"Agent Gibbs, this is Agent Wylie. There's a woman here who is extremely upset and agitated. Says she must speak to you immediately. Claims she's Agent McGee's mother. Keeps saying he's in danger and only you can protect him.

*******************
"McGee, it's not a case. It's a visitor."
"A visitor? For who? You?"
"No. For you."
"Me? Who would be visiting me?"
"Your mother."

Gibbs had been sidetracked from thinking through the possibilities that came with that phone call. He'd gotten on the one-track mindedness of digging down to the root of his agent's current nightmares. Tim's constant battle to keep his head on straight ever since this Korean Sleeper Cell case had basically unhinged him; taken over the young man's life.

Tony's investigation into June Harris' disappearance off the grid once she'd been released from prison was sketchy. Gibbs hadn't had time to focus on it. He hadn't even had time to get Tony to dig deeper; to try to fill in the gaps. They didn't even have an updated photo to work with. The last one they had to go by had been taken at the time of Tim's placement into the Foster Care System.

But, somewhere, someone had falsified some records. How does a police report state that someone is admitted to a psych ward straight out of prison, and a follow-up Foster Care Report state that, that same person simply disappeared after prison; with no mention of any psych ward admission? Gibbs was not happy with the holes in this scenario, but, unless it somehow came to affect his agent, he'd leave it alone; for now.

Gibbs had more important issues to worry about, like his agent getting to a place where he could put his childhood horrors away for good. And this phone call, stating that McGee's mother was here, at NCIS, to talk to him, without Tim's knowledge. Well, that wasn't gonna happen, the kid had been through enough, No one was gonna lie to him on top of it. So, Gibbs had given him the news in the car, leaving him time to come to grips with the fact that his mother was here. He hadn't given him any other details.

Now, as they walked in silence, into the building, Tim stopped dead in his tracks, causing Gibbs to stop and look back at him.

"McGee!"

"Boss, my mother's supposed to be half-way round the world on a cruise ship! What is she doing here?" the panic in his voice was disheartening. Of course, he'd think the worst! Damn it! Gibbs knew he had to stop this train wreck before it happened.

"Relax, McGee, if it was something to do with your father, she would have said something to you by now." Gibbs tried to reason with him. The doubt and uncertainty was there. Gibbs suddenly felt the need for Ducky to be in on this, with everything this kid had been through since this case broke open; Ducky's help had been invaluable. Taking out his cell phone, he called the M.E. and asked him to find Tony and for both of them to meet them in the squad room ASAP.

Gibbs knew he'd have to insist that McGee be allowed to hear whatever his mother had to say, but it was the right thing to do. Wait a minute; he'd forgotten to ask Tim a crucial question. Something was nagging at his gut; telling him that the reason for his agent's mother's visit had to do with the young man's childhood horrors. So, this question needed to be answered no matter how out of the blue it seemed. Now, it was the boss man's turn to stop in his tracks.

Luckily, by now, they were in the elevator. Flipping the switch in his normal style, Gibbs waited until the thing had settled before he turned to his agent. "I don't want you blindsided with anything here, so I need to ask you a question and then I'll fill you in on what I know. You said you don't think the McGee's know about your childhood. If that's true and they don't already know; do you want them to be informed?"

Looking anywhere but at his boss for a full silent minute, Tim thought about it. There had to be the possibility that it would be necessary or Gibbs wouldn't even be asking; he'd keep it to himself, out of respect for Tim. Tim knew this. Taking a deep breath, straightening his spine and bringing his eyes up off the floor, and up into the direct gaze of his boss, Tim answered the question.

"I trust your judgment on it, Boss. If the time comes that you think they need to be told, and they hear it from you; I'm okay with it." Tim stated; clearly handing his trust over to Gibbs on a silver platter. "Just, please don't do it with me there."

Gibbs took a minute to try to silently calm his nervous agent with a steadying gaze of support, while also trying to absorb the gesture of faith he'd just been given. He didn't blame Tim for not wanting to be there when his mother was told about what her little boy had lived through before he'd been given over to her to nurture and protect. Gibbs wouldn't have wanted to be there if he'd been in those shoes either. He was grateful he'd made a copy of Tim's file and locked it up here at work so he could get to it if he needed it. There would be less need for a full-blown discussion about it, if it did come down to it.

"I won't let you down, Tim." was the best promise mixed with appreciation for his trust that Gibbs could manage. His mind was too cluttered with questions wrapped in concern and covered with pride in his agent.

After a reverent moment of silence, Gibbs remembered that he'd promised to bring McGee up to speed on why they were here to see his mother. As Gibbs relayed the phone message, Tim's face lost a little bit of color, but he managed to rally back under control and stays strong. Gibbs flipped the elevator switch and they silently continued on their way to meet up with his mother. The higher the elevator got the more stiff with barely contained fear and nerves Tim became.

Stopping the elevator just before it settled onto the floor they needed and opened its' doors, Gibbs flipped the switch again.

"You need to relax." He told his agent. "C'mon, pull yourself together. I know you don't want her to see you like this." Gibbs directed with authority ringing in his voice.

With a tiny smile of apology, Tim beat his fears back and got them back under control. When Gibbs was sure that he'd be okay to handle whatever was waiting for him on the other side of those doors, he turned the elevator back on and stepped back as his agent stepped off. Gibbs could still sense and feel the young man's fear; but at least he wasn't letting it run away from him now.

"Tim!" Mrs. McGee rushed to hug her son, not even noticing how worried he was. As he hugged her back, the hellish ride he'd been through in the last 72 hours suddenly crashed back onto him in a desperate need for his mother's reassurance and protection from the monsters in his childhood, no matter how late in the game she had come.

Stepping out around the two; Gibbs quickly retrieved the file and watched Tim's dealings with his mother at the same time. The parental lion in Gibbs recognized Tim's posture for what it was; the sudden unwillingness to let go of his mother's embrace, the voice he wouldn't use to speak of the horrors he was trying to get her to take away, the tears that were escaping from his tightly closed eyes. The little boy inside the man was grasping at protection now that hadn't been available to him when he'd needed it most, as a lost and broken six year old child.

Ducky appeared from the back elevator and stopped next to Gibbs. Seeing where the Senior Agent's attention had gone to, he too watched Timothy hug his mother; cling to her. The fight to keep himself from bursting into tears and crawling into her lap was painfully obvious. Gibbs looked meaningfully at Ducky before biting the bullet and doing what was best for his agent.

Gibbs' heart broke for Tim, but it was not going to do the young man any good to let him settle into this frame of mind. It needed to be set right. Firmly, Gibbs placed his hand on Tim's shoulder and squeezed; just enough to remind him of who it was doing it and where he was. As his mind registered the hand on his shoulder and where it came from; who it came from; Tim released his mother from her embrace.

Totally mortified and humiliated, Tim stepped back from his mother's hug and avoided Gibbs' eyes. As Mrs. McGee noticed her son's demeanor, and thought about the unusual clinging he'd just displayed; she turned and looked hurriedly at her son's boss. "Agent Gibbs? Is there something going on I should know about?"

Before he could answer her, Tony came into the squad room from the elevator. "Hey, Boss! Probie! Ducky! Oh, excuse me, Ma'am." Tony stopped in his tracks as he took in the scene in front of him. This was bad. Probie looked like he just killed somebody's prize cat! Hadn't the poor kid been through enough already? What the heck was going on?

Gibbs looked at Tim unwaveringly until Tim couldn't stand it anymore and raised his eyes up off the floor and looked his boss in the eye.

At that point, Gibbs stepped up to the young man and whispered in his ear. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, Tim. Don't you forget that. But, she can't take these monsters away for you. You have to purge them; but you're not in it alone. Your entire team is here to help. Don't forget that either."

When Tim flashed him a grateful smile in return, Gibbs smiled back as Ducky turned to Mrs. McGee. "Mrs. McGee, please, come with me and we'll find a comfortable place to talk." As Tim's mother silently accompanied Ducky toward the stairs, the boss looked at Tony and passed him his silent message as he too headed up the stairs to go talk to Tim's mother.

Look after him.

As Tim threw himself down in his desk chair, he hung his head, too defeated to even care just how defeated he looked.

"Probie, you look pretty beat. Why don't you go ahead and catch a cat nap while boss man talks to your mom." Tony suggestion in concern.

"Thanks, Tony. I think I will." Tim answered quietly as he made his head comfortable on his arms, folded together on his desk.

Tony got comfortable in his chair, with his feet up on his desk; not taking his eyes off his Probie. He was doing what Gibbs told him to do and what he would have done even without Gibbs' order.

He was looking after Tim.

As Ducky led Mrs. McGee into a conference room, he offered her a coffee which she declined. Instead, she wasted no time demanding answers.

"Dr. Mallard, what's going on with my son? Why is he so distraught he clings to me like...?" Mrs. McGee broke off with tears in her eyes.

"Like the lost little six year old boy you took into your home and adopted shortly thereafter?" Ducky respectfully asked in a quiet tone as Gibbs entered the room and silently sat down in the chair at the end of the table, effectively sitting between the two.

"Seven. But yes." Mrs. McGee answered in surprise.

"Mrs. McGee. What brings you to NCIS? Tim says you're supposed to be on a Mediterranean Cruise. When he heard that you dropped everything and came here for some reason, you've got him scared that something is wrong with you or his father." "Is there something wrong?" Gibbs asked.

"No, Agent Gibbs. Is there something wrong with Tim?"

"Is that what brought you here?" Gibbs again side-stepped the question.

"Agent Gibbs! Please! Tell me what is going on!"

"Mrs. McGee, I apologise, I'm not trying to stonewall you. There's a lot going on with Tim right now and I'm just trying to find out if you've come to add more to his problems."

"Jethro!" Ducky admonished.

"I apologise, it's been a very rough week for your son and those of us who've tried to help him through it." Gibbs offered uncharacteristically. He needed Tim's mother to do whatever she could to shed some light on the situation.

"Please, tell me what's going on! Why has it been rough for him?" Mrs. McGee asked with panic beginning to rise in her voice. "Does it have something to do with the woman who's out to get him?"

Gibbs looked at Ducky for a minute before he looked back at Mrs. McGee as Ducky asked her the question they most needed answered.

"Mrs. McGee, we know that you adopted Tim when he was 7. What we need to know, is what you knew about his life before he came to you. Trust me, we will explain why soon. Then we'll get to the part about this woman to whom you have referred."

Tim's mother took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. "Tim came to us as a frightened and near broken spirited as you could possibly imagine a little boy of 7 could be. The Foster Care system told us that his records were sealed and the only thing they could tell us or help us with is that he'd recently lost his parents and his sister. They warned us that he was so withdrawn they had put him on the unadoptable list and we were his last chance at a way out of the foster care system. They were gonna put him in an orphanage until he reached 18." Tim's mother was in tears at the thought of what this little boy had almost had happen to him.

"We've never asked him about what he remembers of his childhood before he came to us. He never spoke of it then and as the years went by, it never came up. Why? Do you know what happened to him? Is that why he's so upset?"

"Yes, Mrs. McGee, we do know what he went through. And I have asked Tim how he feels about you being told about it and he has left it up to me, to my judgement, whether or not you need to be let in on something that will be extremely painful for you to hear. His only stipulation was that he not be in here while we tell you."

Ducky looked at Gibbs in surprise. He wasn't surprised at Timothy's trust in Jethro, but he was surprised at the lengths Jethro was going to in order to get this worked out. As he watched, Jethro slid the folder he'd entered the room with, across the table to Timothy's mother.

Silently, both men averted their eyes, only watching her out of the corner of their eyes. Neither one wanted her to feel like she was under a microscope as she read and took in what had happened to the little boy she'd adopted and the horrors she'd helped save him from reliving in his mind thereafter.

As Mrs. McGee read through the file in front of her, tears rolled down her face at the thought of her son, her Timothy enduring this pain and suffering. He'd never, ever said a word about it. But his troubled demeanor made so much sense now. Yet, he'd been so quick to warm up to them and open up to them, like a freshly renewed morning glory. She knew it was silly to compare Tim to a flower, but it couldn't be helped.

Raising her head up to meet the eyes of her son's boss and treating physician, Mrs. McGee whispered, "When did you find this out?"

As Gibbs relayed the events that had taken place since Friday afternoon, actually backtracking to that moment in the case where Gibbs had taken the baby from him. Mrs. McGee struggled to comprehend what her son had been going through. Coming to the end of his report, Gibbs looked pointedly at Ducky.

"I assure you, Mrs. McGee, we have been watching over him very carefully." Ducky promised.

"I can see that you have, Dr. Mallard. I see the trust he has in you; in both of you." She answered, both of them fully aware that she was referring to what had happened down in the squad room earlier.

"You need to understand, he doesn't want to discuss it with you. He simply is okay with you being informed of the situation." Ducky tried to explain. "It would be wise if you could bring yourself not to treat him like it just happened recently. His nightmares are already doing that."

"I understand, Dr. Mallard. It will be hard, but I do understand. Tim's a grown man now, and he doesn't need his Mother to make things better for him." She admitted.

"We were in the same squad room a few minutes ago. Tim couldn't have made it more plain that he does need you." Gibbs stated in frustration

"But, not as a little boy needs his mother. As a grown man trying to find his way all over again." Ducky explained.

"I understand." Mrs. McGee said.

"Are you ready for us to continue? We need to talk about the purpose of your visit. Tim needs to be in on this." Gibbs asked gently.

"Agent Gibbs! I didn't even want him to know I was here! Now, you're ordering me to tell my own son something I didn't want him to know?" Mrs. McGee was furious.

"Mrs. McGee." Gibbs tone was patient but steel. "I do not lie to my agents. They are family to me and I look after them as if they are my own. Tim is an honest person and he is given the same respect in return. As much as he's been through this weekend, the least he deserves is the truth."

That being said, he took out his cell phone and called the young man, putting the phone on speaker, so his mother could hear what Gibbs knew she would.

"Boss?" sure enough, the voice belonging to his youngest field agent was exhausted, strained and worried.

"Tim. How you holdin up?" Gibbs asked carefully.

"I'm okay, Boss. Can't you tell me what's goin on?" Tim asked with growing concern obvious in his tone.

"Come on up to Conference Room 2. Let Tony know where you're goin." Gibbs encouraged without answering the question.

As Tim came in the room, Gibbs and Ducky deliberately watched his mother while she greeted him once again; managing to remain calm and not let on how upset she'd been to see the file that now lie hidden under Ducky's medical binder on the table.

When he'd taken his seat next to his mother, Tim looked up at Gibbs. "What's goin on, Boss?" he asked in fear.

"Dunno, Tim. Just relax and we'll find out." Gibbs told him, holding his eyes locked until he sensed his agent had indeed calmed down. Offering him a small smile of encouragement, he then turned to the young man's mother.

"We need to know about this woman you think is after Tim." Gibbs firmly redirected the conversation.

Mrs. McGee reached into her purse and withdrew a letter "Agent Gibbs, these have been coming to the house twice a week for the last two months."

Mrs. McGee:

You've had your time with him.
He's my baby boy and I will get him back.
No matter what!
I know where he works and where he lives!

"Mother! Why didn't you tell me?" Tim cried, his disbelief written all over his face. Gibbs also saw the fear underneath; saw it climbing into his agent's posture and his eyes.

"McGee." Gibbs' steely warning was all it took.

Tim let go of his outburst. He slumped back in his chair, his head back, his eyes staring up at the ceiling as he fought the tears, the fear and the sorrow.

Gibbs left him alone with a quick glance to Ducky, making sure the M.E. was keeping his eye on the struggling young man for him.

"What did you do about these, Mrs. McGee? Why didn't you let Tim know? Or at the very least; let us know?"

"Because, she's doing it to me! She's calling me! Following me! Sending me letters! Agent Gibbs, but why would she do this now? He's a grown man!"

"Her motives don't seem to be anything more than her wanting her son back. But, this doesn't mean she's a danger to Tim." Gibbs pointed out.

"She's been doing this for three months and she's not gonna stop!" Mrs. McGee cried.

"Mrs. McGee, please calm down and tell me what about her is making you believe Tim is in danger from her." Gibbs insisted.

Ducky cleared his throat, his eyes not wavering from those of Jethro's agent. During the course of the discussion between his boss and his mother, the young man had become increasingly upset, silently. The M.E. was unsure if it was the heated conversation between two people he cared deeply about; or if it was the fact that his biological mother had come back into his life in this less than positive way; and behind his back.

Whatever the cause of Timothy's current distress, Ducky wanted it addressed now. As he cleared his throat, Jethro, as expected, stopped and looked over at his M.E., and immediately over at his agent. In all of about five seconds, Gibbs was up out of his seat, walking over to Timothy and reaching out to the young man with a reassuring arm to his shoulder as he crouched down in front of him; suddenly immune to the young man's mother sitting close by.

"Hey. Talk to me." Gibbs said quietly, as he locked eyes with him.

"Do I still have to stay in the fight?" Tim whispered brokenly with tears in his eyes; eyes that were also filled with fear. "I know you want me to, Boss. But, I can't fight her, too, You can't expect that much of me. The nightmares are bad enough!"

Mrs. McGee sobbed from her chair next to her son. Hearing her son's despair was breaking her heart. Seeing his obvious trust to help him through this given to his boss; made it easier to swallow, but still tough to sit through quietly. She knew she had to take the back seat and let them work through this, but it was so hard.

"Tim, listen to me." Gibbs directed quietly. "You can do this. Ducky and I are right here with you. Tony's right outside. Your mom's right here. This woman will not get to you. We will get you through this." The compassionate reminder was effective.

Tim wiped his tears away and sat up straight, with an apology in his eyes.

"No. We've been through this. You have nothing to apologise for.." Gibbs reminded him of that too. "Now, are you…"

The door to the conference room was abruptly flung opened to admit a woman with fire in her eyes and anger on her face.

"Where is he? Where is my son?" the woman yelled.

Gibbs stood up, instinctively placing himself between Tim and the door. Ducky quickly joined him in blocking this intruder from Timothy. Tony breathlessly reached the room seconds after the woman had.

"Boss, I'm sorry, she out maneuvered me and well, I'm sorry, Boss."

"It's okay, Tony. Come in." Gibbs said carefully, in measured tones accompanied with the silent command for Tony to protect Mrs. McGee from whatever potential threat this intruder presented.

Tim stood up and turned around. As he looked at the woman in the doorway, his face lost all color.

"Tim?" Mrs. McGee called as she saw his shock.

Gibbs immediately turned back to his agent, just in time to catch him as his knees buckled; in time to help him find his chair.

"What' is it?" Gibbs asked Tim in grave concern.

"Boss, that's my mother!"