A/N - Sorry, sorry, sorry for the really long wait! I didn't mean this to take so long, I've just been swamped with exams and Uni. I will be better, I promise! Thanks to everyone who reads and/or reviews!
Disclaimer - I do not own anything to do with NCIS.
The quarantine room was a dull, clinical space which differed from an average Earth hospital's only in that it was bathed in a dim purple light. Scowling all the way but not protesting, Gibbs was chivvied into the sparsely furnished room by a masked and gloved Gorcheva and made to sit on the hospital bed. Dr Gorcheva hooked him up to a heart monitor and drew several vials of blood which, once outside the quarantine room, were passed from the prematurely wrinkled Bulgarian woman to a tall, dark young human nurse, upbeat and cheerful, who grinned at them all on his way out.
"I've sent orders to make those tests priority." Gorcheva said in her gruff, no-nonsense voice which had lost almost all of its accent.
Timothy nodded his acknowledgement and then tipped his head toward the rest of the team, who were watching Gibbs apprehensively through the observation window.
"Run the same tests on the rest of them," Timothy ordered. "They might have been exposed."
The team turned abruptly to stare at him now, alarmed. Gibbs, though he couldn't hear the conversation, was watching them with a dour expression.
"We don't have enough quarantine rooms," Gorcheva said, eyeing the group with detachment. "We should ship them to the hospital Nabultin, they have much better facilities."
"They don't leave the ship." Timothy said with a snap in his voice.
Gorcheva raised an eyebrow. "Am I allowed to ask, General, what we are dealing with here?"
"I don't know." Timothy admitted with a grimace. "Something we've never encountered before. Just run the same tests on the others and find out if that beam did anything."
Timothy had described Gibbs' outburst in Kinoan's office so Gorcheva knew what signs and symptoms she should be looking out for. "I'll do a full neurological workup on him as it's an emergent case but you'll have to get the rest of them registered before I can do anything."
Gorcheva was one of very few people who could get away with talking to Timothy in this way. She was never disrespectful, as Harriet could sometimes be, but was a lot more informal than the rest of the staff. Timothy thought it fair trade for the number of times she had saved his life.
He was just turning back to the NCIS team to explain the process of enlistment when a loud bang on the thick glass of the observation window made them all jump and spin around.
Gibbs was on his feet, one fist still flat against the glass pane, heart monitor leads unconnected. That terrible look of absolute hatred was back in his eyes, which were fixed on Timothy's face. Timothy's heart seemed to stutter and skip a beat as Gibbs drew back his fist to pound on the glass again, mouth opening to form words.
He was shouting so loudly they could all hear him, even through the glass.
"The Void is coming. The Void is coming for you." Gibbs brought his other fist up, lashing out wildly at the barrier between him and the team. His eyes were still locked onto Timothy. He seemed to be trying to break through the barrier to reach the man. "The Void is coming to destroy you, General."
"What the hell is going on?" Tony asked, sounding more than a little frightened.
"Why is he doing this?" Ziva demanded. Everyone was alternating between watching Gibbs with wide eyes and looking at Timothy for some sort of explanation.
Timothy couldn't speak. Though the entire NCIS team was looking at him for answers, Timothy could not tear his eyes away from Gibbs. The man was laughing manically now, pounding against the glass with feet and hands and never blinking as he continued to stare at Timothy.
"We need to sedate him before he harms himself." Gorcheva said, watching the agent calmly. With no personal connection to Gibbs, she was a lot less shaken than the others. She pulled out a small communicator from the pocket of her coat and quickly ordered security to the quarantine bay.
Then, quite suddenly, Gibbs froze. Blinking, dazed, he dropped his arms and stepped back from the glass, staring at them all with eyes now filled with confusion and a little fear instead of utter loathing. The strange turn was over as suddenly as it began only, this time, Gibbs seemed to have been a little aware of what had happened.
"Boss?" Ziva said uncertainly. "Are you okay now?"
Gibbs frowned; he could not hear them through the glass. He sat down heavily on the bed, as if suddenly dizzy, and put his head in his hands. Gorcheva, seeing this, pulled on gloves and mask and made to re-enter the room.
Harriet flung an arm out to stop her and Gorcheva turned, furious, to face the woman. The look on Harriet's face, however, was far from the usual contempt with which she surveyed the doctor. Harriet was pale and very worried.
"Don't go in alone," she said quietly. "If he ... gets like that again he could hurt you."
"Gibbs wouldn't hurt her!" Abby said instantly. It was the first input she'd made to the discussions and her voice was trembling slightly. Ducky put a comforting hand on her arm.
"No, my, dear, Gibbs wouldn't." The old medical examiner said, sagely. "But what we just witnessed was not our Jethro Gibbs."
"I'll wait for security." Gorcheva mumbled, shooting Harriet a very odd look. Harriet stepped away from her, frowning deeply.
"General McGee, what do you suggest?" Harriet turned to Timothy. Her question seemed borne more of a desire to move past that moment with Gorcheva. Timothy jumped slightly, having not really been paying attention to the conversation.
"There's nothing we can do until we get those test results back." He said with a valiant attempt at calmness, which seemed to convince everyone but Kinoan. The alien watched him with a slightly troubled look in his ancient yellow eyes.
"Kinoan, can you take them down to admin? I'd like to discuss something with Doctor Gorcheva. I'll catch up."
Kinoan nodded, not asking for further explanation and gestured for the NCIS team to follow him. Shooting each other and Timothy slightly uneasy looks, they trailed after the diplomat. Their sudden and unexplainable arrival on the Orbiter had shifted the order of things and thrown their world so out of kilter that they were willing to go along with almost any order Timothy gave them. Despite how radically different the man was up here, he was still their team-mate and they trusted him.
Harriet hung back slightly, looking between Timothy and Gibbs. Both men were making a brave attempt at composure but it was clear that both of them were worried and confused.
"Take at least two soldiers in with you," Harriet said to Gorcheva, turning to leave at Timothy's gesture. Her voice was a lot less strident than it normally was and without any of the hostility she usually displayed to the doctor. "We don't know what he's capable of in that state."
Gorcheva nodded, flashing the Captain a slight smile before Harriet disappeared. If he hadn't been so distracted by Gibbs, perched on the edge of his bed and watching Timothy closely, Timothy would have been intrigued. The two women had weathered situations far worse than this one without losing any of their mutual dislike.
Timothy turned so that his back was to Gibbs and spoke in a low voice. "If he gets like that again, sedate him and get him in restraints."
There was an edge of guilt colouring Timothy's voice as he said this. It felt very wrong to be treating his one-time boss and, indeed, friend this way but it was for Gibbs' safety that Timothy made the order. The quarantine rooms weren't secure. Those in them were usually too ill to make their escape a worry. If Gibbs had another strange turn and got out, was free to wander the Orbiter ... with that look in his eyes, Timothy didn't dare guess what he might do.
"I was planning on it." Gorcheva said grimly. She looked at him, searchingly. "But I won't tell him you ordered it, if you wish."
As the sound of footsteps told them that the security soldiers were approaching, Timothy gave Gorcheva a grateful smile and left through the same door as his team.