The Brain Study

Summary: Jethro Gibbs, Jack O'Neill and Mac Taylor meet each other for the first time.

Short crossover story: NCIS, Stargate SG-1 and CSI:NY. Takes place pretty recently because of Mac's shooting.

Category: friendship, maybe a little humor

Rated: K+

Warnings: None really except mention of head injuries

Note: Jack wasn't a three star during Stargate SG-1, but his character is associated with SG-1 much more than SG Atlantis or SG Universe. That is why this story is crossed with SG-1.

Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from anything NCIS, Stargate SG-1 or CSI:NY. Just borrowing for a bit.

The men sat and waited. They didn't play with cell phones or read magazines. They were patient and thoughtful. This was the first time for one, the second time for another and the seventh time for the third. Three other men had already been called and three more were at the main desk checking in.

A side door opened and a woman appeared.

"Mr. Gibbs. Mr. O'Neill. Mr. Taylor."

They handed her manila envelopes containing their completed questionnaires and then followed her back through the door.

In a wide hallway the woman opened the first folder. "Two neurologists new to the team are interested in your years of service where you received electrical shocks. Are you interested in providing that information, Mr. O'Neill?"

O'Neill scowled, ignored the looks from the other two men and said, "No." He didn't want to talk about all the Zat, hand device and pain stick episodes and besides, it was all classified.

"They are interested in your near death experiences. Are you willing to provide information about them?"

"No." Not the actual death experiences either.

"Mr. Gibbs, are you interested in providing information about your recollections and dreams while in comas and your memory loss?"

"NO," he almost growled. Is she crazy?

"Mr. Taylor, are you interested in providing information to the team about your near death experience and aphasia?"

"No." I thought this was supposed to be confidential.

"Okay," she quietly and kind of sarcastically sing-songed.

The men knew that to be in the study a person had to have had at least one traumatic brain injury from a blow, from an explosion or from depleted oxygen related to suffocation, drowning, strangulation or blood loss... something that rendered a person unconscious. And they had agreed to let the researchers monitor them to better understand injured brains and the consequences. It was an important study.

At the first door on the right. "In here Mr. Gibbs. An additional questionnaire is on the table. Please be as thorough as possible. A gown and robe are behind the door. A doctor will be here in about 10 minutes." At the second door on the right. "In here Mr. O'Neill. An additional questionnaire is on the table. Please be as thorough as possible. A gown and robe are behind the door. A doctor will be here in about 10 minutes." At the third door on the right. "In here Mr. Taylor. An additional questionnaire is on the table. A gown and robe are behind the door. Please be as thorough as possible. A doctor will be here in about 5 minutes."

Forty-five minutes later the doctors were finished with them and they had provided urine and blood samples. The men carried bags with their clothes, the woman had their folders and with a look that said 'follow me' she led them to the next stop.

After thorough EEGs and head and full body CAT scans, they received thanks from the brain injury research team and they got dressed. Then the woman escorted them one last time, to the elevator at the offices entrance. She smiled and said, "Thanks very much for participating in the brain study. Mr. O'Neill, we hope to see you in six months. Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Taylor, we hope to see you both in one year. Bye now." And she was gone.

The three men had not spoken to each other the entire time. They didn't speak in the elevator ride down to the main floor. They didn't speak on the walk through the main lobby and out the front door. Now they stood looking at each other and wondering a bit. Two were seasoned investigators and naturally curious and the third was naturally curious too and a problem solver in his own right. All three loathed talking about themselves and especially about injuries or perceived weaknesses. And except for the probing questions, they all appreciated being treated pretty anonymously and without favor.

On the sidewalk outside the main door, they were ready to part company and be on their way, when they all stopped.

O'Neill spoke first. "So... beer?"

Gibbs and Taylor agreed.

Taylor went next. "Mac."

O'Neill and Gibbs tipped their heads.

Gibbs was next. Taylor had told them his first name so, "Jethro."

Mac and O'Neill gave him a small nod with no indication they thought his name was weird.

O'Neill went last. "Jack."

The three men smiled and shook hands. Jethro, Jack and Mac was better than Gibbs, O'Neill and Taylor and much better than Leroy, John and McKenna.

Mac remembered their escort saying 'years of service' and had to ask. He looked right at Jack. "Military?"

Jack hesitated, but finally said "Air Force."

And then at the same time, Mac and Jethro both replied "Marine Corp." Mac announced "NYPD Crime Lab" while Jethro admitted "NCIS." They looked at Jack to find out if he was a special agent or a detective or even a cop. Before they could ask him anything they saw him looking toward two men who were standing nearby. Jack walked to them as they walked to him and when they were close enough he said, "Going for drinks. Don't need you." One replied, "but sir" before backing down with a reluctant "yes sir." The second man just nodded to Jack, but was talking on his phone as he and the other man walked away.

Mac and Jethro had seen and heard everything and were now staring curiously at Jack.

He half glared at the backs of the two security men before turning to Mac and Jethro. They wanted to know. They weren't asking, but they wanted to know, so he quietly admitted being a lifer by saying "Air Force" again.

With wide eyes Mac asked, "Where?" And Jack reluctantly said, "Pentagon."

"Where?" Familiar with the Pentagon, Gibbs had to know more. Senior guys could be indispensable to mission success, but how many had guys accompany them to a doctor appointment?

Jack looked at Jethro and then at Mac. He didn't have to tell them anything. They didn't have a need to know. They didn't have a right to know. He knew what information the NCIS Special Agent was fishing for so with a small shrug he told them, "E ring." It would be hard for them to find that out, but certainly not impossible so he decided to just tell them. It wasn't like he was divulging secrets or protected information. They already knew his name was John "Jack" O'Neill.

The men knew that only the most senior officers had offices in the high security E ring and they just stared at Jack, who had sent away his personal security detail.

Mac and Jethro were still looking at him and finally Jack couldn't stand it any longer. It was past time to get going and was getting uncomfortable. "So... beers?"

Both men smiled and lightly chuckled. Then Mac took the lead saying he'd heard about a place in downtown Boston and they headed for transportation. On the way he asked them where they were staying and yep, they were all in the same hotel and scheduled to be on the same train the next morning back to New York City and Washington, DC. They enjoyed the company for that one late afternoon and early evening, but they parted ways after dinner at 1930. The next morning they arrived at the train station separately and they sat separately both at the station and on the Acela Express. Both Jethro and Mac noticed the two men from the day before keeping an eye on Jack from a discreet distance and they were more than curious.

They were all pretty close to the same age; Mac was the youngest with Gibbs in the middle and Jack just a bit older. All had served in the military and Jack was still active duty while Jethro and Mac had also served in the reserve. They were all in from out of town for the brain study. All had had brain trauma of some kind... or many kinds. All had agreed to participate with the end being, upon their deaths, the donation of their brains to the brain bank for further study. Little did they know they had even more in common. Mac had lost his wife, Claire, Jethro had lost both his wife, Shannon and his daughter, Kelly, and Jack had lost his son, Charlie, and his marriage to Sara had ended. None of them had been able to successfully move on from the loss of their true loves.

They all kept their private lives private, as much as possible. They had hobbies, not much family, not an overabundance of friends, but the friends they had were very close. They liked spending time alone and closely guarded their secrets, and they each had a lot of secrets. All three loathed talking about themselves and especially about relationshops, injuries and perceived weaknesses. They had coped with PTS on and off, and had dealt with headaches and memory loss, and Mac was also dealing with aphasia. They practically oozed integrity and leadership, but bucked the system and gave gray hair and ulcers to their superiors. The three men had tons of stuff in common and didn't even know it.

McKenna 'Mac' Llewellyn Taylor

Two days later Gibbs asked McGee to find out what he could about Jack and Mac, and at about the same time, Mac used his skills to find out about Jack and Jethro. The result was Mac and Jethro finding out a lot about each other, starting with their names, Leroy jethro Gibbs and McKenna Llewellyn Taylor, but neither found out much at all about Jack, except that he was Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, and he did indeed have an office in the E ring of the Pentagon. The research also reminded them about the Senator Kinsey shooting when Jack was a Colonel so they had a timeline for his promotions, but that was all. The man's military career was the most secret, the most redacted that they had ever even heard about and there was only one way for that to happen and it was at the executive level, aka the President of the United States.

Jack didn't try to find out anything at all about Jethro and Mac. They were easy to drink with, seemed like good men and he was a good judge of good men. They hadn't pried into anything, didn't talk much about their personal lives and he looked forward to seeing them again... in a year. Or perhaps sooner if he happened to cross paths with them.

The End

Thanks for reading.

In real life, there are brain studies going on all over the world. For my story, this brain study is being conducted by researchers at a Boston Hospital.

The Amtrak Acela Express is a train that runs from Boston to Washington, DC.

I tried to remember all the injuries etc that could have damaged Jack's brain. By thinking about the episodes, in order, here is what I came up with so far. Thor and the sarcophagus could have helped him a little, maybe healed him or whatever, but the brain isn't like bones or skin or muscles or even blood vessels. JMO

80s Iran Iraq border skull fracture, concussion, other breaks, 9 days in the desert

? POW torture including electric shocks

The rest are Stargate related.

97 knocked unconscious

97 knocked unconscious by electromagnetic energy and later shocked by same energy and thrown against a wall

97 blocked memories, PTSD. photo sensitivity

98 knocked unconscious, tib break 3 ribs internal bleeding, severe hypothermia

98 stunned knocked unconscious

98 zatted

98 knocked unconscious and blinded by stun grenade

98 memory manipulation by virtual reality chair

98 brain taken over by organisms (spike in shoulder) heart stopped

99 alien database downloaded into his brain

99 knocked unconscious when shaped charge exploded and loss of gravity slammed him into the gateroom wall

99 brain switched into another body

99 severe headaches caused by sound waves

99 cryogenically frozen, memory device, zatted, goa'ulded, frozen

99 ribbon device, nishta affected memories

99 infected by Machello devices causing hallucinations

99 struck by lightning, hit with staff weapon, cut eyebrow

99 shot by intar

99 ribbon device

99 drugged and strung up with aliens having control of them

00 alien device in the brain, partial amnesia and controlled by Urgo

00 knocked out by alien force field, shocked by alien weapon and left with head against cage for several seconds while being shocked

00 zatarc testing

00 memory stamped

00 anoxia

01 shot with a zat and attacked/shocked by energy bugs

01 zatted

01 alien chemical caused distorted memory

01 shot with zat gun, tortured with pain stick

01 knocked out by ribbon device

02 shot by intar

02 concussion with stitches

02 zatted and tortured with pain stick

02 inplanted with symbiote

02 zatted and then tortured to death over and over, PTSD

02 zated, tortured with pain stick

02 knocked hard against bulkhead, severe stun but didn't lose consciousness

03 mind invaded by replicator hand, loss of consciousness for hours and hours and hours

03 zatted, hallucinations from alien plant

03 zatted by Nirti

03 knocked out by shock grenade

03 unconscious for 7 days (cloned)

03 knocked unconscious by alien neural sonic shock weapon

04 thrown against a wall hard by ribbon device, stunned barely conscious

04 staff weapon to chest, knocked down hard, unconscious

04 alien download into brain, placed in suspended animation, Memory loss

04 possessed by Anubis, fell to gateroom floor hard

07 zatted ? and Replicator hand in head

10 swapped conscious mind into another body using ancient communication stones