Despite the late night, McGee was up as soon as he heard Sarah moving around. He deflated and stored his bed to protect it from doggie nails and had the coffee on when Sarah came out. She immediately sat in his computer chair, tucking her knees under her chin, her hands lost in the oversized sleeves. "Today is the day." She stared at her backpack, seeing instead the pregnancy test hidden inside.
"Yeah, it is." Tim kept his tone soft, letting her take the lead.
Sarah used the fabric bunched at her wrists to scrub at the tears on her face. "What am I going to do if it's positive? "I don't think I can handle part of him growing inside me, does that make me an awful person?"
Tim moved closer, kneeling down next to her. "No, Sarah, it makes you human. Whatever happens, whatever you decide, I'll be with you one hundred percent." He held his hand out and waited for her to take it, a routine they had fallen into since her assault. "It may not seem like it right now, but it's going to get better."
"Mom and Dad are going to find out, aren't they? The insurance company is going to send them copies of the hospital bill." She started to hyperventilate. "I'm not ready for them to know, Tim. Dad's going to be so mad and..."
"Hey, hey, you're the victim here, they'll understand that. Yeah, Dad's going to be mad, but at the animal that hurt you, not at you. But you don't have to tell them until you're ready. I'm paying the hospital bills myself, so you don't have to worry about it." Both of them knew that Tim would be the most likely recipient of their father's anger, especially if a friend of Tim's was implicated.
Sarah bit back a sob in relief. That night at the hospital she had begged Tim not to call home. She hadn't really understood at the time just how much she was asking of him, but her brother had taken care of everything. Tim waited until she could give him a shaky smile.
"You ready?" When she nodded, he stood and waited for her. When she was ready, she walked into the bathroom with the kit and closed the door. A few minutes later she came out, clutching the instruction sheet.
"It says not to look at the test strip for three minutes." Instead, they stared at the clock, Tim bouncing his knee, Sarah twisting her hair. At three minutes Sarah returned to the bathroom. She came out moments later, sobbing, the plastic test strip in her hand as she threw herself into Tim's arms. He didn't know if it was tears of joy or sorrow until he saw the single pink line in the result window.
"Thank God, oh, thank God." Shedding a few tears of relief himself, he let Sarah sob against his shoulder until she had exhausted herself. When she finally pulled back, Tim gently wiped her tears away. "I've got to take Jethro for a walk and then to the groomers, how about if I pick up some of those sticky buns you like while I'm out? You haven't been eating very much."
The promise of her favorite treat seemed to perk her up a bit as she tossed the used test in the garbage. "The butterscotch ones?"
"Sure, sis, if that's what you want." Tim left, hoping that today would be the day her recovery turned the corner.
---NCIS---
Tony was waiting for Ziva at the end of her run. He handed over her favorite coffee order as they walked to the parking lot where she had left her car. "Has McGee talked to you?"
Normally the temptation to tease him would be something she wouldn't resist, but she was worried about McGee also. "No, he has not. Other that the case, he only asked me how I recovered from what happened in Somalia."
He thought that was an odd thing to bring up under the circumstances, and, judging from her expression, so did Ziva. Tony tried to fit it in with what McGee had said to him, but the pieces didn't fit yet. "What did you tell him?"
"I told him that some things you do not get over, that instead you must come to terms with what happens and move on. It seemed to answer his question."
"Have you?"
Ziva thought about pretending to misunderstand the question, but after the risks her team had faced for her, she couldn't. "For the most part, yes. What do you suggest we do about McGee? He is distracted and hurting. He and Abby have had their differences, but never like this."
Tony tossed his empty cup in a garbage can as they walked past. "I'm going to go talk to him. Just the two of us, man to man, maybe he'll open up. Probie's not good about keeping things bottled up. See you at the office later."
It was a quick drive to McGee's apartment, so it was only a few minutes later when Tony found himself knocking on the door. He'd seen McGee's car in the lot, so when there was no answer, he pulled out his lockpick set and started to work.
---NCIS---
After a brisk walk in the park, Tim put Jethro in the car and left for the groomers. He was very close to being late, but bumping into the apartment manager in the park had been a good thing. A two bedroom apartment was opening up soon and Tim could transfer his lease to the larger unit. He was thrilled his sister felt safe in his home, but if he didn't start getting some sleep in a real bed pretty soon he wouldn't be able to function. Even if or when she moved back to the dorms, he liked the idea that she had a place in his home whenever she wanted it.
---NCIS---
Sarah paced in the small apartment, starting almost as soon as Tim left with Jethro, but she refused to admit to him how scared she was of being alone, even for the hour the morning run and trip to the groomers would take. A knock on the door almost sent her to her knees, the sounds of metal picks forcing the lock open sent her in terror to a hiding place in the bedroom closet.
---NCIS---
Tony let himself in the small apartment. It never ceased to amuse him that McGee still hadn't moved into a bigger place. Sometimes he wondered if the other man resisted getting himself a nicer place because of a misplaced hope that he and Abby would get back together and need a joint place of their own. No matter the reason, it was his job to get his Probie out of his funk. No McGee yelling at him about barging in, so this was going to take stronger measures. He called out, just in case he had totally misread the situation and the younger man was entertaining a beautiful woman. "I know you're here, you can't hide forever."
When he received no answer, Tony walked into the bedroom. The bedding was rumpled, so he knew someone else had been the last person to get up that morning. McGee practically made his bed before he was completely out of it every morning, a fact that always made DiNozzo feel like a slob on out of town assignments. "You holding out on me? Who's been sleeping in the bed?" He circled around the bed, letting his fingers trail against the sliding closet doors, but didn't see anything else out of place. His next stop was the bathroom.
---NCIS---
Sarah pressed back against the far corner of the closet as the footsteps came closer. She was trapped, her cell phone on the charger in the kitchen. When she heard a man's voice call out that she couldn't hide forever, she bit down on her hand to keep from screaming and huddled further down on the closet floor. She tracked the footsteps as they came closer to her hiding place. Unable to move for fear of giving away her location, she frantically looked around for something to defend herself with. In the dim light that seeped in around the edges of the sliding doors she could see very little. Her brother kept his clothing neat and tidy, only a perfect stack of shoe boxes was on the floor. Feeling helpless, she wrapped her arms tighter around her, instinctively grasping the pill bottle in her pocket. He couldn't find her again, and if he did, she did not want to survive another encounter.
---NCIS---
Only one thing was out of place on the bathroom counter. Tony picked up the empty cardboard box and saw red. "You idiot, McGee. We deal with evidence all day, how could you not use protection?" Tony continued to mutter to himself as he crushed the empty pregnancy test box in his hands. "This is what you and Abby were arguing about? Do you have any idea what Gibbs is going to do to you when he finds out you knocked her up? He's going to kill you." His voice rose as he repeated himself. "Going to kill you."
Tony prowled the room, the crumpled box still clutched in his hand. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, why in the hell didn't you come to me, McGee? I told you I'd have your back, but if she tells Gibbs first, nobody's going to be able to save you. He's going to rip your arm off and beat you bloody with it. Gonna die a slow, painful death and nobody is going to be able to save you this time." Frustrated, he threw the box against the closet door before storming out. He had to find Ziva and figure a way to get McGee out of this mess before Gibbs found out.
---NCIS---
Between the roaring in her ears and the movement of the intruder, Sarah couldn't hear every word he said, but she heard enough as she opened the bottle of pills. Going to kill you... nobody's going to be able to save you... beat you bloody... slow, painful death... nobody is going to be able to save you... By the time something hit the closet door, she had swallowed the last pill.
Author's Chapter Notes:
When McGee finds it necessary to protect his sister from people he though were his friends, the consequences are far reaching.