レポート Report

The news of the imminent danger we were in did nothing to calm us down. After a long harsh conversation with Mr. Osaka about withdrawing vital information from us, we decided that sleeping was overrated. We simply stayed online to check on our loved ones and enjoy the feeble link with home, enjoying the simple pleasure of seeing beloved faces even if it was through the World Wide Web.

McGee stayed hours talking with Gibbs, then Tony and Ziva. Abby didn't know whether she should cry or scream excitedly, so she chose something in between, bubbling with nervous energy on the screen.

Just looking at all that bottled up energy was giving me a headache, so I simply kissed Tim's shaggy hair and left to be with the newborn and the young mother after reassuring everyone, including my Dad, that we were safe and sound.

After updating Gibbs, even the Director came to talk with Tim, but I was away while it happened so I have to rely on what he told me later to describe their conversation to you.

"What is your condition, Agent McGee?" Vance said, studying the dark bruises around McGee's eyes and the scratches on his pale face. He really looked as someone who had been through the ringer, the exhaustion and soul deep despair was there for all to see.

"As I've said to Boss, we're relatively safe." Tim glanced to Gibbs, before turning tired green eyes to Vance. "We're still waiting to be evacuated but hopefully sometime today the water will be low enough so the helicopters can land on the airstrip."

"We've searching options for you two, as soon as we have a final answer we will inform you immediately. Just leave this communication channel open and we will contact you as soon as I have an answer from my contacts from the Yokosuka office."

McGee's expression changed briefly and Gibbs immediately noticed his insecurity to ask what was on his mind.

"Tim," he asked gently, just to notice green eyes fixed on him. "Talk to me."

"Ah... there was... there was a family back in the base. When we stayed back in the navy base in Yokosuka. The mother's name is Minako and the little boy's name is... Yori. They are Senior Petty Officer Johansen's family. Is there any way you could verify if..." Green eyes silently pleaded, gulping before completing the sentence. "...Verify if they were okay?"

"Someone you know, Agent McGee?" Vance's voice surprisingly took a gentle tone, noticing the heartbroken look in the young agent's eyes as he stared sightlessly to the screen, his mind stuck in the images of destruction replaying again and again before his eyes.

"Ah... Minako was our host while in Yokosuka and... I've promised Yori I would come back." McGee's voice became even softer, as his mind drifted again, leaving him completely unaware of whom he was talking to as he began to shiver uncontrollably. "I promised I would come back."

Vance and Gibbs exchanged a glance, noticing the effect the events had in one of their agents, silently communicating that, once they had them back, those two certainly would need some therapy sessions to deal with the trauma.

No one goes through what they did without scars. Dying was a definite solution, but surviving involved a whole lot more than simply walking away more or less unscathed.

Gibbs lifted his eyebrows to Vance, silently asking if they should tell them about the death of their liaison in the Yokosuka NCIS office. Vance silently shook his head, before motioning with his head McGee's scratched face on their screen. If McGee was acting like that only considering the possibility of someone he knew being dead on the earthquake, how would he react if they told him that Agent Riggins had died?

"We'll find them, Tim." McGee's sad eyes finally fixed again on the screen, nodding gently at the certainty he could feel in Gibbs' words. "We'll find them."

"Thanks, Boss."

"Meanwhile try to get some sleep. You two look like Zombies and need more than three hours of uninterrupted rest."

McGee sighed, looking at something out of the screen, towards the doors leading to the hall where the survivors were all gathered and where I had disappeared a few minutes earlier.

"There's so much to do. They've organized a small kitchen and we're rationing supplies but the bathrooms are not really working so we have to control access to them too and the cellphones reception is just spotty at best and..."

"Hey. Let the others worry about that. You helped enough." Gibbs barked at him, immediately getting the reaction he expected. McGee jumped into his seat, his eyes cleared and finally fixed completely aware on the screen.

"Sure, will do, Boss."

"Now go get some rest. We will contact you when we have some news."

After the mandatory goodbyes, McGee cut the connection but left the computer on, just in case any incoming call from DC came by while he rested. He left our spot at the JAL boarding area and went looking for me, searching amid the survivors scattered on the main mezzanine.

People where huddled in blankets and jackets and clothes, making improvised cots on the cold marble floor. Women tended to gather together, their heads bowed as they spoke to one another, the sound of the murmurs in Japanese filling the air with a soft melody.

He waved at Itsuki, who grinned at him before lowering his head to his book, which he had somehow found in one of the luggage suitcases the security and we had dragged to the mezzanine in order to look for anything to keep us alive and mentally sane during our forced stay in the international transit area.

He finally found me in the small darkened room with Keiko, where I was sitting beside her and Hikari, both of us admiring the tiny little human wiggling her tiny arms and legs in the air. We had used an emptied suitcase as cradle, filled it with towels and t-shirts in order to make an improvised crib.

He studied us for a few minutes unnoticed, until I felt a shiver of awareness of his gaze on my skin. I lifted tear filled eyes to him and gave him a trembling smile, noticing the gentle smile in his beloved face at the same time he supported his tall frame tiredly against the door threshold.

"How is she?" He whispered, unwilling to startle mom and baby if they were asleep.

Keiko lifted her head and smiled brightly at McGee, waving her hand asking him to enter the room and come closer. He tiredly left his comfortable spot and sat beside me, his huge legs uncomfortably folding and cracking with painful noises as he knelt on the floor beside me. He glanced at me briefly, whispering that all was well back home before turning to Keiko, whose smile was huge as she showed off her beautiful baby in the improvised crib.

"This is my daughter, McGee-San. Thanks for being there for me."

McGee leaned forward, his huge hands stretching towards the alert baby and he was charmed when the baby took one of his fingers in a firm grip and squeezed. He looked up at me then at Keiko, a serene smile gracing his face as he said in a choked up voice.

"The honor was mine, Keiko."

"Have you decided on a name yet?" I asked, leaning a bit against McGee's side and being rewarded with a strong arm snaking around my waist, bringing me against his chest as he negotiated a more comfortable sitting arrangement for his legs. This whole kneeling on hard concrete/marble wasn't cut out for someone who wasn't as padded with fat tissue as he used to be.

He squeezed my waist and I relaxed against his side, feeling exhaustion rolling over me in waves and just half heartedly hearing Keiko's answer.

"I've promised my husband he would name our child. I've tried to contact him but couldn't find him. I'll see if I can try again. If not, I'll name our child and tell him later on."