A/N: NCIS and its characters don't belong to me.

Of Hurricanes and Chinese Democracy

Tim McGee wasn't entirely sure when he had first noticed that something was wrong. Or not wrong per se – just oddly off in some way or another. Or maybe wrong was right after all if that even made sense. But Tim's perception of right and wrong and maybe and definite had long flown out the window or had been pulled out of the window by a gigantic force that the long abandoned writer in Tim could only classify as a hurricane-like thing. With power outages, car crashes, uprooted trees and all kinds of stuff. At least, Tim felt like an uprooted tree ever since he had noticed it – the monumental thing.

It wasn't like it was too obvious for just anyone, but Tim was an investigator after all, so he had noticed the thing, that unsettling thing that he hadn't been able to identify at first. All he had known was that right after Christmas DiNozzo had come to work cheerily, four cups in his hand and a 1000-Watt-smile on his lips. He had placed a cup of tea on Ziva's desk with another smile and then had come over to where Tim had been sitting and had handed him his coffee. Wary as Tim was, he had first sniffed the beverage, making sure that this was not just another one of DiNozzo's silly jokes because a DiNozzo in such a good mood was rarely a sign of comfort for the younger agent. But it had actually been just a cup of coffee – Tim's favorite kind, too – low fat milk, no sugar. He had then nodded his thanks to the older man who had already turned around and without a comment had placed the last cup of coffee on Gibbs' desk who had just looked briefly at him before he turned back to reading the file in front of him.

If Tim had been an outsider looking at that scene in front of him, he probably wouldn't have understood his own confusion. But this was still DiNozzo who he was looking at and this was usually not like him acting like that. Not that he didn't care because Tim knew that he did – a lot, but something was just off that day and judging by Ziva's way of distractedly playing with the pen in her hand, she had noticed it, too.

Inconspicuously, Tim had watched DiNozzo through the day, almost desperately trying to find a reason, trying to find a sign that he was up to something after all, only to realize that DiNozzo apparently was just in a good mood. First, Tim had speculated that he had actually plucked up his courage, had gone to his ex-fiancée's Christmas dinner and had maybe reconciled with her. But as the invitation had found its way from the clipboard to the trash first thing after DiNozzo had settled at his desk, Tim had quickly abandoned that particular idea.

As the days went by, he simply couldn't help but notice the change that DiNozzo was apparently going through. Granted, Tim had long known that Tony (And Tim saw himself more and more using the actual first name instead of the familiar DiNozzo only due to the fact that Tony repeatedly called him Tim, not Probie or McSomething) had almost desperately tried to become a better man over the last year. First, it had nearly ticked Tim off because Tony could be very annoying at times, obsessing over thinning hair, facing his biggest fears, even writing a bucket list, but that had suddenly stopped from one moment to the next. It was like he had made his New Year's resolutions a week too early and was yet determined to keep them.

And at first, Tim hadn't minded – at all. It was nice actually. It was like the first taste of something you had been waiting for, for years. He had liked the new and improved Tony as it had meant fewer jokes and innuendos, but after a couple of days, Tim realized that it wasn't what he wanted. It was like listening to Chinese Democracy for the first time after years of waiting for it, only to realize that it was not good at all, was not the real stuff, just simply wasn't Guns'n'Roses. He had enjoyed the first few days of prank-free freedom, but now he felt as if he was missing a vital part in his life. It was just not right. But when the realization had dawned on Tim that something was wrong with Tony, it was already the New Year and he wasn't really sure what to do about it.

The root of the problem was that Tim didn't know whether it was good or bad or right or wrong that Tony had changed so much all of a sudden. So, as he had finally approached Ziva to talk about it, he wasn't all that surprised that she just nodded and told him in a hushed voice to meet him for dinner that night because they couldn't possibly discuss this in the bullpen. And that was when he had realized that he hadn't imagined it, that Ziva was just as concerned about him as he was.

Except that she wasn't.

In fact, she even laughed at him good-naturedly when he first spoke up that they had to help their older co-worker, had to talk to him, had to guide him back to his usual traits. She had just grinned at him and had subtly shaken her head before she leaned in conspiratorially and had then spoken out that first clue that would – combined with the others later on – eventually send Tim into that hurricane.

But as soon as Ziva had proposed that certain idea - the idea that Tony was in love - Tim knew it to be true. All the signs were there: the smiles, the humming, even the turtlenecks. In fact, Tim didn't know how stupid he had been, assuming that there had to be something wrong, instead of seeing the obvious good thing there. And he was sure that it was good thing this time. This wasn't like the whole Benoît debacle a couple of years ago because there was no sneaking around on Tony's side, there were no two cell phones, no strange disappearances, just an apparently happy and balanced man.

But still, and Tim knew that he should have felt bad about it, but his gut still wouldn't stop churning when he thought about it. He was aware that his gut wasn't anything like Gibbs', but he simply couldn't help it. It just wasn't like Tony not to brag about a new woman in his life, was it? So, as the days went by, he tried to lure him into admitting anything, but Tony remained silent about whatever girl he was dating, not that he had admitted that he was even dating in the first place.

Tim let him be for a few weeks, knowing that if Tony had set his mind on not telling anyone, he would stick to it and would only tell them if he wanted to and, really, Tim was fine with that. The pranks had returned after a while, though they were somewhat subdued now and the younger agent really could live with that. In fact, Tim's mind had already been luring him into the false security that everything would turn out pretty good after all, when one fine Thursday morning, he suddenly noticed it.

He was sure that no one else had – or ever would – notice it. Truth be told, Tim wouldn't have noticed that particular change in Tony's appearance if it hadn't been his present in the first place. It was the watch that he was wearing. Tim had bought him and Gibbs rather expensive watches for Christmas a couple of years ago from the royalties he had earned with Deep Six. They looked pretty much the same to an outsider, Tim guessed, but not to him – he had bought them after all. The hands on Tony's watch were red, while Gibbs' were simply black.

And that was the second clue, though Tim refused to acknowledge that one until his mind was almost shouting at him to face the fact. The fact that Tony had been wearing Gibbs' watch that Thursday morning. Tim was still feeling the figurative punch to his stomach that knocked the wind out of him for a couple of moments before his mind started to work again – and then spin uncontrollably. He stared at Gibbs for a moment until the guy finally made the movement he had been waiting for and gave Tim the chance to take a quick look at his boss' watch and sure enough, there were the red hands.

But what did it mean? Surely, Tony had just crashed at Gibbs' place and had surely just picked up the wrong watch in the morning, right? Tim was even almost sure that Tony had mentioned that the boiler in his apartment had blown up again or something. He wasn't entirely sure about it, but it was enough to shut up that annoying voice in the back of his head, that made itself perceivable with every look at Tony, for the time being.

But Tim could feel the wind outside getting stronger with every passing hour that he refused to think about that possibility, which wasn't even a real possibility. It just simply couldn't be. But Tim caught himself watching Tony more closely again the next few days, followed his every move actually, in the hope that the older guy would finally let something slip about his dating life. But there was no such luck of course and Tim couldn't help but notice that while Tony had been wearing his own watch the day after Tim had first noticed the mix up, he wasn't sticking to it. Over the next two weeks, he had been wearing Gibbs' watch on and off and Tim was pretty sure that the Senior Field Agent hadn't even noticed.

But, of course, Tim had and his mind was working overtime in an attempt not to give into that particular unsettling thought. However, as always, Tim kept on over-thinking that particular topic and found himself almost unconsciously watching Gibbs instead of Tony. Granted, the chance that his boss would slip up before Tony would, was highly unlikely, but one could still hope. But Tim wasn't even sure what he was hoping for. In fact, he thought that it would be better if Gibbs wouldn't slip up because that would simply nourish his suspicions and he really didn't want those to be true.

Tim almost desperately tried to remember any change in Gibbs' behavior over those last weeks, but had to realize that he had been so focused on Tony's well-being that he had disregarded his boss in that way. But come to think about it and investigator mode kicking in, Tim realized that Gibbs had changed ever so subtly, too. There had rarely been any head smacks lately and definitely less growling. It wasn't like Gibbs was smiling a lot more because he wasn't, but maybe the lack of growls and slaps was an indicator for…

No.

Tim felt himself being drawn into a particular surreal world and knew that he had to talk to somebody about it, needed to have someone that would laugh at him for his suspicions. He briefly discussed talking to Ziva again, but somehow he knew that he needed Abby for this one. After all, he was still more comfortable feeling ridiculous in front of Abby than Ziva. So, as he was on his way down towards Abby's lab, he was almost sure that this was the solution to all his inner fears, that Abby would make it all alright.

Except that she didn't.

Tim had barely finished his sentence that had started rather awkwardly with Tony being happy and Gibbs wearing Tony's watch that Abby had flung her arms around him and had crushed him into a tight bear hug that had actually left him breathless. What in the world was going on? He hadn't even opened his mouth to speak that Abby had picked up her cell and had dialed a number before she all but giggled into the speaker that whomever she had called should come down into her lab because the eagle – and Tim had the strong suspicion that that was him – had landed.

Oddly enough, Abby had then turned around and had opened her web browser to go straight to Amazon, mumbling something about what to do with those extra 300 bucks. Tim felt himself pulled off his feet and then left uprooted in mere seconds as his mind registered who Abby had just called. Tim had to sit down next to her for a moment, trying to catch his breath in order to actually form a coherent sentence. Abby, apparently having sensed Tim's earlier turmoil, had turned to him again, her expression an odd mixture of anger and empathy, and patted his shoulder, which didn't calm him down though, rather the opposite as he saw his suspicions confirmed at last. Only as Abby told him that she had promised them not to tell anybody, did Tim snap out of his headspace and subtly shook his head, still trying to get away from the whirlwind that were his thoughts.

It simply couldn't be true. Tony simply couldn't be shagging Gibbs. Tony simply couldn't be in a relationship with Gibbs. Tony simply couldn't be staying over at Gibbs' house for other reasons than a blown up boiler. Tony simply couldn't be. Period.

He was pulled out of his train of thought by someone clearing his throat loudly and as he looked up, he saw Tony standing there, his cheeks slightly red, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. Tim stared at him for a moment and only then did he realize that the older guy was actually nervous - rubbing his head was a sure sign of that. Tim had opened his mouth at the same time that Tony turned to look at Abby and asked if he could give her the $300 another time. She had nodded happily and had turned towards Tim again, a big grin on her face, before she thanked him for winning the bet for her.

Tim's mind was still not working quite alright, his gut was churning uncomfortably and his hands had started to sweat. All in all, he wasn't feeling all that good and he was even disregarding that imaginary wind around him that threatened to eat him up alive any second now. Apparently, sensing Tim's discomfort, Tony turned his attention back to him and motioned him to start speaking, which Tim did after a few moments of pulling himself together.

"So… you and Gibbs?"

Tony's face lit up for a moment and Tim felt a completely unknown sting in his stomach as he realized that he hadn't seen him like that in a very long time – if ever. Just simply happy, unguardedly happy. It was when the thought, the realization, dawned on Tim that he didn't understand himself. If Gibbs was the reason why Tony was smiling like that, why was he feeling uncomfortable about it?

And then as suddenly as that hurricane-thing had gripped his soul, as suddenly it was gone again as the realization settled in Tim's mind. Truth was, he didn't mind one bit. He wanted Tony – and Gibbs for that matter – to be happy and as he came to think about it, it all suddenly made sense. Now that he knew for sure, it was only logical. The two of them were so much alike, were so much on the same page most of the time that Tim had at times felt uncomfortable when being around them. So, really, all of this shouldn't have been all that surprising after all.

He met Tony's stare now with a smile that he hoped looked genuine and saw the other guy losing a bit of the tension in his shoulders as he grinned back at him. He felt Abby's shoulder softly bump against his own and realized that this thing between Tony and Gibbs actually only had its good consequences because looking at it now, the new and improved Tony wasn't like Chinese Democracy at all, Tim had come to like that guy much better and if Tony in turn made Gibbs happy, too, it could only be good for Tim and Ziva, too.

Tim had stared at Tony for a little while longer, taking in the pure happiness that the guy suddenly seemed to radiate and nodded.

"Don't you dare to mess it up."

Tony let out a laugh and shook his head as he approached him and reached out his hand to shake Tim's.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Jethro when he told me that I wouldn't find what I was looking for in his basement: I can't guarantee anything, but I think I've already found it."

"Found what?" Tim replied, but wasn't even sure whether or not, he really wanted to hear it because he was sure that it would unsettle him once again and he had barely survived the tornado from a few minutes before.

But oddly enough, when Tony finally answered, Tim realized that even though he hadn't anticipated it, he had kind of known anyways, had maybe known it longer than even Tony or Gibbs had. He knew what Tony had found down there in Gibbs' dark basement and truth be told, Tim really was glad for the two of them, as strange as only the thought of Gibbs and Tony in a relationship was. So, as Tony spoke out that one word that Tim would have never even thought that the older man would ever admit it, he felt something inside him fall into place, felt something around him shift and he knew that this was it – this was what Tony had been searching for all along, that Gibbs had probably already given up on, that Abby and Ziva were sure about finding sometime in the future and that Tim craved as badly as ever:

"Love."

A/N: Would be cool if you let me know what you thought about this! :)