Unhelpful Help
"Glad you could join us, Gibbs."
Choosing to ignore the sarcasm in Jarvis' voice, Gibbs walked up to the group at Vance's conference table as Vance tried to soothe things over. "Yes, Agent Gibbs, thank you for coming back from your vacation to help with this situation. Let's see if we can get this solved and get you back to it."
Jarvis was still in a mood. "Leave a beach bunny somewhere, Gibbs?"
Silently chucking at the memory of the stuffed bunny that was part of Tiana's tea party that morning, Gibbs shrugged as he pulled his chair up to the table. "Yeah, something like that."
"Not that I don't appreciate the work your Cybercrimes Department does, Leon, but I want Agent McGee in on this as well."
"Unfortunately, Agent McGee is out on bereavement leave. I'm sure that Mr. Jackson and..."
"Bereavement leave? Who the hell died?"
Vance lifted a hand to convince Gibbs to let him handle it, but Jarvis wasn't finished. "I get regular updates from Admiral McGee on the project he's running for me. I'm pretty sure I would have heard if he'd had a death in the family."
"McGee's got family beyond that old windbag." Jackson realized who he'd mouthed off to and sunk down in his chair as the SecNav stared at him. "Sorry, Sir."
"Is there a problem with Admiral McGee that I should be aware of?"
"Of course not." Vance jumped in before the meeting fully derailed. "However, I don't believe he and his son are particularly close. Agent McGee's ex died a few days ago, leaving him a single father. I'm sure we can give them a few more days at least to get settled."
Vance's brittle smile showed that he hoped the discussion was over, but Jarvis stared at him. "I'm surprised the Admiral has never mentioned a grandchild when I've asked about his family..."
"She's four, they went seven years without speaking." Several heads turned at Gibbs' pronouncement. "Think the math speaks for itself. Beyond that, it's McGee's decision."
"The man has a right to know he's a grandfather."
"Like I said, McGee's decision."
Jarvis finally dropped the subject and laid out the case involving missing weapons and hacked access codes. "No offense to your geeks, Leon, but the boys in the Pentagon's basement have been trying to get a jump on these guys for months now. They're blitz attacks, coordinated between their hackers and the people they've got on the ground. By the time our guys are in, they're already done and out and the weapons are gone. We need more than geeks, we need geeks with the right training and a team that can work with them. In other words, your team, Gibbs."
"Minus McGee."
"You're missing the point, Gibbs."
"Not at all, Mr. Secretary. You've just handed us twelve individual break-ins spread out over the last eighteen months. That's a lot of records, a lot of evidence, a lot of everything to go through before we can make our next move. While we're doing that, McGee can consult from home with Jackson's team. Your people have been chasing their tails for eleven months, you can give us a few days to get up to speed."
"Don't let me down, Gibbs."
Gibbs stood, without bothering to respond, and led his team out of the room. At a subtle jerk of his head from Vance, the Cybercrime delegation scurried after them.
-NCIS-
It had taken the better part of the day to even begin to sort out the evidence. Every break-in had been on a different base, even a few Army bases had been thrown into the mix along with Navy and Marine Corps. Only three of the crime scenes had been properly swept for evidence early enough as most base commanders never connected their computer glitches with a miscount in their armory in time.
A conference call between Cybercrimes and McGee netted a long list of more information needed from every targeted base. Abby wanted surveillance from every base for a much wider time range than Jarvis' Pentagon boys had asked for. Tony and Ziva decided to request all the possible personnel files right up front to save time. By the time Gibbs had everything in motion, and Vance had all the ruffled feathers smoothed over, it was 21.00, early enough for Vance to rush home for a few minutes with his kids, but well past Tiana's bedtime. Gibbs drove by the house anyway, but the lights were off. Feeling a rare loneliness, he went home to sand his boat.
-NCIS-
Gibbs arrived back at the McGee house bright and early with a bag of fresh fruit. Smirking, Tim traded him the bag for an empty cup and Gibbs poured himself a cup of coffee as Tim washed, then added the fruit to the wire basket. The fruit basket had been moved to the kitchen island, the first of several subtle changes he'd made as he and Tia had settled into their home.
Tia was already at her spot, sitting in the tall stool at the breakfast bar that made up one side of the island. She tilted her head up and Gibbs obligingly kissed her forehead before sitting down next to her. "So what's Daddy fixing you for breakfast, Shortstuff?"
"Hulk juice, it makes me strong." She gave a pretty good impression of a body builder's pose before nodding. "You should have some, too."
The corner of Gibbs' mouth twitched at her antics and serious expression. "Oh, I should?"
"Yep." She pursed her lips as she nodded. "That way you'll be strong and can keep Daddy safe."
Both men froze at the casual mention of his safety. Gibbs gave a subtle nod to McGee before answering her. "I'd love to have some Hulk juice so I can be strong and keep Daddy safe." Curious as to what he'd agreed to, Gibbs turned his attention to what McGee was putting in his fancy blender.
Tim didn't say a word, but he carefully watched the silver eyebrow go up as various ingredients went into the jar of his blender. Some thawed, frozen juice concentrate, both halves of an apple with only the stem removed and a lime didn't get much of a reaction, but the baby kale and spinach leaves certainly did. A large wedge of cabbage was next and then a chunk of pineapple followed by a handful of ice. Thirty seconds later he was pouring three glasses full of the bright green concoction.
When Gibbs agreed to a glass of Hulk juice he'd assumed Tim would be fixing some sort of protein drink, in reference to the muscles of the Hulk, he never dreamed it would be named for the Hulk's bright green color. Tiana happily took her plastic cup and started slurping her smoothie, so he bravely took his tall glass. "Cheers, McGee."
"Cheers, Boss." Tim let his glass clink against Gibbs' then quickly lifted it to his mouth to hide his grin. Judging from the expression he wasn't quite hiding, Gibbs was expecting the worst.
Gibbs took a deep breath, squared his shoulders and gulped down a large swallow. The first flavor to register was the lime, with the sweetness of the pineapple chiming in right behind it. The fruits totally overpowered the flavors of all the vegetables. There was no dairy, but the finely crushed ice gave it the same feel to his mouth. He gave Tim a surprised look. "That's really good. Heck, throw in a little tequila and we could have this at night."
Tim couldn't help but laugh at the relieved expression. "Yeah, we could."
-NCIS-
After breakfast Tim sent Tia to play before turning to Gibbs. "Let me guess, leave's been canceled."
"Not yet, but we need to talk about your family. What do they know about Tiana?"
Tim closed his eyes for a second before starting to clean up in the kitchen. "Sarah knows the official version. She's in Japan teaching right now, but I've spoken to her since Tia moved in."
"And Penny?"
"Penny is a lot like Abby. Means well, but doesn't always know when to stop. She'd be convinced that the Admiral should know."
"And he shouldn't?"
"No."
"Problem is that the SecNav has the same idea. Told him it was your choice, but..."
"Crap." Leaning against the sink, Tim dropped his head. "I don't need this, Tia doesn't need this."
"Wish I had an easy answer for you, McGee."
"Yeah, me too."
-NCIS-
"Thank you for the update, Admiral McGee. I'll be looking forward to the final results. How's the family? Your kids?" Jarvis always asked the question, it was part of his political make-up, but this time he listened closer to the answer.
~Scattered. Sarah's off finding her self, or whatever it is young people do nowadays, in Japan and of course Timothy is in DC. You probably know more about him at the moment than I do.~
"Yes, well, I've got his team working with me right now, but he's out on leave, I'm afraid. Too bad, he'd be a big help right now."
~Cancel his leave.~
"Some forms of leave can't be over-ridden. Civilians have collective bargaining rights, you know. He's consulting over the phone with his replacement, so I guess that will have to do. Thank you, again, Admiral. Let me know when you're ready for the next round of testing."
-NCIS-
"I'll back you, whatever you decide, but it might be easier to go ahead and face him, get it over with."
"His approval is something I don't need. Let's face it, that's something I haven't had in a long time, but his disapproval is something Tiana doesn't need, either. Especially not now, not so soon after losing Grace. "
"You sure he'll disapprove?"
"He's breathing, of course he'll disapprove of a decision I made." Knowing he had to explain further, Tim refilled their coffees before he sat next to Gibbs at the island. "When you were a kid, did you ever overhear a conversation between your parents that you wish you hadn't?"
"Guess you did."
"Mom had a health scare when Sarah was a little younger than Tia. Dad was getting ready to ship out and they fought about it. She wanted him to request a stateside assignment in case, well, in case things didn't go well. He was quite clear that he had no intentions of becoming a single father. Maybe that was his way of telling her he didn't want to lose her but..."
"But that's not the way a kid would have heard it."
"Yeah. Anyways, Penny came to stay with us and he shipped out right on schedule. Nothing ever interfered with his career goals."
"Even his family?"
"Especially his family. We were supposed to know better." Tim turned to look Gibbs directly in the eye. "I don't want Tia to ever feel like that."
"She doesn't. You're doing a great job with her."
"Thanks, and thanks for coming to tell me about the SecNav and the Admiral."
"Forewarned is forearmed, McGee. Either of them give you any trouble, you come to me, all right?"
McGee nodded, grateful for the back-up. He'd come to rely more on Gibbs in the last few weeks than anyone else in his life, ever. "When's the next briefing with Jarvis?"
"13.00"
"I'll be there."
-NCIS-
"Well?"
"I'm sorry, Sir, the details of your son's leave are in a sealed file."
"Sealed?"
"I'll see what else I can find out, Admiral McGee."
Once his aide left the office, Ronald McGee picked up his phone and dialed an overseas number. "Mother, have you spoken to Timothy recently?"
~No, not for several weeks. Why?~
"He's out on leave while the rest of his team is personally working with the SecNav. If he... if he were ill, he would confide in you, correct?" There was a short pause before she answered.
~Of course he would.~
"And you would tell me." This time the pause was longer as she obviously had to think about it.
~Unless he asked me not to.~
"Mother, this is important."
~Perhaps it's time you said that to Timothy.~
The Admiral stared at the phone long after the call ended.
