Tony, Abby, Ziva and even Jimmy all trekked into the waiting room at Bethesda together, and only Tony's authoritative hand raised in silent order kept them from accompanying him to the nurse's station for an update on where Ducky was since they'd been summoned; presumably by the M.E. Before he'd even reached the nurse's station, his eyes caught sight of Gibbs headed their way, a look of relieved exhaustion on his face.

"Hey, Boss. " Tony greeted him carefully. "What's going on? Why are we here? I mean, is this our po…post mor…" Tony swallowed hard and looked away. He couldn't even say the words. How in the hell could he even know what to say to his probie who'd slipped away from them unnoticed by all except Ducky? When it had been Kate, the words had just come without him even thinking about it. But Probie? For some reason, no words seemed adequate.

Gibbs scrutinized his Senior Field Agent; taking in the barely concealed pain and realizing that his team needed to be relieved of that before any more time went by. "No, Tony." He offered just as quietly. "Get the others; follow me."

Tony looked at the boss; scrutinized what he could of the older man's body languge. Wait. Did he just say no? Nodding silently as his brain tried to take in and process what he was hearing, Tony headed back to the waiting room and quickly got the others to follow him back to Gibbs.

Taking one look at the now gathered team in front of him, Gibbs took a deep breath and slowly let it out, just as Abby launched herself at him; burying her head in his shoulder, "Oh, Gibbs! What are we gonna do without our Timmy?"

"Sssh. C'mon, got something to show you. Keep your voices down." Gibbs led the way back to Tim's room and quietly opened the door; stepping aside to reveal the patient being silently watched over by a grateful yet exhausted M.E.

Gasps of indrawn breath were heard from everyone and movement seemed to be enmasse as they all tried to get to him at once.

"NO!" Gibbs whispered as loudly as he dared without waking Tim up. "First one that wakes him up answers to me."

Five heads silently nodded as each team member backpeddled enough that they found a seat to sit in where they could sit and watch their formerly deceased teammate, peacefully sleep the slumber of the living.

The wattage of smiles that lit that room could have rivaled the sun, as each and every one of them took in the miracle in front of them. They had their Tim McGee back; their Probie; their geek; their Timmy; their McGee. Somehow they'd gotten a second chance and it lifted all of their hearts and brought tears of relief to their eyes.

Tomorrow would be time enough to conquer the mistakes that had almost cost them his life. Today they would gratefully and silently watch him the safe return of Tim McGee.

***FINIS***

for now

I apologise. I was under a deadline and needed to get the gist of this comeback out by itself.

I promise - we'll continue on with this.

hope to see you there when we do.

thank you to all who have read/reviewed.