We have moved to the evacuation centre for tonight - we returned to our property today briefly to find everything on the bottom floor destroyed and most of the flood water receded. Tomorrow we wait for the insurance assessor, then the beginning of a big clean up - please don't be alarmed if I drop off the radar temporarily. It's a massive job and is going to take a while. Our losses were minimal compared to our neighbours and a lot of people in other places. Thinking of everyone affected by this 'rain bomb' and everyone affected by the summer floods.
I promise to update as soon as I can. Internet and computer access is spotty at the moment, luckily some of my notes are saved on my phone so I can work from there.
Thank you for your reviews. Alix33 those errors will be fixed as soon as I can access my pc, right now it's hard. Thank you for pointing them out!
"We're here to rescue you, Tim." Emily said as she entered his hospital room two days later. "Dad and Uncle Gibbs are getting your marching orders from the doctor." Tim groaned at Emily's comment. He was really hoping he could talk Tobias into letting him go home by himself. But with Gibbs along for the ride he had no chance now. "It's going to be so awesome. We're going to have a fantastic time. But first I have to do my science homework."
He'd asked Ziva to talk to Gibbs about letting him go home to his own apartment, but she'd snapped and gone on a twenty minute tirade about pulling stitches and damaging himself further. All that did was make him want to facepalm into his hand and crawl under the covers.
Tony had come by, supposedly to cheer him up, but all he did was try to chat up his nurse and hit on his surgeon, that was before he'd been emasculating to Tim at every turn. He'd left Tim with the parting jab that TAD Agent Benson was a better agent than Tim and if he didn't hurry back he wouldn't have a job to come back to.
Abby had been by and chatted at a million miles an hour, even she snuck a barb or two that Gibbs, Tony and Ziva had to give up a weekend at the range for him and now they needed to reschedule.
Ducky and Jimmy had been swamped at work, with two active cases back to back for MCRT, a triple homicide for Balboa's team, a MVA for the ICRT and possible suicide for Jackson's team. But they'd still phoned regularly for updates.
Gibbs hadn't been back since the day he came out of surgery, but Ziva, Tony and Abby had all been sure to mention that he had been like a bear with a sore paw to work with. But then he expected nothing less from Gibbs, it's not like it was Tony in the hospital bed. Tim knew he'd never have the same relationship with Gibbs that Tony or Abby has, not even the relationship Ziva has.
Ultimately, Tim felt really low and he was worried about his housing situation. He was beginning to feel like he couldn't rely on the help he'd been promised. He didn't want to impose on Tobias and Emily. Not that he didn't feel welcome or wasn't welcome. They'd told him enough to know he was welcome, but he was also terrified of Diane. She knew where Tobias lived and no doubt Emily would tell her Mother about the recovering agent. Mentally, he wasn't strong enough to deal with her right now.
"Be sure to attend your appointment in two weeks time." Dr Ziles had instructed him. She had been a no nonsense woman and he'd tried multiple times to persuade her that he'd been fine on his on, at home to no avail.
"Oh he'll be there." Tobias said firmly. "I'll personally get him here."
Having been pre-warned by everyone on Team Gibbs that Tim would try to talk him into going home by himself, Fornell felt the need to be firm with Tim. What he briefly learnt from Tim's childhood, he'd probably never been taken care of and allowed to recover from anything at his own pace.
He and Emily managed to get Tim into the car and get him back to the Fornell family home in record time. He set Tim up on the sofa in the living room, with his cellphone in reach and a notepad in hand. Gibbs had followed behind them, but stopped off for coffee for the trio and a hot chocolate for Emily. Soon the four of them were scattered around Tobias' living room chatting about mundane things like the weather and such. Emily begged off, her science homework awaited her, leaving the three federal agents alone.
"Got that list for me, McGee?" Gibbs asked. "I'll make a start on it."
"What list?" Fornell asked. "I can help."
"A list of what I need and want in a new place." Tim explained. "I can't ask you to help Tobias, you and Emily have done too much for me already."
"Tim, if you need a new place let me help." Tobias reiterated. Gibbs observed the two men, there was an easiness that wasn't there before this last case and they used each other's first names. A pang of guilt surged through Gibbs. He'd known McGee for a long time and had probably used his first name twice. Tobias Fornell looked hard at Tim. He could see the exhaustion and worry behind his eyes. He knew the agent had a hard time with this latest case. He'd opened up a little to him, but he suspected there was a lot more to it than meets the eye. "Get some sleep, kid. We'll start fresh then."
Tim stumbled out to the kitchen at 0700, which was a sleep in for Tim to sleep. He was surprised to find Diane at Tobias' kitchen table with Tobias deep in discussion, whilst Emily was silently working on her science project. "Chuckie!" Diane exclaimed, stunned to see him standing there, all bleary eyed and sleepily in his tee shirt and boxer shorts.
"Pain med?" Tobias asked, noting his face. "Coffee?"
"Both" Tim replied, screwing up his face as he gingerly moved into the room and took a seat.
"Emily made pancakes, I'll heat up a few. You can't take the oxycodone on an empty stomach." Tobias explained, sitting the strong black coffee in front of him.
Diane took in his appearance and watched him move with caution. He was like pale and sickly looking, he held his stomach with one hand and she noticed a light sheen of perspiration across his forehead. "Look up here?" she asked, getting up and standing beside him. She placed her hand across his forehead to check him out. "He's running a slight fever. He needs some aspirin." And she went off to fetch the medication.
"No!"
"No!" Both Tobias and Tim shouted at the same time. "He's allergic to it Diane." Tobias explained, stopping her in her tracks. "I'll call Jethro to send Ducky over. The dressing needs changing and he can check the wounds for infection. He can tell me what else to give you for the fever."
Tim had eaten two pancakes and taken his pain med before Diane insisted he go back to bed and get some more rest until Ducky's arrival.
"How did you end up with Jethro's agent here?" She asked her ex husband, slightly amused at the situation. She had been ready to give him a hard time before she'd taken in his appearance and how unwell he looked.
"We closed a huge case and celebratory drinks ended with letting him crash the night. By morning I was calling 911. His appendix had burst. He was extremely sick. I offered and although Jethro fought me, he relented."
"There's no way Agent McGee could have climbed those stairs in his condition." Diane added, she had spent the night in protective custody at agent McGee's apartment once before. Those stairs had been a killer in her back, it wasn't so much those actual stairs as it was the steep incline.
"Exactly, plus he's been helping Em with her science stuff so we haven't had to pay her tutor this week." Tobias added, trying to make Diane smile.
"He and Jethro aren't really too close, are they?" Diane asked, trying to remember the team dynamics of ex husband number one's team.
"There's some awkwardness there, even after all these years." Tobias admitted. "We all know how Jethro is." He surmised.
"He's definitely difficult. It was hard enough being married to him, I certainly couldn't work for him." Diane stated and then internally shuddered at the thought.
Ducky and Jethro's arrival stalled that conversation and Diane and Emily took her leave, but not before promising to return with Emily after dinner tonight.
"I need you go to the pharmacy for me Jethro." Ducky said as he re-entered the living room. "He needs these antibiotics and I will write a list of the dressings I need you to ask for. He will also need some Motrin to help combat the fever before it's too late."
"Post op infection?" Gibbs asked, hoping that this didn't derail his return the the field. His TAD agent was driving him nuts and Tony had made it his mission to see if he could push Gibbs to the brink of no return.
"I pray that's all it is. It's low-grade at this point but I need those dressings before I can fully assess the post op wounds."
"I'm worried about Tim, Ducky." Tobias said to Ducky, keeping his voice low, once Gibbs had left. "His doctor misdiagnosed the appendicitis. Gibbs seems very hot and cold with him and his family seem to not care very much for his well-being."
"You seem to be a little more in the know than we are, Agent Fornell." Ducky answered. "Perhaps his family were unable to travel to the hospital to see him. Timothy comes from a very loving, close-knit family. Jethro doesn't need to nurture and lead Timothy the way he does with Ziva, Abby and Anthony. Perhaps that is why he seems hot and cold with Timothy."
"Hmm." Tobias said. He didn't agree with Ducky's assessment of the young agents family, but he wasn't going to argue the finer points without Tim's ok to reveal the private information he'd been trusted with. The more time he spent with the young genius, the more it seemed he needed a caring, nurturing role model in his life. His friend Jethro wasn't getting the job done and it seemed that the rest of the MCRT were just as remiss.
Gibbs came back over with a six pack of beer and a large strong black coffee for McGee after dinner while Tim and Emily were in the kitchen discussing the scientific reaction of an experiment he'd helped her with in the kitchen. He'd found Tobias at the doorway, so he joined him, from there he watched McGee as his youngest agent's face lit up and he asked Emily what caused chemical reaction of when they added bicarbonate soda to the sugar and syrup.
She began explaining the reaction and his eyes danced in laughter at her response. She began studiously writing her notes, before he whispered "and the best part is, we can eat it once it cools." Which set off a round of giggles in the young girl.
Tugging on Tobias' sleeve, he left the science lovers to their discussion on chemical reactions in hope that he'd get to try some of whatever they were making in the kitchen. "So this is why you wanted McGee to stay with you, free tutoring for Emily." He teased his friend, half serious.
"You know how much a good science tutor is these days?" Tobias jested. "Seriously I'd ask Abby if she wasn't such a bad influence on Emily the last time they were together."
"Why? What did Abby do to Emily?" Jethro asked, immediately defensive of the young goth woman he'd grown to love as if she was his own.
"She advised Emily that in order to get her own way and go to a rock concert, she had to play Diane and I against each other." Tobias stated and Jethro shook his head no, as if he didn't believe it. "Not only did I hear it with my own ears, I heard the example she used as to how it works for her." He paused for a moment and let this new information settle in his friend's brain. "Ever wonder why McGee's so closed off to you and the rest of your team? Abby's been blackmailing him at every turn. 'If you don't come with me to see, whatever group it is this week, I'll tell Gibbs you abandoned me there and didn't protect me.' How many times did Tim say no to going only to have you practically order him to go, so Abby had protection?"
Tobias took a bottle of beer, opening it and took a descent swig. "She does it more than you realise. It's manipulation and she plays you both so well. I won't even go into the scathing comments she made to Tim at the hospital about how he 'inconvenienced the team by getting sick'. Oh, don't get too mad at Abby, Tony's right there with her. Telling Tim that you're 'replacing him in the team' because the TAD is better than him, one day after he's out of surgery for something that was beyond his control. It's no wonder the kid won't open up to any of you." He chastised.
Tobias hadn't meant to say anything, but he'd found himself on a roll, once he'd started he couldn't start. "Best bit is Jethro, the boy does t say a word to anyone. These are just the incidents I've witnessed." Tobias finished off his beer and went into the kitchen to check on the science lovers progress. Leaving his friend to ponder the new information he'd let slip.
"Tim went to bed Dad. Said to say g'night, he's tired." Emily said as he entered the kitchen, tossing the empty bottle in the recycle. "I'll put this honeycomb in an airtight container and we can have it tomorrow night for dessert."
He tiptoed down the hallway to the guest room where Tim was staying. The door was closed over but not snipped closed, for a moment he studied the man. Tim was under the covers curled up in a ball, facing away from the door. His body was still and breathing controlled, he knew the younger man wasn't asleep but could t do anything about it right this second.
He hoped Tim would open up to him more tomorrow with Emily back at her Mother's and Jethro Gibbs away from this house. He hadn't told Tim yet, but he'd taken some vacation days to help the young man recover. To show Tim that it is possible that some people can care for others without having an ulterior motive.