Chapter 4

Then, Tim felt hands on his arms. Small hands.

"Please! Please, wake up! Please!"

Tim felt a pounding in his head and he struggled to open his eyes.

"Help me... Help me..."

The same voice. It started to mingle with another voice, female. Beautiful. Singing words to a song. He reached out a hand to the voice.

The voice disappeared as something was shaking him. No, not something. Someone. Someone was shaking him, but his head was spinning very unpleasantly.

Tim tried to stay conscious. He looked around. It was really dark...and he was having a hard time focusing on anything.

There was a lot of noise, but he didn't know where he was.

"Please, mister...please, be okay! I don't know what to do!"

Tim finally tracked in on the voice. It was soft but urgent. He looked over.

"Are you...Landon?" he managed to ask.

The boy nodded.

"They're chasing my dad! He was so mad...and I ran away, but I found you here...and..."

Tim tried to think. He tried to sit up.

Both attempts failed.

"Help me sit up?" he asked the boy.

Landon grabbed his hand and pulled hard. Tim was upright...but not for long. He was so dizzy. He started to fall over, but Landon supported him and pushed him over so that he could lean against a tree.

"Where are we?" Tim asked.

"Shenandoah!" Landon said, sounding panicked. "Who are you? Why are they chasing my dad...and why did he hit you?"

There were too many questions, and Tim was trying to follow what was being asked of him...and where he was and what had just happened. He thought he remembered something else happening...

"My dad is so mad. I don't know why!"

Tim tried to focus.

"I'm a...federal agent," he said. "We were looking for you."

"Why? I was with my dad! He said that Mom knew I was with him."

Tim didn't know what to say. He knew, vaguely, that he should be trying to signal someone, trying to comfort this little boy who was clearly frightened. He just couldn't.

"Who is that?" Landon asked suddenly.

Tim blinked a few times and thought he heard something again. Then, he saw her, the same woman he'd heard singing before. She was there, kneeling down in front of him. Landon was silent, but he looked frightened. Tim reached out to her and saw the key Jude had put in his hand: a sprig of cypress. He stretched it out to her.

"Shenandoah...is waiting..." he whispered.

He felt something. Not a hand, but something wrapping around his fingers, surrounding the cypress sprig. Then, it surged through him and he cried out in surprise. The energy focused him for a moment.

Landon cried out, too.

For a moment, he opened his eyes and saw...

"O Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away you rolling river,
O Shenandoah, I long to see you..."

"Kate..." he whispered.

Then, he thought he heard another voice.

"...away, I'm bound away..."

Then, the vision ended. The voices disappeared and Tim was left in the dark.

"Who was that? What happened?" Landon asked.

Tim stared into the space where Kate had been. He smiled.

"A friend..." he whispered.

"McGee! Was that you?"

"Who is that?" Landon asked, afraid. He actually crawled over by Tim and huddled against him, in spite of the fact that he didn't know Tim at all, that Tim was swiftly losing his battle for consciousness, that Tim had been injured by Landon's own father. He was terrified and didn't know what to do.

"Tony!" Tim tried to call out, but it came out weak and quavery. "Landon...it's a friend of mine. Call his name for...me...please... His name is...Tony."

Landon looked at him.

"Are you dying?"

Tim shook his head. "No...I'm not...but...I'm a little...loopy. Just...call him."

"Tony!" Landon called out, the fear clear in his voice.

There was a crash through the trees and then, there was a bright light shining in his eyes. Tim winced. It seemed to make his head throb even more. The energy he'd had before was gone now and Tim was ready to go back into the darkness again.

"McGee! What happened?"

"I...met a rock..." Tim tried to smile. "Landon..."

Tony looked over at Landon who grabbed Tim's arm.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked.

"No way, kid. We're glad to find you."

"What about my dad?'

"We found him, too. Your mom is really worried about you."

"Why?"

"Your dad didn't tell her where you were going." Tony hesitated. "She didn't know where you were."

Tim let Tony take over. He was starting to cant to the left with no ability to right himself.

"Landon, will you go with Officer Holstrom? He'll take you to your mom."

"Okay. Are you okay?" he asked Tim.

Tim nodded. "Go on. I'll see you later."

Landon nodded and let himself be led away. Tim felt himself falling over again, but Tony braced him.

"What happened, McGee?"

"Hit my head..." Tim said and he couldn't find the words anymore. "Went to...Shenandoah... saw Kate. She's beautiful... Got a headache...couldn't stay and... Cypress...gave it...and..."

"What? McGee, you are out there."

"Not anymore..." Tim took a breath. "Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't...think I'm walking out of here..."

Finally, he was so exhausted by trying to stay awake that he fell asleep and didn't hear anything else, not even Tony's response, if there was one.

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

In the darkness, he heard a voice.

"Were you telling me the truth, Tim?"

"Am I back there? I can't see anything. It's all dark."

"No. This is just a quick visit from me. I can't come when you're awake. Were you telling the truth?"

"About what?"

"About loving me. Was it true or were you just saying it? I want you to be honest. I don't need platitudes."

"It was true. Did she make it? The...spirit?"

"Yes. She did. She's grateful."

"Good."

He felt something. Then, it was gone. He was alone in the darkness.

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

"McGee? You in there? Come on, Probie. Open those eyes and look into the light."

"Kate?" Tim mumbled. ...but it didn't sound much like Kate. It was too masculine for one thing.

"Kate? You must be in a bad way if you're thinking that I sound anything like Kate. Open your eyes, McGee."

"Don't wanna be in Shenandoah," Tim mumbled. He was tired of going back and forth like that.

"Well, you are, but the chopper should be here soon."

"Can't get out... but don't...wanna leave...Kate alone."

"Hey, Tim...knock it off."

The voice moved further away.

"Are you sure he's going to be okay?"

"We'll give him a thorough check when we get him to the hospital. That was a hard hit. He's bound to be disoriented."

"Disoriented? He's talking about someone who's been dead for seven years!"

Dead? Kate?

That sounded right, actually.

...but he didn't have a problem with Kate being dead and talking to her, too.

Where was she? He tried to open his eyes.

"Kate?" he asked.

"Tim, stop that. Please?"

Tim struggled to open his eyes. Was he in Shenandoah? ...or Shenandoah?

He managed to get his eyes open finally. ...but the world wasn't acting right this time. It had last time. Hadn't it?

"Shenandoah?" he asked as his eyes slipped closed.

"Yeah, McGee. Where else would you be?"

"Shenandoah..." Tim said.

"Tim, can you open your eyes, please? ...and stop talking about Kate. You're making me nervous."

Tim opened his eyes again.

"Things keep moving around," he said.

Tony was there, but Tim couldn't resolve the image satisfactorily.

"Tony...you're fuzzy."

Tony laughed.

"That's better."

"But...you're fuzzy."

"No. Your brain is fuzzy."

Tony looked away.

"The chopper is here."

"Chopper?"

"Yeah. You're getting a free ride. I'm sure that's why you let yourself get hit in the head."

"Big rock."

"Must have been to reduce you to two-word thoughts."

Tim felt himself flying. That was interesting.

"Wheeeee..." he said vaguely.

"What?"

"Flying..."

"No. Just getting put on the stretcher. Relax, McGee. But not too much."

"Wanted to say good-bye."

"To who?"

"Kate."

"She's not here, Tim."

"No...she's in Shenandoah, but she shouldn't be."

"Just relax, McGee. I'll see you later when you're thinking straight."

Tim listened and let his eyes close again. He wasn't sure what was going on at this point, but he was willing to sleep and give himself a break. Too much going on...

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

Tony didn't like it that Tim kept talking about Kate. First, because it had been seven years since Kate had been killed. Second, because he kept talking about her like he could see her...and seeing dead people wasn't ever a good thing. Third, there were other things that he should be worrying about...like what would happen when Landon found out that his dad had almost killed his mom.

"Agent DiNozzo?"

"Yeah?"

"Got an Agent Gibbs on the radio."

"Oh, okay."

Tony took the radio.

"Yeah, Boss?"

"What happened?"

"We found Landon and his dad, but somehow, Whittler got around McGee and beaned him pretty good. We got Whittler, but couldn't find McGee or Landon until I heard the kid shouting. McGee's on his way to the hospital, but he's really out of it. They don't know how bad the hit was, but he was in and out the whole time. ...and talking weird."

"Weird?"

"Kept mentioning Kate as if he'd seen her."

"Okay. We're headed back."

"Me, too."

"See you at the hospital, then."

Tony chuckled a little. "Yeah, Boss."

He signed off and handed the radio back to the LEO.

"How's the kid?" he asked.

"Scared. Not hurt at all. Just scared. He said that he saw a woman in the trees but that she disappeared."

"A woman?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Said she just appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared."

"Huh."

"Yeah, weird. I figure he was too scared to see clearly. It was dark, and he was in the bushes out there. Not much light getting where he was, and with all the people moving through..."

"Yeah. Sounds like it."

...but at the same time, Tony wasn't so sure that was really a good explanation. He looked back toward the place where Tim had been lying. Then, he rolled his eyes at himself. Yeah, right.

It was a long walk back to the car. He'd better get going.

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

There was a really loud noise all around him, but he didn't feel like he could actually wake up. It was easier just to lie where he was and let the noise go on. It didn't seem like it was hurting him. It was just...loud.

Am I in Shenandoah?

"Touchdown in two minutes. How is he?"

"Breathing fine. In and out of consciousness. Definitely will need a CT scan. Stitches. If he's lucky, he'll just need a week or so off."

"Good. Let's get him in and see how lucky he is."

I don't think I'm in Shenandoah.

"Kate?" he asked, just to check.

"What was that, Agent McGee?"

No response from Kate. He must not be in Shenandoah.

He was flying again and that was kind of cool. Then, he was moving faster than he thought he should be, but all the while he wasn't really sure he was awake.

He decided that he could go to sleep and think about it later.