Hope starts shining from both Maggie and John's eyes. Maggie says, "You know where they are, don't you Agent Gibbs?"
"I do; one of them is standing in front of you."
The trip back to NCIS is almost as silent as the one to Camden had been, albeit for different reasons. Gibbs has to admit that he's proud of the way Tim conducted himself during the tear-filled reunion. Both John and Maggie had jumped up to hug their son and Gibbs had soon found himself in the middle of a McGee sandwich. Questions had soon followed along with the typical comments of "You're too skinny," or "Aren't they feeding you right?"
Tim had fielded the questions with his normal diplomacy, and invited his parents to follow them back to the office to meet Sarah.
"Are you both agents then?"
"No, Dad, Sarah is a teacher; I asked my partner to watch over her until I could ascertain your actual existence."
Several more hugs and then the senior McGees were packing an overnight bag to follow Tim and Gibbs back to D.C. Gibbs is a little surprised when Tim tells his parents that he'll be riding back with his boss and is in the car before Gibbs can stop him. Maggie smiles at Gibbs, tells him that they'll follow in a few minutes.
A long drawn out sigh fills the car; Tim looks down at his hands, and for the first time in a long time Gibbs sees shame in his young agent's eyes. "I still don't remember them boss. Why wouldn't I remember them? I mean, they're my parents. I can see the resemblance between us."
Gibbs pulls off into the closest rest area and brings the car to a stop. He turns to Tim and gives him a gentle head slap. "Hey, you were in an accident when you were young and probably given a drug to make you forget them. The fact that you can't remember them is just proof of how powerful that drug was. It's not your fault McGee."
Gibbs can see that Tim wants to argue but can't in the face of the logic that Gibbs has presented. When Tim finally nods, Gibbs pulls back out onto the interstate. He tosses his cell into Tim's lap and tells him to call Tony.
"See if he can dig up any more of your hospital records from that time. Find out what drugs the two of you may have been given. Then tell Ziva to find out the same thing from the Kopfs."
Tim does so and hits the speed dial for Tony's number. Gibbs smiles as he realizes that Tim knows what number on the phone everyone is. That also makes him inwardly frown. He doesn't want Tim to think that he's low man on the totem pole. Actually that's the last thought on Tim's mind. He knows that the team is on Gibbs speed dial according to the way they were brought in. Tony is the exception to that rule as he is Gibbs senior agent. Therefore, instead of Abby being number one on the cell phone, Tony is.
Tim tells Tony about Gibbs request then pulls out Gibbs laptop. Hearing Gibbs mention drugs reminds Tim about some of the seminars he'd attended while he was at Johns Hopkins. While Tim's degree had focused on computers, he'd wanted to be able to help others no matter what the situation and had attended most of the seminars offered to him including one on headaches and drugs used for treatment of headaches.
Tim has never told anyone about the headaches he's had since his accident. Not even Abby knows and she knows almost everything about the young agent. Gibbs hears a deeply indrawn breath and knows that Tim has discovered something. A quick look at the younger man has him once again pulling the car over, this time to the side of the road.
A few cars back, John and Maggie see the car pull over and quickly change lanes to see if they can help. Tim is pale and shaking; clearly the information he'd found has shaken him to his core.
As John and Maggie approach they hear Tim say, "I didn't think about it boss. I've taken the medication for so many years now; I didn't think to check it."
"If it's been a staple for this long, I doubt if I'd have thought about it either. What brought it up this time?"
"You did, when you had me tell Tony to check for the drugs they gave us after the accident. I don't get them often but once or twice a year I get a bad migraine. I take the medication and the symptoms pass."
Gibbs nods and thinks back over the years of working with the young man. He'd seldom taken time off, and the only time he'd missed work was the day he'd tried to help Sarah and one other time. He'd almost insisted that McGee come in but the pain in the younger man's voice had convinced him that Tim needed to stay home.
Back at NCIS Sarah is remembering the headaches too. Only she had stopped taking the medication many years ago after talking to one of her professors. He'd told her that some medications instead of helping actually made the individual dependent on the drug. He'd helped her discover some home remedies and soon Sarah stopped having the migraines completely. Now the youngest McGee is wondering if her brother was still taking the medication.
"Hey Tony, do you ever remember seeing a prescription bottle in Tim's medicine cabinet?"
Tony thinks carefully about the few times that he's been in Tim's apartment. Tony nods as he does remember seeing a prescription bottle but it had been in Tim's kitchen and not his bathroom.
Sarah reaches down for her brother's backpack and starts rummaging through it. Tony stops her long enough to hand her a pair of gloves. Soon the bottle is found and Tony is placing it inside an evidence bag to take down to Abby. As Ziva is with Vance and Tim is with Gibbs, Tony has Sarah come with him to the lab.
When they leave the elevator both Tony and Sarah can tell that the Goth is in mourning as the music is fairly sedate compared to her normal ear-splitting racket. Tony hands her the bottle of medication telling her of their suspicions. Strengthened with a new purpose the forensic scientist promises to let them know immediately of anything that she finds.
Back in the elevator, Sarah stops Tony from pressing the button that will take them to the bullpen. Instead she motions to autopsy and Tony nods as he presses the button to take them to see Jimmy. The autopsy assistant is once again lying on a table, with an arm over his eyes as silent tears shake his slender body. Sarah runs over and embraces Jimmy and Tony comes over to place a hand on the other man's shoulder.
Jimmy finally dries his eyes and sheepishly looks at the other two. "Sorry about that guys, it's just…"
"Don't apologize Jimmy. We're all grieving; some of us just don't show it as well as others." Tony's answer is met with a weak version of the normal Jimmy Palmer smile. Sarah quickly tells him about her suspicions and Jimmy dries his eyes as he thinks about what she's saying. He nods in agreement that the medication could be laced with something and heads upstairs to help Abby.
Tony sits on the desk and pulls Sarah into his arms, leaning against her as he fights tears of his own. Tony knows that he needs to get his emotions under control while there is still a fair modicum of peace than to fight for it later. Sarah lets him cry, knowing that when Tim and Gibbs get back all hell is going to break loose. Not just with her natural parents, but with the imitation McGees as well.
A/N: Sorry if it's short, but work has been really weird this last two weeks and it's just getting weirder...holidays ya know ^_^ Not to mention the kitty cat's birthday is coming up...^_^ take care everyone and I hope you all have a great Fourth of July