a/n - The healing begins, at least for some. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews.

It had only taken a few days for Tim to get back into the groove of working in cybercrimes, a few more days before he remembered exactly why he had hated it the last time. The daily highlights were the visits from his former teammates. Either Tony or Ziva managed to drop into cybercrimes almost every day. The visits were never long, but the pat on the back or the kiss on the cheek left a glow he carried with him for hours.

Then there was Gibbs. The morning after Tony had brought him breakfast, a cup of coffee from Gibbs' favorite coffee shop was sitting on his desk when he arrived. It had become a daily occurrence. No matter how early or late Tim arrived, the coffee was there, hot and fresh. A second cup would arrive sometime in the afternoon, always when McGee was away from his desk. McGee was even more convinced the man was psychic. Even if he'd had Tim's desk bugged, there was no way he could make the round trip to the coffee shop and back in the time it took to walk to the men's room.

Tim smiled as he picked up this afternoon's cup and returned to what he was working on. Somewhere in this seven hundred gigabyte hard drive filled with compressed and encrypted files was one line of code that he needed to find. Between that and babysitting the dozen geeks under his temporary command, it was going to be a long three months he realized, as Alice announced loudly that someone had stolen her favorite pen from her desk. He took another grateful swallow of coffee before standing up to solve the case of the missing pen, because Alice Bradshaw couldn't crack code without her purple flower pen clenched in her teeth.

Upstairs, Ziva tossed her standard issue pen onto her desk before approaching Gibbs. She had signed the last of her reports and was ready to turn them in to Gibbs. He raised an eyebrow at having the paperwork so quickly.

"I don't think DiNozzo's even started his report on the Donaldson case." Gibbs looked over at DiNozzo to find him balancing his standard issue pen on the bridge of his nose.

Ziva smiled briefly at her partner's antics before turning back to Gibbs, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. Gibbs and the Director were both aware of her group therapy sessions every Wednesday, but she still felt uncomfortable bringing it up. "Sarah is going with me tonight. I hope to pick her up early so we can have dinner before the session."

"If we don't catch a case this afternoon, you can take off early. Don't scare her to death with your normal driving." Gibbs was pointing a finger, but he had a slight smile.

Gibbs sent Ziva on her way at 1630 and Tony thirty minutes later. As soon as DiNozzo cleared the squad room, Gibbs started shutting down his own computer, but instead of heading to his car, Gibbs went down to the sub-basement.

Gibbs came around the corner and watched McGee interacting with two of his subordinates. He recognized the man as one that Vance was considering letting go as he was unable to work well with anyone he'd been assigned to. The woman he didn't know, nor did he know why she was shaking a purple pen in the mans' face. Whatever McGee said seemed to calm her down and she returned to her workstation.

"Hey, McGee."

"Boss... Gibbs? What are you doing down here?" Tim glanced down at his watch. It was the end of the work day for cybercrimes and his daily afternoon coffee had arrived hours ago.

"Heard you're on your own tonight, McGee. Let's grab some dinner."

Tim wasn't sure if he followed the older man because of habit, because of hunger, or because Gibbs picked up Tim's backpack and walked out with it. Before he knew it, they were at Guapo's with large platters of Carne' Asada and a pitcher of beer on the table.

"So how are you doing?"

"Sarah's getting better. She's been in contact with all of her professors, and all but one are letting her work totally from home, so she had to just drop that one class."

Gibbs gave a sad smile. He wasn't surprised by McGee's answer. He was pretty sure he hadn't faced the impact all of this had had on him. "I'm glad to hear that, but I was asking about you. How are you, Tim, honestly?"

"It's been a pretty rough couple of weeks." Tim stared at the patterns of foam on the glass as he swirled his beer. "I guess I didn't realize how isolated I would feel."

"What about the rest of your family, or have your parents cut you off from everyone?" Gibbs couldn't imagine that the rest of Tim's family would have the same attitude as his parents, but then he'd been totally blindsided by his parent's reaction.

The soft chuckle was slightly bitter. "My father has a rather dominate personality. Up until that day in the hospital, nobody's ever stood up to him. The rest of the family is probably still in hiding, waiting for the fallout."

Gibbs watched the emotions flicker across Tim's face, the expressive eyes not quite able to hide the pain. "Has he always been like that?"

"Becky was the rebel, I was the disappointment. Sarah was their one last hope." By the time he quieted, Tim was again staring down into his glass.

"McGee, you have a degree from MIT and another one from John Hopkins. You graduated from FLETC at the top of your class, you were the youngest agent to ever be certified as a full field agent, and as a hobby, you wrote a best selling novel. How could any father be disappointed?"

"I'm not an athlete, Boss. I had no interest in playing football, was too slow for basketball, and was a third string outfielder in baseball." Tim laughed and shook his head. "I did okay in wrestling, but that was more stubbornness than skill. I just wouldn't let go."

Gibbs had to laugh at that, too. "I must admit you're one of the most tenacious men I've ever met. It's part of what makes you a good agent, Tim."

Tim was visibly stunned by the comment. "Umm, thanks. Anyways, the final straw was when I turned down the Naval Academy."

"You turned down Annapolis?" Gibbs almost choked on his beer. "That's not in your file. So, what, you chose MIT over the Academy?"

"I was too young for the Academy when I started at MIT. Dad's plan was for me to do two years at MIT and then apply. He even left Mom and Sarah back home and moved to Boston my second year there to supervise my physical training. It was... difficult."

Knowing now what he did about Tim's father, Gibbs suspected that difficult was an understatement. "How far into the application process did you get?" Tim was looking noticeably gaunt and Gibbs nudged his plate closer to encourage him to eat more. He did stab a piece of meat before he answered.

"All the way. I was accepted, Dad was thrilled, but..." Tim shrugged as he set his fork back down. "Even if I was able to convince myself that I wanted to spend the next thirty years on a boat, I couldn't convince myself that I wanted to spend those thirty years being thought of as a younger version of my father. I'm sure that by now you've read his file."

A copy of Phillip McGee's service record was actually in a drawer in Gibbs' desk. After skirting formal charges multiple times Commander McGee had been shunted to a small office where his career had stalled, but he was well away from the young sailors he loved to verbally abuse. No one in the Navy had ever considered that he'd transferred his anger and hostility to his wife and children. Gibbs gave a slow nod. "After we found out what happened with your parents, Vance pulled the file. So what happened after you chose MIT over the Naval Academy?"

"You mean, what did my dad do?" He glanced up at Gibbs before returning his attention to the pattern of the tablecloth. "Well, he said that if I was going to throw away a perfectly good, government paid education, then he wasn't going to waste any more money on me."

"You had to put yourself through college? How'd you do it?"

"Scholarships, grants, loans, and a whole lot of part time jobs. After I finished my undergrad, it was easier because I became a teaching fellow. That gave me a tuition waver and a stipend to live on." Tim looked down at his watch and frowned.

Gibbs tapped his fork on the edge of McGee's plate. "Ziva's going to stay with her until you get there, and she promised Sarah that I would make sure you ate, so eat." He waited until most of Tim's plate was clean before asking the one question that had been eating at him. "What are you going to do about your parents? Jeffries wants you to press charges against your father."

"Yeah, he called about it again today." Tim rubbed his forehead. "I won't do it, Boss. Even if I wanted to drag the family through something like that... Sarah already is having to face one trial when Roger Harris goes to court, I can't put her through a second one on top of that."

---NCIS---

"Sarah, are you ready?" Ziva watched her passenger as she fidgeted in the seat. They were parked outside the dorm. "If you would prefer, I could go in and get your things."

"No, I can do this." Sarah took a deep breath and opened the car door. From the other side of the car, Ziva exited and joined her on the walkway. Several of the girls studying in the lobby smiled and nodded at the two women, but no one stopped them. Once they were in the hallway of the second floor, Sarah dug her keys out of her backpack.

Lisa looked up as Sarah and Ziva came into the room. "Sarah, I was so worried. You left the hospital and you weren't answering your phone, and..."

"I just came to get more of my stuff." Sarah turned her back on Lisa and started pulling clothes out of her dresser. Ziva stayed close, but didn't say anything.

"Are you mad at me Sarah? Is it because I called your parents? I just though you needed..."

"You thought? No, you didn't think at all, that's the problem." Sarah spun around and threw a handful of t-shirts on the bed. "If you had thought, you might have wondered why I didn't want them to know." Sarah returned to her packing, her voice getting louder as she refused to look at Lisa. "Not all of us have parents like you, Lisa. I can't go to my parents and feel safe. My brother is the one that I go to when I'm in trouble, he's the one that makes me feel safe, and they beat him for it." Spent, Sarah buried her face in her hands as the tears came. "Daddy beat Tim because of what happened to me."

Ziva watched the outburst carefully, knowing how cathartic it could be. When Sarah sagged, Ziva was there to wrap her arms around the younger woman, remembering when she was at this stage of the healing process. While Sarah clung to her, Ziva turned to the stunned roommate. "Their father became violent at the hospital. I do not know what you told them, but he would have attacked Sarah as well."

"No."

"Yes. Your decision to interfere could have become deadly. Was being right that important to you?"

"I didn't mean..."

"What? You did not mean to go behind Sarah's back? You did not mean to break your promise? Or was it that you did not mean to get caught? You expected to be the hero, that Sarah and her brother would be grateful that you interfered?" The flash of guilt told Ziva when she was right. "Good or bad, there are very few parents that are alike. Deciding that you knew more than Sarah was not only wrong, it was childish."

Giving up on the naive girl, Ziva helped Sarah to pack up the rest of her belongings. Lisa stood, watching, silent until they were almost to the door. "Are you ever going to forgive me, Sarah?"

Sarah stopped at the door, but didn't turn around. "Because of you, my brother was hurt. Nobody hurts my brother, Lisa. Nobody."

---NCIS---

They were parked next to each other, so Gibbs leaned against his own car as he watched McGee unlock his. He waited until the other man was in his car before stepping close. Tim rolled down the window as Gibbs leaned close. "If your parents make any attempt to contact you or Sarah, I want to know about it. I don't want you to try to handle it on your own." When it looked like McGee was going to protest, Gibbs reached in and lightly cuffed the back of his head. "It doesn't matter what desk you're sitting at, McGee, you're still part of my team, you got that?"

"Yeah, I got it, Boss."

---NCIS---

As Ziva pulled into the parking lot at McGee's apartment, they could see Tim coming out the apartment door with Jethro on a leash. They both smiled at the antics of the dog and his owner, as Jethro circled around him several times before trotting to the stairs. He was out of sight as he went down the stairs, and Sarah turned to Ziva. "How did you know the details of what happened at the hospital? I can't see Tim telling anyone."

"No, he did not tell us any details. There was a security camera that recorded the whole event." Ziva watched Sarah's reaction closely. She was beginning to realize how much like herself Sarah was. "Detective Jeffries gave a copy to Gibbs. He hoped that Gibbs would talk your brother into pressing charges."

Sarah seemed sad as she shook her head. "Tim won't do that because he thinks it will hurt me."

"Despite what has happened, you are very lucky to have a brother like McGee." Ziva refused to think about her own brother, long buried. "Shall we join him while he takes Jethro for a walk?"

---NCIS---

Leon Vance grumbled as he returned to Headquarters after a long meeting with the SecNav. If he'd remembered the file he needed to look over tonight, he could have gone straight home. He took the elevator straight up to his office floor and quickly retrieved the file. On his way back to the elevator he looked down at the semi-dark squadroom. The desk light was on at DiNozzo's desk and he was bent over his keyboard. Suspicious as to the nature of his work, Vance took the stairs down to join him.

"Any luck finding Rebecca McGee?"

Tony jumped slightly, the man was like a cat when he wanted to be. "Actually, I've found a dozen current and former Rebecca McGee's. Now I just have to figure out which is the one we want. I'm going back to when her parents kicked her out, see if I can track her that way. I might need to talk to somebody that knew the family back then, but that would be other Navy families."

"As far as I'm concerned, the investigation into Phillip McGee's assault on his son is still ongoing. I have no problem with needing more background for the case." Vance shoved a toothpick into his mouth. "Just let me know what you need."