Jethro and his team pulled an all-nighter for the first time in a while. The team leader hadn't mentioned his plans to the director the following day but wasn't overly worried about his boss's reaction when he found out. Part of him felt bad for being away from his family as much as he was given the situation but the bigger part of him needed to be doing something, to try to help.
When the director stepped off of the elevator shortly after 0645 the following morning, the man quickly noticed his team and eyed Jethro's yawning Senior Field Agent. "Have you been working all night?"
"Yes, Director." Dinozzo yawned again. "Morning."
Ziva quickly glanced at Vance. "Good morning, Director." She then addressed the rest of the team. "I have Navy Ensign Dorothy Williams. She volunteered at the Annapolis party four days ago."
"Williams at Annapolis," McGee said as he plotted it on their map. "Check."
The director approached his desk and Jethro glanced up from his screen to address the man. Hey. You're in early."
"Yeah," the director said. "Couldn't sleep." Vance then gestured vaguely towards all of the MCRT field agents "What's all this?"
"Looking for patient zero," he explained.
"We're cross-checking the volunteers at all of the military-base holiday parties," Ziva added. "It turns out that twenty-eight of our afflicted kids attended at least one of the Christmas parties in the past week."
"I got Petty Officer Mike Russo," his SFA informed the group. "Volunteered at the Navy Yard party three days ago."
"Russo at the Navy Yard," McGee said as he added it to the map. "Check."
"Are they all military personnel?" Vance inquired.
"Don't have to be," Jethro explained without stopping his own cross-reference. "Could be anyone. Caterers, Santa's Helpers, guy blowing up the balloons."
Vance gave him a curt nod. "Any progress on the diagnosis?"
"About to check with Abby," he replied.
"No," Vance countered, "that's okay. I'll go. You keep at it." Jethro nodded as his boss turned to walk away. "Can't say you're not thorough, Gibbs."
"Hey, Leon." The father of two swiftly stopped and turned to face him as he continued to speak. "You ever heard of a Hail Mary?" Worried they were going to be late but not willing to give up, Jethro threw himself back into work. He needed to help his team with cross-referencing all of the names of the volunteers. "I've got a Corporal Ron Harris. One of the volunteers at the Quantico party."
It was a long list and they were making progress slower than Jethro would have liked. Unfortunately, Carol's office at the Naval Medical Research Centre sent them some new information that was concerning.
The lesions that had recently appeared on the sick children had started turning purple, which narrowed down the search a bit but not even close to enough.
Trying hard to focus on the task at hand, Jethro and his field agents continued making their way through that list of volunteers.
Finally, they finally managed to narrow their list down to someone who'd been at all of the local Military Christmas parties.
Hoping the lead would pan out, Jethro video-called Abby down in her lap to see if the information could be of any use. "Abby."
Abby turned around to face the screen, taken by surprise but still in fairly good spirits. "Gibbs, don't sneak up on me like that."
Jethro eyed the bubbly forensic scientist as he made the inquiry. "Is there any chance that this bacteria came from Africa?"
"Africa?" Abby reiterated
"If it's specific to Africa," Carol chimed in, "that would help explain why we're having so much trouble finding it."
"Why, Gibbs?" Abby asked. "Who's from Africa?
"Possible patient zero," he explained.
"Otherwise known as Santa Clause," DiNozzo chimed in.
Carol, Palmer, and Abby all looked confused. "Santa Clause?"
"Also otherwise known as Marine Captain Louis Boggs," McGee said. "The guy's played Santa Clause at military base parties for years."
"Recently returned from a special operation in the Congo," DiNozzo added
Palmer, Abby, and Carol spoke in unison again. "The Congo?"
Jethro's Senior Field Agent continued speaking unperturbed. "And he's the only person who's been to every Military holiday party in the last few weeks."
"Which means he's come in contact with nearly every kid at every party," McGee said.
"What we don't know is how he came in contact with Grunfeld," Jethro explained.
"Yes, we do!" Ziva interrupted. "I knew I saw a red suit exchanged when I was going over the footage of the dry cleaners earlier." She pulled the aforementioned footage up onto the plasma and played it. "This is from a week ago. Isn't that Boggs?"
Jethro dipped his head slightly. "Yeah." He turned to his field agents. "Alright, find him. Get him quarantined 'til somebody figures out what he's got."
Abby smiled. "That somebody is about to be us, Gibbs."
A spark of hope filled him at her disposition. "Abs, the Congo gets us closer?"
"Congo gets us there, Gibbs!" Abby assured him.
"I got it!" Carol exclaimed. "Meningococcal A."
"A as in Africa," Palmer chimed in. "See? You'd never find that here."
"Which is why we couldn't find it before," Abby added.
"Can it be treated?" he asked. Please tell me it can be. I need Paisley to be okay. Not just for himself either. Jethro didn't want Kelly to know the pain of losing a child.
"Yeah," Carol assured him. "With the right antibiotic, sure!"
A wave of relief washed over him at the news. Maybe they weren't too late after all and could actually save these kids. "Call the hospitals. Call everybody!" He turned to his agents who had worked through the night. "Great job, everybody."
With all the hospitals contacted, Jethro briefed the director before finally sending his team home and handing the reigns over to the ROTA team that was in town for a few weeks. They all needed a rest and Palmer had to get ready for the meeting with the adoptive mother that he and Breena had later that morning.
Team dismissed for the holidays, Jethro drove to the hospital to be there for his family and to hopefully be there when his granddaughter finally woke up.
Kelly threw her arms around him the second he walked into the hospital. "You guys did it." She squeezed him tighter. "The doctors say she's already responding to treatment."
He pulled back slightly and eyed his daughter. "That's great." Jethro then leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm so glad, Princess."
His son-in-law held out his hand to Jethro who happily took it. "Thank you, sir. I felt a whole lot better knowing you were in the thick of things."
"You do what you have to for family," his father chimed in. "Ain't that right, Son?"
He nodded contently. "What he said." Shannon walked up and was now snuggling into Jethro's side. He leaned down and kissed his wife before putting his arm around her. "I hope you guys have eaten?"
"No," Kelly said, "but I could do food."
"Me too," Shannon agreed.
He gave a slight hum. "Why don't you all wait here for the doctors to say when we can finally go in and see Paisley and I'll grab us all some chow."
"I'll give you a hand," his father said.
"What's going on?" Maddie asked as she walked up with Mason.
"Treatment's working," Kelly said, beaming. "And Dad and Grandpa were just about to go grab us all a bite to eat."
"That's great!" the blonde replied. "Need a hand?"
"I've got this one," he replied. "Thanks for all the help, Maddie." He then gestured to his father that he was ready to go.
"Thank you," Shannon said as she pulled him in for another kiss.
Father and son grabbed some food from the hospital cafeteria and then before any of them had finished eating the doctors approached and said that they could finally go in and see Paisley, that she wasn't in isolation anymore.
Shovelling down their meal, the family then headed to Paisley's room, allowing Michael and Kelly to go in alone first for a moment.
The little girl stirred and, visibly confused, finally glanced up at Michael. "Daddy."
Michael leaned in an caressed the little girl's face. "Hi, honey."
If Jethro's eyes weren't entirely dry when they saw Paisley wake up, well, sometimes even a big tough Marine had his moments.
