It was a warm day in Washington, D.C., spring was just starting to turn into summer, and temperatures were rising. Special Agent Timothy McGee had been working since early that morning on getting the computer systems running again at NCIS Headquarters. He wanted them up and going before Gibbs, his boss came into the office. Gibbs had a thing about technology, thought everything could be rebooted. Were that the case, Tim wouldn't have been there so early; as it stood he was almost done, thankfully. Crawling under one of the desks, he checked the connection lines, from behind him the elevator bell rang and he prayed it was not Gibbs.
"McGee, why are you under a desk?" He asked as he came into the main part of the office, a cup of coffee in his hand. Gibbs was tall, greying hair, blue eyes that could turn you cold, and a dry sense of humour; you could tell the man was the boss. Jumping a bit, Tim cracked his head off the underside of the desk and let out a soft curse as he backed out from under it. "Sorry boss, just checking the connections on the computer systems." For a moment, Gibbs was silent, a slightly confused look on his face, "Why don't you just reboot it, McGee?" There it was, typical Gibbs methodology, reboot and it works fine, not always.
"Ah, yes boss, working on it." Tim said as he stood and brushed himself off as best he could from the dirt and dust. Tim wasn't short but not extremely tall either. Brown hair and soft eyes that were a mix between pale blue and hazel; making them almost aqua sometimes. Medium built, choosing to use his brain most of the time instead of the rest of his team's preference to use brawn. Eyeing Tim a bit, Gibbs shook his head and went on through the office, going up the stairs toward the Multiple Threat Alert Center, or MTAC, door. Watching until Gibbs disappeared, Tim breathed a sigh of relief as the older man went inside the top security room.
Hurrying around the room, Tim rebooted all the computers in the office, praying that they would work now. Much to his delight, they all seemed to be working fine after his repairs on them through the morning. It was one less thing he would have to worry about today, now as long as they didn't have a case, he could get home on time. A year ago he wouldn't have worried about hurrying home, but things had changed in his life. Unknown to his team and coworkers, Tim had gotten married seven months ago, giving him reason to want to rush home. She was beautiful, small, and delicate with wavy blond hair and soft blue eyes that made him melt.
Lillian Harper McGee was his perfect woman. She wasn't the stereotypical blond; he could actually hold an intelligent conversation with her and not worry about her not understanding. She was interested in the poems and short stories he wrote and was always giving him input. Plus she didn't mind his gaming habit, although since marrying her it had slowed down. She had an immune deficiency whichdeficiency, which meant that she got colds very easily, and even the flu had the potential to kill her. It was because of this that she worked out of their apartment, she was a graphic designer so this wasn't a problem. This was what made him worry; if he got sick with a cold and came home, he could easily get her sick as well.
"Hey, Probie, got any sticky notes?" Came DiNozzo's voice from across the room. Tim shook his head and continued checking the computers, especially Gibbs' to make sure every program was working. "Check in my desk Tony, I'm busy." He wasn't paying attention to what Tony was doing, and partially ignored him when he whistled. "Damn McGeek, who's the chick?" Tim's head shot up, and he almost gave himself whiplash when he turned to look at Tony from Gibbs' desk. "Chick, uh what chick Tony?" Tony raised an eyebrow and held up the picture of Lillian that he kept in his desk.
Now what do I do? He thought as he quickly tried to come up with something. He pursed his lips in thought and shook his head. Cats out of the bag now."That Tony; is my wife," he said, looking back at the computer screen. "Wife? You don't have a wife. Seriously McGee we would know," Tony said with a laugh. "Besides, I don't see a ring." Tim groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Tony, not every married man wears a wedding ring." Tony opened his mouth and looked like he was going to say something either incredibly stupid orstupid or something like that.
Whatever Tony was going to say, he was cut off by a slap to the back of his head by Gibbs. "DiNozzo, stop harassing McGee and get back to work, now." He said as he walked on by Tony and went to his desk with his coffee. Tim looked at his boss and stepped out of the way of the computer desk that belonged to Gibbs. "Boss, the computers are working fine now, no more problems." Nodding to him, Gibbs sat down in his chair, "I can see that, McGee, get back to your desk now that you're done rebooting everything."
Hiding a smile, Tim went back to his own desk to finish working up a report on their last case from yesterday. It never failed, when Gibbs was present, thatpresent that the senior agent could make him laugh. There was no question about it; the man had no technology skills or knowledge at all. "DiNozzo, where's Kate?" Came Gibbs's voice from behind the computer screen he was studying like it might blow up any second if he looked at it long enough. "Ah, don't know, Boss." Tony replied cautiously, looking over at Tim and trying to get some sort of sign language accomplished.
Tim shrugged and went back to what he was doing, it wasn't like he could understand Tony's sign language anyway. For Tony, that had been the wrong answer, as Gibbs turned his attention to the former detective. "You don't know, DiNozzo? The only agent who is on time, besides McGee, isn't here and you don't know where she is?" Tony's face turned almost frantic as he struggled for an answer, a mad Gibbs was not a good thing. "I don't know, but I will find out right now, Boss." He said, seeming to appease Gibbs when he grabbed the phone and started dialling.
Looking over at Tim, he glared at him, mouthing the words, "I'm going to kill you, McGee!" Tim just laughed and shook his head, leave it to Tony to make threats when threatened by Gibbs. No sooner than Tony had picked up the phone, Kate rushed into the office and went around the corner to her desk, putting her things down on the surface. Going over to Gibbs's desk, she went to say something to him, her hand tipping his coffee over. Silence filled the office, it was like the world stopped the second the cup hit the floor.
"Is there a good reason why my coffee is on the floor, and you're late, Agent Todd?" Gibbs said lightly, though everyone knew that you didn't mess with the coffee, especially not Gibbs's coffee. "I uh, yeah I'll go get you another one," Stammered Kate. "You still haven't told me why you are late, Agent Todd." Kate stood still for a moment and then started to speak. "I woke up late, and then my car broke down, I had to catch a cab." Gibbs nodded and pointed to her desk, signalling her to sit. Just then the phone rang and he answered it.
"So, Kate, did you know that Probie here is supposedly married?" Kate looked at Tim, her hair whipping around as she turned her head. "McGee? Really? I don't see it." Tim groaned and laid his head down on his desk, covering it with his arms. "What are you hiding her for McMarried? She a freak or something?" Tony said, trying to push him. "Tony, leave it alone!" Gibbs barked. No one had even noticed that he was off the phone. "Grab your gear; we have a dead naval officer."
Tim almost cheered for the interruption that got him off the hook with Kate and Tony for the moment. Of course, Gibbs had known he was married from week one, keeping secrets from the Boss was not possible. Tony and Kate looked at him, their faces saying they would talk about this later. Groaning, Tim picked up his things and hurried to the elevator behind Gibbs. This day, even with a case, would be a long one, especially where Tony was involved. Throw in Kate to help tease him, and he'd rather face Gibbs without coffee. Ok maybe not without coffee at all, but it was a thought for the moment.