Gibbs found Tony staring out a window at the night sky. "You okay?"

"I'm not the one you should be asking."

"Affects us all, one of us is going to be the father of that kid."

"And what happens, then?" Finally giving in to his frustration, DiNozzo spun around. "Maybe it doesn't bother you, but I'm not looking forward to introducing McGeek to my next girlfriend as the mother of my child."

Gibbs hitched his hip up on the window sill. "Is he asking you to?"

"No, not yet. Kid deserves two parents, though." Shrugging, Tony leaned his shoulder against the cold glass.

"Single dad, he might catch the attention of some pretty young thing." Gibbs looked at enthused about that prospect as Tony.

"A stepmom that considered the kid an afterthought? That sucks, believe me, I know." He looked closer at Gibbs. "You'd really be okay with it being yours, wouldn't you?"

There was a wistful look before Gibbs turned to look out the window. "Been a long time since anybody's called me daddy."

-NCIS-

"This all of them?" Patricia Hughes looked at the three men before returning her attention to Ducky. When he nodded she pulled a device out of her pocket. "Tim needs his rest, but before I chase everyone out for the night, I thought you might like to take a listen."

Tim's belly was exposed, the new scar still bright red. He seemed relaxed and she placed one end of the device on his skin, the cord stretching back to the speaker in her other hand. It took her just a moment and a rapid whooshing sound filled the room. Gibbs and Vance smiled in recognition, while Tony wasn't sure.

"Is that?"

"The baby's heartbeat."

Tony's attention kept bouncing between the sound and the doctor. "It's really fast, is it supposed to be that fast?"

She smiled at the question she'd heard so many times over the years. "It's right where we want it to be." Letting them listen for a bit longer, she was slow to pull the fetal doppler away.

Tim was obviously exhausted and as soon as he was covered back up, they all slipped out of the room. Tony was staring at the now closed door and jumped when a hand rested on his back. He shook his head at Gibbs. "Wow, it didn't seem real before, you know?"

"It's real, Tony, very real." Gibbs had conned a cup of coffee from the nurses and headed back inside the room just as Dr. Hughes came around the corner.

"I thought I sent all of you home."

"He's staying. Besides, Tim will probably sleep better with him here."

-NCIS-

Leon Vance had one more duty to fulfill before he could finally put the day behind him. Returning to the office where he would be alone, he made a phone call he'd been dreading since the moment of the rescue. It was late enough in California that he knew Admiral McGee would also be alone in his office. The phone rang twice before it was answered by a gruff voice.

This is Admiral McGee speaking.

"Admiral, it's Leon Vance. Tim was successfully rescued earlier today."

Thank God. Has the removal of the device taken place yet?

"Sir, your son has opted not to terminate."

He's been a prisoner for months, he's not in his right mind, obviously. Override his decision and get that monstrosity out of my son before it kills him.

"I'm sorry, we can't do that." As Vance had suspected, it was getting ugly, quickly.

You mean, you won't. Fine, I'll go to court, establish legal guardianship until Timmy is thinking clearly again.

"He's thinking quite clearly and I would highly recommend against such an action. He will need your support, not your condemnation."

What he needs is to have that science experiment ended before it destroys his life.

Before Vance could think of a way to convince the man, he was speaking to a dial tone.

-NCIS-

As he'd suspected, it was less than an hour before McGee woke, not knowing where he was. Gibbs reached out and laid a hand on Tim's arm. "Easy, McGee, you're safe."

"Boss?"

"Yeah, Tim." Gibbs straightened out the blankets before he sat back, smiling as Tim instinctively rubbed his hand over his bump. "You're both safe." Gibbs found his hand resting on Tim's. "I give you my word."

Tim easily went back to sleep and Gibbs continued to watch him in the soft light.

-NCIS-

Vance didn't turn on any lights as he crept into the bedroom, but Jackie woke anyways. "Sorry, sweetheart, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay, how's he doing?" Her sleepy voice made him smile.

"Surprisingly good." Vance quickly stripped down to his boxers and joined her on the bed. "But things could get pretty difficult real soon."

Jackie rolled onto her side to face her husband. "Why, what's happened?"

"His father's threatening to go to court, claim that he was mentally damaged by the ordeal."

Now wide awake, she raised up on one arm. "What good would that do him?"

Leon couldn't quite hide his anger. "If he has him declared incompetent, he could be named Tim's legal guardian and authorize the removal of the womb and fetus."

"That's Tim's decision to make. We can't let the Admiral do that, Leon."

"Don't worry, Jackie. I'll get the legal department on it first thing in the morning." He kissed her forehead as she settled against him. "Hopefully his dad will calm down and see reason. Tim doesn't need the stress."

-NCIS-

"Good morning, Abby, have you been here all night?" Ziva arrived in the lab to find the Goth in full whirlwind mode.

Abby flew by, grabbing the Caf-Pow! Ziva held out for her. "There's like Gigabytes of data that's all encrypted, Ziva, and it's all important to make sure Timmy has a healthy baby. Then there's all the lab equipment that got logged in as evidence. Some of it I don't even know what it's used for and some of it's been modified especially for McGee. They can't even give him an ultrasound until I figure out how to get a clear image through the synthetics and I can't send this ultrasound machine over there until we're done with it because that might mess up the case and then McGee and Mini-McGee might not be safe and..."

Ziva managed to catch her on her third pass. "Abby, Abby, slow down. Now, what is the most important?"

"The files, but like I said, they're encrypted, like super duper heavy duty encrypted. The kind of encryption that would have McGee tearing out his hair if he were here, but he's not and..."

"And you will do your best." Ziva laid her hands on Abby's cheeks. "McGee is doing fine, the baby is doing fine. They are being released from the hospital later today. That is a good thing, yes?"

Abby grinned at the reminder. "Yeah, it's a very good thing."

-NCIS-

"Hey, Boss." Tony stuck his head in through the door before coming in the room, lugging a duffel bag. "I brought McGee some clothes like you asked. Hey, McGee, you're awake."

McGee ate a spoonful of oatmeal before waving his spoon in greeting as he swallowed it down. "Thanks, Tony."

"No problem." Remembering the message he'd been given, Tony turned to Gibbs. "Director wants to talk to you ASAP."

Gibbs glanced over at the widening green eyes behind Tony. "He say what it was about?" When Tony shook his head, Gibbs made a decision.

"All right, I'm going to go get a decent cup of coffee and give him a call. Tony, can you stay here until I get back?"

"Sure, Boss." Once Gibbs was gone, Tony sprawled in the chair by the bed. When McGee pushed the tray table back, his baby bump was visible. The question popped out before he could stop it. "Can you feel it?"

Tim didn't pretend to not know what he was talking about. "When I turn a certain way, I can feel like a pressure from the edge of the artificial womb, but I've pretty much gotten used to it."

"What about the baby, can you feel it kicking?"

"Not yet, but neither would a woman at this stage." Tim studied his friend. "This really freaks you out, doesn't it?"

Tony couldn't quite pull off the nonchalant as well as he was hoping. "No, well... maybe a little. Listening to the heartbeat last night was pretty cool, though."

"Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" Tim beamed as he thought about it. "There's a little person growing inside me, Tony, and that's really cool."

Falling silent, Tony continued to stare at McGee's midsection. Tim could tell his friend was working up to something, so he waited. Eventually, Tony started speaking, still staring at Tim's belly. "It wasn't real until last night, you know? I mean, you're really having a baby."

"I know. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen the ultrasound when they told me." Tim rubbed his bump as he watched Tony's reaction. "You don't want to become a father this way."

Tony winced at how it sounded. "I know I shouldn't care about what people think, but..."

"But two men having a child together pretty much screams gay couple and that's kinda hard to explain to any women you're hoping to date. Believe me, I understand. I've had a lot of time to think about this." Tim waited until Tony looked up at him. "I'm not asking for anything from the biological father. I had the right to stop this after I was rescued, but it was my choice to continue. You guys weren't willing participants and I'm not going to force this on any of you."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not the first single father in the world, even if I'm the first to have it happen this way and I'd rather have a supportive friend than a father I've forced into the situation."

"Thanks, man. I guess I just need more time to really wrap my head around it, you know? Besides, there's three of us in the running, so..."

Not liking the faint smell of the oatmeal, Tim moved the tray further away. "Yeah, it'll be really hard on Mrs. Vance and their kids if it turns out to be him, but Gibbs seems really okay with it."

Tony couldn't help but notice the slight smile that crossed McGee's face at the mention of Gibbs, but a nurse bustled in before he could tease the younger man.

"Here we go, sweetie. I've marked your chart about the bananas, but let's see if this sits a little better." She set a bowl of orange wedges on the table and took the breakfast tray.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Bananas?"

"Most of the morning sickness is getting better, but just the smell of bananas make me puke." Tim started to glare at Tony's calculating grin, but his salvation came through the door.

"Don't even think about it, DiNozzo."

"Of course not, Boss." Tony instinctively rubbed the back of his head, even though Gibbs was still across the room from him while Tim snickered and started eating the orange.

Dr. Hughes came in just as McGee was finishing. "Well, Tim, the nurses tell me you had a restful night, so we're going to do a quick check and let you get out of here. I'll be spending the rest of the day at the Navy Yard working with Dr. Mallard and Miss Sciuto, so I'll be close if you need me."

Tony made his excuses and quickly left before the exam started, but Gibbs moved closer and watched intently as she palpitated the skin over his abdomen.

"Well?"

She pulled the sheet back up before turning around. "As far as I can tell, everything appears to be fine. We're definitely in uncharted waters here, so the sooner I can study Davidson's research, the better."

Once she'd left, Tim turned to Gibbs. "We're going to the Yard?"

Gibbs wasn't surprised that McGee had picked up on her comment about being close. "For a little while, we have a meeting with legal."

"Why?" Tim set aside the sweatshirt he was going to wear and replaced it with a sweater from the bag. "Is the case moving that fast?"

Gibbs helped Tim thread his legs through a pair of drawstring pants, so he wouldn't have to bend over. "There's a situation developing with your father."

"He knows? Let me guess, he's embarrassed about having a pregnant son."

"More like he's convinced that you're not able to make the proper decisions right now."

"Proper as in what he wants, in other words. I'm an adult, there's nothing he can do about it."

Gibbs hated to do this. "Unless he convinces a judge that you're incapable of making an informed decision."

"What?" Tim sat on the edge of the bed, barely remembering to pull the sweater on the rest of the way. "You think he's actually going to try something like that?"

"I'm sorry, McGee, his lawyer filed the petition this morning."

"Crap." Tim dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his forehead. "He's always been a 'my way or the highway' kind of guy, but I thought that was over when I turned eighteen.

Gibbs dropped down onto one knee so he could see McGee's face. "Hey, you're not alone. We're not going to let anyone take your choices away from you, okay?"


a/n - I'm working on chapter 12, so I'm starting to catch up with myself. Next week might go back to posting three times a week, but I'll do my best to keep up the current pace. I was hoping to have a four day weekend to write, but that's not happening.