Chapter 3

As they walked into the hospital, Tony gripped Tim's hand, fingers interlaced. He'd been in and out of Bethesda hundreds of times what with visits to Brad, his own hospital stays, and visits to Gibbs and other team members. But never before had he felt such dread in the pit of his stomach.

Gibbs took them right up to the fifth floor, but the duty nurse stopped them. "Visiting hours are over."

"Tony and Tim McGee to see Sean McGee. They've just gotten back from overseas. Dr. Pitt left word they should be allowed in," Gibbs said.

Tony released Tim's hand and marveled at how Gibbs managed to make them sound like brothers who were home on leave from military duty without saying anything that wasn't true.

The nurse pulled up something on the computer. "Commander McGee is in a restricted room. I can't allow you in there."

Tony felt Tim stiffen next to him and opened his mouth to beat him to the punch. "Ma'am, we just got back, and Special Agent Gibbs met us at the airport to tell us Dad was in the hospital. Brought us straight here — we haven't even been to see Mom and Sarah yet. I know it's late, but even if we could just look in to see him."

The floor nurse shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I really can't allow it."

"You two stay here." Gibbs jerked his head in the direction of the chairs in the waiting area. "Brad said he'd be here in case this happened."

Tony thought about going to find Brad instead - he could navigate his way to the doctor's office in his sleep - but Tim needed him. He hadn't said a word since they'd followed Gibbs out of the airport, and now he was just standing there, not even arguing with the nurse. He went to nod at Gibbs, but the former Marine was already gone. Instead, he put his hand on Tim's shoulder and directed him silently to the waiting room.

Tim sat mechanically and slumped in the chair. Tony opened his mouth, but realized he had no words. He settled for putting his arm around Tim, pulling him close until his head rested against Tony's shoulder. He could feel Tim shiver and knew it wasn't just because DC was so much colder than the Caribbean. Tony used his thumb to rub small circles on Tim's shoulder. Sean's illness was reminding him that all the precautions Brad was having him take weren't just because Brad was a bigger mother hen than Tim. It could just as easily be him in there. He forced his mind away from that depressing train of thought. Tim was having enough trouble without him moping around. One of them had to stay positive. He pulled himself out of his head and noticed Tim was trembling. He reached his free hand over to take Tim's. "It's going to be OK," he whispered in Tim's ear. "You know how Brad gets. I'm sure he just had your dad admitted to play it safe."

"If that's all it is, Gibbs wouldn't be acting nice," Tim replied, voice barely audible.

Tony didn't know what to say to that because Tim was right. Gibbs was only nice when things were bad. He settled for squeezing Tim's hand, trying to comfort him.

-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-

Gibbs saw the light shining from Brad's office door and found the doctor sitting at his computer, wearing a Michigan sweatshirt pushed up to his elbows.

"Brad."

The doctor looked over. "Gibbs. Is this a social call to kill time or do you need reinforcements?"

"Reinforcements. The nurse isn't letting them in because visiting hours are over, and Tim needs to see his dad. He hasn't said a word since I told him Sean was in here. I don't know if he'll be any better afterward, but I know he needs to see him, needs to satisfy that computer of a brain with actual data."

Brad stood. "Come on, let's go." He led the way down the darkened halls back toward the ward.

"Thanks for sticking around," Gibbs said.

"No worries," Brad said. "I've got a big report due at the end of next week on the NIH study Sean's participating in. I'm going to be pulling a lot of long hours here this week finishing it up."

"Damn paperwork. Worst part of a case."

He saw Brad nod. "This report will determine if the study continues though. I know it's working, and the NIH person overseeing the treatment knows it's working, but we need to document everything to prove the protocol is effective and to keep the study alive." He sighed. "I'd rather focus all my attention on Sean, Tony, and the others who need my help, but some things aren't negotiable."

It was Gibbs' turn to nod. "JAG needs our reports for court. Rather be out catching dirtbags, but they need the files to keep them out of uniform and off the streets.

They walked onto the ward, so rather than reply, Brad turned to the floor nurse, Lt. Haltermann.

"Dr. Pitt," she greeted him. Her words were formal, but her tone indicated that was because they were on duty.

"Evening, Amy," Brad said. "I need to talk to you about Commander McGee's visitors here."

Gibbs figured it would go over better if he wasn't there to witness Brad persuading the nurse to bend the rules, so he walked over to where his agents sat.

"DiNozzo, McGee."

"Yes, Boss?" They spoke in unison, and Tony released McGee, both men straightening up.

"Brad's talking to the nurse now in hopes he can get you in to see Sean in a bit."

"Thanks, Boss," Tony said.

"Jethro's at my place. When we get done here, I'll drop you at home. You can come by tomorrow to get him."

"Yes, Boss," McGee said.

Before Gibbs could say anything else, Brad walked over.

"Tim, why don't you go see your dad? He's down the hall in room 508." Tony started to follow, but Brad stopped him. "Tony, how about you let me check you out now? Then maybe we can move you back to your regular Thursday appointment. It will only take a few minutes, but we'll have to go down to my office. Gibbs can stay here, and if we're not done by the time Tim finishes his visit with Sean, they can meet us there."

-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-

Tim walked down the hallway, his steps slowing as he approached his dad's room. He wanted, needed, to see his dad. But he remembered visiting Tony here as he recovered from the plague, remembered seeing his partner coughing so hard every tendon in his neck stood out, hearing the thick, wet sounds of his struggle to clear his lungs and breathe. He'd been young enough, green enough then that when he heard that Gibbs had insisted Tony would live, he knew the senior agent would survive. That was when he'd thought nothing on earth defied Gibbs. Not for the first time, Tim was thankful that was before Kate had been killed. If Ari had shot her before Tony had been infected, Tim didn't know if he would have had the faith in Gibbs' insistence that Tony would survive. He didn't know if Tony would have believed Gibbs when the team leader told him "You. Will Not. Die." One of the few things Abby had managed to convince him of in all her lecturing and theorizing about alternative medicine was that the mind was as much a tool as the body in some cases, and Tony's plague recovery was the best example of that he had ever seen. With that in mind, he squashed down his worries. They could wait until he was home and sitting in front of his typewriter. Right now, here, he needed to be for his dad what Gibbs had been for Tony, needed to make sure his dad believed everything would be fine. And if the role reversal frightened him even more than the pneumonia, nobody else needed to know that.

He looked in the room to see his dad sitting up in bed, reading. Tim knocked lightly on the door and walked in.

"Tim, you're back!" His dad tucked a marker in the book, and Tim felt his ears burn as he realized his dad was reading Rock Hollow. He focused on his father, cataloguing his appearance. He was paler than normal, with shadows under his eyes. His face was a bit thinner, but he still looked comfortingly like the powerful naval officer Tim had grown up knowing.

"We just got in a little while ago," Tim said. "Tony's with Brad, getting checked out to make sure he's doing OK." He moved to sit in the chair by the bed. "How are you doing?"

Sean opened his mouth to talk, but started coughing instead. Tim poured a glass of water and had it ready once he finished. Years of working with Tony and months of living with him had made him an expert, and this bout didn't sound as bad as what Tim had feared.

Once he was done coughing and had caught his breath, Sean sipped the water slowly before speaking. "I've been better," he admitted. "I think Brad's just being extra-cautious keeping me here as long as he plans to. Other than pumping me full of antibiotics yesterday when I first came in, most of my medicine has been pills I can take fine on my own." He pressed his hands into the mattress and pushed himself up straighter. "So, how was your vacation? You look like you got some sun."

Tim laughed. "We spent a lot of time on the beach. I think Tony would have camped out there if we could have. I normally look like Caspar's cousin next to him anyway, but now his tan will make even Ziva look pale. The only reason I didn't come back sunburned is because he set an alarm so I could put on more sunscreen every hour on the hour. All my gear reeks of sunscreen."

Sean smiled. "That's why your mother and I went to the mountains for our honeymoon," he said. "Much less sun to worry about, or at least more trees to block it out."

"Yeah, but I knew how much Tony loved the beach when I bought the tickets," Tim said. He couldn't help but yawn.

"Rough day traveling?"

"Dramamine," Tim said. "I slept the entire flight back." He turned the conversation back to his dad. "So, when did you get sick?"

His dad's ears pinkened. "About a week ago I started feeling some heaviness in my lungs, but tried to ignore it. Brad said if I'd come to him then, the antibiotics probably would have stopped enough of it that I would still have been sick, but wouldn't have ended up here."

Tim scrubbed his face with one hand. "Gibbs and Ducky are going to have to give Mom lessons."

"Huh?"

"You think I don't go through this with Tony? He's the same way, doesn't want to admit something's not right, doesn't want to say he's getting sick. Gibbs and I tag-team him until he goes down to see Ducky, and then we make him do whatever Ducky decides he needs." Tim paced. "Dad, it's great that you're tough. When I was in middle school, that's what kept me going when the kids at school would bully me. I knew if you could fight overseas in the Gulf War, I could handle a few jerks in the hallways. But there's a line between tough and stupid, and pretending you're fine isn't being tough."

"Tim, I-"

"No, Dad. Sure, this time you're going to be OK. I can tell by your cough. I've gotten to be an expert on those. You don't sound like Tony did when he had the plague, when we thought we were going to lose him until Gibbs ordered him not to die." He stopped pacing and stood at the foot of the bed, waiting for his dad to look up. "This is a different kind of battle, and you need to listen to Brad. He's your CO on this."

His dad kept his eyes locked on Tim's and slowly nodded. "Understood." He looked away and slumped back into his pillows.

Tim closed his eyes and mentally head-slapped himself. He walked around the bed and sat down on the edge, hugging his dad. "Sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to yell. It's just..."

"I know. Don't apologize, Tim."

"Because it's a sign of weakness?"

"No, because I deserved that." He pulled away. Tim just looked at him, green eyes like his own staring back. "I fought going to see anybody about my cough until Ducky insisted I see Brad. And now I've been going, been listening, mostly because of Tony. I don't want to do anything to get him sick. But all this time I haven't allowed myself think about the fact that this is happening to me. It's been easier to pretend I'm just doing this for you and for him, that it doesn't really affect me at all. I need to face reality."

"Just remember, we're all here facing it with you," Tim said.

"I know."

Tim got up to leave. "I'd better go before I get kicked out," he said. "Besides, you need to rest."

His dad stopped him. "Thanks, son. I needed to hear that."

Tim smiled and nodded. "Just don't make me sic Gibbs on you."

-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-

Tony followed Brad into the exam room across from his office and stripped his shirt off. He winced at the cold metal of the stethoscope. "You really need to warm that up first, Brad," he said. "My skin's not used to cold."

"I can tell," Brad said. "With that tan, you look like you just got back from the mother of all Spring Breaks."

Tony wiggled his eyebrows. "Oh, it was much hotter than Spring Break. Especially your pathetic Wolverine excuse for a Spring Break, which is even worse than your fashion sense." He flinched as Brad pressed the cold metal into him a bit harder than normal, but followed Brad's instructions to breathe. "Everything sound good in there?" he asked as they finished.

"Better than when you left," Brad said. "Let's switch back to Thursday this week. Although I expect I'll see you at least a couple of times before then."

"Yeah, about that," Tony said as he pulled the shirt back over his head. "You could have done this up on the ward. You didn't have to drag me all the way down here for that."

Brad finished notating Tony's file before replying. "True."

"Don't screw with me, Brad. Did you really need to check me out, or did you just need to get me out of there so you didn't have to tell us Nurse Ratchet wouldn't let me in to see Sean?"

"Guess I need more experience before I can fool a trained federal investigator," Brad said. "You're right, she wasn't going to let you in. She pulled Sean's visitor list while Gibbs came down to get me. After Eileen talked to me, I got you added, so there won't be any trouble during regular visiting hours. But once she saw your last name wasn't McGee, she wasn't about to let you in after hours. And I didn't want to risk having her go up the chain of command and getting the head nurse involved. The one on duty tonight thinks DADT doesn't go far enough."

"Thanks, Brad. Is there going to be a problem when we come by tomorrow?"

"Shouldn't be. Like I said, you're on the list. Plus now that Tim knows what room Sean's in, you won't even have to check in at the nurses' desk — you can just go straight to his room." The doctor tucked his stethoscope away. "So, how was your vacation?"

Tony proceeded to tell stories until Gibbs and Tim showed up. Tim was talking again, but it was clear he was still upset. So even though they were both tired from traveling, when they got home Tony chased Tim into the study. Once he heard the typewriter keys going in the fast rhythm he associated with Tim's free-writing, he settled on the piano bench and started playing. It was a good three hours later before the men stopped pressing their respective keys and called it a night.