Chapter Two

By 0230, Geordie was on his way to Bethesda with coffee in one of his dad's travel mugs. He found Ziva curled up at Tim's side and smirked at the smiles on both their faces. He stood watching them until he noticed Tim's eyes were open and he was frowning at him, wondering why he was staring, he supposed. He signed to his brother that he hoped to have someone like Ziva to love someday and Tim grinning, told him there was no one else like Ziva, she was unique. Geordie huffed a silent laugh, considering what little he knew of Ziva's background.

He settled himself on the small sofa and pulled out a book he wanted to re-read. Tim's eyes widened as he saw it was one of his pre-Gemcity, pre-Tibbs books, written and published under a different pseudonym while he was at MIT. It was a tale of a family forcibly separated from each other and of the knight-in-shining-armor father who searched until he found each of his children. Tim thought about the father's character, he'd had to restrain himself from writing him over the top but he'd also included all of the traits he'd admired from his own father, Commander McGee that is, as well as additional traits he wished he'd had. He thought when Geordie was finished with it he'd take a look at the book himself because he had a sneaking suspicion that the fictional father, Douglas Walter Warren, might bear an amazing resemblance to Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He pondered whether that had been the draw to Gibbs' team, why he had had such a powerful desire to be part of his team and had worked so hard to get there.

He shrugged and then feeling Ziva stir in his arms, held very still until she dropped back into a deep sleep. Although he was grateful to be alive and healing from his injuries, old and new, Tim couldn't wait until he could hold Ziva in his arms in their own bed. He would miss his early morning visitors though. He hoped his father knew how much it meant to have him here as much as he had been, how much he was helping to heal that orphaned and abandoned 9 year old still somewhere inside Tim. It was a relief not always being in charge of his family after all these years; having someone to hold him and comfort him rather than him doing the comforting and cuddling. He knew he'd acted like a needy 3 year old at times with his dad, but he also knew he really had needed it and best of all, his father didn't mind one bit. They both had healing to do.

Geordie must have sensed his thoughts because he looked up and smiled at his brother. Tim couldn't wait to be able to actually speak with him; he missed talking. He'd never thought of himself as much of a talker but oh boy did he miss it now. Signing kept him from going completely nuts, but he wanted to talk. He rubbed his neck reflexively, wondering how much longer it would be. He also wondered what was going on with Fornell. He'd heard his dad telling Geordie that he was at the house, going to stay for a bit, so something was wrong. He thought about waking Ziva so Geordie could tell them both, but she needed her sleep, she'd expended a lot of energy earlier as she pretty much had to do all the 'work' when they had sex these days. He couldn't wait to be strong enough and well enough for that too, to move around and not have to just lie still. Not that he was complaining! He'd had plenty of years by himself, he was very happy with Ziva. He was dead certain that he was the luckiest guy in the world. He drifted off, a smile on his face.

Ziva woke soon after; finding Tim asleep and Geordie reading one of Tim's older books, she climbed off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. When she came out, she gathered her belongings and blowing a kiss to Geordie, headed for home.

Geordie moved over to the chair next to Tim's bed and took his brother's hand while he continued to read. He dozed off and the next thing he knew someone brought coffee into the room. He lifted his head without opening his eyes and hearing a rumbly chuckle, knew it was their dad. When he opened his eyes, he found Tim grinning widely – busted – and the Gunny handed him his coffee. Tim still wasn't allowed a whole cup, but the doctor had given him permission for a half cup a day. They'd had a little ceremony, the coffee drinkers in the family, the day he had his first sip of the dark nectar. The look on his face was so blissful, Tony said something about Tim looking as if he'd just had sex and was pleased that Gibbs, Ziva and the three siblings thought it was so funny.

XXX

Tobias woke up briefly when Gibbs got up, but fell back to sleep again, not fully waking until mid-morning, or what constituted mid-morning for early risers. He showered and dressed in the clothes Geordie had given him and then stumbled downstairs to the kitchen. The coffee was all set for him with fresh grounds so he just pressed the button and waited. Remembering DiNozzo's creamer in the refrigerator, he started to pull the door open and then noticed a note addressed to him.

It was from Gibbs, noting first of all that Tobias' breakfast was in the oven. Fornell smiled, the rest of Jethro's note was as terse as the man himself: after the breakfast, came "Tim, work, call b to b; G home noon." Tobias interpreted that as meaning Jethro was stopping in to see Tim, then going into work, would call him burn phone to burn phone, and Geordie would be home around noon. Tobias thought that would be after running the errands he'd spoken of last night, which meant new clothes for him. He poured his coffee, found some juice in the refrigerator and poured himself a glass; he did need to get back in shape if he was going to assist at all in his own rescue. His eyes glittered and his mouth watered at the full breakfast plate. He pulled up a chair and sat at the table savoring every last bite and every last sip of both the juice and coffee. He hoped Geordie would buy DiNozzo more coffee creamer; the man wasn't that fond of him in the first place and using his creamer certainly wasn't going to change his opinion. After Tobias ate, cleaned his dishes, and made the beds, he started writing down everything that had happened, as instructed by Gibbs. He sat at the kitchen table, using a legal pad someone had thoughtfully left out for him. He was startled when he heard the tumblers on the lock, it wasn't anywhere near noon, and looked up to find a very tall young man with dark curly hair staring at him.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

Tobias stood, "I'm Tobias Fornell an old friend; well I hope we'll be friends again someday, of your father's. He's allowing me to stay here. You're Rob, right?"

The young man just looked at him, not giving anything up.

"I thought your dad sent you a text telling you I was here."

The young man nodded, "Haven't looked at my messages. Hang on."

He pulled his phone out of a pocket in his scrubs and evidently found the message. He put the phone down. "Yeah, I'm Rob Gibbs and you are the FBI agent that screwed with my brother."

"I'm the former FBI agent that screwed with your brother, yes."

"If you're here, you must have a story to tell and I'm sure it's classified."

"Not exactly but best you don't know it; I'm still a danger to everyone around me."

"Danger?"

Tobias shook his head, "No more information. You want coffee? I just put fresh grounds in."

"Yeah and then I'm going to fall into bed. Worked a double."

"You hungry? I'm pretty good with a spatula, could make you some scrambled eggs real quick."

"Yeah, I could handle that and toast, then I'm down for the count." Rob poured a mug of coffee, Fornell noticed he took it black, and slumped into a chair. Tobias smiled as he went about fixing a quick breakfast for the kid.

"Your dad was telling me about your studies and your work, he's real proud of you."

"Yeah, he's been good to us, all of us. Did you just find out…about my brother and Gibbs?"

"Yeah, last night." Tobias put the plate of eggs and toast in front of the young man and watched him devour it.

Rob finished his plate and gulped his coffee, then rose from his chair to wash his dishes. Tobias, shaking his head, took them from him, "Go on; get some sleep. I have to earn my keep somehow." He got a sleepy nod and watched as the kid headed up the stairs to bed.

Tobias was glad he'd brought his burn phone down with him as he realized the kid was now asleep in the boys' room. Yesterday he'd spotted a couple of books in the living room that looked interesting, now he grabbed one of them, poured another cup of coffee and headed to the back deck, leaving the door ajar so he could hear if anyone entered the house. The back yard was surrounded by a 6 ft. fence so unless there was a camera in one of the trees nearby, which seemed unlikely, he would be safe from any surveillance back here. He plopped down into one of the comfortable chairs Jethro had on the deck, handmade of course, and sat back, opening the book.

After reading two chapters, he looked at the back of the paper cover. While he didn't remember the plot, the writing style seemed very familiar. There was a paragraph about the author that said basically nothing, just that he lived on the east coast, had a degree from Johns Hopkins and was already working on another novel. That was about it. Shrugging, Tobias went back to reading. He was well into the third chapter when it struck him, Johns Hopkins. Marking his place, he went back into the house and pulled out Jethro's prized first edition of Tim's first "Deep Six" book from the bookshelf. Taking it back out to the deck, he read a chapter and laughing to himself, realized why he'd recognized the writing style. Tim must have written the earlier book and since the author's profile included Johns Hopkins but not MIT, he bet it had been written while Tim was studying at MIT. He was a big fan of the "Deep Six" books and had not been shy about telling Tim. But he'd never looked to see or asked whether the kid had published anything else. This was exciting; he loved finding additional books by a favorite author. Satisfied at having solved his little mystery, he settled back into reading.

His burn phone chirped at him a few hours later, pulling him away from an especially exciting chapter. He frowned as he marked his place, carefully placing the book on the small table next to his chair. Cautiously answering the phone with just a clearing of his throat, he was relieved to hear his friend's voice.

"Tobias, it's me. You through with your report yet?"

"Yeah Jethro, did that when I woke up this morning."

"Good. Talked to Pat this morning, think we're going to go see him."

"Isn't he way to hell and gone somewhere in Virginia?"

"Yeah, that's the point, Tobias. Geordie home yet?"

"No, but your youngest is, he came home from work and had the crap scared out of him finding me in the kitchen."

Gibbs groaned, "Don't tell me, hadn't looked at his phone."

"You got it. We got it straightened out, I made him breakfast and he hit the sack, been asleep for a few hours."

"Good. Ok, I gotta go; we're helping Carter's team with a triple murder. Geordie should be home soon. Help yourself to anything you need."

Gibbs disconnected the call just in time to avoid Vance noticing he was on a burn phone. While he trusted Vance with his own team now, he had no idea what the man's reaction would be to helping Tobias; Gibbs felt he should protect the agency in this, it wasn't an NCIS problem; it was an FBI problem that impacted an old friend. Gibbs wasn't even sure what DiNozzo or David's reactions would be if/when they knew. He hated hiding things from them, especially with his kids and Ducky knowing. He needed to get Tobias to safer quarters quickly. He didn't want to bring the rest of the team in on it until after the beleaguered man had been delivered to Pat and they had their plan put together.

He'd called Pat after leaving the hospital on his way to work this morning, and the former ATF agent had agreed without hesitation to provide sanctuary for Tobias and to being in on the plan to bring Gehob down and get Fornell back into the Bureau's good graces.

Gibbs planned to leave a few hours before dawn so he could get Tobias out of the house, into the car and a good distance away from any watchers before the sun rose. With their help, Carter's team was closing in on their suspects so wouldn't need their help beyond today. Gibbs was planning the move for early tomorrow morning.

He would need to let Tim know that he would be away for the night and most of the day. Damn it, if I'd known this earlier, I would have switched with Geordie last night. Now I'm going to miss two nights with my Tim. Maybe not, I could switch with Ziva. Yeah, that's a good idea.

Hearing DiNozzo's voice, he looked up to see his SFA standing in front of his desk, looking concerned. "Everything all right, Boss? I mean besides everything that's already going on, everything ok? "

"Yeah, DiNozzo, everything's all right. Just thinking, tomorrow's Friday and we're done with Carter's case, I'm going to take some time off, maybe go fishing."

DiNozzo looked at him with a funny look on his face and Gibbs sighed, noticing Ziva had swiveled around and had the same funny look. Change of plans, I really can't keep them out of the loop, don't really want to.

He nodded at them, "We need to make sure we have the witness statements in order before we hand them off to Rick. Let's grab a conference room and go over them."

He made sure his body language was relaxed, or rather what passed for relaxed for him, and gave each of his teammates a half smile so they'd know it wasn't either of them or something immediately critical. Two sets of shoulders stood down from their alert status and the three gathered up their notes and headed for a conference room. He chose one rarely used, he happened to know from his son that the security camera in the room had somehow broken recently. Tim had promised it wasn't him but Gibbs knew that Tim knew who it was. As long as it wasn't one of his team and Tim said it wasn't, he didn't care.

When he entered the room and turned on the light, he looked and the camera was hanging off the wall in its formerly discreet corner, still broken. DiNozzo followed his glance and grinned, "Yeah, heard about that. Not sure how they did that."

"Don't care, as long as it wasn't one of you." DiNozzo opened his mouth to say something then thought better of it. Boss was sharing something, he didn't want to alter his mood and he didn't feel like a headslap.

Ziva and DiNozzo sat down and looked at him expectantly. Always one to cut to the chase, he said, "Fornell's in deep trouble, long story, will fill you in on all the details when we're away from here. It's not an NCIS problem. Just know this, he was forced to go through that crap with Tim; his daughter had been kidnapped two days before as a warning to him. She's fine, no permanent harm done, she breathed in some chloroform but she's ok now. Just found this out…all of this, yesterday."

DiNozzo looked him straight in the eye, "What's the plan, Boss?" Ziva nodded, "He is extended family as is Emily." Gibbs swallowed hard, God he loved these people.

"Don't want to tell you everything here. He says I'm being watched as part of this; don't know if either of you are too. Going to handle this outside, understand?"

They both nodded. "You can best help by helping me; Tobias is at my place, so far Sarah, Geordie and Rob know, plus Ducky. Fornell's not in good shape, he's been struggling with this for too long without any help, he looks like hell. He got cleaned up at the house and Geordie loaned him some sweats, his own clothes were hanging off him. Last night Diane agreed to take Emily overseas for a few weeks, they should be on their way tonight. For us, use your regular cells for 'normal' business but only a burn phone for this stuff. Here's mine," Gibbs removed it from his pocket and displayed the number for the others. "Ziva, if I could trade the first shift with you tonight, I'd appreciate it. I want to get on the road by 0330, hope the watchers don't have night vision goggles."

"On the road, Boss?"

"Yep, fishing, Tony."

"Ok. So Vance will just think you're taking a personal day."

"Yep."

"But you won't be at the hospital."

"Yeah, going to have to take that chance."

"Gibbs, what if the three of us take personal days? Then it will not be as obvious and I will remain at the hospital and cover for you if Vance calls or visits."

DiNozzo nodded, "I'll be there too, Ziva, and we'll have a cover story."

"That's good, Tony, but if you're going to be in on this, I need you at the house on protection detail, with the way these guys have been wreaking havoc, I don't want to leave Sarah, Rob and Geordie unprotected. I'll tell Tim tonight that I'll be away until Saturday."

"Gibbs, Geordie will not want protection, he will want to be the protector."

"He barely knows me much less Tobias, Ziva; I can't ask that of him and we're federal agents, if there's a problem, we can fire our weapons. He's a Marine on leave, Special Forces or not, that's a big difference. "

"Boss, is there any way we can deputize him, make him a temporary Federal agent?" Gibbs looked thoughtful. "I believe there is something in the regs."

Tony laughed, "Tim will know, send him a text."

"Nah, I'm going there after work, I'll ask him then."

"All right, Boss, we have Ziva at the hospital and me either at the house or floating between the house and hospital. Who's going with you?"

Gibbs was nonplussed.

"Fornell."

"Besides Fornell, because how long has it been since he's even carried a weapon, much less used one?"

"We'll be fine."

Tony started to argue but Ziva put her hand on his arm, "He has decided; he will not listen to us."

Gibbs frowned; didn't he always listen to them? "I need you two here and I've already explained about Geordie, even if he's an NCIS agent for the weekend, we need him at the house."

"There is no one else?"

"That we trust, that can be available last minute? I can't think of anyone."

DiNozzo smiled, "I can, but I think we'd trade around, he can stay at the house with Geordie and I'll go with you."

"No, I am not risking anyone else."

"And if I'm along the risk will be lessened than with just the two of you."

Gibbs sighed; once again his team was hell-bent on protecting him when he was perfectly capable of protecting himself. He sat in thought for a moment, thinking of everyone in his life now and what Geordie had said to him the other day about taking care of himself, something his team had been trying to get him to see for years now. Yes, he understood now he had family, actually had had family for quite awhile, but now he saw that he did have an obligation to them. His family, these two, Tim in the hospital, Geordie, Rob and Sarah at home, Ducky, Jimmy here and Abby far away, also in a hospital. He realized it was time to change his way of thinking, he could no longer play 'lone wolf' as DiNozzo referred to it.

"Who, DiNozzo?"

"Damon Werth."

Ziva tilted her head, "He is back in town?"

"Yeah, I ran into him last weekend. He's looking for a job and he knows you, Gibbs, and how you operate. He also knows Fornell, another plus. Best of all, he's a good shot, a former Marine so he and Geordie will have that instant bond thing all you leathernecks seem to have. "

Gibbs rubbed his lips, "Yeah, Werth, he's a good man, I trust him, as long as he's still clean. All right, DiNozzo, will you contact him…remember…"

"Got it Boss, and I know call him on a burn phone. Yeah I will, as soon as we leave here."

"Gibbs, is it a long drive?"

"About 4 hours."

"That is a lot of road where you could be attacked."

"I'm borrowing an SUV."

"Good. It will be best if you do not return until Saturday, Gibbs, you should rest once you get to your destination."

"We'll need time to firm up our plan together anyway, Zeevers."

DiNozzo nodded, "All right, we're agreed. Ziva, I'll call you when we arrive."

Gibbs frowned, I didn't agree to that, then understood this was part of the new way of thinking so did not countermand DiNozzo.

Before leaving the conference room, they did a very quick review of the witness statements. Gibbs decided calling Vance about their personal days now would be a good idea.

XXX

Geordie pulled out of the grocery store parking lot, glad to be on his way home. He'd stopped to buy clothing and essentials for Fornell, then thought he'd better stock up on groceries while he was out. He had a feeling their dad would be moving the man someplace safer very soon. Not that he and the Gunny couldn't defend the house, but he thought the older man would be very concerned with protecting or involving Rob and Sarah, not to mention Tim in his hospital room. He carefully watched his perimeter as he drove and when he reached their street, he went around the block twice to see if there were any obvious watchers. Not seeing any, he pulled into the driveway in the bright yellow muscle car and parked; still surprised his dad was letting him drive it. He grabbed the groceries and the shopping bags and stopped at the front door to dig out his key. As Fornell had been close by when he heard the car in the driveway he stood behind the door as he opened it and took some of the bags from Geordie. Once everything was in, Geordie locked the door behind him. His dad had mentioned he was just getting used to locking the door, Geordie was just getting used to having a door to lock, having lived in huts and tents for the past 20 months.

Neither man had had lunch, so they put the groceries away and Fornell made them good sized sandwiches, along with fresh coffee of course. He'd also made some iced tea, thinking that once in a while someone might prefer that over coffee, Ziva perhaps or Sarah. The two men took their sandwiches and a bag of chips out to the deck and sat at the table out there.

Geordie laughed when he saw what book Tobias was reading and confirmed that yes, Tim had written it and others under that particular pseudonym. They were still out there talking about Tim's books when Rob wandered downstairs a while later. He saw them outside and waved as he disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing with a mug and the coffee pot and joining them on the back deck.

"Hey. How's Tim?"

"He's good, Rob, he slept most of the time I was there, no nightmares and the doctor was pleased when she checked on him this morning, said she's only a few days away from letting him try a whisper."

"Man, it'll be good to hear his voice again. Seems so long. I don't think any of us thought it would take this long to heal."

"But it is healing, Doc, that's the important thing to remember."

"Yeah, I know Geo. I just wish…"

"It had never happened?"

"Yeah."

"Just remember your brother and DiNozzo took down a terrorist that day. The guy was responsible for a lot of deaths and injuries, there's a lot of families who are sleeping better because of what they did, including risking that bridge."

Tobias looked at Rob, who seemed to be deep in thought. "It's tough being family to a hero, isn't it, Rob?"

"Yeah, sometimes it is. Sarah's been really bothered by it too, since the fall, having two brothers, three counting Tony, plus our dad and Ziva in such dangerous jobs."

Geordie looked away; he had never realized how difficult it was for the ones waiting at home. He had had a single goal growing up, to be a Marine in Special Forces. Tim had supported him, understanding his need to prove his worth and give himself another connection to his dead father. Although he loved Sarah and Rob, he'd never stopped to consider their opinions, their feelings about it. Yeah they were always sad to see him leave and happy when he came home, but he never thought about the stress of worrying about him – and Tim and now the others as well.

"Rob…I don't know what to say. I wish I had known before. I'm home now, you know, I'm transferring out of Special Forces."

"Can't they still send you overseas, to one of the wars?"

"It's not likely, Rob, I have the years in and the rank to stay home."

Rob looked up, tears in his eyes, "This is really selfish of me, Geo, but I'm so glad. I don't think I could stand you leaving again and never knowing." Geordie opened his arms and the taller Rob somehow fit into them.

Fornell quietly gathered the dishes, mugs and the empty coffee pot and took them inside, giving the brothers some privacy. He smiled, wishing once again that he'd had a brother. He was grateful for his sister, they'd been close all their lives. He hadn't seen Kathleen in nearly three years; she was teaching at a university in Dubai and traveled the world when she wasn't working. Maybe, if he got out of this with his skin intact, he'd go visit her and travel some of the world with her.