Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of its characters. *Sobs* but that's okay.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm back! Did ya miss me? Just kidding. Okay, just so that all of you nice people know, this story is dedicated to and written for my BFFF "ILoveCrimes" as a very belated birthday gift. (Jane, I'm sooo sorry that this is late! I believe that this has been long overdue. I hope that you like it!)

Also, I would like to say thank you to everyone who is reading my current story "Missing McGee" and that I am still working on it. I have not forgotten it! That story is a work in progress, and I am very busy typing away at chapter 16. Second of all, I will not be on FanFiction for about two or three weeks following this Wednesday. I have a friend who I haven't seen in 3 years flying out from the East Coast to visit me during that time, and then I'll fly out to the East Coast to visit with her for a week. Then I'll come back here. Yay! Without further ado, I present to you a short, sweet 10-chapter NCIS fan fiction,

A Birthday Surprise

Chapter 1

What's special about today?

McGee calmly drove to work early on a Monday morning, just as he would do on any other normal day. There was nothing out of the ordinary today, nope. Nothing to be excited about at all.

"Except for the fact that today just happens to be my birthday," he thought.

"I wonder if anyone will notice that it's my birthday today. Abby remembered it last year, and so did Ziva. But I doubt that anyone else will remember. I'll go to work like normal, and act casual. Only one day out of the entire year. All it means is that I'm another year older, but hey! I'd rather be another year older, alive and well instead of being dead!"

As McGee walked into the bullpen, he partially expected Tony or Ziva to walk up to him and greet him with a "Happy Birthday, McOneYearOld!" or even a simple "Happy Day of Birth, Tim." But he seriously doubted that they even knew when his birthday was. And even if they did know, they probably wouldn't make a big deal out of it or do anything out of the ordinary. That was okay with him, though. He wouldn't allow himself to have a bad day simply because it was his birthday and no one did anything about it.

As Tim walked towards his desk, he thought about Tony, Ziva, and Gibbs' birthdays.

Each year Tony would act like a 5-year old and make sure that everyone knew it was his birthday. He would brag about it to the entire world. And every time Tony's birthday rolled around, McGee would give Tony some sort of gift and leave it on his desk amongst the other presents, signing it as "An anonymous person who wishes you a happy birthday." For the last five years, Tony hadn't been able to figure out who kept giving him the gifts signed under "Anonymous." It made McGee laugh every time he thought about it.

He did the same thing for Ziva, leaving gifts on her desk when it was her birthday, but he made sure that his gifts were a little more personal. Last year, McGee gave her a simple poem about how much her friendship meant to him, and left it on her desk signed, "Happy Birthday, from a friend. Thank you for your friendship. It is one of the greatest gifts of all." After he had seen Ziva's reaction to the poem, McGee knew that all of the long hours of thought and typing he had put into it was worth the effort.

Ziva was smart. She didn't have to guess who had given the meaningful poem to her on her birthday, of all days. When she had finished reading the neatly typed paper in her hands, she lifted her head and made direct eye contact with McGee from across the room, then smiled and whispered a barely audible "thank you". It was the best form of thanks that he could have received.

As for Gibbs… well, McGee didn't really know what he could buy for his boss, aside from a bottle of bourbon, but that would have been a simple gift that anyone could have given to him, not a personal gift like Ziva's was. Since he couldn't bring himself to buy a cheap bottle of bourbon, McGee did something else instead- he went and visited Gibbs at his basement on his birthday, after he had finished with his day at work. If Gibbs had been genuinely surprised at seeing Tim, visiting him in his basement, for the third time in…nine years?, then he had a good way of hiding his surprise.

Mustering up his courage, McGee walked up to Gibbs' back door and knocked on it, already knowing that it was open.

"Door's open," came Gibbs' gruff response from where he was working down below. He could think of only one person who would care to knock first before entering, and if he had to guess, that person knocking on his door right now would be Tim.

Timidly, McGee opened the door and entered Gibbs' basement. He walked down half of the stairs, then stopped and sat down on the fourth stair from the floor.

"Hello, Boss."

"Evenin', McGee."

"Is this a good time for me to talk with you?" McGee asked, a little hesitantly.

"It's as good as any, McGee. What's on your mind?"

After hearing Gibbs' response, McGee started talking immediately afterwards.

McGee didn't know what exactly he could talk about, but he figured that Gibbs wouldn't mind if he talked to him about the time when he went fishing as a child with his grandfather, watching as sailboats came and went. After McGee finished telling his story, it didn't take long before both men were talking with each other about various topics, ranging from boats to childhood memories. Everyone had been a child once, including Gibbs.

For what felt like the first time in ages, Gibbs had been able to bring up several of his favorite childhood memories that he hadn't remembered in years. To him, it felt good to talk about his favorite memories as a child to someone who truly enjoyed listening.

Time passed by quickly, much to McGee's dismay, and when his watch read 11:30 p.m., he politely excused himself and left. But before he walked out the door, he turned around and said, "Happy Birthday, Boss. And thank you for your time." Then he left. McGee had seen Gibbs' brief smirk when he wished him a happy birthday. That smirk had been worth his all of his original unease and awkwardness. McGee made a silent vow to himself that he would visit Gibbs in his basement on his birthday from then on.

Back to the present…*(Pun intended!)* When McGee arrived in the Bullpen, he was surprised to see that it was totally empty. Ziva and Tony were nowhere to be found. "Well this is strange," he thought.

When he walked up to his desk, he was even more surprised to see several wrapped packages waiting for him. Upon closer examination, McGee saw tags with his name on the packages, so obviously they were addressed to him. Were those packages actually presents for him? If they were, then who put them on his desk? Who sent them to him? McGee hadn't let anyone on the team know that it was his birthday today. He thought that his birthday wasn't really worth mentioning. His birthday wasn't important to anyone except for Sarah, Penny, his mother and himself. McGee didn't know whether he should open the packages or not. What if they contained a bomb, or some sort of deadly virus? After Tony's incident with the Black Plague, he wasn't going to take any chances. He decided to call Gibbs.

"Gibbs," Gibbs answered on the second ring. "What is it?"

"Hello? I mean… um… good morning, Boss." McGee started.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a 'good morning', McGee. What is it?"

"Nothing too much, Boss, and I don't mean to disturb you, but there are several unidentified packages on my desk, all addressed to me. I didn't know if they had been cleared by security or not. You, uh, wouldn't happen to know anything about them by chance, would you? I don't know if I should open them or not. If on the off chance one of them contains a bomb, I don't want to put you or the team, or all of NCIS in danger. Heck, I don't want to put anyone in danger by opening them! What should I do, Boss?"

"Do you know anything about those packages, McGee? I don't. You said that they were on your desk. If those packages contained a bomb, then they would still be in the mail room, not on your desk. And only certain people in NCIS know which desk you work at, so the packages aren't a threat. That was quick, smart thinking on your behalf for the safety everyone at the Agency, including me and the rest of the team. Good job, Tim, good job. Is there anything particularly special about today that would be a motive for someone to leave random packages addressed to you on your desk?" Gibbs asked.

McGee thought that he could hear the slightest hint of muffled laughter on the other line.

"Thanks, Boss. I didn't want to put anyone in danger, that's all. I have no idea why there are several boxes on my desk. This had better not be one of Tony's pranks! But this seems way too complicated for Tony to think of. Let me see, as for today… there's nothing special about today, Boss. Nothing that I can think of… wait… today just happens to be my birthday, but I don't think that that's of any importance. Why?"

"Think, McGee, think! Use that large brain of yours! So today happens to be your birthday, and there just so happens to be several packages on your desk. What do you think that means?" Gibbs asked sarcastically.

McGee thought for a moment. Had someone really left presents for him on his desk?

"I get it now, thanks Boss. I, uh, I'm not disturbing you, am I?"

"No McGee, you aren't."

"Oh, okay. That's a relief. By the way, neither Tony nor Ziva are in the office yet, and I don't know where they are. Speaking of, where are you, Boss?"

"I'm on my way, McGee. DiNozzo and David should be joining you shortly. Is there anything else?"

"No Boss, that's all. Thanks for helping me think this through."

"There's no need to be thanking me, McGee. I shouldn't have to do that again. Now get to work. If I were you, I would open the navy blue package first."

Before McGee could respond, Gibbs hung up.

"Well…that was… interesting, for lack of better adjectives. Note to self- remember to call Gibbs whenever strange and unusual packages present themselves on your desk."

McGee set down his backpack and plopped down in his office chair.

"Gibbs suggested that I should open the navy blue present first…I don't see any harm in doing so. What could possibly be inside?"

Unbeknownst to McGee, Gibbs was down in Abby's lab with the rest of the team, watching with amusement the live feed from the security camera as Tim opened his first present.

"Aww! Wasn't that sweet?" Abby cooed, immediately after Gibbs hung up on the phone.

"What was 'sweet', Abby?" Tony asked, watching over her shoulder as McGee threw away the wrapping paper and was trying to open the box.

"I thought it was sweet that Timmy was thinking about our safety first before he even considered opening his presents! What do you think, Ziva?"

"I could not agree with you more, Abby. That is just like Tim to put others' safety above his own. And it shows what a selfless and thoughtful person he is, but I think that everyone here already knows that."

Gibbs grunted and nodded his head in agreement.

"What about you? What do you think, Tony?" Abby asked.

"I have to agree with what you just said, Ziva, but we can reflect on Tim's personality later. He's about to open his first present! Everyone be quiet!"

"Abigail, can you enlarge the video a tad more, please? I'm afraid that my vision isn't working as well as yours is, even with my spectacles on," Ducky interrupted.

"Sure thing, Ducky! Hang on just one moment please… aha! There you go! Is that any better?"

"Yes, that is much better, thank you. Now… let's watch Timothy's reaction."

There was silence as everyone eagerly waited to see McGee's reaction as he opened his first present.

END CHAPTER 1

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