I don't own NCIS or the characters.
An hour later, Tim found himself in a more desperate position. The talk with his father broke down when he blurted out he was pregnant. Before he could get another word out, he was hit. Hard. He had fallen into the desk chair, it was the only thing that kept him from falling to the ground.
He held back the tears when his father gave him ten minutes to pack his things. He guessed he was lucky that he had a place to go. His mother had wanted to call her sister from Martinsville, but he didn't need a home. He just needed a place to stay for one more month. He knew Oscar and his mom were barely getting by. But Kate's parents had money, they were just too busy with work to notice her much. Which was one of the reasons she was a little wild.
Slinging his duffle over his shoulder he started walking. He had his laptop, clothes and his school work. His mother also snuck him some snacks before he left. She wasn't brave enough to openly disagree with her husband. He understood that, he wasn't brave enough to fight back either. Which was why he believed he was in this position to begin with.
If he would have fought when the man was trying to get him out of the door. If he have fought harder when the man had him in the van. If he would have went straight to the police. There were so many things he could have done. But now he was running out of options.
The walk to Kate's didn't take too long. His back was just starting to ache a little from carrying his heavy bags. He hadn't even called her, to tell her he was on his way.
Her car wasn't in the driveway but her dad's car was. At least he wouldn't have to wait for Kate to get home. Walking to the front door he rang the doorbell.
After a moment, Mr. Todd came to the door. He was a tall man with brown hair graying at the temples. Kate was the youngest of the Todd children. She had an older sister, Rachel and three older brothers: Kevin, Lee, and Ryan. All of them were out of the house by now. Lee and Ryan were in college. Kevin was married with a baby on the way. He wasn't so sure what Rachel was up to, she was always in school, it seemed.
"Uh, oh. I'm guessing you had a fallout with your old man," Mr. Todd said, sadly. Tim nodded.
"Well, come on in. You can put your stuff in Lee and Ryan's room."
Tim followed Mr. Todd into the house. He didn't need to be shown where the room was so Mr. Todd went back to his office. Tim carried his bags up to the sometimes shared room of the two youngest Todd boys.
Opening the door he had to hold back the gasp. It was obvious that no one had been in the room in a while. The room smelled disgusting, like body odor and rotten food. For the past couple of months some smells were more unforgiving. His mother's perfume was at the top of the list. Well, it was until he walked into the locker room masquerading as a bedroom.
Holding his breath, he ran over to the window to open it. Once fresh air was moving through stale room he could breathe again. He then went about, picking up trash and hunting for the rotten food. After a couple close calls on his lunch from earlier returning, he had the room livable. Changing the bed sheets on Lee's bed was next on the list.
Going to the hallway closet he found sheets for the bed.
"What are you doing here?" the deep voiced asked.
Perfect. It was all he needed for Ryan to make an appearance. Maybe Tim was lucky, and he was just here to wash his clothes. Except, Tim was never lucky and Ryan's school was over one hundred miles away. Much too far to just wash clothes and leave.
"Your dad said I could stay." Mr. Todd wasn't one for getting into anyone's business. He raised his kids to make their own choices.
"Stay in Caitlin's room. I'm not sharing a room with you," Ryan snarled. He walked to his room and slammed the door.
In truth he felt more comfortable sleeping in Kate's room anyway. It was then he realized his stuff was still in Ryan's room.
Sucking in a breath, he knocked on the door. "I need my stuff," he yelled through the door.
The door was opened and all his stuff was thrown out, including his laptop bag.
"Hey!" he shouted but the door was slammed again.
Collecting his things he made his way back to Kate's room. Unlike her brothers' room, it was clean. She always made sure it smelled nice and airy. He loved her room. It was really an extension of herself. His dad made sure his room was as devoid of as much character as possible.
Sitting down in her desk chair, he pulled out his cell phone. There was one last thing he had to do tonight. Just because things didn't work out with his dad didn't make the killer go away. He fiddled with the phone before he dialed the number that he had already saved. It rang once before he hung up; his hands were shaking.
He thought maybe there would be a place to send tips by email. After getting out his laptop he found what he was looking for. He gave a detailed description of what happened. He even described the man's tattoos. In a moment of courage he left his phone number. He wanted to help them catch the man. He still had nightmares that the man came back for him.
After closing the laptop he settled on Kate's bed. He knew she was supposed to be out with other friends, she had told him when she dropped him off. That meant she'd be home around midnight or sometime in the morning.
Finally, he went to the bathroom to change. There was one more altercation with Ryan on his way back. At least he knew Ryan. The hostility might have made him uneasy with anyone else. But Ryan was different, he was a jerk but he was an overprotective jerk. He had defended Tim quite a few times, but then he would turn around and call him weak. But he wasn't arguing that fact anymore.