It would be a while before Tony woke up again. So after she arrived Gibbs took Maddie to the café down the road for a quick-lunch. He hadn't seen the young woman who had been his daughter's life-long best friend. Since the day Tony rescued them from the submerged car. She had put on a little weight and gotten her hair cropped to shoulder length but she still looked gorgeous. After everything happened he had planned on meeting her for coffee once a month or so but he could never get the words out. He would just call her from time to time and check in until he eventually forgot to put her number in his new phone. He knew the real reason he never met with her and eventually stopped contacting her was because, it made him miss Kelly too much. Maddie was just another thing he would look at and wonder what his little girl would be like today. He looked up at the young woman across from him and wondered how her life was going.

"I am sorry for making you miss your friend's baby-shower." Gibbs apologized.

"I thought you had a rule about apologizing." Maddie commented.

"I do but I feel bad for making you miss something. I panicked and forgot that Tony probably wouldn't be up for hours." Gibbs explained.

"It's OK, I wanted to get out of it anyway." Maddie replied.

"Not close to her, huh?" Gibbs questioned.

"No she is my second best friend besides Kelly but I am just so sick of going to baby-showers and bachelorette parties." Maddie explained.

"I take it you haven't found Mr. Right." Gibbs commented.

"No, ever since that Marine I just can't I am so afraid they will be another abusive psycho." Maddie explained.

"Have you sought counseling?" Gibbs asked.

"No, I mean my parents made me see a child psychologist about a year after Kelly died but he did nothing for me." Maddie explained.

"I have the number of a good one if you change your mind." Gibbs replied.

"Thanks" Maddie replied.

"Thank you for coming to help Tony." Gibbs replied.

"It's no problem. I have wanted to thank him for what he did that day." Maddie replied.

"Do you want to know about him?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes" Maddie replied.

"He is one of the best if not the best agent I have ever worked with. The fact that I get to have him on my team, makes me feel like I won the lottery. I met him when he was a detective in Baltimore and he tackled me on the street. We ended up working that case joint with Baltimore PD and NCIS. When it turned out that Tony's partner was dirty. He came straight to NCIS and asked to join my team. I don't know much about his life before that except for that he was with Philadelphia PD before Baltimore and Peoria before that. Before NCIS the longest he stayed with a police department was two years. He played football for Ohio State until he broke his leg senior year. He grew up rich but his childhood was far from charmed. His mom died when he was eight and his dad abused him and shipped him off to boarding school during the year and various camps over the summer." Gibbs explained.

"He sounds amazing." Maddie commented.

"He is and I honestly hope he makes a complete recovery and can come back to my team. If he can't I don't think I will be able to stay with the agency." Gibbs replied.


Even though it may end his career. It felt good to McGee that he finally confessed what Ziva and him had done to Tony. The thing that scared him more than the possibility of losing his job with NCIS. Was what would happen when Gibbs found out what he had done. It was no secret that the former Marine favored Tony. Director Vance would just make him talk to an IA agent and go before a committee to decide his punishment but Gibbs that was a different story. It was hard telling what the former Marine was capable of. He heard a knock on his door. He looked through the peep-hole and saw Jimmy standing on the other side. He unlocked the dead-bolt and allowed his friend inside.

"Good evening, Jimmy." McGee greeted.

"Same to you, McGee." Jimmy replied.

"So what brings you here this evening?" McGee asked.

"I just thought you should know Tony woke up a few hours ago but they had to sedate him." Jimmy explained.

"Why did they have to sedate him?" McGee asked.

"They just said he was distressed." Jimmy replied.

"Poor guy I hope he is OK." McGee replied.

"Me too, do you want to go see him?" Jimmy asked.

"Can we?" McGee asked.

"Yeah but we have to keep it short." Jimmy replied.

"Are Abby and Bishop back?" McGee asked.

"Yeah they already saw Tony." Jimmy replied.

"Oh" McGee replied.

"Hey are you OK? I went to the bullpen earlier and your desk was cleared off." Jimmy questioned.

"I am suspended." McGee replied.

"Why?" Jimmy asked.

"Something I did a few years back came out. Let's just leave it at that." McGee replied.


Tony opened his eyes. It felt like he had been asleep for a minute but when he looked at the window it was dark outside. He wondered how Gibbs was holding up and what had happened to Jenny. She had been fine when Tony followed Maddie and Gibbs to the docks. He heard a nurse let somebody into the ICU. When he looked up Gibbs was approaching his bed followed by a beautiful blond woman. She looked a little like Maddie just older and clearly not dead. Poor Gibbs he had aged years since that morning.

"Boss what are you doing here?" Tony asked.

"I know you are feeling bad about what happened this morning but I was hoping that an old friend would make you feel better." Gibbs explained.

"Who?" Tony asked nervously.

"Tony, this Maddie Tyler and as you can see she is very much alive.." Gibbs introduced.


A/N: Will Tony believe Maddie is who Gibbs says she is? New chapter will be up soon. Please review and thank for reading.