<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ff99">Tony was damned glad that Ziva had thought to tell Gibbs to keep McGee away... because the last thing the probie needed was to see this.  It was one thing to have reported to you "your sister is badly injured" and another to have to see the lumpy sack of shredded skin encasing shattered bones that had once been a limb.<br/>
<br/>
He ignored Ziva's vomiting, as he'd have ignored any LEO's loss of control at such a scene.  In a way, he wished he still had such a reaction... now, he felt more tired than sickened.<br/>
<br/>
* ~ *<br/>
<br/>
"Boss, I've got to--" Tim protested, trying to get around Gibbs, to get to the ambulance.<br/>
<br/>
"You ride in with her, you're going to spend the next couple of hours with nothing to do but sit in the waiting room -- either in the ER or the OR, depending on her status, and you know it."  Gibbs put a hand on Tim's shoulder.  "You can't do anything there for her, Tim.  You might at least be able to show up with some answers, if you stay here."<br/>
<br/>
Damned logic, Tim growled to himself -- purely internally, and purely as a reaction to the fact that he wanted to be with his sister right now.  "If it was Kate--" he began.<br/>
<br/>
Gibbs cut him off again.  "If it was Kate, she'd be pissed as hell if you sat in the waiting room when you could be figuring out what happened to a dead Marine, and why she wound up trapped under a boulder in a lake.  Hell, she was pissed at how much time we spent in the hospital when she was in a coma, so don't pull the Kate card on this."  </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(153, 255, 153)">Tim dropped his eyes and nodded.  "Find Ziva's camera -- she dropped it somewhere on this side of the tape -- and take over the photos.  When we get an update on your sister's status, we'll figure out what to do next, alright?"  <br/>
<br/>
That second part sounded more like the voice Gibbs used on Abby, but Tim wasn't about to protest right now.  "On it, boss."<br/>
<br/>
* ~ *<br/>
<br/>
It almost felt right, now -- Gibbs, DiNozzo, McGee, David.  It almost felt like a team.  If this had been a routine case (not that any murder should be considered routine, but...) Gibbs thought it might even be right today -- but not with a family member tied up in the mix.  Not so soon after everything.<br/>
</span><br/>
<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ff99">He put Ziva to work on witness interviews and DiNozzo back on sketches -- his really were the best -- and he conferred with Ducky over the body.  As usual, there was only so much Duck could tell him at the scene... his rote "I'll know more when I get him back" was another momentary comfort.<br/>
<br/>
The shout from Ziva was not.  She just didn't say his name right, Gibbs groused to himself -- and knew he was being ridiculous.  There was nothing wrong with how Ziva said his name... she just wasn't Kate.  <br/>
<br/>
Gibbs looked at the wallet in the evidence bag and made a few swift decisions.  "McGee!"<br/>
<br/>
"Yes Boss?!"  McGee popped up from where he'd been taking close-ups of tagged evidence.<br/>
<br/>
"You got your computer with you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Uh, yeah, but there's no power or internet--"<br/>
<br/>
"If I send you and your computer to the hospital with the victim's name, can you do your research, credit card records, phone records, all that -- can you do that while you wait to hear about Sarah?"<br/>
<br/>
Tim nodded.  He didn't want to speak, because he wasn't sure what would come out of his mouth -- a heartfelt "Thank you, Boss!" for being sent to where his sister was... or a reluctant "On it, Boss" for being ordered off the scene.<br/>
<br/>
"I need that data, Tim."  It was the third time today Gibbs had used his first name, and it felt... different.  "This isn't scut work, and it isn't mercy.  If you're only NCIS agent on the grounds when she wakes up, you take her statement -- got it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Got it, boss."  <br/>
<br/>
Gibbs tossed him the keys to the sedan they'd ridden out in.  "We'll catch a ride.  Keep us updated, McGee."  <br/>
<br/>
When Tim had driven away in the vehicle, Tony leaned over to Gibbs.  "Between you, me, and the dead marine -- how much of that was compassion?"<br/>
<br/>
"It's all compassion, Tony," Gibbs said -- and for a moment, he let the weight of the case show in his voice.  "But sending Tim to his sister?  I figure I'll get about the same amount of work out of him sitting at a computer in a waiting room as I would out here in the scene-- he proved that to me after the rooftop."</span></span>