What's Eating Timothy McGee? 6/? gen.
At 0500 Gibbs woke as he did most mornings, but it took him a minute to remember where he was. The smell of antiseptic and the soft squeak of wheels against linoleum told him he was in a hospital. The fact that he was sitting upright in a chair told him that, for once, he wasn't the patient. It was McGee, his geek, the one that was supposed to never get hurt, that was laying in a bed in the Intensive Care Unit at Bethesda. Gibbs watched him for a moment. He was sleeping soundly, the product of drugs most likely, but the crease in his forehead told Gibbs it wasn't a restful sleep. Quietly, as to not wake McGee, Gibbs went out to find a nurse.
A new shift of nurses was at the desk and one of them looked up and smiled. "Is he awake already?"
"No, but he's in pain."
After she sent a message to the resident on duty, Gibbs accepted her offer of a cup of coffee from their break room before returning to McGee's room to wait for a doctor. A thin man with a nervous speech pattern that reminded him of Palmer arrived.
The sound of the footsteps was enough to wake McGee and he looked around blearily until he saw Gibbs. "Boss?"
"Easy, Tim. The specialist will be here soon, but this doctor's going to check you over for now." Gibbs stepped back to let the resident look at his injured man.
"Well, Mr. McGee,let's take a look at you, shall we?"
"Agent."
"What?" He turned and looked at Gibbs, bumping the bed as he did. Tim grunted in pain, but the doctor didn't register what he had done.
"His name is Agent McGee, not mister."
"Oh, okay then, I guess it's a good thing I'm not under investigation or anything, right?"
Gibbs just stared at him and the doctor nervously turned back to the patient. He poked and prodded and then left without saying a word. Gibbs waited a few minutes, expecting him to come back with a dose of pain medication. When that didn't happen, he left to go find him.
"Are you going to do anything for him?"
"Umm, he's not significantly worse than he was last night and the orders from Dr. Malone stated no pain meds after 0400."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure."
"Well, can you make a guess?"
The answer came from behind Gibbs. "Thank you, Dr. Huber, I'll take it from here." Dr. Malone watched the younger man scurry off before turning his attention to Gibbs, introducing the man next to him. "Agent Gibbs, this is Dr. Tullis, I was just bringing him up to speed on Timothy's case."
Gibbs shook the offered hand as he looked over the newcomer. Tanned, with sun bleached hair, he looked like he'd just come off a tour of duty, which he had. "You the wound specialist?"
"That's me. I've been reviewing Agent McGee's records and I believe I can help him, but I'll know more after I do a full exam and run some tests." Some equipment was being wheeled into the room, causing them to move away from the door. "Give me about half an hour and I'll know for sure."
The dismissal was apparent but before Gibbs could argue, his phone rang. Dispatch had received a call about a body found. A quick call to the Metro Detective on the scene told Gibbs that it was a body dump and the body had been there for at least a week. Knowing that, Gibbs felt comfortable sending DiNozzo and Ziva without him. His next call was to Dr. Mallard.
"Ducky, where are you?"
~My apologies, Jethro, Mother had a rather restless night. I'm just pulling into the parking lot now.~
"Change of plans, Duck. Team's on their way to a body dump, need you there."
~I see. Are you on your way there, also?~
"Nah, Tony and Ziva can handle it. The specialist is in with McGee right now. Wish you could sit in on it, but the case needs you."
~Very well. I'm outside the main doors with coffee. Would you like to...~
Gibbs grinned, the coffee at the hospital was almost as bad as the coffee at the break room. "On my way." After quickly telling the nurse where he was going, Gibbs jogged out to meet the Medical Examiner.
---NCIS---
"Is Gibbs meeting us there?"
Tony shook his head as he picked up his backpack. "Nope, he's still with McGee. We can have a TAD join us or we can do it ourselves. At least it's a body dump and not a fresh crime scene."
"With just the two of us, it will take hours to collect all the evidence, but I do not want a TAD underfoot."
"Agreed, but maybe it won't be that bad of a scene."
Once the truck arrived at the scene, Ziva looked around in dismay before turning to DiNozzo. "Is it too late to get that TAD?"
---NCIS---
"Agent Gibbs, would you join us please?" It was the tone more than the words that got Gibbs instantly on his feet.
"What's wrong?" He could hear McGee's upset voice even before the door was opened. Once inside, he repeated his question. "What's wrong?"
Tullis looked up briefly. "Agent McGee seems rather opposed to the treatment plan I've proposed."
Gibbs sat on the edge of Tim's bed, looking across at Tullis. "Which is?"
"We need to remove all of the dead and infected tissue and muscle while preserving as much as possible of the healthy parts of his arm."
"And how do you propose to do that?"
"Medical maggots."
"What?" Shocked, Gibbs glanced down at McGee. Even without the phobia the younger man suffered from, Gibbs felt his own stomach turn at the suggestion.
Dr. Tullis explained as if it were a perfectly normal suggestion. "Medical maggots are specifically bred for this. They're clean, they're sterile and they eat away all the damaged and diseased tissue without touching the unaffected tissue. We pack the wound with the little buggers and let them go to town."
Between them, Tim was frantically shaking his head. "I can't... Boss, I can't."
"McGee."
"I don't want to lose my arm, but there has to be a third option." Frightened green eyes looked up at Gibbs and he was struck by the level of trust he saw behind the fear. It reminded him of Kelly and her unwavering belief that he could do anything.
Tullis answered the question before Gibbs could pose it. "I'm sorry, this is truly our last resort. Either we do this or we schedule an appointment with the psychologist that will help him prepare for the amputation."
Gibbs looked him in the eye and slowly nodded. Tullis understood and quietly moved back to give the two men the illusion of privacy. Once he and the others were out of McGee's direct sight, Gibbs tilted Tim's face up to look at him. "You can do this, McGee."
"Boss..."
"You can do this."
"But..."
"You can do this, McGee. I know you; you can do anything you set your mind to, and I'll be with you every step of the way."
Tim didn't say anything else as he stared at Gibbs' face. Gibbs let him take his time, watching as the trust overpowered the fear in those expressive eyes. Eventually, the younger man nodded slightly and Gibbs let the pride show on his face before turning to Tullis. "Okay, let's do this."
Still perched on the far side of the bed, Gibbs subtly reached out and turned Tim's head towards him, keeping his hand in place to block McGee from accidentally looking as Tullis carefully packed the wound with the white, wiggling mass. Gibbs, however, watched with sick fascination as the procedure was done. Just as Gibbs thought he was going to have to look away, Dr. Tullis was finished.
When Tullis could get no more in place, the nurse took the rest aside and started to count them while the doctor carefully taped a fine mesh tightly in place over the occupied flesh. Next he wrapped it heavily with gauze.
"There you go, Agent McGee. Keep the dressing dry and we'll replace all that in two days. By then we should know if it's working."
"Okay." Tim took a shuddering breath and looked at his arm, relaxing as he saw how heavily everything was covered. "So, now what? Can I go back to work?"
"Tim, we have medical leave for a reason, remember?" If McGee felt he had something to prove, Gibbs was determined to nip it in the bud.
He shook his head. "Boss, I really need to keep busy, too busy to think about what's inside my arm right now. I'll work cold cases, I'll do everybody else's paperwork, just don't make me sit home and think about this all day, please."
It was a valid point, McGee already had a reputation for losing himself in his work, and it would allow Gibbs to better keep an eye on him. Gibbs turned to Tullis and Malone, who seemed to already understand. The two doctors looked at each other before Dr. Malone started laying down the rules.
"Strictly desk work, and that does not mean getting up and walking around, even to the printer. Don't forget, you're wearing a leg immobilizer. Luckily, it's on your left leg, so that you can use your right arm with a crutch, but I don't want you up and down a dozen times a day. The head and the break room are the extent of your travels, especially until the Cipro is totally out of your system. The last thing you need is to blow out a tendon in your other leg."
McGee hadn't even thought about the antibiotic possibly causing additional problems. "Yeah, okay, as long as I can stay busy."
Gibbs spoke up, apparently sealing the deal. "When he's not at work, he'll be staying with me."
"All right, we're going to do a quick MRI of his leg, make sure it's stabilizing, then you can go." A quick call from Dr. Malone and two orderlies whisked McGee away to radiology, the doctors training behind in deep conversation.
Alone with the nurse, Gibbs watched as she recorded how many of the maggots were not used for McGee. Curiosity got the best of him. "Why the count?"
She smiled as she dropped the last of the wigglers into a cup. "We started with a thousand, this way we know exactly how many of the maggots are imbedded in Agent McGee's arm. Most of the time it's not necessary, but since the wound is so jagged and deep we want to make sure we don't leave any in there too long. The last thing he needs is for us miss a few and have them start to hatch out in his arm."
Looking at the oozing, infected mess that was McGee's arm had been bad enough, watching as hundreds of maggots were shoved into every crevice had been even worse. The mental image her words provided sent Gibbs to the nearest restroom.
Rinsing his mouth, Gibbs stared at his reflection in the mirror. "Damn it, Gunny, hold it together. The kid's counting on you."