Tim was hot. Hot and tired and sweaty and sunburned and… hot. And wondering where the heck Tony was.

Gibbs had sent the two of them out to canvass the neighborhood where a Marine had been found dead along with his mistress. (Tony suspected that the wife did it.)

The two of them had started out at opposite ends of the 25 house neighborhood, with the plan to meet in the middle. It would be quick and painless and they would be back at headquarters in no time.

Things didn't quite work out that way.

Tim was just leaving house number 24, and next up was the home where Tony was supposed to have started with his half of the neighborhood. A small part of Tim was concerned about his co-worker, but most of him just wanted a large glass of ice water.

It was probably 95 degrees out on a nearly-cloudless day with high humidity. It seemed that at every house either the residents weren't home, or they were working out in their yard. In their yard with their jugs of iced tea or ice water or cold beer that no one ever offered to share. Except the guy with the beer, but Tim knew better than that.

By the time he stood before house number 25 he was regretting not accepting the glass of water from the nice woman in the seventh house he went to - who had blessedly been inside her air conditioned home. But at the time he thought he was nearing the end of the day, for surely he and Tony would soon cross paths - which of course, never happened.

So it really came as no surprise when Tony opened the door to the 25th house.

"Probie! That was quick."

Tim only glared, before noticing the class of iced tea in Tony's hands. Then he stared longingly at the glass that immediately began sweating upon introduction to the warmer air outside.

"Well, thank you very much for the information, Nancy," Tony said over his shoulder to the - of course - beautiful woman. "Oh, and thank you for the iced tea!"

As Tony handed the almost full glass back to the woman Tim had to resist the urge to push Tony aside and pounce on the glass. As it was Tony had to pull Tim away from the door and push him towards the car. He quickly overtook Tim, who had to force himself to hurry up. He wouldn't put it past Tony to leave him behind, not the way he had been acting lately.

As soon as the car was started Tim reached over and started blasting the A/C, and then started searching for something - anything - to drink. All he found was a half-full water bottle that was nearly boiling hot from sitting in the sun. He didn't care. He downed it in two gulps and then sat back, enjoying the cool air. Until it shut off.

"Drains the gas, Probie," Tony said in response to the glare Tim sent his way.

Tim resolutely reached over and turned the dial once more.

"Turn it off and I will kill you," Tim said through panting gasps.

"What's your problem?" Tony asked, genuinely surprised at the vitriol coming from Tim.

"Where where you?" Was Tim's reply.

"Talking to Nancy Kreiner. She saw something last night but she was afraid to say what."

"What was it?"

"She saw the wife driving away about 8:30 last night. Clancy had about 8 p.m. as the TOD."

Tony was speaking of the temporary medical examiner that had been at the crime scene. Ducky was still enjoying his two week vacation to Scotland, although he was due back in three days.

"Did you get anything?"

Tim waved a hand, too tired to talk at great length at the moment.

"No, seriously. I need to know before we get back."

"Then maybe you should've been out canvassing too," Tim said, his voice finally steadier, but there was still a breathy tone to it.

"I was. I can't help it if it took awhile to get Nancy to talk."

"It took the whole time?"

Tony hemmed and hawed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Tim finally said, derision in his voice.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Tony repeated.

Tim couldn't believe that Tony didn't get it.

"You left me to deal with 24 other houses!"

"So?"

Tim's sigh turned into a coughing fit, but he quickly got himself under control.

"What did I do?"

Tony was surprised at the out-of-left-field question.

"Huh?"

"You've been a huge jerk to me lately. Why?"

"What do you mean?"

"You keep messing up my lunch orders."

"So?"

"Three days in a row?"

Tony just shrugged.

Tim sighed.

"Okay, how about the bug spray?"

"What bug spray?"

"The case in the middle of the woods in Virginia? You used the last of the bug repellent."

"You still on that? I told you - the can was almost empty."

Tim glared at the side of Tony's head.

"You used so much I bet that clearing has yet to see another mosquito!"

"I hate mosquitoes," was his only reply.

"And you think I don't?"

Tony just smirked, remembering Tim sitting at his desk the next day, miserably trying not to scratch at the mosquito bites that riddled his body.

"What about taking credit for solving the Baxter case?"

"That was teamwork, not stealing credit!"

Tim didn't have an answer that didn't involve a multitude of swear words, so instead he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, trying to calm down his racing heart.

Five minutes later - while at a stoplight - Tony looked over to find his partner asleep. He was a bit shocked to see a sheen of sweat still coating his reddened skin despite the chill that now permeated the car. He quickly rolled down his sleeves and turned the A/C on full blast, before accelerating away from the stoplight.

He did feel a bit guilty about leaving all the canvassing to Tim, but Nancy had been reticent to reveal her tale. It had taken some heavy flirting and flattering to get her to talk. And then, yes, even after he knew the tale he had stayed. After all, Nancy was hot, and … it had been awhile. He didn't realize that Tim would be doing most of his talking out of doors - for he had noticed how many people were working in their yards as he drove by them.

He had no guilt about Tim's lunches - he had messed the orders up on purpose. The man needed to eat more than salads, and he had thought that wraps were a good compromise. Despite Tim's anger, he had seemed to enjoy them.

As far as everything else went - yeah, okay, that was him picking on his Probie.

Tony was startled from his thoughts by a light coughing coming from the seat next to him. He glanced over to see that Tim had curled up into himself and was shivering. He turned down the A/C to it's lowest setting and decided that he was going to bring Tim directly to Jimmy when they got back to headquarters and see what the autopsy gremlin had to say.