a/n - I'm back. Took some time to plan out the details of the next big chunk of the story, lots of plot threads and characters to keep straight. Lots and lots :) Is the weather crazy where you are? This bouncing between record breaking heat and cold/damp is about to kill me. By the time by body adjusts to one, we're at the other. Made it hard to think, let alone plan. So, you still with me?

Anthony DiNozzo, Sr. stepped off the train, looking around. Luckily, no one was close enough to see just how nervous he was. Straightening his jacket and smoothing his hair, he gathered his bags and walked into the terminal. A vaguely familiar woman obviously recognized him. "Mr. DiNozzo, welcome back to DC. I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Pam, isn't it? How is Junior?" He followed her out to the parking lot where a car was waiting.

She smiled as she unlocked the trunk for him. "We checked a few minutes ago and he had a restful night. Visiting hours don't start until 0900 so that will give you time to settle in at the Navy Lodge. A van will be leaving the Lodge parking lot at 0830 to take all the family members to Bethesda."

"The Navy Lodge? Not my usual hotel."

Pam didn't answer as they drove away. Twenty minutes later he found himself standing in a very nondescript room with only the barest of amenities. "Not my usual hotel at all."

-NCIS-

Jack wiped his fingers with the napkin before tossing it in the empty container. Hospital cafeteria food was nothing special, but it would keep them going. "Leroy should be awake pretty soon, so I'm going back upstairs for a while. Will you be alright?"

Penny was getting more and more nervous about the lack of contact with Sarah and Barbara, but she gave him her best smile. "Of course I will. Tell him," she thought about what the nurses had told her. "Tell him, thank you for everything."

-NCIS-

Abby had never been one to do anything half-way, so when she awakened, it was instant. However, she laid perfectly still, trying to get her bearings. She'd fallen asleep waiting for Gibbs, clutching a pillow. Now, Bert was in her arms. He smelled of soot and was gritty, but she had him back. It was tempting to squeeze him tight, but instead she rubbed her face against his fur before she opened her eyes. The room was dim, but the other bed was occupied. Biting her lip as to not make any sound, she watched Gibbs. He, too, had several IV lines running into his arm, but he was very still. She would have been frightened, but she could see the steady movement of his chest.

"Go back to sleep, Abs, it's still early."

"Gibbs? How did you..." She stared, he hadn't moved, hadn't even opened his eyes.

"I can hear you thinking." This time there was a ghost of a smile on his face.

Abby rolled onto her side to better see him as she squeezed the stuffed hippo, the familiar sound a welcome touch of normalcy. "I tried to wait up for you."

"I know." Turning on the bedside light, Gibbs also rolled to his side so she could see his face. "You were tired, you needed the rest."

She hugged Bert closer, resting her chin on his head. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

"Nope." Gibbs waited for the questions he knew were coming.

"Where's Ziva? She... something was really wrong with her, Gibbs."

"She's in the Neurology Unit and she's going to be okay."

"Really?" It was hardly a whisper, but he didn't need to hear the word. He saw the doubt and fear on her face.

"Yeah, Abs. I've seen her, talked to her. They got the pressure under control and she should be fine." Gibbs knew that she'd ask about each of the members of the team that she knew had been injured. Once that was done, she'd start asking more questions – questions that required answers he wasn't sure she was ready to hear.

"What about Tony? He was still unconscious, Gibbs. That isn't good. What if he's in a coma?"

Gibbs cut her off before she could get wound up. "He's not in a coma. Tony's awake now and I've talked to him, too. He's got a concussion, but other than that, he's in good shape."

"That's two concussions in a year, Gibbs. That's not good."

"Doesn't have to be bad, either. They're keeping a close eye on him, and he and Ziva are in the same room."

"Did we get Dearing?"

He gave her the look. "Out of our hands for now, Abby. The FBI is after him."

"Somebody from our team deserves to slap the cuffs on him, Gibbs. McGee's with them, right?"

"No, he's..."

"He's still working the crime scene, right? It seems so weird, our whole building is one big crime scene. Vance is going to at least let him take a break and come see us, isn't he?"

"Abs..."

Her eyes widened at his troubled face and she bit her lip. "You're scaring me, Gibbs."

"McGee was hurt, too. He's downstairs."

She continued to stare, shaking her head in denial. "No. No, McGee doesn't get hurt."

"This time he did, Abs."

Abby studied him for a long time before she spoke again. "He's going to be okay, isn't he?"

He couldn't outright lie to her. "Hope so."

"I want to see him." She could see the argument already forming on Gibbs' face and kept pushing. "I saw Tony when we found him and Ziva was with me for a long time, Gibbs, but I haven't seen Tim."

"Not until Dr. Pitt clears you to get out of bed."

"I'm not a child, Gibbs."

"No, you're not." Gibbs looked at her for a long moment. "I'm going to tell you basically the same thing the doctors told me. We either stay put and let those chemicals work out of our systems or we spend the rest of our lives at limited capacity. You're a scientist, Abby, you know what we breathed in."

She did know, and crossed her arms in frustration. "I hate this."

"Me too, but if we don't recover we can't take care of the rest of them when they'll need us."

"But Tim needs us now, he's all alone."

"No, he's not alone." They both looked up at the arrival of the elderly man leaning against the doorjam.

"Dad."

"Hey, son." Jackson came into the room and stopped at the side of his son's bed. Awake, he looked better than he had the night before.

The vague memory made sense now. "You were here earlier."

"Yeah, got here way past visiting hours, but they let me sneak in for a few minutes as long as I didn't try to wake you up."

"Thought I'd dreamed it."

Jack wrapped his hand around his son's just as he'd done the night before as he smiled over at Abby. "I drove in with Tim's grandmother, so he's not alone. In fact, they think I'm his grandfather."

"Really?" Jack's arrival had calmed Abby and his comment had made her smile. "You sly fox."

"I didn't lie to them, I just didn't correct their assumption – figured both Tim and Penny could use the extra support."

"Penny?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow as he watched his father. The man always had an eye for the ladies, but this was fast, even for him. "You're on a first name basis with Ms Langston already?"

"Closest flight she could get last night was into Harrisburg. I was already on my way there, so Mrs. Vance helped us meet up and we drove the rest of the way together. Poor woman flew all the way from Hawaii, was pretty exhausted. Her daughter-in-law didn't want her to face all this by herself." Jack studied his son for a reaction, but the confusion he saw answered his question before he even asked it. "You don't know about Tim's grandfather?"

Gibbs picked up on the seriousness immediately. "He was an admiral, that's all I know." He looked over at Abby and she shook her head.

"McGee never really talks about his family."

"Admiral Harlan McGee was stationed at the Pentagon on 9-11 and was just days away from retirement."

"Damn." Gibbs closed his eyes in realization. "His grandfather was killed when the plane hit."

"Actually, it took him about two weeks to die. Penny can tell you exactly which chair she sat in while she waited."

As Gibbs absorbed that discovery, Abby started to tear up. "That's awful, Jack. She must feel like it's happening all over again. She must be so scared."

"I'm glad you've been able to support her, Dad. How is McGee this morning?"

Jack debated telling him in front of Abby, but decided honesty was the best policy. "They're putting in a chest tube this morning. Apparently, he wasn't strong enough to handle it before now."

"So, that means he's better this morning?" Abby had a death-grip on Bert as she waited for the answer.

"At least a little stronger, Miss Abby." Jack smiled at her before turning back to his son. "Now, the doctors tell me that you should be fine as long as you do what you're told. You gonna behave yourself?"

"Don't think I've got much of a choice, Jack, not if I want to be able to take care of my team." The frustration was evident in his tone.

"I'm here for as long as you need me to be, so don't you worry, son. I'll take care of the kids until you're back on your feet."

"Thanks, Dad. Just knowing that someone's watching out for them is a big relief."

A knock on the door frame caught everyone's attention and they turned to see Fornell standing there. "Hope I'm not interrupting. Jethro, you look better than you did the last time I saw you."

"Yeah, well, you look like hell."

"Couldn't let you have all the fun, now could I?" Fornell held his hand out to the older man. "You must be Jack. Tobias Fornell, FBI."

Jack shook his hand. "Wish we were meeting under better circumstances, but it's nice to finally put a face to the name. Well, I'll let you boys talk. Penny's going to be calling her son soon. Admiral or not, I'd hate to be in his shoes."

"Admiral? As in Admiral McGee? What's the problem?"

The FBI agent's interest surprised Jack. "She's pretty upset that he's too busy to worry about his son. Not only that, but she can't get a hold of her granddaughter or her daughter-in-law this morning."

That caught Gibbs by surprise. "Sarah's AWOL? Does she know how badly her brother was hurt?"

Fornell interrupted, knowing that the case had to take precedence. "Umm, we've got another problem. In fact, that's part of why I'm here. Dearing knew we were coming last night and it looks like we've tracked his mole to Admiral McGee's staff."

"Damn it." Gibbs let his head drop back on the bed.

Abby started tearing up. "Gibbs, that'll break Tim's heart. He doesn't deserve any of this, not when he's hurt."

"I know, Abs." He turned to Fornell. "What's the plan?"

"Jarvis and Vance sent Stan Burley up to Maine to handle the investigation up there personally, but we need to make sure that nobody lets it slip that they're under investigation." Fornell turned to look at Jack. "The kid's grandmother can't say anything to anyone until we have the mole in custody. I'm sorry."

Jack nodded slowly as he turned to his son. "What do you want me to do, Leroy? Penny Langston doesn't strike me as the kind of woman that gonna be happy being lied to."

-NCIS-

"Ms Langston? You can see your grandson now."

The nurse's words had Penny instantly on his feet. "He came through the procedure all right?"

"Yes, in fact his oxygen levels have improved slightly. Come on, I'll take you back."

Penny settled into the chair next to the bed, leaning forward to brush her fingers down Tim's cheek. "Oh, sweetheart, they tell me that you're doing better. Soon you'll be awake and we're all going to be fussing over you. I know how much you hate that, so you'll just have to get strong enough to throw us out. We're going to have a family reunion right here at Bethesda. I'll go up to Maine and drag your father down here myself if I have to."

There was no response, so Penny started humming softly as she held his hand.

-NCIS-

Dearing listened to the phone ring a dozen times before a standard voice mail message began to play. Angrily he waited for the beep. "Dunham, where in the hell are you? I didn't buy off a judge just so that you could terrorize your damn ex-wife. The timetable's moved up. Call me back, we've got work to do."