Putting out the last feeble flicker of flame with his now ruined and favourite sports coat, Gibbs turned very slowly on his heel. Plumes of ashen smoke hung over the bull pen as he pinned his pale junior agent with a gaze much hotter than the smothered fire had been. The light of the flames and the light of his very spirit seemed to wither simultaneously and die in Tim's eyes as his heart quickened uncomfortably. This was not good; it was very bad in fact. He didn't even know it had happened, well, he did. But it was a very slim possibility; he didn't think it realistically would happen.

The smouldering shell of the combusted computer hiccoughed meekly in the oppressive silence.

A dangerously curious brow was raised, causing Tim to sink further into the depths of earthly hell.

"Didn't I specifically tell you not to do this?"

The younger agent opened his mouth nervously, but he needn't have bothered. Not even attempting to waste his breath, Gibbs abruptly made for the stairs, knowing Tim would follow. It was with mammoth effort that the technical know-all managed to jerk his legs into action. Dread was making them rather leaden. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he was just so damned curious. He'd always been that way as a kid, pulling things apart to see how they worked or if they could work better. It used to drive his father insane. Pushing images of his father far from his mind with a deep swallow, Tim trailed miserably in his boss' wake. Movement caught his eye as he looked down on the stairs to see Tony entering the bull pen wide eyed.

The senior agent looked up the stairs just in time to catch a glimpse of his junior counterpart. Sympathy instantly dogged his face as he shot the younger man an expressive look. Torment each other though they might, there was an almost unwritten code that the room Tim was about to visit was not a matter for needling. Shooting Tony a miserable look, McGee took in the Gibbs' rigidly stiff back and swallowed a sigh.

The man was nuclear level pissed.

He always went ramrod straight when he was nuclear level pissed.

Images of the tech summit he was due to attend this evening were quickly trickling away like water in cupped hands. There was no way Gibbs was going to let this go with a simple sore ass. He'd destroyed agency property, on agency time, doing agency prohibited things. Misery set in like gangrene as the long walk seemed to stretch for an eternity. That was until Gibbs came to such an abrupt and inexplicable stop that Tim slammed straight into his back.

Whimpering as a brief bout of pain shot across his nose, McGee took three hasty steps back as the team-lead turned slowly. Quickly assessing his junior agent's injuries to be more pride than nasal based, the elder of the two turned even more glacial. His mind was working rapidly, Tim could see it instantly, and it made his stomach heave. Surely he couldn't know. Not even Gibbs could know absolutely everything about absolutely everything, right?

"You didn't do this on your own, did you?"

Tim's soul burst into a million pieces in defeat.

He could lie, but he'd done that once before and it had ended very badly. Sometimes he could swear he still tasted soap lingering in the corners of his mouth. But if he couldn't lie, then the only other option was the truth, and that wasn't an option at all. Spluttering nervously and trying, and failing to look innocent, Tim floundered. Gibbs' arctic stare deepened into iceberg territory as he whipped his cell out of his pocket.

"Boss-"

Gibbs silenced him with a look that would have effectively silenced the pope.

Tim waited in horrified consternation as a speed dial was pressed and fate took its course. The ringing of the phone could be heard in the deathly quiet corridor, allowing McGee to hear the answering voice with crystal clarity. Arching a deathly brow in his junior agent's direction, Gibbs' sigh would have blown the feathers right of a chicken as he scrubbed a hand over his wearied eyes.

"Abby, be a dear and get your behind up to the conference room in no more than two and a half minutes."

Snapping the cell shut on his most dangerously sugary voice, Gibbs stepped back so McGee could take the lead on the rest of the journey.

"Why don't you go on and show me the way, Agent McGee?" he queried in a velvety tone that positively reeked of danger. "Seems like the way I do things around here or the things I say around here are no longer worthy of your attention." He spread his arm further out in a permissive gesture to a horrified Tim, raising his famous brow to new high.

"No?" he murmured, "You don't want to be the boss, call the shots? It sure seems like you do?"

Tim shook his head so violently the already garish orange became hallucinogenic.

Gibbs stared at him for what seemed like the length of time it would take to build a small village before smartly side stepping him back into vantage position. "Oh good," he replied with his dripping sarcasm, "All is right with the world then." Gesturing down the hallway with a narrowed gaze, he tilted his head and spoke in a voice that truly affirmed just how truly pissed off he was.

"Shall we proceed then? Or would you like to perhaps blow up a whole floor before we go?"

…

A/N: One more chapter and done. Short idea that popped into my head.

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