NCIS

McGee tried the elevator to get down to Abby's lab, and the button's light never came on. Gibbs was in his office alone with David, which terrified him. He sprinted down the stairs to Abby's lab, but found her alone. What was more unusual was there was no music, all the screens were off, and she was leaning against her lab table with her arms folded, looking down.

"Abby, what's going on? Where are Gibbs and David?" he said anxiously.

Abby crossed the lab and gave McGee a tight hug.

"Tim… I'm so sorry. I had to do it."

"Do what?"

"I can't tell you, just promise you won't be mad at me when you find out."

"Find- Abby what is going on? Gibbs and David were supposed to come down here but they've been in the…" he stopped when he saw the look on her face, "...but you already knew that. Abby what happened? What did you do?"

The elevator door opened, and Gibbs and David walked into the lab. McGee was shocked to see David's face. He is eyes were red and puffy, and he kept his head down avoiding McGee's gaze. Gibbs had interrogated him. Abby shot a death glare at David, then looked up at Gibbs.

"Well?" She said expectantly.

"It's ok, Abs," he answered.

"No, it's NOT ok! He's been lying to Tim!"

"Abby!" Gibbs warned.

"Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" Tim tried to shout over them.

Abby turned to her computer and powered on all the screens. On the large screen, the same picture Gibbs showed David appeared, along with an arrest report from 2006. The picture held someone who looked like David, but his face was thinner and pale, his chin shaved smooth, his hair was ice-blue, his eyes were cold and lined with black makeup, his ears had multiple piercings, his lips were twisted into a dark smile, and the booking sign he held said 'Orion Marks.'

McGee looked from the picture to David and back.

"It's my past and I left it behind," David spoke quietly from behind everyone. "I only lied when I had to cover it up. I'm sorry."

McGee looked at David with utter confusion and betrayal. Tony and Ziva entered the lab slowly after feeling the tension radiating. Their eyes also saw the arrest report with David's old picture on it. Gibbs nodded to David continue.

"I was married a long time ago. His name was Kevin O'Malley. He was killed by a street racer named Sean MacIntyre three years ago. I changed my name from 'David Brigantine' to 'Orion Marks' to track him down and expose him. After a year, I infiltrated his ring and confronted him. He died during a head-to-head race with me during which he tried to kill me. I was cast out, blamed for his death, and had to rebuild my life. I changed my name back to 'David,' but I wanted to carry anything I had left of Kevin with me, so I kept his last name."

Gibbs turned to the team. "He's going to help us find whatever Bronston got himself into. He believes an underground racing ring executed him, and it wasn't just a personal vendetta." He then turned to David, "No more holding back information. If you've got something, say it."

"What did you find out about the track and the airport? Who owns them and what do they look like financially?" David asked.

Tony started, "Summit Point Raceway, owner Charles Breslin, financials and background came back clean. The track holds amatuer track time every weekend. People bring their cars and test them on the track. It gets timed, and there's a small competitive prize pool for the winners in each class. Strictly legal."

"It's an airlock," David replied. "It's how they recruit, safely and slowly, no one getting too exposed to their operation until they've proven themselves and checked out at each point. This is just the first one. You run your ride for a while, and if you keep winning and prove yourself without knowing it, they approach you to see just how far you're willing to go. The track owners may be involved, at least to the point where they get paid by the crew to let them have the space after hours. Airport is most likely their drag strip."

David mustered the courage to look up at McGee, who was staring far off, but still clearly feeling the situation.

Ziva chimed in, "Private airport owned by Lester Haltze. Former commercial pilot, now teaches private lessons for small aircraft. Financials check out, nothing extravagant. Lives in one of the hangars."

"Probably paid under the table, too. Would keep him quiet about the racing which would be worth the long drive," David calculated. "Abby you mentioned bullets at a house yesterday. What else happened?"

Abby gave a questioning look to Gibbs, who nodded.

"Bronston's wife was also murdered that same night, and their house was robbed."

"I found something in his email, Boss," McGee finally spoke up, "Bronston had a draft of an email going to his C.O., but it never sent. There was no text, just a file called 'Legion Evidence.'"

"That's our motive. He was compiling evidence against the ring and they found out, had to kill him to silence him," Gibbs said, to which David nodded. "Will it tip them off if we show up to ask about him?"

"It'll tighten their security, but not as badly as if you don't show up. If they knew he was Navy, they'll be expecting you. If you don't show, they'll be expecting someone undercover and we'll never get in."

"You said your ring was involved in drugs and guns, will it be the same here?" Gibbs asked. McGee's eyes widened in shock at the revelation about his lover.

"It wasn't like that back then, mostly just showing off whatever pieces they could find. Some racers used small amounts of meth to try and amp up their racing, then smoked joints to enjoy the after-party. Nothing huge. This ring, I'm not sure. Without getting someone in there, it's impossible to tell what they were moving, or what the next airlock is. Whatever they have, though, it's big enough to risk killing your guy."

Gibbs scrutinized David's face, looking for any indication that he was still holding back or lying. After a moment he appeared satisfied.

"Tony, Ziva, get me the C.O. then go canvas the track and airport. Abby," Gibbs nodded his head to the door, wanting to give McGee and David a chance to talk alone.

The four team members walked out. David leaned back against an empty lab table, keeping his head down and trying to brace himself for McGee's reaction. McGee stood, speechless and confused. The man he woke up with now seemed like a stranger.

"Tim…" David started, "I'm really sorry you had to find out this way. I was going to tell you about Kevin when we got further along, it's just… it's so hard…" He fought tears again.

"And… all this?" McGee looked at the screens then back.

"I don't know. I thought about it when you asked about the tattoos before, but- I mean, you told me you were a federal agent! Was I really supposed to just open up about illegal stuff I had done only 2 years ago? I knew how it looked, and even Gibbs had it wrong. Oh, god…"

"You could've trusted me. I let you in! What am I supposed to think now?" McGee couldn't hold himself back.

"You're supposed to think that it was MY business, MY past, and I would tell you when I was ready!" A tear fell from his eye. "I never lied about how I felt about you. Hell, I wouldn't even BE here if it were anyone else."

McGee saw the tear drop onto David's cheek, but he couldn't bring himself to comfort him. He felt like he had opened up and the other man betrayed his trust

"I never should have brought you into this."

"Yes, you should've," David sniffed looked up with a fierce expression in his eyes. "You're the only one that can pull off the cover we need before I'm brought in, and I need to be here to make sure you get out of there alive."

"What are you talking about?" McGee looked puzzled and felt frustrated. "I'm tired of the guessing games and half-truths. I deserve to know everything, now."

David narrowed his eyes at McGee. "I promised Gibbs I would keep you safe, and that my experience would get us through this. We have to go undercover to get into the ring. I have to become 'Orion Marks' again, but I can't just show up. I'll need your help. But if you have a personal problem with my history, then feel free to go fuck yourself when all this is over because no, you didn't deserve to know all the shit I'd been through and you have no right to make me feel guilty about it now. I have only known you in person for 2 months! That doesn't get you access to years of pain and anguish."

The color washed out of McGee's face. He'd never seen this side of David. He never imagined that David's eyes, always so warm and inviting, could be so intense and angry. They were angry at him. He didn't know this David. This… Orion.

"You're going undercover? You're going back to… that?" he said, pointing at the screen.

"I told Gibbs I didn't want to. It was the darkest time of my life and I would give anything not to be in this position. But he told me there are things more important than how I feel right now, and he's right."

"Gibbs hasn't told me anything about this."

"I know, but he will. Once you said there was evidence of something bigger, I realized there's no other choice. We need to know who we're dealing with, and I won't be able to make it past the first airlock without being recognized. We need someone to go in and scout things out, feel things out with a few races. People let their guard down around celebrities, and you're the closest celebrity we know."

McGee was flabbergasted. "Me? Race? With what? I have no experience outside of video games! And like you said, we don't even know who we're dealing with yet. How can you be so sure you'll know what to do? After all this, how can I trust anything you say?!"

David looked hurt by McGee's words, but never took his eyes off of him.

"Because if it were anyone else involved but you, I'd be long gone. And it could be you on the side of the road next time. The thought of keeping someone I love off a slab somewhere is worth the pain of everything I'm having to do. If that's not good enough…" David paused.

McGee was frozen in place. He was back on the edge of a cliff, with solitary safety on one side and David on the other. He heard him say 'love,' and his brain was trying to register what it meant but it was getting lost in this whole other life that was just unearthed before him. David had valid points that they had only known each other for a very short period of time, and even if David had told him about all of this, would he have been prepared to hear it? He wanted the David from this morning back, the one who didn't have any history, the one who was just there for McGee. But he was faced with a choice between this David, who held out his dark baggage and damaged heart for McGee to take, or the safety and loneliness of a cold bed. He wasn't ready to choose. But sometimes not choosing says enough.

Seeing McGee's indecision, David slowly nodded his head, fighting back tears, and walked out of the lab without another word.

McGee stood in place, gently shaking, mind spinning. He didn't even register the thudding of Abby's boots as she darted down the stairs to his side. She looked at McGee's face with a worried expression on her own, then wrapped him in a vice-grip hug.

"Oh Timmy…" she said, gripping tighter and tighter.

"He said-" His voice broke and his breathing was shallow.

"I know," she interrupted. "I heard everything. Cameras."

"I can't…"

"I know…"

"Oh god, Abby, did I just make a huge mistake?"

She held him tighter, but this time said, "I don't know, Timmy. I don't know."