A/N: Hi guys! Here's my spin on a 'Five Times' story. It probably sucks but I really wanted to sit down and write, so here it is... constructive criticism is very much appreciated :) Hope this helped me get my flow back and you like it a bit.

Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly.


Five times McGee caught them

-One-

The first time McGee caught them was when he had been with Team Gibbs for only two months. He was still so new he practically squeaked. Everybody knew it, hell, he knew it, so he had stayed behind at the office to catch up on some paper work, hoping to impress his boss that he was so far ahead of DiNozzo this time.

It wasn't until it was well after nine that he heard loud whispers coming from the break room that he looked up. He could have sworn that he had just heard Tony giggle. But the guy had left hours ago – or so he had said as he had grabbed his coat earlier this evening. Curiosity peaking, Tim tiptoed towards the noise and was then startled when he heard Tony – and it was definitely him – whisper loudly to whomever he was speaking to.
"Betcha McGee would die of embarrassment if he were me."
"Did you want to me to do that to McGee?" Gibbs answered and McGee could feel a blush creeping up his cheeks because he already did feel embarrassment welling up inside of him and he didn't even a clue as to why.
"No, Boss," Tony replied now, puling Tim out of his thoughts. "I'm pretty sure, he'll be not as good as me at sucking your…"
Tony broke off now and Tim was pretty sure that the following sound was a whack on the back of his head. He quickly crept back to his desk, hurriedly grabbed his coat and before either Gibbs or Tony could see him, was gone from the squad room.
His head was spinning uncontrollably but by the time he unlocked the door to his apartment half an hour later, he was sure that the two older agents had played a prank on him. He shook his head at himself. Sometimes he really was too easy. Tony was too much of a skirt-chaser and Gibbs too much of a Marine to do… well, that. Tim shook his head, swearing to himself not to be that naïve anymore to let them throw him off course like that again.

So Tim ignored it and the head slap, that greeted Tony first thing in the morning because McGee had written better reports, proved to him that everything would be okay again.

-Two-

The second time McGee caught them was when Tony was still in hospital recovering from the plague. He had just stepped out of his room to get himself a new cup of peppermint tea, trying to come up with a topic that wouldn't bore Tony to death. When he got back, though, he stopped dead when he heard Gibbs talk to his partner. It wasn't unusual that Gibbs was there, he was Tony's boss after all. What was unusual, though, was the tone he spoke to his sick colleague. It was almost soft. Tim stayed where he was, listening in on their conversation and simultaneously trying to get rid of that weird feeling in his stomach.

"Missed you at work today," Gibbs was saying now and Tim was almost sure he heard Tony sigh in response.
"Miss you, too," Tony replied quietly before he began hacking again.

It was a bad one, seemingly lasting hours and McGee was about to go in to help him out, when he heard Gibbs start talking again, a little louder than before, but just as softly.

"It's okay. It'll all going to be okay. You'll be out of here in a few days and I'll take you home with me. You're going to stay in bed with me and everything's going to be fine, okay?"

Tony never answered, but Tim didn't need to hear his reply to know that he would take Gibbs up on that offer. Slightly shaking his head, knowing that he was reading more into the conversation than there really was, McGee turned around and left the hospital, still reeling from Gibbs' words. Would he really let Tony stay in his house… in his bed?
But Tim had seen the guy when Tony was still fighting for his life, had seen him pacing, swearing, had at time seen the obvious fear in his eyes… It was everything McGee would have done, too. What he actually had done, too. So Tim mentally shrugged to himself, figuring that he would have offered Tony a place to stay, too, if he had gotten the chance.

He was still feeling a little queasy inside, but that was probably just the overwhelming relief that Tony would make it through.
So, if Gibbs had been a bit too friendly to Tony, Tim chose to ignore it, feeling like the world could become okay again around him again.

-Three-

The third time McGee caught them was when he had come to Tony's apartment late on a Friday night. He needed a signature that couldn't wait till Monday, so he was currently knocking on Tony's front door. He knew the older man was there, he could hear music from inside. He knocked again.

"Tony, come on, open up!" he shouted through the still closed door. "It'll just take a second."

He heard some rustling from inside before hearing a loud bang, followed by a muffled swear. On the outside, McGee could have sworn it was Gibbs' voice, but before he could dwell on that thought for too long, the music was turned off and Tony opened the door, only wearing his boxer shorts and an old OSU-shirt.

"What, McGee?" he all but shouted at him, furtively looking around his own, surprisingly clean, living room.

"Sorry," McGee stuttered, slightly taken aback by Tony's tone. "I just need your signature on this. That's all… didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"It's okay," Tony replied, quieter this time, as if he had realized he'd scared him. "Just having a hot girl over, you know?" he then continued in a whisper.

"Okay," McGee replied, smirking at him. "Here are the papers."

Tony signed them with a flourish before he all but ushered Tim out of the apartment.

It wasn't until Tim climbed back into his car that his eyes fell on Gibbs' old truck that was parked a couple of spots down from him. The old and almost forgotten queasy feeling in his stomach resurfaced again, but he shook his head. There were thousands of trucks like Gibbs' out there and the music was too loud earlier, too, to hear anything properly. And besides, Gibbs would never listen to Tony's out of the world jazz music anyway…

And if Tim felt slightly out of balance after that, he ignored it, even if the okay-ishness felt a little off this time.

-Four-

The fourth time McGee caught them was when Tony and Gibbs had come back from Israel a couple of week previously, leaving Ziva there with Mossad. Tim was hurting, too, but it was obvious that Tony was hurt beyond belief. He had a lost look in his eyes that McGee had never seen before. It wasn't just that, though. Tim knew that Tony loved Ziva, he just wasn't sure whether it was romantic love or not. The same question seemed to preoccupy Gibbs, too, judging from his short temper towards Tony ever since they had come back. Tim was just about to take pity on Tony and offer the guy to go out that night, grab a couple of beers and drink his pain away, when Gibbs marched up to Tony's desk, tilted his head and then stalked towards the elevators. He looked angry, but Tony followed nonetheless. As soon as the doors had closed on them, the light over the elevator went out and Tim knew that Gibbs had flicked the emergency switch. Tim couldn't help himself – he walked over, too, making sure that he was alone before pressing an ear to the door. And sure enough, he could hear them talking. But apparently, Gibbs wasn't angry with Tony, not at all.

"I'm sorry," Gibbs apologized, making Tim outside the elevator shift uncomfortably because Gibbs never apologized – there was a rule, damnit. "I shouldn't have assumed you were hung up… on Ziva."

Tony didn't answer and McGee felt himself getting restless. There was something seriously wrong when Gibbs apologized for breaking not one, but two rules of his own. And it was even more wrong of Tony not to say anything. Then, finally, he heard a bark of a laugh coming from the younger man before he started to speak, sarcasm clearly audible in his voice.

"What, I let you fuck me for years and you still think I'm hung up on her? Jeez, Gibbs, and I thought McGee was the clueless guy in our team."

McGee stepped back from the doors at that and went back to his desk on autopilot. He was sure that he must've misheard, must have missed the fuck with me for sure. As he settled on his chair, though, he knew that he probably hadn't. He'd sometimes wondered, had sometimes chosen to ignore it, but it had always been right there in front of his eyes. Suddenly the old, unforgotten queasy feeling vanished – it wasn't like he could do anything about it, anyway. He was fine with it, really. As long as the two of them didn't stop watching out for each other, everything would stay the same.

Tony and Gibbs joined him in the squad room about ten minutes later, both looking a lot more relaxed than before. And if Tony looked a little rumpled and Gibbs' collar was sticking up on one end, Tim just ignored it – it was okay.

-Five-

The fifth time McGee caught them was when he had been with Team Gibbs for years, had seen agents come and go, had seen some of them die and some of them leave them on their own account. Needless to say, Tim knew his way around Gibbs and DiNozzo, knew when to leave them alone or when to confront them. He wasn't afraid of them anymore – okay, maybe a tiny little bit of Gibbs still, but everybody was, so what? He had learned to take the two of them as a unit, had learned never to question them. It worked and he felt okay with it, too. Hell, he even considered them to be family. So it wasn't surprising that he found himself standing around a huge bonfire at the Navy Yard at the annual NCIS Christmas Party. It was freezing cold and they were huddled close together. His glance rested on Bishop and her husband holding hands for a short moment before he looked at his own hand which was wrapped around Delilah's. He was starting to realize that this could actually be it. He felt at home with her. He shortly glanced at Abby who was standing beside him, holding hands, too. With Gibbs of all people. McGee let out a quiet snort. Trust Abby to get the bossman hold her hand. As he turned his head ever so slightly, though, he felt his heart sink. Because Gibbs wasn't just holding hands with Abby… he had his other hand in Tony's coat pocket and surely wrapped around the other man's hand, too. Tim stared at them for a long minute before he looked around, making sure that nobody else had noticed it. He then took Abby's hand in his own and saw Delilah nodding ever so slightly before she leaned over to Ellie and took hers. Tim felt a lot warmer all of a sudden as Gibbs' eyes met his own and he knew that Gibbs had seen and knew now what McGee had figured out right about then. He looked him over for a second before he nodded curtly at him, raising one eyebrow and quirking a lopsided grin. Tim just nodded in return, signaling that it was okay with him. Gibbs gave him a small smile before he turned to Tony on his left, whispering something into his ear that made the younger man's eyes widen. When he looked back at McGee, though, he was smiling, too, so Tim just returned the favor, feeling like everything was alright in this world at the moment.

So this time, Tim didn't ignore it - the monumental thing - and it still was okay.