<span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ff99">Tim shook his head.  "I have to call Mom and Dad, Sarah - or you do.  They'll have seen it on the news, and they need to know you're okay.  Well, not okay.  But alive, and going to stay that way.  I won't tell them anything if you don't want me to, but -- the news coverage is bad, sis.  They're going to be freaked out."  Hell, it had freaked Tim out -- and he knew the whole story.<br/>
<br/>
When she asked for Gibbs, he stood and kissed her forehead.  "I'll get him.  And when you're done with my boss, I'm going to crawl into that bed with you, and we're going to pretend we're sleeping in a blanket fort at Pop's house, okay?  Just you and me.  And the good drugs."  He accepted her kiss to his cheek and stepped out to find Gibbs.<br/>
<br/>
"Boss?"  As he'd expected, Gibbs hadn't gone far, and he was with Kate -- although Tony and Ziva weren't there at the moment.  "Sarah wants to talk to you.  I might have told her you'd arrest all the reporters for reckless endangerment if she'd agree to testify."<br/>
<br/>
"Good."  Gibbs wiped his mouth on a napkin pulled from the hamburger bag.  "I will, with pleasure.  Have you eaten yet, Tim?"  At the negative response, Gibbs gestured peremptorily towards the food Ziva had brought.  "Eat.  Get a hug from Kate."<br/>
<br/>
"On it, boss."  The response was instinctive, as was the obedience... and Tim was grateful for that.  He didn't have to think about how to handle this part of his life -- he just did what Gibbs told him.  He ate, and when Kate wove her way to him, he wrapped his arms around her, and hung on.<br/>
<br/>
* ~ *<br/>
<br/>
Gibbs shut the door to Sarah McGee's hospital room behind him.  "Your brother said you wanted to see me?  This about filing charges against the press vultures?"  But when she explained what she wanted... well, Gibbs let some of his mask crack.  "Know it doesn't always look like it, but I take care of my people," he said, moving closer to her.  He patted her hand gently.  "Your brother is one of mine.  I'll do what I can to keep him in line -- and what I can't, Kate can."  He smiled, just a little.  "He's probably mentioned Kate Todd -- she's recently unemployed.  Lots of time on her hands, and I'll make damned sure she knows if Tim needs her... if she doesn't know before I do.  DiNozzo and Ziva and I will help too -- but Kate's his superhero, and she's a damned good one."  Glancing to make sure no one was peeking through the glass window in the door, Gibbs leaned over and kissed Sarah's forehead just like he would have Abby's.  "Get some rest.  As much rest as you can get in a hospital," he added dryly.  "You concentrate on healing up enough to get the hell out of here, and don't worry about Tim.  I was a Marine -- no man left behind."  Gibbs brushed a hand over hers and left the room.<br/>
<br/>
He sent Tim back into his sister's room, and when he and Kate were alone again -- before they went to find Tony and Ziva -- Gibbs let his shoulders slump just a little, and reached for Kate.  Just for a moment, he'd cling to her, and mourn the pain in the next room.  Holding Kate close, feeling her heart beating... it helped.  When he pulled away, he kissed her forehead, too -- but it was not the same way he'd kissed Sarah, or that he would Abby.  This was... intimate, worshipful.  It contained all the words he didn't know how to say, and all the gratitude he had that she was here -- not just here with him now, but alive.<br/>
<br/>
<i>We'll find Tony and Ziva, get an update, and then I want to get the hell out of here.  I don't want beer, bourbon, and boat tonight.  I want kitten cuddles.</i> </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(153, 255, 153)">He gave her a small, private smile before flagging down a nurse and asking where Dr. Brad Pitt could be found.<br/>
<br/>
* ~ *<br/>
<br/>
"You planning to tuck me in like a little boy?" Tony asked, trying to find his sarcasm.  It wasn't working.  It came out a whole lot more hopeful than cynical.<br/>
<br/>
"Buckeye, you know the coolest women," Pitt remarked as he examined Tony.  "First Kate, and now Ziva?  I'm the one with the movie star name and the MD, you know.  They're supposed to flock to me."<br/>
<br/>
Tony chuckled, and managed to keep it from turning into a cough.  "It's my boyish charm.  Actually, I think I'm just a trouble magnet... and there's nothing more trouble than a pretty woman."  Pitt just shook his head.  <br/>
<br/>
He ran tests, listened to Tony's lungs, and then sat on the rolling stool in the room to look at Tony seriously.  He vaguely registered Gibbs and Kate arriving at the door -- but knowing that Tony trusted them completely, he didn't bother trying to keep what he was saying private.  (HIPPA didn't seem to apply to these agents -- he'd never seen people with lives and hearts so intertwined, and he'd worked in a military hospital for a decade.)  "You've picked up a minor respiratory infection.  I don't know if your heroics this morning contributed -- yeah, you made the news again, Buckeye, this time in full color -- but it's treatable.  I'm going to put you on steroids and antibiotics, and I know that sounds like overkill... but with your history, I want to kick this in the ass before it gets a foothold.  Rest, drink plenty of fluids, use your inhalers, and take your medication -- and if you don't, I'll tell Nurse Emma."  When Tony still had a mulish look of protest on his face, Pitt leaned towards him.  "You do realize that your boss and your new partner just heard me give you those orders, right?  You really think the man who wouldn't let you die is going to let you ignore doctor's orders?"<br/>
<br/>
Tony's shoulders slumped.  "No.  Alright.  Write the scripts, and I'll follow them."  He wouldn't be happy about it -- he fucking hated having to baby his lungs.  Plague... the gift that just kept on giving.<br/>
<br/>
"And if me threatening you doesn't work," Gibbs said from the doorway, "and Ziva can't get through to you -- I will tell Abby that you need twenty-four hour monitoring, and give her the time off to do it."<br/>
<br/>
"Ouch!"  Tony's eyes widened.  "On it, boss!"</span></span>