Thanks to my beta, HarmonFreak1!

This series which started with "The Thought" makes use of canon characters and events, but does not religiously follow canon. For instance, the episodes "The Penelope Papers", "Squall" and "House Rules" never happened, but "Shabbot Shalom" and most of the rest of S10 did happen. It boils down to Tim's background being very different from canon - for details, see my profile.

Settle in and get comfortable! After all, Tim's assignment is for a minimum three years. A lot can happen in three years (or more)! Now for the story...

Finding Home

Chapter One

Before he joined the queue to go through Security at Heathrow, Tim turned and gave James a warm hug. "May 1st holiday, you promise? It's on Thursday next year, so we can both take Friday off, have some fun!"

"Yes, as long as you don't have a case!"

"Come anyway!" James laughed and patting his friend on the shoulder, turned and walked away, afraid he would embarrass both of them if he looked back. He hoped the two of them would be friends for many years; they'd really gotten along well.

By the time Tim got to the gate, he was ready to just get on the plane and go. Leaving here wasn't as traumatic as his departure from DC, but it was a bit wrenching, something he hadn't anticipated when told he would be working in London for four weeks. He shook his head; it truly had been a wonderful month. Offered the choice of staying through the week or going early to Athens/Piraeus and getting settled in, he'd chosen to follow his original thought – to move on, move forward.

The flight to Athens was pleasant. Tim had a window seat and was stunned by some of the views. When they flew over the Alps, he snapped as many photos as he could of the majestic white capped mountains. He really couldn't see the mountains themselves, the snow cover almost appeared like waves. Every time the cockpit announced what region or country they were flying over, Tim had a thrill. Never in his life and certainly not during his years on the street, had he thought he would be flying from London to Athens, to live in Greece.

The four hour flight went quickly and Tim gathered his carryon, stuffing the light jacket he'd worn in London and on the plane into the bag. He briefly wondered when - or if - he would be wearing it again. Although he'd let his new boss Pete Russell know that he was arriving early he didn't expect to be met at the airport. It was Friday, still a workday; Tim was a big boy and could find his way to his temporary home. From what Vance had told him, it was something like one of the residential inns at home. He was actually hoping he could get there, stow his bags and pop into the office to meet everyone casually before his formal reporting in on Monday.

When he exited Customs, putting his documents carefully back in his bag, Tim was bemused to once again see his name on a sign, this time held by an older man. There was no last name this time, just the name Tim. He smiled and locked eyes with the man, surely this couldn't be his new boss, taking time away from the office to meet his new junior agent? He shook his head and held out his hand. "Pete?" The man nodded as he showed Tim his badge and Tim returned the gesture.

"Καλώς ήρθατε στην Αθήνα, Tim!" (Welcome to Athens)

Tim responded in Greek saying, "Thanks! I'm happy to be here, but I didn't expect you to meet me, take time away from work!"

Pete switched to English, "Haven't shaken off DC yet, have you my boy?"

Tim chuckled, "I guess not. Takes longer than four weeks to wash away 10 years!"

"Ah well, we'll work on that! I trust your flight was uneventful?"

"Yes, I snapped photos flying across the Alps, other than that I looked out when they announced where we were. Ate, drank, the usual."

"Good, well, let's get going then. My car's out front and even the agency placard won't prevent the airport police from towing us at some point!" Pete had one of the airport rental carts with him and they piled Tim's luggage on, although he kept his carryon on his shoulder.

Once the bags were loaded into the car, the two men climbed in and took off. As he drove, Pete explained, "Thought you might like to stop in the office and meet everyone before the weekend. "

Tim grinned, "I was hoping to get here in time to do just that!"

"Atta boy! We're having a get together with everyone on Sunday so you'd have met them all then, but this way you can see us in our native habitat before you officially become a part of it."

"Wow, that's wonderful, Pete, I sure didn't expect this!"

"Well, we work differently here. Might take you awhile to get used to it, it did me, but it'll become natural after awhile."

"I do have the advantage of having spent time In the London office, broke the pattern there."

"Yes, Joel is quite sorry to lose you." He laughed at the look on Tim's face. "You'll get used to that, too. With NCIS spread so thin in Europe, we stay in fairly close touch. We have a bi-monthly conference call with the four of us from London, Rota, Marseilles and here. However, Joel called me specifically about you, to sing your praises." Tim's ears and cheeks were bright red by now and he didn't know what to say. Pete chuckled, "I guess I shouldn't tell you that I've had calls from your friend Dr. Mallard and a Special Agent Rick Carter, both of whom wanted to make sure I understood what a gem I was getting." He paused, "And Tim, just so you know, Director Vance has given me some idea of what you've been through on your former team. Joel knew too, yeah we talked about it. One of the things I want to make clear to you is that I am accessible to talk anytime about anything, I would prefer you come to me with problems, even if the problem is with me."

Tim swallowed, he couldn't believe he was about to say this to the man he'd only met a few minutes ago, but it felt important to say now, to get things started right. "Dr. Mallard has been a big help with that, I realize now that I've spent most of my life handling things on my own but that I don't have to anymore; I need to learn to trust the people around me and part of that is reaching out when I need help."

"Good to hear, son, and I'm happy to help you with that. I have your file, I've read it from cover to cover and while I can't even begin to fathom the challenges you've faced, at least I have a better understanding of where you're coming from." He reached over and patted Tim on the knee. "I'm excited that you're joining us, Carla is over the moon about you coming in early so she can go home and not worry about us."

"She's doing ok?"

"She's hanging in, there have been a couple of tough spots but the docs have gotten them through ok. Joel told you? "

"About Carla and loaning his junior agent and my being there if they needed another agent, yes. I'm glad everything worked out…you know I just realized that Vance never mentioned it."

"Nah, we told him after Julian was here, he knows the situation over here, knows we have to be a bit creative once in a while. It all worked out well, you were able to continue on your project and both offices were staffed for the field."

Tim had been so gobsmacked while Vance was telling him about his former team that the fact that DiNozzo had been assigned to the office that Julian had been supposed to move to didn't pop into place until now. He shook his head in disbelief. "Tim?"

"Uh, nothing, Pete, just putting a piece of the NCIS puzzle together."

"Something I should know?"

Tim chuckled, "It'll be common knowledge if it isn't already. Joel told me his junior agent had had orders for posting to Bremerton in Washington State, but that Vance pulled the order. It didn't dawn on me until just now that Bremerton is the office that my former team-mate and former SFA, DiNozzo, has been sent to…as a junior agent."

"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean. We don't always realize how small an agency we are."

"Small but mighty!"

"That's for sure! And speaking of the small but mighty, here we are!"

They'd pulled up in front of what looked like residence. Tim looked at Pete, "Office or hotel?"

"Office."

"Cool, like the LA OSP office! Inconspicuous, cleverly disguised."

"A. I'm impressed that you've been to OSP and B, you're right." Tim laughed; he already liked his new boss. "The only problem we have is that our flag isn't in plain sight and that bothers me. But if you look up over the second floor…"

Tim looked and saw the top of a flag pole with the U.S. flag waving proudly over the rooftop along with the blue and white stripes of Greece's flag.

"Wow, feels good to see old Glory!"

Pete nodded, "Yes, I may be something of an expat, but I salute her every morning. Come on, let's go in." They exited the car, Pete locking it with the remote and headed for the front door of the building. The front was simply landscaped and well maintained. Tim wondered if there was a sign for NCIS and then saw it next to the front door, announcing it was the office of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in both English and Greek.

They pushed in the door and entered what must have been a generous foyer, now functioning as a lobby. It was decorated with some beautiful paintings of Grecian sailing vessels through the centuries with a few photos of current American ships scattered in between. The woman behind the desk there looked up, gave Tim a friendly smile and welcomed him in Greek. Pete introduced her as Tea, pronounced TEE ah. Tim shook her hand as she again welcomed him to the office, this time in perfect English. The two men traveled further into the building and Tim thought the main room must have been the living room and dining area at some time. Not having been in a Greek home before, he could only compare it to American and British layouts. Five workstations were placed in the room, situated so that no one was quite face to face with any of the other occupants. Two of the desk chairs were currently occupied. To the right, the wall was mostly windows and the room was bright with natural light. Off to the left there was a hallway and Tim could see at least four doors. He figured interrogation, machinery – copy, fax, server(s) and a restroom or two. He wondered if there was a lockup here and then realized there wasn't enough staff. He remembered reading about the American embassy building in Athens and knew there was a lockup there, but that was a few miles away. He laughed at himself, he was sure the staff had it all figured out!

At the far end of the room there was an enclosed office with a rippled glass wall facing the rest of the room. That must be Pete's office. The left interior wall of the first floor ended several feet from the back of the building and Tim wondered if that had been the kitchen. As they progressed into the room, the two workers looked up. One ended a phone conversation and sat smiling at the two men. From what Tim could see, this was Carla, the benched Senior Field agent. The young man across from her was working on his laptop but smiled in their direction. Pete motioned to them and Tim saw that Tea had followed them into the room. They headed for the mystery room at the left and he saw he'd been right, not only had it been the kitchen, in some respects it still was. There was a long counter with a sink at one end, a built in dishwasher and a microwave, toaster oven, coffeemaker and small refrigerator at the other end. There were cupboards above and below. Tim noticed that there was a track on the ceiling a little beyond the refrigerator and he noticed what looked like a large screen or rolling door hidden in the back wall. He guessed the room doubled as a conference room as there was a large table with files and coffee mugs on it and they could make it more formal by using the rolling door to block off the kitchen. As a whole, it was a large bright room, although by now Tim had noticed that each window had some sort of covering rolled up at the top, shades to help keep the summer heat out. He turned his head as he spotted the staircase to the second floor and Pete grinned at him. "What did Vance tell you about your temporary quarters?"

"That it was like a residence hotel and I could walk to work."

"Well, I guess you could call it that and you certainly can walk to work. It does have a kitchen, comfortable bedroom and full bath. "

Tim laughed, "Is the room upstairs or down that hallway?"

"Upstairs. Hope you don't mind!"

"No, I think that's great! I have everything I need in the kitchen, right?" The agents and Kim chuckled. "Yes, if you choose to eat in. Each of us found, when we transferred in and stayed upstairs, that we wanted a break at some point. We'll show you our favorite εστιατόριο (restaurant) and ταβέρνα (tavern), both within walking distance." Tim nodded, that would be good. He was again grateful that he could speak the language; it would make it that much easier to meet people.

Carla spoke for the first time, "The only rule Pete insists on is that you don't show up for work in your jammies!"

"Ok, but what about barefoot?"

They all laughed and Carla said, "Oh, you're going to fit right in!"

Pete went around the room and introduced them, Carla, Eva, Matt, Kim and of course Tea. Matt was the current probie, Eva the other local support staff, Kim was the American woman who staffed Pete and the agents. Eva was part-time, the others were fulltime staffers. They sat at the table and Tea opened one of the cupboards to unveil a plate of Greek pastries. The others cheered as she unwrapped the treats. "I brought these in early and hid them, Tim, so that there would still be some left by the time Pete brought you from the airport."

"Thank you, Tea, I appreciate your caution! In my old office, these wouldn't have made it from the front door to the squad room without some stealth moves! Did you make these, by any chance?''

"Yes, I did, how did you guess?"

He smiled at her, "Dated a Greek girl who taught me to speak the language and her mother made pastries that looked very similar to this." He continued, "I remember her making one of these, I think it was the folded ones, it was pretty tricky."

Tea blushed as she nodded. "Yes, my yaya (grandmother) taught me from the time I was old enough to see over the counter when I stood on a stool. Not the frying part, I was not allowed to do that until I was much older, but I had watched her so many times by then." Tim nodded as he chewed and swallowed a delicious bite. "It's sad that I can't remember her mother's name but I do remember the names of the pastries!"

The others laughed while Kim turned over the mugs and Pete fetched the coffee pot and electric kettle. Matt brought a tea bag he put in Carla's mug as well as cream and sugar, plates, napkins and spoons that he distributed around the table. Carla's hot water was poured first and the kettle left for her while Pete poured coffee for everyone else. Tim noticed everyone had pitched in. Watching Matt, Tim thought that of all the probie things he'd had to do all those years ago waiting table had not been part of them, although he had the lunch run more often than not. Smiling he took another delicious bite and then a sip of his coffee. Oh yeah, this was going to be good!