Chapter 2

Two weeks later...

"Tony, if we do all of this, we'll be driving over 4,000 miles!" Tim said.

"Yep. Perfect road trip. Days and days of driving to get to ridiculous stops. I'm all for it," Tony said.

Tim raised an eyebrow. Tony had been quickly back to his old self since they'd started looking at places to stop. He was suspicious that Tony was just covering, but he was also still worried that Tony didn't really want to do this and was just humoring Tim because he felt bad for Tim wanting to help. All in all, it was easier just to take Tony's current behavior at face value. He wasn't sure whether or not he should try to bring up Ziva and her...departure. It had clearly affected Tony deeply and he hadn't really been willing to talk about it much. Tim wished he would because he himself was missing Ziva. She hadn't spoken to him at all. She had talked to Gibbs. She had talked to Tony (although it hadn't made Tony particularly happy), but Tim wished that Ziva had at least said good-bye.

"Well?" Tony asked.

"I made the list, Tony, but I really think that if we're going to do this, we need to cut out Amarillo, Texas. HR has put definite limits on how much time we can take off and I think dipping down that way will take too much time."

"All right. I'm fine with that. As long as we go to the Badlands."

Tim smiled. "I wouldn't dream of cutting that out. I actually...don't really remember a lot of it."

"You don't?"

Tim shrugged awkwardly. He didn't tend to make references to that period at this point. It was still a little embarrassing to him that he'd managed to break down so thoroughly that he had to spend time in a psychiatric hospital.

"I wasn't sleeping. My mind was...so messed up. I remember things, but it's almost like you remember dreams. So...I'm happy to see the Badlands when I'm not nuts."

"You weren't nuts."

"Yeah, I was...but I'm better now," Tim said. He forced a smile and looked back at their list. "So are you really okay with cutting out Amarillo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine with that. ...but we're not planning anything more. A basic idea is all I'm letting you have. Otherwise, you'll start regretting it and I don't want that to happen until it's too late to turn back."

Tim laughed.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Two days later...

"Are you ready to go road-tripping, Tim?" Abby asked. "You're leaving tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah."

Abby furrowed her brow at him.

"You don't sound very excited."

"I'm worried," Tim confessed.

"Why? You're the one who thought of it, and Tony's actually been acting like Tony again!"

"Yeah...that's why I'm worried."

"What?"

"What if it is just an act? What if he's just pretending to be excited? And what if he's just acting like himself because he thinks he should? Maybe I should have just let him deal with everything how he wanted to. Maybe it was a big mistake."

"Tim...did you ever think that maybe he is dealing with it how he wants to?"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that you made an offer and he was glad you did so that he could deal with things...away from here."

Tim laughed self-consciously. "I don't know why I'm so worried, Abby."

"Because the last time you did something like this it was when you were the one needing the help?"

Tim flushed a little.

"Maybe."

Abby hugged him.

"Tim, it doesn't matter to any of us! We're glad that you're back to normal and have been back to normal for more than a year! It's all good. Just relax!"

"Maybe once we actually go. I've never done this before...tried to help him with things. He doesn't usually seem to want it. ...at least, he doesn't want my help."

"Well, focus on having fun! That will help more than worrying about helping will help. Where are you going first?"

"Wilmington, Ohio."

"What's there?"

Tim grinned. "The world's largest skateboard. Well, it was the largest in 2008. I don't know if it still is."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Apparently, it takes twelve people to ride it."

"You guys are so weird," Abby said, laughing. "You'll have a lot of fun, Tim! ...if you let yourself. Just don't worry so much!"

"Yeah. I'll work on that."

"No! Don't work. Just be."

Tim smiled. "I'll work on that."

Abby scrunched up her nose at him. "Okay. Since you're not leaving until tomorrow, you can help me break through this firewall. It's making me cranky."

"And we can't have that, can we," Tim said.

"No. We can't."

They smiled and focused on their work.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The next morning...

Tony waited for Tim to come by. He had insisted on using his car, even though Tony had offered his own. It seemed that Tim was bound and determined to take all this on. In a way, it was funny how seriously Tim was taking something that should be just silly fun. However, Tony could feel the undercurrent of the serious stuff beneath it all.

In reality, Tony just wanted to forget about all that for a while. At NCIS, he was always sitting across from her desk...and at this point, he couldn't even figure out exactly how he felt about it. He wondered if Tim would try to make him talk about it. He really hoped not, but he thought that Tim probably would. That's the way he was. He wanted to try to make things better. Tony could see it in the tentative way Tim had asked if Tony wanted to go on the road trip.

Maybe Tony could get Tim to relax and just go with the flow a little bit.

That way he himself would have more fun.

He looked at his watch and grabbed his bag. He had no doubt that Tim would be down there right when he said.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped out the door onto the front stoop, there was Tim pulling into a space. He got out and then smiled.

"Right on time," he said.

"There's no on time on a road trip, Probie," Tony said.

"You keep saying that, but there is some concept of being on time. Such as...if we're not on time getting back, we will face the wrath of HR, and maybe even Gibbs."

Tony grinned.

"Well, we wouldn't want that."

He walked over and slung his bag into the trunk.

"You sure about giving your car over to this good cause?"

"Positive. It has to be my car."

"Why?"

Tim smiled mischievously. "You'll see."

"Okay. Who's driving first? And are you going to let me drive your car?"

"I'll drive first and you'd better believe that I'm letting you drive. We're going over 4,000 miles on this trip. No way am I driving every single one of them."

"It's good for you. Builds character."

"I'll build my character some other way."

The banter seemed a little forced, but Tony would take that over serious conversations. He nodded and got in on the passenger side.

"Breakfast?" he asked, pointing to the coffees and the bag on the seat.

"Figured we could eat on the road most of the time. Might as well start out that way."

"You're learning, Probie," Tony said. He shifted the bag to the floor, smelled the coffees and figured out which one was his. Tim got in.

"Ready for Wilmington, Ohio?" he asked.

"Bring on the big skateboard," Tony said.

Tim put the car in gear and they started on their way.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Eight hours later...

"You have got to be kidding me!" Tony said as they reluctantly gave up on their search. "Where in the name of Ned could they hide a 31-foot long skateboard?!"

"I don't know. We could stop and ask," Tim suggested.

"No. Not happening," Tony grunted. "We'll just go on our merry way...down to Lexington."

"What's in Lexington, again?" Tim asked.

"The big cup."

"Oh, yeah."

It was quiet in the car for a moment. Tim felt bad that they had started this great and wonderful trip he had planned and the first stop had gone wrong. He thought he should apologize, but he didn't know how he could apologize for a missing huge skateboard without sounding ridiculous.

As Tony turned out of Wilmington and headed south, Tim suddenly had a stupid thought. It slipped out before he could think the better of it.

"Maybe Paul Bunyan stopped by," he said. "It's got to be boring just walking around with Babe all the time."

Tony looked at him.

"And so...he came down to borrow the skateboard?"

"Sure. Hopefully, he gets back up to Brainerd before we get there. Maybe he'll bring the skateboard with him."

"Probie...are you high?"

"Not last I checked...but you bought the snacks at the last gas station."

Finally, to Tim's relief, Tony chuckled.

"Good one, Tim. Well-played."

"Thank you. I'm the sorry the gigantic skateboard disappeared."

"I doubt you did it on purpose. You'll just need to watch your powers of teleportation and make sure that the giant Dixie cup is still where it's supposed to be."

"Well, it's supposed to be really easy to see once we get there."

"It had better be."

Tim grinned, secretly relieved that the conversation hadn't gone in a dour direction. Maybe this would work out all right after all.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tony was still driving when they got close to Lexington. Tim was looking out the window, trying to get a first glimpse of the world's largest Dixie cup.

Was this the silliest thing they could be doing to relax? Maybe, but it was something they'd done once before, although, granted, Tim had been in a much worse state. At the same time, Tony could see how nervous Tim was about things going right. Not finding the skateboard had been typical luck when you did stuff like this, but Tim had been worried about it.

When would he finally break down and try to get Tony to talk about it?

He hadn't tried so far...and Tony wasn't going to start it.

"There it is!" Tim said, pointing out the windshield.

Tony looked out and saw it poking up above the other buildings. He smiled.

"Nice. Let's see how close we can get."

"Sounds good to me."

They started driving through the streets, getting closer and closer to the Dixie cup.

"Hey, what's that?" Tim asked, suddenly pointing out his window.

Tony slowed down.

"I have no idea."

He pulled off the road into a parking lot for Bondurant's Pharmacy.

"It's...a mortar and pestle," Tim said. "Weird!"

"Pictures!" Tony declared. He grabbed his camera and got out of the car.

Tim followed suit.

"Okay! You first," Tim said.

Tony ran in front of the building while Tim went back across the street so he could get the whole building in the photo. Tony posed dramatically, both hands in the air. Tim took the photo and then, they switched places and Tim posed, staring thoughtfully at the building.

Then, they both took photos of the building by itself.

"I like that," Tim said.

"Now, I know why we couldn't find the skateboard," Tony said.

"Why?"

"Because a good road trip has to start with an unplanned stop."

Tim grinned.

"You ready to find the cup, now?"

"Sure."

They got back into the car and wove through the streets until they got to a place where they could see the cup easily. They parked on the side of the road.

"Okay... Tony, stand right...there," Tim said and positioned Tony in one spot.

Then, he backed up.

"What are you doing, Tim?" Tony asked.

Tim just kept backing up and looking through his camera. Finally, he stopped.

"Okay. Hold up your hand!"

Tony furrowed his brow at Tim.

"How high?" he asked.

"A little higher! Palm up!"

Tony raised it up just a little bit more.

"Smile, Tony!"

Tony laughed and Tim took the picture. Then, he ran back and showed Tony.

It looked like Tony was holding the giant Dixie cup in his hand.

"Nice one, Probie."

They both took some more pictures and then went on their way again. Tim was driving this time.

"Okay... so do we go all the way to Jasonville tonight or do you want to go only part way and get there early tomorrow?" Tim asked. "You didn't let me reserve any hotels so we can stop anywhere. It's almost four hours to Jasonville."

Tony got out the atlas and looked at their marked route. It was fairly amusing that Tim had highlighted their planned route in the atlas, but it did make it easier to see what there might be to do on their way.

"Why don't we just go to Jeffersonville tonight? We can get a real meal instead of gas station food and find a hotel."

"Sounds good to me."

They drove for the next couple of hours, not talking much. Tony found them a hotel with a restaurant attached so that they could eat without having to find a place.

Finally in their room after the long day of driving, Tony watched as Tim let himself fall onto the bed.

"That was a long day," he said.

"Wimp. How are you going to survive being away from Delilah for all this time?"

Tim sat up and raised an eyebrow. Tony thought Tim would take the opening he'd offered. Nope.

"She has a job, too, Tony. We don't spend every waking moment together. We're dating, not Siamese twins."

Tony laughed and it was only slightly forced. Was it fair that Tim, geeky, nerdy Tim, had a steady girlfriend and was happy while Tony was... He stopped the thought before it could get any further.

"Besides, I promised her I'd make it up to her when I got back," Tim said with a grin. He fell back to the bed.

"You used all your vacation days, didn't you, Probie."

"Most of them."

"Why?"

Tim sat up again.

"I thought it would be fun."

That was a lie. Tony knew it. Tim knew it. That wasn't why they were doing this. Sure, it had been fun today, but that wasn't the reason. Tony couldn't figure out why Tim wouldn't just admit it.

"Is it not fun?" he asked.

"It's fun."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Good. Now, I'm going to sleep. One day down."

He went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Tony stared after him and then, let out a whoosh of air.

One day down...and it hadn't been a bad day.