Tim and Tony were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital with the rest of the team. Tony had called the others right after the doctor went in to check on Gibbs.
"What's taking so long?" Abby asked impatiently.
"The doctors are assessing him, Abigail. That takes time. You must be patient," Ducky said. '
"He is awake. That is good," Ziva said.
"It's certainly better than it was. I worry for his stability though. Now that he's awake, Jethro will worry for Jennifer. If it stresses him too much, it could cause him problems," Ducky said.
"Yeah, he's definitely worried about her. The only thing he's managed to say so far is her name," Tim said.
Just then, the doctor made her way over.
Everyone immediately stood up. "How is Gibbs? We wanna see him. He's still awake, right?" Abby asked.
"Abby, let her speak," Tony said.
"Agent Gibbs' condition has improved significantly. It's very good that he's woken up, and his vitals have gotten better. He's doing well," the doctor said.
"He'll be okay then?" Tony asked.
"Well, I can't promise that yet. Gunshot wounds can be unpredictable on their own, let alone along with a severe assault, but I'm very hopeful. If he continues to improve, I believe he will make a full recovery.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we see him?" Ziva asked.
"Normally, I'd say no for tonight because he needs to rest, but he's quite agitated at the moment and I'm concerned for his blood pressure. He's insisting on seeing a member of his team. One of you can go in, but only for a couple of minutes, and please do your best to get him to calm down," the doctor told them.
"You go, Tim. You're in the best position to keep him calm, I think," Tony said. He wanted to see Gibbs himself, but he believed McGee was the best person to go right now. He knew exactly what Gibbs was going though, both with how badly he'd been injured and with how worried Gibbs probably was for Jenny.
"What? No, I wanna see Gibbs," Abby protested.
"We all do, Abby, but Gibbs needs someone to calm him down, and frankly, you're the last person right for that job. McGee knows what Gibbs is going through," Tony said before turning back to McGee. "Go. I don't know if anyone is capable of getting Gibbs calm at this point, but you're the best option."
Tim nodded and headed down the hallway. He walked back to Gibbs' room and headed inside. He found the man awake, but his eyes were barely open, and he looked groggy. "Hey Gibbs."
"Jenny," was all Gibbs said.
Tim shook his head sadly. "No, we haven't found her yet, but we will find her. We know at least that she's alive." He did know that much because if she were dead, they would've found her body by now. Acosta wouldn't care enough to hide killing her. And the fact that she was alive made Tim pretty positive that Acosta at least knew he was alive and was likely using Jenny to find him or punish him.
"There… were six. Got one… maybe more," Gibbs said.
Tim nodded. Six. That made sense. Tim was sure there were at least that many when his family was attacked. Acosta didn't do fair fights. He made sure he would win every time. "We found one body. Anyone else you guys hit must have survived."
"Pros."
"Yeah, they were pros," Tim agreed.
"Leads?" Gibbs asked.
"We don't need to get into it tonight. You need to rest. You need to get well," Tim said.
"Tell me," Gibbs ordered, as well as he could anyway.
"Not tonight, Gibbs. You need to rest. You've been conscious less than an hour," Tim said firmly. He must really be getting used to the whole director thing if he was willing to tell Gibbs 'no', even in this state. "Listen, I know you're scared for Jenny. We're going to find her, Gibbs. I swear, I will not stop until we do. We will not give up, but we need your help, and you have to get well before you can do that. You have to rest, so that she can have you at your strongest."
Gibbs wanted to demand that his agent tell him what was going on, and he also wanted to get out of the damned bed and find Jenny, but he could barely keep his eyes open or speak. Plus, he grudgingly had to admit that McGee was right. He couldn't do anything until he had the strength to, and while he wanted information, it wasn't as if it was going to do him or Jenny any good right now.
Tim could tell that Gibbs was fighting just to stay awake. "It's okay, Gibbs. Sleep. Jenny would want you to get well. That's what she would tell you if she was here."
Gibbs soon lost the fight to keep his eyes open and drifted back off to sleep.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
When Tim walked out of Gibbs' room, he found Tony in the hall waiting for him. "Hey. Everyone else leave?"
"Yeah, I had them go home. There wasn't any more they could do tonight, and visiting hours are about over anyway. Although, they pretty much had to force Abby out kicking and screaming. How's Gibbs?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure if he could've, he would've gotten out of that bed to find Jenny himself, but I got him to calm down and sleep. It probably helped that he was too weak to keep his eyes open," Tim told him.
"Good. He needs to rest. Listen, I was talking to Ziva. We wanna come here in the morning before going to the office. It's the weekend, so we won't be missed for a couple of hours," Tony said.
"No, don't go to NCIS tomorrow. Come see Gibbs, and take the rest of the day to recharge," Tim said. It hit him when he was telling Gibbs that he needed to rest and get his strength back that they all needed to take that advice. They wouldn't be any good to Jenny if they were so exhausted that they couldn't function.
"What? We can't do that. There's too much work to be done. Director Shepard is still working. We have to keep searching," Tony protested.
"You know that no one could possibly understand that more than me, Tony, but we're not going to be helpful if we keep going on this way. We're all so exhausted that we're going to hit burnout level soon. I don't know about you, but I'm lucky if I get an hour of sleep each night," Tim said. He was used to not getting much sleep, but this was bad even for him.
"I don't think we'll get much sleep even if we do take the day off," he pointed out.
"Maybe not, but we have to try. If nothing else, we'll at least have a chance to rest," Tim said.
"You too then?"
"Yes, me too. I will stay out of the office," Tim said. He was reluctant, but he knew he needed rest too. He'd barely left NCIS since this whole thing started, and he knew he needed to recharge, even though every instinct he had told him to keep going until Jenny was found. He had to take his own advice. He was no good to his aunt if he killed himself by working too hard. "It's doubtful we'll make any headway in one day anyway. We'll rest tomorrow and see Gibbs. Then we'll regroup and start searching again.
"Alright. I'll let the others know. I'll see you later," Tony said before taking out his phone and walking away as he started dialing Ziva.
