A/N: This is the last proper chapter, everyone. There will be an epilogue, which I'll try and have up in a day or two.

Thanks so much for sticking along for the ride; I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. F.

McGee slept.

After their interrupted conversation earlier in the day, he'd barely been able to keep his eyes open. He'd tried to stay awake, but after he'd drifted off in the middle of a sentence she'd laughed at him and told him to sleep. It was trying to look after her that had put him here in the first place; the least she could do was make sure he slept.

Problem was, they really did need to talk. Hospitals weren't exactly the most private of places; the interruption of the nurse had proved that. But she was stuck here for a while, and this particular discussion couldn't wait that long. His health had to come first, obviously, but Abby wasn't known for her patience. Waiting for a chance to tell him she knew how he felt about her had been hard enough. Being effectively tied to the bed really wasn't helping with her boredom levels. Her work often included large periods of inactivity while she was waiting for test results or new evidence, but at least there she had something to do to distract herself. There was a limit to the amount of daytime television that she could stomach and she didn't even have anything interesting to read.

At least she had time to think about what Tim had said to her. Had they really spent years like this? Each wanting the other, but thinking they'd moved on? That they only had friendship left to them? They'd wasted so much time.

She turned her head, watching him sleep. No, the last few years hadn't been a waste. When they'd dated before, they'd wanted totally different things, and they hadn't really known each other. They'd had problems that they just didn't know how to solve. But they'd both changed a lot over the years. This time, she was determined to make things work. Now if he'd just wake up...

...

This time when he woke, he felt less like something the cat dragged in. The ache that total physical exhaustion had produced had ebbed a little, for which he was thankful. And he was pleasantly surprised to find that they'd taken the IV away while he slept. That had to be a good sign.

He felt himself being watched and turned his head on the pillow, meeting her clear green eyes. She'd been watching him sleep? He smiled at the sight of her

"Hey" he greeted her softly

"Hey yourself. Feel better?" she asked him

He pushed himself up into a half sitting position, laying his head back as the change in position made it swim unpleasantly

"A little" he admitted. He hadn't wanted to go to sleep when they had so much to talk about, but he hadn't been able to stop himself.

"How long was I out?"

"About 6 hours" she told him. He winced. That was one hell of a nap. "They came and took your IV out about an hour ago, you didn't even stir. They'll be back in about half an hour, I guess" She grimaced. Every time they came they took another blood test from her to check her liver function. She must be feeling like a pincushion by now.

He was glad that they had another half hour before another interruption like this mornings. He debated silently with himself for a moment about broaching the subject, and then decided to hell with it. He had to know.

"Abs? Did you mean what you said before? About having feelings for me?"

"Yeah, I did" she said quietly "I never stopped caring, Tim"

"So why did you break up with me?" he managed to keep the pain he'd felt at that breakup out of his voice this time

"Like I said before, I was scared. Being with you... you made me feel so much more than any guy I'd ever dated before, Tim. And I didn't know how to deal with that" She took a deep breath "I've dated my share of men since you, Tim, but no one has ever come close to making me feel that way"

He knew he was grinning at her words. The aches and the tiredness faded to nothing compared to the happiness he felt right now.

"I love you, Abby" he told her. Nothing else seemed fitting. He was unprepared for her reply

"I love you too, Tim"

She hadn't meant to say it, she'd only admitted to herself while she was watching him sleep that she loved him, but in that moment she just couldn't help it. She loved Tim. She watched him as he took in her words, loving the look of wonder that crossed his face. She'd never seen him look so happy.

"Where do we go from here, Abs?" he asked, still wearing the biggest grin she'd ever seen

"Well, I'm not going anywhere for a while" she gestured to the traction frame "And you'll be back at work in a few days"

"I'll be here every day, Abs. And once you get out, well, we'll take it one day at a time. Just promise me one thing?"

She gave him a questioning look

"You'll tell me if you get scared"

She nodded, smiling at him.

The nurse bustled into the room then, flicking the television to ZNN and turning the sound up

"Your boss said you'd want to see this" she told them as she left

They watched the news piece about the arrest of a terror suspect by the Customs Service in some confusion, neither understanding why Gibbs had wanted them to see it. The team hadn't been in touch with them since Gibbs had left earlier that morning. After the bulletin had ended, McGee's cell phone buzzed. The text message from Tony was short and to the point

"Townell's link to Al-Qaeda. It was us"

He showed it to Abby.

"We never get the credit, do we?"