Gibbs and Steve rushed to the hospital straight from the airstrip at Pearl, the call from Danny the night before had been anything but satisfying for the two older men. All they knew for sure was that Tim had lost the majority of his hearing. The condition of his leg was also troublesome. Gibbs had used the time during the transport back to Hawaii teaching Steve the fundamentals of ASL so Steve would be able to have a rudimentary conversation with the younger man once they arrived. Neither mentioned the huge white elephant that flew on the plane with them, the future Tim would have with NCIS. Both understood that he was no longer capable of returning as a field agent, though Vance had swore that the younger man would always have a place at the agency as a technical analysis. Gibbs had decided that he would be the one to break that news to the injured man, so he made the trip with a heavy heart.

"Timothy McGee!" Tony could be heard fussing for half way down the hall.

"I know you know I'm talking to you."
The two men entered the room unnoticed by the occupants. Tim was glaring at Tony and Danny sitting on the edge of his bed grabbing frantically for the crutches the Senior Field Agent was holding just out of his reach.

"Look at me." Tony demanded.

Tim looked up directly at Tony with his best Gibbs glared.

"You are not leaving that bed until the Doctor gives you permission."
Tim signed a very unpleasant response to Tony's statement.

Tony growled in frustration and handed Tim the dry erase board.

'Nurses brought them in yesterday and I know how to use them. Let me up!' the younger man wrote hurriedly.

Gibbs took this as his chance to get involved. He walked behind Tony and quickly grabbed the crutches out of his hand and turned to the injured man ready to give him the Gibbs slap he so desperately needed, but seeing the frustration and desperation in the younger man's eyes the heat of the action was gone and he just grabbed the back of the younger man's head and pulled him into an embrace.

Tim leaned into the embrace taking the comfort that was offered in the older man's arms. He looked up and saw Steve leaning against the door frame watching the scene unfold in front of him. He reached out to included the other man. Gibbs slowly backed away from the bed and allowed Steve to reach the younger man and pull him into an embrace that was more emotional comfort than the physical comfort he received from the Marine.

The reunion was interrupted by Tim's Doctor entering the room. "Agent McGee, I wasn't aware that this was the social center of the hospital?", he joked looking directly at the man in the bed as he spoke.

Tim signed back to the Doctor and Gibbs immediately began to translate for everyone in the room, "When can I begin therapy to regain use of my leg?"

The Doctor gave the young man a sad smile, "Tim, you were comatose for almost three weeks after receiving sever damage to a leg that had already recovered from intense trauma once before. Physical therapy will only help in regaining minimal strength. We already discussed the chances of a full recovery and I am sure I informed you that a full recovery was not going to be possible." The Doctor watched the man in the bed carefully for signs of depression as he spoke.

Tim didn't show signs of depression yet but he was full of anger and that was just as destructive an emotion for him to be having in his current state of recovery.

"I will not give up!", he wrote on the board and glared stubbornly at the Doctor.

"I don't want you to give up." the Doctor said looking directly at the injured man. "However, I do want you to be realistic in your recovery goals."

Tim turned away from the Doctor and once again sat up and tried to reach for the crutches that were leaning at the foot of his bed by Gibbs. When the older man once again moved the crutches out of his reach Tim reacted in pure anger much like a two year old would and threw the dry erase board and marker across the room.

Kono and Bishop choose that moment to enter the room and quickly ducked to avoid the flying stationary. Both women were shocked by the unexpected outburst from the normally calm man that had wormed his way into their hearts.

"Tim?", Kono questioned looking at the young man, clearly wanting an explanation for the childish behavior.

Tim signed 'Tired' , closed his eyes and used the bed controls to lower the bed. He then proceeded to completely ignore the people in the room.

Kono motioned for the people in the room to follow her and led them to the cafeteria in the hospital where they all grabbed coffee. No one spoke as the coffee was doctored to each persons individual taste and they found seats around a large table in the corner where they could have some privacy.

Kono looked hard at each person at the table before speaking, "None of you are capable of helping Tim at the moment. Each of you as experienced loss in one form or another but not one of you know what it is like to lose yourself. When you lose a loved one you miss that person, but you still have your own personal goals and achievements to hold onto, they eventually remind you of who your are and allow you to heal. Tim as spend the entirety of his adult life achieving one goal in specific, becoming a field agent for NCIS and now he had to face a future without that achievement. Tim lost himself in the explosion."
"I guess you know what that feels like?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, thanks to a wipe out on a surf board at age sixteen."

One good look at the young woman showed the haunted look in her eyes that still came back when she thought about that tragic day.

"Yeah, I think I can help him."

AN: Sorry about the long delay, real life decided to intrude on my writing, but I hope to finish both of my works in progress without any further interruptions. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)