Chapter 2

When Gibbs got down to the car Tony handed him the keys but instead of keeping them he lobbed them back, getting into the passenger seat .

"Boss!"

"Just get us to the hospital, DiNozzo. . .and if you go one click faster than the posted speed limit you will be driving nothing but your desk for the next month." He tuned them both out and pulled the copy of McGee's email from his jacket. From her seat in the back Kate caught Tony's eye but he just shrugged off her concern as he pulled out, carefully, into the traffic.

At the hospital, Tony dropped Gibbs and Kate at the ER entrance. "DiNozzo, park up and go find Abby. . .she should be with Ducky; 4th floor, east wing. . .Kate, you're with me."

Bypassing the triage desk, Gibbs headed for the nurses' station and flashed his badge.

"I need to know about my man, Agent McGee! He was seen here yesterday." The nurse at the desk shrank back in the face of his aggression but before she could even begin to answer another player entered the arena.

"Special Agent Gibbs! What have I told you before about intimidating my staff!" Gibbs spun around to answer only to find the speaker so far into his own personal space that they were practically nose to chin. . .and he was not the one with the advantage, neither was he able to retreat, being pinned against the desk by the tall, rail-thin Head Nurse.

Kate watched the confrontation with some bemusement. Neither participant seemed disposed to back down and when the staring contest seemed deadlocked the nurse upped the ante by placing her hands on the desk on either side of Gibbs and getting even further into his face.

Gibbs broke the impasse, leaning forward and pecking her on the cheek. "Nurse Fletcher. . .a pleasure , as always."

"You know each other?" Kate blurted out.

"Ah huh."

Kate suddenly wished she had remained silent; Nurse Fletcher turned her attention to the young agent and her expression hardened.

"Did I or did I not send you home yesterday with a sling and with instructions to use it until your sutures were removed!"

". . ."

"Well!"

"Yes, Ma'am, you did."

"Were my instructions unclear?"

"No, Ma'am. . .but it's fine, really.. . ."

"And did you inform your superior that you were only cleared for desk duty?" Kate glimpsed the trace of a smile on Gibbs' face and concluded he was enjoying being temporarily out of the firing line.

"No, Ma'am."

"Stand there and do not move. . .either of you." Nurse Fletcher disappeared into a store room and returned with a sling which she proceeded to fit around Kate's left arm having first checked the sutures on her forearm. "Special Agent Todd, just because you work in the testosterone-fuelled atmosphere of NCIS it does not mean you need to copy the macho posturing of your co-workers! Injuries heal much more quickly and with fewer problems if you follow doctor's orders." Nurse Fletcher winked to take the sting out of her words. "Now, Agent Todd, I believe you have something to tell your Boss."

"Gibbs, I'm afraid I am not fit for field duty. . .at the moment."

Nurse Fletcher turned her attention back to Gibbs. " Now, Jethro, what else can I do for you?"

"Can you tell me what happened here last night to my junior agent, Timothy McGee. I understand he was kept in overnight."

"You know I can't give you medical information without his permission, Jethro."

"Please, Meg. Tim collapsed today and they think he may have had a bleed. . .he's in surgery as we speak. . .we didn't even know he was kept in overnight. The last we heard was that he was being discharged just after Kate. . .he didn't say anything about it when he came into work today. We need to know what happened. What can you tell me?

Meg went behind the counter and flicked through a large ledger on the desk.

"He was seen in ER after 16.00 and found to be suffering from extensive but minor bruising and lacerations to his arms and torso; a neuro panel showed no obvious abnormalities just a minor headache. He would have been released then but he elected to wait until agent Todd was ready to leave. At 19.35 while he was at the desk signing out he complained of dizziness and blurred vision before fainting. We took x-rays and a CT scan, neither of which showed any indication of abnormality. We admitted him to the observation ward and monitored his condition overnight. He was discharged at 06.00 with instructions to rest and to return immediately if he had any further symptoms."

"We found him unconscious at his desk when we returned from a case. . ."

"Wait, are you telling me that he was back at work!" friendly Meg had disappeared and hard-assed Senior Nurse Fletcher was back in charge.

"He turned up for work. . .he never said anything about his injuries nor about being unfit for duty. . .I am not a nursemaid. . .I trust my team to tell me if their fitness for duty is compromised."

"Then I suggest you need to change the rules! Special agents Todd and McGee both seem to be under the impression that they are indestructible and that normal rules of mortality do not apply to them. And don't even get me started on DiNozzo. . .he would be insisting he was fine while taking his last gasping breath. Why do you think that is, Special Agent Gibbs!"

"Are you saying it is my fault!"

"I am merely asking you to consider why your agents feel the need to hide their injuries and push themselves beyond the norms of reasonable behaviour. Their loyalty to you is beyond question. . .but what of your responsibility to them. . .you need to let them know that it is alright to be human. . .that no one expects them to be super heroes."

"We don't. . .it's just. . . Gibbs doesn't demand anything of us that he doesn't. . ."

"That is not reassuring, Agent Todd. . .I have personal experience of just how far Agent Gibbs will go to avoid medical attention."

"Hey! We are not here to discuss my personal foibles. Thank you for your time, Nurse Fletcher, and Meg," he continued, his gaze softening, "thank you for looking out for my people." He reached up and kissed her cheek and as he turned to stalk off towards the elevator she cuffed him gently on the back of the head.

oooOOOooo

Hospital waiting rooms. He hated them and everything they represented. He hated the clinical smells and the out of date magazines and the uncomfortable seats and most of all he hated the tense and unnatural silence. . .the way that whispered conversations shimmied from group to group, allowing no one the privacy they needed at their time of crisis.

They seemed to have been waiting for hours, with only the increasing number of discarded coffee cups and empty soda cans to mark the passage of hours. Ducky had escaped once beyond the locked doors on a quest for information but he brought back no news. For the fourth time Gibbs pulled out the crumpled email and carefully smoothed it out on his lap.

"What does it say, Boss?"

Gibbs read it through once more and then handed it over. Tony placed it on the table and the others all huddled round to read it.

Director Morrow

Given recent circumstances, it has become increasingly clear that my continued presence on the MCRT poses an unacceptable risk to my work colleagues and to members of the public. I feel I have no alternative but to tender my resignation with immediate effect.

I am more sorry than I can convey that I have failed to attain the high standards required and will always regret that my long held dream to serve with NCIS was not to be.

Respectfully yours

Timothy McGee

"Gibbs, you've got to do something! You can't let the Director accept this! We can't lose McGee, we just can't!"

"I know Abby, but we can't make him stay if he doesn't want to be here anymore."

"There is nothing in that letter to suggest that he wants to leave NCIS, Gibbs. For some reason he feel he has to leave, that he is putting us at risk." Kate remarked.

"Abby, did you have any idea that he was considering leaving?"

"No, Gibbs, I would have told you. I mean he was really upset about the computer girl. . .he felt responsible for not getting to her in time. . .but he doesn't really say much, even to me. He doesn't confide in me about work things, I guess because he knows how close I am to you all. . .and I'm not sure he really trusts me with personal things, not after we had that . . .."

"That what, Abbs?"

"Well, he wanted to get serious and I got mad because he was pushing. . .I think I hurt him."

"But you made up, right?"

"Yeah, but we never really got back to where we were. . .he put up a barrier, it was like he was pretending that everything was back to normal but I'd catch him looking at me sometimes. . .."

The conversation was halted when a tall middle aged man accompanied by a doctor in scrubs walked through the waiting room to the door into ICU and were allowed entrance.

"Ducky can't you find out what's going on," Gibbs needed more coffee and his patience was running thin.

"I can try, Jethro," Ducky rang the bell and waited to be buzzed in. He returned a few minutes later.

"Well, Duck?"

"Timothy is out of surgery. . .his condition is still listed as critical. . .beyond that I can really tell you little else."

"What's going on, Ducky? Why won't they tell us?"

"When will we be able to see him?" How bad is it?"

"Please, everyone. He survived the surgery, he is on life support. His father is with him and, at his insistence, they are strictly enforcing the family only rule. . .we will not be allowed access to Timothy until his family allow it."

"What!"

"I really would suggest that you all go home and get some rest. Commander McGee has taken my telephone number and has promised to notify me of any changes to his condition. . .but he was quite adamant that he would not be allowing us to disturb Timothy tonight." Ducky looked around at the shocked faces of the team and knew just how hard they were taking this latest blow.

"Did the Commander give you any reason, Ducky? Does he blame us for McGee's injury?" Tony asked, voicing their widely held fear.

"He is naturally very worried. . .he also seems to be under the impression that we have not been quite as supportive of Timothy as we should have been. . .though he didn't explain that belief to me."

"Are we to blame, Ducky?"

"Look, Timothy was caught up in an explosion! You've been in battle, Gibbs, you know how serious a blast can be," Ducky explained. "And though McGee should have followed doctor's orders, I think we can all be grateful in this instance that he did not. . .if he had gone home and collapsed there alone, we would not have known and the consequences of that are too terrible to imagine."

"So it wasn't the head-slap, Ducky? Did I make things worse?"

"I can't tell you that, Tony. . .but I doubt it felt good to Timothy at the time."

"Ducky, did you have any idea that McGee was struggling, that he felt so out of his depth?"

"Jethro, Timothy is a very private man, he doesn't find social interaction easy and until he feels very comfortable in a relationship he is unlikely to risk opening up. I believe that Timothy often feels himself at a disadvantage because of his background and I am afraid to say that his treatment at the hands of the team may have reinforced that belief."

"Hey, that's not fair! We do look out for him!" Tony protested loudly.

"Yes, you do. You also constantly tease and belittle him; you set him up so that Gibbs gets on his case, you mock his dress sense, his personal life and his off duty interests, you rub his nose in his phobias. . ."

"But that's just teasing. . ."

"Tony," Ducky interrupted sharply "do you think he always believes that, that just sometimes he may take it to heart?"

Gibbs had heard enough. "Look, this is getting us nowhere. Go home everyone. I'll see you at work at 08.00. Don't be late."

"Gibbs we can't just leave. We can't leave Tim here on his own!" Abby's tears had started again.

"Abby, Tim isn't on his own," Gibbs assured her gently. "He has his family. . .and at the moment we are not wanted here. Much as I hate to say it, we have to respect that. If Ducky wasn't able to persuade Commander McGee. . . ."

"But it's so mean!"

"I know, Abbs, but I'm sure the Commander has his reasons. . he is probably terrified at just how close a call it was. When McGee starts to recover I'm sure we will get the chance to see him and find out just what this is all about." Gibbs assured her, picking up the crumpled email and stuffing it back into his pocket.

"Will he recover, Ducky?" Abby begged.

"The doctors are cautiously optimistic, my dear. The CT scan showed, not a bleed as was at first feared but cerebral oedema, generalised swelling of the brain; in surgery, they removed a section of his skull to alleviate the raised intracranial pressure. The will keep him in a medically induced coma for the next 48 hours to give the medications a chance to help reduce the swelling. If all goes according to plan they will replace the bone when his condition improves sufficiently."

"That sounds gruesome," Kate shuddered.

"It is infinitely better than the alternative, my dear." Ducky assured her gravely.

TBC