Author's Note: I won't hold you guys long. Enjoy! =)
Disclaimer: NCIS belongs to its producers and not me. All I own is the story and some OCs.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
McGee remained motionless on his bed as he stared at Landon. In addition with his overwhelming giddiness and sleepiness, he was also getting confused. "How did you get in here?" he asked.
"Does it really matter?" Landon asked, the anger in him building up. Even if McGreggor held a puzzled look on his face, he could see through it. The agent was just playing scared and innocent; Landon told himself that he would not be fooled again. He was here for a purpose, and he needed to act on it before he changed his mind.
Despite the lack of energy, McGee cautiously tried to get hold of the nurse call bell lying beneath his right hand. "No. I guess not," he answered, then swallowed. "Why are you trying doing this?"
For a moment, Landon hesitated to answer. "Because you're just like them," he said, tears slightly stinging his eyes. "I helped you, but all you want to do is to--" McGee hastily grabbed the call bell then got ready to press it. Landon, upon seeing this, quickly grabbed McGee's fractured elbow.
Waves of pains jolted through McGee's whole body as Landon's grip tightened. His mind went into a frenzy, while his breathing became heavy. He could hear the heart rate machine beeping feverishly. He could also feel blood escaping out of his surgery wounds. With all of these, his grasp on the call bell was lost. McGee wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, but find no power to do so as the room spun out of control once more while the pain had his jaws clenched tight.
Landon snickered lightly. "See! You're just like Amy," he whispered. He watched the man in front of him suffer and struggle. Instead of taking pleasure in it, he only felt more wrath. "How does it feel, Agent McGreggor?" he asked.
"Let…let go of…me, Landon," McGee managed to mumble.
Landon gripped tighter on McGee's elbow, causing the latter to twitch . "How does it feel to be defenseless?" he asked again, feeling more blood flowing out of the wound.
"Let…" McGee tried to breathe out but found himself unable to.
Landon wanted to put more pressure on the fracture, but he found himself being uncertain. After a while, he let go. He shook his head slightly, then took out an injection from his pocket. "I'm…I'm sorry," he said regretfully. He placed the injection atop of the bedside table, taking few steps back afterwards.
Even if he was extremely angry, he knew that he couldn't execute death to the agent that he have protected before. What difference will it make anyways if McGreggor died? It certainly would not make a better world. It certainly would not make McGreggor happy either, like what she had been telling him. Deny as he may, all he wanted to do was protect defenseless ones. Even if he himself was beat and was unable to protect himself, at least he should know better and not do it to others. He did not even try killing Jethro yesterday. All he did was let the dog go away. So how could he even think of pulling a murder off?
"Don't ever be alone again, agent McGreggor. Don't ever let her find you," Landon said as he put the surgery mask on. He walked out of the room then, he evaded anyone who might see him go out of the hospital.
Left with nothing but a bleeding wound, McGee's whole body strained with agony. His elbow was throbbing madly, while his mind was gyrating quickly. Before completely blacking out, he mustered all of his strength to press the nurse call bell. He didn't know if he succeeded but if not, he knew he would be in serious trouble.
After some time, McGee heard the door open once more.
"Is there any--" a nurse wanted to ask and check, but she was cut off. As she saw McGee's rapid heartbeat in the monitor and his face paling, she rushed out to call a doctor.
"Wait. Tim?" Sarah, McGee recognized the voice. "What's happening? Tim? Let me through!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am. You can't go in there," he heard the same nurse reply as doctors came rushing in.
"That's my brother! What--Let me go!"
"Ma'am, please."
"Sarah," a man called. "Let them do their job." Dad.
"No!"
"Sarah. Come on." Mom.
McGee felt horrible to hear the concerned tone in his parents voice. He wanted to let them know that they shouldn't worry but all of a sudden, his senses dissolved all together .
………………………………....
Ducky's head snapped up as the doors to the autopsy room slid open. He had been worrying about McGee's state since they went home from the hospital. All morning, he hoped that someone would come and tell him what happened. "Jethro," Ducky stood up cheerfully upon seeing the senior agent. "I've been wondering what--" Walking behind Gibbs was a lady that Ducky vaguely remembered. She had long, brown hair, piercing blue eyes, and a slender body.
"This is Lyndi Crawshaw, Duck," Gibbs stated as they reached Ducky's desk. "McGee's publisher."
"Oh. Yes, yes. I do remember now," Ducky nodded as he stood up. "What can I do for you?"
Gibbs looked at Lyndi, gesturing her to hand the small box of letters to the medical examiner. "These are Tim's fan mails," Lyndi said as she placed the box on the desk. "We've received all of those last month, a letter each day. The first ones were just a little absurd, so we ignored them. Then the letters started to become…"
"Obssesive?" Ducky asked as he pulled the box closer to him.
Lyndi shook her head. "Threatening. Most of them are death threats," she answered. "I know that last time, when I gave you those fake fan letters, I was the one who made them. This time I didn't. You have to believe me."
"We do," Gibbs answered.
Lyndi's eyebrows creased as she detected anxiety in Gibbs' voice. "What do you mean…Is there something I need to know?"
"Oh my," Ducky mumbled, his tone too ominous than what Gibbs expected to hear. Ducky held a small sheet of pink paper in his hands with three or four black petals taped on it. "Is this one of the more recent letters you were talking about, Ms. Crawshaw?"
Lyndi examined the paper before answering. "No. That's the very first one."
"Why'd you ask, Ducky?"
Ducky sighed. "I grant you your wish--and one thing more. You have not asked vengeance upon the love that has betrayed you. But I shall take vengeance, nevertheless. That's what it says on the letter."
"I told you that the first ones were the weirdest letters," Lyndi stated.
"No. You don't understand. 'Narcissus and Echo' is a myth from the Greek mythology. These words in this letter are from that story. Aphrodite, who was apparently Echo's friend, spoke this," Ducky pointed out.
"Which means?"
"Jethro, these are the words Aphrodite said before making Echo disappear. If I'm right, the writer might also believe in the same thing. That Timothy's experiencing hardship, and the writer has the responsibility to end his life. It's possible that the writer's thinking that he should kill Timothy as a favor," Ducky explained. "I'm guessing that it might be Landon sending this. The lad's just sick."
Before anyone could speak again, Gibbs phone rang. Warily, he answered, "Yeah. Gibbs."
Ducky and Lyndi watched as the senior agent's expression stiffened when the caller said something. Ducky knew that the conversation was about McGee. He presumed that something had gone wrong, and it made him wish to be incorrect.
Gibbs nodded. "I'll be down there, DiNozzo. Make sure you watch McGee," he answered. After hanging up, he headed towards the elevator.
"Wait. Agent Gibbs!" Lyndi ran after him. She wanted to ask Gibbs what happened to McGee, but she found herself a little terrified to find out. The impatient look on the agent's face was enough to tell her that the death threats were already being enacted. "Take care of Tim," she said when Gibbs turned around. "He's a good kid. Don't let anything bad happen to him."
Gibbs looked into her eyes and saw nothing but sincerity in them. "I won't. I promise," he answered, then walked inside the elevator.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I know some of you may have said "What?" on the Greek mythology reference. X) Sorry. I had to add it there. (And the myth "Narcissus and Echo" that I mentioned is a real myth. I got that Aphrodite quote from the book "The Greek Gods" by Bernard Evslin, Dorothy Evslin, and Ned Hoopes.)
Anyways, it's a junky chapter, but I hope you enjoyed the fic. I'll appreciate if you leave a review for me. =D