Written for the NFA "About last night" challenge
Spoilers: Sub Rosa, and up to season 4 I'd say.

Past meets present

Chapter 1

Norfolk, November 2002

The day was cold as the NCIS Agents drove to Norfolk to investigate the case of a badly decomposed uniformed male body that was found in a barrel of hydrofluoric acid on a naval base. The young agent, who was first informed about the corpse, was waiting for them in the crime scene. The supervisor of the team, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs observed him from head to toe; he was tall, a bit chubby around the edges and clumsy. Why did he have to deal with yet another rookie? But as his made contact with the young man's green ones, Gibbs was taken aback.

Those eyes were familiar and not in the friendly kind of way. They were eyes someone could drown in, reminding the senior agent of the green waters of a lake or a river; and Jethro had seen them showing all kinds of emotions, from anger and pain to passion and lust… just not on that face. The round face, the pouting lips, the baby-like cheeks made the young man look a lot younger than his real age, Gibbs thought.

'I am Agent Timothy McGee'. Yes! Agent McGee, alright. Gibbs partnered him with Anthony DiNozzo to check out how two opposites could work together while he and Todd had to go overboard to detect who both the dead man and his killer were. You can't blame a guy for going for some amusement time. And Gibbs was definitely going to have fun watching DiNozzo with McGee.

Later on, at his office, he made a quick research about the object of his thoughts. He didn't just look young, truth is he actually was; a bright kid who had finished school early and, at the age of 22 had two degrees from two of the most prestigious Educational Institutes of the country; clever kid indeed. He didn't find anything to help him sort out why he looked familiar though, and in such intimate way.

That case was solved and during that whole year Gibbs felt the pull to have the young agent in his team; and about a year later, less actually, he did it. He made agent McGee part of his team because L.J Gibbs was nothing if not insistent.

As time flew by, Tim's stutter disappeared and confidence came to replace it. From time to time the old characteristic came back especially in Tim's difficult moments; and truth is, no matter what his colleagues made of this, they were many, more than any weaker man could stand. Soon, small changes in his appearance took place, hair ridiculously shorter that made him look like a huge 6'2" baby, but all these remained in the past as a couple of years later the youthful man lost the extra fat and returned after just one summer in a leaner figure. The same summer Gibbs had hidden himself in Mexico after some harsh revelations and trauma, trying to forget, or maybe remember he had loved in his life, and the daughter he had lost so dramatically.

But with those memories came others as well, people who Jethro had forgotten, had left in his past and never wondered about them.

That night, he went to bed early, too tired out of building Mike's cabin.

He is sitting in a bar, nursing his beer thinking about his future now he has the promotion at hand. In a month he has to leave and spend at least two years in an American base in Mediterranean. It's still early, an hour later than when he arrived at the bar and many women of questionable reputation are leaning really close to him and trying to start a conversation… or something else altogether. But, he is not naïve and knows he doesn't have what these women want much less being willing to give them anything. More, he doesn't plan to shallow his time home by taking said strangers to his bed; and blond-haired strangers at that.

He pays for the beer he drank and leaves with steady and purposeful steps. Fresh cold air hits him and he breathes deeply zipping his black leather jacket. It's early January and the weather is cold, snow covers the pavement, frozen by the cold wind. He keeps walking on the side of the road trying to clear his mind of unwelcoming thoughts that don't stop pestering him at the worse possible moments.

He is 24 years old and single; all his friends and school mates have already been married and made their own families. He quickens his step as the cold penetrates his clothes and looks at his watch; it isn't much late, only 23:35, but it's not early either. He regretted leaving university after college a couple of years back. By now he would have a degree and the world on his feet.

Sure, Marines could have any girl they want except the ones with dreams of their own for a better future in their minds. Times are changing and women's place in the world is changing as well, some are too blind to see it but not Leroy Jethro Gibbs. But that exactly is that kind of woman Jethro wants for himself, someone to be proud of; an independent, loving one.

He suddenly hears sounds that cut off he reverie. He follows the noise only to be greeted by two large men hovering above –what seems to be – a young woman. He doesn't think for one moment, he just reacts at the scene before him.

'Hey!' He shouts and he men let the woman and turn towards him. "Not the most intelligent of thinking, Gibbs" he thinks to himself. Soon he takes one of them out of action but he's been hit… hard and the other one is heading to his direction holding a knife at his right hand; Jethro can clearly see the dangerous glint in the man's eyes; what is he on?

He tries to defend himself but knows the battle is lost before it even starts. Suddenly, his opponent staggers and falls on the ground. Surprised, Gibbs is trying to get up and seen the woman he has just saved holding a rock at her hand; she looks at it as if seeing it for the first time and throws it down as if possessed all the while looking at Jethro with her scared eyes. The man takes a breath but he feels as if all air vanished from around him as he stared back at the girl's huge, green eyes.

The girl loses her balance and she'd fall if Gibbs didn't wrap his arms around her slim waist; she's not tall but she's younger than he originally thought, late teens, early twenties top. As they stare as each other's face Jethro can feel her strength abandoning her, and before she gets a chance to thank him for saving her, she faints and. Jethro cannot see anymore the deep green of her eyes that mesmerised him.

Gibbs woke up with a start, sweaty and confused. It was the first time, after his accident that his dreams weren't filled with Shannon and Kelly. He had forgotten all about Synthia and that beautiful month about 25 years ago. His mind turned back to the memory turned dream. Synthia's eyes. He had seen those eyes again, not long ago. Synthia's eyes. McGee's eyes. Timothy McGee had Synthia's eyes.