Oddly enough week two did not consist of the same amount of pain as week one. Possibly because he'd gone through the pain barrier before and left some body weight with it in the process. Once again some things stood out more than others.

One of the first things that really stood out was the first time that he used the Force without being in a trance first. According to Oz he'd been quite close a few times towards the end of the previous week, but hadn't quite been able to push through. Possibly because he still had a tendency to wonder about just how many of the laws of physics the Force broke and therefore how impossible the whole thing was.

The would-be apocalypse, plus the fact that his brain was finally starting to process all the events that he would previously have described as being utterly impossible, meant that he was able to push past that 'this is impossible' thought. He'd been staring at a pebble on the floor, listening to Oz's voice as he told him to visualise its shape and how it related to the floor… and then suddenly it had been soaring through the air, up into his outstretched hand. The only reason why he hadn't sworn in astonishment was that he'd been too astonished to get a word out.

He'd gone on from there. Pebbles led to stones, with led to bricks and then two by fours and then by the end of the week he'd been lifting logs. He'd also lifted his rental. Which had been a challenge.

Oh, and there had also been the phone call from Abby. Which had been… extremely interesting. And had also been a challenge.

"McGee! You're still in California! What are you doing there?"

"Vacation, Abs, I'm on vacation."

"Yes, but you're on vacation in California. You hate California! It reminds you too much of your father! So what's with the holiday there?"

He couldn't lie about it, so he merely obfuscated. "Well, I found something… interesting to look into. I'll tell you about it when I get back."

"You'd better buster. Anyway, I've got this… tiny thing that I need help with."

An alarm bell went off in the back of his head. "What kind of thing?"

"Well, technically, according to some boring stuffy tight asses, it might be classified as hacking. But I've got the go-ahead from Gibbs and also Vance for it, so it's all legal. Sort of. Kinda."

McGee closed his eyes for a long moment, sighed deeply and then opened them again. "Abby. What do you need?"

"Oh. Right. Ok, well we're tracking this kidnapper creep who's abducted the wife of a Navy SEAL. And it's not looking great so far, because they're using some super-encrypted software that's really gnarly and challenging to crack, but I'll do it anyway. However… I keep losing them in Turkmenistan. Which is a bit weird because of various technical reasons that you know better than I do, but it's still happening. So – I need some ideas from you. And perhaps me borrowing your super-great but also super-perhaps-illegal tracking software? Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top?"

McGee sighed, gave her a few ideas and then told her how to access the software. Abby's final words to him that day had filled him with a slight amount of foreboding; "And you'd better tell me all about your vacation!"

Force leaps were his next major memory of training. His first time had been something of a shock because he hadn't meant to do anything like that. He'd been sparring with Oz again, when all of a sudden the Jedi Knight had altered his grip and aimed a blow at his face. Later he'd realised that Oz had been trying to provoke a reaction out of him, but at the time he'd simply reacted. With a force leap. Fifteen feet straight backwards. Luckily they'd been practicing in the practice hall that Buffy frequently used, so that there was plenty of space involved, as otherwise he might have flattened himself against one of the walls, but it had still been a bit of a shock at the time.

Oz had simply nodded in a highly satisfied way and said, simply, "Cool." And after that their training had gone up a level. Actually, a level or three.

More snapshots: more sword training, until his arms felt like stringy noodles. His first demon kill (it had almost literally run into him after it mistook him for an easy meal, a mistake that proved to be the last one it ever made). Going into his first Jedi healing trance, so that he could make up for a night of no sleep. Oh and healing something for the first time – he'd found a stunned chipmunk that had jumped into a wall to avoid a cat. He'd chased the cat away, placed the chipmunk on the palm of his hand and then embraced the Force. Five minutes later the chipmunk had been awake and chittering angrily at him as if its injury had been his fault. He'd lowered it carefully to the ground before it could bite him, listened as it harangued him once again and then watched it scamper off.

Tony would have laughed himself sick. But he didn't care.

And then the time came to Face the Mirror. Facing the Mirror was a Jedi test and it was not an easy one. His previous training had been to train and test his body and his spirit. Facing the Mirror was different. It addressed the mind and the intent.

Oz hadn't warned him about it, but he'd been expecting it. Luke Skywalker had had that cave in Dagobah, where admittedly he hadn't done too well. He'd heard that both Xander and Oz had confronted ghosts of some sort – shapeshifting ghosts. Oh and Lindsey had faced down the evil son of a bitch who was in charge of the LA branch of Wolfram & Hart. As for Rebecca and Daniel, well they were still being tight-lipped about their experiences.

So it hadn't come as a huge surprise when Xander and Oz had led him to a cave up near and hill and had then told him, quietly and without fanfare, that there was a telepathic ghost inside it that he had to confront, adding that he didn't need the sword that he'd been carrying that night.

He'd handed the sword over to Oz, bowed to the two other Jedi and then walked into the cave. It was cool and dank. And dark. With a distinct smell of… mustiness. Something had died in that cave. He'd looked around carefully and then stopped when he heard a snatch of what sounded like someone crying.

A careful step forward. And then another. The sound of crying had returned, quietly at first and then growing in strength. It was coming from just ahead of him, around that bend. He closed his eyes for a moment, stretching out with the Force, before walking around the corner. And then he blinked. There was a flash of light and he was in Autopsy in NCIS HQ.

There was a covered body on a gurney in front of him. He walked up to it. The crying was very loud now but he couldn't see who it was coming from. Reaching out he pulled the cover slowly off the body and then stopped when he saw the face. Abby. It was Abby.

The sobbing was next to him now and he turned to see Ziva next to him. She looked up with a tear-stricken face and then snarled at him. "It's your fault that she's dead," she said in a flat voice. "You were off playing at being a Jedi. She was here doing something meaningful."

"I'm sorry," McGee said quietly. "But I was doing something meaningful too."

"Are you sure, Probie?" This time it was Tony on the other side of him. "Are you really sure? Because as far as I know Jedi belong in films. And Abby's still dead."

McGee looked down at Abby. "Yes. I'm sure."

"Was it worth it?" Gibbs was in front of him now, glaring at him, his face twisted in hatred. "She died when you were elsewhere. She died when you were wasting time pretending to be something that you can never be. A Jedi? You? Give me a break!"

A million thoughts and emotions clicked into place inside his head. "I am a Jedi. And none of this is real."

The thing that was Gibbs grinned suddenly and then brought out a silver cylinder. "Are you sure about that?" And then it thumbed a switch so that a red blade hummed into existence – which it then slashed at McGee's neck.

It didn't get there. Instead it impacted again his hand, which he had brought up with Force speed. "Yes," he said quietly as the image of Gibbs glared at him and the blade hummed against the palm of his hand, "I'm sure. And I am a Jedi."

The thing that wore Gibbs' face snarled him and then tried to rip the red blade away. But McGee tightened his grip and held on. The creature fought him desperately as it tried to regain its balance, but McGee pulled the blade away and threw it to one side.

Turning back he saw that the creature was backing away from him slowly, shaking its head slowly as it glared at him. It was looking less like Gibbs now. But then it rallied slightly and took a step forwards. Its features blurred and suddenly he was looking at himself, only clad in black and with yellow eyes.

"You're weak," the other version of him spat. "Jedi? You can't handle being a Jedi. This is what awaits you. Sith."

McGee looked at the other version of himself and then shook his head. "No," he said. "I am a Jedi. Never a Sith."

"Then strike me down. Kill me!"

McGee smiled slightly. "I don't need to. You're not a threat to me. You're nothing but a pale shadow of what you used to be in life."

The creature stared at him. And then it… faded. Suddenly McGee was back in the cave, facing a wall of rock. He looked around. There was nothing in here. So he turned and walked out. As he left the shadows of the cave he saw the other Jedi. They were standing in a half-moon formation, all facing him. Lindsey. Daniel. Rebecca. Oz. And Xander. The latter was wearing what appeared to be Jedi robes and had his lightsabre in his hand. As McGee approached the blue blade hummed into life.

"Timothy McGee, in the name of the Galactic Republic and the Terran Jedi Order, I hereby dub you Jedi Knight. Use your powers to help the innocent. Defend the weak. Protect those who need protecting."

McGee bowed his head, his eyes filled with unshed tears. "I do so swear."

Xander smiled at him. "Good. Now – you need a lightsabre."