A/N: sooo I finally found the time to update :D yay! unfortunately this will be the first and last update this month due to exams :/ But hopefully I will return with a lot of time and new ideas in August so cu then ;) and now enjoy

CHAPTER 3

Tony was fuming. His Probie was in trouble and no one had the decency to enlighten him. He was HIS probie, HIS partner and HIS friend. Or were they friends? If he really thought about it, he knew next to nothing about his partner. He knew with what he passed his free time. Elf Lording and everything and writing his books. But really knowing him? How he felt about certain things and about his family. Where and how he grew up. It never came to him to ask and now, probie got himself somehow involved with a murder. Damn it! Why couldn't he reach neither Gibbs nor McGee?! He had tried to call them ever since he went down to Abby's lab to look for answers and found her crying:

"Abs what's wrong?" He tried in a soothing voice.

"Timmy is in trouble."

"McGee? What did he do? Spilled the coffee from the boss?" Tony joked. But he didn't laugh. Abby was crying so there really was something wrong. She just stared at him angry and shook her head.

"What's the matter Abs? I haven't seen Gibbs that angry for a long time."

"He knew the killer."

"Who Gibbs?"

"No Tony! Aren't you listening? McGee knew the killer or rather the killer knew McGee. His address is in the killer's diary."

Tony paled. "You sure Abs?"

"No Tony I am making those things up!" she spat sarcastically.

"Well but that doesn't mean Probie knows him, right? That only proves, it was the other way around."

"He had McGee's knife."

"You sure it's his?"

She nodded. "McGee knows him and what is worse he lied to Gibbs about it, he can't lie to Gibbs! He is Timmy, Timmy doesn't lie, Tony! Gibbs was really mad."

"He convinced us he had eaten something bad." Tony recalled. "Well at least we know now why McGee acted weird at the crime scene. He really must have cared for John Doe if his reaction was that strong."

He winced as Abby slapped him. "Au!"

"Don't say something like that! McGee would never befriend a killer!"

Tony just laughed. "Really Abs? What about Amanda, or that one time this girl used him to get back to her father, or..."

"It's alright Tony I get it." she stopped him. "What I meant was – he wouldn't do it knowingly-. He only thinks the best of everyone."

"So who is he? John Doe?"

"I don't know, he doesn't seem to exist. His fingerprints didn't match. I searched in every database for a DNA match, nothing, even his picture didn't come up with results, he doesn't seem to have a drivers license. I don't know what to do next."

"Well we could ask McGee." Tony stated the obvious.

"Gibbs went to him, they don't answer their phones."

"Hopefully Gibbs hasn't killed him."

"Don't say something like that!"

"Sorry Abs. But really, if McGee was friends with him, he could have known him longer, maybe MIT? Or longer even maybe they went to the same school or from an online game..." Tony mused, but Abby wasn't listening anymore, she was furiously typing on her keyboard. Searching for graduation pictures of Timothy McGee. Tony just shrugged and left. Even though he had calmed down Abby, he himself was fuming, why hadn't he seen earlier that his Probie had known the killer.

Now Tony was in front of Gibbs house, after he had checked McGees apartment and didn't find anyone there. Gibbs car was parked in the drive way. He debated if he should go inside and demand answers. But the fact that Gibbs brought McGee home with him left him sweating and ice cold at the same time, the boss would only do this if there really was something wrong. He was afraid of what it was. So he sat there in his car and searched for the courage to go in there and face whatever there was to face.

Inside the house Tim was sitting awkwardly in his boss' cellar with a glass of bourbon in his hands. Not that it would have any affect on him, he couldn't get drunk from that little alcohol. It would need a lot more to calm him, but Gibbs didn't know that, and so he had accepted the offer of a drink.

His boss had been staring at him for fifteen minutes straight now and neither man had said a word.

"What are you afraid of?" Gibbs finally ended the silence. "And don't say you are not afraid. Because I can see it."

McGee didn't know how to answer. Yes, he was afraid. Afraid that his team came behind his secret. Afraid that they would not believe him thinking he was crazy or that they would see him as a freak. He was afraid for their lives if they really found out. He also was afraid of telling his father. Knowing that Gibbs would stare at him until he did answer him, McGee looked him straight in the eye and said.

"There is no one who is threatening me." He hoped he was convincing. It was not a lie at least and Gibbs seemed to recognize it as the truth, but still.

"That wasn't what I've asked. What are you afraid of?"

Now McGee was afraid of Gibbs, the man never spoke in that tone unless there really was something wrong.

"I'm afraid of Callon being accused of murder, even though he would never kill without a cause, that just isn't him." Tim finally admitted with a small voice.

"If he isn't the killer, then we are going to find out, but we need to know more about your friend."

"B-boss I can't tell you more."

"McGee you are withholding information and you knowingly hinder this investigation by doing so. I don't have to tell you that this is against the law."

McGee paled. He knew that it was against the law, but doing as Gibbs wished was against the law too...

Gibbs sighed. " McGee, you know, you can tell me here in private. There is no one here that will listen into it."

McGee's head snapped up. "That is why you brought me here? To interrogate me? So you are not concerned about my safety after all. I should have known." It somehow hurt to know the truth, he never was good enough for anyone. Not as an elf and not as a man.

"I am concerned, Tim. This isn't like you. There has to be someone threatening you and if not you, then the people that you love. Tell me, let me help you. You are not alone."

"I can't tell you boss! Don't you understand? I can't tell anyone about it, they will kill you!"

There it was out, he had said it. And now that he had told his boss, he knew Gibbs would never let it go. Gibbs was shocked but didn't let it show. So someone threatened his family. He had to know who and why and put an end to it, at once. Not just for Tim but for all of them.

Tony still sat in his car and just was about to drive away, when is phone rang. Without looking on the caller Id he answered.

"DiNozzo."

While he listened to the person on the other line his eyes grew wider and his face paler. To say he was shocked was an understatement.

"Yes Director I am at Gibbs'. Yes I think so. Understood, Director."

With a shaking hand he disconnected the call. Never in his life did he have to do, what he was about to do now. For a moment he contemplated to just turn around and tell the director to do it himself, but he couldn't ignore a direct order.

And so he got out of the car and went into Gibbs' house. He heard Gibbs and Probie talk down in the cellar. With a deep breath he entered the cellar.

McGee having the best ears had already heard Tony entering the house and wasn't surprised to see him, neither was Gibbs, although not because of his hearing..

"About time DiNozzo, go call Bishop and..."

But he stopped when he saw Tony's face.

"What's wrong?"

But Tony ignored him and went straight to McGee, looking into his partner's big green eyes.

"McGee, you are under arrest!"