Chapter 10

The room was dark, that was the first thing that registered when she opened her eyes. Her hand and feet were tied tightly to the chair she was sitting in, digging uncomfortably into her skin. She tried to look around the room but all she could see were shadows.

A single light came on over head and she closed her eyes against the sudden brightness. She slowly opened her eyes and, as she allowed them to grow accustomed to the light, she took in her surroundings.

She was seated in a hard metal chair, the coolness of the metal biting through her clothes. A small bed sat in a far corner, a small table sat on her other side, covered with a dark sheet.

A man walked into the room. Tall, thin. She didn't recognize him.

"Well good morning little dove," he said as he walked in, "I was hoping you'd be awake by now."

She watched him walk toward her and fought to calm her breathing, staring up at him angrily. His smile widened at her defiance. "He always told me the agents would be the fun ones. Always so sure of yourselves." He leaned forward, looking into her narrowed eyes. "The quiet ones always have the most beautiful songs." He brushed a lock of pale hair from her eyes before yanking the tape from her mouth.

Her glare only deepened.

"You'll sing for me eventually, my dove." He walked over to the small table and removed the sheet. He picked up a small knife and ran a hand gently down the blade before turning back. "They always do."

"We're not going home any time soon are we?" the young boy stared down at his breakfast.

"Well, kid," Tony replied. "We're gonna do our best to get you and your mom back home as soon as possible but, I don't wanna lie to you, we're not sure right now when that will be."

"My mom's really freaked out," he stabbed at the pancake on his plate. Someone had been nice enough to bring real food up to the break room for him but he had yet to eat any of it. "She doesn't want me to know but I can tell. I don't think she thinks I saw what was on the porch last night. That lady was dead wasn't she?"

"Yeah, kiddo, she was."

"I thought so." He finally took a bite of his pancake and looked up at Tony. "I know that my mom saw something a couple days ago and that she's been talking to you guys about it. Is that why that lady was at our house? Is somebody trying to hurt my mom?"

"We don't know everything right now," Tony started, "but we are going to do our best to keep anything from happening to you and your mom."

Will nodded, slowly turning his attention to his breakfast. "It's Christmas Eve," he said quietly, "We're supposed to go caroling with my aunt and uncle tonight." the boy paused for a moment before continuing, "Did you know it's my mom's birthday? I can't even give her her present because its at home."

"I didn't know it was your mom's birthday. I'm sure we could see about getting back out to your place to get it for you if you really want, but I don't think your mom will mind having to wait for her present." He glanced at the doorway behind him and stood. "You're going to be hanging out with my partner today so that I can help Agent Gibbs find the people responsible for everything that's been going on."

Tim stepped into the room and walked over to the two at the table. "Hi Will, I'm Agent McGee but you can call me Tim." As he took a seat at the table, Tony excused himself and walked out of the room.

"You signed my book," Will said, staring at the man before him. "So is your name really Tim McGee or is it Thom Gemcity?"

"It's Tim."

"Why did you change your name for your book?"

"There were several reasons actually," Tim folded his arms on the table and smiled slightly. "Most of them are a little complicated. I guess I just didn't want certain people to know who I really was. That way it makes it hard for people to bother me when I don't want them too."

The boy thought about that for a moment before nodding, "That makes sense."

"What did you think of the book?"

"I really liked it," the boy pulled the book from his bag and set it on the table. "Mom usually lets me pick books out that I want when we would get new shipments in at the store. I got home from school one day and she just handed this one to me and said she thought I'd really like it." He looked up from the book towards Tim, "It's one of my favorites. I've read it a couple times now."

"What other things do you like?"

"I really like astronomy. Mom and me would go out on the roof of the store sometimes and look at them when it's really clear out. She bought me a telescope a couple years ago for Christmas so now we both get to look at them together. I love science. Mom buys me these kits all the time. I've built a couple of robots out of them. They really move around too! I've got a microscope Uncle Max gave me too. It came with a bunch of cool slides so I could look at stuff up close."

"Science huh," Tim said with a laugh. "Did you know we have our very own scientist here in the building?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, her name's Abby. She's even got a lab and everything. Would you like to see it?"

"Yes!"

Tim laughed at the excitement in the boy's face as he quickly packed away his books. "Slow down now. You need to finish eating your breakfast first."

Will dropped his bag on the floor and picked up his fork, shoveling his pancakes into his mouth. Tim laughed to himself as he sent a quick text down to Abby to give her a heads up that she would be having visitors.

Tim watched with a smile as the young boy practically bounced from machine to machine while Abby explained what she used them for. He could definitely see himself in the boy. He could also see Taylor as she was back in school, back before she was Taylor. He sighed and shook his head, ending that train of thought before it could take off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't understand, Agent Gibbs. I've never seen either of these women before in my life. Why is this happening to me?"

"We're still looking into it but, for now, we are going to treat this as the threat it is. Whether or not you were on their radar before, you definitely are now. We're placing you and your son in protective custody effective immediately. Both of you will have either Agent McGee or Agent DiNozzo with you at all times"

"Do you really think someone could hurt Will?"

At the fear in her voice, Tony cut in, "The odds are low. These men have only actually attacked women so far. We're not willing to take any chances though."

She nodded slowly. "Are we going to be staying here then?"

"Safe house," Gibbs said shortly. "We'll be taking you this afternoon."

"Ok." She rested her head in her hands, "At least this will be a memorable Christmas, huh."

Tony felt for her. He still didn't understand how the woman in front of him could have kept his partner's child from him for so long but, as he watched her, he couldn't help but feel for her. The fact that Rei had, for some reason, added her to his potential target list didn't sit well with him. There was something they were missing; something important. "Do you have any ideas why Rei would target you?"

"Alex?" she paused as she thought, "No. Like I said before, I haven't seen him in years. He had already left for the Marines when I moved in. I barely saw him before that. He never really seemed to care for me the couple of times I met him when I was younger, but that wasn't unusual and, like I said, Max always seemed to not get along well with his brother back then anyway."

"How long after he left did you move in?" This question came from Gibbs.

"Couple of weeks at least. I'm not really sure though."

"Prior to your encounter with Fischer, had you noticed anything unusual? Anyone new hanging around the store, the restaurant or your place?"

"Not really. We have new people coming into Matt's place all the time so it's not unusual to see new faces pop up for a while before disappearing again. With the holidays it's not really odd to see a new face at the store either but, for the most part, I've mostly got regulars." she folded her arms on the table and looked up at the men in front of her. "I'm sorry, Agent Gibbs, but I haven't noticed anything odd. That's part of the reason I live where I do. It's supposed to be safer than living in the city. I'm always alert to make sure no one I don't know follows me; especially when Will's with me; and I haven't seen anyone."

"Any strange phone calls?"

"No, I don't think so...Oh! A few weeks ago we got several calls where the person hung up as soon as we answered. There were a couple that we would answer and there was just this static-y noise on the other end. We figured they were just kids being kids, you know. Prank calls and all that."

"When was this?"

"Few weeks ago. Right after Thanksgiving, I think."

"Was this on your cell?" Tony asked, making a quick note.

"No, at the store. It happens sometimes so I didn't think anything of it. It was probably just kids."

"We'll still look into it just to be safe."

"Makes sense," she chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully before continuing, "I still don't understand. If it's really Alex doing all this, why would he come after me. I haven't done anything to him."

"We're going to find that out." With that Gibbs stood and left the room.

Taylor and Tony both watched him leave. "Agent DiNozzo," Tony looked back over at her, "do you really think he would hurt Will? Would it be safer if we sent him to stay with friends until this was over?"

"We don't want to risk it. He may be perfectly safe, or he may not be. It's better for him to be with us where we can keep an eyes on him just in case."

She reached across the table and grabbed his arm in her hand, "I need you to promise me something, Agent Dinozzo." He raised an eyebrow questioningly at her. "If it comes down to it, you focus on Will."

He opened his mouth to reply and she cut him off, "It's not really a question. There is no choice. If something happens, you get my baby out of there, to hell with what would happen to me. Understand?"

Tony stared at her for a moment, "You think we'd ever let something happen to McGee's kid?"

She smiled softly at him, "Now that he knows about him, Tim would die to protect him, I know that. But I want a promise from you, Agent DiNozzo. No choices. No thought about it. If it comes down to it, you all protect him."

Tony stared at her, he could see the determination in her eyes. He placed his free hand on top of her on his arm and, with a sigh, nodded once.

She squeezed his arm gently before pulling away, "Good, thank you."

Tim sat in front of the computer in Abby's lab. Will was safely in her office, playing a game on her computer. "He seems like a pretty cool kid, McGee," Abby said as she came and sat on the stool next to him.

"He is, isn't he."

"So, are you gonna tell him?" she stared at the screen as it ran their latest victims dna through the system. "I mean, he seems to like you."

"I think so, but I just can't seem to think of how to do it. I mean, I can't just walk up to him and say, 'Hey guess what, I'm your dad.' Can I?"

"You've written two best selling novels, Mcgee. I'm sure you'll think of something." She patted his shoulder comfortingly before standing and walking over to the box of evidence she had sitting on her work table.

He stared at the boy in the other room. He wanted to know him. Wanted him to know who he was. These were things he knew. What he didn't know was if the boy would want to know him. It had been a long time since he'd felt this nervous. "Hey Abby," he said after a few minutes.

"Yea?"

"Would you be willing to do some shopping for me on your break today?"

She set down her magnifying glass next to the coat she was going over and turned to look at him. "What were you thinking?"

"Tomorrow's Christmas. I missed so many of them so far. I want to do this one right. I'll send you a list." He pulled his card out of his wallet and held it out to her. "I'll owe you."

Abby smiled, taking the card from his hand. "I can do that for you McGee." Tim stood up and started toward the door to her lab. "What are you going to say?"

"I'm gonna tell him a story."

The door to Abby's office slid open as he approached. Will was so engrossed in his game that he didn't notice Tim right away when he entered. After a few minutes of watching him, Tim cleared his throat to get his attention.

"Hey, Tim. Did you want to play?"

"No," Tim paused, "I actually wanted to tell you a story."

"A story?"

Tim nodded and pulled a chair over to sit beside the desk. "It's a pretty good one and I want you to pay attention ok?" Will looked confused but turned off the computer screen and nodded. "Ok." Tim took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment to organize his thoughts.

"Years ago, there was a boy. His family was military so they moved around some when he was young. Because of this, the boy found it really hard to make friends. One day, when he was a teenager, he found out that his family would be moving again.

"By this time, the boy had grown used to the regular moves and just hoped that he could finish school before they would have to move again. The new base they moved to was very like the others he had lived on, but there was one difference.

"He started school and, just like everywhere else, he found it hard to fit in. You see, he had always been smart. He actually managed to get himself bumped up two grades, so his classmates were always older than he was. Most people didn't want to waste their time on the kid who they didn't think belonged in their class to begin with.

"One night, he went for a walk. There was a park nearby his house that he liked to go to. It was quiet. There was a girl there that night. She looked to be around his age, but he didn't recognize her. She was laying in the grass staring up at the sky.

"Curious, he walked over to her. 'What are you doing?' he asked.

"Now she wasn't expecting to see anyone that night so she was surprised to see him standing over her. 'Watching the stars.' she said. 'I love watching the stars.' He looked up at the sky. He had studied the stars. He could tell you their names, where to find them, but he'd never just stared at them for fun.

"'Why,' was all he asked.

"'It's relaxing. And they're beautiful to look at.' she pat the ground next to her. 'Come on, give it a try.'

"He did just that. He lay on the ground, next to this girl he'd never met and just watched the stars. They didn't speak much after that and eventually she got up and went home. He came back the next night and there she was again, watching the stars. Again, she invited him to join her.

"They talked this time. Introduced themselves. He found out that she was his age and so was 2 grades below him at school. They didn't say much other than that.

"Every night he went to the park. Every night she was there and every night he would join her. She found him after class one day and, without a word, started walking with him in the halls. It wasn't long before the two were nearly inseparable.

"The boy found himself waking up in the morning excited to go to school. Not just to learn anymore, because he had always loved that, but because he knew she would be there.

"They started meeting up after school. In the winter, she taught the boy to ice skate. It took over a week before he could keep himself from falling but she never let him go, even when he would pull her down with him. They would fall on the ice together and laugh, then they would try again. One of his favorite things was computers and he taught her about them. He could tell that she didn't find them as fascinating as he did but she would still come over and listen as he tried to teach her. Oftentimes he would turn from his computer to find her laying on his bed reading. A few times she even fell asleep!

"Her father didn't approve of the time the two spent together. Her father was military as well and had very high standards for both his daughter and the people he felt she should be friends with. The boy did not fit what her father approved of but she didn't listen and stayed friends with him anyway.

"The boy's wish came true and he stayed at that high school until he graduated. By that time the girl had become one of the most important people in his life. He felt himself falling in love with her but couldn't find the words to tell her.

"He got accepted to a college far away and he knew he wanted to ask her to join him once she graduated, but he was terrified to ask. Moving across the country was a lot to ask of anyone. He invited her over to his house one night with every intention of asking her but he chickened out. She stayed the night that night and they were happy.

"He never asked her. She still had junior and senior year left of high school and he had decided he would come back for her and bring her with once she graduated. He didn't want to force her to make that choice yet. And so, he went away to school. He called home regularly, wrote letters. Eventually, the letters and calls slowed as school got into full swing and time ran away. Still he missed her and wanted to ask her to come.

"Christmas break came and he made it home by Christmas eve. He wanted to surprise her and had planned to ask her to move with him after her graduation. It would be hard but they could spend the summer finding an apartment for the two of them and he would move out of the dorm.

"He went to her house and her father answered. She wasn't there. He told the boy that she had gotten sick and had died; that he had spread her ashes at the lake where they would skate in the winter.

"The boy was devastated, he couldn't remember the rest of the holiday. Not the gifts he received, the people he saw. It was all a blur. Every night, though, he would walk to the lake and he would watch the stars.

"Every year on Christmas eve, even after his family moved away, he would go back to that lake. At night he'd go out on the ice and he would watch the stars and he would miss her."

Tim finished his story and looked over at the boy before him. His eyes were wide.

"My mom tells me stories too," he said, staring at Tim, "about my dad. She told me that they used to watch the stars together. That they met in a park and that my dad loved computers…" he trailed off, his eyes falling onto the book he had sitting on the desk beside the keyboard. "One of her favorite stories was about how she tried to teach him to skate." He looked back up and met Tim's gaze, his eyes shining. "She told me that he was smart like me and that he moved far away for school and that that's why she didn't go with him. How do you know my mom's stories?"

Tim leaned forward, placing his hands gently on the boy's shoulders. "Because they're my stories too."

Without warning, the boy lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Tim's neck. Tim wrapped his arms tightly around him and felt the first tears fall.

AN: Longest chapter of this story so far and it took forever for me to figure out how the heck Tim would go about telling this kid who he was. I felt that telling a story was the most fitting way. Anyway, I'd love to know what you guys think!