Vegas 13
"I have something for the two of you." Gibbs said, as the evening was drawing to a close. He had been surprised by his son in Law's skills in the kitchen. "Duck, give me a hand."
"Certainly, Jethro." Ducky replied with a grin. He helped the man carry the coffee table up here and helped him stash it out in the hallway. Gibbs and Ducky made light work of moving the handcrafted coffee table into the apartment.
"I was going to give you two this earlier, but I got side-tracked with the whole Eli mess." Gibbs said, the regret evident in his tone. "I made this, for the two of you." Gibbs told them. "It's a wedding present. I w... I wanted you both to know; I'm OK with this. With the two of you, together."
"Thanks Dad." Kelly gushed, pulling her dad in for a hug.
"Thank you, Gibbs." Tim said softly. Gibbs pulled Tim into him, hugging them both at the same time.
"It's beautiful, Dad. Some of your best work." Kelly praised him as she ran her fingertips along the top of the coffee table.
"Hardly," Gibbs denied, chuckling softly. "My best work is you, Kell. Tim, make sure to take care of my girl."
"Always." Tim promised, automatically. Kelly sat back on Tim's lap, and he kissed her hairline as he put his arms around her, holding his wife there.
The four of them continued to chat, admiring Gibbs' work as they began to plan what the young couple wanted and didn't want for their vow renewal and commitment ceremony. Gibbs had already been working on something special, but he suspected that Kelly might ask him for something specific.
Monday morning was a long morning by 6am, Gibbs had called Tony to his basement, after dropping off Ducky last night. The two of them had been brainstorming about possible theories as to why Eli would be sniffing around Tim. Gibbs didn't have to emphasise the importance of Tony keeping his mouth shut to Ziva. Once he had heard the story of Eli in the marketplace, he too; was wary of the Director of Mossad.
Both Gibbs and Leon had told Tim everything was fine, but it was far from fine. By the time Tim strutted into the bullpen on Monday morning, he was surprised to see that he was the only one there. Tony and Gibbs were coming down from MTAC and Ziva's gear wasn't behind her desk, which was unusual. Tim figured she must be taking a personal day because her father is in town.
Morning pleasantries exchanged, Tim pulled out some cold case files and got to work. Tony was busily working on something at his desk, as was Gibbs, but what they were doing held very little interest to Tim.
Lunchtime rolled around and Gibbs told the boys that he would bring back lunch while on his coffee run, which Tim declined. "I have a lunch meeting." he announced, seeing Tony's surprise. "With my wife, Tony." With Tim's comment, Kelly stepped off the elevator.
"Hello." She greeted cheerily, waving at Tony and her dad as she kissed her husband hello. Tim had already left for work by the time she was finished in the shower. But last night, after her father left, Kelly told Tim about an appointment with the doctor she had made last week, and he had promised to go with her. "Ready babe?"
The Director was on his way down from the mezzanine level when he saw Kelly arrive and Tim grab his gear. "After you." Tim told her, as they moved together to leave for their appointment.
"Mrs McGee, lovely to see you again, as always." the director said, and Gibbs grinned at Vance's words, as Kelly gave a nod and wave at the director. The three men watched as Tim and Kelly left their bull pen heading towards the elevator, Tim's arm around his wife's waist excitedly chatting in low tones so they could not be overheard. As they entered the elevator, the remaining trio could see big grins on the married lover's faces.
At the clinic not too far from the Navy Yard, Kelly checked in with the receptionist and the couple took their seats. Soon enough, Kelly and Tim were being ushered into the back exam room at the far end of the hallway. The doctor introduced herself as Doctor Faith Casiello.
Kelly explained her predicament to the gynaecologist, as Tim dutifully sat by her side, holding her hand. Her IUD had expired, and they didn't want to get another one as in a few months they were planning to try for a baby, however they needed some kind of contraception as they had a few things they wanted to do before they were ready to try for a family.
"First things first, we have to a pregnancy test." Faith told them. "We know it may seem redundant, but it's standard procedure. When you come back, strip off and climb up on the exam table." She handed Kelly a cup and asked for a urine sample.
Kelly was only gone a few minutes, returning with a sample, the doctor snapping on her latex gloves, got to work immediately. A mere minute later, she had the absorbent tip dipped in the urine and the remaining sample bagged up to go to the lab.
Moving over to the exam table, the gynaecologist had Kelly cover her bottom half with a blanket and explained, step by step the procedure or having her IUD removed, as she did it. When Kelly flinched, Tim held her hand even tighter. "You can expect some mild cramping and possibly spotting, afterward for a day or two, that's perfectly normal." she reassured Kelly.
As Kelly redressed herself, Tim took his seat back at the desk. When Kelly joined them, the doctor checked the results of the dip test. "Hmm, I am going to organise a nurse to draw some blood. There is a second line on the dip test."
Faith picked up the phone and called the nurse in immediately, ordering the bloods, putting a rush on the results. The couple were told to go and get something to eat and come back in hour.
Tim made a quick call to Vance, telling him that he wouldn't be back in the office today, that he had an upset stomach from some bad food. Tim was calculating and cruel, he hated lying, especially to anyone at NCIS. Calling Vance had been a strategic move, because he could never lie to Gibbs, and everyone knew that. There was no way he would leave Kell's side and go back to work. Not now, he was anxious and needed to know, too. They hadn't been expecting the faint line on that test. That had definitely thrown a spanner in the works.
Kelly and Tim found themselves in the nearest deli to the clinic, two doors down. Both ordered the soup of the day and ciabatta roll. "What if...?" Kelly asked, not quite looking up at Tim. "We're planning for the future, not for right now."
"It'll be OK." Tim promised, trying to portray confidence in his voice, despite the shaking like jelly he was feeling in his whole body. "We will be OK."
"What if something is wrong?" she asked, her voice telling him, she was scared. "It can't be good, getting pregnant and having an IUD in at the same time. Or if it's not pregnancy, having HCG show up in your urine can't be good."
"Let's just take one thing at a time, Sweetheart." Tim said softly, taking her hand in his, trying to reassure her the best he could.
They were both nervous and Tim only managed a few mouthfuls of soup and Kelly barely a drop. "Was there something wrong with the soup?" the waitress asked as they were preparing to leave, seeing their food was barely touched.
"Everything was great." Tim smiled, dropping an extra-large tip on the table for her. "We weren't as hungry as we thought we were."
The sat on the bench on the street, by the stairs that led up to the clinic and Tim pulled his wife into his embrace gently, pressing his lips to her hairline, as they both let out a sigh. "Whatever happens..."
"We're in this together." Tim finished for her. "I promise."
Together, they made the trip up the stairs and back into the clinic. Both of them, a bundle of nerves, wondering what awaited them. They had barely taken a seat when Dr Faith Casiello saw they were back and ushered them back behind closed doors, into her office.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush. I am concerned. You had an IUD to protect against pregnancy and both your urine and your blood tests show elevated levels of HCG. That's the hormone that elevates when you're pregnant." Tim took Kelly's hand in his hand held it tight, as his other arm snaked across the back of her chair in support. "Your levels are elevated enough that we should be able to see something on an ultrasound now. We estimate that you're approximately ten or eleven weeks pregnant."
The couple looked at one another, small smiles appearing on their faces. "Vegas." they both said, reading each other's mind.
"Of course, there's always the chance the elevated hormone level could be because of multiples or Mrs McGee's body simply produces more of the hormone than the average." she smiled reassuringly at them. "Let's do an ultrasound now. I have booked you in."
Together they were led down a narrow hallway to the back of the clinic where in a darkened room was an ultrasound machine and state of the art plasma screen that adorned the wall. The doctor instructed Kelly to remove her pants and underwear, hop up onto the bed and cover herself up with a sheet. As she began to strip off, Tim made a motion to wait with the doctor, but Kelly stopped him, asking him not to leave her alone.
The doctor explained that first they were going to do an internal exam and check everything carefully, then check the outside. Nearly ten long agonising minutes later and the doctor finally finished taking measurements. "Congratulations Mr and Mrs McGee. That right there is your baby. Let's take a closer look and some measurements." To Tim and Kelly, it looked like the shape of a heart, in 3D. Tim kissed Kelly's hand before leaning over a chastely kissing his wife's lips. "And there is the pole, let's see if we can find the heartbeat."
The doctor turned the volume up on the machine, she prodded around a bit more. Quickly clicking and taking a few more measurements, she fumbled through, before going back to the heart shaped sack. Tim's heart sank. He knew enough about biomedical engineering to know that something was wrong, and it wasn't with the machine. Dr Casiello looked over at Tim and realised he knew. "I am so sorry, Mrs McGee, Mr McGee. The baby has no heartbeat."
Kelly's eyes began watering, she could literally feel her heart-breaking. Tim held her hand tighter, and the doctor instructed her to get dressed and meet her back in her office to discuss the next stage. As soon as the doctor was gone, Tim pulled a half-naked Kelly close to him and kissed her softly. "I love you, so much Kell. Never doubt how much I love you."
"I love you too, Tim." she whispered as he helped her step into her underwear and her jeans.
In the doctor's office, she gave them three options. Kelly could have the misoprostol tablet, which works by expelling the dead tissue from the uterus. She could just wait and see or have surgical intervention. "Personally, in your case I recommend that we do a dilation and curettage. Being more than nine weeks, misoprostol isn't always effective, and your body hasn't started the natural shedding process. It's probably too dangerous to wait it out." The doctor looked at her schedule an told them she had an opening tonight at six or tomorrow morning.
"I just want it over and done with. " Kelly sighed out loud. "I didn't eat at lunch, so let's go with six."
"I'll get everything started, meet me at the Metro Women's Hospital in two hours. if everything goes well, your husband will be able to take you home, tomorrow morning." the doctor told them.
There wasn't much time for anything else, they raced back to the home their shared in Silver Spring quickly packing an overnight bag for Kelly and Tim ensured that his go bag had everything he would need to spend the night if he needed to.
On the drive to the hospital from their apartment, Tim asked Kelly if they should call her dad, which she declined. She told him he'd be a distraction for her and not a good one.
While waiting in the pre-op room, Kelly changed her mind and asked her husband to call him. Tim stepped out into the hall, to make his call. He did not want to alarm Kelly, but he was worried too.
Tim pulled his cell out and he didn't get an answer. He tried Gibbs' desk phone, as well as Tony and his cell. Finally, he caved and called the Director. "McGee?" he asked, surprised when his PA told him that Agent McGee was calling, again. This was the second call he had had from McGee today.
"Where is Gibbs? I need Gibbs!" he demanded down the phone line.
"I take it you didn't really eat bad food." Vance deadpanned and Tim ignored the harsh jibe.
"I need Gibbs! I can't get hold of him. I have to go. Tell him, it's Kelly. We're at Metro Women's Hospital, level 4."
Tim disconnected the call; he was struggling to keep it together and he promised Kelly that everything was going to be OK. He couldn't afford to fall apart.
Putting on the bravest face he could, he went back and dutifully took his place beside Kelly while they waited for their doctor to call them in.
Vance was unsure exactly where Gibbs was. He called Ducky and dispatched him over to the hospital, immediately. He had never heard Agent Timothy McGee so unhinged like that before, in all the years he had known him.
He made his way down to the bull pen, but not before checking MTAC, he saw Gibbs' cell phone on his desk. Snatching it up, he looked around. Spying Balboa, he asked the other team leader if he knew where Gibbs and DiNozzo was.
Rushing down the back corridor to interrogation, he found Gibbs in interrogation with a suspect and DiNozzo in the observation room. "Why the hell doesn't Gibbs have his cell phone?" Leon Vance demanded, as soon as she saw Tony.
"Under no circumstances, does Gibbs want to be distracted or interrupted. I was given orders to shoot." Tony said, not taking his eyes off the two-way mirror.
"Well, tough!" Vance snapped. "The one time there's an emergency and he doesn't have the phone. What happened to rule 3?"
Tony took in the worry in the Directors voice. Finally looking over the big boss, he realised something serious had happened. "Tim?" he asked immediately, the last time they had seen Vance was earlier in the day when he had told Gibbs that Tim had eaten bad food and went home sick.
"Kelly, hospital." Leon Vance countered. He looked over to the SFA, he looked torn. As Director of NCIS, he swore to himself he would never undermine any agent under his command. He knew this interrogation of Israel Bakir was important. They had been trying to pin him on the jewellery heist of '00 for years now. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Leon Vance knocked in the windows startling both occupants, before meeting Gibbs in the hall. "What the hell?!" Gibbs bellowed at him, he was steaming. Royally pissed off that he had been interrupted.
"911 call from McGee. He needs you. Kelly's in the hospital. I don't know any details, just that she's the patient. Duck's well I was going to say on route, but he's probably already there. Metro Women's, level 4. GO!" The Director ordered, before turning to Tony. "Interrogation, go."
Making his way back to his office, passing through the MCRT bullpen, he saw Gibbs looking a little lost. He was at his desk, weapon in hand and go bag on his shoulder, staring at Tim's desk. Leon approached him cautiously, wondering what was going through his mind. "I'll drive." he said softly to Gibbs. "I'm sure she's going to be OK, let me drive though." Vance took the keys and Gibbs didn't even out up an argument as he followed Leon into the MCRT issued sedan and buckled up.
Ducky found Tim sitting in the pre-op waiting room on level four. Kelly in his arms, her face obscured by Tim's body, occasionally hiccupping. "Kelly McGee." the nurse called out and Kelly and Tim disappeared from the public domain into a back hallway behind a locked door.
"Duck!" Gibbs hissed as he arrived in record time. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, Jethro." he said, regretfully. "I didn't get here in time. Kelly and Tim were called behind the door. Whatever it is, we're on the surgical floor."
The sound of fleeting pounding on the carpet became louder as Vance joined them. Before he could ask what's going on, a kind nurse approached the trio of men. "Which one of you is Leroy Gibbs?"
Gibbs held up his hand, pulling his NCIS credentials out and showing the aging nurse. "Where's my daughter? My son in law? Are they OK?"
"This way, I can get you two minutes with them before they take Mrs McGee into theatre." Handing his weapon to Vance when he received the pointed look from the nurse, he happily followed her into the door that led down a back corridor. The same direction that Tim and Kelly were ushered.
"Dad!" Kelly called out softly and put her arms out for a hug. Jethro Gibbs looked his daughter over. She had a white cotton gown on, a red surgical cap on, holding all her hair back and together. Her face was red, her eyes red and her cheeks tearstained. Tim sat beside her, on the bed. He looked as if he had the whole world on his shoulders.
"I came as soon as I heard." Gibbs told them, joining them in the small room which was doubling as a theatre holding bay.
Knocking on the door, interrupted him. "Mr and Mrs McGee you made good time." Dr Faith Casiello, smiled at them in a comforting manner as she let herself in and closed the door behind her. Kelly quickly introduced her dad to her doctor, and he gave her a small smile. He didn't catch her speciality, so he was still none the wiser to what was going on. "Here is what's going to happen. Once the anaesthetist administers the general anaesthesia and you're under, I will insert an instrument called a speculum into your vagina so they can see your cervix. We will slowly dilate the cervix using a series of thicker and thicker rods. We will then remove the rods The doctor will grasp the cervix with a clamp and pass a thin, flexible piece of metal also known as a sound to determine the depth and angle of your uterus. A hysteroscope will be inserted into the uterus we can look inside the uterus. Once we have some images, an instrument called a curette to scrape away the lining of the uterus. This can also be done followed up with suction to ensure all the foetal tissue is removed. Which is especially important in your case, because you are the past nine weeks mark and had an IUD when you conceived. We will then re-insert the hysteroscope and take some more images to ensure we got all of the tissue before we remove the rods and finish up. Of course, we won't be reinserting another IUD, given the original purpose of today's appointment. Any questions?"
"Will you use the gas for dilation as well as rods? Or just the rods?" Tim asked and Gibbs was glad he was using that biomedical engineering degree to their advantage.
"Most women find the gas exacerbates the cramping and discomfort post op. The rods make it easier to work too." She realised that Tim must have some kind of biological or medical knowledge because he had known back at the clinic something was wrong, too. "The whole procedure takes about thirty minutes. Mrs McGee will be in recovery for a couple of hours afterwards, then moved to a room. If there aren't any more questions, I'm going go and scrub in."
"Thank you, doc." Gibbs said, choking on his own words. He had only caught a third of what was happening.
"Dad?" Kelly asked, trying to garner his attention. "You, OK?"
"I should be asking you that, Baby." Gibbs whispered softly. He could see she was softly crying, not bothering to wipe her tears now as she rested her head on Tim. His eyes were watery too, he was biting the inside of his lip. Gibbs could tell and he wondered if it was because he didn't want to lose control in front of Kelly.
As the theatre technician came to collect her, Gibbs realised that she didn't answer him. He kissed his daughter's forehead and promised he'd be here for her and it would be OK soon. He stood and watched Tim wipe the tears from eyes and cheeks, as he kissed her softly. It was a kiss full of love, promise and reassurances. "I love you, Kell." he heard his son in law tell her.
Her wide smile didn't quite reach her eyes, she told him she loved him too and reached up and wiped a tear from Tim too, before she was wheeled away.
"Come on, you two can wait in the waiting room, maybe go downstairs and find a coffee." the kind nurse that had ushered Gibbs in, she was now leading them out.
Out in the waiting room, Tim was surprised to see Ducky and Director Vance. The two men stood up, the greet them, but Gibbs gently manoeuvred Tim into a chair. "Today obviously didn't go according to plan, what was supposed to happen?" Gibbs asked softly.
"Kelly had a routine appointment, then we were going to have lunch." the good doctor and the director didn't know what was going on, although Ducky could have taken a stab in the dark and passed it off as an educated guess.
"How far along did they estimate she was, Timothy?" Ducky asked and Leon Vance's heart sank, as did Gibbs.
"Ten weeks, maybe eleven." Tim whispered. "Mathematically, it's probably closer to ten, Duck. It was supposed to be just a routine test at the doctor's office, we weren't expecting to ... Just routine before ... We had been ... We thought after ..." Gibbs stopped Tim. He could see that he was going into shock.
"Let's go get coffee." Gibbs said, trying to encourage Tim to get up and move his feet.
"Or the coffee can come to you, boss." Tony said light-heartedly as he approached them with a tray of coffees. He took in the expression on Ducky and the Director's face, then read the emotion on Gibbs' and the devastation on Tim's. "Is she OK, Probie?"
Ducky nodded that she would be and took the offered cup of coffee, handing it to Timothy. He would have preferred it to be a sweet tea, but beggars could not be choosers in this scenario. "They both will be, Anthony." Ducky said softly, using his full name to convey the seriousness of the situation. "Eventually. Kelly will need a few weeks to fully physically recover. In this case it is the emotional toll, that will be harder to overcome."
Tim looked up at Gibbs, his eyes boring into the team leader's, hoping that he picks up on Tim's silent request, but to no avail. The rescue came in the forum of the Director. "A routine exam at the doctors found that she was pregnant, the baby had no heartbeat, Agent DiNozzo."
"Shit! I'm sorry Probie, sorry Gibbs." Tony spluttered. Tony was guessing by the look in Gibbs' face he had just realised that the baby would have been his grandchild.
That realisation made by Tony bought it to the forefront for Leon Vance and Ducky. Ducky immediately jumped into action, giving Gibbs the coffee Tony had bought for him and ushering him into the chair beside Tim.
"We are very sorry for your loss, you too, Gibbs." Leon added softly.
Ducky, Tony and Vance settled in to sit with Tim and Gibbs, in silent support. They were pretty sure at this point that words were just empty platitudes to Tim. He had been visibly upset and had shed tears at some point.
"Mr McGee, your wife is in recovery. Everything went as well as expected, she's been asking for you. This way." the nurse announced as she came into the waiting room and Tim let out the breath he had been holding onto since they rolled his wife to theatre.
Tim immediately followed the nurse, not even glancing back at Gibbs to see the forlorn look on his face. "Who would have thought that when they said to me, they were in love with one another, both individually and together, that they really wouldn't need me anymore." Gibbs sighed out loud, not really speaking to any of the men in particular.
"Jethro, that's the thing about parenting; if you do it right, they don't need you any more. But if think you're useless now, think again." Ducky lectured his friend. "When they have their first fight. Tony will have Tim at a bar, Kelly's going to need her father more than ever."
"Gibbs, don't think like that, the best part is yet to come." Tony grinned at him. "We get to witness everything that life is going to throw at them, and we get to be a part of that. We'll get to see Tim flipping out and panicking when Kelly's water breaks and she's in labour. We all know they're going to have some super smart kids; we get to watch their kids' run circles around them, see them adapt to parenthood. Then, maybe, they'll slip up and they'll ask one of us to watch them, so they have a date night. We can hype the kids up on everything that Tim and Kelly say they can't have and send them back. Spoiling the kids at Christmas and birthdays. Teaching them all the finer points in life."
"First smiles and a first tooth. First steps and first words, Jethro." Leon Vance encouraged, picking up from Tony's musings. "Teaching your grandchild to work with wood, how to shoot a rifle or how to sail. I'd say you're far from obsolete, yet."
"You're right, I know that. But something's bugging me." Gibbs suddenly looked up at the three men and grinned hard. "They went to the gynaecologist's office for something other than why she ended up here. That doctor said, 'they won't insert another IUD given the original purpose of the appointment.' Are they planning a family?" Gibbs laughed a little, meanwhile Ducky had a full-bellied laugh happening.
"In their defence, you told them not to make any babies in the back seat of your car, you never told them not to, period." Ducky jested at his dear friend. Ducky had been there when that was said. Sure, it was made as a flippant remark, but right now, it held its weight.
Vance and Tony both chuckled, struggling to comprehend that two months ago Gibbs was ready to kill McGee and furious at his daughter. Now they were sitting in a hospital and the two men had come to a truce.