Over There

Chapter 7

Ziva listened as Gibbs gave her the rundown on the people they had investigated. She was surprised at the information she received and found it hard to reconcile the news with the man she had met. The NCIS agents discussed some more about the case before the connection between the two places was broken.  No one noticed Lt. Jasper leave the room just after Gibbs started to relay the information to Ziva. She took a deep breath and turned to say something to the Lieutenant when she realized she was alone except for the technicians at work in front of the computers. She wondered where Lt. Jasper had gone and didn’t like what she was thinking.  She all but ran from the room, heading for the hospital.

The lieutenant had quietly left the room while Agent David was talking to her team in DC. He walked slowly through the compound with only one thought on his mind…Agent McGee. He was sure McGee, and maybe even Ziva knew who the traitor was and it was up to him to stop them from talking to anyone else.

It was safe to assume that McGee didn’t have time to say anything to Agent David or else he would have been under arrest by now and since he was unconscious when he was brought in, he couldn’t have told anyone else. Now, at least while he was in surgery, he wouldn’t be able to tell what he knew. He looked at his watch. McGee had been in surgery for almost two hours. Hopefully, he would be out of the way for a few more hours. Maybe he would just have to see to it that the agent was out of the way for good. He reached his destination and turned the handle, not surprised to find it locked. He was ready, though. He pulled a key from his pocket and put it in the lock. He opened the door and quickly went inside, making sure to relock the door. He didn’t want anyone to come in unexpectedly.   

The room was empty as he knew it would be. He left the makeshift curtains on the small windows drawn even though it kept the room fairly dark.  He was sure he had a while, possibly hours, before McGee got out of surgery. There wasn’t much he could do before then. He just needed time to put the rest of his plan into effect. He paced the small room several times deciding what his next move would be. He knew that right now there was nothing he could do. McGee was in surgery and he didn’t have access to communications. He lay on the bed, but remained awake and alert.

****

“I have to get out of here, Boss.” Tony ran his hand through his hair and paced the hallway outside of MTAC. He had made only two laps when he was stopped by a hand on his arm.

“Come on, Tony, this isn’t going to do you any good,” Gibbs said quietly. “Let’s get some coffee.”

“Boss…”

“Not here.”

Gibbs drove to a small café not too far from the Yard. The coffee was good and at this time of the day it was quite empty for which both men were grateful. They sat in a booth toward the back of the room. 

A middle aged waitress approached. She was attractive and her short blonde hair and blue eyes were striking. “Hello, Jethro,” she said. “What brings you here this late, or is it early?”

“Just the need for some good coffee, Lu, two cups,” he said, smiling at the woman.

“You’re in luck; made a fresh pot about fifteen minutes ago. You want anything else to go along with it? Russ made some apple crisp, it’s really good. He put the caramels in it this time.”

Gibbs looked at Tony who shook his head no. He was sure he couldn’t eat anything right now.

 “Just the coffees right now, okay?”

“Coming right up, fellas.” She walked back to the counter to get the ordered drinks.

Gibbs and Tony were quiet but once the cups of coffee were set down on the table along with some creamers and Lu left them alone again, Tony started talking.

“I should be there with him. What good am I doing him by sitting here? This isn’t happening, not again.”  He couldn’t help but think of Rob even though this situation was different. Or was it. At least he knew that Tim was alive, although injured, and he knew Ziva would do her best to watch over him and keep him safe.

She promised and she always kept her promises.

“Tony, listen to me. First of all we don’t know how badly he’s been hurt. We, you, have to believe he’ll be okay. You need to be here for him when he gets home. He’s going to need you. Ziva can handle things over there and it’s up to us to handle things here. Can you do that?”

Tony took a sip of coffee then set his cup down and slumped back in the booth and closed his eyes for a moment then sat up straight. “Yeah, I can do that. I have to do it for Tim.” He smiled, well sort of, for the first time that afternoon. “Besides, you haven’t given him permission to die, have you?”

 “No, I haven’t given him permission to die, DiNozzo.”

“So he won’t. One of the things Tim does well is obey your orders. He wouldn’t dare die without your permission, Boss.”

“You’re right. Now that we have that cleared up, we need to get back.”  He took the last swallow of his coffee and set the cup down. Tony took another sip of his mostly untouched coffee and slid out of the booth. Gibbs put a five dollar bill down on the table and he and Tony walked back out into the night.

As they were pulling into a parking spot in the Navy Yard, Gibbs’ phone rang. He checked the caller ID before answering.

 “What, Leon?” Gibbs could feel Tony’s intense stare at the mention of the Director’s name and held up his hand to keep Tony quiet. Gibbs exited the car with the phone still to his ear listening to the voice on the other end. “On my way,” he finally said and ended the call.

“Is it about Tim?” Tony asked anxiously.

“No. Look, go home and get some rest. It’ll be a few hours before we can do anything else.”

Tony sighed, knowing there wouldn’t be much rest for him until Tim was home and safe. Reluctantly, Tony drove to the house he shared with Tim. If possible, it felt even more empty than it did yesterday, or was it…he realized he’d lost all track of time. Night here, day there, he wasn’t sure if he could endure much more of this ‘not knowing’.

He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into their cold and lonely bed. He pulled Tim’s pillow against him, breathing in the fading scent of his partner. “Please come back to me, Timmy,” he murmured and finally fell into a restless slumber.

****

Soldiers milled about the compound checking everything from buildings and tents to all the vehicles. Not finding the lieutenant anywhere or evidence that he had been there, Ziva continued to the hospital, not wanting to waste time. It was her job to protect McGee and she was darned sure she wouldn’t fail again. First, thinking that the lieutenant would try to complete his mission, she hurried to the hospital building and went in the main door keeping a lookout for the lieutenant. She saw the young man who had sutured her head laceration.

“Excuse me,” she said. “May I talk with you a moment?”

“Of course, Ma’am. Is something wrong; is your head bothering you?”

“No, Specialist. My head is fine. I was wondering if you have seen Lt. Jasper in the last fifteen minutes or so.”

“Lt. Jasper? No I haven’t, but this is the first break I’ve had in a while, since I sutured your head in fact. An I.E.D exploded and…”

“Thank you. I need to speak to whoever is in charge of the MP’s or base security.”

The young man pointed down a hallway. “There’s a hospital security office down there, third door on the left. Captain Trent should be there.”

“Thank you,” Ziva called out as she ran down the hall. She quickly spoke to the officer in charge and he put in a call to his men and gave them the information he had received.

In just a matter of moments the five security personnel were informed of the need to find Lt. Jasper and also to the fact that he may be armed and willing to use his weapon.  They left the office on their assigned duties.

Once she was sure the rest of the base would be well covered, Ziva headed toward the operating room area, declining the assistance of one of the security staff. She was able to convince the officer that she was well qualified to guard her partner; she wanted them out looking for the lieutenant. 

There were only two surgeries going on at this time. One was a female national who was injured in the leg by the I.E.D explosion and the other was McGee.  She found which room he was in and ascertained that access was only possible thru the set of double doors facing the main hallway. She looked through the glass window in one of the doors, pleased to see that the medical staff in the room looked calm. Hopefully that meant that McGee was doing well at that moment. She turned with her back to the door and stood guard outside the room. No one stopped her or tried to get her to leave. The look on her face told them she was not to be messed with and that she was going to stand there until McGee was moved to recovery, and then she would stand guard there.

***

Tony had been lying in bed for almost two hours without being able to sleep. It was just too quiet. He missed Tim’s slight snore and he missed the feel of his lover, skin to skin, against him. He felt like that after Rob died and hoped he’d never have to feel like that again.  But here he was, with one difference. As far he knew Tim was still alive. God, how he prayed Tim was still alive. He was alive, Tony was sure. If he wasn’t, wouldn’t he be able to feel it in his heart, in his gut?

“Love ya, Sugarplum.”

Tony rested one arm across his eyes and the other across his stomach. He could hear those words repeating in his head and Tim’s voice, soft in the night. Thoughts of his voice led to thoughts of other things: Tim’s hands and lips as they did wonderful things to his body, knowing every spot that would made Tony moan with pleasure. Timmy would know just what to do. Timmy always knew just what to do. NO! Timmy knows just what to do just like Tony knows exactly what his Timmy likes and when his wandering lover got back home he would show him.

He finally gave up trying to sleep. He got out of bed deciding that a nice long run would do him some good. Dressed in sweats and running shoes, he made sure he had his phone before leaving his home. It was crazy to be running at this time of night, but he felt like doing something crazy; something, anything, to take his mind somewhere else besides on Tim, injured and too far away for him to do anything about it but worry and pray.

The night air felt good as he ran along the river. He was in a world by himself. The sounds around him were lost as he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other; concentrated on breathing; concentrated on …

He slowed and stopped, resting his hands on his knees, gasping for breath.

It didn’t work. Nothing worked when his Tim wasn’t there. It felt like nothing was right and he sent a little prayer up to the heavens that Tim would be returned to him. Was this how it would always be, worrying like this whenever Tim wasn’t with him? Knowing, or sensing that something was wrong and not being able to do a damned thing about it? Then he thought that Tim would probably feel the same way. That’s what it was like to love someone; to care about them more than you cared about yourself.

He took a deep breath and started to run again. An hour later Tony was back home and showered, ready for a new day. Since he had nothing to keep him at home, he headed for NCIS. Maybe they would hear from Ziva shortly. Maybe he would be able to find out how Tim was.

As he pulled into the parking area in the Navy Yard, he spied Gibbs’ car. But that didn’t surprise him one bit.

Sure enough, the boss was sitting at his desk reading through a folder when Tony got off the elevator.

“Any word on McGee, Boss?”

“Not yet.”

“How long have you been here?”

“A while.” He noted the dark circles around Tony’s usually bright eyes.

Tony looked towards Vance’s office and MTAC. “Think we’ll hear something soon?”

Gibbs kept his eyes on the folder for a moment, and then looked over at his second in command. “I don’t know, Tony.” There was nothing harsh or condescending in how he said it; in fact, the worry in his voice was very evident.  “Since you’re here early, finish up that paperwork from Baltimore.” He stood. “Looks like you could use some coffee, though. I’m guessing you didn’t sleep much.” The slump of his agent’s shoulders told him all he needed to know.

Tony took a deep breath. He hated waiting and this was the worst time to have to wait. He turned on his computer, opened the file that had been sitting on his desk and got to work, but not before a chill ran through his body.

tbc

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