Note – This is a redux of season one episode 21, the episode with the ATF lady and the first episode with Jimmy Palmer. This is in the same 'verse as Honor Code Redux and Coda to that fic but you don't have to read those to understand this one
Prologue
Even under the waning of the moon, the cat's vision is as clear as if it was day.
The streets he can investigate later, right now the woods receive his attention.
His paws hardly make a sound as Binx the cat familiarizes himself with his new surroundings.
A cool breeze rustles the leaves and branches as it cuts through Binx's short black fur.
He stops for a moment as the feeling of being watched enters his mind but when he looks around there is no one there.
Shaking it off as a product of his imagination, Binx keeps walking the ground and occasionally climbing trees to get a broader view on things.
He jumps down from one of those trees on to the forest floor.
Immediately his fur stands on edge.
Ever so slowly, Binx turns around coming to face a wolf standing just two feet away.
The wolf was a small adult with fur the color of sepia.
His eyes glowed yellow as the wolf looked down at Binx.
Despite this, the cat was not afraid.
If anything, looking into the wolf's eyes calmed him.
Binx sits down and opens his mouth to speak but the wolf beats him to it.
The growling coming from the wolf vibrates Binx to his bones.
Closing his mouth, it takes all his effort not to shake.
Then the wolf leaps.
Binx runs to the nearest trees as the wolf sails over the place the cat was and attacking the grizzle bear that was standing up right about to strike.
From up the tree, the cat watches the fight.
The bear is knocked into the tree and looks up at Binx.
Before the bear can start climbing, the wolf goes after him.
It was during this chaos that Binx ran safely away.
As he comes to the edge of the woods, the cat stops, closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
Then the cat begins to change.
Morphing smoothly and quick, where was once a cat named Binx is now a human male.
The man stands up straightening his clothes in the process.
He pulls the car keys out of his pocket and heads for the car parked close by.
Starting the car up, he drives to the only place he knows that can help him.
Tony DiNozzo awakes alone in bed to the sound of the ringing doorbell.
Grumbling under his breath, the very special agent gets up and heads down stairs in only his sweat pants.
He meets Gibbs at the front door.
Tony glares tiredly at the older man before opening the door.
"McGee?"
"Hi, Tony. Gibbs."
"What are you doing here so late, Tim?" Tony asks not whined no matter what anyone else said. "Don't you know it's a school night?"
"Yeah. Sorry about it being so late but this couldn't wait until morning,"
"Come in, Tim," Gibbs says and walks towards the kitchen. "Coffee?"
"Sure, Gibbs," McGee says as he passes Tony to come inside.
Tony closes the door behind him making McGee jump in the process.
"A little jumpy, are you?" Tony asks escorting McGee to the kitchen. "What have you been up to tonight?"
"Well…" McGee stalled as he took a seat at the kitchen table. "Binx went patrolling tonight in the woods."
"Are you nuts?" Tony asks pissed off. "There are dangerous things out there."
"I know, Tony," McGee says as he looked up at the man. 'That's why I here."
Gibbs hands McGee a mug of coffee before asking, "What did you see?"
"A wolf,"
Gibbs and Tony exchanges glances and sit down at the table.
"Are you sure, Tim?" Tony asks. "It could have been a coyote."
"It was a wolf," McGee says taking a sip of coffee.
"How can you be sure?" Tony asks. "It's dark and you would have been far enough away to make the mistake…"
"I was close enough to tell the difference," McGee says.
"How close?" Tony asks. "Did it hurt you?"
"He didn't hurt me," McGee states defensively. "He protected me from a bear."
"Alright, Tim," Gibbs says. "If he did do that, why are you telling us?"
"I left when he was in the middle of fighting the bear," McGee says. "I don't want him to die because of me."
"Ok," Gibbs says standing up. "I'll go see if I can find him."
"Thanks, Gibbs," McGee says to the man going out the garage then stands up and heads for the door.
"Tim," Tony starts stopping the other man's progress. "Why don't you stay here until he comes back?"
"I don't want to keep you awake any more than I already have," McGee says.
"Nonsense," Tony says walking towards McGee. "Anyway I won't go back to sleep until he comes back so I wouldn't mind the company."
"Oh. Ok. Sure,"
"Good," Tony says and walks back towards the kitchen. "Want to play blackjack while we wait?"
"I don't know how to play,"
"Don't worry, McGee," "I'll teach you."
The sun is just rising when Gibbs returns.
He closes the front door when he sees McGee sleeping on the couch.
"He fell asleep an hour after you left," Tony says from the kitchen.
Gibbs looks at the other man sitting at the kitchen table nursing a cup of coffee.
"Did you find anything?"
"A dead grizzle bear with wolf bites and blood on him," Gibbs says as he walks into the kitchen.
"Hope the wolf's alright," Tony says standing up and walking to the sink. "It will destroy McGee if he's not."
"Didn't find the wolf's body so he seemed to have survived,"
"Good," Tony says and dumps out his cold coffee.
"Tony?" Gibbs asks coming up to the other man from behind. "I'm sorry I left last night."
"You should be," Tony says as he washes out his coffee mug. "If I didn't know any better, I swear you were cheating on me with that boat of yours."
"I would never cheat on you," Gibbs confidently says.
"I know," Tony says turning off the water and setting the mug aside. "It was my nightmares* that made you leave."
Gibbs wraps his arms around Tony's waist and whispers into his neck, "I should have stayed."
Tony turns around and puts his arms around Gibbs' neck.
Going in for a kiss, Tony says, "You can make it up to me upstairs in the shower."
Gibbs kisses Tony then says, "Love to,"
As the pass through the living room, Tony stops to look down at McGee.
Tony looks over at Gibbs who's by the stairs.
"We're keeping him, right?" Tony asks.
"He's not a lost dog, Tony," Gibbs scolding the other man.
Tony looks back down at McGee before looking at Gibbs again then he says, "Isn't he?"
End of Prologue
* - because of what happened in the last episode in the sewer tunnels
I have to watch this episode again before I can write the next chapter so it will be sometime next week before I'm going to update this.
Slight crossover at the beginning of this because of Binx but can anyone tell me where he's from? (PM me the guesses. Don't want to give away the surprise that I won't get into until Code to Sub Rosa.)
Anyway…
Random fact – there's no proper name for the back of the knee
It's true.
Someone should really do something about that.