Chapter 35: Two at the Brink
"Where can I find Sarah McGee? I was told she was out of surgery."
"Are you family, sir?" the nurse asked.
"I'm the closest to family she has right now. Her only family is in a hospital bed himself. She has no one else."
"I'm not sure that..." the nurse trailed off. Stronger people than this one nurse had cowered under the Gibbs stare. "Your name?"
"Special Agent Jethro Gibbs."
"Oh, yes. I have heard about you."
Gibbs smiled.
"Sarah McGee is in the ICU. It's too soon to tell," she said solemnly. She pointed the direction and Gibbs went on his way, stopping in the waiting room to pick up Tony and Ziva.
"Have you seen McGee yet?" he asked.
"Yeah," Tony replied dully.
"And?"
"The doctors say there is nothing wrong with him," Ziva said in frustration. "I pointed out that he was not waking up, and they just shrugged! I wanted to hit them."
"I don't think that would have helped, Ziva," Tony mumbled.
"It would have made me feel better. I don't like seeing McGee laying so still."
"Hey, where's Liz?" Tony asked. "I thought she'd come with you."
"She decided not to."
Tony didn't seem surprised. "She seemed a bit... I don't know, feeble? I couldn't believe that she'd come at all."
"She came all this way to meet her brother for the first time in fifteen years and decided not to?" Ziva asked.
"She expected to meet while he was hale and hearty, I suppose," Gibbs said.
"Ziva, no one could have been ready for McGee," Tony said, unexpectedly coming to Liz's defense. "Were you?"
"No, but I am not his sister."
"You've known him longer than Liz has."
They both stopped bickering when they reached the ICU. Sarah was lying on a bed, covered in tubes, wires, monitors. There was so much equipment hooked up to her that, but for her dark hair, they might have missed her completely. Her face was as white as the sheets on the bed. There was a doctor checking the heart monitor when they approached.
"What's her status?" Gibbs asked quietly to avoid disturbing any of the other patients.
The doctor did not looked especially hopeful. "She's alive which is better than I would have hoped. The two bullets we pulled out did a number on her. She had massive internal bleeding and one of the bullets punctured her lung. So far it's holding, but we're watching her closely. She could still go either way. I'll have to ask you not to stay long."
Gibbs nodded and allowed Ziva and Tony to take up positions on either side of the bed. They hadn't said anything, but it was obvious that they had both become rather attached to her since they had found out who she really was. He knew they couldn't really do anything but didn't begrudge them the chance to be there. He left the ICU and went to Tim's room. He was surprised that no one was there. Abby must not have been able to finish her work yet.
Gibbs sat down next to Tim's bed. Ziva was right. Tim was too still. If it weren't for the heart monitor beeping at slow but regular intervals, Gibbs would have thought Tim was dead. He just lay there on the bed, nearly as white as Sarah. There was a netting of electrodes on his head, which Gibbs guessed was an EEG. The monitor showed very little activity even to his inexpert eye.
"Who are you?"
Gibbs turned around quickly, in surprise, and saw a nurse standing in the doorway. "Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS."
"I was told you would be coming. I even told Agent McGee, although it doesn't seem to have made any difference," the nurse said.
"Do you know what's wrong with him?"
She shook her head. "No. He has no injuries. His body was a bit run down, but nothing extreme considering the seizures."
"How did you know about those?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.
"A Dr. Mallard called us and gave us an update on his medical condition, although it took him awhile to get to the point. He seems to have a tendency to maunder, but he was very polite and charming."
"That sounds like Ducky," Gibbs said, relaxing a little. "What do you know then?"
"Only that, for whatever reason, he is effectively in a coma. His EEG is in the delta range. That means that he's either in deep sleep or in a coma," she added off Gibbs' blank look. "Since we don't know what caused it, we can't cure it. All we can do is make sure he stays stable until he decides he's ready to wake up."
"So there's nothing you can do?"
"Nothing we can do, Agent Gibbs. The presence of friends and family often helps coma patients. They know that they are not alone. Sometimes, that's enough."
"And other times?"
She walked past him without answering and checked the monitors, recording the readings on a chart. Then, she headed back out the door. She paused before she left.
"Other times, they don't wake up. I'm sorry."
Alone again, Gibbs stared at Tim.
"What are you thinking, McGee?" he asked. "What happened out there? And what's happening in there?" He poked Tim's skull. There was no response from his agent.
"Gibbs?"
"Hey, Abby," Gibbs said, turning to see her. She was hovering in the doorway, looking more unsure than he'd ever seen. "What's wrong?"
"I stopped to see Sarah. Tony and Ziva said that she-she might..." Abby broke down in tears and ran to Gibbs, throwing her arms around him. "She wants to die, Gibbs. She doesn't want to survive, but I don't want her to die, and Tim doesn't want her to die... and I'm scared that Tim is going to die, and if Sarah dies, he will and..."
"Whoa, Abby, how do you know Sarah wants to die?"
Abby burrowed her head into his chest. "She as good as told me. It was before your meeting. We were talking and she said that all she wanted to do was make sure Tim got through it. Other than that, she just wanted it all to be over. That's why she didn't care about being the target, Gibbs! She wants to die, and I'm afraid that she will! And if she does, then Tim will die too!"
"Shh," Gibbs whispered, and he rocked her gently back and forth. "It's going to be okay." As he comforted Abby, he kept thinking that he really hoped he was telling the truth this time.
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Tony and Ziva were drowsing in the chairs by Sarah's bed. They had gone to visit Tim, but something about his presence was unnerving; so they had retreated to Sarah's bedside instead. A nurse had tried to get them to leave once, but a death glare from Ziva had ended that idea. Ducky had stuck his head in but hadn't stayed long. Michelle hadn't come, but then, she hadn't ever met Sarah before. So, they were alone with Sarah when she woke up.
"Hey, guys," she said, barely giving voice to the words.
"Hey," Tony said and sat up quickly. Ziva did the same.
"Did... we win?" she asked, attempting to smile.
"More or less," Ziva answered.
Before they could say anything else, Sarah closed her eyes again and was gone. They watched the heart monitor continue its beeping, relieved that she hadn't simply died. That relief died as the monitor flatlined. For a moment, neither of them could move, but then, a veritable horde of doctors and nurses descended upon the bed and Tony and Ziva were pushed out of the way. In fact, they were pushed all the way out of the ICU and left to stand in the hallway, waiting for some sign.
The only sign was the sudden rush of doctors which poured out of the ICU pushing Sarah's bed with them. They went through a set of doors and were gone.
Shaken, Ziva asked, "What do you think, Tony?"
Tony looked at the doors through which Sarah had disappeared, and suddenly, without warning, he was struck with a vision of Kate, who had never had the chance to fight for her life.
"She'll make it," he said.
"But..."
"She'll make it," he said firmly.
Ziva didn't try to refute his statement. What would be the point? Together, without a word, they walked down the hall in the opposite direction, in search of Tim's room and the other victim of that day's tragic events.
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"Why won't he wake up, Gibbs?" Abby asked.
"If I knew that, he'd be awake already, Abby," Gibbs answered, not taking his eyes off Tim who had still not moved. Abby had refused to sit in a chair by herself. Instead, she was sitting partially on Gibbs' lap, like an overgrown child. The entrance of two others made them both tear their eyes away from the figure in the bed.
"Hey," Tony managed. He sank down in the chair Abby had rejected and looked at Tim.
"What's going on? I thought you weren't going leave Sarah alone," Abby said accusingly.
Ziva looked at Tim lying still lying motionless in the bed. "She's back in surgery... I think."
"What happened?"
Tony heaved a great sigh. "Her heart stopped."
"Oh, no!" Abby whimpered.
"She's going to make it, Abby," Tony said.
No one responded and they all fell silent, watching the regular blips on the monitor. After an hour or so, Abby left to see if there was any progress on Sarah. When she returned half an hour later, Tim's room was almost full. Ducky, Jimmy and Michelle had all arrived and pulled up seats around Tim's bed. Abby almost started sobbing at the sight. It was too close to some kind of bedside vigil, and she didn't want any reminders of how close Tim might be to death.
"Anything, Abby?" Gibbs asked, breaking the silence.
She shook her head. "No one would tell me anything except to say that they're still working." She walked back to Gibbs and was about to sit down when another voice intruded on the silence.
"Agent Gibbs? Could I speak with you? Outside?" It was the nurse who had been there before.
Gibbs nodded and motioned for Abby to take his seat. She did, but he saw the fear in her expression. It was never a good sign when a doctor wanted to speak in private.
"You're going to tell me that we have to leave, aren't you?"
Her mouth twitched as if she was holding back a laugh. "Among other things, Agent Gibbs."
"What?"
She sighed. "I can see that you all care deeply for Agent McGee, but yes, you do need to go. Visiting hours are long over, and it's getting hard to walk into the room for all the extra bodies."
"What else?"
"Agent McGee is dying."
There was a brief moment where the whole world seemed to go out of focus for Gibbs. That was not what he'd expected to hear; however, he quickly pushed the shock to the side.
"How?"
"We don't know," the nurse said, frustration evident in her voice. "There is nothing physically wrong with him, no injuries, no poison, no disease, nothing, but still, his heart rate is slowing and his breathing is becoming more shallow. We can't seem to stop it." She put a comforting hand on his arm. "I know that you are worried about another patient in this hospital as well, and I hate to compound your worries, but..."
"Go on," Gibbs said, carefully.
The nurse sighed again. "Unless we can figure out what is causing this, Agent McGee will be dead within a week at his current rate of deterioration."
The expression on Gibbs' face didn't change, but he took an unconscious step backward. Tim had just been getting back on his feet after everything and to hear that he was going to die... No, he won't die. I did not give him permission to do so.
"Thank you," he said aloud. "I'll tell everyone they have to go. I don't think they'd listen to you."
She smiled in understanding and walked down the hall to continue her rounds. Gibbs returned to the room and gave everyone their marching orders. There were protests, but eventually, they all left, with many backward glances at Tim, as if they were hoping he'd suddenly wake up with the noise of their departure. He didn't.
Finally, Gibbs was alone with Tim again. He looked down the hall to make sure no one was hanging back, and then walked over to the bed. For a few minutes he watched the heart monitor, trying to determine whether or not it had slowed any during the time he had been there. He hadn't thought to actually pay attention to the numbers, but he did now.
Then, he leaned over Tim and said quietly, "You will not die, McGee. I did not give you permission to die; you got that?"
No response. Gibbs sighed and straightened. When he turned around to leave, he saw Tony standing in the doorway. He debated whether or not to say anything, but Tony beat him to it.
"It worked for me, Boss," Tony said. He was smiling, but he wasn't joking. "If McGee's listening, he wouldn't dare disobey a direct order."
"Apparently, you would, DiNozzo. Didn't I tell everyone to go home?"
"Sarah's out of surgery again. She's alive, but they won't let us see her."
Gibbs nodded and walked past Tony out into the hallway.
He was about twenty feet down the hall when Tony blurted out, "What do we do now, Gibbs?" The voice was so plaintive, that Gibbs would never have believed it could be Tony. He stopped, but didn't turn around.
"We take down the people who are responsible, Tony. That's our job."
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Everyone was gone... except Abby. She snuck back into the ICU and found Sarah, looking as close to dead as was possible with one's heart still beating.
Quietly, she leaned over Sarah and whispered, "Tim still needs you. You can't die."
Then, she slipped out of the ICU and went home.