Chapter 21
Ellie and Gibbs shared a quick glance before Ellie leaned in to kiss her fiancé's cheek. "Sweetie, he's still with the Palmers. You're in the ICU for a few days; the doctor says he'll be able to visit when you're moved to a regular room."
After frowning, one side of Fish's lips turned up. "Off the mountain, into the hospital. What'd they find in my head?" He huffed and then winced, "Good thing Tony didn't hear that, he'd have a new McNickname for that."
Gibbs chuckled, that was a Tim remark. He hadn't told Fish much about Tony's teasing and hadn't mentioned the McNicknames, nor were they in the books.
"They found small bleeders as they expected, only there were more than they saw on the MRI. They've all been repaired."
"Glad. How long?"
"Your surgery was 7 hours, you've been out of surgery for four hours. How's your head feel?"
"Hurts, inside and out."
The doctor stepped in, "Hello Fish, I'm glad to see you're awake! Time to take you through a few tests to see how you're doing. Gibbs, Ms. Bishop, I'll need him for about 15 minutes. There's fresh coffee in the staff room." He chuckled, "And a thermos of spruce tea."
Smiling at Fish, they left to find the hot beverages. Gibbs wanted coffee, if it was up to his standards, while Ellie thought she'd try the spruce tea.
After Gibbs and Ellie left, the doctor looked at Fish's eyes, tested his reflexes and asked him a few questions. The last one was one Fish expected.
Dr. Nelson sat in one of the chairs. "Your family is going to ask either you or me and I'd rather you tell me and we'll decide what to tell them, if anything. Any Tim-ness coming through? And don't move your head, how about an eyebrow up for yes, no eyebrow is no."
Fish smiled, first thanking him for his thoughtfulness. Then he lay quietly, finally saying, "I was going to say no but I realized I said something to Leroy about Tony and his McNicknames for me – and I didn't know that before. I mean I didn't know it as Fish. And I don't think Leroy told me, you'll have to check with him. So maybe something."
"All right, I'll verify it with him but how about we keep that between us until you're up and around? I don't want anyone stressing you out about this." He shook his head, "The less stress, the better! Your friend with the dog collar won't be wearing those boots or bracelets here anymore."
"Uh Amy - I mean Abby and thanks. I could hear those boots coming and going last night, didn't help my head and I'm sure other patients weren't too happy."
"Anything that stresses you out, let us know. All right, your tests look good, you'll have another SWI-MRI in two days to make sure everything's still good. If there are no problems, we'll probably keep you here for another day and then move you to a regular room. By then you'll be up and around with supervision and we'll have Gibbs bring Boss in."
That brought a big smile, "Thank you! Poor guy, he went from all day, every day with us to not seeing us at all and being with strangers."
"Will he obey Leroy?"
"Yeah, he's used to orders from both of us although I'm his master."
"Great! All right. If all goes well, you'll be discharged in about 5 days, although I don't want you by yourself. We'll watch how your balance is once you're up and see about you needing balance assistance."
"What's that?"
"A walker or cane and some physical therapy. I don't anticipate that happening but we do need to proceed with caution."
"Ok. Leroy's already offered me a home until I find a place. He told me I had an apartment, or Tim did, but the lease ran out so Penny moved all my stuff to her place. And a car."
"No driving for the foreseeable future."
"That's okay, Doc. I think the driving and traffic around here is going to take time to get used to."
Dr. Nelson smirked, "That it will. Now, any questions for me?"
"Mm, yes. Ellie and I…uh…"
"Two weeks post surgery and let her do the work."
"Two weeks?"
The doctor grinned, "Ah, that's good to see, frustration! You're already healing."
"Doc, it's been 11 months, actually more than that because she left before we got the case. Oh my God!"
"That something new?"
"Yes. That's definitely a Tim thing. Doc, is this how it's going to be? Things just tumbling out of my mouth? Am I going to know whose memory it is?" Then he frowned, "Will that even matter?"
"Ok, first of all, don't get ahead of yourself. Secondly, don't panic. You're not losing who you are, you're regaining some memories and knowledge of who you were before the flood. You're still Fish."
"And I'm still Tim."
"Yes but unless or until you're comfortable with being Tim McGee, you're also Fish. I'm guessing Fish McGee?"
"Yeah, Dad and I talked about it, sounds like it'll be a lot easier, clearer for people. I'll stick with Timothy McGee as my legal name but be called Fish."
"Does that - will it be easier for you?"
"Yeah. When I get out of here or maybe when I move to the other room, I'm going to see a psychologist my dad knows."
"He or she can see you in the ICU if you want."
"I'll think about it. Up until the last couple of days, I've led a pretty active life, surviving in the mountains, hunting, exploring, all that and then driving up and over the mountains and driving here."
"You saying you're going to be bored?"
"Yes, I don't do well in hospitals, same as Tony and Boss. I mean Leroy, not my dog. Oh geez, how do I know that?"
The doctor patted his arm, "Better get that doc in here, huh?"
"Yeah, no kidding."
"I'll get your MRI scheduled and then you can schedule an on-site appointment around that."
"Thanks."
A soft knock on the door revealed the nurse.
"Sorry, Doctor."
"That's all right, we were just finishing, come on in."
Fish sent the doctor a wild-eyed look as he left and he gave him a discreet nod. Finding Gibbs and Ellie in the staff lounge, he looked at them.
"He's doing fine, physically. Little bits of "Tim-ness" are sort of spilling out and he's feeling a little…discombobulated about that. The nurse is in there…Ellie, would you mind joining them? He prefers to keep the news of the returning memories quiet for now."
She nodded and left as the doctor turned to his patient's father.
"He mentioned calling a psychologist you know. I told him he can certainly meet with him or her while he's in the ICU. He's really feeling rocky about McGee's memories starting to return."
"Ok, I'll call her now. And then will you tell me what's returned?"
"Yes, but first let me get his MRI scheduled so we can avoid a conflict."
The doctor did a quick follow up on the order, which he'd sent before the surgery, reporting the day and time to Gibbs.
"All right, here's what happened while I was with him. Something about Tony calling him…McNicknames is what he said."
Gibbs nodded, "I never told him about those and they're not in his books."
"Good, then we've verified that. The other items were…" the doctor told him about referring to Leroy as Boss and that none of the three of them, Tony, Boss or him, did well in hospitals and something about Ellie although Dr. Nelson didn't explain the 'something'.
Gibbs huffed, "That's great except they're all about us work folks."
"Yes but that makes sense in a way. From the hours I understand you people keep, he's been with you, Tony, Ellie and the doctors much more than he's been with his relatives."
"That's true. So you're saying it's logical?"
"Oh no, I'd never cite logic with memory loss – or gain."
"Good to know. When I lost my memory, I lost 15 years but it was emotional – psychological. Took me months before I could get through it."
"Your memories returned?"
"Yes, eventually, about 80% of them and I was able to bluff my way through the rest until I relearned things."
The doctor relaxed with a cup of spruce tea while Gibbs called Dr. Cranston. Surprised as it had been a few years since she'd heard from him, the doctor listened to his explanation and agreed to meet with Fish, she underlined the name in her notes, in his hospital room the next morning.
NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS
After the nurse left, Fish relaxed, holding Ellie's hand. "Thanks, sweetie. I didn't know her and it kind of freaked me out. Still not used to being around a lot of people."
"That's all right, love. You need to rest now, I'll stay with you. I think Leroy is going to the house to spend some time with Boss."
"Good, I'm worried about him."
"I'm sure seeing your dad will help and then we'll bring him in when you're moved to the other unit."
Another knock on the door and his father poked his head in. "Ok to come in?"
"Yes, of course!"
"I called Dr. Cranston, the psychologist I know, and she'll be here at 0800 tomorrow morning for an appointment."
Fish looked relieved, "Thanks for doing that."
"It's all right son, we talked about this months ago."
"We did, on Tim's birthday, I remember."
"If you two are all right for a few hours, I'm going to head over to the house, spend some time with Boss and clean up."
Fish swallowed hard, except for his surgery when he was unconscious, this would be the first time he and Leroy would be separated for more than a few minutes. Seeing his boy's distress, Leroy quickly went to him, holding his hand and reassuring him.
"I know, Dad, I know you'll be back, I just…"
"Just had surgery on your brain, in a strange place with a bunch of people who claim they know you after months of being isolated in the mountains with Boss and then me. Yeah, nothing to worry about there. Son, I'll be back in 4 hours, all right? And I won't be dealing with any bears or wolves."
"Ok."
"Maybe try to get some sleep? Have my daughter-in-law sing you a lullaby?"
Ellie couldn't help it, that made her laugh and Fish smile. As he left the room, he checked his cell phone, old habits were reasserting themselves, and smiled when he saw a text from Fornell. He wrote that he'd heard via Ducky that Jethro had found Tim alive *YAY!*. Adding that he was grateful for his friend's perseverance, aka stubbornness, he would stop by Bethesda to see McGee once he was in a regular room.
Leroy thought about that. He hadn't mentioned his ex-wives to Fish, other than to say he'd married again, but a quick word to Tobias would keep quiet their usual mutual ex-wife comments. And then he realized that Diane was dead, she'd been gone for over a year now, murdered by Sergei Mishnev, the bloody half-brother of Ari Haswari. He swallowed hard, he'd been so focused on their own possible tragedy that he'd neglected his friend and Emily. Diane – and Shannon – would have kicked his butt for that. He promised himself he would make it up to Tobias and his honorary niece.