DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS
OH, HAPPY DAY?
'Beep. Beep. Beep.' Tim reached over to silence the alarm. As he roused himself from sleep, stretching out on his back, he smiled. He always woke up happy on 'this' day. Perhaps he should've out grown it, but he couldn't help but look forward to all the day would bring.
Ever since he could remember good things seemed to happen to him this one day, every year. The sun shined brighter, people were a little nicer and things tended to fall into place all around him. Since joining the team even Gibbs was a tad bit nicer to him.
Yes, today was going to be a great day! Tim got out of bed, laid out his clothes and headed for the shower. He turned on the water as he undressed. When he stepped in the spray of cold water caused him to scream, jump out of the shower thereby stubbing his toe on the metal frame. He cursed mildly and grabbed his injured digit; he hobbled to the bed to sit and examine it more closely.
Despite the intense agony the injury appeared superficial. Upset at the loss of his hot water, Tim dressed hurriedly and grabbed his gear. The showers at work would suffice; hopefully maintenance would take care of his problem by tomorrow.
Shaking off the minor setbacks to his anticipated happy day, Tim walked down the row of cars fishing his keys from his pocket which snagged on the lining causing a minor tear. Pulling the loose threads from the keys Tim unlocked his car and climbed in setting his bag on the passenger seat.
Taking a semi-deep breath he put the key in the ignition and turned awaiting the quiet purr of the engine. Instead he heard, 'click, click, click'. Tim dropped his head to the steering wheel, earning himself a wide red mark across his forehead.
'This can't be happening. Not today,' he lamented.
Reaching for his bag and yanking it to get out of the car, he turned in disgust when the contents of the bag began to fall out onto the ground. Fortunately, he realized the zipper wasn't broken, but it was loose, so he'd have to be vigilant until he was able to replace it.
Shoving everything back into the bag, he jogged to the bus stop only to find the bus pulling away ignoring his frantic waving.
Deciding not to push being AWOL, he called into NCIS to inform his boss that he may be late due to unforeseen circumstances. The receptionist he reached was recently hired and promised to deliver the message ASAP. Due to her inexperience she accidentally mixed up the messages "To" and "From".
The next bus finally arrived filled almost to capacity leaving Tim to stand holding the hand bar with one hand and clutching his bag to his chest with the other. Trying desperately to stand in one spot and not bump the other equally determined unseated passengers he locked his knees as tight as possible.
A dozen stops later a seat nearby finally opened and he was able to sit and relax his now very cramped muscles. Unfortunately, he didn't look before he sat. It wasn't long before he realized that the previous occupant had spilled their coffee on the seat soaking the seat of his pants and making for a very uncomfortable ride to work.
Tim, at that point could only shake his head, before laying it back against the bus window. As he was calming down the bus hit a rather large pothole causing Tim's head to bounce forward and then slam back against the window.
Without so much as a word he simply put his hand back to rub out the pain. Feeling the bmp forming there he thought maybe he should check in with Ducky. Looking at his watch he though the better thing to do would be to head right to his desk and finish that search he started the night before.
'With any luck,' he thought sarcastically, 'there'll be a few hits. Gibbs might not be too upset if I was able to find something while I wasn't there.'
Finally reaching his stop he exited only to step ankle deep into a puddle. Shaking his foot every other step he managed to get through security without any difficulty.
As he waited for the elevator his phone rang.
"McGee," he answered hurriedly thinking only of getting behind the relative safety of his desk.
A hushed voice asked, "Where are you?"
"Tony? I'm on my way up. Didn't Gibbs get the message I might be late?"
"Ah, that answer would be NO McTardy. And he is NOT in a good mood."
"When is he ever?" Tim tried to joke.
"When my agents are on time and doing their jobs McGee," Gibbs voice clipped into his ear.
"Uh, Boss. I did call in. The receptionist promised to deliver the message."
"Not her fault you're late. You should've called me directly."
Wanting to argue his side, but hedging his losses already Tim replied, "Yes, Boss. I should've."
"Fine. Get up here NOW."
"Right, Bo…"the line went dead- 'Just like me,' Tim feared.
Riding in the elevator Tim prepared himself for the glare he knew was coming his way. He wasn't disappointed and walked head hung to his desk only to find his computer dark.
He immediately began pushing buttons and checking cords.
"It's useless McApple. The whole system is down."
Tim smacked the screen.
"Whoa, McGee," Ziva said surprised to see such a reaction from her normally mild mannered team mate. "Did you get any results of your search last night?"
"No," Tim moaned. "I left it running all night." A sudden fear gripped him, 'Could the search be responsible for the system failure? Oh that would be the icing on the cake today! And not the cake I was expecting to enjoy either!'
Tim slumped into his seat gathering all his thoughts. If it was his fault he'd have to fix it. He was the computer genius after all. Steeling his will he pulled himself together and proceeded to find the source of the problem.
It took two hours, but eventually the computers were back on-line. Tim managed to salvage his search and restart where it left off. Fortunately, it took only another forty minutes to get the results and for the first time today Gibbs smiled.
Tim breathed his ease and leaned back in his chair a smile cracking through the tension of the day. As his back pushed against the rear of the chair he fell backward banging his already bruised head on his file cabinet.
Tim could feel the intensity of the bright lights before he was even aware that he had lost consciousness. He squeezed his eyes against the instinct to open them.
"Come on Timothy, I know you're with us," he heard Ducky instructing.
"Ducky, can you turn down the lights?" he moaned.
"Oh right. Mr. Palmer if you'd be so kind."
"Certainly, Dr. Mallard," Jimmy obliged hitting the switch giving Tim instant relief.
He opened his eyes and tried to sit up.
"Easy there," Ducky laid his hand on McGee's shoulder gently pushing him back down onto the table. "You have a rather nasty bump on your head."
"I know. I hit it on the bus window."
"I don't know anything about the bus dear boy, but the filing cabinet did quite the number on you."
'The filing…' Tim closed his eyes wishing he could start this day all over again, but without all the mishaps.
"Is my favorite Probie awake?" Tony's voice sang as he entered into autopsy. "You're real skills weren't necessary were they Ducky?"
"Not at all Anthony. Our young Timothy will be just fine. He only needed a little more rest and perhaps something for the headache."
"Are you really okay McGee?" Ziva asked having followed in behind Tony.
Without opening his eyes, Tim replied, "Yes, I'll be okay. It's been one heck of a day that's for sure."
Everyone exchanged looks and smiled as Gibbs joined them around Tim's prone body.
"Hey, McGee. You getting up sometime today?" Gibbs prodded.
"Sure thing Boss," Tim instinctively swung his legs over the side of the table. He felt two sets of hands helping to steady him as he slowly opened his eyes.
He lightly shook his head and genuinely smiled as he saw Abby walking toward him carrying a cake with burning candles.
"Hope you hurry up and make a wish McBirthday before the place catches fire," Tony teased.
"Well, McGee. Come on blow out the candles," Abby said eagerly.
Tim closed his eyes, made his wish and blew out all the candles.
"Thanks you guys. This really made my day a happy one after all."
"Great," Gibbs clapped his hands together. "Everyone eat and then get back to work," he smirked. Everyone muttered but quickly cut up the cake to celebrate Tim's important day.