"Oh, Abby, before I forget, they gave me McGee's things" Tony handed Abby the bag the lieutenant had given him before her arrival.
She looked in the bag and pulled out his cell phone
"Does anyone know if the hospital called his family?" she asked
"Well, they had us listed as next of kin, Abs. So I doubt it" Tony answered
"I was worried about that" she unlocked McGee's cell, scrolling through the contacts list
"Wait, you've met McGee's family?" Tony asked
"Tony, we live together; of course I've met them. They were in town last month, picking Sarah up at the start of college vacation"
"Has he met your family?"
"Sure, they came up and visited at the same time. We thought we'd do a whole meet the family thing" she found the number she was looking for and went to the payphone on the wall
"Sarah? It's Abby. I've got some bad news..."
...
Abby was scared. She'd tried her absolute best to stay calm and composed while she was talking to Tim's family; she didn't want to worry them any more than necessary; but her control was failing her. Hanging up the payphone, she found she had tears running down her face again. Her knees started to shake. Suddenly Gibbs was at her side, supporting her to a chair.
"He will be ok, Abs" he told her
She nodded, unable to speak through the bubble of panic that she'd been trying to deny ever since the doctor had updated them on Tim's condition. She knew how much blood he'd lost; how lucky he was to have made it this far. The thought of losing him was terrifying. It had taken her 7 years to realise how much she loved him; surely life wasn't so cruel as to only give her 3 months with him? She heard herself sob and gave herself a mental shake. She had to think positively. Tim needed her. She forced herself to recall the reassurances of Gibbs and the surgeon, clinging to them.
She wished they would hurry up and transfer Tim to ICU. She needed to see him so badly, to see that he was ok, he was going to make it.
She looked up as Captain Reilly entered the room again.
"They've taken Agent McGee to ICU; if you'll come with me?"
She jumped up and rushed to the doorway. Knowing the rest of the team was behind her, she followed the Captain down one floor and along a hallway to another waiting room.
"So that you're not alarmed, I'm just going to run through what your Agent is going to look like in there. He is in an induced coma; that makes it difficult for him to breathe on his own, so we have him on a ventilator. The ventilator is a precaution only; as he improves we'll remove it. You'll need to be careful of his shoulder; it needs to stay completely immobilised for the present, as does his right leg where we took the graft. That said, you can see him now. Strictly two visitors at a time."
Eager but scared to see Tim, Abby was glad when Gibbs followed her towards his room. She didn't want to do this alone. She paused in the doorway, aghast.
He was deathly pale, half lying, half sitting in the hospital bed. A tube snaked out of his mouth to the machine that was breathing for him, and IV lines were connected to his injured arm. His shoulder and one side of his chest was covered in bandages, and a bulge in the blanket showed that his right leg was the same.
She moved quickly to the side of his bed, laying a gentle kiss on Tim's cheek and taking his free hand. She smiled her thanks to Gibbs when he moved the visitors chair so she could sit down, not trusting herself to speak.
She sat like that for hours, dimly aware of the rest of the team coming in and out, reassuring themselves that Tim, her Timmy, was still alive. All her attention was on him, watching the slow rise and fall of his chest and the steady heart rate on the monitor beside him.
Gibbs shook her shoulder at one point, drawing her attention away for a few moments
"Abs, you should go home, get some rest"
"I'm staying here, Gibbs" she told him
"Abs-"
"I'm not leaving him" she shook her head stubbornly. She wouldn't be able to sleep if she went home to the apartment she shared with Timmy. Not while he lay here, broken and alone. She needed to be with him
And so she sat, leaving occasionally when the medical staff asked her to so they could tend to him. During one enforced absence, Captain Reilly found her and explained that they were going to start lightening the drugs that were keeping him sedated
"He is improving rapidly, Ms. Scuito. I'm upgrading his condition from grave to critical. As the heavy sedation starts to wear off, we should be able to remove the ventilator"
She spoke to him while they were alone, not knowing whether he could hear her. Inconsequential things for the most part, though she told him many times that she loved him and that he was going to be just fine
She came back into the room again after one more absence to find they'd replaced the tube she hated with an oxygen mask. The sight made her smile. He looked so much more like her Timmy now. As the room grew light, she found she was unable to keep her eyes open. She rested her head on the side of his bed, still holding his hand, unwilling to leave him.