Chapter 9

Tim regained consciousness, feeling a horrible ache in his face and cotton stuffing in his head and just achy all over, but he also felt better than the last time he remembered being awake so he'd take that. If that was the option, he'd take that over how he'd felt before.

Actually, what exactly had come after what had come before? He knew that something had happened. He just couldn't quite remember it. It had been important, too. He had been running from the people who had tried to kill him and something had happened. What was it?

"Hey, McGee. You awake again?"

He knew that voice. He'd heard it very recently. But what did he mean?

"Tony?" he asked, and his mouth felt weird. Actually, just speaking hurt.

"Hey, great! You sound coherent, even if you're kind of mush-mouthed."

Tim forced his eyes to open and there was Tony, looking far too happy to see him. Tony never looked that happy to see him. Ever.

"What're you talkin' 'bout?" Tim asked. Then, he realized that he did sound mush-mouthed.

Tony grinned. "That's what I'm talking about. How are you feeling?"

"Horrible. My face hurts."

"Well, it should. Can you tell me what happened?"

Tim blinked a few times and then slowly looked around, moving his head as little as possible.

"I'm in a hospital," he said.

"Yeah. This is about the fifth time you've been awake."

"It is?"

"Yeah. They were waking you up a few times during the night to make sure that your concussion wasn't getting any worse. And by extension, that woke me up. I don't blame you for not quite remembering it. We both wanted more sleep."

"Oh. You said I had surgery?"

"Yeah. On your face. Your cheekbone was broken."

"Oh."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"With what?" Tim asked.

"With your face."

"Oh."

"Well?"

Tim took a breath and let his eyes close. It was easier to think when he wasn't fighting to see as well.

"I came home...and... and it was messed up."

"Yeah, we saw it."

"Oh."

There was a pause.

"Tim? You going to keep going?"

"Oh. Yeah. I was worried so... I... I was going to close the door. And there was a fist. And then it was all black."

"So they trashed your apartment before you got home?"

"Um... yeah."

"What about after that?"

"I was in a room, tied to a chair. They wanted my pictures. I said I'd take them to NCIS to get them. They untied me. I got away."

"How?"

"I stole his gun and ran."

"Okay. Well, I won't push you for details right now. But I'm glad you're actually responding."

"Was I not?"

"Only vaguely."

"Oh."

The door opened.

"Hey, he's awake," Tony said.

"Good. Agent McGee, can you open your eyes for me?"

"Maybe."

Tim tried to open his eyes again and was moderately surprised when he succeeded and a doctor-looking person was leaning over him.

"Good job. Now, how does your face feel?"

"It hurts."

"Any sharp pains?"

"Ache."

"All right. Now, I want you to follow my finger with your eyes. Don't move your head."

"Okay."

After a few moments of that, the doctor again declared it good.

"For now, Agent McGee, you should just focus on resting. It looks like the concussion is resolving. If you get any sharp headache pains or worsening pain, you need to let us know right away. All right?"

"Okay."

"Good. Someone will bring in some food for you soon. It will be basically a smoothie so that you don't have to jar your face by chewing, but you need the nourishment."

"Okay."

The doctor left again and Tim lay there for a while in silence. Then, there was a hand on his arm and he managed to turn his head again. Tony was still there, looking concerned.

"Tim, do you want to sleep right now?"

Tim thought about that. He was tired and really, Tony looked tired too. It was probably okay to say yes.

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll wake you up when they bring breakfast, okay?"

"Okay."

Tim let his eyes close and was glad to fall asleep again.

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

Tony sighed as Tim obviously easily went back to sleep. He had at least been relatively coherent, just a little bit slow. Still, he wanted to talk to Tim about what had happened and why. He was sure that Tim was going to be upset about it once he could think enough to be upset. He had not been doing anything wrong and apparently had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wasn't going to take it well once he could spend time thinking about it.

The door opened again and revealed Gibbs and Ziva.

"You're here early," he said softly.

"There will be a lot to do today," Ziva said. "We got an early start. How is he?"

"He was awake a few minutes ago, and he was talking, but he's still kind of slow."

"I am sure that is normal, given his injury."

"Yeah. Still is kind of weird, but he said that his apartment was trashed when he got home, so they were looking before he got there and he managed to get away by stealing a gun and running."

"He did not look like he would be able to run," Ziva said.

"Yeah. I'm sure there are a few details missing, but that was what he could manage. I'm going to stay until Abby comes after work today. Then, I'll get a normal night's sleep and get back to work, okay, Boss?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. Tony didn't feel a need to respond since he'd already said that he was taking a day. Gibbs would remember that.

Then, Gibbs shrugged.

"We will come by later," Ziva said. "I was trying to convince Gibbs that I would be better at interrogating the man who attacked McGee than BPD, but he is not going to allow it."

"I think I agree with her, Boss," Tony said.

"Not this time," Gibbs said. "Let's go."

Ziva nodded. Then, they left the room and Tony looked at Tim once more. Maybe he would emulate Tim and try to get a little more sleep. There was no question that he was still tired. Maybe the next time Tim woke up, he'd be more normal.

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

"We got an ID on this guy, finally," Det. Dorn said. "And I know why he was being less than forthcoming about who he is."

"Who is he?" Gibbs asked.

"Jacob Lester Knight. He's a low-level drug dealer and sometime smuggler. Honestly, I'm surprised that he's the one calling the shots. He's usually at someone else's beck and call."

"Whose?"

"Sullivan Horvath, but he's been out of the country, evading arrest, for the last three years. Smuggling, black market weapons, drugs... this guy does it all, but we were getting too close to finding him and he made it out of the country before we could arrest him."

"Do you have a picture of Horvath?" Ziva asked.

"Sure do. We keep watching for a chance to pick him up. He won't stay out of the country forever. This is his main area of operations and we were guessing that Knight might be acting in his stead, but he's not smart enough to do it all on his own." Dorn leaned over and brought up a file on his computer. "This is Horvath."

Ziva looked at the picture and then looked at Gibbs and raised an inquiring eyebrow. He knew what she was silently asking. Did they reveal Tim's photos or not?

"We might be able to add something to the investigation," Gibbs said.

"Really? What?"

Gibbs pulled out his phone and called Abby.

"What is it, Gibbs?"

"I need you to send the photo you enlarged to the BPD." Then, he held out his phone to Dorn. "Give our forensic scientist your email address."

Dorn nodded and took the phone. He relayed his address and then handed the phone back to Gibbs.

"Thanks, Abby," Gibbs said. "See what else you can find out."

"I'd rather be with Tim."

"I know." Then, he hung up.

Dorn pulled up his email and opened the attached photo. Then, he swore in surprise.

"You're kidding," he said. "Erickson, come and look at this!"

Another detective came over and looked at the photo. He swore as well.

"He came home. After all this time, he came home," Erickson said and then swore again.

"Horvath?" Gibbs asked.

Dorn looked at him. "Where did you get this photo? When was it taken?"

"A few days ago. By Agent McGee."

"What was he doing taking photos of wanted smugglers?"

"He was not taking photos of wanted smugglers," Ziva said. "We do not know why he was taking photos, but the other photos from the same time appear to be random. It seems he was simply doing it for enjoyment."

Erickson swore for a third time. "And what he was doing for fun ended up with someone trying to kill him. That's bad luck. He okay?"

"Broken cheekbone and a pretty serious concussion, but he'll recover," Gibbs said.

"Good. Well, this interrogation is going to be a lot more interesting," Dorn said. "Where was this taken?"

"In Baltimore, based on other photos," Gibbs said.

"Just a few days ago?"

Gibbs nodded.

"Maybe we can get him this time. He must have thought it had been long enough and he could sneak in without us knowing."

"He may have done so if these men had not come after Agent McGee," Ziva said. "He did not know what he had in his pictures."

Dorn smiled humorlessly. "If he gets too annoying, I may rub that in his face. We'll see."

"I know it probably really sucks for him right now, but I'm glad he was there," Erickson said. "I hope we can get these guys. All of them."

"We would like to help," Ziva said.

"Glad to have you along," Dorn said.

They sat down to plan out what they would ask Knight and how they would get him to crack.

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

Tim woke up again and he felt a little less confused and foggy. He still had an ache in his face, but it didn't keep him from thinking. He opened his eyes and realized that he wasn't flat on his back. He was tilted up a little bit. Had he been like that before? He wasn't sure. Tony had been there before. Was he still?

Tim opened his eyes and looked around without moving as much as possible. He saw Tony sleeping on a pullout couch. He was still here.

Well, that much accomplished, Tim wasn't sure what he should do at this point. Should he sit up? Should he lay back? Should he just stay where he was?

Wait, hadn't there been something about breakfast before? He could have sworn that someone had said something about breakfast. And he was hungry now that he thought about it. Was there a call button? There should be a call button. That might require moving his head a little bit. He turned his head just a little bit. There was the call button. He awkwardly reached out and pushed it.

The door opened a couple of minutes later and a nurse smiled when she saw Tony sleeping and Tim awake. She walked to the bed and leaned over just a little.

"Can I help you, Agent McGee?" she asked softly.

"I'm kind of hungry. Can I eat something?" he asked, equally softly.

"Yes, absolutely. Since you were both asleep when we came by before, we decided to wait, but I'll make sure you get something to eat. Just sit tight and I'll be right back."

"Thanks," Tim whispered.

He lay there for a few minutes and then someone else came in with a glass and a straw.

"It's nothing exciting, but it'll be a start. Just take your time and don't rush it. If you have any pain or discomfort, let us know."

"Thank you," Tim said and began slowly drinking the smoothie. As promised, it wasn't exciting, but it was food and he had been without it for too long so he appreciated it more than he might have otherwise.

After a few minutes, Tony mumbled and then woke up rather suddenly. He sat up and looked around, seeming confused. Tim just kept slowly sucking on the straw and said nothing. When Tony was more awake, he looked at Tim and smiled.

"Hey, McGee. How are you feeling?" Tony asked.

"Better than before," Tim said. "Still not great."

"You sound a lot better. I mean, you're still mush-mouthed, but you sound more... like you."

"Huh?" Tim asked, furrowing his brow... and then wincing a little.

"I mean that last night you were pointing a gun at me and you didn't even seem to realize you were doing it. You were a little freaky and I'm glad that you're seeming more normal now."

"Oh," Tim said. He paused and thought back. He didn't remember pointing a gun at Tony at any point. "Did I do that?"

"Yeah, but I don't think you meant to. You just seemed really out of it."

"Oh."

"How's the smoothie?"

"Boring but it's food. I'm hungry."

"Me, too. You mind if I go and get some breakfast myself?"

"No. ...um... why are you here?" Tim asked. "It's fine but why?"

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay and you were so out of it that you might need someone around."

"Oh." Tim paused again. "Did you lose the coin toss or something? I'm sure it wasn't exciting."

"It wasn't, but that's okay. I'll be back."

Then, Tony left and Tim watched him go, feeling a bit bemused. Was it just his head injury that was making him feel that way? Or was Tony really not acting quite right? He couldn't decide.

...so he gave up for the moment and went back to sucking on his smoothie. That at least made complete sense to him.