A/N: There will be mention of Tiva in this story, however that will not be the main focus. I normally am not a huge fan of ships in stories, just because I love the team as a whole family so much. However, apparently there is something wrong with me because when I was coming up with the plot for this story, my mind went 'oh! what better way to make this even more angsty and tragic then to include that.' Anyway, thats about it. Also, the timeline in this story will jump back and forth, but it should be easy enough to follow. As of right now the plan is to alternate chapters, but if that changes, I'll make sure its obvious.

18 years ago

"Wow Tony, I gotta say, I didn't think you'd actually do it," McGee said to his partner as they walked past security at the entrance of NCIS Headquarters.

"Yeah well, we all gotta grow up sometime and settle down," Tony replied.

"No, I meant I didn't think you'd muster up the courage to ask Gibbs," McGee said laughing. Then he frowned. "It means things are going to have to change though. One of you will have to transfer."

"Yeah, I know, but change can be a good thing sometimes."

"I guess," McGee said doubtfully. It wasn't that he wasn't extremely happy for his friends; it was just that they had been a team, a family for an entire decade. They would still be a family, but one of them would no longer be on the team. The idea of losing either one of them to another team, of having to trust his six to someone new, or worse, trusting someone else with one of theirs slightly upset him. But then again, Tony was right. Change was good sometimes he realized. A small smile came to his face as he thought of the changes happening in his own life. "So tonight's the big night then?" McGee asked as they stood waiting for the elevator.

"Yep," said Tony pulling a box out of his pocket. "What do you think?" he asked showing Tim the ring.

"I think its kind of small," Tim said a teasing smile on his face as he stepped on to the elevator.

"Oh shut it McJealous," Tony snapped closing the box and putting back in his pocket as he followed McGee onto the elevator.

"There's the Tony I know," Tim said smiling. "Really Tony, it's beautiful and I know she'll love it. Just promise me one thing," he said putting a hand on his partner's shoulder, "Don't hurt her, I'd hate to have to..."

"Yeah I know, kick my butt," Tony said cutting him off. "You don't have to go all overprotective brother on me."

"Actually, I was going to say I'd hate to have to help Ziva dump your body when she's done with you."

"Watch it," Tony said. "I can still ask Palmer to be my best man." The two agents stared at each other for a moment before they both broke out into wide grins.

"Congratulations Tony," Tim said pulling his friend into a tight hug. "I really am happy for you."

"Am I interrupting?" Ziva asked with a grin on her face as the two men jumped apart from each other, neither having heard the elevator doors open. "Is there something you need to tell me Tony?" She asked, thoroughly enjoying watching her boyfriend and best friend squirm uncomfortably.

"No... No, you see McGee just needed a hug," Tony said, his brain going into overdrive. "You see, he...he just found out the girl he was seeing is another crazy. You know McGee and his women, he just seems to draw all the psychotic ones. Come to think of it, with the possible exception of Maxine, McGee hasn't dated a single normal girl as long as we've known each other." Tony finished grinning at his partner. It didn't matter how much he'd grown up over the years, he would never be able to pass up an opportunity to tease his friend, especially knowing his friend wouldn't betray the real reason for the hug and ruin the surprise.

McGee only glared at his partner for a second, before an evil grin made its way to his face. "What about Abby?" McGee asked innocently, grinning at the goth Tony didn't know was behind him.

Tony let out a bark of laughter before asking in an incredulous voice. "Seriously Tim, that is your comeback? Abby! Come on, it's Abby. She's not..." Tony trailed off as he saw Tim's smile widen. "She's not only the most brilliant woman I know... ahh... one of the most brilliant women I know, she's also one of the most beautiful" Tony said sending a nervous glance at Ziva. "Alright, I give up, she was behind me the entire time, wasn't she?" Tony shifted uncomfortably waiting for the inevitable headslap while McGee simply smiled and nodded.

*Thwack*

"Oh come on Abbs, you know how much I love you." Tony said, pleading with the goth as he turned to face her. He was met with arms crossed and a raised eyebrow. A second later he was met with a second headslap. "Ow! What was that one for?" He protested, sounding for all the world like a winey seven year old.

"The first one was for making fun of Timmy. The second one was for me." Abby scolded.

"Besides," Tim began, not able to resist getting his friend in just a little more trouble. "You are the one that introduced me to Susan to begin with," Tim said pulling a name out of thin air, smiling internally at Tony's look of confusion. "I didn't even want to go to the bar last Friday, but you insisted." It took all of Tim's willpower and experience, as a federal agent not burst out laughing at Tony's look of horror.

"Last Friday?" Ziva asked suddenly, turning to Tony with a glare. "I wanted to go to that play last Friday but you told me that we could not go because you had to drive to Delaware to help your old college buddy and his wife move. You moaned and groaned about it all day." Tony stepped back and held his hands up defensively as Ziva took a threatening step toward him.

"No, I... But McGee... But I..." Looking around at the identical glares from Ziva and Abby, and the barely contained smirk from McGee, Tony decided it would be hazardous to his health to try to explain further and made a hasty exit.

Thoroughly satisfied Tim turned to Ziva with a sly grin and said, "You know he really did spend the evening helping his friend move. He actually recruited me to help for part of the night. I just couldn't let that opportunity pass."

"Yes, I know. It has been a good deal of time since Tony as been able to lie to me about anything." Ziva said with a grin of her own. Behind them, Abby simply laughed and shook her head. Tim smiled tenderly at her as she grinned at both him and Ziva, her hand resting on her stomach.

"It's always fun to give Tony a hard time. Well, I might as well get on down to the lab and work on the reports from the case we wrapped up yesterday." Abby said cheerfully before skipping off. Tim and Ziva, meanwhile, both groaned.

"Only Abby could be cheerful about writing reports," Tim said to Ziva who nodded in agreement. The case had been fairly cut and dry, but as with any case, the paperwork always took longer than solving the case. They would be lucky to get it all finished today.

The rest of the day passed in easy camaraderie. As soon as Tim and Ziva returned to the bullpen with big smiles on their faces, Tony knew he had been exonerated, much to his relief. The day was spent finishing up reports, and arguing over how the joint paperwork would be divided once their individual paperwork was done. They spent several minutes arguing over what was a fair division of labor until Gibbs loudly announced that he could always triple the work to make it even at which point Tim had suddenly remember they were late for lunch with Abby and Palmer, and they could figure it out over lunch. The three agents had joined Abby and Palmer for a lunch, with Tony and Ziva grudgingly admitting that they owed Tim for saving them from the threat they knew Gibbs would follow through on without batting an eye. As the day passed, Tony's excitement grew, as did his confidence that tonight would be the perfect night. Tony's only prayer was that Gibbs phone didn't ring with a new case. As the clock grew closer and closer to 1700, Tony found himself on the edge of his seat, so much so that he almost fell out of said seat when Gibbs' phone did ring. Gibbs answered in his usual manner and Tony cringed in anticipation of Gibbs ordering them to gear up. He was momentarily confused however, when McGee began speaking from the desk next to him. That confusion however quickly morphed into annoyance.

"Hey Boss, my phone was giving me trouble earlier, so I just wanted to test it. Thanks for letting me call you." McGee said, grinning widely at Tony.

"Anytime Tim," Gibbs responded his blue eyes glittering in amusement as he watched Tony fight the urge to react not wanting to tip off Ziva. Tony huffed in annoyance before stiffly standing and declaring he needed water. Gibbs and McGee exchanged quick conspirator grins while Ziva worked on completely unaware. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Tony, 1700 rolled around, officially taking team Gibbs off of call out duty. There was still paperwork to be completed however, so it was another hour before anyone was close to done. By the time 1830 rolled around however, everyone was finishing up the last of their spellchecks and getting ready to shut down for the night, and Abby, Ducky and Jimmy had joined them in the bullpen.

"Why don't we all go out for dinner?" Tony suggested suddenly, looking around at the team. It had all been arranged earlier, but to keep Ziva from getting suspicious, they all played their parts. Abby jumped enthusiastically at the idea, while Ducky seemed to debate for a moment before stating that it seemed like a wonderful idea. Tim and Jimmy, however, played more reluctant.

"I don't know," Tim replied. "I was kind of looking forward to going home and just relaxing, maybe ordering in."

"Come on McKilljoy," Tony prodded, reverting back to one of his older mcnicknames before looking at Palmer.

"I don't know guys," He answered hesitantly. "Breena and I haven't gotten to spend much time together this week."

"Call your wife and tell her to come with us," Tony argued back knowing full well that Breena was already meeting them at the restaurant.

"I guess I could run it by her" Jimmy finally conceded.

"What about it Boss?" Tony asked as the entire team turned to him expectantly. Staring back at the expectant faces, Gibbs shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, why not?" he responded and was met with bright smiles and a happy squeal from Abby as she came over to hug him.

As the team began to debate where to eat, even though it had already been decided, Tim looked around and felt a sense of contentment wash over him. Tony was sitting in Ziva's chair at her desk, while she was sitting right next to him on her desk. When they had begun dating, the one ground rule that had been laid was that they kept it out of the office period. It was a rule that they had followed, but it didn't stop them from sitting as close to each other as they could and sending adoring looks at each other when they weren't sending glares. Both were faced toward Gibbs, who was sitting at his desk looking at Ducky and Abby. Abby was sitting on the outer edge of his desk facing Tony and Ziva, while Ducky was standing in the middle. Shaking his head at the pseudo debate which he already knew would result in them ending up at Ziva's favorite restaurant in Georgetown, Tim smiled fondly at his teammates once more. "Well while you guys are figuring it out, I'm going to head to the restroom" he announced turning away.

"I'm going to call Breena and see if she'll meet us there," Jimmy added to the group before following Tim. They both turned around once more and laughed as Tony suggested a pub which was immediately and loudly shot down by both the women. Tim went in to use the restroom while Jimmy remained outside the door to make his call. He was just hanging up when Tim exited, and they both smiled at each other, excited for the night that was in store for their friends. They could hear the voices and laughter as they began walking back when suddenly a low rumbling started. Tim knew what it was instantly and stepped in front of Jimmy and shoved him to the ground just as a loud explosion sounded that was followed by a blast of heat that sent him flying. The last thought that past through Tim's head before he was slammed into the wall and everything went black was that the blast had come from the bullpen.

A/N: And this is clearly why I went "oh crap" during the season finale, aside from the fact that I was extremely worried about the team. At first I was like, "hey, they stole my idea," but the I realized that was irrational. I had just been taking my time with this story because I mean really, I never expected them to blow up the building/bullpen. So, for the sake of this story, we are going to pretend that they managed to disarm the bomb and the explosion never happened ;) Please review.