I have to admit - I was nervous about the last chapter. I wasn't sure if I got the interrogation right, and I was racking my brain trying to come up with some believable code. I almost left it out so that I could finish the story. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews - I'm glad I got it right!

On with the story! The usual disclaimer: I own nothing & not making any money.

When they walked into the lab, it was a much more subdued atmosphere than usual. Abby had her music on, but at a very low level. She and Tim were in two different rooms of the lab. Abby, in the main room, kept taking quick looks at Tim and wiping her eyes.

"Abby ..." Gibbs said softly.

She whirled around and faced the older gentlemen. "Oh, hey Gibbs. I ... I don't really have anything for you."

"I know. I have something for you." He walked over and handed her the paper from Jason Altemare, explaining the code he was given. "I want you to look through all of their e-mails, looking for this HypnoWatch2B."

"Okay Gibbs."

"Remember to it only works for sentences that are fifteen words long."

"Okay Gibbs."

He could tell that she wanted to talk, he knew he would need to, but right now his only focus was McGee. He looked around Abby to the other lab. "How's he been?"

"He won't speak to me. Came in and told me what he needed to do, then shut himself in there." Abby bit her lip and wrung her hands. "Gibbs, I ..." She stopped and lowered her gaze.

He felt bad for her, he really did, but Tim needed him more right now. He looked at Franks, jerked his head towards Abby and walked to the doorway to check on Tim.

The door whooshed open and Gibbs just leaned against the door frame, watching. McGee was wearing a scowl, he would type a little, stop look at his results, and would type again. "How's it going?"

McGee didn't even glance up. "Slow. I'm trying to clean it up pixel by pixel, but it seems like when I get one cleaned up, the ones I just fixed go all wonky on me."

"Wonky?"

Tim gave a quick glance and a quirk of a smile to Gibbs. "It's a very technical term."

Gibbs smirk also. "I'm sure. I think it's time for a break."

"Boss ..."

"No Tim. I don't want your eyes going crossed from staring at that stuff."

McGee went to respond that it had never bothered Gibbs in the past, but realized that Gibbs was in full hovering mode and he wouldn't win that argument. Instead he just nodded, set his program to keep working on the pixels the best it could on its own, stood and stretched.

"Wow. I'm more stiff than I realized."

Gibbs smiled and jerked his head towards the door. "Come on, lunch is on me."

"Boss, you don't have to do that."

"Do you have a favorite place nearby? If not, I have a great little diner I could take us."

Tim shook his head. "Sure, boss, I'd like to try someplace new."

They walked out, Tim just a step behind Gibbs. They both headed straight for the outer door. Both also ignoring the fact that Abby was watching them intently.

Just as Gibbs was going to walk out the door, Abby blurted out, "He's not your father!"

Gibbs and McGee turned to her as one and stared, both thinking she was referring to the two of them. Gibbs was instantly angry. "Abby ..."

"Talbot, he's not your father."

It was as if everyone was frozen. Nobody moved or said a word. Never one comfortable with tense silence, Abby continued. "I ran the DNA caught in Jethro's teeth. There's no match."

"Then it was someone else in my apartment." Tim said in a soft, distant but disbelieving voice.

Abby nervously looked between McGee and Gibbs, still wringing her hands. "No, it was Talbot. He was in a prison fight a couple of years ago and needed surgery, the prison decided at that time to register his DNA." She reached back to her keyboard, hit a key, and two DNA profiles came up on her screen. "The DNA in Jethro's teeth is a 100% match, however when I compare it to yours, it's not even close. He's not your father, brother, uncle, cousin, anything."

Gibbs was stunned, he chanced a glance at Tim. He was staring at Abby with horrified eyes, barley taking a breath. Remembering Ducky's earlier warning, he tried to put an end to this. "Abs ..."

Too nervous to stop herself, she reached back again and hit another key. "But I think I know who your parents really are." A couple popped up on her screen replacing the DNA profiles. "This is Hunter and Gillian Herring ..." Hunter had a friendly face, mousy brown hair and hazel eyes framed by wire rimmed glasses. Gillian had auburn hair and deep brown eyes, her face radiated happiness.

Tim's eyes shifted from Abby to the picture causing very distant and vague memories start to stir.

"Abby ..." Gibbs could see the color starting to drain from Tim's face and needed her to stop, now.

"... and this is their son, Timothy." Not understanding the warning in Gibbs tone, she once again, hit a key and the picture zoomed out. The couple was holding a child, angelic blond hair that was starting to turn brown at the roots, soon to match Hunter's; a happy smile matching Gillian's; and bright sparkling green eyes.

Images started flashing through Tim's mind. Being lifted and spun by a laughing man ... a woman laughing as he stood covered in flour ... a beautiful garden covered in blood. As the memories rose to the surface, so did the bile as his stomach churned.

"They were killed by Talbot in 1984, their four-year-old son's body was never found. The FBI just figured the body was dumped somewhere else because Talbot had done that before." Abby was sure that Tim would be happy to find out Tablot wasn't really his father, so she couldn't understand why he looked so horrified. She tried to lighten the mood and gave a shaky smile. "I guess Cindy McGee was right, you always were a Timothy."

"Abby, enough!" Gibbs growled.

Abby's face fell and she went back to wringing her hands, not understanding what was going on. "Tim, I ..."

Tim's eyes never left the screen. Memories flooded him, of the couple in front of him, of Talbot, of the McGees. It was too much. His hands were going numb, his legs were starting to shake, a rumble came from low in Tim's throat. He turned and ran out of the lab, not even realizing that he pushed past Gibbs in his effort to make it to a bathroom.

Gibbs was so angry and worried. Usually he reacted on his anger, but this time worry won out. He shot a look at Abby that clearly said 'We will talk about his later.', and ran after Tim.

As soon as Gibbs left, Abby burst into tears and turned to Mike. "I don't understand! I thought he'd be happy! I just wanted to make him happy!"

Mike sighed, walked forward and embraced her. "I know, darlin', I know."

"Then why ..."

"You just told him everything he ever thought about himself was wrong. And ..." He waited for Abby to look up at him. "... you added another family for him to feel responsible for."

"Oh, Mike! I didn't mean too! I just ... I just ..." She hid her head in his shoulder and cried.

Mike rubbed her back. "I know. But from now on, anything dealing with Talbot goes through one of us first. Okay."

Abby nodded into his shoulder, crying too hard to respond.

Mike continued to rub her back as he looked at the lab door, worrying about Tim.

XXXX

Tony shifted from foot to foot, tugged at his coat, adjusted his tie, ran his hands through his hair and repeated, again and again.

"Tony! If you do not quit fudgeting, you are going to throw the elevator off its track."

"Fidgeting." He gave a sideways glance to Ziva. "Something about this is making my Spidey sense tingle."

"Another one of your movies?"

Tony shrugged. "I can't put my finger on it. Something they've said seems like they gave us the smoking gun, but ..."

"But?"

"I don't know Ziva. I'm missing context, relevance, setting, just something."

Ziva was going to give a smart-ass answer, but the elevator door opened and they both saw Gibbs run by. They gave each other a worried sideways glance before running after him.

They all slowed down when they reached the men's room. Gibbs paused, he gave a quick look over his shoulder to the other members of his team. He gave a quick gesture with his hands letting them know that he wanted them to guard the door. When he received two silent nods, he took a deep breath and entered the bathroom. As the door closed behind him, he could hear the sounds of retching and crying.

Agent Andrews happened to be the in the bathroom before McGee come running in and was standing outside the stall Tim had collapsed into. Andrews looked at Gibbs with a worried face.

Gibbs jerked his head towards the door, letting Andrews know that he would take care of McGee. Andrews glanced once more at Tim and then quickly left.

Gibbs waited until the door closed again before he moved. He could tell that Tim was now at the dry heaving point. He could also hear that Tim was having trouble catching his breath. On pure instinct, Gibbs grabbed a couple of paper towels and ran them under the faucet. Once they were damp, he quickly went into the bathroom stall.

He squatted down, placed one hand on Tim's back and with the other wiped Tim's face with the cool towels. "Easy son. Calm down. Easy. Come on, you need to breath." Gibbs kept his voice quiet and calm.

Tim's dry heaving started to slow down, but the tears did not. He managed to lift his head enough to look at Gibbs.

When Gibbs saw the look of pure loss it took Gibbs' breath away. He did the only thing a parent could do with a child in so much pain. He reached out and pulled Tim close, sliding down the stall until he was sitting on the floor.

Tim grabbed onto Gibbs' shirt, buried his face and cried - that turned into sobbing - that turned into wailing. He was finally letting out all of his bottled up emotions.

Again, on instinct, Gibbs started rocking slightly and singing. Low and soft, so that only Tim could hear him. It was a song his grandmother had sung to him on nights when storms raged while he was visiting their farm. It was the song his mother had sung to him on the first night in a new house each time the family had moved until they settled in Still Water. It was the song he taught to his wife and sung to his daughter before each deployment. It was the song he had watch his wife sing to a distraught little boy.

Outside, Tony and Ziva heard McGee's mourning cries. Both wanted to rush in to help, but were stuck in place with the enormity of his emotions. They stood guard, shooing away anyone who even looked at the bathroom.

After ten minutes, the wailing quieted. After another five, it was eerily quiet. They exchanged looks, wondering what they should do. Ten more minutes passed, with nothing coming from the bathroom. Tony opened his mouth to suggest they go in, when his phone rang.

He saw that it was Gibbs, and answered quickly. "Yeah, Boss?" He looked at his phone when he heard nothing. He was still looking at it when it rang again. Tony answered after the first ring, but still got dead air. Realizing what was being asked of him, he tentatively opened the bathroom door and walked in, Ziva following right behind.

He was about to call out when he saw McGee's legs sticking out from the first stall. He walked over and peered inside. He saw McGee had cried himself out to exhaustion, wrapped safely in Gibbs arms, face buried and hidden. Gibbs face, however, said it all: pain, anger, loss, frustration, anguish. Not knowing what to do, Tony just stood there staring.

Gibbs looked up and schooled his features, knowing he needed to take charge. He mouthed the words 'Can you lift him?'

DiNozzo nodded and squatted down. Ziva rushed out of the bathroom and he looked over his shoulder wondering what was up with her. He brought his focus back to the two in front of him when he received a head-slap.

First order of business was to ease McGee's hand that was fisted in Gibbs' shirt. Even though Tim was out cold, he still had a death grip on the shirt. Tony started messaging Tim's hand and gently prying his fingers loose. Once the hand was free, he lifted Tim's arm over his head and draped it across his own shoulders. After lifting Tim the other day, he knew exactly how much force to use.

The movement did nothing to stir Tim. Tony gave a worried look to him and then down to Gibbs.

Gibbs had slowly leveraged himself upright, working the tingling out of his legs and butt. He refused to admit to himself how quickly his extremities had gone to sleep and how old that made him feel. He saw Tony was holding McGee securely and would be fine until they tried to move the unconscious man, so he kept working on his legs.

A sound from the door drew their attention, but neither man could move. Ziva appeared at the door of the stall, with a wheeled computer chair. The men smirked at each other.

Ziva brought the chair right up to McGee's legs and Tony lowered him down, placing a protective and steadying hand on Tim's shoulder.

Still in silence, Tony and Ziva looked at Gibbs, who gave them an approving nod. Ziva stood behind Tim and, being shorter, wrapped her arm around his upper chest. She gave a small jerk to her head, and in sync, she and Tony carefully wheeled Tim out of the bathroom.

Gibbs took a careful step, making sure his legs were ready to hold him. Even in the mist of all this bad, he had to smile to himself in pride at his team. Without a word spoken, they knew exactly what he wanted of them and what to do to help their teammate. He knew they would all make sure that Tim got through this.