Tim was bored out of her mind. Bored. Bored Bored.

Tony had smiled cheekily at her (that smile he wore to cover his worry) and told her she was lucky to score a vacation. But this was nothing like vacation.

Bed rest was boring.

During her vacations she would so all sorts of things.

She would write –

"Headaches aren't unusual my dear after such a head injury, I wouldn't recommend straining your eyes with anything for the time being,"

Play computer games with others –

"Such noises and flashing images would be worse than writing with pen and paper at the moment, my dear,"

Her last vacation she had gone camping with Jethro…

She was bored.

The first proper day of rest hadn't been so bad. After the shake-up she had received the night in the park and then not being allowed a proper night's sleep encase she never woke up again, finally being able to rest properly had been heavenly.

But not now. Now after four days of this she was ready to get up. Move around. Something.

Her ribs still hurt from where she had been thrown to the ground at such an angle that she had pretty much flown into the base of a tree…or was it a street light…somethings were still more than a little foggy.

She did know though that Jethro had got in a fair few bites of his own.

Only yesterday Ducky had finally announced to the officers who had been badgering him for access to her that she was fit enough to answer questions.

Tim had told the men everything that she had told Gibbs the night in the hospital. She had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time with a dog who happened to have a highly trained nose when it came to some things.

The officers had thanked her for her time and apologised for any inconvenience – not realising that she had almost welcomed the visit – when the elder of the two (Thomas, she remembered) told her of Jethro's bravery.

"Two of your attackers had to be treated for bites," he smiled.

Her own scars caused by Jethro began to itch at the very mention of dog bites and she only just stopped herself from raising her hand to rub her fingers over the ridged flesh.

He had given her the scars because he wasn't in his right mind. This time he had attacked two men to defend her when she couldn't defend herself. She loved that dog.

"They'll both be fine but it definitely put them off dogs for a while. The nearly freaked when our own dogs were called to the scene," he laughed, leaving the room.

Tim stroked the top of Jethro's head where he lay beside her on the bed at the memory.

"My hero," she whispered to him.

The dog's ears pricked up at her words as did his head, knocking her hand from between his ears and back onto the bed.

He looked at her and his tail began to wag, hitting against her knee every second.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. You can go out in the garden once Ducky comes home,"

Realising by some form of doggy-sixth-sense that no walk was going to be forthcoming for at least an hour he slumped against her with a sigh full of dog breath.

Tim hissed as the bulk of the dog jarred her ribs but he settled quickly enough and she managed to manoeuvre herself slightly so that the pressure was in less-painful places.

Ducky had gone back to work on the second day of her confinement and she only saw his mother when she escaped from her nurse during the times when the poor woman had to use the bathroom.

Things were very, very dull.

Tim could feel the soft growling of Jethro through her chest. It rumbled deep, bringing her out of her light dose.

Her hand automatically went to whatever part of his body she could touch and she began to stroke the heavy fur gently, while she tried to convince her eyes to open. It took a while for her brain to come fully online.

Finally both eyelids unstuck she blinked a few times to clear the blurriness and made out the figure of a man at the door of her room.

"Didn't mean to wake you,"

"Gibbs?"

He came further into the room and didn't stop until he was next to her bed.

Jethro continued to growl in warning.

"Behave!" she hissed in embarrassment. This was no way for her dog to treat her boss.

"I don't think he has forgiven me for standing by while they stuck him with sedative,"

Ah, of course.

She shrugged at this.

"I shot him and he forgave me just fine,"

Her smile faded somewhat when she saw the serious crease to his forehead.

"As I recall, he bit you. Perhaps he has learned this forgiveness thing from his mistress,"

"Umm, yeah,"

Gibbs just looked at her.

"Is everything OK, Boss?" she couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"How did you get that dog, Tim?" he asked her, each word being fired at her lie a bullet.

There was a steeliness to his tone that she didn't like but she forced herself to stay calm, not wanting Jethro to pick up on any anxiety. He had proved he could attack for her and she had no doubt now that he would go for Gibbs. She did not want to have to deal with that at the moment, thank you very much.

"He was part of a case, Boss,"

"As I recall he bit you. Quite badly from what I-" he trailed off, his eyes darting between both of her shoulders until he focused in on the one Jethro had mangled in his drugged out attack of her.

"It wasn't his fault though," she rushed.

Gibbs didn't speak. He just leaned forward and pushed her loose hair away from her neck.

His lips thinned and he paled.

Without thought Tim knocked his hand away from her neck and pulled all of her hair around to cover that side.

"It's fine," she insisted.

"Why," Gibbs spoke with a deadly calm, "Did you end up with him?" he ground out.

She gulped. How did he not know about everything that had happened during the case? Had he been blind to the cold shoulder and snarky remarks she had been on the receiving end of from Abby.

Tim was glad now that Abby had bullied her into the talking the dog but at the time she had hated the Goth's guts for what she was doing and how she was treating her.

"You know how Abby gets," she mumbled, looking away from Gibbs and to the dog who had stopped growling but was still eyeing Gibbs with the upmost suspicion.

"Abby?"

"Yeah. She was angry with me for shooting him-"

"It was in self-defence!" Gibbs was staring at her hair covered neck.

"And," she continued as if Gibbs hadn't talked, "well…her landlord wouldn't let her keep him…so…" she shrugged, lost for what else to say.

"I'll handle Abby," Gibbs voice was harsh, Tim couldn't remember hearing it so in relation to the scientist before.

She nearly laughed. It was a bit late for Gibbs to swoop in and fix everything.

"Look, Gibbs," she sighed, pushing Jethro's face out of her own when he decided she was in need of a reassuring lick across the mouth, "its fine. Everything worked out fine," of course she didn't spend as much time around Abby as she used to… "I went to classes and learned how to handle him and everything…is fine,"

Gibbs looked at her with his ice cold eyes, trying to peer into her soul.

"Alright, if you say so Tim,"

Gibbs remained for an awkward couple of minutes - after all she was lying in bed in her pyjamas with a German Shepard all but draped over her lap – before taking his leave.

Jethro relaxed when he left the room. She relaxed when she heard his car pull away.

She began to laugh as she ran through the conversation in her head.

It started as a small chuckle, then a loud giggle then a full on laugh that had her crying from the pain it brought to her ribs.

"'Handle Abby' he said," she croaked, "That'll be the day Gibbs,"

Hi everyone.

So I figured that a girl McGee would be shorter and less strong, making the attack from Jethro the dog worse than it was as she wouldn't have been able to get him off of her as quickly and he wouldn't have had as far to stretch to bite her, making his bite firmer. I could be wrong but it makes sense in my head :)

Anyway. I really hope you enjoyed these four. 'My Hero' shorts.

Next up will be Hawaii 5-0

Take care :)