A/N: Did you like the cliffhanger?
When he entered the waiting room outside the ICU, Gibbs made straight for the knot of people off to one side of the room. Abby was there with McGee's family, looking pale and strained. She was shifting from foot to foot, as if she wanted to rush towards them but the discomfort from her wounds was preventing her. He hugged her gently, mindful of her injuries.
"What happened?" His question was directed to the entire group, but it was Abby that answered.
"They were reducing the sedatives- they wanted to see if he'd wake up by himself, Gibbs. He just-just started trembling and-" her voice broke and she buried her head in his shoulder.
"It's ok, Abs."
Over her head, he asked the McGees "Where is he now?"
Brett answered. "They've taken him for more tests. Right now, they're not sure whether he was seizing before they started bringing him out of it, or not." He ran a hand through his hair. Gibbs could see that his eyes were bloodshot. Next to him, Maureen looked haggard. "I just wish they'd tell us what was happening." He moved over to the chairs and collapsed into one as if there was no more strength left in his body. After a minute, he looked up at Gibbs.
"The bastards that did this to my son. Have you caught them?"
Gibbs nodded, grateful that he could at least give this solace to the man in front of him. "One's in custody. The other is down in Autopsy."
The grin on Brett McGee's face was twisted and bitter.
"Good."
...
As it always did in hospitals, time felt like it was standing still. It seemed like an age had passed before a surgeon in green scrubs entered the room. He went straight to where the McGees were sitting.
"Brett McGee? I'm Dr Simonsen. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that your son doesn't appear to have had any seizures that were masked by the sedation he was under. That's good news. However. He has had more seizures since. Now, we've been able to control them with a medication called Dilantan, but that doesn't fix the cause of the seizures."
"What's causing them?" Maureen asked.
"We've taken a CT scan of your son's brain, and it appears that his brain is swelling where we removed the haematoma. The swelling is causing his brain to press against the skull, and that pressure is what's causing the seizures."
"But you can stop them? With the Dilantan?" Maureen stumbled over the unfamiliar word.
"We can, for now. But the medication is a temporary solution. We need to relieve the pressure by taking another piece of bone out of his skull, a larger piece this time. I need your consent to perform the procedure."
"What happens if you don't? Take the piece out of his skull, I mean." Sarah asked.
"If we don't relieve the pressure, and soon, then at best, he'll be left with significant brain damage. More likely, he would die."
His face pale, Brett held out his hand for the clipboard the doctor held. He signed the papers attached and handed it back.
"How long will it take?" Maureen asked.
Dr. Simonsen leafed through the forms on the clipboard. "A few hours. We'll let you know as soon as we're done."