A/N: Another ficlet for the NFA Help Haiti auction. Tim and Tony friendship oneshot.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS. I'm not making money off it. If they wanted to make me official, I'd accept that... ;D

Memory Game
by Enthusiastic Fish

Tony stretched out on the chair. It was comfortable but not luxurious. He shifted position again and then looked over.

"Okay, McGee, I've decided we're going to play a game. You ready to hear the rules?"

He waited.

"A rousing endorsement. I'm going to call it...Memory. That's right. Only we're not using cards and matching them up. Here's how it works. I'm going to give you a clue and you have to tell me what event it's from. If you get it right, you get a point. If you don't I get a point. Understand?"

Silence.

"Okay. Here we go. First one. Private detective gone bad."

Tony waited for a while.

"No? You don't remember? Point for me, then. That's Tony: 1 and McGee: 0. You were so gaga over this guy and it turned out that he had planted evidence just for the money." Tony sighed. "I remember now...you looked so broken up when you learned that your idol was as base as the next guy."

Another long silence and Tony thought about that. It had been a joke at the time, but Tim really had been saddened by learning that the detective would risk an innocent man getting imprisoned.

"Oh, come on, McGee. I'm disappointed. You're supposed to be smart! Okay, next one. Two words: Brokeback Mountain."

Tony laughed, but there was no response.

"We had to stay out there all night waiting for the crew to get there. That was when Jimmy sprained his ankle." He shook his head. "That was one weird case."

He looked over again.

"Still nothing? Two to zip, McGee. You're falling behind. Next one...

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"...and then you actually yelled at me. I can't remember the last time you genuinely yelled at me, Probie. You were really bad off from that case. You know...I'd be willing to bet that it wasn't your kill shot, but I know that it will never mean anything to you because you still shot him. You're weird like that, McGee. That's 65 to..."

The door opened.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tony. I didn't realize you were in here still."

Tony grinned. "I have to give him the chance to get some points. He's still zip."

The nurse smiled back. "I just need to do his routine checkup. Is that all right?"

"Sure. I can wait. Give him the chance to think it over." Tony watched as the nurse lifted Tim's flaccid arm, checking his pulse and giving him the stimuli tests they had been for so long.

She noticed his stare. "You've seen this before, Tony."

"I'm used to people who open their eyes being awake," he said softly, bravado all but gone.

"Comas are different for different people. Not everyone is like in the movies. Tim here has a high score on eye motion and he is reacting to painful stimuli now. No verbal response as yet, but there's always a chance."

"The way his eyes are always open. I just keep expecting him to sit up and start talking...but he never does."

Carefully, the nurse laid Tim's arm back on the bed and turned to Tony.

"Even when he wakes up, he's not likely to do that. Assuming that he regains consciousness and full function, it will take months of rehabilitation."

"I know."

"Well, I'm finished. You can get back to your game." She smiled and turned back to Tim. "You're going to have to show him up, Tim. He'll be insufferable otherwise."

Tim's eyes opened, but nothing else happened. Tony sighed and then pulled himself together.

"Right. Here we go, Probie. I'm only going to give you four letters this time. You should get this one. S. W. A. K. ..."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"That's 346 to 0, McGee. Tsk, tsk. You should be doing so much better than this." Tony swallowed the lump in his throat. It had been so long. He actually couldn't speak for a few minutes as he sat in the chair and stared at Tim. His eyes always opened when someone spoke. Every time...but he didn't really hear them. He did something called adduction when they administered painful stimuli, but he still hadn't made any noises. The nurse had said that if they could get him making sounds, saying words, he'd no longer be in the severe category of the Glasgow Coma Scale. He was right on the edge...right on the edge.

"Okay, Magoo. This is it. I'm declaring this to be your last chance to get even a single point. Then, I'm declaring myself the winner. Are you ready?"

Tim's eyes were open, and he even seemed to be staring at Tony this time. It was a little disconcerting, but Tony pressed onward.

"I have one clue for you and there's no way you should miss out on it. Ready? Here it is: A body in a barrel of lye."

Tony waited. Then, there was a soft sound...almost like a whisper. He looked at Tim again. He sure seemed to be looking at Tony rather than staring in his general direction. Then, his mouth moved. That same soft sound.

"What was that, McGee?"

"Firsss...casssss..."

Tony could hardly believe it but he wasn't about to let his jubilation show.

"Gotta give me more than that, McGee."

A ghost of what might have been a smile. "Rrrrrrroc...win...no..."

Tony laughed and then was embarrassed when he felt tears in his eyes.

"Yeah...yeah, you would remember that part. Anything else?"

"...-by...taaaaaa...oooooooo." Tim took a breath. "...mmmmmoooooommmm..."

Tony had to wipe the tears away because they were making it hard to see.

"Exactly..."

"Win?" Tim asked, almost reaching the point of a smile.

"I'll give you 346 points, McGee. That's enough for a tie. I can't let you win."

"Kay..."

Tim's eyes started to slide closed and Tony reached over to push the call button over and over again until the nurse arrived.

"You can take a rest, McGee. I'll be here when you wake up again."

"Kay..."

Tony grabbed Tim's hand and squeezed it. He smiled again. A gentle squeeze in response. Tim was still there. After eleven months of waiting, Tim was waking up. No matter how long it took after that...Tony knew it would be worth waiting...to have his friend back again.

FINIS!