Hello again. Thank you everyone for the kind words in the reviews. I am glad you guys are enjoying the story, I know I am enjoying writing it. Now to address some of the questions and comments in the reviews.
Luvable- The reason Jared seems reluctant to show his emotions is because he is at that age when he is more reserved and less likely to show his emotions. Jared does understand the situation and has no problem with Tim he is just a bit shy and doesn't know Tim all that well.
BloodWolf83- I'm making sure I don't over do it. Though I do need to fix my sleep cycle because right now I'm going to bed at 5 in the morning and waking up at 1 in the afternoon. I can't exactly do that anymore because marching band camp starts soon and I have to be ready to work at 7:30 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.
Sarcastic-5ever- Your questions will be answered in this chapter.
Everyone else- thanks for all the words of encouragement.
"Shot? How is that possible and us not know about it? How old is the wound? Where is the wound?" the director's words tumbled out of his mouth in a flurry of confusion and sadness. His entire view of the man had changed and he had no idea how much more it would before this was all over.
"Yes. He has a scar on his abdomen area that is indicative of a gunshot wound. The wound itself is completely healed and appears to be very old, probably before he ever started at the agency, which would also explain why we were never aware of it. I don't think there has ever been a time that I saw him with his shirt off in all the times I have been examining him, which leads me to believe he is used to covering it and hiding its very existence." Ducky answered while thinking of all his past interactions with the man.
"He joined the agency when he was twenty-one. How could he have been shot before that? What about the other scars? When are they from?"
"They appear to be from various times. Most are healed. A few are mostly healed. Some are mostly faded. Some are deep. Some are shallow. Some are jagged. Others are straight lines. All of that leads me to believe that they have happened over the majority of his life. He has probably had to get stiches for quite a few of them."
"There has never been an incident report that has involved him in any of the case reports about the cases they have handed in. There have been a few for DiNozzo and one or two for David, but none for Tim, which I always found odd."
"How can there not have been? I was with them a few time that something happened that would have warranted an incident report. I am not sure why there wouldn't be. I have treated all of the team multiple times for various injuries sustained during crime scene searches and suspect take downs."
"I'm not sure either but I damn well am going to find out. What can I do for Tim tonight? Just let him sleep, I'm guessing?"
"Has he already eaten?"
"Yes."
"Then just let him sleep tonight. Hopefully whatever it is you two talked about doesn't give him nightmares. If that is all I should be getting home to get some rest for work tomorrow. Call me if there is any issues tonight."
"Alright. Thank you again, doctor. I will see you at work tomorrow."
"Good bye, sir. It was no trouble at all." With that Ducky took one last look at Tim and left the house with a parting nod.
While Vance listened to the Morgan start up and leave, he sat back on the couch opposite Tim and put his head in his hands. 'How could this happen to an agent?' Vance looked back up at Tim and saw a crease beginning to form between his eyebrows and a frown marring his face. Tim began to twitch slightly and a tiny whimper escaped his lips. 'He must be having a nightmare. Should I wake him or try and let him just work through it?' The choice was taken out of his hands when Tim's eyes suddenly snapped open and his whole body jerked, causing him to fall on the floor, hard.
"Tim! are you ok?" Vance asked startled.
"What? Where am I?" Tim asked confused, still half in his nightmare and not very aware of his surroundings.
Vance made his way over to where Tim was. "Tim. You are in my house remember? You were staying over and fell asleep. You just woke up from a nightmare. You're alright. It was just a nightmare." Vance helped Tim sit up, with his back leaning against the couch and legs stretched out, still on the floor.
"Director?"
"Yes, Tim. It was just a nightmare. It's alright."
Tim started to become more aware of everything. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to keep you from sleeping because of a nightmare."
"It is fine, Tim. I wasn't planning to be in bed yet anyway. Do you want to talk about the nightmare now or would you rather do it in the morning?"
"I would rather do it then, sir. It is too fresh right now."
"That's fine. You should know I called Dr. Mallard over when you passed out earlier and had him examine you."
"What? No, I was fine, you didn't need to do that and take him away from whatever he was doing this evening."
"Tim. He was fine with doing it, but he saw some things when he was examining you." Vance informed Tim in a concerned voice.
"What did he see?" Tim said nervously, hoping the answer would be different than what he thought it would be.
"He saw a large number of old injuries, including a gunshot wound and numerous other scars. The odd thing is none of the incident reports ever submitted by your team ever mention you getting hurt. Also, your file does not mention a gunshot wound anywhere in it. Care to explain why you have no reports of injuries when you clearly got them?" Vance's response was exactly what Tim was dreading.
"They were not obtained on the job."
"For some reason I find that hard to believe. Either you are the clumsiest person ever, though only in your off hours, or you haven't been filing the incidents for some reason. In addition to that, all prior injuries that could have affected work were to be written in your file when you were hired, but there is no mention of a gunshot wound."
"It did not affect my work. I don't have to tell you anything."
"You're right, you don't but Tim I am asking you as a friend not as a boss. Please let me help you. I already told you I would talk to you about your nightmares, let me help you with this too. Please, Tim. I need to know how you got those scars and when you were shot." Vance was practically begging by the end of it. He was scared something was going to happened to Tim if he did not get help.
"Why do you care so much, sir? I'm just another one of your agents." Tim looked down at his hands, which were in his lap.
"No you're more than that. You are a brilliant young man who has a heart of gold. You help anyone you can and are a damn good agent." Vance was still kneeling next to Tim, who was still sitting on the floor, and grabbed Tim's chin to pull it up so he could look into his eyes. "Tim. You are special. You have apparently been through hell and still can get up every day and help people. Now let me help you for once."
"Alright… I'll tell you… but you can't do anything to the people I tell you about. Promise me you won't do anything."
"Tim, if someone hurt you they need to be punished." Vance responded confused.
"No. It is in the past and I can handle it. Just promise me you won't do anything. That you won't fire anyone or anything like that."
"Wait. I knew some of this happened at work, but you're telling me that a fellow agent did some of this to you?"
"Not really, but promise me."
"Fine I promise I won't fire anyone… but I will reserve the right to talk to them about whatever they did if I feel the need because I can't have agents hurting each other."
Tim sighed, he know there was no changing that part of the deal. "Fine…" Tim trailed off and gathered his thoughts before he started the tale that was his life.
Alright that seems like a good place to end it. The next chapter will be him telling Vance. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll update again soon. Goodbye.
