Chapter 36

Gibbs sighed as he watched Tim fall asleep, tears still on his cheeks, his breathing shaky and loud. That breakdown had been sudden, as all of Tim's outbursts had been. It wasn't that he hadn't been aware of the potential for it. It was just that it had been much bigger than he had expected. For Tim to shift from just not wanting to hear something he couldn't believe to shouting about how his life was defined by death was not something Gibbs had anticipated.

At the same time, though, it was amazing how quickly Tim had calmed just from being told it was all right. It probably worked because so few people had ever bothered to care about Tim McGee and help him feel better. Was it true? Not yet. Would this calm last? Probably not, but it didn't matter. He had calmed enough to go to sleep and now, Gibbs had to decide what he was going to do: go back to bed or stay here and let Tim have a physical confirmation that not everyone would leave him. Gibbs didn't kid himself that he was that important to Tim, but the sentiment might matter.

Instead of going back to bed, Gibbs settled himself to sleep in the living room. It wouldn't be the first time, but he usually had the couch when he'd slept down here. Still, it would be worth it if it helped Tim see that people cared and wouldn't abandon him.

He got a blanket and settled in for the remainder of the night.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Fornell, you're late," Sacks said.

Fornell furrowed his brow.

"Oh, really? I'm here right on time."

Sacks laughed. "You'd like to think so, but you've already missed a phone call."

"From who?"

"Nebraska State Bureau of Investigation."

"Nebraska?" Fornell repeated. "Why? We're not working any cases involving Nebraska. Not even any that could end up in Nebraska."

"Not a case."

There was only one other reason that someone from the Nebraska SBI would be calling.

"The McGees?"

Sacks grinned. "Got it in...well, in two."

"Where are they?"

"Don't know. They wouldn't tell me."

"Why not?"

"They said that they had to speak to you, first."

Fornell grimaced. "Why in the world would that matter?"

"Well, you could have just found all this stuff yourself if you had been willing to get into the records yourself, but no, you had to do it the long way."

"This is a personal search, not a professional search, Ron."

Sacks shrugged. "Didn't stop you from doing the work here."

Fornell ignored that. "Who called?"

"An Agent Tony DiNozzo. Sounded like he could have just been pulling your chain, but you never know with these state boys."

Fornell sighed. He had almost been willing to make use of FBI resources to do this search since he hadn't got any information without it. To know that there was an answer but that he couldn't get it yet was irritating. Still, the possibility now existed. That mattered.

"All right. You have the number?"

Sacks handed him a sticky note.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, more seriously. "Would you really go out there?"

"Diane's mom really wanted this to happen. Since it was important to her, it's important to Diane. I'll do what I have to."

"How's she doing? Diane, I mean."

"Okay. It was almost a relief when Louisa died. After she got cancer, her life was pretty miserable, and she was the one who decided not to pursue treatment and just take palliative care. Diane accepted it, more or less."

"Well, if you're going to call, you probably should do that before our stimulating conference on workplace behaviors."

"Yeah." Fornell got out his cell phone and dialed the number, wondering what this would lead to.

"Agent DiNozzo."

"This is Tobias Fornell," he said, deliberately not identifying himself as an agent. "I had a message from you about the John McGee family."

"Oh, right. Well, you were the one looking. What do you want?"

"I want to know where they are, obviously."

"What for?"

"I'm not sure I see how this is your business. There's no criminal record for them. I know that much, so I don't know why it would be any concern of the Nebraska SBI."

"It's not any concern to the SBI, not particularly, but it is a concern to us, and our concern is whether or not you're on the level or if you're just going to find him and then drop him. So if you're serious about this, you can come by our office and talk to Agent Gibbs. He'll make the final decision about whether or not you'll get to talk to...anyone."

"You realize that I'm in Washington, D.C., not anywhere near Nebraska, right?"

"Your point?"

Fornell wanted to tell this agent where to go and how to get there, but this was what Louisa had wanted, and it was what Diane wanted, and he himself was a little intrigued by why it would be such an important thing for him to be there in person. What was it about the McGees that made this vital? And why was the SBI involved at all?

"Fine."

"Good. Feel free to call when you get here. We may even be in the building. Have a nice day."

Then, he hung up.

"Well?" Sacks asked.

"He wouldn't tell me anything."

"What? Why would he have called, then?"

"Because they'll tell me if I go out there."

"Are you going to go?"

Fornell pulled up a leave request form on his computer.

"Yes."

"Better you than me. They're called the flyover states for a reason."

"Well, there's something important out there, and if I have to go to Lincoln, Nebraska, to find it, then, I will."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony hung up and leaned back in satisfaction. He didn't know this Tobias Fornell, but if anything would get him to show what he really wanted, that had. This was important enough to him that he was willing to come all the way to Lincoln to find out what was going on. He hoped it boded well, because if it didn't, well then, Tony might have been asking for trouble.

"What are you looking so smug about?" Kate asked.

"Tobias Fornell is going to come out here."

"He is? When did you find this out?"

"I called him this morning. He wasn't there, but he just called back and I wouldn't tell him anything."

"Tony!"

"Hey, we don't want this guy to turn out to be someone trying to get something from Tim or who doesn't really care about him. What better way to find out than to see what he's willing to do?"

"You could have said something to him."

"I did. I said that I wouldn't tell him anything over the phone."

Kate smiled a little and rolled her eyes.

"You're just impressed that I'm so clever. I know."

"Well, maybe you should call Gibbs and tell him how clever you are. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to force Sheriff Drake into confessing."

"Force?"

"Encourage?" Kate suggested.

"You're not looking encouraging, Kate. You're looking vengeful."

All the playfulness vanished, and Kate was looking more than vengeful.

"This man was willing to use a prostitute, threaten her, stalk her, torment her son, stalk another woman, possibly kill her, attempt to murder a man and abuse his position as a law enforcement officer. The only thing we're unsure of is the actual murder and it's looking more and more likely. He can go to prison for years for what we know he's done, but I don't want him getting off for murder if he's guilty. No one should feel the way Mary felt. No one should feel the way Tim feels. No one should be in that situation, especially at the hands of an officer. It makes us all look bad."

"Somehow, I doubt that our reputation is what you're worried about."

"It's not."

"Yeah. I figured." Tony hesitated and then decided to ask. "So are you going to admit what really brought you out here or are we just going to keep pretending that we don't actually know already?"

Kate looked surprised for a moment and then raised an eyebrow.

"I know about that sniper and that you asked for a transfer after it was all over. We all know about that much, but since you obviously didn't want to talk about it, we didn't. This is getting to you for more than just the injustice of it, isn't it. How bad did it get?"

For a second, Tony thought Kate was going to explode on him, but then, she sighed and looked away from him, choosing to stare at her computer screen instead.

"He almost killed me," she said softly. "He was as close to me as I am to you, right now. You don't look someone in the eyes who wants you dead without being affected by it. When I saw how Sheriff Drake looked at Tim McGee, it was the same expression as I saw in Ari Haswari's eyes. He wanted to kill. It wasn't about needing to. It was about wanting to. I've never seen that in Tim's eyes, not even when he attacked Sheriff Drake. Disturbed or not, Tim is the innocent one, here. Sheriff Drake is a killer, and I don't want to see a killer escape justice. It's dangerous for everyone."

"Well, I agree that Sheriff Drake looks guilty as sin, but we need to make sure that we can prove it. The legal system doesn't care about the look in a person's eye. They care about proof."

"I know that."

"Good. Now, do you think something happened during the night and that's why Gibbs isn't here yet?"

If Kate was surprised by the sudden change in topic, she didn't show it.

"Yes. I'd be more surprised if nothing happened. Tim isn't stable, not yet. I think he's liable to go off at any second, given the right provocation. If Gibbs isn't here, it's because he's letting Tim sleep longer."

"It always makes me nervous when Gibbs isn't on time," Tony said. "It feels like I should watch for the world to be ending or something."

"Well, if you're not working, you'll definitely be asking for a head slap."

"Absolutely."

Kate started working again, but Tony got up from his desk and walked over. Kate looked up at his with a questioning expression. Tony knew that there wasn't really anything he could say to fix what had happened. It was over and done with. So he just squeezed her shoulder.

"You'll get him, Kate."

She smiled.

"You bet I will."

Then, it was back to work.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Gibbs woke up with a start, unsure of what had awakened him. Then, he looked at his watch and saw how late it was, relatively speaking. After six a.m. and he was just waking up? Well, there had been mitigating factors involved. While he liked to put off the appearance of never needing sleep, he did, and three a.m. surprises weren't conducive to deep sleep. He looked over and saw Tim still sleeping on the couch. He'd be surprised if Tim had slept well, but he was glad that he'd slept at all.

Instead of waking him, Gibbs settled back on the chair and waited. While he waited, he considered the man sleeping in front of him. That Tim was emotionally and psychologically messed up was obvious. The problems went extremely deep for him. Violent death had been part of his life for far too long. There was always a possibility that he couldn't overcome that. Twenty years of knowing that his mother had killed his father, knowing that and keeping it a secret, fearing his mother and yet not knowing what to do without her. An adult would have trouble with just that much, but that beginning had led to other things. It was actually rather impressive that Tim managed to keep it together as much as he had. Most of the time, even though his difficulties were obvious, he managed to interact on a fairly normal level.

It was just that he could break down so quickly and so shockingly. It was no wonder that everyone had been put off by him. It hadn't taken much to break Tim down. He'd never learned to deal with his emotions in a normal fashion because he hadn't been allowed to give voice to what drove them. At this point, it was easy to see why people didn't like him and equally easy to see why the continual rejection had warped him even more.

Suddenly, Tim started to move around in his sleep. He flung out his arms and hit the arm and side of the couch. Before Gibbs could move over to calm him, he sat up, looking around wildly for something. There was actually almost a whimper before he was able to get control of himself again.

"You all right?" Gibbs asked.

Tim jumped a little and looked at him. He looked away, seeming a little embarrassed.

"No, but that's okay."

"Sleep well?"

"I slept."

Which meant that he hadn't.

"What happens today?"

"We see if you can answer some more questions. We investigate."

"What do I do while you're investigating? I can't talk to Dr. Cranston all day."

Gibbs smiled at the assumption that it would be the suggestion he'd make.

"You can see Abby's lab if you want."

Tim looked at him apprehensively. "Abby's the one with all the tattoos and stuff, right?"

Gibbs nodded.

"I don't know. She makes me nervous."

No big surprise there. Tim hadn't responded well to women in general. Too much chaos tied up in them. Abby could be overwhelming to the most stable person, let alone someone like Tim.

"Just an option. Not required. You read?"

"Yeah. Some."

"I don't have much, but I'll ask the others to bring some books."

"Okay."

"We'll also need you to detail what happened during your confrontation with Sheriff Drake."

Tim tensed just with the mention of that.

"Why? You saw most of it, and I told you what happened."

"We need as many details as possible for when we charge him."

"What kind of details?"

"What he said, what you said, where it started, how long it took. All of it, if you can."

"Oh."

Tim didn't look too thrilled about that, but it was necessary, and his account really was important. They needed all the details they could possibly get before Sheriff Drake tried to turn it all on Tim again. They might not be able to avoid that completely, but if Tim's account was beyond reproach, it would help them in the long run.

"When do I do all this?"

"When we get to the building."

"Okay."

"I'll get breakfast," Gibbs said. "You can shower."

"Okay."

Tim got up and Gibbs watched as he, almost reverently, pulled out new clothes to wear. He was glad that they'd survived the fire because it was clear that Tim was treasuring this experience. Every set of new clothes was an unexpected gift that he would never squander.

They certainly made him look better, too.

You could almost think he was just a normal guy.

As long as you didn't look him in the eye.

Gibbs promised himself that he would never make that mistake with Tim McGee. No matter how easy it was to ignore, he would always make sure to notice what was reflected in his eyes because so much could be seen there.

Tim didn't linger in the bathroom. They ate breakfast quickly and then, Tim looked at him, warily. Gibbs knew that every part of this journey was difficult for Tim. He didn't want to deal with it because most of his life had been spent avoiding the things that caused him pain, whether it was people or events or memories. The idea of confronting them didn't even make sense.

"Time to go," Gibbs said. He didn't ask if Tim was ready. He knew he wasn't.

"Okay."

And it was off to the office again.