A week passed by ever so slowly. There were so many ups and downs with AJ. One minute he'd be doing great, then the next he'd be on the edge of death. To say Tim and Abby were under stress would be a major understatement. Gibbs, Tony, Ziva and everyone else on their team were trying to help as much as they could, but there was only so much they could do.

Sometimes, when they could pull Abby away, one of them would sit with AJ while she went and got a couple of hours rest, but she didn't really rest… not well anyway. She would only doze off for a few minutes, then wake back up and lie there until she couldn't handle not being with AJ any longer.

Tim was also very concerned about AJ, but he seemed to be handling it a lot better than Abby. She seemed to be veering further and further away from him and everyone trying to help out. While he was concerned about his son, he was concerned about Abby as well. He feared that she may not be able to face the fact that AJ might not make it. He was all for trying to be positive, but he also knew he needed to look at the reality of it all… and the reality was that it wasn't looking good. Abby, however, refused to hear it. She seemed to be burying herself deeper into her made up world of "everything's gonna be fine" and wouldn't look at the big picture. When doctors tried to tell her that AJ was suffering, and that it might be better for everyone if they decided to remove the ventilator, she started yelling and telling them off. She went so far as pushing one of the doctors. Tim had to hold her back and calm her down.

"Hey, Abbs," Tim said as he walked up to her.

She looked up from watching AJ. "Hey, Tim."

"I'll sit with AJ for a while while you go home and get some rest."

"No, I wanna stay."

"Abby, you haven't been home in over thirty-six hours."

"They want to kill him," She said, matter-of-factly.

"What?" He asked, walking up closer to her. "Abby, what are you talking about?"

She looked back over at AJ, "You heard them yesterday. They want to pull the plug. I can't let that happen."

Tim bent down in front of Abby. "They don't want to kill him, Abby. They were just trying to tell us that it might be better if-"

She jerked her head back towards him. "Oh my God, you want him dead too!"

Tim stood back up, his pulse racing. "I can't believe you just said that!"

"I can't believe that you agree with the doctors!"

"I never said that!"

A nurse came up to them. "Excuse me. You two will have to leave out of the room if you are going to continue speaking so loudly. We can't allow that in here."

"It doesn't matter," Abby replied, "We're done."

"No, we're not! Let's go out in the hallway."

"I said we're done!"

"And I said we're not!.. Now, Abby!"

Abby took a deep breath but she followed Tim out of the room.

Tim turned back to her once they were by themselves. "I get that you're upset but you have no right to say that I want my son dead!"

"You were agreeing with the doctors!"

"No, I was trying to tell you what they said. They said he was suffering. They said that being on a ventilator forever wasn't a life worth having. They said that we'll never know if he can survive, breathing on his own, if we don't take him off the ventilator."

"He could die if we take him off!"

"Or he'll start breathing by himself!"

Abby shook her head. "No. No, I won't take that chance. At least this way I know he's okay."

"Abby, he's not okay!" Tim exclaimed bluntly. "He's not okay at all. And there's no chance of him getting better if we keep doing this! Would you want to live like he's living right now? He has no chance of getting better if we keep him on the ventilator, Abby. No chance."

Abby took a deep breath. "I don't need you here. I'm going to go sit with him, you can go home."

Without letting Tim get in another word, Abby walked away.

Tim meant to go home, but somehow he ended up parking in Gibbs' driveway, going into his house, and walking down the basement steps.

Gibbs looked up as he heard someone. "McGee… What are you doin' here?"

Tim let out a deep breath. "Not sure. I was on my way home and I ended up here."

"I thought you were going to go sit with AJ."

"I was… Abby wouldn't let me."

Gibbs set down his tools and turned his full attention to Tim, who was sitting down on the third to bottom step.

"What happened?"

"I know she hasn't slept in over thirty-six hours, and she's really just barely slept all week… but she had no right to say what she said."

Gibbs walked closer to Tim. "What'd she say?"

"I mean, I love AJ just as much as she does," Tim continued, apparently not hearing Gibbs, "And then she… she…"

"She what, Tim?"

Tim looked up at him. "She said I wanted him dead, just like the doctors did."

Gibbs' heart fell a little bit as he saw the tears fill in Tim's eyes.

"Why would she say that?" He asked, trying to stay calm and reasonable.

"Because I tried explaining what the doctors told us yesterday. I just, I hate seeing AJ suffering. I don't want him to die. I would never want that… but I don't want him to live like this. This isn't a life for him. If he's taken off the ventilator he might start to breath on his own, but he can't do that as long as the ventilator is breathing for him… that's what I was trying to tell her."

Gibbs walked up to Tim and sat on the stair behind him. "Tim, I don't think she really meant what she said. She's just scared… like you are."

"I know that… but it still hurts. The fact that that would even come into her mind…" Tim's voice drifted off and he shook his head. While Gibbs couldn't see Tim's face, he knew Tim was crying.

Gibbs put his hand on Tim's shoulder. "You want me to go back to the hospital with you, Tim?"

Tim wiped the tears from his face. "It wouldn't help."

"It might… I've always had way of talking to Abby."

Tim was silent for a moment. "What if she leaves me?"

"What?"

"What if AJ doesn't make it?.. What if she leaves me, Gibbs? I don't know what I'd do without her. I love her… but I'm afraid that if AJ doesn't make it, she won't want to be with me."

Gibbs got up and walked around Tim so he could look right at him. "Look at me, McGee."

Tim looked up at Gibbs.

"You two have been in love for a lot longer than Abby's been pregnant. It just took the pregnancy for you two to get the balls to admit it to each other. You can't take that back."

"I don't want to take it back, but-"

"And Abby can't take it back either. If AJ doesn't make it it'll be tough, that goes without saying, but if anyone can make it through a tough time, you two can. Understand?"

Tim nodded and once again wiped the tears away. "Yeah, I understand."

"Good," Gibbs replied. "Now, let's go to the hospital."

Tim waited in a small, empty waiting room while Gibbs went and talked to Abby.

A few minutes later she came into the waiting room where Tim was.

Tim looked up when he felt the presence of someone, then stood up when he saw it was Abby.

She looked sad and ashamed, and all he wanted to do was give her a big hug… but he knew she wanted to say something and he wanted to let her get it out.

"Timmy," She began, speaking softly. "I… I'm so sorry, Tim."

"It's okay, Abby."

She shook her head. "No, it's not. I should have never said those things to you. I didn't mean it, I promise."

"I know you didn't… It hurt me when you said it, but I know you didn't mean it."

"I'm just… I'm so scared of losing him," She said before she burst out crying.

Tim immediately went up to her and wrapped his arms around her. "I know, Abby. I know. I am too."

They stood there for a moment, just holding each other.

After a while, Abby broke the silence. "You're right, you know?"

Tim backed up a little so he could look at Abby. "What?"

"We can't keep him on the ventilator forever… It's not a life for him. We… We have to see if he can breathe on his own."

"Are you sure about this Abby? We can't go back once we make that decision."

Abby took a deep breath. "I… I'm sure."

Phew! Took me long enough, right? So sorry about that! I'm still having to do lots of freakin' essays! Plus I was stupid enough to add another story to my plate! What kind of weirdo am I? Oh well, it all keeps me busy :)

So, the McGee episode last night?.. Totally Awesome! (I'll give an Abby-hug to anyone who gets the reference there... hint: It's from a famous youtube video from 2009). But, did anyone else notice that Tim's voice was kinda weird? I wonder if Sean was sick while making this episode...

Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing!