A/N: This is a oneshot sequel to my very AU (and very long) story Underground. You probably won't understand what's going on without readin that...although you may be able to enjoy it for what it is. This is my entry to the NFA Generator challenge with the prompt: Ducky, Tim and stargazing.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS nor do I own any of the characters. I'm not making any money off this...unfortunately.

Night, When Words Fade
by Enthusiastic Fish

Setting: One month after the first return to the surface.

The sun descended once more behind the gargantuan trees which grew around the mouth of Mammoth Cave. Ducky shivered. It wasn't terribly cold, but he was used to the controlled climate of the underground city, and his old bones didn't adjust as quickly as they might have in his younger years. It was now November and once the sun went down, the trees began to creak in a rising breeze. Part of him found the sound to be rather mournful, a sign of the utter isolation available on the surface. He caught Ziva's eye and shared a smile. She had surprised him with her intention to stay on the surface. Ziva didn't say much but she was very eloquent in her silence. Even she, however, did not show the same sense of awe and wonder shown by Tim and Jimmy.

He wondered if he could even touch the ecstasy which occasionally seemed to grip his charges. Jimmy had never been happier in his life and he would never again return to the underground. He, like everyone else who had come up, still spent a good deal of the daytime hours in the surface caves, adjusting to the sunlight, so much brighter than the lamps used below, able to tan...and burn...skin which had never before been exposed to the elements.

There had been a slow trickle of people making the journey upward. Not all stayed. In fact, a few had discovered a fear of open spaces and that agoraphobia had sent them back down to the safety of the caverns. As the adventurous arrived, Ducky set up a regimen for them to follow to make sure they didn't damage their eyes or their skin. Such precautions saved them all a lot of pain and discomfort.

The sun was long set and the stars were out by the time he finished checking over the tentative settlers. ...except for one.

Ducky looked around but Tim was nowhere to be seen. It took a moment for Ducky to reign in his worry that something had happened. Tim often wandered away, preferring solitude over the sometimes fawning attention offered by others. He had spent too many years alone to be easy in the company of so many.

He looked around and decided that Tim must have left the caves.

"He's out there, Uncle Don," Jimmy said softly from his chosen spot, just barely within the cave mouth. "I saw him climb out about an hour ago."

"Thank you, Jimmy. How did he seem?"

"Quiet."

Ducky nodded and climbed out of the cave, heading around to the top of the hill where the ancient concrete had survived to some degree, leaving an open space. Tim came here often. ...and there he was again, lying on the hard, lumpy ground, staring up at the night sky that so fascinated him.

"Timothy."

Tim's head turned toward him slightly but that was all. Quiet indeed. Ducky walked over and sat down beside him.

"Everyone seems to be adjusting well. You and Jimmy will soon be able to stay outside all day if you want to."

"Good. Jimmy will be glad."

"Is something wrong, Timothy?"

"You see those three bright stars up there, Ducky?"

"Which three? There are a number of bright stars, Timothy."

In a rare gesture, Tim reached out and pulled Ducky down so that he was lying on the ground beside him, a rock digging uncomfortably into his shoulder blade. He shifted around until it was slightly more comfortable.

"See? There, there and there. They form a triangle."

"Oh, yes. I do."

"That's the Summer Triangle."

"It's no longer summer."

A soft laugh. "No. It's not, but the Summer Triangle stays up a long time after summer is over. That's Deneb, the alpha star in Cygnus, the Swan or the Northern Cross. That's Vega, the alpha star in Lyra. And that it is Altair, the alpha star in Aquila...the Eagle."

"I see."

"And over there, if you focus, you can see a faint smudge."

Ducky chuckled. "A faint smudge? My eyes aren't as strong as they used to be, Timothy."

"You can see it, Ducky. Just look. Follow the line of my finger. It's there."

"I think I might see it."

"A white-ish smudge."

"The would describe it, yes."

"That...that's the Andromeda Galaxy. Two million light years away. Two million. Can you imagine?"

"I am assuming that a light year is a large distance?"

"Oh yeah. It's the distance light can travel in a year, and light moves at 300,000 km/sec."

"Ah...that does put it in perspective."

"It's a whole galaxy. A whole other collection of stars, worlds, black holes...two million light years away. The light we're seeing...it's two million years old."

"It's wonderful."

"Sometimes...when I lie out here...I feel like I could...almost float up into the stars if I could just let go of the earth. Float up...and dance in the stars."

"Timothy." Ducky put his hand on Tim's arm.

"I don't want to go back, Ducky. I don't want to go back down there. I don't want to leave this."

"But?"

"But I know I have to. I'm too much a part of the revolution to stay up here and do what I want."

"You are still making broadcasts to the people around world. Former Hegemon Michelle Lee has gone above ground at The Hague and reported that it is a safe place to live."

"But I need to be down there...and I'm afraid to go back. I want to be up...up there, Ducky. In the stars...but I seem destined to be...chained to the earth."

"No, lad. You're not chained. You simply are one who has seen the truth and needs to bring it to those who still dwell in darkness, who still look at the shadows."

"You've been reading my books, Ducky."

"I've also been listening to you...to you, Timothy. Not to Thom the Gem, nor even to the Elf Lord. To you. You have the truth, the awe deep within your soul. Even if I can't understand it, I am amazed at how it shines from you. You have touched heaven, my boy, and you would never be satisfied with hoarding that piece of heaven to yourself. You need to bring it to others."

"You've always had an idealized view of who I am."

"No. I've simply observed and seen the real you, the one you sometimes hide, even from yourself."

"Is it enough?"

"Is what enough?"

"What I'm doing...getting people up here. Is it right? I look around and see the healing scars from what we did the last time we were up here. What if we do it again?"

"It's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen. The war looms large in the minds of all. Perhaps we can keep that and remember what we risk."

They both fell silent and stared up at the stars. Ducky knew that Tim saw much more up there than he did...and not just because of his failing eyesight...which wasn't so much failing as fading slightly. Tim saw the stars and loved them.

"Would Sarah have liked this?"

"I don't know. She may have. She may not have. One thing is certain, she would have approved of what you are doing."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Would...Mom...and Dad?"

"I believe that no matter their feelings, they would have been proud of your efforts, of your sacrifices."

Another long silence. Ducky shivered.

"Are you ready to go inside, Timothy?"

"No."

"Well...don't stay out all night." Ducky pulled himself gradually to his feet, groaning slightly at the effort.

"Thank you, Ducky."

"For what?"

"For...seeing me."

"Anyone can, if they care to look, lad. I happen to care."

For the first time, Tim looked at him. He sat up and looked at Ducky instead of at the stars.

"Ducky."

"Yes, lad?"

"In case I forget, I want you to know..."

"What, Timothy?"

Tim, with his many years of repressed emotions, still had trouble expressing himself, but Ducky could see that he was trying, struggling against the habit formed of necessity.

"...that...that you're the only family I have...and as much as I love where I am, being out here...it wouldn't mean anything if I had to give up my family for it."

Ducky felt his throat tighten at the words Tim still had trouble saying, but the sentiments he had heard nonetheless.

"Timothy, it is my pleasure...as I have said before. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to see you become who you are."

"Am I really?" Tim asked, smiling slightly.

"You are getting there, and it will be a further pleasure to see you continue."

"I'll try."

"I know, and that it the most admirable of all."

Ducky left Tim to continue his stargazing, but whether or not Tim felt any better about his coming return to the darkness, Ducky himself had great hopes for the future. Just before he started down to the cave, he looked up once more and, after a few minutes of searching, found the faint smudge that Tim had told him was an entire galaxy.

Perhaps all mankind was that way: a faint smudge that contained worlds...and wonders without number.

Night, the beloved. Night, when words fade and things come alive. When the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again. When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

FINIS!