Cape Doctor

There was a whispered word in the criminal underground in NY. A message had been delivered, loud and clear, and the rival crime lords were gleeful about it. Mike had messed with the wrong people, and now he and his people were paying the price. In blood.

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

That night, Tim and Joy were awakened by terrified screams. Tim recognizes Sarah's voice immediately, and both agents rush to her bedroom as the second tortured scream sounds. As soon as they enter, they find Matthew with a crying Sarah in his arms, slowly shushing her and drying her tears.

"What's wrong?" asks a sleepy Jake, and Priscilla is peeking at the crying adult from her mother's arms.

"Aunt Sarah has a owie?" Priscilla leans her head on her mother's neck, rubbing her eyes.

Matthew looks at Tim, with tortured eyes, as Sarah is gasping and crying in his arms, "It's ok baby, I've got you," he says against her hair. Tim approaches her bed, and he's sad to see her still tortured by her memories from Waverly.

"She will be fine," Joy rubs Jake's head, "go to bed, we'll talk tomorrow." He shrugs, and goes back to his room.

Lisa is looking at the young McGee, and turns to Joy, who is watching both Matt and Tim trying to calm her. Priscilla yawns, and closes her eyes, and Lisa leaves with her daughter, after Joy's reassurance that everything was under control.

"Good night, Lisa."

"Good night, Joy."

She looks back to the room, and the sobbing Sarah. Now both men were just there for her, Tim was holding his sister's hands in his, on his knees before her, while Matt was on the bed with her, sitting, his arms over her shoulders.

"Ok, you two, downstairs," she orders them, and they glance at her then at Sarah, "prepare some hot milk for her, I'll stay with her, go."

Both men reluctantly obey, after a reassurance squeeze on her hand from Tim and a soft kiss on her head from Matt. As both men leave the room, Joy approaches her bed and sits besides Sarah, who is breathing deeply, trying to control her panic.

"You must think I'm pathetic," says Sarah, between hiccups, "being scared like that, of my own shadow, disturbing everyone."

"No," Joy shakes her head, as she folds her legs under her body, and looks at Sarah, "I don't think so," Sarah looks at her, "I think you are a very brave person."

Sarah shakes her head in negative, "but you should, you should think that I'm a weakling, not dealing with it."

"Everyone deals with trauma in a different way, Sarah," Joy smiles at the youngest McGee, "there's no rule about how to deal with it, there is no right or wrong, there is just what it is."

"But I'm still terrified, every time I close my eyes, I see him, Wang, shooting our classmates, shooting me, I hear the flesh tear, and then I can't… I can't close my eyes. I don't want to."

"Yes, you can, and you will do it. It will take time, but one day you will close your eyes and you will not see that happening."

"Why can't I deal with it better? Why can't I forget?"

Joy looks at her hands, and her fingers trace the faint scars of the chains that held her prisoner while she was a hostage to Garnett, and she thinks about the several other scars she carries.

"You will never forget," Sarah looks at Joy, who has turned to her, "but you will learn how to live it with. Actually I think you are dealing with it very well. You are dealing with trauma your own way, and it seems to me much better at least than I did."

Sarah wipes her face, drying her tears, and sees a faraway look on the face of her brother's girlfriend. She remembers Joy's ordeal while she was kidnapped, and her state once she was finally found. If what her brother and Matthew whispered was to be believed, the first time that psychopath had kidnapped her, she had been in much worse shape. In a way that the whole family had gathered to say their goodbyes, as the doctors had despaired and told them she would not survive until morning.

"How did you do it? How did you continue living?" Sarah holds her breath, expecting a solution that she might follow to get out of this well of pain and despair she sometimes finds herself in.

"That's the point," Joy shakes her head in negative, "I didn't."

Sarah looks at her, confused, "but... you're here now."

"But I wasn't then." Joy sighs, deeply, and closes her eyes for a moment, "I gave up." She opens her eyes, and her gaze burns Sarah on its intensity, "You see, when I was told that my team had died, and that my partner, Eric, had killed them, it was like a huge part of me died with them. I did not sleep, I did not eat, I had no will to survive. I was merely vegetating."

Sarah folds one of her legs under body, imitating Joy's posture, and frowns at the older woman, "What happened? How did you get out of this…"

"Spiral down towards destruction," offers Joy with a self depreciating smile.

"Yes, what happened?"

Joy smiles, and she dives on the memory, "My brother happened. And my sister happened. Johnny and Hope united their forces and basically ordered me to react. They ensured that I bathed, I ate, I slept at the right times and they cajoled me, they irritated, sometimes were downright hostile to get a reaction, any reaction, from me. Johnny took leave from the Marines, and he and Lisa and the kids moved in with Dad in our house in Montana. He would carry me in his arms from my bed to the living room, and force his kids on me, and order me to interact with them, just to remember me that yes, they were dead, but I wasn't."

She looks down at Sarah, and continues her tale, "they hadn't buried me yet. And they refused to bury me for a long time still. I still had so much to live for, regardless of how much I wanted to give up. Hope would talk non stop, brush and braid my hair and take me to the garden and point to anything and everything and keep up that endless chatter." Joy laughs softly, remember the crazy endless chatter of her sister.

"They were great, and just because of them, I'm here today." Joy smiles at Sarah, and both women have tears on their eyes.

Sarah is silently crying, "They saved you, didn't they."

"Yes they did," says Joy softly, "They saved me from myself." Joy leans over and puts a hand over Sarah's lean shoulders, and hugs her against her own chest, "And you wanna know something really important?"

"What?"

Joy kisses Sarah's hair, and whispers against her ear, as she feels Sarah's shoulders shaking with her tears, "If it ever comes down to it, Tim would do the same thing for you. No questions asked. No hesitation."

The dam broke, and Sarah's tears of despair and hopelessness flowed freely, releasing the burden of guilt the young woman carried. Joy simply held her in her own arms, and waited for the storm to pass.

"He really loves me, doesn't he?" Sarah whispers.

"Yes he does."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

While both women talked upstairs, both Matt and Tim were in the kitchen. Matthew was looking for honey while Tim gets the milk out of the fridge and puts it in a small pan to boil. Matt puts the honey on the counter, but he's still looking for something in the cupboard.

"What are you looking for?" Tim is looking curiously at Matt, who is taking some of the things out of the cupboards to look for whatever he wants.

"Belgian cocoa powder, mom sends all her children for Christmas, and it is great for crying ladies, she says that they should patent it as a cure for PMS."

He stops as soon as he realizes what he said and to whom he said that, and looks at Tim, who only smiles and shrugs. Matt smiles and turns back to his search, and he almost shouts with joy when he finds the neat package. He gets it out of the cupboard and gives it to Tim, who adds a good dose of the delicacy to the milk.

"Thanks for being there for Sarah tonight," Tim says softly, without taking his eyes from the milk he's stirring.

Matt glances at McGee, and sees no hostility on Tim's face. He shrugs, no big deal, "She was crying, I just… acted on instinct."

Both men look at each other: one the concerned older brother, who had dedicated his entire life to protecting a little girl; the other, the man that apparently had chosen to love the woman the little girl had become.

"Did she," Tim starts to ask, then frowns as he sees Matt looking at him, just waiting, "Did she hurt you a lot, when… you were… during the shooting?"

Matt shrugs, unconcerned, "She bit me, she scratched me, but it was minor, she was scared. I understood then, I understand now. What really matter is that she's alive."

"Yes," Tim agrees. He glances at Matt, "Thanks," Matt looks at him, "thanks for saving her life."

Matt looks at the brother of the woman he loves, and the man his sister absolutely adores, "if I had to, I would die for her, man," Matt says, totally meaning it.

"I know. Thank God it didn't come to it." Both men smile at each other. Matt stretches his hand, and McGee, after a second of hesitation, shakes it firmly. The peace between the McGees and Buchanans was sealed.

The milk boiled.