Chapter 15

One day later...

Ducky walked into the hospital first thing in the morning and walked back to Tim's room.

He was surprised to find it empty.

Had the surgery already begun? Would Tim really have told no one about that?

Unfortunately, the answer to that was likely yes. Tim was not only uncertain about his place on his new team, he was also determined to get this surgery done and he probably didn't want anyone to disagree with his choice.

Ducky walked out of the room and to the nurses station.

"Excuse me, is Timothy McGee in surgery?" he asked.

There was just enough of a pause that Ducky suddenly worried that Tim might have been abducted yet again. Then, the nurse on duty looked up and nodded.

"Yes. They began the surgery two hours ago," she said.

"Do you know how much longer it will be?"

"No. I haven't had any updates as yet. It could be quite a while because they're doing awake brain surgery and the cortical mapping takes extra time. You can go to the OR waiting room if you'd like."

Ducky nodded and went to the waiting room and then pulled out his phone.

"Hello, Jethro. Timothy is currently in surgery. They started it early this morning."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tim was really trying to tell himself that this wasn't same thing he'd gone through before. He knew it wasn't because they obviously hadn't removed part of his skull when originally putting that thing in his head. But the plain fact of the matter was that he was genuinely afraid of what was going on. He just didn't want to admit it.

But as the mapping went on, he was feeling more and more afraid, but he really wanted this to be done. He was trying to hold himself still and answer the questions he was being asked. He was trying to follow all the instructions so that this could be done. Even with the sedative they'd given him, he wasn't relaxed. He was tense and afraid as he listened to the surgical team speaking to each other.

"How are you doing, Tim?" the anesthesiologist asked.

"F-Fine," Tim stammered.

The anesthesiologist's face came into his view, his eyes full of concern above the surgical mask covering his face.

"Are you sure, Tim?" he asked.

Tim swallowed and tried to answer, but what came out was a whimper. The anesthesiologist's face disappeared from his line of sight and he heard low murmuring, but he couldn't understand the words.

"We're almost done with the mapping, Agent McGee," Dr. Jessop said. "You're doing great."

Tim closed his eyes, trying not to cry from the fear of what was going on. It seemed like an eternity and then, he heard some movement. He wanted to lift his head and see, but not only would that be a bad idea, he really couldn't with the apparatus they'd attached to his head anyway.

However, after a few moments, it wasn't necessary. A hand took hold of his and squeezed it gently. He opened his eyes in surprise. Then, another masked face moved into his view.

"D-Ducky?" he whispered.

"Hello, Timothy. I understand that you're a little tense during this procedure."

Tim tried to smile but he couldn't and a tear escaped his eye. He closed his eyes again.

"It's all right, Timothy. If you'd like, I can stay here with you while they finish the surgery. Would you like that?"

Tim did want it, but he was also embarrassed that he wanted it. He didn't want to admit it, but he didn't want Ducky to leave. Instead of answering verbally, he squeezed Ducky's hand as tightly as he could. He felt Ducky pat his hand.

"I will stay with you."

"Th-Thanks," he whispered.

"We've finished the mapping," Dr. Jessop said a few minutes later. "Now, we're going to start the extraction. If you have any problems, let us know, Agent McGee."

"O-Okay," Tim said.

The surgical team was speaking but otherwise, it was mostly quiet in the operating room. Tim kept his eyes on Ducky except when the anesthesiologist would lean into view and ask him questions. He was asked to raise his arms, to answer random questions in order to test his speech patterns, to report on how he was feeling.

In the midst of that, came the disembodied voices of the surgical team that he could hear. They had introduced themselves at the beginning but at this point, they were nothing but voices. He couldn't see them and he couldn't feel what they were doing in his head. All he had was what he could hear.

"There it is."

"Can you get hold of it without breaking it? We don't want to leave any pieces behind if we can help it."

"Let's see."

Tim looked at Ducky with frightened eyes.

"It's all right, Timothy. Just stay still."

"Pulse and respiration are increasing."

"Stay calm, Agent McGee."

Tim felt that was rather pointless to say at this point. But he was definitely feeling strange. Not the same kind of pressure as before, but it was weird. He thought about saying something but he wasn't sure what to say.

"I've got hold of it. Time to get it out."

The world started to glow and Tim tried to tell Ducky but he found that he couldn't get any words out. He started gabbling incoherently.

"Timothy? What's wrong?"

The glow got brighter and brighter and Tim felt all his muscles tensing.

"He's seizing!"

It felt like he was getting electrocuted but then, the glow burst into nuclear brightness and the world vanished.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Ducky watched, hoping for a return of awareness in Tim's eyes. The extraction had paused while Tim was having the seizure. There was very little outward reaction but he was twitching a little bit and they didn't want to risk causing any damage from a sudden movement.

"Come on, Timothy. Come back," Ducky said softly, still holding his hand.

"Pulse and respiration are returning to normal."

The twitching stopped, Tim's body went limp and his eyes closed.

And the extraction resumed. Carefully, the surgeon began removing the device from Tim's brain. Dr. Jessop was monitoring the progress. Pulling this tiny device out of Tim's brain without causing any damage required very careful handling and they weren't going to rush it, even if everyone wanted the surgery to be finished. Ducky kept looking up at them and then back at Tim, waiting for a reaction.

After about a minute, Tim's eyes opened again and he seemed confused.

"Just relax, Timothy," Ducky said, quickly. "Stay still. He seems to be coming out of it."

A nurse moved into Tim's view.

"Hello, Tim," she said. "Can you understand me?"

For a few seconds, Tim seemed to be unable to respond. He just lay there. But then, his eyes seemed to focus a bit more.

"Can you understand me, Tim?" she asked again.

"Y-Yesssss," Tim said, mumbling a bit.

"Excellent. I'm going to ask you a few more of those silly questions, okay?"

"'kay."

"Good. Could you list off words that begin with the letter C?"

Again, there was a long pause. Tim's eyes closed as he inhaled, but then, they opened again.

"Cat... cob... can... computer... cantina..."

Ducky smiled at the quick jump in word length. He was not speaking particularly clearly, but it was intelligible.

"Good. How are you feeling?"

"Fuzzy... weird..."

"You had a seizure while they were removing the device."

"Oh."

"Now, Tim, could you raise your right arm?"

Slowly, Tim obeyed. Everything he did was slower than normal, but he was reacting and he was able to do what he was told.

Ducky looked up for what felt like the millionth time and saw the surgeon carefully placing a tiny black object into a petri dish. Dr. Jessop put the lid on the dish and then set it to the side.

"All right. All that's left to do is close up," the surgeon said.

"You've made it through, Timothy!" Ducky said, squeezing his hand gently. "You did it."

A vague smile as the nurse moved back and the anesthesiologist took over.

"All right, Tim. We're going to increase the sedation while they get everything finished up. You may fall asleep, but you won't feel anything as they put in the stitches. All right?"

"'kay," Tim mumbled.

After a few minutes, Tim's eyes weren't completely closed, but they were very close to it. Ducky stayed where he was and kept hold of Tim's hand, watching the surgical team in silence, until the surgeon finally stepped back with a sigh of relief.

"Done."

"And now?" Ducky asked.

"Now, Agent McGee can focus on recovering and I'm going to see what I can find out about this thing," Dr. Jessop said. "I'm shocked at how small it is considering what it had done."

Ducky nodded and looked at the petri dish. The little black object could almost be a tiny insect. Easy enough to see, but hard to discern details.

"But that's my task. Agent McGee doesn't need to worry about any of that."

"We're going to move him into recovery and then, so long as there are no ill effects from the sedation, he'll be moved into the ICU, hopefully only for a day, maybe two, while we make sure that there was no damage from the surgery."

Ducky nodded once more and walked with to recovery and then proceeded to wait once more.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"How much longer do you think it will be?" Abby asked for at least the tenth time since they'd all been sitting there waiting for news.

"As long as it will take," Kate said. "Abby, this is something that no one really knows. What it takes for Tim to be stable is probably up in the air."

Abby pouted a little but didn't protest.

No one else bothered to answer.

Just as they had before, they were hoping that the news was good. The main difference was that Ducky was back with Tim already and had been for hours. He had reported in once but that was it. The rest of them were stuck waiting.

Gibbs was simultaneously understanding of Tim's desire to go ahead with the surgery regardless of the risks and annoyed that he had pushed to do it and not told anyone. From what he had seen in Tim's file, working on a team was not something that Tim had much experience with. He had worked alone in nearly every situation for which there was a record. Even at FLETC, one of the comments was that Tim had made few connections with the other agents. He had been happy to speak with the instructors, but he hadn't done much with the other agents. Learning to be part of team was going to be as difficult as learning to be a field agent in some ways.

Finally, the door opened and Ducky came out. Abby ran over instantly.

"Can we see him yet, Ducky?" she asked.

"Yes, but Dr. Grayson said only for a few minutes. Timothy is going to be very groggy and he may not be able to converse very much. He also needs to be kept still. No jostling him in your glee, Abigail," Ducky said.

"Did everything go all right?" Tony asked.

"As well as it could have, all things considered."

"Meaning?"

"Timothy had a seizure while they were removing the device from his brain, but he was responsive afterward."

"Oh, no!" Abby said. "He must be feeling rotten."

"Yes, I'm sure that's an accurate description at the moment."

They all walked down to the ICU together. Tim was lying in a bed with the now-familiar EEG net of sensors on his head. His eyes were mostly closed and he looked very worn out.

Abby reached him first, of course, but she seemed to have remembered Ducky's injunction and she just took Tim's hand and then leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Timmy, are you awake?" she asked softly.

Tim mumbled a little bit and then his eyes opened a little bit more. He looked around at them all vaguely.

"Hey," he mumbled.

"How are you feeling?" Abby asked.

"Awful."

"Serves you right for doing this without telling us!" Abby said.

For a moment, there was no response. Then, Tim's eyes opened a little bit wider as he looked at Abby.

"Why? Were... you going to... operate on me... instead?" he asked. There was a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Gibbs suppressed a smile of his own. Tim making a joke was a good sign of eventual recovery. Abby tried to be mad at him, but she ended up laughing and kissing Tim on the cheek again.

"Good one, Probie," Tony said. "No more surgeries and crazy ESP stuff, okay?"

Tim's eyes wandered slowly over to Tony. He took a breath and then slowly let it out.

"Fine... by me," he said.

"All right. I think we need to let Timothy rest," Ducky said, intervening. "We'll be back again, but for now, all you need to do is recover."

Tim nodded slightly and his eyes slipped closed once again.

"Should we really assume that those two guys are the only ones involved?" Kate asked in a soft voice. "Maybe we shouldn't be leaving Tim alone yet."

"I'm staying the night," Gibbs said, tersely.

"Why you?" Abby said. "I haven't got to help at all!"

Gibbs just raised an eyebrow. Abby pouted once more but made no further protest. Everyone cleared out of the room except for Ducky and Gibbs.

"Well?" Gibbs asked.

"As I said, the surgery went as well as it could have, given how little was known for sure," Ducky said. "Dr. Jessop is going to make a study of the device and see if he can figure out how it works and what its purpose is. This will include full documentation of both the surgical removal of it, Timothy's MRI showing its placement, and all that he discovers about it. This will all be available to NCIS."

Gibbs nodded and then settled down for the evening. Ducky excused himself and left Gibbs alone.

As he sat there, he thought about what Tim had gone through, why it might have happened and who, if anyone, might also be involved. Tim had said he had supposedly been part of a control group. Clearly, that had not been the case. Whatever they had pretended to be testing for, Gibbs guessed that the "control" group had been the real focus and they had been looking for some trait that Tim had ended up possessing. It couldn't just be raw intelligence. Tim was definitely smart, but would that really be all that was required to create this ability? Gibbs was no expert, but he doubted it was that simple. For one thing, the focus of all the activity had not been on being smart. It had been on the part of the brain associated with emotions and behaviors, not simple intelligence. So something about Tim's brain had been what they wanted for this experiment. While he understood that Tim probably had very little control over what he'd done at the building, Gibbs wished that Tim hadn't burned it down. They had lost whatever evidence might have been in there in the blaze, putting them almost back at square one.

But they could hope that this was the end of it as far as Tim was concerned. The device had been removed. So there was nothing else that they could want from him.

Tim murmured a little bit in his sleep and then stilled.

Hopefully, it was over.