Tony looked at Tim in shock. He wondered for a minute if he was just imagining what he felt. Then he saw his friend's hand twitch. "Tim? You moved. You did it. Come on, wake up."
Tim's eyes then began to open.
Tony smiled for the first time in over a month. "Hey, man. You did it. You came back to us."
Tim blinked a couple of times and then he started fighting the ventilator.
"Whoa. Hey, calm down. You've got a tube down your throat," Tony told him.
If Tim heard him, he didn't show it. He continued to squirm and try to fight the ventilator.
"Tim, you've gotta calm down," Ton said before reaching over him and pressing the call button.
Seconds later, doctors and nurses came in. "What hap… Oh."
"He just woke up," Tony said.
"Agent McGee, my name's Doctor Norton. I need you to calm down so I can take the tube out. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
There was no response from Tim except to keep fighting.
"Okay, we gotta hold him down. You need to wait outside," he told Tony.
"What? No. I'm not going anywhere," Tony said.
"Sir, you have to go," the nurse said as she pushed Tony towards the door.
"But-"
"Please just let us do our jobs," the nurse said.
Tony hesitated, but reluctantly walked outside. He went out into the hallway and immediately started pacing.
"Tony."
Tony stopped and saw Gibbs coming towards him. "Boss, thank God you're here. He's awake."
"What?" Gibbs asked surprised.
Tony smiled. "He woke up, Boss. I felt him move and then he just woke up. He kind of freaked out though when he realized that tube was down his throat."
"That's normal," Gibbs said, speaking from experience. He knew what it was like to wake up like that. It wasn't fun. "He woke up though. That's what matters. I told you he would wake up."
Just then, the doctor walked out.
"How is he?" Tony asked.
"Well, we were able to get the tube out that calmed him down a little, but then he started to get upset again. I think it's because he can't seem to speak," Doctor Norton said.
"He can't talk?" asked a horrified Tony.
They then heard yelling and fighting from the other room.
"Let me talk to him. I can calm him down," Gibbs said. He was asking, but one way or another, he was going into that room to help his agent.
The doctor nodded.
Gibbs immediately walked through the door and pushed past the nurses. "Out of my way."
Tim desperately clutched at Gibbs' arms when he was in reaching distance. He tried to talk, but all that came out were incoherent sounds.
Gibbs gently grabbed Tim's arm with his other hand. "Hey, it's okay. Calm down. You're alright."
Tim continued to breath very heavily and he looked at Gibbs with a scared, desperate expression on his face.
"It's okay. I know you're scared, but it's going to be alright. I promise," Gibbs said.
Tim's breathing started to become a bit more regular and he loosened his grip a bit.
"That's it. Good boy," Gibbs said as he gently took Tim's hand and laid it at his side. He then placed his own head on top of Tim's. "I know things seem pretty bad right now, but it's going to be alright. I promise things will start to make sense soon. Now I'm going to be right outside talking to your doctor. I'll be right back, okay?"
When Tim didn't respond, he took that to mean it was okay if he left for a few minutes. He followed the doctor back outside.
"Thank you, Agent Gibbs. You were good in there," Doctor Norton said.
"He's just scared. He needed to know things would be alright," Gibbs said
"Will they though? Why can't he talk?" Tony asked.
"Well, we're going to run some tests, but my guess is that either the part of his brain that works to express language has been significantly damaged or that he has simply forgotten how," the doctor explained.
"So either way it's brain damage," Tony said sullenly.
"Yes. I'm afraid that it is very likely that Agent McGee has suffered brain damage. We'll know more after the tests though," he said.
"Will he ever speak again?" Gibbs asked.
"It's difficult to say right now. He might be able to relearn that particular skill, but he might not. Look, let's just wait until we do the CT scans and the cognitive tests and then we'll see where we are and where to go from here," doctor Norton said.
"And when will that be?" Gibbs asked.
"We're gonna do the CT scans tonight. The cognitive tests take a while though and they can be very tiring for patients, so we're going to wait until morning," the doctor said.
"I wanna see him before you run the tests," Gibbs said. He wanted to try to explain to Tim what was going to happen to him.
"Of course. Just make it quick."
Gibbs nodded and walked back inside Tim's room. He sat down next to Tim and took his hand. Tim still looked really scared, but he was much calmer now. "Hey, buddy. I know you're still scared, but I promise things are gonna be alright. Now the doctors are going to take you for some tests. And you don't have to be scared. It's not gonna hurt or anything. They just want to make sure you're okay. I'm gonna be here when you get back, alright?"
A couple of nurses came in a second later. "We have to take him now."
Gibbs nodded and stood up. He went to let go of Tim's hand, but the other man was holding it tightly. "You gotta let go now, Tim. You need to let the doctor's do their jobs. It'll be alright, I promise."
Tim slowly relinquished his hold on Gibbs' hand.
"There ya go. It's gonna be fine. I'll right outside when you come back, alright?" Gibbs asked. As expected, he didn't receive a reply, so he just walked away.
