Title: Best Intentions
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: What if the team had a second chance to live their lives and save their friends? Would they take it? What if they abuse their knowledge and possibly make things worse? Jibbs with Tiva, McAbby. No Tate or Kari, sorry guys!
A.N.: Poll Has Been RePosted On My Profile Page. Please PM if it still doesn't work. This is quite an ambitious fic which will hopefully span seasons 3 to 5 (because that's as far as I've watched to). This starts off after Swan song; I've read enough stories to know what the big event is in that episode, so… very small mention of that spoiler if you haven't seen it.
Tim McGee sighed and leaned back in his chair, his fingers cramping from typing for so long. He had just had a flash of inspiration and had begun typing like a man possessed, which was a very welcome change. His fans were enjoying the sexual tension between Tommy and Lisa, but he knew it was time for their 'will they, won't they?' thing to sink or swim, and because of the pressure on him to get it right for all his fans, he had given up.
Writers block was never easy to work through, but in this instance he was actually afraid of messing up Tony and Ziva's relationship. Or non relationship. Or whatever it was they had. If he wrote a romance for his characters, would that make things even more strained between his co-workers? If he wrote that they don't want anything between them, would that make his friends think he had picked up on something in real life and reject each other because of it?
It was obvious that there was something between them, but since both of them had someone else at the moment he didn't think it would be fair to point it out. He scrubbed his hands over his face, still unwilling to attempt to sort that mess out. His flurry of activity hadn't been about that anyway, it was about Amy. McGee smiled as he reread what he had just typed, of Amy going to visit the grave of her, for want of a better word, surrogate mother, Geri Stafford, to try and sort out her feelings for a certain Agent McGregor, who had suddenly realised how much Amy really meant to him.
He looked around his apartment forlornly and hoped against hope that this book would be a big hit. He could really use the money right now. He stood up and placed the page he had just finished in his free writing folder, before stretching and yawning. He was tired; it had been a long and upsetting day because of Mike Franks' funeral and he had work early in the morning.
Out of the corner of his eye Tim caught sight of a bright light. He turned and stared in shock at a piece of equipment in front of his bedroom door that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. He walked towards it, looking around him to see if Tony had snuck into his apartment to mess with his mind. He wasn't in the mood for Tony's cheering up methods. He crouched down and reached a hand out to it, recognising it finally as the transmitter he had used to try and block Ari's drone. The bullet hole mocked him and he reached out to touch it, only to see it repair itself. He jerked back and looked around, shocked to see he was no longer in his apartment. He was crouched beside a car.
"Oh God!" he whispered, seeing the familiar sights of the alley outside the building where-
Ping! A bullet hit the car behind him and he instinctively ducked his head and shuffled around to the back of the car, still in shock over the abrupt change. He took out his gun and looked around the car for the shooter, reason penetrating his brain when his transmitter was shot. Ari!
"Boss one of them shot my transmitter!" he called into his head set on autopilot. He remembered this; it had haunted his dreams for weeks after… this was just not possible. He listened to the chatter between his teammates, his stomach dropping when he heard Kate's voice again. The shooter in the building started shooting at him again, but McGee had had a lot more experience then he'd had the first time around, so he made short work of the man trying to kill him. His blood ran cold… Kate! He heard Kate shout "Shooter!" and it spurred him into action. He wasn't going to let this dream end like the rest. He kept his head down and the shouted into his head set.
"Sniper on the roof, boss! Sniper on the roof!"
He didn't hear the shot and he didn't hear Gibbs curse Ari. In fact he didn't hear anything from his teammates at all.
"Boss? Boss! Tony!" he shouted, becoming increasingly more panicked as the silence stretched on. "Kate?" he added quietly, tears threatening as he realised he had blown it, again. No matter how this had played out in his dreams, she had always died.
"We're here, McGee. We're all here." Gibbs said over the line. McGee sagged against the car in relief and let out a laugh. He'd done it. He'd really done it. He rubbed his eyes content to wake up now, but for some reason he wasn't. Surely that was all he had to do in this dream, wasn't it? He wasn't trapped was he?
"We're almost at the ground floor McGee, can you get around the building in cover?" Gibbs asked and a chill went down Tim's spine. Ari hadn't killed Kate this time, so what if he was still up there in his nest, waiting for his head to peek around the car?
"I don't know boss. The shot that hit the transmitter couldn't have come from the building, but that means if he's still up there…"
"Don't worry McGee, we'll cover you." Kate told him and McGee prayed that it would be enough. Had he saved Kate just for her to be killed by Ari now?
A.N.2: Please visit my profile page to vote on my poll of who you do NOT want to remember the five years they have just gone back in time by. I can tell you now that neither Kate nor Jenny will remember (because they died) but McGee will (obviously). Poll Has Been RePosted! Please PM me if you still can't vote, and tell me your vote in a review or PM.
The reason I want you to vote is because I was concerned about too many people knowing too much and screwing up the future, and consequently was unable to make the choice of who to keep out of the loop.