A/N: This story takes place not long after 'Bury Your Dead', when McGee is still a little green, DiNozzo is feeling a little lost, and there is a lot of tension between them. General spoilers through S5Ep1.

My undying gratitude to Leydhawk who read, encouraged, discussed, suggested, coaxed, and generally made sure I didn't give up before this story was finished. You make writing so much fun, my friend!

Do As I Say

Chapter 1

"I've got nothing." McGee spoke quietly into the microphone tucked just inside the collar of his shirt. A second later a voice crackled back to him through his earwig.

"All quiet on the western front."

McGee groaned. "You're that desperate for a movie reference, DiNozzo? You do realize you're covering the north side of the park, right?"

"Well, I've worked my way to the northwest corner. I guess you could say I'm moving North by Northwest. Hey, that does work better, doesn't it? Thanks, Probie."

"Don't mention it. Please."

A couple of minutes of silence, then DiNozzo's voice came through again. "Let's wrap it up. This is our third sweep, and if we keep wandering around aimlessly we're going to attract attention. Meet me back at the coffee cart. We'll people-watch for awhile, and Bravo Team can make another full sweep when they come on."

"Copy that," McGee murmured. He turned toward the south entrance, enjoying the warmth of the late afternoon sun as he strolled toward the kiosk. The stakeout had been a long shot anyway. They had no idea how the killer chose his victims, just that they had all been taken from this park, one man each month for the last five months. All had been tortured before they were killed, their bodies dumped in alleyways within a three block radius of the park.

The most recent victim had been a Petty Officer which was how NCIS had become involved. They were officially working on a joint task force with Metro PD, but unofficially Gibbs was calling the shots. That hadn't been hard to arrange since NCIS had made most of the breakthroughs in the case so far. All the victims had been eviscerated with a sharp, thin knife, but it was Ducky's autopsy of the sailor that had given them the unusual dimensions and shape of the blade. His precise description had allowed Abby to identify the particular type of filleting knife that had been used, and they were still combing records of recent purchases, hoping to find some kind of connection to one or all of the victims. Tony had noticed that the body drop sites formed a vague circle with the park at the center, and McGee had used security cameras in the area to confirm that each of the victims had entered the park the night they were killed, though they still hadn't found any footage that showed the men leaving with anyone.

Beyond the fact that all the victims were male and seemed to favor walking in this particular park at night, there were no other common factors they could find. The men's ages and physical characteristics varied. One was an executive, three were skilled laborers, one was a sailor. One was married, one was in a same sex relationship, one was divorced, two were single. Their paths didn't seem to cross in their day-to-day lives. They hadn't attended the same schools, didn't belong to the same clubs, didn't eat dinner in the same places, didn't share any shady pastimes that might bring them to the attention of a murderer. The only thing they seemed to have in common was the way they'd died.

That left the park as the main focus for the investigation. All the victims had been taken from here, somehow, on the third of the month. Today was the second, and if they didn't figure something out soon they were going to find another body in just over thirty-six hours. They were walking the park in rotating teams of two, trying to spot someone hanging around who might be scoping out potential victims. Unfortunately the only people who seemed to be loitering in the park were the surveillance teams.

McGee arrived at the coffee cart before DiNozzo, and he ordered them each a large coffee. If they were going to spend another half hour watching the park entrance, they'd need the cover, not to mention the caffeine. He'd just paid the barista when he heard a vaguely familiar voice at his elbow.

"Tim McGee?"

McGee turned to find a well-dressed young man peering at him uncertainly. His mind was still running through variables about their victims, and it took him a moment to snap back into focus. He smiled sheepishly as he recognized his upstairs neighbor. "Oh, hey, Ken."

The young man smiled back. "I wasn't sure it was you. You're a ways from home, aren't you?"

"You live one floor above me, Ken," McGee grinned. "I could say the same about you."

"Not really. I work close by. Max's coffee is better than the vending machine crap I can get at the office. As you've discovered, I see," he said, pointing at the two cups McGee held. "Must be a rough day if you've taken to two-fisted drinking."

"No," McGee laughed, "the second coffee is for a friend who's – "

"Running just a little bit late," DiNozzo interrupted, coming up from behind and helping himself to one of the cups. He took a healthy sip and sighed appreciatively. "Thanks, Tim."

McGee started to make introductions. "Ken, this is my partner, Tony. We—"

Before he could say anything else, DiNozzo wrapped an arm around McGee's waist from behind. "His very possessive partner," he said with an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows.

Ken stiffened, his eyes darting back and forth between the two men before his face shuttered. He gave a curt nod of acknowledgment even as he stepped away. "I'd better be getting back," he said, turning on his heel and moving quickly toward the park entrance, leaving McGee staring at his retreating back.

DiNozzo headed for a nearby bench, leaning back and sipping his coffee while he glanced casually around him. McGee joined him, trying to contain his irritation.

"Why did you do that? It's not bad enough that you tell everyone at the office I'm gay, you have to drag your practical jokes into my personal life, too?"

"Keep your voice down and your eyes peeled, McGee," DiNozzo said quietly. "We're here to do a job, remember? You were on the verge of outing us. I just stepped in to cover for you, that's all."

"I was going to out us?" McGee seethed. "You're the one who gave Ken the impression we're gay."

"You almost outed us as cops, McGreenhorn. You told the guy I was your partner. That has two connotations — cop partner or life partner. I made sure he focused on life partner before you gave us away."

McGee huffed out an irritated breath. "Tony, he's my neighbor. He already knows I'm a cop."

"Yeah?" DiNozzo shot back. "And what about the guy running the coffee cart, the maintenance man picking up trash, the kid tightening his skateboard wheels, or the ten other people within hearing distance of our conversation? They all know you're a cop, too? First rule of undercover work, Probie—you never break cover."

McGee rolled his eyes. "Yeah, except that we're not undercover. We're just doing a simple surveillance gig."

DiNozzo rolled his eyes right back. "Yeah, and there's a reason we're doing it with our badges tucked in our back pockets instead of clipped to our belts. We're out here looking for a serial killer who may be targeting his next victim, McGee. You really think our psycho is going to hang around if he catches two cops checking out the place? This park is the only connection we've found between the victims—we can't afford to spook our guy and have him move somewhere else." DiNozzo patted him on the shoulder. "Let it go, Probie. You slipped, I covered. Not a big deal."

McGee, unwilling to just give in, said, "Not a big deal for you, maybe. You're not the one whose upstairs neighbor now thinks you're gay."

DiNozzo shot him a scathing look. "Well, gee, Timmy, you're right. Your homophobic neighbor's opinion of you is so much more important than, I don't know, catching a serial killer. What was I thinking? You'd better run after him and clear up this little misunderstanding. Better do it quick, too, before he—gasp—tells someone else! Wouldn't want anyone in the building thinking the wrong kinds of things about you, would we?"

McGee shifted uncomfortably. How was it that DiNozzo always managed to make him feel wrong-footed, even when Tim was pretty sure he was in the right? He was caught between irritated and apologetic, but when Tony patted his shoulder again and said, "It's OK, Probie, you'll learn," irritation won out.

"Damn it, DiNozzo," he snapped, "why do you always have to be so condescending? I'm not a kid fresh out of FLETC anymore. I've been on Gibbs' team for nearly four years now. That's longer than anyone else has lasted except you and Agent Burley. If I was really the clueless probie you make me out to be, don't you think Gibbs would have canned me by now? The fact that I'm still here proves I'm as good as you are, so why don't you back the hell off?"

DiNozzo sighed, shifting forward to rest his elbows on his knees. It always came down to this. In every police department he'd worked, the good ones always had something to prove. Hell, it wasn't just law enforcement. He'd seen the same thing in college. McGee was like every fresh-faced kid who'd ever stepped onto the OSU gridiron for the first time. At first they were happy to learn, did what they were told, grateful just to be part of the team. But it never took those wide-eyed kids long to start checking out the competition, seeing who they had to beat to move up the ranks. Every third-stringer wanted to make second string, and every second-stringer wanted to start.

McGee had been so eager to learn at first, drinking in every bit of information, every suggestion, every interaction like it was life's blood. When the kid had become SFA during Gibbs' retirement, he'd been excited, ready to show what he could do. But then Gibbs had un-retired, the first-string SFA had taken his job back, and McGee had been benched again. And everyone knew Tony wasn't going anywhere, so if McGee stayed on the team, he wasn't going to get any more playing time anytime soon. The kid was frustrated, thought he knew it all now, and wasn't listening anymore.

DiNozzo sighed. Maybe he should let it go. McGee was good enough to get by. He could learn everything else the hard way, just like the rest of them had. He wasn't a probationary agent anymore, technically it was no longer Tony's responsibility to train him….

An image flashed in front of Tony's eyes and pulled him up short. No. He'd been down that road before. He wasn't going there again. His hand ghosted across his cheek, brushing away the memories and locking them back into the box where he kept them buried in the darkest part of his mind. Never again.

"It's not a competition, McGee," he said tiredly as his eyes continued to scan the scene around them. "Are you as valuable to the team as I am? Yes. More so, actually. Hell, I'm just a cop. Gibbs could get ten more just like me any day of the week. But you…you're a certified genius, one of a kind. You know – we all know – that we couldn't do what we do without you."

McGee looked at the other man sharply, but he didn't detect any sign of teasing or insincerity. For the first time he wondered if Tony really did see himself that way, as ordinary. Expendable. "Tony – "

"But you're not as good as I am, and you never will be." DiNozzo held up his hand to forestall the sharp words he knew were coming. "You learn how to be a federal agent at FLETC, but you learn how to do the job on the streets. Every single mistake you make is something you learn never to do again, and then you go out the next day and you make another mistake, and you learn from that one, too. I've got nearly ten years more experience at this than you do, McGee. That's a hell of a lot of mistakes I've made and learned from, and I try to pass what I know on to you. Gibbs has fifteen years on me, and I learn something from him every damn day. And Mike Franks taught Gibbs, and somebody taught Franks. Someday you'll be a Senior Field Agent, and you'll teach probies of your own. And no matter how good your probies are, you will always know more than they do because you will have the experience they don't. That's how it works."

"Tony, I – "

"Maybe my methods aren't the best, Tim. Maybe…maybe I am a little jealous of all the things you can do that I will never understand, and so maybe when I know something you don't, I lord it over you. But don't discount the lesson just because you don't like the way it's taught. It's my job to keep you safe, to teach you what I know, and if you can learn from the mistakes I've already made, then maybe those are mistakes you won't have to make for yourself. And maybe some of the things that have damn near killed me over the years won't happen to you. So no, I'm not going to lighten up, and I'm not going to back the hell off. I did that once, decided it wasn't worth the tension and the fractured friendship, and that's a mistake I will not ever make again, no matter what. I really don't give a damn if you hate me for it, McGee, I'm not going to let you be another Kate."

"Tony!" Tim gasped, startled by the vehemence in the other man's voice. Did he really think he could have somehow saved Kate if he'd done his job differently? Before Tim could argue against that idea, Tony stood.

"Bravo Team just entered the park. Time to clock out." In the second or two it took DiNozzo to stand up from the bench, McGee saw the tense, pensive man who'd been sitting beside him morph into a carefree guy enjoying an afternoon in the fresh air. DiNozzo stretched casually and lobbed his cup into the trash bin across the walkway before turning to McGee with a beaming smile. "He shoots! He scores!"

He continued softly, the smile never leaving his face as he took one more look around the park. "Get a good night's sleep, McGee. Tomorrow's going to be another long day."

...

Twenty-four hours later, Gibbs was seething. "Where the hell is McGee? He should have been here fifteen minutes ago."

"I don't know, Boss." DiNozzo checked his phone again for missed messages, trying to ignore the churning in his gut. "I called him around 1600 to confirm the arrangements, and he said he'd meet us here."

"Well find him! And when you do, tell him if he's not gonna be here in the next five minutes, he'd better be maimed or dead."

...

McGee awoke slowly, his mind disjointed and fuzzy as it catalogued his surroundings. Large, empty space. High ceiling. Walls far enough away to be lost in the gloom. Warehouse? He felt so heavy…. Why was he in a warehouse? He just wanted to close his eyes and sleep again, but something was telling him that would be dangerous.

He looked around with bleary eyes, but the sight of the man on the other side of the room honing a long, curved blade cleared all traces of fog from his mind. He suddenly understood several things with instant, cold clarity.

He knew what connected their victims.

He was in deep, deep trouble.

The team didn't know where he was, so he had no backup.

And if he didn't make it out of this alive, Tony was never going to forgive himself.