Chapter 28

Tim opened his eyes and immediately closed them again.

"Welcome back, Tim."

The voice was familiar but he couldn't place it. He opened his eyes again. The room slowly sharpened into focus.

"What are you doing here, Terence?"

"I'm still being guarded. Your team wasn't about to leave you alone. I decided they could hover and guard at the same time."

Tim smiled weakly. "Nice of you." He looked around the room. It was still in the Naval Hospital if he guessed right.

"I'm also here to thank you."

"It's my job."

"No, Tim. You saved my life twice. Once would have left me grateful for the rest of my life, but you saved me twice."

"Twice?"

"You stopped that mercenary, whoever he was, from getting to me. You saved me then and you saved me yesterday at the risk of your own life. I can never repay you for that."

Tim closed his eyes and shook his head. "No. It was only right."

"Tim, I know that other people died. My life is not worth more than theirs, but please, I want to show you something."

Tim opened his eyes. Terence moved closer to the bed and pulled out his wallet.

"I want to show you why I'm so grateful for your help." He pointed to a picture of a smiling family. "This is my wife, Jillian. She's a real artist. We've been married for twenty years. I love her as much now as the first time I saw her. She was almost killed by that-that vermin. She came out of her coma last night and the doctors are hopeful that she'll make a full recovery." Terence took a deep breath and pointed to the other people in the picture. "These are my children. Amy is twelve. She's a dancer and loves astronomy. She can't decide which one she likes better. This is Albert. He's fifteen and still agrees with me occasionally. He's not a very good student, but give him a piece of machinery and he will tell you how it works, take it apart and make it run better. Louise and Michael are the twins. They just turned eighteen last week. It's been hard on them. Both are getting ready to start college. Louise wants to be a teacher, art or physics. Maybe both. Michael has already published some photos and is going to study photojournalism. He's always dreamed of working for National Geographic." Terence put the photos away. "Because of you, Tim, I can be with them again. I owe you my life, but I owe you so much more. I owe you my family."

"You don't owe me anything," Tim said, teary-eyed.

"You're wrong. What would I be without my family? You risked your own life and that of your sister to try and save me, even when you had no idea who I was. My part isn't over yet, but because of you, the major players are out of the way, and I don't have to wait alone. I'm going to join them in my wife's room in a couple of hours. It will be hard, but we'll still be together, a complete family. For that, I thank you."

Finally, Tim whispered, "You're welcome."

Terence smiled as the door opened and an FBI agent who looked younger than Tim entered.

"Ah, Agent Donaldson, right on time. How's your head?"

He smiled ruefully and said, "I'll survive. How are you doing Agent McGee?"

Tim recognized him as the man whose gun he'd taken. "I'll survive. Did you get your gun back?"

"Yes. I'm glad someone could use it. I'm still kicking myself for not realizing that those two were dirty. I look back now and I can see all these signs that they were working for someone else. I can't believe that I wasn't fired. I'd studied the whole case file from cover to cover multiple times, and yet I still never put it together. Instead, Mr. Ainsworth almost got killed again and you NCIS agents were injured." He shrugged. "At least, they won't be able to get away with it. They've rolled over on their employer. It was all I could do to not punch them both out when I watched the interrogation. I feel so stupid."

Tim shook his head. "You couldn't have known."

"You did. You figured it all out, Agent McGee, and saved everyone. You're the hero."

"No," Tim said emphatically. "The only reason I realized that Gyllenskog was involved was because I had information available that no one else had. For all that, I didn't put it together for too long and it came at too high a price."

"I don't think so, Agent McGee. Would it have been better for Mr. Ainsworth to die than any other stranger?"

Tim looked at Terence who was waiting quietly by the door. His gaze turned back toward Donaldson. "How do you make that choice, though?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know. You made the choice, didn't you? How did you do it?"

Tim was silent. He was right. Tim had already made the choice. Even if he hadn't known what the results of his choice had been, he had chosen. Would he have chosen differently if he had known?

Donaldson gave Tim a sympathetic smile. "I hope you feel better soon, Agent McGee."

"Thanks," Tim said vaguely. He barely noticed the two men leave. His thoughts raced through what Donaldson had said. Could he have really allowed the killer to take Terence's life? He had tried to keep him from hurting anyone but himself but failed. His hatred had informed his decision, but Tim had to admit that it hadn't been the only thing. His decision had also been formed by his fear... and his training.

"Tim! You're awake!" Sarah rushed into the room and grabbed Tim in a fierce hug.

"Sarah, you're suffocating me," Tim said, pulling at her arms.

"Sorry. If you ever get shot again, I'll kill you."

"That would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?" Tim asked.

Sarah's eyes filled with tears. "I'm serious, Tim. Do you know how worried I was? I was frantic, and they wouldn't let me call Mom and Dad."

"Sarah, I'm alright."

"Now, you are, but before... You looked so pale this morning."

"I'm sorry I worried you."

"Just don't get hurt anymore, okay?" Sarah hugged him again.

"I'll do my best," Tim said quietly. They stayed clasped in a tight hug until the door opened yet again revealing Tony and Ziva.

"Hey, McGee!" Tony said. "Nice to see you conscious again."

Sarah stood back and said, "I'll talk to you later, Tim."

Tim smiled and nodded, squeezing her hand once as she left the room.

To his surprise, both of his teammates looked a little chagrined.

"What's up, guys?"

Tony and Ziva looked at each other.

"Uh, we wanted to thank you for your... timely assistance," Ziva admitted.

"It's no big deal, Ziva. It was just luck."

"No, it wasn't, McGee," Tony disagreed. "We dropped the ball this time."

"You had no way of knowing. I should have thought of it sooner."

"No way, McGee. You're not getting out of it this time. You deserve the credit."

Ziva nodded. "No matter what. You did save both Ainsworth and us."

Tim looked at them. For once, there was no sign of teasing or deprecation. They were sincere, both of them. He smiled a little. "Thanks guys."

Tony grinned. "No, McGee. Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're off to participate in an enjoyable interrogation." He bowed floridly and gestured grandly for Ziva to proceed him out of the room.

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The doctor closed the chart with a finality that Tim had been waiting for. "Well, Agent McGee, you're healing well. As long as you don't try to do any driving for the next couple of weeks, there's no reason for you to stay cooped up in here any longer."

"So, I can go home?" Tim asked eagerly. He had been here for too long already, and he wanted to leave. Gibbs had come by a few times to monitor his mental status, not trusting the local shrinks to do the job properly. He had grudgingly allowed that Tim was getting better. If he could leave, then he could take some time to really think without interruption, even from his well-meaning colleagues.

"Yes. I don't want to keep you here longer than necessary."

Tim didn't want to stay longer than necessary either; so a few hours later he stepped out of the Naval Hospital and took a taxi back to his apartment.