Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of its characters

Secret Blood

Tim McGee entered the bullpen of NCIS monday morning. He was a bit late. He'd slept through his alarm and hadn't gotten up until about five minutes before he was due to at work, so he was nearly a half hour late.

Tim got to his desk and sighed in relief when he saw that Gibbs wasn't there to blast him for being late. That was short lived, however, when he realized Gibbs things including his coffee were there. The man knew he was late.

"A bit late, huh, Probie," Tony asked with a smirk.

"Shut up, Tony. I overslept. There haven't been any cases, right?" Tim asked hopefully. Maybe if there was no case, Gibbs wouldn't be quite as pissed.

"No, but your ass is still grass. Gibbs is pissed. It probably doesn't help that even the director came down and saw that you weren't here. He didn't seem to thrilled either," Tony said.

Tim groaned as he sat down. It was bad enough when he knew he was going to get screamed at by Gibbs. Now the director was in line too. This was clearly going to be a bad day.

"It will be alright, McGee. Gibbs may be unhappy, but he will get over it. You are not late often," Ziva said.

Tony laughed. "That's true. He's not you."

"Shut up before I find a paperclip," Ziva said with a glare.

Tim snickered and powered his computer up.

"Where the hell have you been, McGee?" Gibbs asked as he strode through the bullpen.

"Sorry, Boss, I overslept. I swear it won't happen again," Tim said.

"And you didn't think to pick up the damned phone," Gibbs asked as he sat down.

Actually, Tim hadn't thought of that. He'd been in a panic when he woke up and all he thought about was getting to work as soon as humanly possible.

"Agent McGee!" a voice boomed from above them.

Tim looked up to see Director Vance leaning over the railing on the next floor. Tim immediately cringed. The man looked more upset than Gibbs. That didn't bode well for him.

Vance crooked a finger at him and then walked back towards his office.

Tim got up and made his way up the stairs towards the director's office.

Gibbs followed. Something told him that Vance's issue with McGee was not about him being a half hour late. That didn't require the director's attention. Whatever it was, Gibbs wasn't going to let his agent face it solo.

Once they were inside Vance's office, Gibbs closed the door behind them and the two agents looked at Vance expectantly.

"Gibbs, I don't recall calling you in here," Vance said firmly.

Gibbs simply shrugged in response, not saying a word.

"Director, I'm sorry I was late. I overslept. I just assured Gibbs that it won't happen again," Tim said.

"McGee, you need to account for your whereabouts since you left here friday," Vance said.

"What?" Tim asked confused.

"Where did you go when you left here and how have you spent the past weekend?" Vance asked.

"I was at home," Tim said slowly, still very confused.

"You didn't leave at all?" Vance asked.

"Not unless you count taking the dog out a couple of times. It was a quiet weekend," Tim said.

"And can anybody besides your germen sheperd account for that?" Vance asked.

"You asking for an alibi here, Leon?" Gibbs asked.

"What's going on?" Tim asked.

"You know a man named Henry Jackson?" Vance asked, of course already knowing the answer.

Tim's eyes went cold the moment he heard the name. "Yeah, I know the son of a bitch."

Gibbs turned to his agent, surprised by the young man's words and his cold tone. He'd never heard Tim talk so coldly and rarely heard him curse someone like that. Whoever this guy was, Tim hated him.

"So now he wants to put me in jail. What is accusing me of?" Tim asked angrily.

"First, tell me when the last time you went to California was," Vance said.

"A eight months ago. I was supposed to go in June, but we had a case that weekend," Tim said bitterly. He'd wanted to go then so badly. He'd practically begged Gibbs to let him off, but the man wouldn't even listen to him. The second he started to ask, Gibbs had jumped down his throat about the dead marine.

Gibbs was pretty sure he knew what weekend his agent was talking about. He'd put in for a three day weekend around the second week of the month, but at the last minute, they'd received a case and he forced McGee to reschedule his plans.

"And if I look into it, I'm not going to find you went this weekend?" Vance asked

"No! Is he saying a broke the court order? What is going on?" Tim asked.

"He's accusing you of kidnapping, McGee?" Vance said.

Dread filled Tim's gut. He would only be accused of kidnapping one person. "When did she disappear?"

"She hasn't been seen since early Saturday," Vance said.

"Who?" Gibbs asked.

"Two days?!" Tim exploded in a rage. "She's been gone for two days and you're just telling me now?!"

"You'd better calm down, Agent McGee," Vance said. He would not be spoken to this way by a subordinate, no matter what the circumstances were.

"Screw you! I had the right to know the second this happened!" Tim screamed.

Gibbs was still in the dark, but he did know that something had had happened. For Tim to actually scream and curse at the director, it had to be almost catastrophic. McGee had the utmost respect for everyone, especially authority figures.

"I was just informed this morning, so as I said, calm down," Vance said.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Tim asked, still very angry and scared.

"Yes. Lauren Jackson is dead," Vance said.

Tim was shocked to hear that, but he had bigger things to deal with, so he just accepted it for the moment. "Well, I know why I wasn't told that. When?"

"A month ago. She was in a car accident," Vance said.

Tim didn't say another word. He immediately headed for the door.

"Agent McGee, you are not dismissed," Vance said.

"Then arrest me," Tim challenged before walking out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"What the hell is going on?" Gibbs demanded of Vance. He didn't understand much of what was happening other than that it had basically sent his calmest agent on a rampage.

Vance sighed. "McGee has been accused of kidnapping a fifteen-year-old girl."

"Yeah, I got the kidnapping part, but it's ridiculous. He wouldn't kidnap anyone," Gibbs said.

"He might. I sure would consider it if I were him and so would you. However, given his reaction, I don't think he did it. He's not that good a liar," Vance said. When McGee had first entered his office, he thought he might be guilty, especially since he was over a half hour late this morning, but the younger man's reaction changed things.

"What the hell are you talking about? Why would you say he might do this?" Gibbs asked.

"Ask him, Gibbs. I'd rather not be the one to tell you. Once you get it out of him, get him back up here. I don't think he's guilty, but that he's still a suspect and need has to answer questions. He has no alibi," Vance said.

Gibbs immediately walked out of the room to find his agent.