been rejected by both sides."

That required a response.

"No, you haven't."

"It feels like it. You know what humans would do if they found out what I am. The selkies want to kill me. Is there anyplace that's safe?"

"Yes. We'll figure this out."

"In time?"

"Yes."

That had to be the answer, even if Gibbs had no idea if things would work out or not. The answer had to be yes.

The door opened and Gibbs turned. Tim didn't. Gibbs didn't know if it was because Tim knew who it was or if he just was too wrapped up in everything to care.

It was the selkie. His expression was grave.

"They will be here tomorrow. By tomorrow night, we must know what we will do. If we do not, the herd will decide for us."