A/N: This is my first oneshot, but I think it's pretty good. That might be my ego talking, though. I wrote it a few days after Defiance aired, but I wasn't sure I wanted to put it up. Today I decided, what the heck, why not let people read it if they want to? So, here you go.

Tony was peeling the bandage off of his forehead to check the damage when his phone rang.

"DiNozzo."

"Tony?"

"Yeah…" His eyebrows pulled together in confusion, making his head hurt worse than before. "Who's this?"

"Sorry; it's Sarah… Sarah McGee?"

"Probie's little sister?" he asked, still confused and in pain. He reached for the bottle of aspirin he kept on his bathroom sink.

"Tim's little sister," she corrected a bit icily, causing him to remember that her temper could be fierce.

"Right, sorry." He replaced the bandage, winced at the sharp pain. Then he had a sudden, startling thought. "Sarah, where's your brother?" It wouldn't have surprised him if something had happened to him; it'd been one of those days.

"He's at home."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Then why are you calling me? And how did you get my number?"

"Tim gave it to me in case of an emergency. Agent Gibbs', too."

The relief gone, he was already reaching for his keys, but his hand hovered over his gun. "What kind of emergency? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine; it's Tim."

His own temper began to get the better of him. "Sarah, I need you to tell me what is going on, now!"

"I was hoping you could enlighten me."

"Sarah, I'm serious! If you don't tell me what this is about in ten seconds, I swear–"

"Okay! Sorry! I got a call from Tim a few minutes ago. He said he had a bad day at work today, a tough case. I'm heading over there now. I need to know what happened, so I know what to expect when I walk in there."

Tony cursed. He should have known McGee would be taking this hard; he should have taken McGee to a bar – or, in this case, maybe a coffee house – and helped him through it. But he hadn't. He'd been too busy brooding over his own bad day to think about his friend. "I'm sorry, Sarah, but I can't tell you about it. You know that."

"Yes, I know. I just need as many details as you can legally give me. I already figured out that he was used again by some b–"
He cut her off; he could tell that she was about to launch into a long rant, and he didn't want to hear it. "Fine. There was this girl. Young; beautiful; attitude problem."

"Does Attitude Problem have a name?"

"As far as you're concerned? No. It might have been four years, but I remember that you have a bad temper. It could get us all in trouble. Anyway, she had a thing for your brother. We thought. Turns out, she was just pretending so she could get him alone and distract him long enough for her buddies to come and abduct her. He almost–"

"Lost his job," she finished. "I know. He told me you did, too."

"Yeah. It was our watch. She sent me out for lunch. The next thing I know, your brother's calling me and telling me she's been taken. Later we found out she was in on it the whole time."

"That b–"

"While I agree with you, and am sure you've said that word a thousand times, you're my best friend's little sister, and I don't want to hear you say it."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. You said he's home?"

"Yeah. I'm bringing ice cream over."

"Mind if I join you? It wasn't the best of days for me, either, and I should probably be there anyway. I knew this one hit home for him, but I just came home and forgot about him. I'll bring a movie."
"What? Why? I never said you should–"

"I'm coming. I need it almost as much as he does. See you soon."

McGee stood to open the door when Sarah knocked. She had a plastic grocery bag in one hand, but that didn't stop her from hugging him as she entered.

"Thanks for coming, Sarah," he said, returning the hug and taking the ice cream from her.

"Tim, you're my brother. I had to come."

"No, I mean it. I really don't want to be alone tonight."

She shook her head. "Stop. No wallowing in self pity. You're going to eat ice cream and talk to your sister until you remember that you're the best guy in the world, and anyone who tells you differently is just jealous."

He smiled. "Yes, ma'am."

They were just sitting on the couch with their bowls and spoons when there was another knock on the door.

"Who's that?" he asked, mostly himself.

"Don't be mad," Sarah said quickly… almost too quickly, in Tim's opinion.

"What did you do?" he asked suspiciously as he looked through the peephole…

And saw Tony's face. "Let me in, Tim," he called from the hall.

He turned back to Sarah. "What did you do?" he repeated, demanding an answer this time.

She was making her way over to the door. "I was trying to help you. Don't be rude," she said as she let Tony in. She gasped. "What happened to you?"

"Attitude Problem happened," he answered with a grin.

"She hit you? That–" she cut off immediately at the look Tony gave her, and sighed. "Fine. That brat?"

"See? Isn't that better?" Tony teased.

"No. I'd rather say–"

"Well, don't. If you have to, wait until I can't hear it."

Tim was just standing there, staring at the two of them. They'd only met once, four years ago, and here they stood, in his apartment, bickering like… well, like family.

"Anyway," Tony went on, "she didn't hit me. Car chase gone wrong."

"What are you doing here?" Tim finally regained his speech, and was now demanding answers from his coworker.

"Sarah called. Scared me to death, then said she was headed over here with ice cream. I like ice cream, and thought a movie would help, too. This okay?" he asked, holding up the one he'd chosen.

"Star Wars? Really, Tony?"

He held up both hands. "I went with something I knew you liked. It's really not that bad. But if you tell anyone at work about this…" He let Tim think about all the possible ways to finish the threat.

"Understood."

"Sarah, why don't you start the movie? Tim, let's go into the kitchen. I know you've got popcorn somewhere…"

Once they were alone in the kitchen, Tony turned so that he was looking McGee straight in the eye. "Look. I don't know why this stuff keeps happening to you, but I do know that it will stop. You're a good man, Tim, and you have people who care about you. I would have called in the reinforcements, but I know you were only looking for a night with just the McGee kids."

"You're a DiNozzo," Tim pointed out.

"No. Tonight my name is Anthony McGee. And I'm here to keep my brother from forgetting that he has a family who knows that he deserves better than all the BS that gets dished out to him."

"Well, Anthony McGee," Sarah said, entering the kitchen, "Welcome to the family. Now, let's go watch Star Wars and forget about car chases gone wrong and attitude problems. Okay?"

The men looked at each other, then back at Sarah. "Okay."

By the end of the night, Tim felt much better. He was ready to go to work tomorrow, to face his coworkers' sympathy. If someone asked him how he was doing after the day's events, he already knew his answer.

"Adrianna who?"