The picture Tony had sent now sat pinned to the board behind the desk; Tony and Tali in Paris. He knew Senior had gone with him, met up with him after a month of him being in Israel and so he had obviously taken the picture. Tony had Tali in his arms, pointing to the camera as she copied him, a smile on both of their faces, the smile that reminded them all so much of Ziva. They looked happy, or as happy as they could be. Tony was showing her all the sights he and Ziva had visited. There was pain, masked behind the glint in Tony's eyes, the smile on his face for his little girl, but amongst it was love and happiness too, he had lost Ziva but gained a daughter and he would forever have a piece of her with him. Tim broke his gaze to stare at the picture he had pinned it next to, one of all of them, Tony, Ziva, himself and Gibbs, he couldn't remember who had taken the photo but she stood between him and Gibbs, their arms wrapped around each other, Tony at McGee's other side making bunny ears behind his head, a true smile on her face. Boy did he miss her. He turned back to the letter on his desk, Tony's desk, now his desk, that had accompanied the photo.

Hey there McSeniorFieldAgent,

Congrats on the promotion probie, I know you'll do me proud.

Tali learnt a new word yesterday! It seems Daddy still has a lot to learn about not cursing around the children. (Tim chuckled to himself) It's just typical that I spend 2 hours trying to teach her English and the only word she picks up is the profanity that comes out of my mouth 30 minutes later.

Weather here is wonderful, I forgot how beautiful Paris is. I tell you, if I didn't have the place back home and all of you guys I would be quite happy to stay here. But then Tali would grow up knowing three languages and it's hard enough to keep track of her to begin with. Dad is loving it, though I think he's getting a little bored, I went to the store yesterday and got back to the hotel to find him with pink burettes in his hair… needless to say he's adapted well to Grandfatherhood.

As much as I love it here, I do miss DC. I already have a playdate booked with Palmer and Victoria for when we get back, whenever that might be, but I think playtime with Uncle Tim is definitely going to be on the cards.

I miss you guys so much every day, so does Tali (she really does, I promise). I show her pictures of you guys, I'm trying to teach her to say probie but so far all we've got is probe- we will get there, at least she recognises you in the photos now. (Tim shook his head, not hiding his grin at that)

Hope all is well at work and Boss isn't giving you too much of a hard time- you have big boots to fill Timmy, but don't let him get at you too much, you earned that spot on more than one occasion. How's the new guy working out? How's Bishop doing? Has Abby made another shrine to me in her lab? (I'll be disappointed if she hasn't). You can reply to the address on the back, we're going to be here another couple weeks at least or if it's easier just send an email or when you're not busy we can arrange a skype call- being in France and all I just felt like old school was more appropriate.

Tell everyone I said hi and I love them and we'll see you all real soon.

Love you brother,

Tony and Tali xx

p.s. I included a photo of me and Tali when we visited the Eiffel Tower on Monday, she was more interested in Grandpa and the camera!

p.p.s Don't forget to feed the fish!

Tim couldn't help but grin. He reread the letter several times before pulling open his inbox to reply. There had been a string of emails back and forth between them but they'd been a little quieter this last week. Reeves was just starting out and Gibbs was feeling the strain of training up a new guy and Tony had been doing a lot of travelling. He hadn't gone straight to Paris from Israel but had visited a couple of other cities on his way around. They'd gotten there at the beginning of the week and it was obvious both him and Tali were loving it and that it was doing Tony the world of good.

The funeral had been difficult. They had all flown over to attend, Tony had been there almost a week beforehand. It had been small and quiet, just the team, Gibbs, Fornell, Ducky, Abby, Palmer, himself, Bishop and Vance, Orli had been there and a few others from Mossad, Adam was on assignment in Berlin and hadn't been able to make it, not that Tony seemed to be too bothered. Senior had flown over with him and Tali, not wanting to leave him on his own. He had stayed strong at the funeral, held Tali's hand in his, laid a rose on the coffin, held her in his arms so she could do the same and barely shed a tear as the rabbi said a prayer and sang a hymn. It wasn't until they were back at the hotel that he had broke. Tali had been with Senior and Gibbs, Abby there too fussing over her and Tony had gone into the bathroom and not come out for twenty minutes. Tim had eventually picked the lock and walked in to find him sat on the floor, back against the bath with his head in his hands. He hadn't been crying, his eyes were red but dry, until the second he saw Tim. Tim had sat on the floor and held him while he wept. Senior, Jimmy, Abby and Bishop had taken Tali to the restaurant of the hotel to get some lunch, Senior rather reluctantly and only because his granddaughter had never been left alone with the team, while Gibbs, Fornell and Ducky stayed behind; Leon had been urgently needed back in the states and had taken off just after the funeral. Tim had sat for almost an hour before Tony finally cried himself to sleep and it took all four of them to get him to the bed. They had let him sleep, which hadn't been for long, but the second they had closed the bedroom door behind him Tim had broke down too, Ducky stroking his hair and rocking him gently as he sobbed into his chest. He had lost one of his best friends, his sister and he didn't know what to do to help Tony anymore.

They had stayed a few more days. Tony had steadily seemed to get better, usually more so when Tali was around to distract him. It was the nights after he put her to bed when he seemed to be at his most vulnerable. It had killed them all to leave him, his father included, but he said he needed time, needed to be there for a while, go back to the farmhouse, look for answers, in much the same way Ziva had. He just needed to be there with her, the thought of leaving her behind crushed him. Unbeknown to Tony, Vance had set up a memorial at NCIS, Abby had planted a tree and Gibbs had made an impressive feature piece which stood in front of it, Ziva's name carved into it and some Hebrew words that Tony had told him scribed underneath. They had all left something in the spot that reminded them of Ziva. It had been good for them all and it gave them somewhere to go and remember her, it made them feel closer to her and they hoped it would do the same for Tony and Tali.

He turned back to the picture of Tali and pulled his thoughts round to some happier ones. Tali was such a beautiful child, in more ways than one. She clearly had the stubbornness of both of her parents and could be difficult, in an adorably cute way. She had made them smile in the days after the funeral, she had kept them sane when all they wanted to do was go out of their minds, she had kept them sober when all they wanted to do was drink themselves to oblivion and forget; she kept them strong. She was possibly the strongest one of them all, though Tim was sure she didn't fully understand the circumstances. She had been pulled away from Israel, the only home she had ever known, dropped on a father who had known nothing about her, who knew nothing about raising kids and yet she seemed to take it all in her stride; she was clearly her mother's daughter. She was this shining ray of light and hope amongst a tunnel of dark and despair, in all of their cases, most especially Tony's. She was a distraction from the pain of it all, a reminder of the joy Ziva had brought them and in every which way Tim was glad of her.

He was so caught up in his own thoughts he didn't register the woman hovering in front of his desk until she spoke.

"Oh she's very pretty, what a cutie." She grinned at the photo.

Tim came out of his head, noting the damp of his eyes and the croak in his voice as he spoke.

"Um, sorry, I'm Special Agent McGee, can I help you with something?"

The woman surveyed him, almost as if she was trying to make her mind up about something, before she replied. Tim had the strangest feeling, almost like he was being x-rayed by her eyes.

"I'm looking for Agent Gibbs, is he around?"

Another red head looking for Gibbs, what a surprise.

"He's just down with Dr Mallard in autopsy, I'm not sure how long he'll be. I can give him a call if you like or take a message?"

"Ah, see I could call him myself but it seems there must be something wrong with his cell because it keeps going to voicemail, unless it's just me of course, but I don't mind waiting honey, that's fine."

Honey? Oh god please don't say this is another one of his wives. Tim forced a smile and turned back to the desk, subconsciously shuffling papers in order to feel like he was doing something, feeling her watch his every movement. He glanced back up, warily, as she smiled at him again and leaned against his desk.

"So, she a relative?" she asked, indicating to the photo again.

Tim swallowed heavily before attempting to clear his throat, unsure of what to reply.

"You know if you like I could take you up to the conference room and send Gibbs up when he gets here?" he tried, avoiding the question. There was something about this woman that made him feel slightly squirmy.

She chuckled softly and shook her head.

"No thanks sweetie, I think I'd be waiting all day if I did that. I'll just wait and catch him when he comes back up."

Tim nodded, curious as to who the woman was and why she wanted to see Gibbs so badly. He closed the draft email to Tony and turned a case file over in his hand, knocking his letter to the floor. The woman had reached for it before he got a chance and he didn't miss the subtle look she gave it as she passed it back over. Tim blushed a little as he mumbled a thank you and immediately put the letter into Tony's drawer, his drawer. He shook his head in frustration at himself; he needed to get the idea of it being Tony's desk out of his head. He snuck a glance at his old one on the other side of the room and shifted uncomfortably when he remembered the last time he'd occupied this desk and Tony had been team leader. He dropped his look back to his computer in an effort to not get too carried away in his thoughts again and looked up when he felt a pair of eyes on him. The woman was watching him, an almost amused look on her face as he darted his eyes to the pictures at his side and then purposefully opened the case file and stared at it.

"Tim, right?" she asked, slightly squinting her eyes. Tim almost cricked his neck raising his head to her and was slightly taken aback for a second. "Gibbs has talked about you, well not just you, he's talked about all of you, not anything specific but enough to know." She shrugged. Tim looked confused, who is this woman? "My name is Grace," she informed him, reading his mind. "I'm Gibbs' therapist."

Gibbs has a therapist?!

"He hasn't been answered his cell for a few days and he's been a little on and off the grid for almost a month. I thought I'd catch him here since he always seems to be working."

Well that'd be right.

"Tim, can I ask you, and you know anything you say is completely confidential," Tim narrowed his eyes, he wasn't sure he liked the sound of where this was going. "How is he? How is he coping with everything? He's very reluctant to talk about it."

Tim stared blankly for a second. He had no desire what so ever to throw his boss under the bus with this woman. If Gibbs didn't want to talk to his therapist about any of this then that was up to him, who was he to give her ammunition. Then again, he was becomingly increasingly antsy by the day, his caffeine intake had hit a record high and his foul mood was amongst the worst it had been for years. An unhappy Gibbs made for a very unhappy and uncomfortable work environment. Grace cleared her throat loudly and Tim turned back to her, her eyes were dancing with amusement as if she knew the battle that was going on his head between desire to never speak to anyone, especially a shrink, about his boss's angst towards them and the need to get Gibbs out of the funk he was in if any of them were going to be able to continue working with him. Just yesterday he had thrown McGee out of MTAC, quite literally, for being unable to trace a suspect's call.

"Yeah, he's still acting like Gibbs, he's been fine, seems fine." He shrugged. Grace narrowed her eyes at him.

"Anybody ever tell you you're a terrible liar?" she smiled.

Tim turned his head back to the photo of the four of them, eyes going immediately to Ziva, then Tony and then Ziva again.

"A few." He sighed, looking around for any sign of Gibbs before he spoke; it seems she was going to win this battle. "Gibbs, he's, struggling. I can see it, it's hard for him. Ziva's gone, Tony's not here. Ziva was like a daughter to him. She thought the world of him, he was like a second father, maybe more of a father to her than her own father was. Tony was like a son, him not being here is hard. He carries on but it's difficult, he's difficult, he's hurting." He sighed again, his eyes moving from the picture of Tali to Ziva. "We're all hurting."

Grace watched him, seemingly lost in thought, ah Gibbs, you're slipping here, your team is a wreck still.

"He still has you?" Grace suggested, her tone soft and kind and just right for a therapist McGee thought.

"Yeah," Tim shrugged. "It's not the same."

Grace almost smiled at Tim's turn of phrase.

"You know Gibbs said that to me too, he was lying as well."

Tim furrowed his brow as he looked back to her.

"It isn't the same. Tony and Ziva, I'm not the same."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because, he." Tim stopped, lost in his own thoughts for a second again. Why isn't it the same? "They were different to him." He eventually sighed.

"You don't think he feels for you as he did for them? That you're not as much of a son as Tony."

"I know I'm not." Tim muttered.

"I think you underestimate him Tim, and yourself."

Tim shrugged once again and returned to his brooding silence. Grace searched about for something to make more conversation out of; she was finding this conversation with Tim very interesting and incredibly eye opening.

"That's Ziva?" she pointed to the photo. Tim said nothing but nodded. "So that would make this," she pointed to the picture of Tony and Tali. "Tony, right?"

Tim nodded again.

"They make a lovely couple." She smiled softly. "Their daughter is beautiful, looks very much like her mother."

"She's the image of her." Tim breathed.

Grace watched him, this time with sympathy, as McGee's eyes passed over the photo of the four of them and settled on the one of Tali. She noted the glaze of his eyes and the pain in the breath he took.

"What's her name?"

"Tali."

"Beautiful name, I bet she has him wrapped around her little finger."

Tim almost smiled, his lip curling very slightly.

"Oh yeah."

Grace's expression softened even more as he sighed at the pictures.

"Honey, what about you? How are you feeling?" Tim turned back to her, a blank expression on his face while she studied him.

"I'm fine."

"It's got to be difficult. It's a lot to take in. You lose a friend, a sister, find out you have practically a niece you didn't know about, who your best friend didn't know he was the father to, then your best friend and brother resigns, leaves the job that he's been doing with you your whole career, the one he's done since before you were here, to take care of his little girl, takes her travelling for months. He leaves, you get forced into his role, left to deal with the things he's left behind, his job, his desk, all of that, the loss, the gain, in such a short space of time. I mean, it's a lot of change, and to top it off working for a top notch git like Gibbs, that's got to make you feel a lot of things all at once."

Tim had dropped his gaze to the desk and was staring at it. The desk, the senior field agent's desk, Tony's desk, his desk.

"I uh, yeah, I guess. I mean." He stopped, he didn't know what else to say. It had been a complete upheaval from start to finish. He was upset and hurt by Ziva's death, excited by finding out about Tali, angry at, he didn't even know who or what about, confused and upset that Tony had resigned and then left the country, excited and scared to have been given his title, nervous about the way Gibbs was reacting to him at the minute, it was just a little too much to deal with.

Gibbs chose that moment to come back into the squad room.

"Grace? What're you doing here?" He stopped at his desk.

"Well you have been a little difficult to track down at the minute pop-eye. Not answering calls, not showing up to appointments, I figured you'd be here."

"So you figured you'd try and corner me." He scoffed.

"Something like that." She smirked. "It worked didn't it?"

Gibbs shook his head, smiling a little in spite of himself.

"I got a case ok, I don't have time for head games. McGee."

Tim was still staring blankly at the desk, Grace worried for a second maybe she should have wrapped up the conversation with him before turning to Gibbs. Gibbs looked up, eyes narrowed.

"McGee? McGee!" he snapped louder. Tim turned his head slowly back up to face him.

"Boss, hey." Gibbs shot a look to Grace.

"What'd you do to him?" he sighed.

"I didn't do anything."

Gibbs shook his head, almost impatiently.

"McGee, go see Abby, she needs your help with computer stuff." He waved his hands over his shoulder in the direction of the elevator.

"Yeah, ok boss." Tim pulled himself to his feet, almost looking dazed, and stalked off towards the elevator.

"You know, that boy has a lot on his shoulders right now Gibbs, you ought to go easy."

"We have a case, I don't have time for this." Gibbs snapped, though not as harshly as usual.

"When there's a fellow agent killed, you get mandatory counselling right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Why do I get the feeling your team is almost as difficult as you when it comes to that?" She smirked. Gibbs shrugged.

"Not up to me if they don't want it."

"Have you had mandatory sessions lately?"

"Ziva wasn't an agent."

"No, she was a former agent, and much more than that."

"There's no mandatory counselling for former agents Grace."

"Ziva was more than that. You said it yourself, you told me, she was like a sister to McGee."

"Yeah, and I asked him, Vance offered it and I told him, if he wanted counselling he needed to go."

"Your team mirrors you Gibbs, haven't you realised that yet?"

"I am fine."

"The hell you are."

"What makes you say that."

"The month of radio silence." She raised her hands. "When we were at the hospital, you said it wasn't the same."

"Because it's not."

"She was like a daughter to you."

"But she wasn't!" Gibbs raised his voice and several people around stopped in their tracks before hurrying back along. "She wasn't my daughter. She was someone else's daughter. She was Eli's daughter."

"So what she's not yours to grieve?"

"Exactly."

"You really believe that?"

"It's not the same. She's not Kelly."

"But she means almost as much. From what I hear you were like a father to her. At least that's how she felt."

Gibbs shook his head impatiently, looking at the desk.

"It's not the same."

"Gibbs, you've been to sessions, you've talked, to an extent. You're right, this isn't like Kelly but it's just as profound. It is the most significant loss you've had in years. You're trying to tell me you're fine with all this?" Grace folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow at him while he shrugged.

"I'm fine."

"Your team seems to think otherwise."

"What'd he say?" Gibbs growled.

"Confidential."

"Damn it Grace." He pounded a fist into his desk and deliberately set about pulling together papers from a case file.

"Gibbs," she took a step closer to his desk, a risky move to some. "You're allowed to hurt too. It is ok. You're allowed to grieve for her." She hushed.

Gibbs was frustrated. He was tired, needed coffee and he was sick of the sympathy dripping from her every word. He didn't need sympathy, he needed to work, he needed his team to do their jobs.

Tony's desk phone ringing brought him out of his own mind for a second. No, not Tony's desk, Tim's. He bit back his annoyance at himself as he turned back to her.

"I'm fine. Can you leave now? I have a job to do."

"So do I Gibbs."

She could see the frustration in his face, she could hear how irritated he was by the tone of his voice and yet she would continue to push because this was good, if he snapped it was good, because if he did then at least she'd get something real and honest out of him. He glared for a second, debating whether or not to continue the fight and she thought his expression almost softened as the phone stopped ringing before he pulled the file into his hands and swept past her.

"Gibbs." She called after him.

He ignored her and instead focused on climbing the stairs to Vance's office. He'd be damned if he was going to deal with her today.

She let him go, knowing that following him and pressing the matter would only lead to him pushing further away and the last thing she wanted was for him to stop talking to her completely. She needed something to get him to stop and focus on what he was doing to himself and, as a consequence, what he was doing to his team. There was only one thing she could think of.