Co-Written by Shelbylou - for the "Family" and the "I'll Be There For You" Challenges on NFA Community
Episode Tag: Ice Man & Designated Target
A/N: This is pure fiction and not written with any actual knowledge of how the foster care system works.
It is not meant to be a judgment or a criticism of anyone or any similar situation.
Here's hoping you'll sit back and enjoy it for the pure fiction that it was meant to be.
Feb. 09, 2009
Anger. That's what he was feeling. He could feel it bubbling beneath his skin, making his blood boil hot with the situation. Oh, yeah! He was definitely angry. In fact, he'd never felt more angry in his entire life than he did at this moment. No, that wasn't true. That moment had come earlier in the weekend and by now he was at least calm enough to maintain just enough rational thought to get through the next moment…and then the next…to remember he had to go to work...to get dressed for work and to take the Metro Transit to the job he loved because he had no business behind the wheel feeling like this. After all, angry he might be but reckless or stupid he was not. He couldn't risk getting into an accident because his rational thoughts had abandoned him leaving this horrible lava river of rage in its wake. That was the kicker, the fact that all rational thought had abandoned him and left him high and dry for days now. It wasn't him on a normal day but what could he do? Everyone had a point by which a situation was simply too much to bear, causing them to cave in to the emotions that came with it. Tim was no different.
Thankfully, he'd held onto that sliver of his normal, reasonable mindset and it was enough to get him to work safely and technically on time, even if it was later than when he usually arrived. Something told him this day was not gonna get any better and his gut stirred at the thought of the crap hitting the fan time and time again. With a sigh, he stepped into the elevator and inspected the floor around his feet. Nope. The voice in his head taunted, Chances are that this peaceful ride in the elevator all by yourself is as good as you're gonna get for the next 10 hours or so, so you'd better enjoy these moments while they last.
Unsettled and still fuming, he stepped off the elevator as it stopped on his floor. He could already feel his nerves stretching tighter and tighter and wondered fleetingly when they would give; what would be the breaking point. He stormed to his desk amidst the cheery greetings of "Good morning, McGee." from Ziva and "Hey, Probie" from Tony, but in his rare moment of displayed anger, Tim ignored both of his teammates and literally threw his backpack to the floor. Tony glanced at Ziva with a frown and turned to watch Tim carefully as his Probie crashed down in his chair and punched at the power button to his computer. Ziva had also noticed the fury rolling off Tim in waves and was so entrenched in her concern or him that she didn't realize how far her eyebrows were knitting together in a mirror image of Tony's frown.
"Hey, McCranky, rough weekend? Too many hours spent in Castle Elf Lord trying to defeat all the little elves and other pixilated bad guys?" Tony taunted teasingly in an effort to break whatever hold this mood had over his Probie. For some reason the dark cloud that hovered over Tim now unsettled him because even after what had happened to Sarah and the kid's first kill, he hadn't been anywhere near as angry as he was now…though he'd come close.
Tim took a deep shuddering breath and slowly exhaled before visibly squaring his slumped shoulders as he attempted to lock away the fury and lava running through his veins. He sat behind his desk with a stiff, stoic posture and literally worked at pulling himself together. The rest of his team watched with surprised concern as a myriad of emotions flittered across the youthful face of their friend. They watched for the slightest hint of Tim reining it in and relaxing in the familiar atmosphere. When a full minute went by without Tim speaking to any of them, Ziva had enough and finally broke the ice.
"McGee, are you all right?"
Blinking to clear away what he could of everything flitting through his mind, he pasted a small thin smile onto place and finally looked back at his team mates with a sorrowful look gleaming in his pale green eyes. He forced down the storm and built his calm façade before greeting everyone on the team with a faux serenity that deep down, he wasn't feeling.
"Mornin', Ziva. Tony. Boss. Sorry about that." Having said only that much, he grabbed his empty coffee cup up and headed toward the break room, suddenly in desperate need for some caffeine and the chance to secure the mask that would get him through the day, hopefully without further questions.
As soon as Tim was gone from the room, Tony looked at his boss and Ziva with wide eyes and let loose the question that was on everyone's lips. "What the hell was that?"
"DiNozzo! Stop squawking about it and find out." Gibbs directed from where he sat behind his desk. He wouldn't tell his team that he was feeling shell-shocked at the unusual display from Tim but the fact that one of his kids had fought like hell to push back the venomous emotion the way Tim had bothered him. Knowing his youngest agent would not let any of them into what was going on, Gibbs decided that the best course of action was to keep things as normal as they could be. "Later. Work won't get done by itself."
"Right, Boss." Tony sat back down at his desk scowling at the mixed messages his Boss had sent. He wants me to find out, and then tells me to do it later. Why?
Tim returned to the squad room a couple of minutes later with a large steaming mug of the desperately needed coffee in hand. He had already decided that the best course of action was to stay silent and walked to his desk, sat down and made himself busy doing his job by cleaning out his mailbox and addressing any requests for help that he found among the multitude of emails. As he came across a request from Abby to come down to her lab and see her about something for a case, Tim frowned. He loved the Goth but definitely wasn'tin the mood to talk to her, listen to her, confide in her or anything else that she wanted him for. Thinking for a minute, he finally came up with the solution. Email!
He quickly typed out an email with his request that she send the results to him via return email or directly to the plasma screen like she had done countless times before. Having dealt with that, he moved on, politely replying to other emails and weeding out the odd spam message that weaseled their way through the firewall. How, he didn't know because the security was tight, but today he didn't care and didn't even bother opening them. He just sighed with each one and hit the delete button. Once that job was done, he turned his attention over to the cold case file that had been set on his desk earlier that morning before he'd gotten in. Finally; with the cold hard facts and mystery of the case, he began to feel calmer and ready to face the day.
Across the space, Gibbs sat there with his eyes narrowed in a mix of concern and confusion. He'd watched the scene with Tim's arrival unfold and hadn't missed any of it. Even though Tim had managed to bite back his anger and find his inner peace; albeit a faux mask of it, the concern came from the look of pure fury he'd seen in those expressive large eyes which in Tim's case, truly were the window to his soul. He'd always been an open book as far as Gibbs was concerned and the Boss could read his young agent better than anyone. Even as Tim had tried to put it all away and the shutters came down, Gibbs had seen the real deal and it gave him cause to stay alert where Tim was concerned. The fact that none of them had ever seen Tim this angry in all the years they'd worked with him meant that there was something seriously wrong and the boss wasn't happy that his youngest agent would most likely try to go through it alone; whatever it was, without asking for help or a friendly ear to hear him out. That just wasn't who Tim was and sure, Gibbs probably hadn't made himself clear enough with his 'open door' policy, but it was there for everyone to use should they need it.
The shrill sound of Gibbs' phone ringing tore through the thick silent atmosphere that had descended on the team and Gibbs snatched the offending device up without pause.
"Yeah, Gibbs."
"Gibbs! McGee is refusing to come down here to see my test results like I asked him too! You know, he's actually insisting that I just send him or you the results in an email? What up with that? What's his problem? What did I do?" Abby's angry voice berated him through the phone line making Gibbs scowl.
Looking across the room at McGee, it was obvious by the angry frown on the young man's face, that he could hear her ranting all the way over at his desk and was not happy about it. Who could blame him? Abby had a habit of running rough shod over him and his decisions so why would this be any different.
"She wouldn't be running to him about it if it had been Tony." Tim muttered under his breath bitterly and deliberately got back into what he was working on so he could block out the situation. Damn it, he'd just calmed down enough to work and now she was threatening his resolve.
"Hey. Stop !" Gibbs ordered loudly and firmly. Everyone looked up with surprise because the team leader rarely used that tone with Abby, and when he did, it was one not to be argued with.
"Ok." She answered meekly.
"Abbs, just send the results in an email and then get back to work."
"What? Gibbs!"
"Now, Abby! We both know, you'd have had it done already if it'd been anyone else asking you to do it. So just get on it because I don't have time for this."
The faint noise of protest could be heard right before the receiver was slammed down. Tim smiled in appreciation while Tony sat back in his chair wondering what had just happened. He was flabbergasted at both Tim and Gibbs. He'd never seen Tim so angry before and the Probie sure has hell hadn't just verbalized his frustration with Abby in front of the Boss! It just wasn't done and was pretty much a guarantee for a head slap or patented Gibbs glare. Something must have really pushed Probie over that fine line they all walked. And what was up with the boss? Suddenly, he's putting Abby straight where McGee was concerned?
Glancing over at Ziva to see if she had picked up on things, Tony actually met her glance and realized that she was also surprised by the events of the last few minutes. Silence shrouded the squad room and after a stern glance from Gibbs, they all turned back to their work until an hour later when Gibbs' desk phone rang again an hour later garnering their interest.
"Yeah, Gibbs…Okay, Got it." He put the phone down and was already half way out of his chair when he started barking orders. "Grab your gear! Missing Navy dependent."
"Since when do we handle missing children cases, Boss?" Tony asked right off the bat as they all scrambled to catch up to him and jumped on the elevator.
"Since we were specifically requested, DiNozzo. Seems as though the FBI has recognized the merit of asking for our help every now and then."
"How old is the child, Gibbs?" Ziva asked quietly.
"Five months." Gibbs answered somberly. The cases that involved kids always caused him pain; not that he'd readily admit it but they always reminded him of what he'd lost. He'd be damned if anyone else was going to feel the loss of a family that they cherished. Little did he know, he never quite managed to keep the pain out of his voice and his team always knew. Out of respect they said nothing though.
In the quiet corner of the elevator, no one seemed to notice how pale Tim had suddenly become, or heard his sharp intake of breath before it hitched and became more rapid. His hands started to clench and unclench as he anger that threatened to boil over rose up once again. Of course, Gibbs' eagle eyes didn't fail to notice this change of demeanor in Tim but he decided to file it away for later discussion right along with the earlier concerns.
The ride out to the scene was a silent one with everyone lost in their own thoughts. Hoping that Tim would still be able to do his job without getting caught up in whatever it was that obviously was already making this case tough for him, Gibbs assigned the duties accordingly. "McGee, with me. We'll take the house. Tony, Ziva, speak to the witness and take photos of the area."
Tim swallowed hard as he took the equipment he needed and followed the boss to the door wondering if he was being tested like this on purpose by a God who thought it was funny to see him suffer. As the agents were allowed entry into the house by the distraught Foster Mother, Gibbs took over the questioning while nodding Tim towards the missing baby's room. He hoped that giving him something to do that was hands on, would take him away from the family's anguished story.
Seeing the baby's room; the crib and rocking chair, infant toys which included the growing stages toys, the changing table and closet full of little baby clothes hanging up nice and neatly, brought tears to the young man's eyes. Angrily, he brushed them away and got busy doing his job looking for clues as to how a five month old baby could just vanish from his crib in the middle of the day.
Whoever had done it hadn't been smart or slick about it, as Tim quickly found out as soon as he saw the jimmied lock on the large bedroom window by the rocking chair. After carefully opening the window, Tim leaned out of it and looked down at the clear, large footprints that left no doubt in his mind that a man had done this. Now the question that needed to be answered was why.
Straightening up, he ducked slightly before returning to the bedroom and looked around once more. This time stopping to touch the softness of the baby's blanket; the plushness of his stuffed animals and the soft baby clothes sitting neatly on the dresser. Picking up a pair of his shoes, he smiled wistfully, with pain returning to his heart once more and once again, a wave of anger threatened to engulf him entirely. Swallowing hard, he gently put the shoes back, wiped yet another errant tear from his face and turned to leave the room only to find himself face to face with Gibbs; those steely blue eyes threatening to bore into his soul.
