a/n - A quiet chapter as we wait on Tim and our characters have a few important discussions. Enjoy the chance to catch your breath, you're going to need it. Yes, that was a hint. In the meantime, I have to complain.

Many of you that have been with me for a while know how upset I was when a friend had her current WIP stolen and posted here on . You guys were amazing at letting the thief know how wrong she was. Well, she's back and she's stolen the SAME STORY AGAIN. Talk about nerve. This time she has changed more of the words, but it is the same plot, line for line. I got a little curious and checked one of her other stories and found that is someone else's work too. Get this, she marked the original story as a favorite. That takes a heck of a lot of nerve. Her current username is TimMcGeeEqualsBoss (she changed it after she got caught the last time.) and the two stories we know she stole are Don't Stand a Chance and Phantom.

Jackie arrived at the hospital just thirty minutes after she dropped the kids off at school and immediately ushered Sarah down to the cafeteria. The family only rule had not been lifted, so Gibbs stayed out in the hall to watch over his injured man, only retreating to the waiting room when the specialists came in to examine him again. Tony handed him a lukewarm coffee and he sat, lost in thought.

Abby moved over to sit next to Gibbs , wrapping her hands around his arm and resting her chin on his shoulder. "He's going to be okay, Gibbs, Timmy won't leave us."

"He wanted to, Abs." Tony joined them, sitting across from Gibbs.

She shook her head. "No he didn't, not really. I think he was ashamed and embarrassed and felt trapped by his dad. That first day, he really had to rush to tell me his dad was an alcoholic, like he had to get the words out before he lost them. I didn't get it at first, but it seemed that the later it went, the harder it was for him to talk about it. I made him call me every day, and he'd started stuttering again when I asked him about his dad. McGee hasn't stuttered in years, I should have known." She shifted to lay her cheek on Gibbs' shoulder. He pressed the side of his face against her head for a split second.

"It was his way of protecting your, Abs."

---NCIS---

McGee had been in surgery for almost an hour by the time Ziva arrived at Bethesda. With a brief nod to Gibbs, she sat next to Sarah in the corner of the waiting room. Over Sarah's bowed head, Jackie gave her a questioning look and Ziva gave her a slight smile in return before shifting her attention to Sarah. "I just finished speaking to the District Attorney's office, Sarah. They are not filing any charges against you and the case will be closed soon."

"But I killed my own father, how could they not want to punish me?"

Ziva gently laid her hand on Sarah's arm, just above the bruise. "What would have happened to your brother if you had not stopped your father?"

"Daddy would have killed him."

"You had no choice, Sarah."

Still looking down, she shook her head, guilt more powerful than logic. "But..."

"Did your brother ever tell you about Ari?"

Sarah had heard about him, of course, but she was sure Tim had told her a sanitized version as to not frighten her. "He was a terrorist that killed Agent Todd, and... and he was your brother."

The room stilled as Ziva continued. "That is correct. Ari tried to kill hundreds of Navy dependents in a n act of terrorism and when the team stopped his plan he shot Kate. He was not going to stop, and his next target was Gibbs. He broke into Gibbs' home and before he could shoot Gibbs, I shot him."

Sarah finally looked up, her eyes huge. "You killed your own brother? How do you live with it?"

Ziva looked down at their now joined hands. "Sometimes it is very difficult, but I remind myself that it was necessary, that his hate and anger had turned him into someone I did not know. The brother of my childhood was already dead, killed by the monster that took over his soul. I know it is very difficult right now, but you have a great deal of support, both you and your brother."

---NCIS---

"Dr. Mallard, it's really late and you were at the hospital most of the day. Are you sure you want to do this tonight?" Jimmy watched his mentor closely, Ducky was starting to show the strain of the last day and a half.

Ducky uses much more force than usual as he started to open William McGee's chest. "They are waiting for the autopsy results to finish up the case. It is the least I can do for Timothy and his dear sister." He turned to the body on the table. "Well, William, let's see if we can determine just why you were such a monster."

Of the five shots that hit the torso, any one of three could have been the fatal shot, but Ducky suspected it was the one that hit high on the right side of the chest, shattering a rib, the bone fragment tearing through a major vein. The blood loss from that one wound was massive and the man had literally drowned in his own blood if the blood filled lung was any indication.

Cause of death determined, Ducky moved on to remove the liver and took a sample for testing. Jimmy prepared the slide and whistled when he looked through the microscope. "Wow, Dr. Mallard, this is even worse than the samples they showed us at school. There's more scar tissue than liver. Why wasn't he showing any outward signs of cirrhosis?"

"It is an odd twist of fate, Mr. Palmer, that allows such things. No doubt if this man had taken care of himself instead of pickling his internal organs, he would have had an exceptionally long life." Ducky set aside the top of the skull and carefully removed the brain. "I suspect that while at sea, William had to get creative in finding sources of alcohol, and not all of his sources were truly fit to drink." A calculated slice with a scalpel, then another, and he had a cross-section of brain tissue. The microscope wasn't necessary yet, the large magnifying glass with the light surrounding it showed the odd texture of the tissue.

Jimmy stared at it closely. "I've heard stories about alcoholics who get exposed to mercury and lead from contaminated pipes in homemade stills."

"Among many contaminates, and I believe you are looking at an excellent example right here, Mr. Palmer."

"What a waste."

"Indeed, and speaking of waste, we have spent enough time on this vile excuse of a man. Let me preserve these samples for later testing if need be, and you sew him back up. It is time we focus on the living."

"Yes, Dr. Mallard."

Jimmy didn't move, however, and Ducky returned to his side, waiting for him to say what was on his mind. "Is there something else, Mr. Palmer?"

"He was just so convincing. I feel so guilty about being taken in by him."

"Don't feel too bad. By all appearances, he'd been fooling people for longer than you've been alive. It's one of the reasons I prefer to work with the dead. They're not nearly so adept at lying."