Little White Lies

Chapter 2

"Tim?"

The man stared at her, confusion clear in his expression, and for one horrible moment Sarah thought she had made a mistake before his eyes widened in shock.

"Sarah?"

A sob escaped her throat as she surged forward and wrapped her arms around him, tears streaming down her face. "Oh, God, Tim…"

Tim stiffened in her arms for a few seconds before he embraced her as well. She could feel him shaking and she hugged him tighter, years of pain rising to the surface as she held her brother, her head against his chest, listening to the strong, rapid beat of his heart.

"Sarah, what are you doing here?"

Startled, Sarah looked up at Tim's face and saw a familiar, closed-off expression, the mask he had always used when he was trying to avoid something. She felt a surge of anger and stepped back to smack him hard in the chest with her fist.

"What am I doing here?" She smacked him again, harder. "What are you doing here? I thought… You let us think you were dead! How could you do that?" She hit him again. "How could you do that to me...and Mom...and… God, Tim, Penny died thinking you had been killed...and...we didn't even have a body to bury…" She raised her hand to hit him again and paused when she saw his expression: sadness and devastation, the depth of which was so profound that it took her breath away and she felt a surge of shame. What she had been feeling clearly paled in comparison to what her brother had experienced.

"Tim? I… I'm sorry, I…"

Tim sighed as he seemed to regain control and the mask slipped back into place. "You better come in and sit down. This is going to take awhile to explain." He moved back and opened the door wider to allow her admittance into his quarters.

Sarah stepped through the door and glanced around at the surprisingly spartan space as Tim closed the door.

"Coffee?"

"Yeah." She managed a weak smile but he had already turned towards the small kitchenette in the corner. She moved towards the opposite corner where a battered sofa and equally battered recliner sat around a coffee table constructed from old milk crates and two rough boards. A bookcase made from similar materials stood next to the recliner and she absently scanned the titles. Most were second-hand paperbacks but the top shelf contained several almost pristine advanced reading copies-an oddity in an era where most books were electronic- by an author she recognized: David A. Gibbson. Suddenly the significance of the name struck her.

"You wrote these?" she asked, and Tim nodded. Her husband was a fan of these books, she knew, but she had never read them. She tried to remember the basic plot that Mike had attempted to explain: a knight, cursed with immortality and forced to wander, spent his time slaying dragons and battling other magical creatures. Pretty standard fantasy fare, but Mike had indicated that there was a strong undercurrent of sadness, making the main character quite sympathetic.

"That's quite a departure from L.J. Tibbs and company," she remarked, trying to keep her tone light. Tim merely nodded again, not even turning around.

She let her gaze wander around the rest of the room and saw a wooden desk, an old typewriter and a more modern computer sharing space on its surface, and a comfortable looking desk chair. A twin-sized bed stood on the other side of the room, with an alarm clock and cheap-looking lamp sitting on the nightstand next to the bed. A door in the wall next to the kitchen led to what looked like a small bathroom, and another door led to what was probably a closet. Next to the closet stood a small dresser, and leaning up against the dresser was what looked like a large sword in a leather sheath, which Sarah decided must be a prop of some kind. There were no pictures or any decorations on the walls, nothing to give her any clues as to her brother's life over the last few years.

Sarah felt a presence behind her and turned to find Tim holding two mugs, one of which he offered to her. She accepted it and followed him to the 'sitting area' where she lowered herself gingerly onto the sofa. Tim sat in the recliner, his own mug in one hand. Sarah took a sip of the coffee and winced. It was exactly how she used to drink it, now far too sweet for her older palate.

"OK?" Tim asked, and she managed another weak smile.

"It's fine. Thank you." She waited for him to say more but he was clearly struggling to begin what promised to be a very awkward conversation. She studied him and suddenly something else struck her, something she hadn't been expecting. "You haven't aged."

Tim's eyebrows rose and he looked up at her. "What?"

"You don't look older. I mean, you've always looked younger than you are, but… you're pushing fifty and you look… You haven't changed at all." Her face creased in puzzlement as she twisted a strand of her hair-much shorter than she used to wear it-between her fingers. She had noticed the first strands of silver in her own dark locks just a month ago, but her brother bore no such signs of the march of time. "How?"

"It's part of the reason why I had to leave." He looked up and met her gaze. "And why I had to let you think I was dead."

"I don't understand. What does that have to do with-."

"I did die, Sarah. Twenty years ago. I went out to interview a possible witness in a case, and...he shot me. I died. But then I came back."

"That doesn't make any sense!" She glanced at the bookshelf and felt another surge of anger. "So, what, you're going to tell me you were 'cursed with immortality', like the hero in your books?"

"Not exactly like that, no. I wasn't cursed. Apparently it's part of what I am."

"'What' you are? What are you talking about?"

Tim drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearly preparing himself for an unpleasant task. "I'm an Immortal, a member of a race of people who, after they die a violent death, come back to life and can't be killed by normal means. We heal from almost any wound. We don't age."

Sarah could only stare at him in astonishment for several moments before she finally found her voice. "Tim, if this is your idea of a joke…"

Tim ran a hand over his face and sighed. "Wait here." He walked over to the kitchen and returned with towel and a knife which held held, handle out, towards Sarah. "Here. Check it. Make sure it's real."

She reluctantly took the knife from him and tested the blade. It was solid and appeared to be razor sharp. "It's real. Now what?"

He held out his hand and she placed the knife on his palm. He gave her a reassuring smile before he gripped the handle and quickly drew the blade across his other hand, a line of blood welling up almost immediately as he winced in pain.

"Tim! What in the hell? What are you doing?"

"Just wait." He used the towel to wipe the blood from his hand and as she watched a small spark of blue lightning crossed the wound and it closed up, leaving Tim's hand whole and unmarked.

"Oh my God…" She grabbed his hand and studied the spot where the cut had been before cautiously touching it. It felt solid and she couldn't detect any defect in the skin. "How is this possible?"

"That's one question no one has ever been able to answer, unfortunately."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

He managed a weak smile of his own. "We don't usually tell other people, unless they... Unless they witness something we can't explain away and we have to tell them."

"Does...did your old team at NCIS know?"

"Yeah. They did."

"So you told them and not your own family?"

"It wasn't like that, Sarah. Ziva was with me when it happened, and neither of us knew what was going on at first. Gibbs did know what was going on even before I did. He'd met other people like me before and figured it out. Tony...well, he's a trained investigator. It was inevitable."

"Then they lied to me!"

"They had to, Sarah. To protect you."

"Protect me? Or to protect you?"

"Both. Sarah, knowing about Immortals, it's not safe. There's more to all of this than just… It's complicated."

"That's a massive understatement, Tim."

He chuckled softly. "Yeah, it is."

Suddenly a horrible thought struck her. "But you're my brother, and if you're like this, then am I going to wind up like you, too?"

Tim shook his head sadly. "No, you won't."

"How do you know that?"

"First, because Immortals can sense the presence of another Immortal, even before they are, uh, activated. And second….because I'm not really your brother." Her eyes widened in shock as he continued. "All Immortals are foundlings. My...your mother found me near a beach in Rhode Island and your parents adopted me."

"They're your parents, too, Tim. We are your family. We deserved to know."

"I was protecting you!"

"Really? Losing you was better than knowing you can't die?"

Tim groaned and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Better than knowing the kind of monster I am, Sarah."

"You're not-"

"I said we can't die by normal means, but we can die, and sometimes… we have to kill each other."

"What? Why?"

He just shook his head. "You're really better off not knowing. Please, for once, just trust me."

She stared at him, trying to imagine the man who had helped raise her willingly killing anyone. "Have you…?"

His bit his lip and nodded, his face twisted with shame. "I swear to you, I had no choice…"

"God, Tim…"

They sat in silence for several minutes before he finally met her gaze. "Is this better, Sarah? Knowing all of this? Or was it easier to believe those lies, that you had a brother that was dead, but still human?"

"Tim… nothing was easy about that. When I saw it on the news… and I confronted Gibbs… That was the worst day of my life. Anything else pales in comparison." She stood and walked over to him before bending down and wrapping her arms around him again. "I love you, Tim. Nothing will change that. You will always be my big brother. God, I've missed you so much…"

"I've missed you, too," he murmured as he hugged her in return.

"But now I've found you, and-"

"No, Sarah. I can't go back." He reached up and gently gripped her chin as he met her gaze. "You said it yourself: I haven't aged. Obviously I'm not dead. It would raise way too many questions, and if the wrong people start asking them…"

"You'd wind up in a lab somewhere, or worse. Damn it…"

"How did you find me?"

She let out a soft huff of laughter. "Pure dumb luck, to be honest. Emma saw you at the gas station last night and took your picture because you 'look just like Uncle Tim'."

"Emma?"

She smiled. "Your niece." She pulled out her phone and brought up a picture to show him. "She's eight. She idolizes you, even though she never got a chance to meet you. It's kinda weird, to be honest." Tim chuckled as he examined the picture. "I don't suppose…"

He shook his head and then frowned. "Her father?"

Sarah punched him lightly on the arm. "Been married to him for almost ten years. Mike. He's a good man, Tim." She grinned. "A geek. You two would get along great." Her grin faded. "But I guess we won't find that out, will we?" Tim shook his head again. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Sarah." He glanced at the bookshelf. "I know I said it wasn't a curse that made me the way I am, but we are cursed, in a way. Cursed with never having a permanent family, or home." He looked up and met her gaze again. "Cursed with watching everyone we love grow old and die."

She punched him lightly again. "I'm not that old, Tim," she added with a forced laugh and he caught her hand, holding it to his chest.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah...I guess I do. I'm sorry."

"Never apologize…"

"Oh, don't start that!"

He laughed, as close to a genuine expression of happiness that she had seen from him and she couldn't help but join him.

They were interrupted by the chiming of her phone and she checked it to find a text from Mike.

Where are you? Are you OK?

"Is that...Mike?"

"Yeah. He's wondering where I am. I left him a note, but…"

"You should probably get back to him."

She quickly texted back I'm fine, just taking longer than I expected and returned her attention to Tim. "He'll be fine without me for a little while longer."

"But you do need to get back. To both of them. Or are there more…?"

"No. Just me, Mike, and Emma. We're on the big family road trip."

Tim gave her a sad smile. "I've done that myself...without the family."

"You've been here for seven years?" He paused to think for a moment and then nodded. "Where were you for the other three years?"

"Drifting, mostly." She sent him an exasperated look and he chuckled. "I got to see some of the places and things I never had the chance to see before. Or the time… But I have plenty of that, now." He sighed and stood, looking down at her with that same sad smile. "It was really good to see you, Sarah...but your family is waiting for you."

She hugged him again, and there was no hesitation we he returned it.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"I don't know. I'll don't know how long I'll stay here, or where I'll go. Guess I should figure that out, huh?"

"Yeah…"

Finally she released him and took a step back, trying to fix the moment in her memory. She hadn't had a chance when she had lost him the first time, and now… She reached up and touched his cheek.

"I really have missed you." He just nodded. "And if you ever get the chance…"

"Maybe one day."

He led her to the door and opened it, allowing her to step out of his quarters and back into the basement, where he stopped and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful," he whispered and she gave him one final hug before tearing herself away and running up the steps, her tears starting to flow again. She walked out of the church and to her car, climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. She gave the building one last look before she backed her car out of its space and then drove off, following the winding road back down the mountain.

By the time she returned to the lodge, all traces of her tears were gone. She parked in front of the cabin and immediately the door opened, revealing her husband. He rushed to the car to confront her.

"Where have you been? I was worried sick."

"I'm fine, Mike. It was just something I had to do."

"You went to find that guy that looked like your brother, didn't you?" She nodded. "Did you find him?"

"No," she answered, her voice steady. "I didn't." She looked up and gave him what she hoped was a self-depreciating smile. "Got a little lost on the way back, though."

"With a GPS?"

She shrugged. "What can I say, I'm talented."

Mike rolled his eyes. "So you've gotten it out of your system?"

"Yep. Wasted the time and gas for nothing. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"As long as you're OK…"

"I'm fine. Let's go see the Canyon."

"Finally!" Emma yelled as she came rushing out the door. "We've been waiting for ages!"

"Then I won't make you wait any longer." She hugged her daughter. "Let's go."

Emma ran back in to get her belongings as Mike and Sarah joined her. Soon they had the car loaded back up and were heading for the park, with Emma chattering away happily in the back seat. Sarah remained quiet for most of the trip, and one they reached their destination Mike turned to her.

"Are you sure you're really OK?" he asked, and his obvious concern for her caused a lump to form in Sarah's throat.

"I'm sure," she replied, wincing inwardly at the lie-one of many that she, too would be forced to tell from now on-and gave him a bright, yet brittle smile. "Never better."

The End

A/N: There will be at least one other story that takes place between this one and Memento Mori. There will also be a prequel, that explains in more detail what happened when Tim had to leave NCIS - Caught Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.