"Hey. You should get off that floor, you'll freeze to death."
"We're f-fine."
"You sure about that, kid? When was the last time you slept?" Tony leans down towards the boy on the street and the baby he's clutching. They're both dirty and shivering. "I've got some food back where I'm staying."
The boy shakes his head vehemently, won't meet his eyes.
"It's not much, but it's warm. It isn't home exactly, either - I guess I'm like you in that respect." Tony continues. "Runaway?"
"P-please don't take us b-back." The boy looks up suddenly.
"Of course not." Tony holds his hands up. "There's a reason you ran away from... well, whatever it was you ran away from. I just think you should get moving before your circulation stops completely."
The boy just continues to stare at him, unamused and untrusting. "I'm Tony." He reaches down a hand. There's a long pause, and only the howling wind and distant symphony of car horns from the road break it.
The kid takes his hand.
It's two days before he learns that the baby's name is Sarah, and her brother is called Timothy McGee.
...
So things are bad. It's all Tim's fault. At least kind of. Tony always tells him off when he blames himself for everything like that, but this time he thinks it really might be. If he hadn't been so mean... He can't do this without Tony, whatever this is. He doesn't know why he ever thought he could.
He snuck out a couple of hours ago - the others distracted Kate by means of Sarah pretending to have a tantrum (god, he loves his sister) and he took his cell and some spare change for the bus with him. Now he's working his way around places he knows Tony feels secure: an old, one screen movie theatre with barely a hundred seats, a treehouse in a park they once spent the night sheltering in, the local library that he used to take them to on rainy days. He's almost at Greasy Joe's now - the man used to give Tony the odd shift there, and of course treasured leftover burgers for dinner. He turns a corner and sees his destination; the door is closed but the lights are on inside
...
The girl curled up against the closed shop door is skinny, and her hair is long and matted. She scrambles backwards she spots Tony. "Sorry, I'm sorry-" She mutters as she pushes herself out of the way, out of the sheltered alcove and into the rain.
"I don't think they're open this time of night." Tony nods to the bakery. The girl gapes at him.
"It's just- I'm hungry." She admits. He believes her - she looks like she hasn't eaten in days.
"I'll bet." He doesn't get any closer, but he pulls a granola bar out of his coat pocket. "You've probably been told not to take food from strangers, huh."
The girl eyes him up warily. "Actually, these days strangers tend to be the only way I get food."
He puts the bar down on the ground between them.
"What do I have to do?" She says, guarded.
"Nothing. I promise." He wants to invite her back to the house where he and the others are squatting this week, but something tells him she'll take that the wrong way. He's trapped himself - if he asks her anything more now, she'll think that she has to answer. "I'm going to go now. You can take it or leave it, up to you."
He pulls his hood up and carries on down the path.
"Wait-" The girl calls after him. "My name's Ellie."
"It's nice to meet you, Ellie. I'm Tony."
It takes four more encounters like this one before she joins them for good - stays with them and talks to them instead of just shadowing them in the street. When she finally does, it isn't just for the food.
...
The bell tinkles as Tim pushes the door open and steps inside. It's busy this time of day (it's starting to get dark outside, although in his search he's barely noticed) and he has to blink a few times to take it all in. Waitresses bustle through the packed tables carrying food across the diner - the sign outside had said help wanted, but there seem to be enough of them around as it is. The neon glow subsides and he begins weaving his way through plastic chairs and past the bar stools at the front counter. He catches sight of a figure at a booth in the far corner and his heart leaps. The jacket is familiar - and as he turns towards him, the face is too.
...
"Hi, there."
Tony spins around. There's a little girl behind him. He pockets the key he was about to use to get into the motel room where they've been staying. "Hi." He looks around. The girl has pigtails and is wearing black wellie boots. "Are you... lost?"
She shakes her head. "I saw you yesterday with your friends."
Tony blinks. "Where are your mom and dad?" He says instead. If this girl has told someone about them, they're gonna have to get moving pronto.
"They're dead." She frowns.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Tony realises he doesn't sound the most sincere, but he's shocked, ok?
"I used to live in a home, but then I left. I didn't want to stay there anymore. Can I stay with you guys instead? You seem happy."
Tony is normally all for taking new kids in - he'd be a hypocrite if he said otherwise. But there's something about this girl asking him, so blatantly, that makes him hesitate.
"...Are you sure?" He asks absurdly.
"I'm little, but I'm not stupid." She says impatiently.
"I'm not messing around here, kid. If you have somewhere to stay, then I suggest you stay there."
"Someone did it." She says suddenly, as if sensing the end of the conversation. "The crash, my parents - I saw, and I need someone to look after me, ok?"
The magic words. I need. She needs him, just like the others do. He checks around again, just to be sure that they're safe here for the moment, before opening the door for the girl he would later find out is called Abby.
...
Tim sits down opposite Tony. He half expects him to bolt, so he just perches on the edge of the seat, but Tony actually seems to release a breath as his mouth twitches up at the corners. "Tim." He says, and nothing else.
"The others are terrified." It's a low blow but Tim can't help himself. "And you normally have a reason for everything, Tony, but I can't figure this one out. Am I allowed to be mad at you?"
"You're allowed to feel whatever you want." Tony stares down at the table between them.
"You know that's not what I meant."
"I'm selfish, ok? Is that what you meant? I didn't think this through, other than that I needed to know that you..."
"That we what?"
"That you need me."
"Tony the others were terrified. They've all been left behind before by people who were supposed to look after them, and today it happened again."
"They have Gibbs now. He won't walk out on them."
"Does it matter? People can have more than one person who cares about them. You haven't..." A horrible thought occurs to Tim. "Tony, you haven't been replaced!"
"Not by Gibbs, maybe. But you know the kids better than anyone at this point, and - god, I'm proud of you, Tim. I don't know why I haven't said that before now."
Tim blinks. His eyes are wet and he isn't quite sure why, or when it happened.
"I was terrified." He admits. "Because I always thought I'd never have a brother, but I ended up with one anyway, and I can't lose him, ok?"
Tony looks up fiercely. Tim wonders if he said something wrong. "I can't lose you either, Tim."
"So you'll come back?"
"I've kind of been wanting to all day."
"You're such an idiot." Tony laughs out loud, and Tim laughs with him. "Oh, I need to let Ellie know I found you! She'll never let me hear the end of it if I keep her waiting." As he pulls out his cell and dials her number, a waitress approaches the table. Tony flashes her a smile.
"Sorry, we're still deciding." He waves her away, raising his voice over Joe calling out orders in the kitchen.
"Sure, hon." The lady's voice is sharp and weirdly familiar, and Tim squints up at her against the bright lighting. "Why don't we step outside and we can talk about your options?"
"Sh*t." He swears, and it takes all of his self control not to do any more.
"What's wrong?" Tony asks urgently. "Is Ellie ok?"
"Ellie's fine." He says tightly as the waitress pulls a steak knife off of the plate she just set down. "It's us I'm worried about."
Because he knows for a fact that their 'waitress' shot a man dead less than two weeks ago.
...
A/N: So no backstory for Jimmy yet - I have it in my head that Tim found Jimmy, and these flashbacks were all of Tony finding people, so I guess it didn't really fit. Maybe worth a missing scene one-shot? We'll see.