Chapter 42 父 Father

"I'm taking them home with me."

"They will need therapy."

"I'm aware of that. There's a very good psychologist at Wolf Point, just one hour out of Glasgow. She has treated Joy's PTSD before. I'll just call her and tell her that she's getting a new patient along with an old one."

"Aren't you too busy looking after Maggie as it is?"

"They're family, Jethro. Maggie will enjoy the visit. And the kids need to feel safe again. Nothing like home for it."

"What about Sarah?"

"She is welcome to come visit anytime."

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

We were both terribly mortified for falling apart in the middle of the bullpen so we crawled to our desks and sat there, quietly, hoping for a hole to open up under us or for an airplane to fall on the building.

Anything would be better than the uncomfortable silence that befell upon us.

Tony and Ziva would throw occasional worried glances at us, making us both feel even tenser under their scrutiny.

Finally Gibbs came down with my Dad from Vance's office, both men were very serious. McGee tried to ignore them staring fixedly to his own computer screen as he did some kind of routine checking on it.

Routine was good.

Routine was safe.

Just do anything in the effort not to think about bloated bodies floating on water.

Both stopped before McGee's desk, probably because he was the one trying his hardest to ignore them, while I was watching them since they appeared in the mezzanine.

"Close down shop, son, we're leaving." Joseph said, watching how McGee's finger shook over his keyboard.

They stopped typing for a moment but the shaking continued.

"Why? We've just arrived." Tim muttered softly, still his gaze fixed on the computer screen.

"You two were granted mandatory leave with your reinstatement pending psychological evaluation." Gibbs said, looking at me observing my reaction to his news.

I just stared at him, frozen, feeling a band of fear and terror tightly squeezing my chest.

"Why? We're fine." McGee's voice shook as he finally looked up at Joseph.

"You're not fine, son." Joseph said gently but firmly.

"I am fine."

"If you are fine, why are you crying at your computer screen?" McGee touched his own cheeks and was surprised to find them wet again. He looked scared at Joseph, who kept speaking gently at him. "I've never imagined that running an antivirus in a hard drive was such an emotional task."

"Ah..."

"How long?" That was all I wanted to know. I stood up and went to my Dad's side.

"As long as it takes, kiddo."

- THE END? -

a/n: Hello my dear readers, thanks for being part of this amazing adventure! Another story is come and gone, leaving even more questions to be answered:

How long will they stay on leave?

How will the trauma affect both our dear agents?

What will be their actions in the next few weeks and how will that affect their future?

Oh... a lot will happen, and I really hope you stay tuned for the next installment.

You are all cordially invited to read the next episode in this amazing saga:

To have and to hold

Soon in your website - as soon as I get it back from my beta :-)

A few heartfelt thanks:

To kitten Tigyr - my fair lady, thank you for all your hard work proofreading my monsters.

To alix, watchdog, Danielle, Noraque, Doc Lee and Junee: Thanks for your faithfull reviews. You guys rock.

To all others who read and reviewed it. Thanks for enjoying it.

Finally, at last but not the least, to the people in Japan, both the victims, the survivors and those who had been non stop working trying to return order to that ravished land, searching for hope where there's none, giving comfort where all was lost, sharing hope when life was the only thing that remains.

May Beauty rise from the ashes of your dreams and hopes and give you strenght to keep fighting every single day, so you may know that the only thing that matters is to survive, no matter what happens. You will rise again, it will take time, but you will.

Yours faithfully,

WriterKos.