A/N: I've been thinking about this story for a while. It came out of a scene I imagined, but I had to write a story around it. This is a new McGibbs 'verse, different than the one I wrote with A Domesticated Guy, Learning Curve, The Unbearable Lightness of Being McGee, and Coming Home. I hope this one keeps you interested. As usual, I would love to know if it does. Sheila

The Mistaken Wolf

Chapter 1

"Hey McGee, grab me another beer!"

McGee nodded and grabbed two from the refrigerator. "Want more pizza, Mitch?"

"I'm good. How did you like those two home runs I hit? Couldn't believe it myself."

McGee smiled. "Pretty cool. Very impressive."

Mitch pointed at McGee. "Your double wasn't half bad either."

"Well, it wasn't enough to keep you guys from creaming the NCIS team." McGee sat next to him on the couch and handed him the beer. He looked at the screen and saw that Lobanoff was watching ESPN with the mute on. Mitch Lobanoff was an FBI agent, captain of the bureau softball team, and all around jock.

"Still, it was a good pull. You're still hesitating at the top of your swing. Stay confident all the way through and those doubles will turn into home runs."

McGee nodded and then watched the screen again. ESPN seemed to be showing the same segments over and over. He wondered how anybody could stand watching this for more than an hour at a time. He also wondered why Lobanoff wanted to hang out with him all the time. This was the 3rd time in as many weeks that Lobanoff had invited himself over for pizza and beer after the game. He kept waiting for Lobanoff to bring up a cyber problem that he needed help with outside of work. It had to be some kind of problem for him to buy three pizzas and lose out on as many after game happy hours.

"You know, I bet we could still catch Tony, Ziva, and the guys over at Rosetti's."

"You don't want to hang out?" Lobanoff asked, looking hurt.

McGee was unaccustomed to big, handsome jocks who didn't act superior around him.

Mitch learned closer. "Actually, McGee, I wanted to talk to you about something. You seem…like a sensitive guy…a good listener."

McGee cocked his head. This was getting stranger and stranger.

"I've had a lot of girlfriends, you know. Great women. Dated Miss Virginia 2007 for three years. Got so many names in my cell, I could make a different booty call every night for the next three weeks if I wanted."

"Wow!" McGee said. He couldn't help himself. Lobanoff was like DiNozzo squared.

Mitch shook his head. "But there's something missing. I'm unfulfilled. I don't want to settle down. I am missing that special feeling."

"Ah, well Mitch, you're still young. Maybe, it's not the right time for you. I'm not dating. A lot of guys take their time."

"You would say that. You're like five years younger than I am. Can I tell you something very private? Can I trust you?"

"Of course you can, Mitch. I know what it's like when no one understands you. I'm there for you."

Mitch closed his eyes. "Do you have any gay friends?"

McGee's eyebrows went up. "Of course, I do. There's nothing wrong with being gay."

"It's just that I have these feelings for other…guys and I don't know…"

McGee put his hand on Mitch's knee. "It's okay, Mitch. It doesn't change anything."

Before McGee could pull his hand away, Lobanoff gripped it tightly. "Have you ever had those kinds of feelings, Tim?"

"Ah, maybe. I think most people are…I mean, it's natural to be curious."

Mitch's dark eyes stared into McGee's. "You haven't ever wondered what another man is like. What he tastes like. How it feels when your skin brushes up against his. What it's like to hold someone who's as strong as you are."

McGee swallowed hard. "I don't know what to say, Mitch."

Mitch leaned over and whispered. "When you're curious, there is nothing wrong with exploring. It's natural just like you said."

Tim's heart threatened to burst out of his chest, but this was not the only organ that was swelling. He had never allowed himself to stray to the other side of the fence, and it felt both exciting and forbidden. He breathed in the clean smell of a freshly showered Lobanoff and sighed. Mitch began kissing McGee's jawline gently. McGee was left with only two choices: he could stop this now or succumb to the possibilities.

….

"You missed Ziva taking shots. It was hilarious! You think she's butchers the English language when she's sober, you should have heard her drunk."

McGee nodded. "Maybe next time."

DiNozzo looked at him for a moment. "What is with you and Lobanoff anyway? It's weird how he's always leading you off somewhere. What is with that?"

"Nothing! Mitch is a good guy. Very nice. He happens to be my friend."

"Nice? Lobanoff? The last word I would use to describe him is nice. Tell him Ziva."

She looked up. "Well, he has crudely suggested that we do the 'nasty' on several occasions. The last time he did it, I leaned over and described in great detail how I once stabbed someone in the eye with a pencil. That shut him up."

McGee colored. "It's a front. That's not who he really is. He needs people in his life who listen and try to understand him."

Tony made a face. "And that would be you?"

McGee felt the heat rise in his face. "Okay, conversation over. I have work to do."

….

He sat on a bench and watched the water in the Potomac. He loved to watch water. Loved to watch the ocean, rivers, lakes, ponds, but put him in the middle of any of these bodies of water and it was only seconds before seasickness took over. He took another sip of his coffee and sighed. His feelings about what had happened with Mitch were so complicated. He wasn't sure what he felt. There had been no sex. It had been nothing more than long minutes of kissing and caresses. Lobanoff had jumped up after about twenty minutes and hastily made excuses. Then he disappeared.

McGee didn't know if he wished Mitch had stayed or whether he was glad when he left. The sensations he felt when in contact with Lobanoff were even more confusing. It was one of the most sexually charged encounters he had ever had, but it made no sense. If he had always harbored these attractions, how was it possible that they'd been repressed for so long?

"McGee!"

He turned and saw Ziva gesturing to him in the distance. He looked at his phone and saw three missed calls. He cursed, brushed the crumbs from his sandwich off his lap, and trotted after her.

….

"Mitch, we need to talk about…what happened last time," McGee said as Lobanoff walked past him into his apartment with yet another pizza and six-pack of beer.

Lobanoff put those things down, and slipped his arm around McGee's waist backing him into the wall. "I know. It was so hot when I was here last. I can hardly concentrate at work."

McGee started to resist, but Lobanoff's mouth was on his, his tongue prying into McGee's mouth. Tim groaned at the hot mouth against his and began kissing him back. This time, Lobanoff didn't limit himself to gentle caresses. This time his hands were hungry, snaking under his shirt; finding his nipples and kneading them roughly.

McGee struggled when Lobanoff pulled his polo shirt up and over his head. "Mitch! Please, we need to talk about this! This is moving too fast!"

Mitch stopped, breathing hard. "You're so hot, Tim. I can't believe how hard I am for you."

"I know. I've never felt so…sexually charged before, but I…we need to take it sl…Oh God!"

Lobanoff had started to lick his way down McGee's bare chest. He swirled his tongue around McGee's belly button and then let it trail down his jeans and into his crotch.

The intensity was too much and McGee threw back his head and came. Lobanoff sat back on his haunches and grinned as he watched a wet patch spread across McGee's blue jeans. "What would your mother say if she saw this, Tim?"

McGee's eyes popped open. "Okay, Mitch, that's it! We need to talk!"

"No way. My turn, McGee," he growled as he began to work open his belt. "I want to see that beautiful mouth on my cock."

McGee slipped away from him, grabbing his polo shirt up from the ground. "I'm not touching anything until we talk."

Lobanoff turned to eye him. "Come on, McGee. Take off those jeans. You look silly with that wet spot all down your front. You take your jeans off and I'll sit down and we can talk as long as you want."

McGee narrowed his eyes. "I don't think so. You don't seem to be listening with your ears today."

"Admit it. You want this."

He let out a deep breath. "I'm…really attracted to you, but this isn't right."

"It's your homophobia, Tim."

"If it were that simple, I'd know and I'd admit it. Something else feels off…"

Lobanoff smiled. "That's just your shirt, McGee, and it's begging for your pants to follow."

"You don't seem to hear anything coming out of my mouth, do you?"

"I adore your mouth. Come here, baby."

"Out! I've had it, Lobanoff. Out!" McGee pointed at the door.

"You got yours, Tim. It's my turn." Mitch pulled out his phone and clicked photos.

"Listen, you big ape, you don't leave now, and I'll call 911." McGee snatched his cell off the counter.

"And what would you say to the officers?"

"The truth, Mitch. As hard as it would be for me, I would tell the truth. I may not share much about my life, but when I have to, I tell it like it is."

Lobanoff shook his head. "You would, wouldn't you?"

"Try me."

Lobanoff zipped up his pants and grabbed the six-pack. "I'm going to chalk this up to your fear, McGee. I want you to think about how hot you felt when my tongue was trailing down your pants. You've never felt anything like that before, have you Geekboy? Give it a couple of days, and you'll be begging for me to come over."

McGee shook head, giving Lobanoff plenty of room as the FBI agent slowly exited the apartment. McGee waited for the door to close and then he fell against it, hitting all the locks. For a while, he rested his cheek against the door as the shame and anger flooded through him.

…

It was 5 a.m. and he ran his fingers through his hair to stem the shaking in his hands. The screen of his desktop was beginning to tell him a story about Lobanoff. He'd hacked three different systems since midnight and found at least 12 different incidents of sexual harassment or alleged assaults over the last fifteen years, 9 with women and 3 with men. His only consolation was that he wasn't the first man Lobanoff had preyed upon. As weird as that sounded, feeling like he was just another of Lobanoff's women left him feeling more powerless.

Most of the allegations had been covered up by the institutions where he'd been a member. There were two allegations in high school, three in college, one in grad school, one in FLETC, and three in the 7 years he'd been at the FBI. The other two he found through Metro PD. What hadn't been covered up, had petered out as victims invariably backed away from their original testimony. It made perfect sense for Lobanoff to continue preying on people as no consequences ever seemed to touch him.

McGee sat back, troubled as he wondered on what made Lobanoff choose him as a target. What little information he could gather about the other three male victims painted them as hardworking, trusting people who thought Lobanoff truly needed a friend. The realization dawned on him that Lobanoff hadn't targeted him because he seemed gay or even feminine, it was because he was a geek and therefore, socially unsophisticated; exactly the kind of person Lobanoff could manipulate.

The sun was peeking out over the horizon when he finally rested his head on his arms and took what Ziva liked to call a catnap.

….

"When my tongue moved over your cock, it jumped. Call me." McGee's face reddened as he looked at the text. He'd received over 50 of them in the last two weeks. He hadn't answered any of them. Twice, he'd gone home to find Lobanoff's car parked on his street. Both times, he kept driving; checking into a hotel for the night. Luckily, Jethro the dog spent his weekdays on doggy care farm out in the country. His long hours were unfair to the old shepherd. It was easier to just go and get him on the weekends.

DiNozzo noticed every time he showed up wearing the same clothes as the day before. McGee was indeed unsophisticated when faced with the art of the unexpected overnight. DiNozzo schooled him on keeping a couple of fresh shirts hanging in the back seat at all times. Tony pelted him with questions about his 'new girlfriend', but he was uncharacteristically angry and defensive in return.

He noticed that Gibbs was watching him closely whenever he walked into the bullpen. He stopped going down to Abby's lab because she could smell his mood a mile away, and lying to her was hardest of all.

He was running out of money for hotels. He thought about telling DiNozzo that his place was going to be painted, and he needed to crash somewhere for a few nights, but he knew that Tony would never buy it. At some point, he was going to have go home and deal with the consequences if Lobanoff decided to show up.

….

Fornell showed up in the bullpen about 8 p.m. one evening carrying a large sack. He nodded at McGee and Gibbs. "Looks like the rest of the team actually have lives."

McGee glanced up at the clock and frowned. "This isn't late."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "What do you need, Tobias?"

"Came bearing gifts. Chinese food. Got enough for both of you. What do you like, McGee: lo mein, garlic chicken, mu shu pork, Szechuan green beans, tofu in black bean sauce? What's your pleasure?"

McGee nodded. "Thanks Fornell. I love mu shu pork."

Fornell pulled out the pork and the pancakes and handed them to him. Then he turned to Gibbs. "You got a conference room open?"

Gibbs got up and led Fornell down a hallway and into an empty room. Fornell started unpacking takout boxes. "That boy is just as loyal as that old German shepherd of his. Do you know how many times I've tried to poach him?"

Gibbs picked up the lo mein. "Don't care to know."

"The solve rate on your team is unbelievable. It always has been, but It's even more unbelievable since you took on McGee. He's the ringer on your team. With his cyber know how, he's got a skill set that no other agent in NCIS can match. We only have a couple at the bureau, but none of them are as well rounded as he is."

Gibbs gestured. "Let me call the boy in, and you can sing a love song to him."

Fornell took a bite of garlic chicken. "I know he can hack any computer system out there. Always hope that he's as circumspect as he needs to be. I don't want him getting caught. I like him, but it's important to keep an eye on him. It's impolite as well as illegal to hack a friend's system."

"I always tell you when we have to 'bypass' protocols."

"Well, you didn't this time."

Gibbs frowned. "When?"

"Almost two weeks ago. It's too hard to catch him as it is so our geeks have a snooper program on him specifically. It tells them when he's in the neighborhood."

"Must've slipped my mind."

Fornell nodded. "That's what I thought. Knew he'd never do something without your say so."

"Won't happen again, Tobias."

"Glad to hear it," he said as he pulled the green beans over to him with his chopsticks. "Just for 'protocol' sake, I should probably tell you what he accessed."

"Well, it's always important to dot all the I's and cross all the T's."

"Ever heard of an agent named Lobanoff?"

"Heard his name. He plays softball on the FBI team. What unit is he in?"

"Counter terrorism. Solid agent. Good work ethic. Nothing spectacular though. In other words, he's no McGee."

"Well, we can only have so many of those."

Fornell sighed. "Lobanoff is a good old boy. Great softball player and all around athlete. Great guy to have on a bust. Lousy investigator. Can't seem to organize himself around the details."

"Good to know. If he comes calling for a new job, I'll keep it in mind."

"McGee looked peaked to me tonight."

Gibbs grabbed the green beans away from him. "Enough with the niceties! What the hell is on your mind?"

"Well, if McGee is interested in Lobanoff, I figured I oughta' be as well. So I had my geeks do a little checking. Seems that our boy, Lobanoff, has a long history of alleged sexual assaults or harassment. In fact, the bureau has effectively covered up three of them. Maybe, it's not McGee I should be worried about. Maybe, he's helping someone. Perhaps, there's someone else on the team who's been off…tired…jumpy."

Gibbs glared at Fornell. "Why? You want to get a leg up on covering up the next one?"

Fornell snorted. "I don't like bullies, and I certainly don't like predators! The bureau gives people power, and if it gets abused, it reflects on all of us. I don't like his history. Trying to get a handle on the previous incidents, but if I can't and there is something happening now, I want to be in on the ground floor. I want to arrest this bastard and get him out of my house!"

….

Gibbs escorted Fornell to the elevator and then went back to his desk. McGee was still huddled over his computer. Gibbs leaned against his desk. "McGee."

"Yeah, Boss."

"Time to go home."

Tim nodded. "Let me just finish this search."

"You wouldn't be hacking without my okay, would you?"

McGee stopped suddenly and looked up at Gibbs. "That's why Fornell was here. I screwed up."

"You going to tell me about Lobanoff?"

McGee shook his head. "Boss, there's really nothing to tell."

"You haven't been yourself. You come in too early. You don't want to go home at night. At least two nights, I suspect you slept at your desk. You're defensive. I've always admired how you handle Tony. Now, you just snap at him."

McGee looked down at his hands. "I won't let it happen again."

"McGee?"

He looked up. "If I knew of something that could stop Lobanoff, I would tell you. I don't. All I have is my privacy, and, if possible, I would like to keep that."

"I want to help."

McGee shook his head. "There is nothing you can do."

"I just—"

"Boss, I'm tired." McGee got up. "I just need to go home and get some sleep so I can be the kind of agent I used to be."

Gibbs shook his head.

"I apologize, Boss. I shouldn't have said that. I wish I could help. I really do." He swung his backpack over his shoulder and walked away.

…..

Going home had been the right thing. Lobanoff was nowhere in sight. He collapsed on his bed and slept through two alarms before getting up and running to work. It was the 3rd night when he was turning his key into the lock that he felt him to his left. The door clicked open and he tried to scramble inside in time, but Lobanoff was on his back, one arm around his throat pressing hard before he could catch the door. McGee swung him into a wall hard, breaking Lobanoff's hold on his throat. Choking, he straightened up in time for Lobanoff's right hook to catch him under the chin. He fell against the wall and slid down to the floor, his head lolling to the side. Lobanoff leaned over and grabbed his face. "Wake up, baby. We got unfinished business."

Playing dead was something Ziva taught him. He used that one moment of surprise to slam his fist into Lobanoff's groin. The man howled and staggered backwards. Tim pulled himself up along the cupboard, trying to ignore the spots in his vision. He swayed for a moment, and then Lobanoff charged him like a bull. McGee grabbed him by the neck and they both yelled when they hit the wall. Lobanoff started punching, and McGee held on. Lobanoff was much stronger, but McGee was determined to keep fighting. They rolled around the floor while McGee responded to Lobanoff's punches with his own. Just when McGee started to lose consciousness, he heard sirens. Then he felt a weight lifted off him, and heard Lobanoff running down the hallway.

He crawled toward the bathroom in hopes that he could clean himself up before anyone saw him, but the floor started moving beneath him and he landed face first on the hardwood.

….

TBC