DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

~NCIS~

Jimmy sat down in the chair that Gibbs offered him, taking note that the team leader was dressed more casually then he had ever seen him, in jeans and a black NCIS t-shirt. Jimmy took in Ducky's trademark dockers, blue oxford shirt and ever present bow-tie as he accepted the cup of strong black coffee that Ducky held out to him. He took a sip nervously as his light brown eyes moved back and forth between the team leader and the medical examiner. At any other time he would have been taking in every detail of Gibbs house, as he had never had cause to be there before and would probably never be there again,but he was too uneasy to look around. He put down his cup and took a deep breath and blew it out.

"I assume that you called me about Tim and Meg." He said and knew that he had made an ass of himself by the looks on the two older men faces.

"Meg, Palmer?" Gibbs asked with narrowed, ice blue eyes. "Who the hell is Meg?" Gibbs' gut was churning. He had a bad feeling about this Meg.

"She's—She's Breena's cousin." He stammered, a sick feeling in his stomach.

Gibbs and Ducky looked at him in confusion.

"S-S-She's also T-T- Tim's f-f-f..." Jimmy stopped because he just couldn't get it out. He took another breath and tried to calm himself. How in the world had it came down to him to tell Tim's boss that he was engaged to be married?

"Spit it out, Palmer!" Gibbs said impatiently. His palm was itching to give Jimmy a head slap.

"Uh, well..." He sighed. "Meg and Tim are going to be married." He said reluctantly. "Three weeks after Breena and I." He added, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because of the way Gibbs had treated Tim the night before and the way Ducky had brushed Tim off. Anger bristled in Jimmy. Meg had called Breena after Tim had finally fallen asleep. Even though the autopsy gremlin had his own problems with Meg and Tim's upcoming marriage, he was fiercely glad that Tim hadn't returned to an empty apartment after the rejection he had received from both men. Even though he was sure that the team leader and medical examiner hadn't meant to hurt his friend, the fact was, they had. Added to that was the way that Tony had struck out at Tim. Jimmy knew that Tony thought of Tim as a little brother—they had talked about it many times—knew that Tim had hurt him by not confiding in him. Jimmy also knew that Tony was probably jealous, also, that Jimmy knew, even though he only knew because Meg was going to be family soon. And Tony was also feeling a little betrayed by Jimmy, too. But that still didn't give him the right to hurt Tim the way he had. The autopsy gremlin felt a bit of anger at his friend, but Tim didn't want that. He didn't want there to be any strife between the senior agent and the ME's assistant on his behalf. He didn't feel like it was right, even though Tim was the one who had put Jimmy in the middle.

~NCIS~

Abby stared at the leggy strawberry blond woman in confusion. She knew that she had the right place. Had Tim moved? "Hi, uh, is this your apartment?"

Meg's blue-green eyes narrowed behind her glasses. She recognized Jimmy and Tim's co-worker, even if Abby didn't remember her. What she didn't know was what the forensic specialist was doing here. In the months that she had been involved with Tim, especially the last few months, Jimmy was the only one of Tim's colleagues that had ever come to his apartment. She knew that Tony and Tim had been spending a lot of more time doing things out of work then they ever had before, but Tim had never invited him over here, always going to Tony's apartment for their movie and poker nights.

" Yes." Meg said. "My fiancee and I live here." It gave Meg a perverse kind of pleasure to be able to tell one of Tim's co-workers about their up-coming marriage. Especially this woman. She had heard a lot about Abby Sciuto and her treatment of Tim.

"Oh." Abby said, blinking.

"Are you here to see Tim , Abby?" Meg said, a smirk coming to her lips at the look on the raven haired woman's face.

"Do—Do you know me?" Abby asked in confusion.

"Yes. I'm Meg Cole. I'm Breena's cousin." She explained. "We met at Jimmy and Breena's engagement party."

Abby looked at the other woman again and she did look a little familiar. "Oh." Abby said. "Why are you and your fiancee here?"

Meg smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Tim and I live here. I've already told you that."

~NCIS~

"Married!" Gibbs asked incredulously.

"Timothy is getting married." Ducky said, shocked.

"Yes?" Jimmy said tentatively, nervously straitening his glasses and then smoothing down his long sleeve black t-shirt that was tucked into his black jeans.

"Why would he do that?" Gibbs exclaimed. He understood now what was wrong with Tony and Ziva.

Jimmy blinked. "I think that's pretty obvious!" It slipped out before he could stop it and as soon as he finished he wished he could stuff the words back in his mouth.

"And it never occurred to you to tell me, Mister Palmer?" Ducky asked heading off the explosion he could see was about to happen. Would the lad never learn to think before he spoke?

Jimmy shrugged under the two hostile gazes of the older men. "It wasn't my place to tell you." He hesitated a half-second. "Any of you."

The way Jimmy said it made Ducky wonder what else he knew that Jimmy felt that wasn't his place to tell.

~NCIS~

Abby watched Meg with narrowed hazel eyes. "You live here with Tim?" She asked just to clarify that she hadn't heard wrong.

"Yes." Meg said, trying to hold on to her patience. This wasn't fun anymore. "Tim is my fiancee. We split our time between here and my house. We won't relocate permanently until after the wedding." Meg watched as the other woman's eyes grew with each word. Normally, Meg wouldn't have given out that kind of personal information but she wanted to make it known that Tim and her were a team. Meg had had just about enough of Tim's so called friends. She was staking her claim. It didn't matter if they loved each other or not. Tim McGee was her friend. He was going to be her husband. He belonged to her now, just as she belonged to him. She would not stand by anymore and watched as these people hurt him.

~NCIS~

Ducky waited until he saw Jimmy's car disappear before he went back to the kitchen.

"Jethro?" He questioned, stopping beside his friends chair.

Gibbs was still in the same place he had left him, his head in his hands. He raised his head at Ducky's voice, running his hands over his face. "Oh, Duck. What have I done?" He asked, shaking his head. "What have I done?"

Ducky quietly took his chair. "You have done nothing, my friend." He said, taking off his glasses and absently cleaning them. "You did not break Ziva's heart." He replaced his glasses, a bit of anger coming into his tone. "That privilege belongs solely to Timothy."

Gibbs scrubbed at his face again. "No. What I've done is much, much worse." He looked at the M.E with sorrowful blue eyes. "I gave her hope, Duck." He said, shaking his head.

~NCIS~

"Wait a minute." Abby said, holding a hand up. "Tim's marrying you?" She sputtered.

Just the way she said 'you' offended Meg. "I've already told you that." She snapped, her voice hard. "Twice."

"Where's Tim?" Abby asked, trying to push past Meg. "I want to talk to him." She wouldn't believe this until Timmy told her himself. He wouldn't do this to Ziva. Would he? Suddenly she wasn't so sure.

"Tim's out walking Jethro." Meg said, not letting Abby past her. At first, she had intended to ask the lab rat in to wait for Tim, but now she wasn't so sure that would be a good idea, given the way Abby just tried to bulldoze her way in past Meg. The strawberry blond woman placed a manicured hand on the Goth's pink clad arm. "I think it would be best if you left for now, Abby." Meg said firmly. "Given the way that Tim had been treated recently, he needs a little space." Meg was just itching to tell the other woman what she thought of her—well, what she thought of all of them, but she knew that Tim wouldn't for fighting his battles for him. And it wouldn't change anything if she did but in. They were the way they were.

"They way Tim's been treated?" Abby sputtered in disbelief. "Tim needs space?" Abby drew herself up to her full height. "What about the way he treating Ziva? What about the way he's treated Tony?" She practically screamed.

"What about the way I'm treating Ziva and Tony, Abby?" Tim's quiet voice asked from behind her before Meg could open her mouth to say anything.

Abby swung around and stalked the short distance that separated the forensic scientist from the computer genius. "How could you do this to Ziva?" She yelled, almost in his face. "You're ruining everything!"

"This is none of my doing, Abby!" He exclaimed in a rage filled voice, brilliant green eyes flashing. "I'm not ruining anything!" Tim pushed past Abby, putting Jethro in the apartment. He must have felt his master's turbulent emotions because he had a constant low growl in his throat. "There's nothing to ruin!" He turned back around to face Abby and felt Meg slip a hand into his. "Ziva left me. I'm not doing anything except moving on with my life!"

"What about Ziva?" Abby wailed.

"She didn't want me." There was a wealth of bitterness in those four softly spoken words.

Meg heard the hurt underneath the bitterness and tightened her grip on his hand, conveying her presence, letting him know that he wasn't alone. That he would never be alone again. Even if their marriage didn't work out, neither of them would ever be alone again. They would be a part of each others lives for the rest of their lives.

~NCIS~