A/N: Another story finished. The drama is not as pronounced as some of my other stories. I had to rush the ending to make it in time for the Secret Santa for Enthusiastic Fish. However, I took a couple of hours and added a new scene for you all. Thanks for reading. Sheila

Thicker than Water 4

"The crime scene van has to get the tires rotated today. I scheduled it the last time I brought it in."

"I can do it," Tony said, his head popping up from behind his monitor.

"No, it's okay," McGee said. "My concentration is shot. Got to find some way to earn my paycheck around here."

He spoke in a monotone like someone in a pre-recorded message. They had grown used to his distracted responses in the last couple of weeks, but it was starting to affect his work. Just yesterday, Gibbs had sent him out of interrogation when he fumbled an exchange with a suspect. That episode stung, and the implications still hung thick in the air.

He grabbed his jacket. "I'll be back by 3 p.m."

Gibbs looked up and nodded. Tony started to get up, but Gibbs gave him a look and he sank back into his chair. Bishop watched the two of them in fascination.

Tony waited until McGee disappeared into the elevator and then he turned to Gibbs. "He feels bad."

"He's not focused."

"He's worried about his sister. I don't think he's sleeping well."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"I just understand what he's going through."

"And you think I don't!?" Gibbs glared.

"I didn't say that."

"We're not running a diner here. We need to stay focused or people get killed!"

"Ah…I have something I need Abby to see," Bishop said as she got up and cleared the bullpen.

"See!" Tony threw up a hand. "Now, you're scaring the probie!"

"I swear to God, DiNozzo, I am about to walk over there and show you some focus with the back of my hand!"

"Is this a bad time?"

Both men froze at the sound of Sarah McGee's voice. She stood there in a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans, looking very young.

"Sarah," both men said to her simultaneously. Gibbs stood. "You looking for Tim?"

Her eyes darted around the room. "He's not here?"

"He's out servicing the truck again," Tony said.

"Sit down, Sarah," Gibbs said, leading her to Tim's chair. "Tony will text him and let him know you're here."

She nodded.

Gibbs leaned against his desk. "You okay?"

She bit her lip. "I'm not getting married anymore."

Tony stood. "He hurt you?"

She looked down for a long moment, and then pulled up the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a handprint squeezed deep into her upper arm. "He didn't hit me. Just shook me up some."

"Damn," Tony said as he stood. "That boy and I are about to dance."

Gibbs gave him a sharp look. "Relax, DiNozzo. She doesn't need that right now."

She stared at the bruises. "I don't think he considers this abusive."

Gibbs shook his head. "I was very clear with him."

"I know. After your showdown, he complained about it. Said we were living under a microscope because of you and Dad. He's just not in control of himself."

"What happened?" Tony came over and stood next to Gibbs.

She looked up. "Tim said that if he loved me enough, he'd give up his seat to get help. I didn't want to test him like that, but he's been so stressed and he's not sleeping well. I really thought he needed the help."

"So, you said something?"

"Last night. It was midnight, and he was still pacing and fretting over little things, and I told him that he needed help. I told him I would do anything for him. I said that if he stepped down, I would stand by his side until he was healthy. He has so many options. He could do anything. I told him it wasn't a contest to see how much he can accomplish by the time he's 35, but he didn't want to hear that."

"He get loud?" Gibbs asked.

"Yeah. I tried to leave the room, and that's when he grabbed me. I knew in that moment that this wasn't going to stop. Tried to talk to him about it, but he wasn't even sorry this time. He feels like I put everything at risk by speaking to you, Gibbs."

"He's not a healthy man, Sarah."

"I think I always knew that, but I thought he had more heart. It's like his heart was there one moment and gone the next. I don't know how to explain it." She shook her head, lips trembling.

Tony kneeled in front of her and took her hands. "It's going to be okay, honey."

Gibbs leaned forward. "He's a black and white thinker, Sarah. You telling me anything was a betrayal as far as he was concerned, pure and simple. I was stupid to think he would respond to our little talk with him without retaliating."

Tony watched her closely. "He didn't put up a fight when you left this morning?"

She shook her head. "He doesn't know. I'm going to have to go back there and face him. I anticipate some fireworks."

Tony shook his head. "You're not going back there alone. No way. Those bruises make it a done deal."

"Tony's right."

She blinked tears. "My stuff is there. I have to give back the ring. I'm not afraid and I'm not going to hide from him."

Tony looked at Gibbs and then back to Sarah. "You're not doing it alone. But we have to know. Are you sure you can say good-bye to him?"

She nodded. "I'm sure. I have to be."

"Good girl," Gibbs said softly.

The elevator opened and McGee came out of it, running. "Sarah!"

She stood up, quickly pulling the sleeve over her bruise, and waited for him to wrap his arms around her. "You okay, little sister?"

She nodded into his neck. "Yeah, Tim. I'm okay."

….

Tim squeezed her hand at the front door. "I'm with you all the way."

She looked up at him. "Maybe, I should go in alone. You being there might it worse."

"Yeah…no way," he said shaking his head. He rang the doorbell before she could argue the point further.

Josh was at the door in a moment, smiling brightly. "Hey sweetie! Couldn't reach you. Should've known you were out with your brother. Thanks for watching out for my girl, Tim."

He reached out to pull her in, but she stiffened and Tim put up a hand. "Sarah has something to say."

Josh frowned. "What's wrong, baby?"

She slipped her ring off. "It's over, Josh. We're done."

He shook his head as she tried to hand him the ring. "No way, Sarah. We made a commitment. It's forever between you and me."

"No, it's not," she said, wiping at wet eyes. "I hit a wall. I'm done."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. You know how big my stress has been lately."

She shook her head. "I can't hear that anymore. It's not good enough."

Josh sighed and turned to Tim. "Listen, I'm going to need some time with Sarah. Can you excuse us?"

"No." He tried to keep a Gibbs-like cool about him, but he felt a tremor in his voice as he said it.

"There are two sides to this, Tim. You really need to back off and let us work this out."

McGee had none of Tony's panache with the spoken phrase and so he just shook his head and said, "She's done with you."

Josh reached out his hand. "Come on, sweetie. Let's talk."

Sarah stepped back and McGee filled the space. "She's leaving the ring. We'll be back for her stuff in a few days."

"Sarah! Talk to me!"

She shook her head again and started down the stairs. Josh tried to follow and McGee pushed him back. The former Marine lunged at Tim, pushing him to the ground. He threw the first punch, but McGee scissored his legs and brought him down, rolling over on top of him and punching him in the face.

Tony got there before McGee could hit him a second time. He grabbed him around the waist and pulled him off. McGee was breathing like a bull. "You hurt my sister! You hurt my sister! Bastard!"

Tony held him from behind, patting him on the chest. "It's okay, Tim. It's over. She's not going back. She's got that steely-eyed McGee look in her eye. She's never going back to him."

Josh scrambled to his feet, his face red. "You attacked a U.S. Legislator! Big mistake! Your career is over!"

Gibbs ambled up the stairs. "Got it all on tape. You threw the first punch. I have pictures of the bruises from last night. Got a picture of the swollen jaw you gave her six months ago. I can't wait to pass this on to the media. How about you do your thing and we do our thing, and we'll see who ends up smelling sweeter."

"I got friends, Gibbs."

"So do I. You think you can crush us? Do it, Congressman."

"Threatening me is not a good idea," Andrews said, his voice losing its outrage.

"I don't care. You hurt Sarah. She's one of us, and we don't stand for that." He turned to McGee. "You okay, Tim? You going to have quite a shiner there."

McGee nodded. "Let's get her out of here."

Gibbs turned to Andrews. "We're showing up this weekend for her stuff. Pack it up or don't. It's up to you how many hours we spend in your house."

"Hey! Let's talk about this! Nobody has to get hurt off of this."

Gibbs looked at Tony and McGee. "We're done here. Let's get Sarah and go find a diner. I want meatloaf and pie."

Tony grinned. "Cream pie. Coconut. It has to be coconut."

"You'll take what they have, DiNozzo. None of that fussy nonsense where you want to keep driving around until you find the right place. First greasy spoon we find, we're stopping and we're eating pie."

"What if they're out of pie?!" Tony said as he scrambled after McGee and Gibbs. "Sometimes, diners run out of pie! Coconut cream is often the first to go."

Sarah had Tim by the face, examining his eye. "You okay?"

He smiled. "I'm the best I've been in awhile, Sarah. Let's get in the car. Tony and the boss are going to be fighting over pie for awhile. It gets kind of amusing actually."

"Hey! Get back here!"

McGee and Sarah ignored Andrews as he continued to yell at them from his stoop.

"Boss, at least let me Google some places. We should at least look at Yelp and some user reviews before we settle on a place. I'll check Twitter."

"Shut up, Tony," Gibbs said as he slid into the driver's seat. "I hate it when you say stupid made up words."

….

Tony winced under the weight of one end of the heavy couch as he navigated the corner. "Palmer, you're tilting all the weight on top of me!"

The weight grew even heavier as Palmer tilted it farther so Tony could see his face. "Sorry."

"Palmer!"

Tony heard a crunching sound and then saw the couch pull off a piece of dry wall at the corner. He grinned in spite of himself.

Behind them came a yell. "I see that! I'm watching everything you do! This is coming out directly out of your paycheck. I am on that committee!"

"No, it's not," Vance said to Andrews as he hauled a box past Tony and out the door. "We're all here on our day off."

"He's damaging my condo on purpose!" Andrews screamed.

"Well, you did punch a federal agent in the face," Tony said as he glared at the man. "And I thought we all agreed to clean the slate if you backed away from Sarah. By the way, your swollen jaw looks a lot worse today. I should get a picture of that for the McGee's. The admiral would probably frame it."

Andrews massaged his jaw. "Nothing would have happened if Tim hadn't gotten between me and Sarah! He's nothing but a two bit computer nerd with a lucky swing."

Tony dropped the couch and advanced on Andrews. Gibbs was there in a flash standing between the two men. "A lot of people get in the way of your fists when you're angry, don't they, Andrews!?"

Andrews glared at Gibbs. "I want to talk to my fiancé."

Tony strained past Gibbs. "Well, she doesn't want to talk to you, and she's no longer your fiancé. Wake up, you idiot!"

"You interfered and you shouldn't have done that!"

Gibbs gave Tony a shove so he could focus on Andrews. "I'm supposed to see a fellow Marine when I look at you, but I don't. I see a spoiled and over ambitious boy who gave up the best opportunity at the kind of life the rest of us just dream about."

"I love her!"

"It's too late, Andrews. You showed your cards and she can see your game now. It no longer matters what you want."

Gibbs stopped glaring at Andrews and then pushed Tony. "Take over for Palmer. I'll take your end. You bozos aren't getting anything done fast. I want all of Sarah's stuff on the truck within the hour."

….

He felt Florida's warm air on his face as he watched the surf come in. The beach below him was deserted save two women kicking sand into the waves. He closed his eyes and pretended it could all last forever.

"How's the eye?"

He turned and smiled at his Dad. The Admiral had grown slower in the last couple of days. They could all see it, but no one was willing to have the conversation. "It was the best black eye I ever got."

"I just woke up. Where's your Mom and Sarah?"

He gestured over the deck. "They're taking a walk. She talked to Millie this morning. It sounds like she's going back to live with her in New York."

"Good."

The gray that had settled onto John McGee's face worried him. "You feeling okay?"

"I haven't spent time around your mom in a while. How am I doing?" The Admiral ignored his question as he eased himself slowly into a chair.

"You've been perfect, Dad."

"How's Sarah?"

"Sad but determined. He should've known never to mess with the McGee family."

"Damn straight!" He said and then his eyes grew soft. "I was scared for a bit there though. I don't mind telling you that."

"It's okay, Dad. I knew she'd see him for what he was. She's like you. Once, she makes a decision, there is no going back."

"She's always going to be okay as long as you're around."

Tim's mouth twitched. "Dad, you were on the phone with your Oncologist before your nap. We're taking you back to D.C. in the morning for your chemo again, right?"

The Admiral sighed, his eyes staring at something lost in the horizon. "Chemo's over, Tim. I made a couple of calls- one of them to Gibbs. We're going to spend a few more days here."

"What do you mean?" Tim's gut clenched.

"The chemo is not working anymore. The tumors are growing."

"We can't give up," Tim said. "There has to be something else. We shouldn't be sitting in a condo on the beach! We have to do something, Dad."

"Surgery is a possibility, but the soonest they can do it is over the holidays, and I would prefer to just spend time with all of you."

"Dad, if surgery is even a possibility, we're going for it. You're staying with us as long as possible."

"The results would be only temporary."

"I don't care Dad," Tim couldn't keep the emotion out of his voice. "For the first time in a long time, everything is going well for us. If the surgery can make a difference, then we're doing it. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," he said smiling softly. "Remember that seafood buffet your mom and I used to take you to when you were a kid? The place where you ate all of those cocktail shrimp and were sick for a week?"

"Seriously, Dad. I still think about how miserable that was."

"Yeah, but before you got sick, the four of us laughed a lot. We had fun there. That's what I remember. Let's go again. One more time for your old man, okay?"

He reached over and squeezed his dad's arm. "Yeah, Dad. Anything for you."

…

The End