Chapter 7

There was a feeling of emptiness after Rhian's disappearance...but a vague disquiet.

"There's something here," Tony said.

"Yes. It is still here."

"Wait...that thing you were supposed to be killing?"

Tim shook his head and smiled before beginning to walk toward the car.

"I was never supposed to kill it. It's a spirit. It doesn't really live; so I can't make it die. I'm not Superman or anything."

"Coulda fooled me."

Tim chuckled. "What I did was...set them free."

"So...this could happen again?"

"I suppose there's a chance." Tim looked back and Tony followed his gaze. There was a brief swirl of leaves and then a shadowy form which faded from sight after a few seconds. "But it's not likely...I don't think so anyway."

"I hope you're right."

"Me, too." Tim looked at the car. "You can drive, Tony. Believe or not, I'm tired."

Tony looked sharply at Tim and saw the tremulous smile.

"How did you not die, McGee? Did you know that would happen?"

Tim looked away. "No. I didn't. I thought the only way to get him out of me was for me to die. He can't possess something that's dead."

"How then?"

"I don't know for sure. I think...I think it was them. They gave me their life."

"...oh."

Tim opened the passenger side door and got in. Tony followed suit.

"Don't ever do that again."

"Okay," Tim whispered. He looked out the window as Tony backed down the logging road. It was no longer Thoven Lane. For a moment, he thought he saw something and straightened hurriedly. "Wait!"

Tony pushed on the brakes as Tim opened the door and began running back to the clearing.

"McGee! What are you doing?" Tony shouted, getting out and running after him.

At the borders of where Mongothsberd had been Tim dropped to his knees and began to dig into the dirt...beneath a large spreading oak tree. Tony didn't remember the oak tree being there before.

"What are you doing?" he repeated.

Tim didn't answer. He just continued digging at the ground in silence. There was a brief flash of light, but Tim only jumped a little before straightening with what looked like a rock in his, now dirt-covered hands. Then, he walked to the tree and pressed his right hand against the bark. He turned back to Tony.

"I almost forgot."

Tony looked over his shoulder and saw that there was now an image of the dragons on the trunk. He swallowed.

"What did you almost forget?"

"In order to create Mongothsberd, Sorin would have had to mark the boundary." Tim held up the rock. It was rectangular and had a scrawling script running across it. "Without the marker..."

"There's no town?"

"Well...not exactly. This was also part of the...I don't know the word for it, the incantation? ...for creating it. This is just removing all traces."

"Where were they when this started?"

"Somewhere in Europe. It didn't have the same borders back then, of course. A lot more empty spaces."

"Uh...okay," Tony said uncomfortably.

"You could still choose to forget, Tony. We haven't got back onto the main road yet," Tim suggested hesitantly. "You don't have to remember if you don't want to. You could change your mind. I know it's hard...living in a world that has these kinds of things."

"Will the world change if I forget it?" Tony asked.

"No...but you wouldn't know about it."

Tony put an arm around Tim's shoulders...but without the weight as Tim was still very pale. "You would, McGee. I can't have you knowing more than I do. It's insulting to my status as the senior field agent."

Tim laughed and then looked down, hiding his face.

"I was afraid," he whispered softly.

"What?"

"I was afraid. I thought I was going to...worse than die," he said and took a deep breath. He wiped the dirt off the boundary stone and began to pick at the dirt beneath his fingernails.

"I thought you were, too, McGee."

"I'm sorry you had to be here."

"I'm not. I'm glad I was."

"You sure? I'm not."

"Yeah, I am. If you needed someone, I'm glad I could help."

"I'm glad you could, too."

Back at the car, they got in and Tony backed them off the logging road and onto the Blue Ridge Mountain Road. Both of them were silent for a while. Tony thought Tim would fall asleep, but he didn't. He just sat absently rubbing at the stone, eyes almost closed but not quite.

"This really happened, right?"

Tim smiled. "Yeah, it did." He held up his hand. The tattoo was there, a startlingly black knot of lines in the palm of his hand.

"How are you going to explain having a tattoo on your hand?"

"I'm not. No one will see it."

"But I can see it."

"You chose to remember. That means you also chose to see."

"See what?"

"The truth. You think anyone would have noticed anything beyond a little whirlwind back there? You saw that it was the remnants of that spirit."

"So...I'm going to see spirits everywhere now?"

Tim shook his head. "No. I don't think so. I don't. Only when they invade our plane...like the Proprietor did, when they make themselves known. That doesn't happen much. You just get to see what's really there."

"All or nothing?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"...okay."

Tim closed his eyes and fell asleep. As they drove back to NCIS, Tony looked over at him and wondered how it could be possible that such a short time before they had been fighting about...what had it been about?

Oh, yeah. I was giving McGee a hard time about taking photos correctly. I said he was missing what was really there.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"So? What did you find? Anything?" Gibbs asked, staring daggers at Tony and Tim as they walked in. No one seemed to notice Tim's slightly dazed look and his jacket covered the very-obvious bullet hole in his shirt.

"Nothing, Boss. Wild goose chase," Tony said. "There was nothing out there."

"Figures," Ziva said, rolling her eyes. "I think we should be able to track down the anonymous tipsters and beat them when they lie."

"Sounds like a good idea," Tim agreed as he walked to his desk, trying not to limp noticeably.

"What happened to you, McGee?" Gibbs barked. "Tony?"

"Nothing, Boss," Tim answered quickly. "I just turned my ankle in a hole. Clumsy." He smiled disingenuously and continued on his way.

"Well, maybe you should watch where you are going, McGee," Ziva said, teasingly.

Tony watched as though from a spectator position as Tim accepted the accusation of absentmindedness without another word. He could leave it there. Tim obviously didn't mind, but knowing, as he did, what Tim had done that day...he just couldn't.

"Wasn't his fault, Ziva. I didn't warn him soon enough that it was there. That was my bad."

The single statement actually had all three of them looking at Tony a little strangely.

"What?"

"Did Tony trip you?" Ziva asked now.

"No. He didn't. I told you. I turned my ankle. That's all."

"I saw it and didn't warn him in time," Tony added.

Tim's expression was nothing less than flabbergasted now and Tony hoped he'd arrange his facial features into something more resembling the knowing glance that kind of statement should warrant.

"Broken?" Gibbs asked.

"No, Boss," Tim said, shaking his head. "Just a bit stiff. I'll be fine."

"Fine. Stay here and coordinate with Abby. Tony, you and Ziva get back out there. I'm tired of getting the runaround." He suddenly stopped and glared at both Tony and Tim. "If I find out that you two went joyriding..."

"We didn't. Honest, Boss," Tim said.

"That was the farthest thing from our minds, promise."

The suggestion was so ludicrous that they almost looked at each other to laugh...but they resisted. Gibbs would definitely think they'd been up to something if they did that. So Tim limped down to the lab and Tony went out with Ziva...and they didn't really even see each other for the rest of the day.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony was nowhere in sight and Tim turned out his lamp before grabbing his bag and limping to the elevator. He'd wanted to say thanks one more time, but he was really tired and he ached all over his body from the things he'd done. He could say thanks later. Right now, he just wanted to sleep...if he could.

Something was bothering him, though. He wasn't sure what it was. A feeling of things being left unfinished. Dangerously unfinished. It made him nervous, antsy, as if he had truly forgotten something, something he knew.

When he got out of the building, he looked over by the pier...and there was Tony, standing on the edge...apparently staring aimlessly out at the Anacostia.

"Tony!" Tim called.

Tony didn't move, didn't turn. The bad feeling increased and Tim dropped his bag by the cannon in Willard Park as he increased his stride. When he reached the edge where Tony was standing, he touched his shoulder.

Tony turned around.

His eyes were black.