Two days had passed. Tim had finally gotten everyone out of his room. He had constantly had visitors from the beginning of visiting hours until the end.

Tony had been visiting him last, but Tim told him he was tired and wanted to sleep for a while, so Tony left.

The truth was, Tim wasn't tired at all. He wanted Tony to leave so he could get up and see where David's room was. He had heard that David started doing worse around the time he was supposed to be transferred to Cumberland. His bullet wound had gotten infected and he had a pretty severe fever. It made Tim sick to think that doctors were actually helping him, trying to keep him alive.

Tim slowly got up out of bed. He convinced the doctor to take out his IV the day before. At first, the doctor didn't want to, but he finally agreed once Tim said he would make sure to drink plenty of fluids.

He was feeling better today than he had been in a while. His ribs didn't even hurt too bad. He knew this was the perfect time to "check in" on David.

Tim went into the bathroom to change into clothes that Abby had brought him the night before. He was sick of wearing the hospital gown, but he hadn't had time to change until now.

Once he was dressed, Tim went out of his room and began to walk around. He knew he couldn't get the room number using his "I'm a special agent" line as he didn't have his badge. Also, most of the nurses knew him now, so they knew that they weren't allowed to give him David's room number anyway, but he didn't need that. He knew what wing of the hospital David would be in, he knew there would probably be one guard there, and he knew how to distract him to get into David's room.

Once he had the room in his sight, Tim saw the guard who was sitting outside of David's room, walk off and go to the bathroom.

'Well, that was easy,' He thought before making his way to the door.

The room had windows for the walls, so David could be seen at all times… not that he could do anything at the state he was in right now.

The only part that wasn't see-through was the small hallway where you first walk in the door.

Tim looked into the room, staring at David. So many things were going through his mind that he couldn't even sort it out.

He knew he needed to go in now, before the guard got back, so he stopped staring and opened the door.

He opened it to find Tony standing there.

Tony turned to him. "Oh, McGee, fancy seeing you here."

Tim's heart started racing. "T- Tony… Why a- are you here?"

"Because I figured you'd come here. I saw it in your eyes, McALittleTooObvious. You practically pushed me out of your room, claiming that you needed sleep, when we all know you haven't slept since you woke up two days ago… not willingly anyway."

"I just… I wanted to see him."

"When are you gonna learn that you're a sucky liar, Tim?"

Tim sighed. "Just go away, Tony."

"Oh, I'll go," Tony replied, then placed a hand on Tim's shoulder, "But you're coming with me."

"No, I'm not."

Tony started leading Tim out of the room, "Yes, you are, McGee. We're going to go take a walk… as soon as Bob comes back. He needed a bathroom break anyway, I just told him I'd take over. You really think they'd leave a guy like David completely unattended?"

"They've screwed up before."

"Not when Gibbs gets to talk to them before their shift."

They walked back out into the hall just as the guard returned.

"Feel better, Bob? Good. We're gonna go."

Tony walked off, still holding onto Tim's shoulder.

"Tony, I don't want to go for a walk."

"Too bad."

Tim jerked away from him. "Tony! I said no!"

Tony took a deep breath. "We're going, McGee." He took a hold of his shoulder again, "Let's. Go."

Tim reluctantly walked to the elevator with Tony. They were both quiet the whole ride down to the first floor. Once out of the elevator, Tony led Tim outside.

"What were you gonna do, McGee?" Tony asked as they walked around the hospital on the sidewalk.

"Nothing," Tim replied quietly.

Tony laughed. "Nothing? So you were just gonna go and visit the man that kidnapped you twice, kept one of your best friends for over twenty-three years, then killed him?"

"Leave me alone, Tony."

Tony stopped walking and, when Tim noticed, he stopped too.

"Why won't you just talk to me, Tim?"

"How am I supposed to? Everything's a joke to you!"

"This isn't a joke! You were about to murder a man, McGee! Do you not realize that?"

"No! I was about to make things even! I was about to fix something that should have been fixed a long time ago!"

"You think killing a man makes things even? You think that fixes things? How does that fix things?"

"He killed Devon! He took away my life! I should have never left Devon that day! I should have stayed with him! He would have killed us both back then and saved everyone a lot of useless trouble!"

Tony didn't reply. He just stared at Tim, realizing what the true problem was.

"Stop looking at me like that," Tim said, then he began to walk away.

Tony quickly caught up to him and stopped him again. "This isn't about David, is it? I mean, in the long run it is, but it's really about you."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, I do. You think you should have been died all those years ago. You think that would have been better. You blame yourself for everything Devon went through."

"It's my fault."

"How? All you did was get free from that freak. How is it your fault?"

"I shouldn't have left him there, Tony. David caught him because I left him there. He went through twenty-three years of torture because of me."

Tony shook his head. "It's not your fault, Tim. You did everything you could… You were ten years old for God's sake!"

"It doesn't matter. I still should have stayed with him." Tim started walking off. Tony let him go for a moment, then he ran to catch up.

"Hey!" He called out, then he grabbed onto his arm. Once again, Tim was stopped by Tony getting in his way.

Tony let go of Tim's arm once he got in front of him. "No one would have been better off if you were dead."

Tim sighed. "To-"

"No. I'm serious, McGee. If you would've stayed then you and Devon would have died and you would have never been able to go to MIT and Johns Hopkins and be a smarty pants and work at NCIS. Would you want that?"

"I never would have known it. It wouldn't have mattered."

"Well, it matters to me. I know I kid you a lot, McGee, but I care about you. You're like a brother to me and I for one am glad you didn't die back then. I'm sure everyone on the team would agree."

Tim had never seen Tony be so honest before. He knew he must have been very worried.

"But… But what if I would have stayed and I had a chance to save us both. Then we'd both be here... Devon wouldn't be dead."

Tony nodded. "Maybe. But you don't know that. You did a brave thing, McGee. You saw a chance to get out of a hellhole and you took it. You didn't let fear take over you. You did the right thing."

They were both silent for a moment.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'll ever be able to not think about it? Sometimes even the old memories seem so new in my head… And the new memories… they're so… vivid."

Tony took a deep breath. "No. I don't think you'll ever be able to not think about it… but, now that all of your friends know, maybe we can help out when it seems like a little too much to remember. We're all here for you, Tim."

Tim smiled slightly. "I know… Thanks, Tony."

Tony moved over to the side of Tim and put his arm around Tim's shoulders. "No problem, McGoo… Now, let's go get something to eat. They're serving meatloaf in the cafeteria today. It's supposed to be delicious."

Both Tim and Tony, and the rest of the team, knew that this was far from over. Tim was sure to have nightmares, there would be days where he would go from happy to depressed, and he'd most likely have to relive both kidnappings over and over again. But he had good friends, who were more like family, that he knew would be there for him every step of the way. Tim wasn't sure if the memories would ever stop haunting him, but he was alive, strong, and had a lot of people that cared for him… In the end, he knew he'd be okay.

The End!

I don't think I've ever ended a story with A Tim/Tony talk. I just love their brotherly relationship on the show so I wanted to do a Tony-helps-Tim-out final chapter :) Hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks for reading! I've got a new story coming soon. It's more of a humor/friendship one with just tiny bits of drama here and there. I just wanted a little break from all the extreme drama I've been doing :) lol

Well, thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys are awesome.

God Bless!