Tony made it back to the hospital around eleven the next morning. He'd actually slept pretty decently the night before. Well, as decently as he could under the circumstances. Gibbs waking up had lifted a weight off of him. He felt kind of bad about that though. Jenny was still missing, and Tim was still in agony with that. Tony was just glad that that there was one less thing to worry about.
Tony opened the door just in time to see Gibbs open his eyes. "Hey, Boss. Sorry if I woke you."
"How long?" Gibbs asked.
"Since when? Since you woke up? Not long. Maybe twelve hours," Tony guessed.
"No. Since everything happened," Gibbs clarified.
Tony sighed, but remained silent. Gibbs would not like his response. A lot of time had passed, much more than would be considered favorable for a missing person.
"Tell me, Tony," Gibbs ordered.
"A couple of weeks," Tony finally replied.
Gibbs immediately started to try to get up. Two weeks was a long time in their line of work. An abducted person is pretty much considered dead at that point.
Tony immediately rushed to his boss' side and began to hold him back. "Boss, no. You can't get up right now."
Gibbs groaned and laid back down. He wanted to get up, but he could barely move. Just trying to sit up was incredibly painful. He doubted he could even walk like this.
"Boss, we're doing everything we can. We will find her," Tony told him as he hesitantly released his hold on his boss.
"McGee said you think she's still alive."
"We do," Tony confirmed.
"Why?" Gibbs said. Two weeks was a long time for someone to be missing, especially given these circumstances. The chances were slim. His team would know that. They would still search, but they wouldn't usually be so optimistic.
"These guys are pros. They wouldn't care about dropping bodies. They left you for dead out in the open. They didn't care if you were found or not. They're not afraid to leave bodies behind," Tony explained.
"Give me an update. What's been done?" Gibbs asked. McGee put him off last night, but that wasn't gonna happen again. He wanted answers.
A loud voice saved Tony from answering.
"Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed before running to to him.
"Careful, Abby," Tony said.
Gibbs groaned slightly as Abby hugged him, but it wasn't too bad. "I'm okay, Abs."
Abby let go of him after a minute and stood up. "I was so worried about you, Gibbs. I wanted to see you last night, but they wouldn't let me," she said as she glared at Tony.
Tony sighed. "Only one of us was allowed in here last night, Abby, and that person had to be able to remain calm.
Abby ignored him and turned back to Gibbs. "I would've stayed with you the whole time, but McGee kept us all away."
"No one kept you away on your time off, Abby. We insisted that you do your job during the day," Tony said.
"If that's what happened, Abby, they were right to keep you away. You don't get to neglect your job, especially not now," Gibbs lectured.
"But I wanted to be here with you," Abby whined.
"Sitting her twenty-four/seven while I'm unconscious helps no one, Abby. You needed to be working the case. McGee did what I told him too," Gibbs said. He vaguely remembered his first conversation with McGee the first time he woke up. If you could even call it a conversation, since he could barely speak or stay conscious. He told McGee that the team needed to work to find Jenny. That was what he did.
"You don't know the things McGee's done," Abby said.
"Abby, enough," Tony said. Gibbs was not going to hear Tim's secrets from Abby. That was for Tim to tell when he was ready to, and certainly not with Abby's insensitive, selfish spin.
Just then, the door opened, and Tim and Ziva both walked in. "Hello, Gibbs. How are you?" Ziva asked.
"Be better when I know where we are with finding Jenny. I want information," Gibbs said firmly.
Tony glanced at Tim, silently asking if they should tell him, though he didn't know how they could avoid it that this point. Gibbs wasn't going to respond well if they refused to tell him anything.
Tim nodded. He knew they couldn't keep quiet anymore. Last night was different. Gibbs had literally just woken up after being in a coma for weeks, and they needed him to remain calm. Now, however, keeping him in the dark would make him less calm. Not knowing was worse than anything.
Gibbs looked between the two men on his team. The way Tony looked at McGee was as if he was asking permission to talk about the case. Gibbs couldn't see any reason he'd do that, unless McGee was in charge of the investigation. Gibbs didn't understand that either though because Tony was the senior agent.
"Boss, the first thing you should know is that this wasn't about you. They were after Director Shepard, you were just collateral damage," Tony said.
"Seemed kind of personal with how they tried to kill me," Gibbs pointed out. At first, He thought it was all about Jenny too, but the way they left him for dead was overkill. It didn't seem like it could be anything but personal.
"It wasn't, not with you. This is just what they do. They go out of their way to cause as much damage as possible. They like causing pain. They like torture. They did what they did to you because they could," Tim said.
Gibbs zeroed in on his junior agent. He knew a lot about these bastards. His team knew who had attacked him and Jenny. "You've got names. Tell me."
Tim took a photo out of his pocket and showed it to Gibbs. It was a photo of Acosta. "This man is Sebastian Acosta. His name is the only one that matters. He's responsible."
"I never saw him," Gibbs said.
Tim nodded and put the photo back in his pocket. He half expected that. It was a tossup whether or not Acosta was actually there. He was there when he attacked Tim's family, but that was a little more personal. He wanted his father to see him. He wanted to cause him pain personally. "Is there anything you can tell us about what happened.
"Not much. The last thing I saw that night was them taking Jenny out of the house. I was barely conscious. She'd been shot in the leg, but she was okay," Gibbs said.
Tim breathed a sigh of relief. The bullet had hit the leg. That was good. Well, it was better than the chest or abdomen anyway, and it helped him hang onto the belief that she was alive.
"I don't remember anything else until they were beating the hell out of me. Why take me from the house if that's all they were gonna do?" Gibbs wondered.
"There could be any number of reasons. You weren't supposed to be there. Maybe they took you out of there because they weren't sure what to do with you. They needed instructions from Acosta. Maybe they heard sirens or something," Tim theorized. He honestly didn't know why it went down the way it did.
"You're sure this guy is responsible? You have evidence?" Gibbs asked. He wanted to make sure they were going down the right path.
"No, we don't really have evidence, but I know for a fact it's him," Tim said firmly.
"I don't know what the director was able to tell you before you were attacked, but we've come to the conclusion she was planning to talk to you about what happened to her brother," Tony said.
Gibbs gave a small nod. "He and his wife and kids were murdered."
"Acosta is responsible for their deaths. They were killed much like the two of you were attacked. Jenny went to see one of the men responsible and we believe that he found out about it," Ziva said.
Gibbs could see why they came to the conclusion that Acosta was responsible then. He didn't believe in coincidences, and he'd taught his people not to believe in them either. "Anything else?"
Once again, Tony looked to Tim to see how he wanted to handle the rest.
"Well, not about the case. That's where we are right now, but there are some other things you should know," Tim said.
"Like why DiNozzo keeps looking at you for permission to talk?" Gibbs asked.
"Yes. When we realized what had happened to you and Je… the director, things got complicated," Tim said.
"Yeah, Boss, we weren't exactly sure what to do. We had no director and no team leader, and we needed at least the former to be able to investigate. We didn't know what the next step was. Well, I didn't anyway. McGee figured out that he needed to get in touch with the deputy director," Tony explained.
"Well, actually, I got that idea from the director's assistant," Tim said.
"That was good thinking McGee. You did good. So, did Vance put you charge of the case?" Gibbs asked.
"Well, briefly, but it's actually more complicated than that. Deputy Director Vance had to go overseas. He had a mission scheduled before everything happened, and SecNav was unwilling to change his plans," Tim said.
"Alright, so one of the assistant directors are in charge," Gibbs said. He wasn't wild about that. He didn't really know any of the others. I didn't know Vance that well, but he at least knew the man would be on board to do whatever it took to save Jenny. Anyone else was a wildcard.
"That would've been the protocol, but SecNav didn't want anyone else finding out about this," he said.
"He wanted it hushed up to prevent a panic," Gibbs said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. He understood it to a point, but it made it much harder to investigate, and the last thing his people needed was their jobs made harder. That was the last thing Jenny needed too. "So who the hell is running the agency then?"
All eyes landed on Tim.
Gibbs gaped a little, finding himself truly shocked for the first time in a long time.
"It was between me or him. No one else that knew could've done it. SecNav chose McGee based on his record and the initiative he'd taken when you and the director went missing," Tony said.
"It was a ridiculous decision, right Gibbs? It should've been Tony. McGee can't lead anyone," Abby said.
"Abby, you are the one being ridiculous! I do not know why it bothers you so much that McGee is in a position of power. Maybe because he is no longer giving into your every whim. Whatever it is, you need to back off! McGee has done well. It is only because of him that we have gotten this far," Ziva said while glaring at Abby.
Gibbs looked Abby a bit sternly too. He was shocked by this news, and it was probably not one he would've made, given that McGee was still a relatively young agent, but it was a desperate situation. Everyone involved did what they had to. It probably wasn't easy for McGee either. He would have a lot on his plate, especially with having no experience at all in a management role. The last thing he needed to put up with was Abby's lack of respect and support. "Show same damn respect, Abby. You've got no business judging who does and doesn't have what it takes to do a job you don't know anything about yourself. No matter what, he's doing the best he can under extremely difficult circumstances."
"Thank you, Gibbs," Tim said almost in awe. It took him aback that Gibbs would actually admonish Abby for disrespecting him. Honestly, he expected Gibbs to agree that Tim shouldn't be in this position, and Tim wouldn't be able to blame him, as he didn't think he was qualified for the job right now either.
Gibbs nodded. "Ziva's right. If you weren't doing all you could, you wouldn't even have gotten this far."
Abby looked extremely irritated that everyone, including Gibbs, was taking McGee's side. Gibbs was supposed to be on her side. "Gibbs, you don't understand. McGee shouldn't be director. You don't know everything that has happened. You don't know the things he's…"
"Abby, shut up!" Tony yelled, causing everyone to go completely silent.
Just then, the door opened, and the doctor came in. "Okay, I need everyone to leave for a few minutes, while I assess my patient."
"Of course," Ziva said as they all started to leave.
"McGee," Gibbs called out, causing the man to turn to him. "We need to speak privately once the doc is done." He knew there was something more going on. He knew that even before Abby opened her mouth and Tony yelled at her. He hadn't been told everything.
"We do," Tim agreed before heading out of the room.
