Chapter Eight

Brothers and Sons

Wondering what else could possibly have happened, Geordie started to move over to him and then looking again, realized he'd figured it out, Tim's secret, hell, their secret. All these years and now it was coming back to bite them or bite Tim. No matter what good he accomplished in his life, as the elder he was still at fault. It had been his decision to go.

Gibbs looked up, his eyes questioning. Geordie gestured to him, "C'mon, let's go someplace private, Tim's not ready to talk about it. " Each gave Tim a quick kiss and found Gibbs' favorite nurse, asking her for a room with some privacy so they could talk. Not as much of a rule breaker as Gibbs had hoped, she was finally persuaded to give them a key to a private room. The two men entered and Geordie took a deep breath. "Can't believe this is coming back to haunt him…us. It…oh geez. Ok, Gunny, just gonna spill it. "

Gibbs nodded.

"It was about six weeks after they got to Bayopolis. They were staying at the shelter whenever Ellen showed up at night, but she wasn't always there, so then they'd come back to the camp. Tim was having a tough time keeping the three of them fed, especially on the days Ellen didn't show. You can only collect so many cans and bottles, find so many scraps in the dumpster and school hadn't started yet so he didn't have anyone paying him yet to tutor or do their homework. We'd split the lady's $20, the lady who almost hit Rob, 4 ways and he'd fed the kids and him for several days with that. Mine was gone too; $5.00 will only stretch so far no matter how careful you are. So we were hungry and he was scared, scared he was going to have to let Sarah go into foster care and Rob would have to go back to being ignored and abused by his mother. One of the older boys in the camp came to me and asked about him, saying he had friends who wanted to meet him, heard he was really smart and they'd pay him to help them on a project. I thought it was students, you know, college students or something like that. Eric was the kid's name and I knew him from around, didn't know anything bad about him. I talked to Timmy, he was nervous, but he was more scared of losing Sarah and Rob than anything else. So we decided to do it. We were supposed to meet at night; Tim asked one of the other ladies at the shelter who was more reliable than Ellen to watch Sarah and Rob that night. He told Lu he had found work and needed to leave their stuff for a few hours, and she let him put it – plus mine – in her office and locked it up. She was really busy; otherwise I like to think she would have questioned Tim more. So we went to the park where we were supposed to meet these guys for the project and Eric was there, he introduced us to a guy. The guy said we'd have to go in the car to where the others were, said there were two places, two projects and they wanted me on one and Tim on the other one. They split us up into two cars. When I got into the car with another guy who was there, he didn't say anything, just started the car and drove around for awhile. He asked me how old I was and I told him and he asked me," Geordie bit back a sob, "if I had any pubic hair yet. I said yes and he nodded and drove around for a couple of hours. He asked if I was hungry then went through a drive through somewhere and got me two hamburgers. I asked him about my project and he said I was too old, it had been canceled. Eventually he drove me back to the park, gave me some money and let me out. I found Timmy on the grass; crying and I could see he was banged up, like someone beat him. His pants were torn and wet. Somehow I got him back to the shelter and saw his pants were all bloody. Miss Lu was there and she helped us, she cleaned Tim up and called Dr. Kelly who said to meet us at the clinic. Miss Lu took us in her car; she had Timmy lying on his stomach on a towel. Dr. Kelly made me stay in the waiting room but Miss Lu was in there with Timmy so I didn't worry. They were in there for a long time and then they came out. Timmy was limping but he wasn't crying anymore and I could see his eyes looked funny, like he was on drugs. Dr. Kelly said she had given him a shot for the pain and she gave Miss Lu 2 bottles of pills, she said one was painkillers, I didn't know what the other one was. Tim slept in Lu's office that night and for the next few nights and I was allowed to stay in the shelter with Sarah and Rob. Miss Lu called it a family emergency so the others wouldn't complain. We brought Tim food in the office, Miss Lu made sure he ate, I found out later the doctor had given Lu some money to feed him and the kids while he was sick. I got to eat with them, so I held onto the money the guy gave me and when Tim was better, I gave it to him. I never told him where I got it; he hadn't gotten paid so probably figured I hadn't either. " Geordie took a deep breath.

"How many?"

"One as far as I know."

"Is he still alive?" Geordie looked at the wall. "Lieutenant, . ?

"No Dad." Geordie finally lost it and Gibbs held onto him. "But it wasn't either of us, I swear."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"You have an idea."

"Yes."

"Is that person still around, still free?"

"Yes."

"Ok."

"What about the kid who lured you there, that Eric?"

"He got busted for drugs a few months later, trying to sell some painkillers to an undercover cop. Heard he had a tough life in prison."

"Wonder where he got those painkillers. Huh, well, you reap what you sow."

"And the Doc…Kelly? Did she report Tim's rape to the police?"

"Yeah, a detective came over while Tim was still recuperating in Lu's office, sat in there and interviewed him. Lu was in there too, had to because he was a minor and Ellen wasn't around."

"He do anything with the case, do you know?"

"Well, there was no arrest, but someone found out who it was, so guessing that answer is not much."

"Remember his name?" Geordie looked at him. "The detective?"

Gibbs nodded, "Just going to have a chat with him if he's still working. Otherwise, no reason."

"Just remember could have been the brass that buried the case."

"Because Tim was just a homeless kid?"

"And maybe because the rapist was someone in high places."

"Who?" Geordie told him and Gibbs vaguely remembered the name as someone who had been a big shot in Bayopolis politics at one time before he was found dead in a ditch, he didn't remember the cause of death. That answered that question although he still intended to have a quiet chat with the detective, whose name Geordie also told him.

"You did good, son, thankful you weren't hurt too."

When Geordie looked at him with defiant eyes, Gibbs gave him a soft headslap.

"Knock it off. It was no more your fault than Tim's. Neither of you! You were kids and you trusted that creep Eric, right? . .fault." Geordie shook his head and Gibbs grabbed him, "Does Tim know you blame yourself? He does, doesn't he? Geordie, think about how that makes him feel. You need to give it up, son, for both your sakes. This is going to be around until the doctors decide what to do about the scar tissue, really for the rest of your lives, so you'd better man up and let it go."

Geordie teared up again and Gibbs took him back into his arms. "Listen to me, you're alive, you both fought through hell to survive and look at everything you four have accomplished. You focus on that, not on the one thing neither of you could fix."

Geordie sat down finally and took several deep breaths. Gibbs sat next to him, "If you can't let it go, I know someone who can help you. She's helped me and most of the rest of the team. Yes, including Tim."

Geordie nodded. Finally he felt he could talk again, "I told Tim earlier today that I want to stay home or closer to home. I'm going to transfer out of SPF."

Gibbs grinned, "That's wonderful, glad to hear it. I know Sarah and Rob are going to be happy too."

"Yep, hope so. I just… I set out to make my dad proud and I'm sure he is…wherever he is. Now it's time to do what I want to do. And that is to be closer to my family."

"How long till you have your twenty?"

"Eight years, maybe less. If I can get a post around here, I'll stay in. If not I figure I'll join the reserves, get my years in."

"That's what I did. I had a medical discharge but was rated for the reserves, only had a couple years to go, so got them in." Gibbs paused; there was something else he wanted to ask Geordie. "You knew Ellen Brill."

"Not well, she didn't like us much, but yeah."

"Could you give me a description of her?"

"You're joking, right Gunny? You're not going to try and find the woman? She did Rob more harm than good, except for giving birth to him."

"Have a theory."

"And?"

"Can't share yet."

"Does Tim kn…" Gibbs' head shake finished his question for him. "Well, Rob has her coloring, eyes and hair, as far as I remember, but I don't think she was tall like he's turned out. Hard to tell because I was still a kid; I didn't get my final growth spurt until my last two years in high school and she was long gone by then."

"Think Lu might remember?"

"Maybe, she's a better bet than me."

"Don't mention this to anyone, ok?"

"As long as you let me know eventually, sure."

"You thought about what you want to do after the Corps?"

"Aside from staying in one place for more than a few months? Some, not much." Gibbs raised an eyebrow and Geordie laughed.

"Yeah, you're good. Well, I've thought about working with returning Marines, get them readjusted to life in the States, I'll let you know more about that once I've been through it myself. Thought about going back to school, getting another degree. Discovered I love history, don't know what I'd do with it though. Before my mom died and my dad dove into a bottle, I used to love to take photos, wouldn't mind something along that line. Sarah and I were talking earlier; we're thinking the four of us could write a book about growing up on the streets, from each of our perspectives. That interests me a lot. The other thing is…well, I don't know how you and Tim would feel, but I like what you guys do."

"You want to be a cop or a Federal Agent?"

"A Fed, I like the feel of that. And I really like the idea of supporting the Corps and the Navy."

"You have unique training as Special Forces, discipline, being aware of your surroundings, always double checking, never assuming. Letting the job go when you're done. Those are all traits we use in NCIS. And you sure have the curiosity and the backbone for it."

"You think Tim would mind?" Gibbs looked away and Geordie saw some grief.

"Gunny, what?"

"He…the doctors aren't sure he'll ever be able to return to field duty, Geordie. They're not sure his back muscles will ever return to full strength."

"Does Tim kn…" again Gibbs' head shake told him the answer. "He needs to know."

"Yeah. I just want him to keep believing for as long as possible. He's worked so hard, Geordie, like nobody I've ever seen. He took everything I threw at him, everything we threw at him, absorbed it and came back for more. And he's a hell of an agent, I'm so glad I told him that before we found out about us."

"That's why you brought me home, to help him with his recovery, to be there when he finds out."

"Selfishly, yeah, the more I heard about you, the more I wanted to meet you and then when Tim was hurt, I …he needs you. I know he'll push back but he needs you."

"Tell me you haven't given up on him."

"I haven't but I also want to make sure he has everyone he needs with him. "

"Ok, so my first thing is to take an extended leave so I can be here with him. Dad, he hasn't …hasn't lost function, has he?"

Gibbs looked at him quizzically and then understood the question. "No, son, judging from the smiles on both his and Ziva's face this morning, everything is functioning just fine."

"Ew, in a hospital room, that's just…"

"Don't knock it until you've tried it but I really hope you're never in a hospital as a patient."

"Yeah, ironic, isn't it. I've never been in after all these years with SPF, but this is Timmy's 5th time. "

"Sixth counting Natalie beating the crap out of Patrick and him when Tim was 6 years old."

"What?"

"Yep."

"I'd like to find that bitch and …huh?" Geordie wondered why his dad was shaking his head.

"She's history."

"What?"

"Join NCIS and find out, otherwise you'll have to wait a few years, it's classified."

Geordie shook his head, "Wow and I thought we had a lot of secrets!"

"What's your security clearance?" Geordie told him.

"I could talk with Vance about it, but that doesn't include our operations."

"No, no need to do that, I think Rob and Sarah would be pretty upset that I got included and not them. And yeah I know that doesn't make sense."

Gibbs looked at his watch, "I've got to get back; DiNozzo's probably dancing on the desktops by now!"

"He's pretty high energy, right?"

"Mm, in a good way."

"Been kind of cool seeing Tim's perspective of him change over the years. Glad they're friends now."

"Me too; believe me. It was pretty cool seeing it ringside too." They walked back to the nurses' station and handed the key back to the nurse there. She looked at it, "Where'd this come from?"

"A little birdie loaned it to us."

"Uh oh."

"Don't worry, I'm a federal agent, we left the room the same way we found it."

"Ok, thanks…you're Tim's dad right?"

Gibbs' smile lit up the room, "I'm proud to say I am." She turned to Geordie, "And you are?"

"Tim's brother."

"Oh, that's…he has three brothers?" The guys nodded. "You have a great family Mr. Gibbs, congratulations."

"Agent Gibbs and thanks I'm pretty proud of them all!"

They walked back to Tim's room and found Dr. Bwookie in with him. "Well, I wondered if there weren't any Gibbses hiding around the hospital, I think this is the first time I've found Tim alone."

Geordie smiled, "We had some catching up to do." He looked at Tim. "He knows Timmy. It's ok, I told him everything." Tim stared at the wall, but nodded. Geordie walked closer to him and took his hand, getting a squeeze back. Gibbs walked to his other side and laid his hand gently on his son's face.

"Doc, if you had medical records about the scar tissue, would you need any more information than that? "

"No, Gibbs, that's all I really need but Ducky…"

"Doesn't have those particular records, we know who does. It's Doctor Colleen Kelly, in Bayopolis. And I'd like to keep this to just us. It's Tim's decision whether to share with anyone else."

"What about Doctor Mallard?"

"I don't know, that's Tim's decision, as I said and unless you need to know tonight, I don't want to push him."

"Of course, you're right. Timothy, I'm sorry if I've seemed to push on this, I've been so focused on fixing things I didn't think about your feelings." Tim nodded his acceptance of her apology and Gibbs took a good look at him, seeing how tired and…almost frail he looked. He frowned, and then leaning in, gave him a quick kiss. "I'll be right back, kiddo, have to go make a couple of phone calls. Geordie, you going to be here for awhile?"

"Yeah, I'll go home with Sarah tonight when she comes by after work."

"Ok." Gibbs slipped out to the front of the building and first called his boss. "Leon, I'm at the hospital. Tim's having a kind of a rough day; I'd like to stay with him."

At Vance's concerned question, he sighed, "No, he's still progressing physically; I just think the emotional impact is starting to hit him."

Ending the call, he turned to go back into the hospital, only to nearly step on, that is run into Tobias Fornell. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to see how Special Agent McGee is doing." He stopped and sighed, "Jethro…"

"Don't, Tobias, just…don't."

"Is he doing all right, I mean you are here in the middle of the day. "

"He's exhausted; I think we've been crowding him too much."

"Oh, well, I …"

"No, you know what? It might do him some good to see you. He can't talk though, you read sign? "

"Can't talk… sign, do you mean ASL?"

Gibbs nodded and quickly updated Fornell on Tim's medical condition. "Geez, the poor kid. Jethro, someday I…"

Gibbs growled, "If you can't say it now, Fornell, then don't say anything. Don't make any more promises you'll just break."

Fornell winced, then taking a deep breath, pointed inside, asking Gibbs' permission. Gibbs nodded, slowly. "As long as I'm there too. Or Geordie or one of my team. "

"Who's Geordie…oh, the older brother, the one in SPF? He's here?" Gibbs watched him as he nodded and thought Fornell looked a little nervous, or more nervous. Good.

They walked in together and the receptionist who had flirted with Rob the previous night looked up and smiled at Gibbs. "You're here early, Agent Gibbs. Will the rest of them be here later?"

"Yes, McKenna, but Rob won't be here till late, he's got lab after class this afternoon."

"Oh, well, uh, thank you. If I miss him, tell him I said hi?"

"Sure will." Gibbs winked at her and continued on.

"McKenna, Rob? "

"Yeah, Rob, Tim's younger brother and he and pretty McKenna have a little flirt going on. I've been trying to …oh no, Fornell you don't get to know anything more about Tim's family, I don't trust you won't try to stick some other cockamamie charge on him."

Gibbs snapped his mouth shut, angry with himself. He didn't used to be this talkative; he thought he'd better stop before he blurted out everything. Thing was, Fornell used to be his friend, the one he went to, along with Mike, when he had a tough case he couldn't shake off , when one of his kids was hurt or he had a failed relationship, a fight with his dad, when he needed to 'talk'. He shook himself; he needed to concentrate on Tim.

They walked into Tim's room to find both Tim and Geordie sound asleep. Gibbs was relieved; both of these boys needed the rest. Fornell hung around for a few minutes and then turned to leave. Gibbs had been studying him and he admitted to himself that he was a bit worried about the man. He seemed far more troubled than he had ever seen him, far more than even his obvious remorse over the 'inquisition and accusation' warranted. Gibbs watched him leave and then silently followed him, noticing the slow pace and hunched shoulders. He wondered what he'd really wanted and made a mental note to give him a call later. Maybe Tim was right and it was time to start putting things right with his old friend, something was really wrong.

XXX

Tim sat on the bed, trying not to drum his heels into it with impatience. He was finally going home! His physical therapy would continue for some time and he could still only speak in a whisper but he was being discharged from the hospital. Although he was beginning to master communicating in a mixture of ASL and whispering, he couldn't wait for his voice to fully return. However, today the PT, the voice, none of that mattered, he was going home! Going to his own home, sleep in his own bed and with his girl. He grinned, the doctor had given him a little talk about having sex and he'd been happy to tell her she needn't worry, he'd been having sex with Ziva here in the hospital since the week Geordie came home. Yeah, they'd had to be a bit creative, but nothing wrong with that. The doctor had laughed and told him they could resume using the 'missionary' position but should be very cautious about anything else that put any strain on his back.

Tim knew it would be at least three weeks before he was cleared for desk duty, but even that didn't seem so long now, especially since Dr. Bwookie had allowed him a half day "pass" earlier in the week. He'd asked the doctor if he could sit at his desk at home and write; her answer was yes but no sitting for more than two hours at a time. When he gave her his puppy eyes, she conceded to three hours at a time with at least an hour break in between. That he could deal with.

Ducky or Jimmy would be in to check him every day for the first week and Geordie would be driving him to physical therapy every day. Rob and Sarah would be visiting between work and school, his Dad he knew he would see every day and he was counting on Tony to show up for movie and pizza night. Yep, it was all planned out. He sighed again with impatience.

Geordie suddenly appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair. "Betcha thought I cut out on you Timmo!"

Tim shook his head, whispering, "Never Geo!" Smiling, he climbed into the chair and his big brother took him to the nurses' station to say goodbye. Tim smiled and waved at all of the fifth floor medical staff who had gathered to say goodbye. His favorite nurse came forward, "We're going to miss not only you, Tim, but your whole family! Who's going to bring us pastries and drink our coffee?" Tim grinned, already planning on bringing his entire clan back around the holidays. He waved one last time as Geordie backed him into the elevator. "Wow; that was quite the sendoff, Bro."

Tim nodded, "They took good care of me."

"Yeah they did."

Tim looked up at his brother, "You decide yet?"

"Decide…what…I never could hide anything from you, could I?" Tim smirked triumphantly.

"Yeah, I've applied for FLETC; I picked a class that starts in five months. Dad and I figured that's enough time for you to finish PT and be back at work, at least on desk duty."

"That's great, Geordie, can't wait to see you as a newbie! And I'm not settling for desk duty, yeah, I've known all along what the doctors said. I'll be back in the field, Geo, chasing down dirt bags and watching my team's six." Geordie grinned at him as they reached the front lobby.

"Have a little surprise for you." Tim looked up at him, blinking. He'd been caught on this one, made sense it was Geordie who succeeded in hiding something from him.

"Don't look at me, look outside, Bro."

Tim looked out, not seeing anything but the entrance and the parking lot beyond. Geordie continued pushing the wheelchair through the double doors and as they reached the sidewalk, Tony's latest vehicle, a rag top Mustang with the top down pulled up to the curb. Tim's grin grew still it nearly split his face as Rob jumped out of the front seat.

"Hey Timpa, we are your ride today."

"That grin's starting to look painful, Probie!"

Tim looked at them and at Geordie. Geordie just shook his head, helped him out of the wheelchair and into the front seat, then laughing, jumped in the back next to Rob.

"Wanted to give you a proper ride home, Timmo, with the coolest of the cool. Who else would that be but your brothers?"

Tim laughed softly as they drove off, his hair blowing in the breeze.

"A band of brothers true we swear to be,
Never to part in danger or in death!"

"From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."

THE END

First Quote is from Schiller's Play "Wilhelm Tell"; second is the well known phrase from Shakespeare's Henry V.

Some of the information about the reserves and pensions came from: .gov/retirement/reserve

I'll start posting the next story in the At What Price series in a couple of days. We'll explore what caused Fornell to go on the attack against Tim and learn more about the family.