A/N: Co-Written with Shelbylou

Written: on 03/21/2012 for the NFA "Episode Tag" and "Fix It" Challenges.

Part 2 of the Dog Tag Chronicles - Three seperate conversations that should have taken place

Takes place at the end of "Dog Tags"

**RUFF,RUFF, RUFF** Damn it! Breathe, Tim. My heart nearly froze in my chest at the sound of attack dogs. What the hell? Oh right, DiNozzo. Just another scare tactic at my expense. Well this time I nearly had a damn heart attack so I hope it was worth that five minutes of pleasure for ya!

"Finding inspiration?" Great, even Ziva is making fun of the hell I've been through now.

"Whenever I can. He's my personal McMuse.…" Yeah, no surprise there, DiNozzo.

"Funny." Since when do you think putting someone through something like that is fun, Ziva?
All bark, no bite, just like the rest of my team. What, you're just gonna let him get away with this? Thanks a lot, Boss. Guess I won't waste my time talking to you about this stuff anymore. Can't believe I thought it would actually do any good!

We don't know anything until we know everything. You keep looking.

Probie-Wan Kenobi.
Wait a ,do you want me to dust the whole plane by myself?
Just the flat surfaces where you can lift a print. Yeah,the whole plane. Doesn't matter if my neck and shoulder are still recovering from being mauled or not, I'm guessing. Thanks for the concern, there Tony.

Hey, Abby. That dog tried to rip me limb from limb.
You do have that effect,McGee.
Especially when you bail on our biggest crime scene ever. – Why is it my fault that Gibbs made that decision?

You keep looking. Tim sat up straighter with a jolt as those words Gibbs had said to yesterday. He'd told him that once before, a long time ago: There's only one time I want you to stop, MccGee…when you're satisfied. Wow, where had that memory come from?

One thing was for sure; he definitely wasn't satisfied yet with the answers he'd come up with about the last four days. Now that the case was solved and almost put to bed, he could stop taking it all in stride and think on things. He'd been thinking on them all for a couple of hours now, since they'd gotten back from making the arrests. Tim didn't like what he'd come up with as the truth underneath the surface. That was why he was sitting here behind his desk, watching Tony and Ziva head out with his refusal to join them for a long lunch still ringing in the air between them.

"C'mon, Probie, let's go, Ziva's buyin'!" Tony crowed loudly as he slung his backpack up on his shoulder and gazed over at Tim.

Tim caught his eye and held his glance for a long minute before glancing over at the unusually silent Ziva. Had she really offered to buy? For all three of them? That was doubtful. But even more doubtful was that he, the probie, the brunt of all things humiliating, gone wrong or painful here on the team, was genuinely welcome to be out in public with the two of them.

"No. I can't. Thank you anyway." He dismissed them with a barely excusable example of manners. After the last four days he'd had, he didn't have the energy to care about his manners. He still needed to go check on Abby, even if he was less than happy to be around her right now. Thankfully, he didn't have to do that until later. Tim thankful that the boss man had cut them loose,

The youngest team member was more than ready for some peace and quiet and he wasn't ready to spend that time in the company of the one person who made his bane of existence to make fun of and humiliate him, no matter the circumstances. Right now, he didn't even want to be around Ziva with all of her shared enjoyment at Tim's expense over the last four days.

"Okay, Don't say you weren't invited, McStick-in-the mud. We're outta here." Tony sauntered off to the elevator while Ziva paused in her movements to glance over at Tim silently.

Tim dropped his gaze, not wanting her to see anything of what he was thinking or feeling. They'd had their fun at his expense and they'd made their point with it. He wasn't a complete idiot. He'd gotten the point; and the away, he returned his attention to his work; getting back to his report, wanting to get it done. Squaring his shoulders, he got busy.

Tim didn't see Ziva exchange concerned glances with the man standing at the edge of the room behind him, almost out of sight and he didn't see her frown as she, too shouldered her backpack and rounded her desk to catch up with Tony, leaving the squad room much more silently than the Senior Field Agent had done. But, the biggest surprise Tim would have seen if he'd looked up, would have been the person he'd least expect, standing still, watching him from across the room, concern etched across his features.

Gibbs caught Tony's eye from across the room and gestured for the younger man to get going. It was obvious Tim wasn't ready to talk about whatever was going on inside his head. But, then again, after the talk he'd had with his youngest agent just the other night, the Team Leader knew exactly what was going on; or at least he thought he did. Tim seemed to have taken to letting everything slide on the outside, but the fires were smoldering underneath the surface. Trouble was coming and that could only mean Tim was choosing to wait until the case was solved before saying something about how his teammates were treating him,

Then again, the only thing Gibbs knew Tony and Ziva had done to the youngest of the pack was that stupid attacking dog computer program. He'd hoped Tim would say something to his teammates about it then, but really couldn't blame him if he hadn't since the boss had interrupted that conversation to begin with. He trusted Tim to handle it now, since they'd talked about it. Picking up his coffee cup, he headed out through the back elevator, in search of his own lunch and a fresh cup of java.

The sudden silence in the squad room seemed to wash over Tim like he was immune to it. Steadily he kept typing, pausing every now and then to go over his case notes before resuming his typing. Caught up in his task, he failed to notice that he was now alone. Endless minutes ticked by, with no one but Tim working in the room and the peace and quiet seemed to envelope him, unconsciously bringing a smile to his face and relaxation to his limbs that hadn't been there since he'd been attacked.

His growling stomach seemed to jolt Tim back to the present, report somehow, actually done, almost as if on autopiliot. Quickly, he hit the print button and waited until he heard the printer get to work on his document before he closed down his computer for the night and rose from his chair, pushing it in once he'd cleared it. Since the boss had said they could go when they got their reports done, Tim had concentrated on getting his done while the other two had goofed off to unwind, as they sometimes did. It wasn't his fault he operated differently. Picking up his report file, he rounded his desk and picked his report off the printer, signed it and stuck it in the file folder he turned to leave it on the boss' desk.

Tim's heart stopped for a second when he realized Gibbs had snuck back into the squad room without Tim noticing and was now sitting behind his desk, not working on anything, but silently appraising the younger man. Suddenly uncomfortable under the silent scrutiny, Tim was quick to slide the folder onto the boss' desk and turn to walk back to his desk without waiting for a reply. He'd taken all of four steps when Gibbs finally spoke.

"McGee."

Breathing out a sigh of frustration he hoped the boss hadn't heard, Tim turned back to see what the man wanted from him. In typical Gibbs style, the man remained silent until the agent he'd spoken to had retraced his steps back to the front side of Gibbs' desk.

Oddly enough, Tim didn't speak either as the events of the day were still running rampant in his mind, keeping the once incident that had re-asserted his belief that the boss cared little for his welfare – in sharp focus. Unwilling to broach the subject or say something he couldn't take back, silence had been his only option. Without even realizing it, the young man further raised the red flag with the man watching him by not meeting his eyes for more than the few seconds it took to glance at him.

"Something you need to ask me, McGee?"

"Uhm, no." Tim replied, surprised that the boss would even ask him something like that.

Gibbs' eyebrows marched up to his hairline since he knew Tim was pissed at him about something and hadn't said anything yet. "Thought we talked about this the other night."

"Boss?" Tim looked at him now in genuine confusion. Was the boss trying to tell him that he knew that Tim was upset with him for letting Tony get by with that dvd stunt? It didn't matter. He was too tired and feeling raw from four days of being treated like everyone's favorite target.

"Just spit it out, McGee." Gibbs said impatiently as he crossed his arms in front of his chest while he waited.

"Uhm. Okay. Well, I guess, I'm a little confused because you're right we did talk about this the other night. I thought things would be at least a little different now, I guess I thought after we talked, that…"

"That I'd stop lettin' Tony pull crap on ya?"

"No, Not that's not what I meant. I know that's not gonna change and for the most part I'm okay with that, I mean that's who he is."

"I'm not hearin' a problem in there, McGee."

"Nothing I can't handle, Boss." Tim replied almost offhandedly in hopes Gibbs would just let it drop.

"Meaning you don't wanna tell me what it is."

"It's not important." The younger man attempted to dodge the conversational bullet.

"There a reason you haven't said anything to them about it already, McGee?"

Tim reached around his genuine surprise that Gibbs already knew the crux of the problem and pulled out an answer for him. "There hasn't really been a right moment to bring it up, Boss."

"Not gonna be. What is it exactly that's got you not wantin' to be around Tony or Ziva?"

"They've just shown me that I'm still just their plucky comic relief and I guess I'm just not willing to play that role anymore. I mean when Tony, in all his infinite wisdom, decided that cruelty was the way to go with that damn attacking dog cd in my computer, it scared the hell out of me. It was a whole new level of torment and you know what made it worse?"

Tim stopped and waited for Gibbs to shake his head. "You never called him on it. Not that it's my place to tell you when you should say something about the crap he pulls, but to let him get away with pulling that on me after what I'd just been through and was still trying to work around was just the icing on the cake. Or at least I thought it was. I mean, hearing those dogs in my ears and bouncing off the walls in the squad room made my heart freeze. It actually stopped beating for a moment anyway, put all that together with what you and Tony and Ziva and….Boss, I just thought maybe, you'd not let him go too far anymore." Tim was exasperated. He'd never had to work so hard to explain himself to the boss before. Then again, they rarely had these conversations to begin with.

"Mmm. I watched, McGee. You didn't have any adverse affects from it. The rest is up to you." Gibbs told him with the silent challenge in his eyes that dared him not to rise up in his own defense.

"You mean, you're not…"

Again, Gibbs' eyebrows did the talking for him as they marched in silent declaration that the boss expected Tim to handle it for himself.

"Yeah, okay, I just hope that I don't have to worry about…"

**Thawack**

"Ow! Boss?"

"I've never let him hurt ya yet, have I?" Gibbs asked seriously.

"Truthfully? Yes. I mean, let's face it getting superglued to your keyboard definitely hurts. Another accomplishment he lords over my head." Tim griped before he could stop himself. 'The head slaps during my first two years here just because I said something he didn't like, hurt plenty, too. Tony smacks harder than you do, Boss. Sure, it's been a while since he has, but this latest stunt has me wondering."

Gibbs stared at his usually long-suffering agent as he reached down inside himself and actually spoke his mind of things long overdue to be amended. They'd reached the bottom line here. Tim was right. Tony had inflicted bodily injury to his teammate on more than one occasion and had essentially been shown that it was perfectly fine for him to do so. The incident with the barking dog cd might not have inflicted bodily injury but that didn't mean that it hadn't had the potential to do so.

"I hear ya, McGee." Gibbs offered quietly, letting his tone and his words say more than what most people would have heard.

"Thanks, Boss." Tim replied seriously as he accepted everything Gibbs' words encompassed.

"We hear you, too, McGee." Ziva said quietly from the edge of Tony's desk where it was closest to Tim's.

Turning around in shock, Tim found himself face to face with both of his teammates. Not knowing how much they'd heard or what Tony's reaction was going to be, Tim shifted his glance off Ziva's apologetic look over to Tony's, hoping he wouldn't see anger there.

"Sorry, Probie. We knew something was eatin' ya and we needed to know what it was. Glad we came back when we did. Were ya gonna tell us? I mean were ya gonna say somethin' or were ya just gonna let it go like you always do?" Tony asked with all due seriousness, his eyes a mixture of concern and aggravation.

"I was trying to find the right time, not to mention the right words, Tony." Tim replied seriously.

"I am sorry that I found humor in something that was not funny to you. I did not think of the danger it could have been to you." Ziva offered genuinely as she stepped up to him and stood before him. "Will you accept my apology? Will you trust me that I will try harder not to hurt you again?"

"It's okay, Ziva. I know we all make mistakes and do things we wish we could take back. Thank you."

"Yeah, me too, Probie. I'm sorry. You're just too easy to ya know…." Tony tried to explain.

"Yeah, Tony, I do know. But, seriously, can you tone it down a notch when I'm still recovering from something serious, please? " Tim asked with all seriousness as he approached the two that he now needed to finish working things out with.

"Yeah, man. No sweat." Tony offered nonchalantly as he took his seat behind his desk as if the conversation was over. "Just remember to speak up next time if I get caught up in the moment and forget, Probie."

Tim glanced over at Gibbs for a second before looking back at Tony. "I'll remember that. Thanks,"

Peace restored, they all returned to their seats and got busy on what was left of their work as Tim headed to the break room for fresh coffee.

Tim smiled. He couldn't ask for a better ending to this most difficult case.

Almost.