Chapter 11

Tim sat up in bed, instantly, ignoring the pain he felt from that motion. Tony was sitting up in bed as well.

"Someone knocked, Tony," Tim whispered, terrified.

"Yeah, I heard it. It's... oh... It's barely after three. If this isn't Gibbs..."

Tim felt himself start to shake with fear. He could only see Tony's silhouette in the darkness, but he didn't want Tony to turn on a light and expose him to the people who would kill him if they saw him. He was so afraid of that soft knock on the door that he couldn't even speak again.

Then, out of the darkness, there was a hand on his arm. He whimpered in terror. They had come after him in the dark.

"It's okay, Tim. It's going to be Gibbs. I know it's going to be Gibbs. If these guys tracked us down, they wouldn't be knocking. Don't worry about it."

There was another soft knock. Tim jumped and let out another soft whimper. He knew he shouldn't be so afraid, but he was.

He was so afraid that the pain didn't even matter. All that mattered was the fear.

"It'll be fine, Tim. Just wait and see."

Then, the hand disappeared and Tim saw Tony's dark form headed for the door. He wanted to cry out for Tony not to open the door. He wanted to say that he shouldn't open the door, shouldn't let anyone in. This place, as uncomfortable as it was, was the only safe place in the world. If Tony opened the door, he was letting the world inside, and they had been isolated from the rest of the world for a long time.

He wanted to shout all that, but he said nothing. He couldn't.

"It's going to be fine, Tim," came Tony's voice out of the darkness.

Tim couldn't see him when he was at the door. No light reached that point.

There was a moment of silence and then, there was the noise of Tony taking off the chain, turning the deadbolt, unlocking the door.

"No..." Tim managed to whisper, but it was almost inaudible.

The door opened.

"Boss!" Tony said, the deep relief evident in his voice.

Tim's heart was thudding so loudly in his ears that he couldn't hear a response, if there was one. He could see something, but what he could see was Tony's silhouetted form.

"Tim, look! It's Gibbs. Just like I said."

Tim couldn't see Tony, but the light from the hall hit his face and he was blinded by the suddenness of it. Then, there was a hand on his arm again.

He couldn't see! He was blind! Tim began to hyperventilate. They'd caught up to him!

"No, Tim. Calm down. It's okay. It's Gibbs, just like I said. It's Gibbs, Tim!"

"McGee."

Another voice. A voice that wasn't Tony's voice.

And suddenly, Tim wasn't in the apartment anymore. He was somewhere else.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"You think you can do this, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"I can do this," Tim said, firmly. "All it takes is an empty computer and I know where there will be one. I can do this. An empty computer and ten minutes. I know what names to check and those will lead me to the others. I can do this."

"What if they find you?"

"Then, I'll run," Tim said. "I'm not going to be stupid about this, Boss. I'm no superhero. If I'm outnumbered, I'll do my best to get away."

"I can't be there. They already know me by sight."

"I know that. I can be there by myself. One is less visible than two anyway."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"What's going on, Tim?" Tony asked. "Come on. Talk to me!"

But Tim wasn't responding. He was as stiff as board and his breathing was irregular again. His eyes were closed, but Tony figured that it probably didn't matter.

"Tim!" He looked at Gibbs. "I don't know what to do when he gets like this, Boss. ...actually, I don't know what to do at all. I just know that I hate it."

Gibbs was typically silent, but he kept his hand on Tim's arm, seeming to think that it would make a difference. And maybe it would. Tony just didn't know.

"Come on. Don't do this, Tim," Tony said.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Everything that they'd been doing up this point had built up to this one moment, and Tim was ready for this whole clandestine investigation to be over. He didn't like having to sneak around. He'd never been good at sneaking. Tony was much better. He didn't like it, but he'd do it if it meant that this was it. They'd go back to D.C., drop off the data and then get back to their real jobs. It would almost be a relief to investigate something as simple as a murdered petty officer in Rock Creek Park.

He dove into the computer. He knew where to start. He knew what case to start with. They'd found out that much without getting into the FBI office. Now, was the time to see how long the legs were...and how far they'd run.

Suddenly, without any fanfare, he had it. All the links he'd been making between names and cases, the people who'd got away, the ones with missing evidence. All of those things finally resulted in a single list of names. He stared at the list. It was longer than he'd expected, but shorter than it could have been considering how worried Fornell had been. There were maybe ten names here. That didn't mean that was everyone, but it would give Fornell the people he should start with.

He started to save everything he'd found to a flash drive. Just the names might not be enough. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with this any longer simply because he didn't get all the data that Fornell wanted.

Then, there was a blip. It was very brief. He almost missed it, but it was unmistakable.

"Uh oh."

Someone knew he was on the computer. Someone knew what he was looking at.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Wait, Tony," Gibbs said.

"Wait for what?" Tony demanded. "Do you know how many times I've had to see him like this in the last couple of months? I don't want..."

"He's remembering," Gibbs said. "Let him remember."

"Not like this," Tony said.

"Like this. Don't have time for anything else."

Tony was briefly seized by a desire to punch Gibbs in the face for how callous he seemed to be, both about Tim's most recent freak out and about his own dislike in seeing Tim go through it.

At the same time, however, he had too many years of following Gibbs' orders to refuse to now.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

After Gibbs told him to get out, Tim tried to get out as quickly as possible. At first, however, he wasn't too worried. They might have found him in the computers, but they still didn't know who he was.

He went out and got into his car. Then, he was driving away from the building, ready to go and meet up with Gibbs and get out of there.

He thought he was okay.

...until he noticed that he was being followed.

No, not just followed. Pursued.

"Uh oh."

He'd already discarded his burn phone. He couldn't call Gibbs back. He couldn't risk Gibbs getting caught in this either. He'd just have to get away from them before he headed for the cabin. He started to speed up.

So did they.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"All right. That's enough," Tony said.

He pushed Gibbs to the side and started to try and pull Tim out of whatever mental state he was currently in.

"Come on, Tim. You're not back in the woods again. You're fine. You're safe here. Gibbs is here. We're going home!"

For far too long, there was no response at all. Then, Tim's eyes opened at he looked at Tony, at first, with that terrible blankness that had colored the first few weeks. Then, Tim blinked and he seemed to be seeing things again.

"Tim, do you hear me?"

Tim nodded without speaking.

"You're okay. Gibbs is here and we're going to leave."

Tim stared at him for a few seconds, just breathing deeply.

"Tim?"

"Roy Demaines. Joanna Larson. Harold Frieburg."

"What?"

"Anyone else, McGee?" Gibbs asked, breaking his silence again.

Tim didn't looked away from Tony. He spoke slowly, without inflection.

"Cassidy Malan. Fredrick Allen. Terrence McConnan. John Reynolds."

The names. Tim had remembered the names. Tony was thrilled, except that he wasn't sure Tim was happy about it.

"Theresa Flores. Melanie Johanson. Christopher O'Neill. David Dolan."

Then, Tim stopped speaking.

"Is that everyone, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

Long silence. Tony saw Tim start flexing his fingers again.

"No, Tim. It's not happening again. You're safe. Got it?"

Tim clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes again.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to go home."

"Then, we'll go home."

"But can I go?" Tim asked.

"Yes," Gibbs said. "We're getting you home and we're telling Fornell that it's over for us. No more."

Finally, Tim looked at Gibbs instead of Tony. It was like he was allowing something else to exist in his world for the first time. It was simultaneously a relief and a disappointment.

"Can it really be over?" Tim asked.

"Yes. He'll do what he has to so that it is over. Can you walk?"

"He can a little, but I help him most of the time," Tony said.

"Okay. Then, let's go. Now."

"Now?" Tony repeated.

"Why give them a chance if they're still in the area? Let's go."

Tony couldn't argue with that. He nodded and got up to gather their things. As he walked away, Tim grabbed at his arm.

"Tony?"

"I'm just packing, Tim. No worries. Gibbs is right here."

Tim looked at him and then at Gibbs and Tony could see him trying not to freak out yet again.

"It's okay, Tim. It's going to be over."

Tony was as quick as he could be, packing only the essentials. He always was cleaning, so the apartment wouldn't be left a mess. He also would leave a note to the landlord since they'd be gone in the middle of the night, but he was all paid up, too. No problems there.

Then, he was back to Tim.

"Ready to go, Tim?" he asked.

"What's out there?" Tim asked, almost in a whisper.

"Just the rest of the world, Tim," Tony said, forcing himself to sound chipper. "And since this place isn't exactly happening, the rest of the world will be better. You know what's out there. You've been there plenty of times."

Tim smiled and Tony was relieved to see it. He looked at Gibbs. This was the time to get Tim moving. While he was still connected enough to get the joke. Gibbs nodded and pulled Tim upright more gently than Tony had expected him to be. Gibbs wasn't often gentle with anyone. Then, they headed for the door. Tim hesitated before letting Gibbs help him out. Tony knew why. Tim hadn't been anywhere else for the last couple of months and the last time he'd been out there he'd nearly been killed.

"You want to go home, Tim. We're going home," Tony said.

"Right."

Tony locked the door behind them and then followed Gibbs and Tim out to Gibbs' car.

Or rather, Gibbs' van. And it wasn't just any van. It was an old 1970s Chevy Van, complete with flames painted on the sides. It didn't exactly seem Gibbs' style.

"Boss, you bought a van?" Tony asked in surprise.

Gibbs smiled slightly.

"Thought it might be useful."

He shifted Tim to lean on Tony instead while he got out the keys and opened up the side doors. Tony was surprised to see a thin mattress on the floor, held in place by some blocks, along with blankets. A duffle bag lay on the floor by the rear doors. Gibbs looked back and saw Tony's expression. He smiled.

"Wasn't going to check into a hotel," he said.

Then, he helped Tim into the van and lay him down on the mattress.

"Ready to go, DiNozzo?" he asked.

"Yeah," Tony said, trying not to let out how much he was ready to go.

"Then, let's get out of here."

Tony nodded. Gibbs closed the side door of the van and then they both got in the front seat. Gibbs turned the key and a noisy, large engine roared to life. Tony looked at Gibbs. Gibbs looked back and smiled again.

"V-6 engine?" Tony guessed.

"Small block V-8," Gibbs said.

Then, he put the van in gear and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the past two months behind.