Chapter 12

Gibbs, Tony and Ziva waited for news that Tim was okay. He had lost a lot of blood, and there had been some awkward questions, but they had managed to field them relatively easily. Tim had been swimming and had inadvertently got in the way of the seals who had seen him as a threat and attacked. He had managed to get back to shore, but that was as far as he could go. Since the wounds were from a seal (or at least a selkie who looked like a seal), the evidence would bear out the story.

No need to call police or investigate further...and hopefully, no media coverage. People were injured on the water every day. Even if this was out of the ordinary, it was minor enough.

Hopefully.

Gibbs had hidden Tim's skin in the car, not daring to bring it into the hospital. Tony had already gone out once to make sure it was still there. As hard as it had been to adjust to knowing what Tim was, they were all determined to make sure that Tim was able to remain whole as he described himself. Learning that the way he had been before had been living with constant pain and loss had been a shock, and Tony and Ziva, in particular, would not allow Tim to go back to that life.

It was now around six a.m., and Gibbs knew that they'd have to report that Tim would be taking some time off. Even in a best-case scenario, Tim wouldn't be fit to work the same day that he had been nearly killed by a selkie.

Vance would not be happy, but it couldn't be helped, not right now. He would have to be told, but he would also have to be shown.

Then, all those concerns fell away when a doctor came into the waiting room and walked over to the three of them.

"You're all here for Tim McGee?"

"How is he?" Gibbs asked.

The doctor smiled. "He'll be all right. We were able to stop the bleeding, give him the transfusions he needed, and we debrided the wounds. He's lucky. Those were deep and it looks as though there was some tearing. I've never seen someone injured by a seal before. He must have been in the wrong place at the exact wrong time."

Understatement of the century, Gibbs thought, but he just nodded.

"Can we see him?" Tony asked.

"Of course. He'll be groggy, but Mr. McGee will recover."

Eagerly, they all followed the doctor back to Tim's room. There was someone else sleeping in a bed in the same room. That meant no detailed conversations, but one look at Tim told Gibbs that they wouldn't be able to have a detailed conversation right now anyway.

Tim might recover, but he definitely wasn't recovered at the moment. They could now see bruising that they hadn't seen before. Whatever had happened in the fight, Tim was far from unscathed, even discounting the most serious wounds. He had large bruises on his face and on his arms. Gibbs wouldn't be surprised if the bruising was consistent all over Tim's body.

Tony and Ziva sat down by the bed and Ziva touched Tim gently on the arm.

"Tim?" Ziva asked softly.

Tim's eyes opened slightly and his breathing increased. There were a couple of sounds that came out of his mouth that were little more than mumbling.

"Tim."

"Tim, wake up," Tony said.

Then, Tim's eyes flew open and he started to sit up. Instantly, he winced and moaned and sank back down onto the bed, even before Tony and Ziva could stop him.

He opened his eyes once more, a few tears of pain escaping. Then, when he saw them, he tried to smile.

"Ouch," he whispered.

"Regrets?" Tony asked.

Tim smiled again and shook his head marginally.

"Sorry to be so much trouble," he whispered. "I really...don't want to be."

"Well, think twice before jumping into the fray next time, Probie," Tony said.

"No guarantees," Tim said.

"I figured."

"Did you...see my father?"

"Yeah. He's fine."

"Good."

Tim tried to shift position, but he winced again and stopped moving. His eyes closed again and he seemed to fall asleep.

"We need to call his parents and let them know," Ziva said softly. "I do not want him to be left alone when we go to work."

"He hasn't told them about any of this. He said he hadn't told anyone," Tony said, almost inaudibly. "Maybe we should give him a chance to decide. I'll take a personal day if we need to have someone here." He looked at Gibbs and smiled slightly. "Then, you can be the one to deal with Vance, Boss."

Gibbs didn't blame him for feeling that way, and Vance would definitely have to be dealt with. Sooner rather than later, even if it was just to tell him that he'd get his explanation but he'd have to wait.

"Okay. You stay until you can talk to him, find out what he wants. Ziva?"

"You need more than just you," Ziva said, reluctantly. "Tell us when he really wakes up."

Tony nodded. "Will do."

They stayed for a little bit longer, but then, Gibbs knew that they need to get going. They'd be late to work already and that wouldn't help the situation. So he and Ziva left.

"What will happen, Gibbs?" Ziva asked as they got into the car.

"Don't know."

"We need to tell the others."

"Yeah."

Ziva looked at him for a moment, as if expecting him to say more, but he truly didn't know the answers, so what was there to say? Instead, they were both silent as they headed back to D.C.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim wasn't particularly happy about waking up. He felt like he was bruised from head to toe and he could feel very clearly the place where the selkie had bit him.

Not really my finest hour, he thought.

He'd had some residual instincts for how to fight, but really, he hadn't had enough experience even before he'd lost his skin. The selkies didn't usually fall back on physical battles. They fought when it was considered necessary, but that wasn't particularly often. Many of the seals didn't fight a whole lot, either.

"Tim, you awake?"

The soft voice startled him and he opened his eyes.

"Tony...what are you doing... here?" Tim asked, aware suddenly that he wasn't quite sure where here was, but he was quite sure that he wasn't at Tony's place.

"Making sure you didn't need anything. You've been out of it."

Tim looked around. A hospital.

"How long have I been here?"

"Just a few hours. Your roommate checked out about half an hour ago," Tony said, gesturing behind him.

"I had a roommate?" Tim asked.

"Yep. They were keeping him overnight until his family could come. He got a pretty solid concussion by coming into close, personal contact with his own surfboard. How are you feeling?"

Tim grimaced. "Like I think I'd rather have been hit in the head with a surfboard."

"Just so you know, we told the doctor that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, that the seals saw you as an aggressor and attacked."

Tim raised an eyebrow. "Seals don't generally make a habit of attacking humans so far as I know."

Tony lowered his voice. "Well, we couldn't exactly talk about a selkie fight, now could we."

Tim nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I'm okay, though?"

"Yeah. Not great but okay. You look like one big bruise on the right side."

"Feel like it. A wave picked us up and threw us against the rocks at one point."

"So...did you win?"

"Well, I sure didn't," Tim said, wincing again. "You said you saw my father?"

"Yeah."

"Then, he must have. He would have been dead, otherwise. If he won, then, I guess...I win by default."

"So what happened?"

Before Tim could answer, the door opened.

"Ah, welcome back, Mr. McGee. I'm Dr. Staker. How are you feeling?"

Tim tried to sit up a little bit but grimaced.

"That good, huh," Dr. Staker said. "Well, I'm afraid that you'll be feeling that way for the next little while. However, once we're sure you're good to go, we'll release you with the stipulation that you give yourself time to heal and that you watch for any infection in those wounds."

"And you think all I need is time?"

Dr. Staker nodded. "We were able to take care of the blood loss and our main worry is infection. You're very lucky in that none of the bruising looks serious. How did it happen?"

Tim glanced over at Tony. He hated lying, but he knew it was necessary.

"When I was trying to swim back to shore, I was right by some rocks and a wave threw me against them. I wasn't strong enough to stop it."

"If it was after you were bitten, I'm not surprised. Did you have any warning of what the seal was going to do?"

Tim shook his head. "No. I didn't even see them. I figure that they must have been hunting or something and they saw me as intruding. I didn't really want to be fighting with a seal. He obviously had the upper hand...or flipper, I guess."

Dr. Staker smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you managed to get out of that. I haven't heard of seal attacks around here before, but there are times when seals have attacked humans other places. I guess you were just the lucky one."

"Yeah. Lucky me. I like swimming in the ocean. I've never had any problems with it before."

"It only takes once."

Tim sighed and leaned back in the bed.

"Just try to relax as much as you can. I'll prescribe some stronger painkillers, but unless you're really feeling it, it'll just be a larger dose of naproxen or ibuprofen, Tylenol, things like that."

"That's fine. I'd rather have that than an opioid or narcotic."

"Understandable. Well, let me take a look at you and then I'll let you rest. A nurse will be by to change the dressing on the bites, but otherwise, you'll just have time. I'll give you another check this evening and, if all looks like it's going well, we'll release you."

"Okay."

Dr. Staker was quick and thorough with his examination. He helped Tim roll over so he could check on the bites. He declared that everything looked good and then withdrew. Knowing that a nurse would be coming by as well, Tim didn't really say anything until she came. Changing the bandages hurt but not as much as Tim had thought it would.

Finally, they were alone again.

"So...what happened?" Tony asked again. "Or would you rather be sleeping?"

"I'd rather be drugged into a stupor, but I don't really want to be in a stupor either," Tim said with a sigh. "The selkie attacked my father while he was sleeping. He was taken by surprise. Even by the selkies' view of things, that was sneaky and underhanded."

"So why didn't they stop him?"

"Because once the fight starts, they wait to see who wins." Tim smiled weakly. "Survival of the fittest. I don't remember any fights at all before. We don't do that because there aren't enough of us as it is, but if a disagreement is that strong, then, it needs to be dealt with."

"By fighting."

"Yeah. But I broke it up."

"Is that against the rules?"

"No. At least, not that I remember. It's just that no one ever does it. There's a very strong sense of self-preservation."

"Oh." Tony's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure I like these guys."

Tim laughed. "That's okay. They're not sure they like you, either."

"Very funny. So if it was those two fighting, how did you get involved besides breaking it up?"

"Well, I guess he decided I was the real cause and so if I was dead, the problem would be solved better than if my father was dead. He almost managed to drown me, but my father stopped him and then we were both fighting."

"Two on one?"

"Better than one on one," Tim said.

Tony smiled and gestured.

"I got distracted and turned around when we got close to shore and he got me in the back. The wave knocked us around and I was dazed, but my father got him to let me go and then they rolled back into the water, but I couldn't manage anything but to get to shore." Then, Tim's eyes got wide. "My skin...I..."

"We got it, Probie. Don't worry. Gibbs didn't think it was a good idea to leave it lying around here in the hospital," Tony said.

Tim sighed with relief and leaned back. The idea that he'd lost his skin for a second time was actually terrifying. For a few seconds, he just had to let himself calm down.

"Well, that's the end of the story as far as I remember. I don't remember anything else until I woke up here."

Tony just nodded.

"So...what else happened?" Tim asked.

"Your dad showed up and said that you needed help. We went to the beach and two of the other selkies were there with you. They didn't seem to know what to do."

Tim smiled. "No hospitals for selkies. You live or die."

"Well, I'm glad you lived," Tony said.

"Me, too."

"There is one thing, though."

"What?"

"You might not want to hear it. You can wait."

Tim was feeling tired again, but he wouldn't be able to sleep with that kind of statement.

"I think I'd better not. What is it?"

"You're...probably going to have to tell Vance, probably show him."

"What? I've already told more than I should have. Why?"

"He noticed that you and Gibbs were gone and he was asking questions that I couldn't answer and then when Gibbs stopped answering me, we had to find out what had happened and Vance has already been put off of learning what the truth was too many times."

"Oh."

That had never even crossed Tim's mind. He had never thought that he'd have to tell a single other human about what he was. Maybe his parents now that he could prove it, but really, the idea of telling Vance that one of his employees was technically of a different species was more than a little frightening. How in the world would Vance accept it? Could he really believe it, even if Tim showed him? That was definitely not on his list of complications...until now.

"I know that...this isn't good," Tony said, shifting around a little uncomfortably, "especially with what just happened last night, but... Vance already knew we were lying before. I don't think he'd accept lies this time."

"No, I understand."

"Maybe Gibbs can talk him out of it."

While Tim had complete confidence in Gibbs in normal circumstances, this was quite a bit different and he doubted that even Gibbs could talk Vance out of getting the whole truth.

"Maybe," Tim said.

"Yeah. Doesn't sound too likely," Tony said.

Tim shook his head.

"Well, we'll figure that stuff out. That's why Gibbs and Ziva are gone. They knew that we couldn't all miss, but we didn't want to leave you alone after what happened. And we weren't sure if you wanted us to call your family or not."

Tim leaned back and stared at the ceiling. His life suddenly seemed impossibly and overwhelmingly complicated.

"I don't know, either."

The weight of all that hit him and just made him feel even more tired. He closed his eyes.

"Just rest, McGee. There's time."

"But is there enough?"

"Yep. Because there has to be. So there is."

"Wake me up if something else implodes in my life, okay?"

Tim felt Tony squeeze his shoulder very gently.

"Nothing else will. You don't have anything else to implode."

Tim smiled slightly. That wasn't all that comforting, but he did find Tony's presence comforting and he allowed that to lull him into sleep.