Chapter 21

Of course Mc Gee kind of knows why he has to stay behind in the office: Not only Doctor Cranston has doubts, that he's fit for duty again even if he had proved them wrong in his opinion. Gibbs finally looks up from the paperwork on his desk as he says: "Doctor Cranston want to have another talk with you about today's events in the office of the director right now." Tim of course didn't like the fact, that Gibbs sidelined him a little bit in this investigation because he wanted and deserved to work on the Parsa Case and he certainly hadn't made any mistakes since he had been back behind his desk.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Delilah gets her breakfast served after her doctor Jean Parker has informed her and her parents that there will some more tests today.

In between helping her daughter a little bit with eating her mother looks at her with a very concerned look on her face as she says: "Sweetie you look really tired, is everything okay besides your known symptoms? "Her daughter chews on the first bites of her bread with butter and marmalade for a while, searching for the right words to say right now without upsetting her parents any more. Should I tell them about my bad dreams last night? Delilah surely wasn't sure if that was a good idea, because she certainly didn't want their parents to think that she was so much traumatized that she needed to go and see a shrink. That was something that she would get through on her own one way or another and what mattered the most to her was only one thing: Getting back to her work at the DOD, even if she didn't consider herself to be a total workaholic she surely felt useless lying in bed the most time of the day.

After she finally had her mouth empty again Delilah said: "I appreciate your concern a lot mom, but because the bed isn't that comfy than mine at home I just didn't sleep that well as I usually do." Of course she did feel a little bit after having just lied to her mom and dad, who she loved so much and certainly hasn't lied to ever before today but she just wasn't ready yet to talk about the things that bothered her, so much even if she knew that both of them would be willing to help in any way possible. Her mother seemed to be satisfied with that answer for now, but deep down Delilah knew that she would be forced to end this little charade one way or another.

Back at the NCIS Headquarters, Gibbs was struggling a little bit what to do right now: Should he confront Mc Gee because of his suspicion that he thought, he wasn't telling him everything that he needed to know. On the other hand it really wasn't the case that he was good at things like this, getting through to his little daughter when she had some kind of problem had been a lot easier probably but Mc Gee was a grown up young man.

He had been successful in the past, telling the young agent to keep his emotions under control as he clearly the feeling that Tim's emotions got in the way of doing his job but maybe this case was totally different: Tim maybe trying very hard to bury the negative emotions deep inside of him and it never ended good if you choose to not open up to anyone you could trust.

I really wonder if I or Doctor Cranston will be able to break this emotional barrier down, which Tim had apparently put in place according to the report from Doctor Cranston. I hope that he lets us help him carry this huge emotional burden or either I really have to think about pulling the only option that's left in the worst case: Sent him home to get his head clear. Of course Gibbs hoped that Mc Gee wouldn't force him to completely sideline him in this case, because he has always valued Tim's work in and outside the office very high never doubting that he could do more than just the desk job.

Meanwhile Tim was sitting down with Rachel Cranston again and the wheels in her head where moving right now, as she tried to find some kind of way to breach that emotion barrier of her current very difficult patient. One thing was totally clear to her: She needed to handle this whole delicate situation very carefully or else he would never ever let his emotional walls down for her. After she had finally thought about the right thing to say for long enough Doctor Cranston said: "

"You know that I have my doubts about the fact, that you should work again already and I want to tell you personally right now why. From long years of experience in my profession I know when people are not telling me the whole story, judging from your body language in our first conversation and the fact that you hesitated finishing your answer tells me that there's definitely something that's bothering you."

"There's really nothing bothering me Doctor and I don't see any sense in this second conversation, I certainly don't like all the skepticism from Agent Gibbs and you even if I'm a hundred percent fit to work physically as well as mentally." Tim answered growing already impatient now as he looked with a very grim expression at Doctor Cranston.

"Is it about Delilah? Has she been more severely injured an s you want to let on previously?" Cranston then asked even if she knew very well that she was probably moving on some very thin ice with this question.

"NO! You wouldn't understand any way Doctor Cranston." Mc Gee replied in a very agitated tone before he stormed out of the room. Meanwhile Tony and Bishop had arrived at the warehouse where the call to Hayat Parsa had originated from, with FBI Agents standing by as their back up they finally enter the building with drawn weapons. In the distance Bishop is the first to spot a shadowy figure and immediately points in the direction, where she has spotted it to notify her colleague of it at once.

Mc Gee is now in the men's room, keep washing his face with water as he tries his very best to shake off these scary pictures. In the bullpen Doctor Cranston tells Gibbs about the latest conversation: "Sadly my doubts in my initial report have been confirmed, he got highly agitated as I mentioned his girlfriend during the conversation and left but one thing is for sure: If we keep trying to push him, it doesn't solve his emotional problems a bit so the best is that he figures this out on his own."

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