Tim was working an electronic search for a cold case when his cell rang. He looked at the id and scrunched his face in thought, the name seemed vaguely familiar. He answered it with a simple "Hello" instead of the usual "McGee" and the difference caught Gibbs' interest.
"Is this the boy who played a cat?"
"Who's calling?"
A sigh and then "Fine, I'll show you mine first. I'm Stash Westler from the Westler Agency. If this really is you, I was your talent agent when you were a kid."
By now Tim had gotten up from his desk and moved to the spot behind the stairs that was the least public. "Ok, yeah. I'm at work, I really can't talk."
"Oh but you'll want to hear this, kid. I've got…"
"No. I'm serious and this is not appropriate. I've got your number; I'll call you later today but not here at work."
"Ok, all right, you always were stubborn. Call me, I promise it'll be worth it."
Tim disconnected and hurried back to his desk. His head was already starting to pound and he'd only talked with the man for a minute. He couldn't stop himself from wondering what kind of deal Stash would have for him now. He had put his acting days behind him and thankfully those childhood records were sealed and he didn't use his screen name so no one on his team knew, almost no one. He didn't want to deal with the others if they found out. His parents knew but they understood his need for privacy and never brought it up, that is his mother didn't. As he and his father were not on speaking terms, he had no idea what the man talked about. Not him, he was sure of that!
Gibbs gave him a look and Tim rolled his eyes, "Won't happen again, Boss." Gibbs kept looking at him and Tim realized it wasn't a 'Boss' look. He looked away, a smile on his face. The two of them had been dating for over a year but they'd been very careful to avoid anything personal at work. They'd told the others months ago and had been happily surprised when no one had a problem with it, but Vance did not and could not know. Gibbs spoke softly now, frowning in concern as he noticed Tim squinting at the light, "Got a headache Tim?"
"Yeah, think that call brought it on. But it's just a headache Bl…Boss. I'll take some aspirin." Gibbs nodded; glad Tim was taking care of himself.
The aspirin knocked the headache down to a dull ache and Tim was back working on his searches when Tony and Ellie came bouncing in. Tony was telling Gibbs what a waste of time that had been, triple checking a lead they'd already crossed off their suspect list. Gibbs raised his coffee cup, hiding his smile. He'd sent them out because he'd wanted some quiet time. He'd started doing that when Ziva was still with them, when he couldn't stand their bickering. When it was approaching an epic noise level he'd find some witnesses to re-interview or something to get them away from the bullpen. Ellie and Tony didn't bicker but they did chatter too much. He never sent them too far, they had to be able to respond if there was a call out, but it still helped and oddly enough it usually helped DiNozzo work off his restlessness. The Team Leader had enjoyed the quiet of the last couple of hours and he was sure Tim had too.
By 1800 he could see Tim was struggling with his headache and he was ready to get out of here. The case they were working on was a cold case with a supposed new lead but it hadn't panned out; now they were going back over everything to see if there was anything missed on previous reviews. They were pretty sure the husband had killed his wife but there was no evidence. It was the complete lack of evidence or anything pointing to anyone as the killer that convinced them it had been the husband; it was too clean.
"Pack up, go home. Be back at 0800 tomorrow." His three subordinates looked at each other and then at him, although he knew Tim's reaction was just for show. "Or I could change my mind and we can catch up on reports." By the time he finished speaking, all three of them were moving toward the elevator. He chuckled to himself, knowing he'd see Tim later at his apartment.
While his house was larger and closer to the office, Tim's apartment was cozy, had the best lock available on the door and was far less likely to be visited by Tony or Abby. Even though they'd been told to call ahead before visiting Gibbs' home, the two often forgot, or claimed they forgot, or called from the driveway as they arrived. Best of all, Tim's place had Tim and his king sized bed. Second best was the huge TV in the bedroom. If his basement had been there somehow, Gibbs would never leave. But it wasn't and he still felt the need every now and then to sand or work on something made from a tree.
He waited for a few minutes and then left going straight to Silver Spring, knowing Tim would have already started cooking dinner. While they still ate a fair amount of takeout, Tim liked to cook and made a healthier effort when possible. Gibbs had been skeptical at first but he had to admit, Timmy's cooking was pretty delicious, healthy or not. When he slipped into the apartment, unlocking it with his own key, he found Tim on the phone. From his tone, he thought it might be the same caller from earlier.
"How is that…no I want to see this deal you're putting together…because I'm not going to let you or anyone else dictate terms to me. If I do this, I want control of the screenplay and casting. Because it's my work and I own the rights, that's why. Ok…yeah, send it to me. No, I don't want it electronically. Send it by courier."
Gibbs listened as his partner gave a mailing address he used for Gemcity mail. Tim had told him last week that there was some renewed interest in making Deep Six into a movie or a series of movies. When they'd been dating for awhile he'd told him about his brief foray into acting in his youth, of the screen name he hadn't used since he was a teenager. Gibbs had heard of the TV show he'd been on but not the movie which had something to do with witches and a cat. He'd asked if they could rent it but Tim had distracted him and he didn't think he'd ever gotten an answer. He grinned; the distraction had been well worth the lack of an answer.
Noticing the tension in Tim's shoulders, he walked up behind him as the call ended and gently took the phone, lay it down on the counter and pushed his lover down onto one of the stools. "Come on, let me do your shoulders and then I'll cook dinner."
Tim gave him a 'come hither' look, "Or you could just do me and we'll eat later."
"Works for me." The two of them headed to the king sized bed to handle Tim's tension.
Later that evening as they sat on the couch eating scrambled eggs and toast, Gibbs pointed his fork at Tim.
"So…who was that?"
Tim huffed. "I work so hard to distract you, but you never let it go."
Gibbs grinned, "And I appreciate the distractions, believe me. So..."
"Ok, yeah, it was about Deep Six. This guy was my agent when I was a kid, no idea how he tracked me down, but he's got some connections with somebody and they want to option the movie."
"Meaning?"
"They want to make a movie of my book. And like any self-respecting author, I'm fool enough to demand as much control over my own work as I can get."
At his lover's questioning look, Tim huffed. "Have you ever read a book and then gone to see the movie that has the same name or claims to be based on the book and wondered what happened to it? Hollywood has its own scriptwriters and is well known for slaughtering innocent books."
"And if you are involved?"
Tim smiled, "I'll have help. Remember I told you I met the guy who wrote Serpico?"
Gibbs nodded.
"He's told me a couple of times he'd be willing to coach me through a movie contract. His books and movies matched fairly well. For Hollywood anyway."
Gibbs shook his head, "Timmy, it's amazing to me that you know this. It's a whole different world. I know you as an agent; I've gotten to know your world as an author and now this!"
Tim smirked at his partner, "If this happens Blue, you're going to see more of DOM!Tim because that's the only way to deal with these guys. Go in, be the fucker in charge and you get results. No negotiating."
Gibbs grinned, "Babe, I know DOM!Tim pretty well - I'm quite fond of him." Something the two had discovered as their relationship evolved was that they liked a bit of role playing now and then.
Tim shook his head as he returned the grin, "Going to be a whole different game, believe me." He thought for a moment, "You know, this could be fun, just telling Tony I'm involved in a movie would be worth the trouble it'd cause."
"He'll want to be involved."
Tim nodded, "It would be cool to find something for him to do, wouldn't it? Jethro…if I do this, I'm going to have to take a leave of absence or quit the agency."
Gibbs frowned, "It would take that much time?"
"Yeah with everything involved, would be a year or two."
"And you'd be back and forth to California?"
"Some of it can be done over the internet but yeah, there will be times I'd have to be there."
"Hmm. How much do you want to do this?"
"On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest?" Gibbs nodded. "About a 5 right now, have to see what 'they' have in mind and what control I'd have over the finished product."
"Will it make you a lot of money?"
Tim sighed, "Hon, you know I've never been that big on money, but yeah it'll make me a boatload of money compared to my government paycheck."
"And you can do all kinds of good stuff with that."
Tim smiled, "Yeah, I sure could."
"What about us?"
Tim swallowed, "We come first, Blue. If we can't find a way to do this together, I won't go any further."
Gibbs was silent, thinking. It was coming up fast anyway. Two years and two months ago, Vance had signed the form that allowed him to stay on as a Field Agent and Team Leader for three additional years. Those three years would be over at his next birthday, admittedly 10 months away but still it was something to consider. When that hit, he would either take on one of the other positions in the agency that Vance had outlined for him or he'd retire. Now he thought that if Tim did this, he'd retire and go with him to California. Their relationship was strong; he knew Tim was his future and that his partner felt the same way. They could even… he mentally shook himself; this could very well be a pipe dream.
"Timmy, does this happen often? Have you had other offers for Deep Six?"
"Yeah, I've had a few but none of them have been anywhere near what I would agree to. And there's been years of silence and then interest again, as I mentioned before."
"So this might turn out the same?"
Tim scrunched his face, "It could but from what Westler said, it sounds like they're taking a different approach."
"Who is 'they'?"
"Ah, good question! Westler wouldn't say; I'll find out when we get the documents."
"Coming by courier."
"Yeah, it's early out there so there's time to make one of the FedEx flights; they should be here tomorrow. Want to go with me after work to get them?"
Gibbs smiled, "Sure, unless…."
"Yep, unless we get a call out."
They changed the subject, talking about their plans for the weekend. November was always busy with Tim's birthday and Thanksgiving. While they planned to putter around Jethro's house this weekend, getting it ready for winter and enjoying each other's company, the following weekend was Tim's birthday and they were going away.
They weren't going far, just to Gibbs' cabin which had been made considerably more comfortable in the last few years. As the bullpen was surrounded by other NCIS employees who always seemed to know the business of Gibbs' team, Tim had casually mentioned weeks ago that he was spending his birthday out of town with Penny, visiting his sister Sarah in Philadelphia where she'd lived since she graduated from Waverly.
Thanksgiving was two weeks after their weekend away. As usual, they'd gather at Ducky's brownstone as they had for several years now although Tim and Breena had taken over more and more of the preparations. In some ways, that's when he missed Ziva the most as she'd been the acknowledged chef of their odd little family; Tim had been more comfortable with his contributions being kept 'behind the scene'. Her departure from the team had been difficult enough but on the next holiday, Tim had outed himself as a cook and shown that he was every bit as good as their missing friend.
