Jf38 - so the best, yet strangest thing happened while we were away. It definitely put a smile on my face. My daughter and I escaped the city to our holiday house for the long weekend as soon as I finished posting He Didn't Have To Be. Literally, I shut down my laptop, switched off our modem so the Wi-Fi was off while we were away, set our house alarm and off we went. I had already pre-packed the car that morning, a very last-minute decision made to leave, over breakfast.
Fast forward to 0220 the following morning. My phone jolted me from my sleep. Very early hours of my birthday and it was my brother. He was frantic, begging me to meet him in town, on their way into the hospital. He was asking me to collect my niece (their daughter, who's a year younger than mine) as his wife was in very active Labor (contractions 3 minutes apart). She wasn't due until Feb 20, so it was very unexpected. Long story short. My newest little niece decided to make her grand entrance into the world on my birthday. Except they didn't exactly make it into the hospital. She was born in the parking lot with me and my brother and our kids there. Right by her side. It was the strangest most surreal moment. One second, they were three minutes apart and the next minute she was here, slipping out of my sister-in-law as she was walking her daughter over to my car to see us off.
How's that for the best birthday present ever? Three and a half weeks early. They named her after me, giving her my name as a name (different middle name though) Which made me cry. I was touched and honoured. (Our Mum wasn't surprised though, my brother and I are really close, we're Irish twins and he's married to my BFF) My three and half year old and their two and half year old sat either side of my sister-in-law and didn't move, they weren't scared either, just tried to help my sister-in-law, as the baby was born.
My jacket was sacrificed and my cardigan became a blanket for my niece, but I still don't care. Definitely not a birthday I'm going to forget any time soon :)
In celebration of that life changing moment, I will be posting a new one-shot story that I had previously abandoned. I've managed to solve the problem I had with it and I'm going to post it, to celebrate!
The waiting was killing Gibbs, but Sarah and Tobias seemed to be struggling more. Secretly, that made him happy. That they were beginning to see him and treat him as their son. He had begun to pace the room. He knew Kelly was going to lose her cool when she found out about Tim. Even though Vance had ordered it, she would still blame him for not having Tim's six. Especially once it comes out that Tim left the yard, on his orders.
Gibbs began pacing again, which just grated on Tobias' nerves for the first hour. Ten minutes ago, Gerald Jackson had wheeled Tim down to the imaging department, one floor below. Ducky had briefly made an appearance, telling them that they were almost through and Tim would be settled in his room whilst all of his doctor's conferred on his prognosis.
To Gibbs, Ducky had seemed optimistic, which settled Gibbs' gut. But it wouldn't be fully settled until he saw Tim awake, sitting up in bed. Gibbs briefly let his mind slip away to Tony and Tali, wondering if they were safe and if Tony had made his check in with Leon. He wondered if Tony had bought Leon's explanation.
Tobias had joined Gibbs in pacing when he had been tensely holding Sarah's hand so tightly, that he had accidentally hurt her. When Gibbs had sat, reflecting on whatever had captured his thoughts. Tobias had re-joined Sarah, putting his arm around his former wife.
Sarah had been getting annoyed by the lack of information coming from the doctors, who were caring for Tim. She had seen them wheel him away to be scanned, he had been cleaned up and she had been able to see his face. Both his cheeks, his eyes and his jaw looked like a solid bruise. His eyes had been closed and his breathing steady, she hoped he'd taken something for the pain and it was a medicated sleep.
She took Tobias' hand in hers, remembering the feel of it, the very first time he held her hand. It was when she was thirteen. It gave her the shivers and excited her back then and today, when she took it, it still did the same thing.
For the first time in a long time, Sarah prayed for Tim. Prayed he would be OK, prayed he would heal quickly, prayed he wouldn't be too injured. But most of all; she prayed for his recovery.
Ducky came out, another hour and a half later, twenty minutes after Tim had returned from the imaging department. "In a few moments, Tim will be settled in a room down the hall." Ducky announced, as he took a seat beside Gibbs. He looked tired and the good doctor had changed into his regular clothes from the scrubs he had been wearing earlier. "Tim has two broken ribs, a mass of cuts and contusions, a dislocated elbow, that is now back in its socket, a hairline fracture to zygote bone, of which he is extremely lucky he doesn't need surgery for, and he is extremely fatigued. Most it was cuts and bruises. He does, however, have a head injury, also. We have graded his concussion as moderate to severe, with some swelling on his brain we hope will go down by itself. An MRI and a CT-B has cleared any possibility of bleeding on the brain. Overall, he is in far better shape than our initial analysis."
"Thank goodness." Sarah exclaimed, hugging Ducky in thanks. "Thank you. Is he conscious? Can I see him?"
Ducky blushed and wiped his glasses on a handkerchief. "No, he is not conscious, we have put his in a medicated sleep to let him sleep through the night. When he is settled in his room and the protection detail is in place, you can sit with him as long as you like, my dear. Jethro? Who's on first watch? Timothy will be taken to his room, shortly." he asked his friend, as he looked at the stress on his friend's face.
"Tobias and I, Duck." Gibbs told him. "We sent Balboa and Sacks to get some rest an hour ago. I need to update Vance."
Gibbs took himself over to the corner of the room and pulled out his cell phone, finding Vance's personal cell number. It was after 2200, then gotten to Tim at 0410 this morning. It had been a very long day.
" Yeah Vance." Leon's tired voice came over the phone line. "That you Gibbs, how's Tim?"
"Yeah." Gibbs answered in a sigh. Gibbs quickly relayed Ducky's announcement about Tim and that he hoped to physically see Tim soon. "You, OK? You sound tired."
"Yeah, just got back from the server site. It has been a long day. Dorney did such a good job and Tim's coding was perfect. Our cybercrimes unit has been working overtime downloading and analysing everything on our system."
"Have they found anything useful yet?" Gibbs asked, he was curious and he also thought Tim would be asking him the same question, as soon as they were alone. It always helped him to have an answer for Tim.
"Not yet, but they've just started. Dorney's crashing at my place and Benson a d Carter are outside, on detail." Leon explained to Gibbs. "How's Tim doing?"
"Ducky has sedated him to allow him to rest through the bulk of the pain. Ducky, all of us really, were relieved that although Hadassar and Ziva did a number on him, there isn't anything, life threatening."
"I thought Ziva saved him?" he asked. Leon had been led to believe that had been how it had gone down.
"Yeah, but we know she did her fair share of smacking around, too." Gibbs sighed, as much as Ziva had given them the flash drive and saved Tim, she had also injured him. "Ducky had found signs of Ziva's distinct handiwork on Tim's body."
"It's late, Gibbs. What's happening there?" Leon asked again, through a yawn.
"Ducky and Dr Hamilton will get Tim settled in a room. Sacks and Balboa are resting and Tobias and I are on first watch." Gibbs replied to his boss through a yawn of his own.
" Brief me again at 0700 hours tomorrow morning. Hopefully CCU will have a clearer picture by then." Vance decided, trying to smother another yawn. "Do wake me if Tim takes a turn or becomes worse off. Admiral Sam Peterson, he owes me a favour. I can call it and get him a bed at Walter Reed if we have to. I don't like leaving it to chance. We left it too late today, Gibbs. What if Tim had been more seriously injured. We should have had him taking to somewhere, under heavy security. That's on us."
"Ultimately, that's o us, but we made the difficult call and it proved right. Unfortunately, Tim would have been in more danger, as well as civilians if we had of had him taken to a normal hospital. These were extraordinary circumstances, Leon. We had to make the best of a bad situation. Are Elaine and Steve, ok?"
"Stewart and Jackson are watching their home. Elaine gathered the whole family to keep them safe. They will take tomorrow before returning to business as usual, the following day." Leon said, he had been readying himself for bed while holding his cell to his ear with his shoulder. As soon as Gibbs disconnected the call, Leon knew all he would have to do, is close his eyes and he would out like a light. "Elaine and I, we were able to come to a compromise that compensates them for their lost revenue and benefits the agency. So, they were happy to have the downtime. By the Elaine, she sends Tim her best. She is really worried about him."
"As soon as Tim is awake and functioning normally, I'll have him phone her and get him to thank her. Her and Steve saved his life that morning. Imagine if they had ignored the banging on the door, it was early in the morning and Elaine has been robbed before." Gibbs said. "Got to go, Leon. We're getting ready to get Tim into a room. I'll call you at 0700 hours tomorrow morning. Get some sleep."
Gibbs disconnected the call, as he joined the rest of their crew, as Tim was wheeled down the hall, on the bed. His sleeping unconscious form, none the wiser. Sarah was walking beside the bed, holding her son's hand and Tobias was behind her, by his head. Duck and Gerald to the front. Gerald had a small, electronic device attached to the bed, from the foot of the bed, called an evo mover, that helped him steer and manoeuvre the bed so he didn't hurt or strain his body. Gibbs raced to catch up with them and joined Dr Hamilton, making up the complete team.
When Tim woke, the walls were a stark white, bright sunlight was streaming through an open curtain. He blinked rapidly, clearing crusty sleep from his eyes. Someone was holding his non-injured hand but he couldn't see who it was. They were hunched over on the side of his bed, their head resting in their hands and their forearms on the bed. He looked closer at the figure and decided it was a male. Tim had had vague dreams while he was asleep of his mom, Sarah. That she had been here, by his side, holding his hand and talking to him softly. Telling him about her life and about his sister, Megan. Telling him that she never stopped loving him and how thankful she was that he was still alive. That she had a chance to be his mom again. That she didn't blame the McGee's or hold any ill will towards them, especially Nikki and Penny because they had raised him to be such a sweet and endearing gentleman. Before praying that he hoped he would be ok.
The figure holding his hand shifted and he almost recoiled in surprise to see Tobias Fornell sitting there. To Tim, the FBI agent looked weary and run down. a kind of bone tired that was more than physical. Tim kept his breathing even; he didn't want to disturb Tobias. Especially since it seemed that he was now resting peacefully. "Hey sleepyhead." A small voice teased him from the doorway. Tim knew that voice anywhere. It was Gibbs' voice. He looked over and smiled at his boss. "I have some good news for you, Timmo." Gibbs teased. He couldn't resist teasing the man, as he called him by an affectionate nickname, happy to see him not only conscious, but conscious and alert. "Kelly and Bishop are on their way home. They'll be here sometime before dinner."
"Huh?" Tim asked. He was confused. "How?" Tim tried to sit more upright and Gibbs took the seat on the bed, on the opposite side of an exhausted Tobias and encouraged him to stay put.
"It's all over, Tim." Gibbs grinned at him. "Hadassar was the daughter of Bodnar. Do you remember him? He assassinated Eli David and Jackie Vance? She had formed a fraction from within Mossad. A small splinter cell, Ari had been a part of her cell, taking her with him when he defected to Hamas. There she met Benham Parsa. Eli had unknowingly put her on Parsa's scent, asking her to keep her eyes on him a report back. She reported that he was not who Eli thought he was, that's how Parsa slipped under the radar and evaded out attention for so long. Meanwhile Hadassar married Parsa in secret, they recruited Jenny. Apparently, she was disgruntled and irritated, hating and blaming the world for dying by such a horrible disease. Jenny and Delilah had met at a DoD conference, not long after Ziva joined NCIS. Soon enough, Jenny, Delilah and Hadassar were a part of this group and they were working on recruiting Ziva. Her claims that Eli ordered her to become a double agent are only her word. Unfortunately, Mossad isn't being entirely cooperative, they're trying to save face and they are claiming there is no evidence supporting Ziva's claims. But we did find out that Ziva had been actively investigating them. Deep in the NCIS archives on the back-up server, Leon, Dorney and our CCU team found that Ziva had stashed the bulk of her intel on hem, saved on our servers."
"What about Delilah? We know that Parsa got into our system, by piggybacking off her laptop?" Tim asked. He felt like he needed to know. Needed to know how badly Delilah had duped him.
"Hadassar and Ziva smacking him about, certainly didn't scramble my boy's brains, Gibbs." Fornell jested, raising his sleepy head off the other side of the bed where he had been resting on Tim's bed. "Welcome back to the world, how are you feeling?"
"Sore. Now tell me Gibbs." Tim begged his boss. Tim was beginning to think that Gibbs had been deliberately stalling when Gibbs and Tobias exchanged an odd look between them. "Someone please tell me the truth."
"Seems that after that mess with Benedict and your sister, you somehow managed to piss Jenny off." Gibbs said softly and he knew that what he had to say next was going to hurt Tim, but if he didn't tell Tim. That would hurt him, more. "Jenny had Delilah target you. Hadassar would do surveillance and background. Jenny had Ziva form a friendship with you, to get close to you. Their plan was to kidnap me and have me lead them to Tony and Tali, Ziva defected last minute. With Delilah and Jenny dead, Hadassar had control. Control over Ziva. Hadassar was happy to target you, knowing what had happened between you and Delilah."
"Tim, you did nothing wrong." Tobias told his son, firmly. "Nothing wrong at all. It was just unfortunate that Jenny Shepard had her own agenda and targeted you. She out you in danger and got you into this mess. By all accounts from Ziva, she was trying to save you."
"Your father is right, Tim." Gibbs said, grinning at his friend and his agent, a man who felt like he was Gibbs' son too. "You did nothing wrong and Ziva was trying to save you, to protect you. Hadassar can't hurt anyone, anymore."
"Is anyone injured?" Tim asked, reading between the lines at what Gibbs had said.
"If Hadassar was alive, she'd still have a whopper of headache. Jimmy had gone with Carter and Benson to Ducky's to retrieve a medical text book and Hadassar had been lying in wait or Ducky. Getting anxious, she tried to take Jimmy, but jimmy cold-clocked him with one of Ducky's prized collectable possessions. His Ricky Henderson baseball bat that the man himself had gifted the man. Ziva had been too late and hadn't been able to stop Hadassar. Jimmy, Carter and Benson were waiting for back-up by the sedan when the house exploded. Hadassar was killed and Ziva was injured, superficially. She will be ok. But she has been deported to Israel to face a review board." Tobias recalled.
"Ducky's not going to be happy." Tim grimaced. "His beloved home up in flames."
"Completely ruined, but the insurance assessor will assess it, we will salvage anything of value and Ducky has been and will continue staying with me." Gibbs continued. "Oh, and Kelly and Bishop have matching head wounds, unrelated to the case. I'll let Kelly tell you about that."
It was a lot of information to take in and Tim closed his eyes and absorbed everything he had learnt. Ziva was ultimately good, but had done some really questionable things. But she had meant well.
Tim leaned back in the bed and kept his eyes closed. Eventually, drifting back to sleep.
When Tim woke up again, he had a room full of visitors. It was dark now. The curtains were open to allow him to see the night sky. Ducky and Jimmy were talking in low voices by the bed. Breena and Abby, were beside them listening to the two doctors' talk. Ellie and Jake were nestled together, Ellie in his lap, at the foot of the bed. Vance was on his left side, next to Tobias who looked like he hadn't moved. Sarah had pulled up a chair and sat by his shoulder, next to Tobias. Really close to him. Gibbs was half-perched on the end of the bed, on the right-hand side of the bed and Kelly was holding his hand close to her body.
Her face was tear stained and angry looking, but she smiled at him when she aww those beautiful green eyes open. Tim took her in, drinking up her presence. He had missed her. Her beautiful skin the same as before, unmarred by injury with the exception of a small cut across her eyebrow that was taped over with steri-strips. Her golden auburn hair loosely tossed up in a ponytail.
She returned his smile. No one else was yet to notice he was awake and she grinned at that. The two lovers enjoying a perfect, wordless reunion. Tim gave her the tilt of his head, regretting it immediately with pain, but smiled through it when Kelly moved out of the chair and perched herself on the bed, facing him. She pressed her lips to his softly in a chaste kiss, which Tim revelled in.
"You're awake again, Timothy." Ducky announced and all of a sudden, the room was filled with noise, as everyone crowded around him.
Kelly let out a loud whistle, putting two fingers in her mouth, like her father had taught her when she was six. "Everyone out for a moment. Let Ducky do an exam and let Tim get his bearings in peace and quiet. He doesn't need to be bombarded." Kelly's voice wasn't her usual tone. It wasn't soft and friendly. It was abrupt and harsh. She understood all of their concerns and yes, she appreciated that they wanted Tim to know that he had their support, but bombarding her boyfriend like that was unacceptable to her.
Everyone moved rather quickly and Gibbs had been surprised that Kelly had taken that tone of voice with them, especially with him. But then he remembered that Tim had been hurt on his watch and no one had told her until they got back to the Navy Yard.
Kelly let go of Tim and moved off the bed, intending to follow the crowd out of his room. "Kell." Tim's voice stopped her, he didn't want her to leave him. To leave his side. "Stay!" he begged her and she came closer and kissed his non-injured cheek.
Ducky closed the door and asked Kelly to take a seat in the chair by the bed while he gave Tim an examination. Kelly and Tim didn't stop looking at one another through Ducky's examination, except when Ducky was checking Tim's neurological obs. "You're doing remarkably well, Timothy." Ducky praised him, smirking to himself at the young lovers' eyes tracking each other. "Now, how about I see about getting the two of you five minutes, alone? Let the two of you become reacquainted."
"You're the best, Ducky." Kelly glowed at him, in relief. Ducky nodded to them, as he pulled the curtain around Timothy's bed further, so it also blocked the window to the hallway, on the door, as well as the big bay window to the corridor, before leaving the two of them alone.
As soon as they were alone, Tim let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad they're all supporting me, but I just want a few minutes to ourselves." Tim told her, as Kelly moved to sit by him on the bed. Closer than she had before. "I missed you so much, Baby. When I was held hostage, I thought about you, a lot."
"Oh Tim." Kelly said softly, kissing his lips in a feather touch, afraid to hurt him any further. "I missed you so much, too. It actually hurt. Ellie didn't tell me anything, but I just knew something had happened to you. The extra agents Leon sent were cold and uber-focused on their job. But they were nice to Ellie."
"They were probably worried about messing up. Leon sent them after I had been taken." Tim surmised out loud to her, holding Kelly closely. "They were probably worried they would make a move on you to get me to do something. It's no secret, I'd do anything to protect you from harm. They were also probably threatened by Gibbs, too. Your father is pretty influential within our agency. A lot of agents revere him. Some are terrified of him; others owe him favours. I certainly would not want to be the agent guarding Gibbs' daughter and she got hurt." Tim began chuckling, which hurt his ribs and he winced in pain.
Kelly felt his wince and pulled back from being held lose. She was enjoying being back in the safety of Tim's arms. "I love you, Tim." she grinned at him and peppered the uninjured side of his face with kisses.
"I love you too, Kell." He returned the gesture, kissing her. His jaw hurt, but he was missing getting to be with her and wasn't ready to give up kissing her. For that, he would push through the pain. He grinned against her lips when Kelly let out a small jump in surprise, when he brushed his tongue against hers as he kissed her. Reluctantly, Tim broke off the kissing. He rested his forehead against hers. "I think we need some alone time, just as soon as I am recovered." Tim panted to her, as he let his lungs catch up with his breathing. "Maybe a small getaway."
"I agree. Doesn't have to be extravagant, just private." She returned his grin. She had felt that kiss from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, it had made her dizzy with want, heat was pooling in her belly and she had felt Tim's love come through in it. "Remember when I left and you whispered that question in my ear? That question you asked me?"
Kelly's breath sounded breathless and it went straight to Tim's heart. He loved being able to get Kelly all breathless like that, from just a kiss. "Yeah." Tim replied, realising that as good as he had given her. He was just as breathless; she had given him just as good.
"Yes." she told him, her eyes wide and clear, while her mouth gave him a goofy grin. "I'll move in with you. Sharni and I would love to. We're ready."
"Are you sure?" Tim asked her, as he grinned stupidly at his girlfriend. "I told you not to rush into making a decision."
"I didn't rush into anything." Kelly denied as Tim pulled her close again, into his uninjured shoulder, this time. "I thought about it, very carefully. We are already doing fine 'living' together now. Plus, we wouldn't be wasting all that money on my rent. That's money we could be saving. I love you, in both the good times and in the bad, obviously. We're not just dating; we're living our lives together."
"Yes, we are." Tim smiled down at her and kissed her lips, again. "Living our best life. You, me and your dog."
"Our dog. She's not just mine now, she is ours." Kelly replied, a wide smile on her face. "Besides, she thinks you're her master, anyway."
"She knows her human Mama will give in to her every whim." Tim explained, taking Kelly's hand in his and kissing it, urging her to lay down beside him on the wider than normal hospital bed. "Let her be the boss."
"Can't think why she would think you're the boss." Kelly jested at Tim. "You're too easy going."
"Told you already, Jethro used to like to push my buttons."
"When you say it like that, it sounds like my dad was the one pushing your buttons." Kelly teased him..
"Oh yeah, and he still does." Tim chuckled, as Kelly let Tim hold her close and snuggle into her. Before she could stop herself, her body fully relaxed and her eyes slipped closed.