Becoming Pack

Chapter 2: Weres are social creatures.

It didn't fully hit Tim until the morning after the full moon. He was alone. His Pack was gone.

Oh sure, he could call them, but it wasn't the same. There were no brothers and sister to play and tease with, no Mom and Dad babying him; no curling up at night against soft vibrating furs. They were too far away and he was completely alone and on his own for the first time in a very, very long time.

Which is why he found himself here, on Gibbs' porch with Jethro in tow, three weeks later. Gibbs was the closest thing to an Alpha he had, in fact if he let himself think about it further, the whole Team, -Abby, Ducky, Tony and Jimmy included - was a Pack of his own.

But right now he didn't want to let himself think about that.

"Um...hey Boss."

"Don't mess up."

These were the three words Victor told him, Tony, Ziva and Abby the day they came to Rosemary to help the McGees move. It wasn't hard to remember the emotions he'd felt that day as he sat in the nearly empty home, and his eyes were forced opened to many things.

[Flashback]

Gibbs was trying to get an understanding of the lack of effect his infamous 'Gibbs's stare' was not having on people but no one was answering him.

"I'm sensing that there was an important reason of you having all of us here, while everyone else is still packing," Ducky said, breaking the silence.

"Observant as always Dr. Mallard," Raven stated with a soft smile.

"Ducky, please."

"All right, as long as you call me Raven, and you're right, there is a reason we asked you all here." She paused before continuing. "We'll be leaving soon don't know when we'll be back and we're worried about Tim."

"Don't worry, we'll look after Timmy." Abby piped up.

"And here is reason number one why we're worried," Victor said.

The humans stared at him surprised and shocked.

"I do not understand," Ziva finally said.

Raven sighed. She figured as much.

"Your treatment of our cub is more bad than good," Victor stated.

Gibbs glared at the Alpha. His treatment of Tim! What the hell? He treated McGee like everyone else on his team.

"You can glare at me all you want but it doesn't change the facts," Victor said, a low rumbling growl seeping through. "You treat my Cub worse than an Omega is treated!"

"I think there's been some misunderstanding here," Tony said, taking note of how silent and thoughtful Ducky was looking and how Ziva herself was slightly nodding with a knowing look. He himself was very confused.

Raven growled, her temper barely held in check "Really? Was it a misunderstanding that made you leave my Cub not only having to deal with an injured arm, but also having to drive the attack dog back to base alone, ignoring the fact that if that dog had gotten loose things could have gotten worse! Really? Was it a misunderstanding that all but three of you showed next to no concern in his welfare for the rest of the day?"

"So much for having his – what's the word – oh yes, six," Victor snorted.

"But Jethro…" Abby began interjecting, but shut her mouth and settled down with wide eyes when two pair of feral eyes swirled her way.

"Hold your tongue!" retorted Raven.

"You, young lady, have much to answer for!" Victor said.

"I don't under—?"

"Did you really use my son's jacket to cover the injured dog and call him 'Bad Tim?"

Tony, Ziva and Ducky all looked at Abby.

"Yes, but—"

"That jacket was a gift from his grandmother and was given to him when he got on your team. Did you even think that maybe it was important to him before you snatched it off of him to use as a blanket?"

"But Jethro was…"Abby closed her mouth with a snap.

"Not only that, but you were hostile toward him the entire day AND you forced him to take the dog home with him even though he had been injured by that same dog and told you no, just because your apartment did not allow dogs and you liked the dog, didn't want to see him go to the pound and knew no one else on your team would not only take him, but take good care of him."

"Now just hold on!" Gibbs shouted, leaning forward, interrupting Victor. "All right. Maybe we should have been a more sympathetic towards Tim, but don't take it out on Abby!"

"HE TOLD HER HE DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE THE DOG!" Growling loudly, Raven stood and fought against baring her fangs and merely retorted, "Why not? Her actions were childish and selfish, and this is something that seems to be a common occurrence and which you encourage. Did you even ask Tim how he was feeling? Did anyone offer to replace his coat? She forced that dog on him and you didn't even object." She took a deep breath and looked at Gibbs. "I'll bet you even told her to put the dog in a kennel during the investigation. How did that work out?"

Victor took up the tale. "Tim is constantly getting punished for her irresponsible actions. Case in point: When that ex of hers was stalking her. Tim was punished for something that was not his fault."

"He was supposed to protect Abby," Gibbs shot back.

"Which he did to the best of his abilities; it's not his fault if Abby refuses to take what he says seriously. You, Gibbs, YOU gave him a direct order and she was in the room and heard it," retorted Victor. "While they were at the apartment, Tim had to retrieve something from his car and told her not to open the door. And when he knocks at his door because he's forgotten his door keys, does she look through the peephole? Call out to see who it is? Of course not, she just does what she wants and opens up the door. He chastised her for it, picked up the keys and again he tells her not to open the door and what does she do when there's a knock? Opens the door and hey! Damn, if it isn't her stalker ex! We know your history, Gibbs, but that whole tilted favoritism thing you do with her is unacceptable. You seem to forget that is she not a child, is not a replacement for your child, but a grown woman in her own right! Who's to say what might have happened had Tim not shown back up when he did?"

Telling our cub to 'suck it up' is unacceptable. Lying by omission is still lying," Raven continued with a pointed look at Abby. Oh! And you, not your team, or Gibbs, you will replace that Hugo Boss jacket you destroyed when you cut that large hole in it when you were testing for contagion."

Gibbs whipped his head around and looked over at Abby, whose eyes were bright and wet.

"I didn't know all of that," Gibbs said with disappointment in his voice.

"Please! I think you had a pretty good idea of what had happened with the stalker. The fact that our cub was punished for following orders makes it obvious that you neither wanted nor cared to even hear his explanation."

Victor turned to Tony who flinched, realizing that he was about to get ripped a new one for all the teasing he gave McGee.

"My cub is the new guy, the Probie as you like to call him, I understand the teasing, we do that here in the Pack," Victor said, his voice surprisingly soft towards the Senior Agent, "but we never do it to the point of chipping away at someone's self esteem. He is a valuable member of your team. Can you do what he can? Victor looked at all of them. Can any of you? All we ask is that you tone it down, and think about some of things you're going to do and say, and consider growing up a bit, because sooner rather than later, you're going end up hurting him emotionally. And then he will leave."

The Alpha turned to Ziva and Ducky; he looked at them for a moment and gave a small smile.

"Our Pack wants to thank you for being there for him, and also, please give my thanks to Jimmy."

Ducky and Ziva nodded.

The next two hours were spent with Victor and Raven harshly opening their eyes, more so for Gibbs (since he was team leader) and Abby (who had been important to Tim at one time they were still angry with), and when they were asked how they knew what they did, Victor's smile turned wicked and he just said they had their ways and informed the team that they didn't learn this from Tim who, even though he calls when he's distressed, has no idea how much the family knows about how his days go.

"The only reason that I hadn't come up there and torn you a new one while wearing a smile, is because our cub insisted that he was fine, that everything was going to get better down the road," Raven said taking in Tony and Abby's guilty faces or in Gibbs's case, blank face. "He has a lot of faith in you all, which I can see and is the real reason why we aren't dragging Tim with us kicking and screaming."

"You care about our Cub, we do see that. Anyone who finds out their teammate is a Were and still risks their life for them obviously does, so we're going to giving you another chance," Victor said. "So live by these words – Don't. Mess. Up!"

Suddenly the door to the house opened.

"Dad, dinner's starting," Tim called, coming into the room.

Gibbs came out of his thoughts to stare at his youngest Agent who shifted nervously.

"Um I…I'm not sure why I'm here," Tim confessed, petting Jethro who nudged his hand.

"No one's stopping you from coming in, though," Gibbs said as he stepped aside to let the Were and his dog in.

Tim gave a shy smile and walked in and sat on the couch.

"Want something to drink?" Gibbs asked.

Tim shook his head, and then silence.

"You know you can relax Tim, I always told you all, my door is always opened, and that includes you."

Jethro barked.

"And Jethro, too," said the Gibbs with a smirk. Tim chuckled feeling a little better.

"Um…can I…" Tim trailed off, unsure of how to bring up the subject of changing. With his family, it was always his Dad or Mom who took the lead, and while Gibbs didn't seem upset about the giant cats in his living room, or a Were cub, Tim suspected the man was too curious to care much.

"Whatever makes you comfortable," Gibbs shrugged.

Tim smiled, before changing.

Tony, while not a genius like his Tim, knew how to do research. As soon as he had the chance, he looked up everything about Packs, wolf, lion, you name it and how being a part of that was important to his Probie. While he didn't truly understand, he knew that Tim would be feeling pretty lonely, which is how he found himself driving to his Boss's house.

If his guess was right, Tim would be there.

The Senior Agent pulled up to the house some time later, looking over in surprise when Abby pulled up in her roadster with Ziva in the passenger's seat. All it took was a look between them for all of them to understand, and they found themselves entering the house, and were greeted by Jethro.

"Hey boy," Abby greeted. "Where're Gibbs and Tim?"

Jethro licked her cheek, ears perking up when Gibbs came out the kitchen, Tim trailing behind him. When he saw them, he ran over and pounced on Tony's leg, purring loudly.

"Ow! McWere! Claws!"

Tim purred.