Thanks for the review EarthDragon.

Tim awoke in a strange room. He's head felt heavy, his eyes were foggy and his heart was racing. He was sweaty and in twisted in his sheet. Strangely enough, this wasn't from the alcohol, but from the nightmare that woke him. He took a few calming breaths and his heart rate didn't ease up. Looking around the room, he couldn't see his bag, he knew he'd left his sig upstairs in his desk drawer. He'd planned on retrieving it before going home. His knives were gone, although there was a reflective glint on the arm chair in the corner, he'd bet that was them.

He moved himself into a sitting position, head between his knees, breathing just like his childhood therapist had taught him. He found his heart rate hadn't slowed down and he had to find his phone. Trying to stand, he felt his legs give out from underneath him. 'Great' Tim thought as he attempted to stand again.

"Easy, let me help." Tobias had said, rushing in to help him. "Holy hell, you're burning up." Tim swatted his hand away. It felt too cold on his hot forehead. Tobias managed to get him upright and onto his feet, before coaxing him to sit on the bed. "You're sick?" He asked, carefully looking at the young man.

"Sinuses, normally can push through." Tim confessed. "It's not too bad." Tobias spied the aspirin on the bedside.

"Here take the aspirin," he offered. He wondered if in his fever-induced state, did Tim even see the aspirin.

"Can't, allergic. Need Paracetamol or Ibuprofen. Tylenol ok, but not for too long. No aspirin or Aspro."

Tobias internally swore at that. He didn't know anyone could be allergic to aspirin. 'What if Tim had of taken it, not knowing what it was?' He thought and cringed at what might have been.

"Got some Tylenol in my room, hang on." Tobias said, darting off and returned with the packet in hand. Popping two pills into his hand he downed them and swallowed the whole glass of water. He placed the empty glass on the nightstand gently and looked down at Tim.

"Sorry, seems like alcohol, the heat, long days, and a sinus headache wasn't a good combo." Tim muttered, feeling himself start to sway. "I'll get outta ya hair as soon as it kicks in."

"Absolutely not, kid." Tobias said vehemently. "You're not going anywhere until I can see for myself you're better and you've eaten a full meal. Now sleep." Tobias perched himself on the edge of the twin bed, looking down at Tim. He looked like a younger version of himself, very boyishly looking. He glanced at the clock. He knew the team were rotated off last night, but they'd have paperwork to do and it meant a late start. At least he hoped that was Gibbs way, that's how he ran his own team. He debated going into the man's phone to find out, but figured Tim would have it secured up the wah-zoo and it'd probably only tell him the time, which he could see illuminated on the alarm clock beside the bed anyway.

Quietly, he snatched up the cell phone and took it with him to his bedroom, silencing the ringer along the way.

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs barked, as he waited downstairs at his apartment building. Tony and Ziva had gone upstairs in search of him. The trio had requals book at the gun range at Quantico and had arranged to drive out together in Gibbs' charger.

"Not there boss," Tony answered, as they returned to the car. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he hasn't been home in several days. Beds not slept in, either."

"No surprise there, Gibbs. McGee was busy on the encryption. He's probably been sleeping at his desk again." Ziva added, silently chastising her friend. "Who saw him last, last night, Gibbs?"

"He was with Tony last." Gibbs answered, looking at his senior agent closely. "Where is he?" He asked more directly.

"Hey, I met a pretty blonde and we went to dinner not long after you left. McGeek was still chatting with Fornell when I left. They were eating pizza." Tony explained and Gibbs slapped the back of his head hard. Whipping out his cell, he found Tobias' number pushed the call button.

"Fornell!" Tobias grumbled into the phone. It'd barely been forty minutes since he helped Tim back to bed, the last time. Tim had been delirious with his fever and Fornell had spent the bulk of the night, trying to keep Tim in the bed.

"Where's McGee?" Gibbs snapped. He was irritated, it wasn't like McGee to be unreachable.

"Now you care!" Tobias snapped right back. "When I tried to talk to you last night…"

"Where's McGee? He's missing!" Gibbs repeated, interrupting the FBI agent. He didn't want to admit it, but he was beginning to worry too. His gut was pinging when they arrived and he didn't see his Porsche in the assigned spot.

"He's sleeping. It's 0500 for Pete's sake." Tobias grumbled again. He was wide awake now. "I'm not waking him up, he's sick. I'll have him call you once he's awake and conscious!"

"Sick?" Gibbs repeated and disconnected the call.

The other two agents stopped their muffled laughter and looked serious at each other, then caught Gibbs' eye. "Ah Gibbs?" Tony asked. As the senior agent it was up to him to ask, plus Ziva was threatening him with a paper clip.

"He's sick?" Gibbs repeated again and turned in his seat to question Tony. "He drink too much?"

"It's McNeverDrinks. He had two beers and switched to water. He wouldn't have been drunk." Tony reasoned. "He never gets drunk."

"I agree Gibbs," Ziva added. "Tim isn't a big drinker."

"Well according to Fornell he's sick."

"He's with Fornell?" Tony asked in a squeaky, high pitched voice. "How the hell did that happen?" Gibbs reached over and head slapped him.

"Think, DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped

Gibbs was frustrated, if McGee was as sick as Tobias had said, 'why the hell didn't he call me?' He thought. He knew Tim had been suffering from a sinus headache all week. He just hoped that was all that was wrong. He'd have to do McGee's re-quals, later in the week now.

Emily was due to return from spending the week at Diane's. He was hoping Tim would slept right through Diane dropping her off. He'd woken Tim after checking his temperature and found it hadn't budged a bit. It was 103 and he'd given Tim more Tylenol and put him back to sleep. He'd check Tim again after Diane left and if Tim was still having a temperature he'd have to think about his next move.

Diane dropped off Emily with minimal fuss, for a change, Emily didn't even comment on the presence of Tim in the spare room. She was used of seeing one of her Dad's agents in that bedroom and didn't think anything of it.

Fornell called in, not giving them a reason why. He'd given the message to Sacks and he didn't explain why, which was his normal. Emily was in her room, starting on her homework, which was unusual, but not unheard of. She enjoyed Maths and Science, so it was probably one of them. He set to check Tim's temperature again and the young man felt clammy and hot. 'Shit 105 degrees, that's not good.' He thought. 'Time for hospital.' he thought. He didn't know Ducky's number and the Tylenol wasn't taking care of the fever anymore. 'Time to call for back-up'

He tried to wake Tim up and he couldn't rouse him. Tim was curled in the foetal position and sobbing in his unconscious state. "Emily," he bellowed and Emily came in, grinding to a halt, not recognising the agent in their guest bedroom.

"Who's that?" She asked, pointing to the man in just his boxer shorts, who her father was trying to coax awake.

"Get my cell and call Uncle Gibbs, now." He ordered, and at that particular moment he wished he had Ducky's cell phone number. "Tell him I need help!"

"Yeah, Gibbs." He answered, not looking at the caller ID. They were five minutes out from the base entrance at Quantico. His gut felt on edge, like it was twisting, but he was mostly trying to ignore it, putting it down to not hearing from his JFA yet.

"Daddy needs help, Uncle Gibbs." Emily said, she sounded panicked. "There's a man in our spare room and I think he's really sick, maybe hurt too." her words were rushed.

"Em honey, where's your Dad?" He asked, cutting in front of oncoming traffic, doing an illegal u turn, before heading to Fornell's home. He knew something was seriously wrong, his gut had been increasing on the drive down, not decreasing, but he'd tried ignoring it. Ziva and Tony had no notice and barely had time to hold on and brace themselves. "Put your Dad on the phone."

"Gibbs" Tobias came on the line, "He's temps up at 105 and he's unresponsive. Maybe call Ducky to come to the house?"

'Crap!' Gibbs thought. "Forget Duck, call 911. Let us know where they take him and we'll meet you there, we're on route." Gibbs disconnected the call and floored the accelerator as fast they could go. Tony and Ziva held on tight as Gibbs weaved through traffic. Gibbs tossed his cell phone to Ziva in the backseat. "When Fornell rings back, find out which hospital they took McGee to. Then notify Ducky."

Fornell promptly called 911 and told Emily to pack up something to keep her occupied because they were going to follow the medics to the hospital. Tobias and Emily jumped in his truck twin cab truck and followed them, out of their street and down the road to Inova Alexandria Hospital. Tobias had Emily call her Uncle back, while they looked for a car park. He and Emily made their way into the waiting room and took a seat as he watched through the window as they transferred him on to a bed. Tobias, at the last minute had thought to grab McGee's wallet, at least he would have the man's medical insurance information for the hospital and ambulance staff.

They'd barely been seated fifteen minutes when Ducky came rushing in to the waiting room. "Agent Fornell?" He called, when he saw him and Emily waiting. Fornell had a clipboard and was filling out the admittance paperwork the best he could. "Have you heard anything?"

"Nothing, trying to fill this out, but I don't know half the answers." He responded dejectedly.

"Let me have a go at it, while you tell me how Timothy ended up in your care." Ducky offered, then I shall see if I can find out something." Ducky took the forms and easily filled in the blanks. He was surprised that Fornell had known some of the young man's allergies. Ducky didn't even know about the allergy to Aspirin. He made light work of the rest of the paperwork, including his next of kin and medical proxy. Ducky knew he had medical proxy and that Gibbs was the next of kin. He knew that after he and his sister had a falling out, just after the case involving his sister, that Timothy changed the paperwork. He'd tried to list his grandmother Penny, but HR had wanted someone listed who was more local. Ducky offered his and Gibbs' services, without even consulting the team leader. He doubted that Gibbs even knew he was listed.

"Family of Timothy McGee?" The doctor asked, almost an hour later. Ducky had been unsuccessful in getting an update. Luckily the doctor arrived, just as Gibbs, Tony and Ziva skidded to a halt inside the emergency room.

"That's us." Gibbs rushed forward and Fornell stood up to meet Gibbs in front of the doctor.

"Timothy's temperature rose another degree when he arrived, we immediately ran his bloods and it showed a high white cell count." The doctor explained to them all. Emily was still seated on the chair, but had stopped taking notes and looked up and paid attention to what the doctor was saying. "We did an emergency cat scan and found his appendix had burst. He has been rushed into emergency surgery for an appendectomy."

"Thank you, Doctor." Fornell said, offering his hand to thank the young doctor who couldn't have been much older than Tim, himself.

"You can wait upstairs on level 4, in the surgical waiting room." the doctor advised. "Follow me"

"Appendix, thank goodness for that." Ducky said, releasing a breath he didn't realised he was holding on to as the group followed the doctor up to the waiting room.