Tony spends most of the next three hours in complete and utter stillness. The lack of motion is unnerving to Tim, who's long been accustomed to his partner's jittery quirks. He doesn't understand this calm that's come over Tony at all.
Ziva is predictably pacing—their lioness allows herself to remain trapped in a cage of Gibbs' making. That doesn't stop her from eyeing Sasha and Pyotor on the other side of the Emergency Surgical Waiting Room where they'd all been directed after the ER doctors had transferred Yurok to surgery.
When they'd first come upstairs, Gibbs let Ziva join him in interviewing the men about the shooting. Tim's pretty sure that it was part of a bid to calm Ziva—she's never comfortable with anyone unless she thinks she knows or could at least guess their secrets. He's equally as certain that Boss doesn't want Ziva left alone with Tim, or at least, it's obvious to Tim now that between this moment and when Boss and Ziva first walked away from Sasha without anything new to report two hours earlier, Boss has been keeping Ziva separated from Tim, trying to keep her holding her tongue while they're still in public.
It isn't until the fourth hour that an average-sized man with a shock of white hair casually ascends to the waiting room. The last time Toli had seen him, he'd had a dark cap of brown on his head.
"Ilya," Sasha steals the name from Toli's throat.
Ilya's still-broad shoulders stiffen ever so slightly in response, Toli's sure he never would have spotted the change in posture if he hadn't once known this man so well. Wherever his father went, Ilya was always close by. The reverse was also generally true. Since Ilya is here…The next breath from Toli is far too ragged—surely Ilya can hear it—but his father's bodyguard never turns in his direction.
"You have much to answer for," Ilya's voice barely carries over to Toli on the other side of the waiting room. Ilya was never a man that had to raise his voice to anyone. His retaliation was always far too feared for anyone to act against him. Toli had seen his capacity for violence more than once, but he'd never feared Ilya himself. He'd known from a very young age that Ilya's dedication to his father extended without prejudice to Toli as well.
Sasha casually tilts his chin a little farther right, "How can Hepossibly be angry with the results?" Toli hears Sasha's slight emphasis when he refers to their father. Still, Sasha's words are unconcerned, as if he's not afraid of Ilya either.
Pyotor quietly moves away from the conversation, presumably to meet with Papa's security detail somewhere down the hall to try to offer his Pakhan whatever increased safety he can.
"Gibbs," Ziva shuffles on her feet in front of Tim, and when he looks down, he sees that she's grabbed Boss' arm.
"I see it," Boss nods back to her right away, but it takes Tim a moment to understand what they're talking about—men and women with earpieces and barely concealed guns—legal with a permit in this part of the hospital, though not the ER—hurriedly push their way through the hallway.
The women surprise Toli. Papa would never have permitted a woman on his security detail 25 years ago. He didn't think they were strong enough to stomach the violence that came with serving a Pakhan, or even the aftermath thereof. Toli wonders why Papa would be alright with it now. He wonders how else Papa might have changed.
The moment Papa comes into view, though—his tan-colored wool coat whipping around his calves with the speed of his steps, his thinning grey hair barely streaked with the shadow of his former dark blond, the lines of his face deeper than the last time Toli looked up pictures of him at an out-of-state Internet café—he doesn't seem any different to Toli at all.
Toli feels his lips longing to part on his father's name, his feet aching to step forward. He's tempted to, but Papa's walking in this direction, and he has to see him. There's no way Papa would look right at him and walk on by.
And he doesn't. He doesn't look at Toli at all. Instead, he walks up to Ilya. "Yurok Pavelovich?" he inquires.
"Still in surgery," Ilya immediately responds, "His brother, Pyotor, is supporting your detail in the hall."
Papa lifts his chin and nearly smiles. "Pavel's sons are a pride to his memory to serve with the same dedication he did."
By itself, those words wouldn't sting, but with the way Papa does not even glance his way, it feels like the worst kind of reproach coming from his mouth.
"Sasha," Papa redirects his words to the man who may be Toli's brother. "I will have answers tomorrow."
Sasha blinks and drops his gaze. He keeps his mouth shut but nods in acquiescence.
Papa reaches out to lift Sasha's chin between his thumb and forefinger. He probes those black eyes for a long moment—almost too long for Sasha by the way his breath becomes uneven. "You should not have done this. This was far too noticeable—"
"Yet you did not notice for months," It is in that moment, the way Sasha interrupts Papa—his Pakhan—without fear of retribution, that Toli knows Sasha told him the truth about at least one thing: Papa and Sasha share blood. There's no other way he would speak to his Pakhan thusly.
"It is noticeable now," Papa corrects. "And so now we have a problem."
Again, Sasha's eyes falter, an acknowledgement of a truth in Papa's words.
Papa lets go of Sasha's chin and pats his shoulder briefly before turning around and walking away. He doesn't glance Toli's way once. Ilya does, though. Ilya looks at Toli and his team for a long moment before turning back to Sasha, his lip curling in disgust when he says, "Federalnitza," he doesn't glance their way again when he follows Papa out the door.
"Gibbs!" Ziva urgently whispers when the second central leader in the Markov Family walks away from them without Gibbs even asking a single question. Tim's not sure if she knows exactly who they are, but she definitely realizes the degree of their importance.
Boss calmly replies, "No," and doesn't give any further explanation. Instead, he walks back up to Sasha, ignoring Nikolai Markov as much as Papa ignored him. "I take it that was your Boss, Mr. Sokolov?" Gibbs once again forgoes the given name Sasha invited him to use a few hours before.
Sasha straightens again quickly as Boss approaches him. He looks to Toli with a pursed mouth before looking back over to Boss, "Yes, Gibbs," he confirms smoothly. "It was."
"Didn't seem very happy with you," Boss points out.
Sasha rolls his shoulder with a smile, "Pakhan can be quick to anger at times," he dismisses.
Boss shifts on his feet and moves closer in towards Sasha, "He was also surprised by the crowd here," Boss angles his head back towards the team. Gibbs doesn't single Tim out. He doesn't have to.
Tim pinches his brow. Papa had seemed too angered to be surprised, but Gibbs' ability to read people has always surpassed Tim's. By contrast, Tim's always been better at distinguishing larger patterns than most people. He can't see any pattern right now though. He's not sure he can see anything at all.
Sasha doesn't answer, not even under a prolonged glare from Gibbs, not even when Boss presses farther into his space.
"DiNozzo," Boss addresses Tony without ever looking away from Sasha. "You and McGee go home. I'll clear it with Vance," he concludes before Tim can think to protest.
"Home, Boss?" Tony questions.
It's only when Boss says, "Home," again so starkly that Tim realizes Boss is ordering them to his place.
"But Yurok—" Tim's protest is short lived.
"We'll stay to find out about Yurok." And to question Sasha more, Boss doesn't need to say aloud.
"Agent McGee," Sasha calls before Tim can even get his feet turned around, "You should have Turkish coffee more than once a week," he grins. "It's good for you."
Tim blinks, remembering Sasha's earlier words, creating a cover for him should he need to explain his ability to speak Russian, Turkish coffee, cafe across the street from the Orthodox Church, morning jogging route, 6 am.
"Thank you again for saving my life," Tim wants to name Sasha aloud, hear the man's name (his brother's name?) cross his own lips, but Gibbs and his team know him as Alek Sokolov, and despite the fact that at least Boss and Ziva must know Sasha is a common nickname for Alexander, Tim hesitates to speak the diminutive aloud. More than this, Tim doesn't want to speak a false name for a man who might share his blood.
Sasha smiles, just a little, like he's saying hello even as Tony's ushering Tim out the waiting room door.