I don't think I've said this for several chapters, so just to make sure I don't get myself in any trouble, here it goes:
I do not own anything of NCIS. I am not making any money from these stories. All characters are fictitious and any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental (regardless of what Gibbs thinks - lol!)
The meeting lasted for hours between Gibbs and all of Tim's doctors. They tried every possible way to get him to change his mind, but Gibbs stayed firm.
Finally reaching his breaking point, Gibbs raised his voice. "HEY! If I didn't want him to be poked and prodded while he was unconscious, do you really think I want it now." He gave each of the doctors a hard look. "You've all had over six months to figure out what happened ..." he raised his hand stopping any protests about him not allowing every test possible "... he's ready to have his life back. Since I'm still not only his medical proxy, but the one legally responsible for any medical decisions, I say enough is enough."
Properly shot down, the doctors capitulated and stopped all the testing.
XXXX
Just as Gibbs predicted, Tim's PT was stepped up and he seemed to relish the challenge of getting his mobility back. After each session, he would go back to his room exhausted, but happy ... at least on the surface.
Gibbs started to notice that Tim was looking past anyone that came into his room, as if he was expecting someone else to be there.
Tony and Ziva had noticed the same behavior.
"He is longing to see someone, but does not want to show it in front of us."
"I agree with Ziva, Boss. It's as if he doesn't want us to feel as if we're not enough."
Gibbs nodded his agreement. He had a pretty good idea who Tim was looking for ... his biological family. Since they all had stopped visiting, Gibbs had kept them out of the loop, they didn't even know Tim was awake. It bothered him that Tim's family seemed to have given up. However, Gibbs knew it was hard on a family to watch someone they loved being so totally unreachable.
Well, for Tim's sake, it's time we changed that.
XXXX
Penny slowly walked into the hospital. She had stopped coming after two months. It may have been selfish, but she just couldn't look at her grandson's still form. It reminded her too much of her late husband, whom she still missed terribly.
She quickly spotted Gibbs and went over to him. "What has happened? Is he ... did his body finally give out?"
Gibbs didn't say a word. He just turned and started walking down the hall with an unspoken request to follow.
Penny bristled at being treated in such a fashion, but found herself following none the less.
She was lead to a small conference room. Gibbs sat down at the table in the room and Penny took the seat across from him, feeling strangely like she was back in the NCIS interrogation room.
"Are you going to tell me now, what this is all about?"
"Tell me about Tim's mother."
"What?"
Gibbs didn't say anything else, he just waited for her to start.
Penny's blood began to boil. "She didn't show up here did she? If that woman has gotten within one hundred feet of my grandson, I swear I will ..."
"Why?"
The one word question made Penny stop her tirade. "What do you mean?"
"Why would her presence here get you so riled-up?"
"That is none of your business."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow to her. "Oh, that's where you're wrong. See, I have no reason to deny her access to Tim ... if she were to show up. That is, not unless you give me one." Gibbs would never have allowed the woman to even set foot in the hospital after seeing what Tim had gone through as a child at her hands. However, knowing what he did, he wanted to see what had finally pushed Penny to her breaking point. This would decide if he let her see Tim yet or not.
Penny sighed and sagged in her seat. She suddenly seemed years older. She was silent for only a minuet more, then she abruptly started talking, keeping her focus on her hands on the table. "Tim had been living with me. Seemed that his father didn't know how to handle someone with his brain. Barb, Tim's mom, had come over and brought Sarah for a visit. I think she was around two, maybe three. Anyway, Tim spent all day with is baby sister. After they left, Tim asked me if he could move back with is mom ... to help out with the baby."
"I thought it was a good idea ... so did his parents. I was sad to see him go, but hoped that this time Vic would find away to be the father Tim deserved. A month later, Vic got deployed. While I was over at their house, helping get things ready ... I noticed Tim had bruises on his face and arms. He just dismissed it as bullies. I tried to talk to Vic about it, but he was too focused on getting ready to leave to really care; said the boy needed to learn to stand up for himself sooner or later."
Gibbs tried to be impassive, but he could feel his temperature rising.
"Afterwards, all I could think about was Tim getting bullied. Two weeks later, I decided to pay the school a visit and give them a piece of my mind about what kind of school they were running. You can imagine my shock when I found out Tim wasn't attending school at all. The office produced a letter from Barb asking him to be excused from classes so that he could help at home. They said that he had been keeping up on his homework and was actually well ahead of everyone in his grade, so they didn't think anything of it. However, as I looked at the letter, I could tell that it was written by Tim, not Barb."
"How?"
"Because I know the difference between Barb's and Tim's writing ... and can tell when he's trying to write right handed ... and, well I know my grandson. Anyway, I marched myself over to their base housing to figure out just what was going on." Penny stopped for a moment, lost in the memory.
Just as Gibbs thought he was going to have to say something to pull her out of it, she started talking on her own.
"When I walked through the door, it was so quiet, that I thought no one was home. I decided to do some snooping and was going to start with Tim's room. By the time I got to the top of the stairs, I could hear Barb yelling. Couldn't make out what she was saying. I thought she was in trouble and I raced to where her voice was coming from ... the nursery."
"Each step I took towards the door, I could hear her voice clearer and clearer ... and the horrible things she was actually saying. How she never wanted kids, how they had ruined her life, ... how she wished neither of them had even been born. I couldn't believe it. How could a mother say such terrible things about her own children?!" Penny shook her head.
"I threw open that door, ready to tear into the woman ... but ..."
"But, what Penny ..."
Tears formed in her eyes and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop them from falling. "As soon as I opened that damn door, I froze at the sight in front of me. Sarah was in her crib, crying and reaching up for someone to hold her. Tim was leaning over the crib, with his hands holding onto the railing at each end, he was smiling and softly talking to his sister ... trying to keep her calm. And that ... that ... WOMAN ... she was beating Tim!"
Gibbs sucked in a breath as Penny continued.
"She had some sort of switch or thin stick or something and she was hitting him over and over and over again. It must have been going on for a while because his shirt was shredded and his back was bleeding."
"What did you do?" Gibbs voice came out in a whisper, even he couldn't have imagined how bad the situation had actually been.
Penny finally looked him straight in the eyes. "What did I do? Well, I wasn't an Admiral's wife for nothing! I went over and knocked that woman's block off! As I was fuming and yelling at her, Tim completely tuned us out. He just picked Sarah up and started singing to calm her." She gave a rueful laugh, then fell silent.
Gibbs didn't say anything for a couple of minutes either, trying to digest everything he had been told. His blood was boiling and he swore if his and Tim's mother's path ever crossed it would not go well for her ... woman or not. When he had calmed down, he pushed a little more. "What happened next ... what happened with Vic?"
Penny went back to looking at her hands. "I reported everything and got Tim and Sarah to the base hospital. Vic was recalled from active duty. While we were waiting for him, I kept trying to get Tim to make a formal statement against his mother, but he wouldn't do it. Because it happened on base, NIS was called in, but Tim was as tight-lipped as ever." A small smile came to Penny's face. "The investigator was this young redhead ... for the life of me I can't remember her name ... Julie or Jackie, something like that ..." she waived her hand in dismissal, "... anyway, she was the one who finally got Tim to admit what had been going on."
Gibbs smiled, having a pretty good idea who the redhead was ... he'd have to leave an extra rose on her grave the next time he stopped by. "How did she do that?"
Penny shrugged. "Told him some nonsense that since it seemed that it was just a personal issue between him and his mother, Tim would be removed and then Barb and Sarah could go home together." Penny met his eyes. "She knew damn well that Sarah had also shown signs of abuse and that Sarah wasn't going anywhere with that woman ... but the threat of it got Tim talking."
"When she was done, I was allowed to go into the room with him ... he was barely holding back tears. I told him how brave he was and that I was proud of him. You know what he said to me? He said I shouldn't be because you're not supposed to say bad things about your mother."
"I told him that there is never anything wrong with telling the truth. He looked me straight in my eyes and told me that his dad wasn't going to feel the same way and that he'd just ruined his dad's career. I was so stunned ... and angry. When Vic showed up ... well, let's just say I gave him a piece of my mind and then some." Penny shook her head and fell silent.
Gibbs had to know. "What happened with her?"
"Barb? She admitted everything, had no remorse about it, was even a little smug ... that is until the judge sentenced her, threw the book at her." Penny shrugged. "However, she got out early for good behavior ... tried to get back in contact with Tim ... once. I put a stop to that right quick. Let her know that he was doing fine without her and that if she valued her freedom, to not ever even think about contacting either of her children again. Guess she listened, haven't hear from her since ... right?" The last word was said with trepidation.
Gibbs studied Penny for a moment. He knew that she had tried to be all the parent Tim ever needed and he knew she meant the world to McGee. He made his decision. "Come with me." The words were said gently.
"Agent Gibbs ..."
He gave her a soft smile. "Just come." He stood, walked to the door and opened it, but he didn't go out ... this time waiting for Penny to join him.
Penny watched Gibbs, as small hope growing in her. She silently nodded and followed him. With each twist and turn of the hall way, Penny's anxiety grew, not know if she should try to hold on to that small hope.
Gibbs had been several steps in front of her, so he reached the room first. He paused outside of the window, but he didn't go into the room.
Penny stopped before she could get close, suddenly afraid of what she was going to see.
Gibbs turned to her, then nudged his head towards the room, beckoning her to look.
She felt as if time had slowed down and the air had become as thick as concrete. She closed her eyes before she got to the window. She stopped and held onto the ledge for support, then she slowly opened her eyes ... and they immediately teared up.
Sitting up in the bed was her grandson, smiling, laughing and joking with his two teammates, Tony and Ziva. They had his attention away from the glass, so he never looked her way.
Penny felt the world spin and her knees gave out. She felt a strong hand grab her arm and direct her to a chair. The same hand started rubbing her back and from outside the rushing in her ears, she could hear a strong, steady, deep voice trying to keep her focused.
When she was able to clear the cobwebs, she turned to Gibbs. "What? How? When?"
Gibbs smiled and started with the last question first. "About two weeks ago. His brain just suddenly kicked back on. As for the whats and the hows, the doctors can't seem to figure it out."
"How many more tests need to be done until the know."
"None."
"None?"
"Nope."
"But I though you said ..."
"Tim was tired of being a lab experiment. I agreed. So, we put an end to the testing."
Penny put her hand to her mouth and cried.
Gibbs kept rubbing her back, allowing her the time to work through her emotions.
When she was able to calm down, she dug a tissue out of her purse and wipe her eyes. "Do they think it will happen again?"
"They don't know ... but I have a feeling it won't."
Penny studied Gibbs. He was calm and confident ... and different. She could feel that something had shifted about him, but in a good way. She was glad her grandson had someone like Gibbs in his corner.
"I won't ask why you waited so long to tell me ... us. I think I might know why. All I want to know see if I can see him."
Gibbs nodded. "With some ground rules. Either me, Tony or Ziva has to be present. We know him the best and can tell when he's had enough but won't say."
"That sounds fair. And Vic?"
The softness left Gibbs face and Penny was almost sorry she brought up her son.
"Please, Agent Gibbs."
Gibbs thought it over for a moment, then nodded. "As long as I'm there. And is has to be me, not Tony or Ziva, but me. He has to listen to everything I say. If I say the visits over, he leaves without question. If he causes any problems , any issues, makes Tim feel bad in anyway, he's gone. There will be no second chances."
Penny nodded her acceptance. Her eyes floated from Gibbs back over to the window. "Can I ..."
Gibbs gave a genuine smile. "Sure, come on." He stood and went to the door.
Penny was right behind him, but was completely hidden from view when Gibbs actually opened the door.
The three occupants of the room turn to look at their team leader.
"Hey Boss! I think we're going to have to get Probie out of here soon, his physical therapist is rubbing off on him way too much."
Tim and Ziva laughed. "You are just upset because he got a foot up on you."
Tim just laughed harder and didn't both to fix Ziva's idiom.
Behind Gibbs, Penny smiled and her eyes once again filled with tears, she thought she'd never hear her grandson's laughter again. She was surprised how much it soothed her soul to hear it. She got herself under control, she didn't want Tim to see her upset.
Gibbs smiled at the three of his kids. He felt a little bad that Abby had been left out of everything, but it couldn't be helped. She had noticed the change in the three of them and had even come to his house to talk about it. He tried to explain without giving the truth away. She seemed to accept what he told her ... hopefully. He realized that she was going to be the outsider of the group now and would have to work hard so that she never ended up feeling like Tim had.
He put his thoughts about Abby off to the side. "Tim, I have someone who'd like to see you ... if you're up for it."
The smile never left Tim's face, but he got a very hopeful look. That look told Gibbs he had made the right decision. "Yeah, Boss, I'm up for a visitor."
Gibbs stood aside, revealing Penny.
If it was possible, Tim's face became even brighter.
Penny stood there, unable to move. She was enjoying looking at her grandson full of life once again.
Tim seemed to understand and let her take her time. She moved slowly at first, then she practically ran to him. She flopped on the bed and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Tim! I've missed you."
Tim hugged her back. "I'm sorry." He spoke softly and comfortingly.
Tony, Ziva and Gibbs exchanged looks. The feelings they were getting from Tim were making them giddy. Gibbs jerked his head for them to leave, before any of them ended up doing something embarrassing.
They didn't go far, just to the other side of the door. Tony was the first to speak.
"That was ... wow."
Ziva grinned. "Yes, I agree. We have done a very good thing."
Gibbs allowed himself to enjoy the feeling for just a moment more. Then he had to tell them the rules he had set forth for both Penny and Tim's father.