Chapter 5
McGee was just lying there. He knew he was in a drug induced coma; one of the nurses had mentioned it while she was caring for him. He couldn't see or speak but otherwise, he felt fully conscious. He also felt a little dizzy, and very happy. "Definitely the drugs," he thought. It was freaking him out a bit, but he felt better when the nurses came in to check on him and talked to him.
The nurse told him that if he came out of the coma right now, he would be in too much pain to heal properly. A few days in this drug-induced state, and then his body would be able to cope better with only the milder pain medications.
A few hours after he was admitted, he suddenly heard the door open and close. He heard no footsteps but instinctively knew it was Gibbs. "I let you down McGee" Gibbs said.
Tim was very surprised. Of all the things he'd come to expect from his boss, nothing close to this was on his list. He listened and wished he could wake up, just for one second, so he could tell Gibbs that it was not his fault. It was impossible to see this coming; not even Ziva, with her ninja senses, would have known. His boss continued to sit there for a while, leaving only when someone knocked on the door.
It was Ducky. He sat next to the bed and told Tim a little something about his injures and how he would heal just fine. Then he launched into telling a story. Tim let Ducky's voice wash over him and felt safe enough to start dozing off.
When he woke up again, he heard Jimmy talking. McGee smiled a little in his head. He wasn't best friends with Palmer, but he could always count on the kid. McGee listened closely; was Jimmy really talking about fishing? Well, not much surprised Tim anymore. Jimmy could be even more of a geek than Tim sometimes, but that was okay.
When Palmer left, Tim was wondering who would come and visit next, or if anyone would come and visit at all. After all, it must have been way past midnight at this point. A nurse came in and introduced herself as Emmy, his nurse for the night. She spoke to him as she changed his bandages, letting him know that she would be checking on him throughout the night and that he should just get as much rest as possible. She finished settling him and quietly left.
The nurse was soon replaced by another visitor. Tim had no idea who it was until he started talking. "I owe you one." Tony did not actually say 'probie' but Tim could hear him think it. After that Tony started talking about other stuff. About when Tim first joined the team, and about Tony teasing him. How he was the little brother Tony never wanted. Tim laughed at that. That sounded just like Tony.
He was stunned when Tony told him he loved him. That, along with the whole hand stroking thing, made Tim a little uncomfortable. He was happy when Tony let go of his hand. Then Tony started making small talk about the case.
Tim was full of disbelief as he listened to the story about Vonk and his plan. He was happy that he had taken this blow for Tony. He loved the man as a brother and dear friend and it would have killed him to know that Tony was dead. Tony came to the end of his story and left Tim with a pat on the shoulder
Ziva was next, and her visit proved to be very surprising. He expected her to be cold and distant, the way she always handled personal situations, but he heard her sobbing. Tim started to really hate this coma thing. He wanted to hug Ziva and tell her everything would be alright. But he couldn't.
"I should have told you before," she started.
As she told him about her geeky little brother, Tim felt sorry for Ziva, but he couldn't figure out exactly why his situation affected her so much until she told him about the coma Jacob had been in. At this point, he became even more frustrated with his coma; he wanted so badly to tell Ziva that he would wake up, that he would not die, but he couldn't. Tim felt like crying too, but the coma wouldn't even let him do that. He could only lay there and listen.
Next came Abby, who was surprisingly very calm. Tim had expected that she would be freaking out over what happened to him, and was vaguely disappointed that she wasn't. "Perhaps the doctors drugged her a little," he thought.
He was not surprised, however, when he felt her climb onto his bed. As she snuggled next to him, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms. "You know Timmy, today I thought I was going to lose you. It was the most awful day of my life. I lost Kate, Paula, Jenny and well, many more. But losing you…almost losing you made me realize how much I love you…"
While Abby talked, Tim was trying to process what she was saying. She wanted to date again? He was very surprised. She was the one that had ended their relationship in the first place, and now it seemed that she wanted to get back together. He didn't know if he was ready for that. Their first breakup had been bad enough. If he let himself fall for her again, he'd be even more heartbroken if it didn't work out. This confused him even more, because when thought he was facing death, the only thing he could think of was Abby.
"...if I ever have to lose you, I want to know that I had the best men a woman can wish for herself. And I want to be the best girl you ever had." Tim smiled inside. So this wasn't about him, it was about her. He listened while she sobbed and knew her mascara was leaving black marks in his sheets. The nurse would be surprised to find that, but he didn't really care. Abby stayed curled up next to him, sobbing, for a long time, and again, Tim felt angry that he couldn't comfort her. Eventually, the crying stopped and Abby got up to leave. Promising him that they would catch Vonk, she gave Tim a kiss and left. He could feel his cheek glowing for a long time after that.
He wasn't surprised when no one came in after Abby left. It must have been really late by this time and the entire team had already visited. It might already be morning for all he knew. Tim decided that he would try to sleep; thinking could wait until later. He smiled inside. Like he could do anything besides sleeping and thinking.
Just as he was on the edge of falling asleep, he heard someone else enter the room. "Probably a nurse," he thought. But then the person sat down next to the bed. "Hello Timothy. I am George, remember me? I would not be mad if you don't. But I just wanted to tell you that you have to get better."
George? The nervous probie cop? Tim was surprised; this was one visit he hadn't expected. Well, it was nice of him, but why did George feel the need to visit? "I want to be on Gibbs' team," George continued. Well, that McGee understood, not all that long ago he had been very eager to join Gibbs' team himself. Sometimes, when he ended up in situations like this, however, he wondered if any good came of it.
Suddenly McGee freaked a little out. Was the guy going to kill him for his spot on Gibbs' team? He listened to George talking. About his team, how they were really strange but still worked so well together. "Take care," Sommers said and left, leaving McGee with his thoughts.
A plan started forming in McGee's mind. He added Vance to the list of people he had to talk with when he finally came out of this coma. Satisfied, he fell into a dreamless sleep.