Chapter 4

With SG-1 heading for Washington, George Hammond finishes up his morning paperwork and grasps the hard copy of the file he'd been emailed. With a slight sigh he sets off towards his newest "grandson's" room. He shakes his balding head at the extended family he has in the SGC...especially in SG-1. Those four, possibly five now if Tim's transfer comes through, are almost as close to him as his real family are. Which brings him back to the case at hand.

He knocks lightly on the door and at the muffled, "Come in," opens the door and smiles at the young man trying valiantly to stuff his shirt into his pants without hurting his wrist.

"You doing alright there son?"

"Yes, sir, just a few scratches. I'll be okay in a few days."

Hammond frowns at the thought of deep dog bites being thought of as simple scratches, but as Tim's head is bowed he doesn't seen the concern in the elderly man's eyes. Once he's satisfied that he looks presentable, Tim looks up at Hammond and smiles.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, it takes a bit longer these days."

"Not in a hurry son, just wanted to talk to you for a bit. Let you know that Jack and the others are on a quick mission and they'll be back in a few hours. Thought that in the meantime, you and I could do some catching up and maybe talk about this email that you sent me."

Tim sits down on his cot and motions for Hammond to join him. As George does so, he watches as Tim fiddles with the bandages on his wrist and finally reaches out to put a hand on Tim's.

"What is it son?"

Tim sighs and looks up at George, "I've overstepped my boundaries. I'm sorry."

George is startled by Tim's comment and barely manages to maintain his surprise at the younger man's subdued words. Keeping his hand on Tim's wrist, he asks softly, "What are you sorry about son? I haven't seen you do anything wrong."

Tim looks at George with his big green eyes and frowns. "Sir, I think I might have opened a can of worms and I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to redeem myself for it."

George watches him with a steady gaze as he replies, "Is this about the file in my hands, or something else?"

"Yes…sorry sir a bit of both I guess. Knowing Jack the way I'm beginning to, he took one look at me and set off to confront Gibbs, didn't he?" Tim can see the look in Hammond's eyes and sighs. "That's not why I came here, not completely. I just…"

"You feel like no one listens to you and needed to talk to those you know will. That's called family son, and we're all willing to listen to you."

"Even you?"

"Even me." Tim can see the honesty radiating out of General Hammond's eyes and feels something unclench from deep within.

"Even if it would one day be about Jack or Sam or even Teal'c?"

"Especially then. They may be the top team but they still make mistakes son. We all do it's part of being human."

"Not according to Gibbs." the soft mutter almost goes unheard. George hears it and knows that it's part of the underlying problem.

"I take it Agent Gibbs doesn't always listen to you?"

"I—I don't want to sound like a petulant child, but I feel like everyone gets heard from but me." Tim sighs and continues, "I feel like just because I dated Abby once, before I joined the team, my opinion isn't valuable anymore. It's like 'bad McGee should have known better than to sleep with the Boss's daughter.' Or something like that…but, oh what does it matter now?"

George's eyes narrowed at that revelation knowing that no matter what, the reasons that Tim was offering for Gibbs's actions were unfair and completely unjustifiable. There's no rhyme or reason as to why this sweet natured man, should be trampled on and made to feel as though his opinion doesn't matter and he doesn't belong, but that's exactly how he feels.

What's more, Tim feels as though talking to Jack will anger the man and make him want to protect Tim from Gibbs. He thinks that in doing so, Jack would endanger his career so the stuff that's on his mind, needs to get out. Hammond smiles to himself, grateful that Tim felt comfortable enough to talk and get it off his chest.

"It's okay now, Son. You alright?" Tim gazes at General Hammond for a brief moment and feels his face flush with embarrassment for opening up like that, to a General of all people! With a firm resolve, he straightens up and nods once.

"Yes, sir. I'm fine. Sorry, I didn't mean to put it all on you." Tim shifts slightly and points towards the file that George is carrying. "So, do you think that's going to be a problem?"

George leans back a bit and opens the file. He reads it over once more before looking Tim in the eye. "Not on this side Son. From what I can see you don't have anything in here that would keep you from coming here even if you didn't become an official SGC member. You could even become our NCIS liaison if that's what you want to do."

Tim ducks his head and Hammond can see a fine sheen covering Tim's eyes. He knows then that Tim had been afraid that Hammond would tell him 'No' and possibly without any explanation. Is this what Gibbs had done? Told the young man no for no reason other than being a bastard? Putting a comforting hand on Tim's shoulder Hammond then proceeds to tell the younger man about other possible positions that the young man might be interested in pursuing.

When Jack and the rest of SG-1 return, Hammond and Tim are sitting in the conference room. Hammond is laughing at a story that Tim had heard from Ducky Mallard and Tim is sitting there with a warm smile that lit up the room. Hearing the laughter, they tiptoe forward just in time to hear Hammond ask Tim, "Can you tell me how you got those bites?"

Jack steps forward, Papa O'Neill trying to blaze a path to his son, but Daniel holds him back. Jack turns to try and break Daniel's hold but Teal'c moves forward and steps in front of him to block his way.

"We need to hear this O'Neill as much as it may pain us to listen. It is also possible that he needs to tell his tale, to an impartial listener."

"Listen to him Jack. Tim has suffered enough at their hands this week. All Hammond is going to do is find out his side of the story. That's the one thing that we haven't heard yet." It's the compassionate look in Daniel's eyes that finally convinces Jack to wait and listen to the story. Before any of them can say more however, Hammond is at the door and waving them in.

Tim is in the midst of his story, head bowed, paying attention to no one as he recites the events leading up to his getting bitten.

"I had just shouted NCIS and then I heard the growling and he, the dog, leaped for me. I fired and the next thing I knew Ziva was there. Followed by Gibbs and Tony…Gibbs hollered for Ducky and he patched me up…actually I think Palmer did most of the patching, but I could be wrong."

Tim sighs as he sits back in his chair. Daniel moves to sit on his left and Jack on his right while Teal'c and Sam sit straight across from their teammates. The quiet show of support brings a smile to the shy young man's face and he continues his narrative.

"When they were done patching me up, Ducky and Palmer gave the dog a sedative and Gibbs had me drive it back to the Navy Yard. The rest of the team stayed behind to finish processing the crime scene."

Daniel looks at General Hammond, silently asking permission to leave and the General gives a subtle nod granting it. He knows that if Jackson is leaving the room, he's got something he needs to find out.

"Did anyone come back with you Son?"

"No, they were a man down already with my being bitten so they couldn't spare anyone else." The matter of fact tone in which he says it speaks volumes to those around him. Jack desperately wants to go back and punch out Gibbs lights again but a look from Hammond directed at Tim has O'Neill calming down and putting a hand on Tim's shoulder.

"Hey, you don't have to tell us anymore. We've got footage from when you arrived back at NCIS." Tim nods, looking almost as drained as when he'd first arrived. Jack pulls him into a hug and Tim leans into it, drawing strength from the other man.

Down the hall in Hammond's office, Daniel pulls out a business card and flipping it over calls the direct line to "Autopsy, Dr. Mallard speaking."

"Oh, Dr. Mallard, hi…um this is Daniel Jackson. We met briefly this afternoon and I wonder if I could ask you a few personal questions about Tim McGee?"

"Timothy? Why of course, how is the dear fellow anyway? I had heard he was going out to spend some time with you. Which of course is just what this doctor recommended to begin with."

"How do you mean Doctor?"

"Well aside from a trip to the infirmary after his getting bitten, I had suggested to Timothy that he take some vacation time. He hasn't had a real vacation since he found out about his dear mother last year when you folks were first introduced to him. Although he has told me that he has spent some of his weekends with his new family. "

"I see…I know that you are really busy doctor so I'll let you go after one more quick question: do you know if Tim actually made it to the infirmary after he was bitten?"

"I…can't say that I do, Dr. Jackson. I'm afraid that I just took it for granted that he would do so, since Jethro sent him…away with the dog." Ducky went very quiet for almost a heartbeat leaving Daniel wondering what the matter was. Just before he was about to ask if the doctor was still there, Ducky starts to speak, "Dr. Jackson, thank you for the phone call, I need to go talk to someone."

Daniel hangs up the phone with a self-satisfied smile on his face. During all of their interviews that day, Ducky and the shy Jimmy Palmer had been the only two that seemed concerned in any way regarding their colleague Tim McGee. When Abby had let slip to Teal'c, during the Jaffa's talking to the Goth, that Gibbs tended to listen to the ME more than he did anyone else, Daniel had filed the information away, not knowing he'd be using it again quite this soon.

Heading back down the hallway, Daniel stops by the infirmary to talk to Janet Frasier letting the friendly doctor know what is going on. He also hands her two slides of blood and asks her discretion in finding out if there is any possible match.

"Daniel?"

"Please, Janet, I just…I need to know." The pleading look of almost desperate hope in the young archeologist's blue eyes tells her that this is a personal quest, one that is tearing Daniel apart. She nods her acquiescence and the smile that he beams her way almost brightens the lab.

Daniel heads back to the conference room and smiles when he sees Tim and Jack talking. Jack is showing Tim some of the places they've been and Tim is taking it all in like a duck to water…or a member of the team. Jack sees Daniel out of the corner of his eye and motions him over.

"Tim and I were just talking about going outside and taking in a sunset over the Rockies. You wanna join us?"

"I-," he can see Tim shyly nodding. "I'd like that. Yeah let me grab us a couple of blankets out of storage. Sam?"

"You guys go…I have some computer work I need to catch up on." She motions to her laptop and part of the interviews that she'd done with DiNozzo and David. Daniel nods and looks at Teal'c.

"I too have things I must attend to, including kel'no'reem."

Tim looks blank for a minute then remembers, "Your meditation time?"

Teal'c gives a regal nod of his head and Tim beams a shy smile at him which the Jaffa returns. "One day, should you decide to stay with us Timothy McGee, you would be welcome to join me."

Before Tim can formulate a reply, Jack comes over saying, "Yeah, that's not going to happen for a while big guy. Tim is mine; you have your own son. Let's go, Tim…Daniel, you coming?"

Daniel comes sprinting down the hall carrying several blankets as well as three canteens. The three men have entered the elevator that will take them to the surface when Sam comes running around the corner. Teal'c takes one look at the panic on her face and steps in beside her. "What is wrong, Major Carter?"

"Tim was bitten by a German shepherd. Our guard dogs are German shepherds and some of them don't know his scent yet!"

The sound of running footsteps for the third time that night brings George Hammond out of his office.

"Major Carter! What in the name of blue blazes is going on here tonight?"

"Sorry sir, we forgot to tell Tim about the dogs! I was trying to catch up to them."

"It's not necessary, Major."

"But sir!"

"It's not necessary because Tim and I were up there this afternoon while you four were out on your secret mission. As a possible member of the SGC, it would be normal for a commanding officer to show his new team member around the base and introduce him to some friendly faces so to speak."

"You…you did sir?" Sam's panting gradually slows and she stares at her commanding officer with a new respect.

"I saw no reason why I shouldn't. I may not end up being his team leader, but he could still be under my command."

Teal'c looks at the man he respects almost as much as Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson. "The conference room earlier; the stories were your way of calming Tim McGee's nerves. Instead of kel'no'reem you had him relate things that relaxed him, much as my meditation techniques would."

Upstairs, just as the elevator opens Jack slaps a hand on Tim's shoulder holding him back for just a second. Daniel frowns slightly at Jack and steps out of the elevator and looking around sees why Jack had hesitated. The two night guards and their dogs are just making their rounds. Tim shakes off Jack's hand as he says, "I'm okay guys, really. General Hammond brought me up here this afternoon."

"Really, that sneaky little... I ought to …" Jack's teasing is interrupted by Tim's quiet admission.

"Thank him for listening to me when no one else did…until I came here that is. For the first time in almost three years, someone listened to me, without belittling my fears and tried to help me overcome them. We spent three hours up here getting acquainted with the dogs. General Hammond said it was so that they didn't frighten me or try and attack because they didn't know me."

The three men continue on their path up the side of the Mountain and one of the guards smiles when he hears Jack asking, "So, Tim…you ever been fishing?"