"Gone?" Ducky's shock was heart breaking after everything the man had done for Tim
"Why the hell..." Tony's anger was undestandable if one remembered that he wasn't aware that Tim knew what he'd done and his guilt was eating him alive.

"Here." Gibbs said as he held up the note Tim had left him."Before you decide you need to tear him to pieces, Tony, you should know he's already doing it to himself."

Handing the note over to a now worried Ducky and Tony, he turned back to making himself a fresh cup of coffee.

"Oh, dear heavens!" Ducky's eyes misted over as he read proof that Timothy's return to rational thinking was having painful repercussions.

"We're gonna go find him, right?" Tony asked knowingly. All traces of anger were gone from his tone. Tony's eyes showed he ws genuinely concerned.

"No." Gibbs answered calmly; much more calmly than he felt.

"Why the hell not?" Tony asked, abject disbelief and a rising worry causing him to forget who he was talking to, for a second.

Gibbs raised his eyebrow, but let it go. "Think about it Tony. All the things the dirtbags have taught us about making thiemselves almost untraceable. Who do we always ask to find their trail?"

"Doesn't mean we can't do it. Sure Tim does it most of the time, but..." Tony answered defensively

"You're not thinking like someone who wants to be left alone, Tony." Gibbs reminded him.

"Oh. Oh! Right. Probie wants to be left alone and he's practically an expert at how to find someone so he'd know what not to do to be found. So, we're just gonna leave him alone?" Tony asked in surprise.

"We need to respect his wishes, Anthony." Ducky supplied. "We all know how sensitive Timothy is when he's done something he considers terribly wrong. In this case, he's described what he's done as unforgivable. Timothy believes that. He is not prepared to face any of us at the moment and to push him to do so would be worse than letting him be."

"But..." Tony tried to figure this out.

"Tony, you wanna send him over the edge he's standing on right now?" Gibbs asked seriously.

"Course not! Doesn't mean I wanna leave standing on it alone, either!" Tony exclaimed.

"I know, Tony. I didn't mean we wouldn't make sure he's okay. But, Ducky's right, if he feels pushed to be left alone, he might wind up doing something stupid."

"I'm more worried that Abby's premonition is gonna turn out to come true, Boss." Tony admitted quietly.

"Yeah, That's why we're gonna do what we can to locate him. Watch out for him, from a distance." Gibbs offered.

"Okay. Good."

"Go get Abby and Jethro." Gibbs requested. "Call Ziva, get her back here. Don't say a word about Tim's leaving to them. Stop and get breakfast" as he handed Tony some money, he patted the agent on the back and waited for him to accept the plan

"Okay." Tony took the money and headed out.

"Jethro, you do realize that instructing Anthony not to say anything about this will be a challenge for him." Ducky admonished.

"Yeah, Duck. But, I don't want any of them to let their feeling to get in the way of them understanding of what's going on with Tim. Right now, they're all pissed at him and they need to get over that before they can move on to doing what's best for him. Another reason we need to leave him alone for now."

"Quite Right. Although, I fear Anthony is right to be worried about Abigail's fear. I do hope we locate him before it becomes a reality, Jethro." the M.E.'s worry was shared by Gibbs.

Silence ruled for a time as both men were lost in thier thoughts of how to find Tim without spooking him or being too late to help him. With a sudden flash of hope, Gibbs reached a decision that would hopefully accomplish both. Pulling his phone out, he typed out a text message:

need to know you're okay.
not unforgivable
Gibbs

Hitting the send button actually sent a flash of relief through Gibbs. Granted, he'd feel much better after hearing back from the young man, but this was hopefully what they needed to set all their minds at ease and to let Tim know he was being harder on himself than they were.

While they waited for the team to arrive, Ducky fixed fresh coffee and tea while Gibbs headed to the shower. As the team convened in Gibbs' dining room, he came in and pulled the file from the cabinet and tossed it on the table where they all silently sat.

"Someone left this out last night." he told them all. "Not really a big deal, unless you count the fact that Tim found it. How did it even get here?"

"What?" Ziva was obviously upset at this development

"Oh, My God! Abby cried. "I left it on the table after Director Sheperd dropped it off last night. I was on my way out with Jethro when she showed up. I was tired and without thinking, I just tossed it on your kitchen table. I figured you'd be the first one up, so..."

"Wait, you figured Gibbs would be the first one up? After the beating he took last night?" Tony asked in surprise.

"Hey! DiNozzo, focus!" Gibbs reined him back in. "It's okay, Abbs. What's done is done. Let it go. The important thing we need to focus on now is this." Gibbs nodded at Ducky who handed the letter to the ladies and let them read it for themselves.

"Oh, No!" Abby cried as she put her head in her hands and cried.

"Gibbs, we are going to look for him, yes?" Ziva asked in a tone that suggested she wasn't asking at all.

"No." Gibbs' answer seemed to resound through the room like a foghorn.

"What? Wait a minute! Why not?" Abby picked her head up and demanded through her tears.

Gibbs nodded at Tony. He needed the younger man to explain it to the ladies so that all three of them would get it.

"Because Abby, Probie's already beating himself up over this and he obviously thinks we want to. He needs time to pull himself together. And we need time, too. Time to stop being pissed at him." Tony answered.

"Maybe you do, Tony. But, I don't! Why are you pissed at him, anyway? Can't you see Gibbs was never pissed at him and if anyone has the right to be, it's him!" Abby exclaimed.

"Just because Gibbs let it go, doesn't mean he wasnt' pissed about it." Tony defended himself.

Abby looked to Gibbs, silently asking him to speak his peace on the subject.

"No, I wasnt'. I had no right to be." Gibbs answered calmly as he looked to Ducky in silent understanding of what had happened to Timothy and the young man's inability to cope with it.

"What? Why the hell not?" Tony exploded, again forgetting who he was talking to.

Gibbs glared at him for a deliberately uncomfortable minute.

"Unless we were in his head last night, not one of us can dictate what was right or wrong about what happened." Ziva surprisingly answered for him.

"Huh?" Tony asked

"His family. Their murders. The photos, the facts, all of that was in those files he found and read through, yes?" Ziva pushed.

"That's part of it. He also overheard Jenny and I talking, which is the whole reason he snuck outta here last night, I think. He wanted to know what was going on that he wasnt' being told He figured we wouldn't tell him becuase we thought he couldn't handle it" Gibbs added."

"Looks like we were right about that," Abby said sadly.

"What did he overhear?" Tony asked.

"It's in his note. Read the P.S." Gibbs reminded him.

"Our jobs?" So, he also found out that we quit because he got fired?" Abby asked.

"Jenny asked me last night to have you guys accept your jobs back." Gibbs admitted.

"No wonder he lost it." Tony said.

"No, Anthony, he 'lost it' becuase of the graphic details and vivid photos of what happened to his family. However, he is unwilling to face the lot of you because of your jobs compounded with the sacrifices you have all made for him in the last two weeks. Now he must also deal with your anger from what he did last night. It is too much for him. After all, he is still very much grieving for his family."

"Okay, We need to make sure he's okay without backing him into any corner. He needs time alone and we're gonna give him that. But, we're also gonna keep an eye on him, from a distance, make sure he's taking care of himself." Gibbs declared.

"So, what is the plan?" Ziva asked.

"Abby, get on his electronic trail, if there is one. Zvia, Tony, work out a BOLO that won't get him arrested or spooked. Then go check his usual haunts. I'll go check out his apartment and Jethro will stay here until Tim comes back. "Duck, can you stay til I get back? if he calls, you talk to him. Oh, and all of you, think about taking your jobs back. Not only has the Director been given orders to let you have them back, but the guilt of your quitting is tearing Tim apart."

"Told you he'd hate it, if you quit, Boss." Tony reminded him.

"I didn't quit, I retired." Gibbs corrected him.

"Again." Abby said tearfully.

"I'll think about it." Gibbs said. "Any way you slice it, I'm not leaving. We're all Tim has left and I'm not letting him think I'm abandoning him."

As Gibbs left the room, the others all stared after his retreating form. He had a point. They were all Tim had left and that alone was enough to send him into the tailspin he'd been stuck in.

Gibbs came back in with a smile on his face as he held up his phone. As he pushed a button on his phone, Tim's voice filled the air:

"Boss."
"I'm okay. But I need to be alone. Please don't worry. I promse I'll check in with you."