Tim was laying in the bed thinking about everything that had transpired in the last twenty-four hours, Yesterday morning at this time he focused on completing the paperwork of a case that had pushed the entire MCRT to their physical and emotional limits and before he could recover from the emotionally taxing case, he was thrust into dealing with one for the most emotionally taxing times in his own life.

He knew that he was at the edge of his limits and he was terrified that he would show weakness to the team that meant so much to him. He already had one breakdown in front of his boss and he was determined not to allow a second incident to occur. He just had to focus on where he had made the errors the first time he was forced to deal with Victor and make sure he didn't repeat any such mistakes.

He started to replay the first time he had met him in his mind.

Flashback 1994

He had taken the bus to Cambridge to begin his first semester at MIT after spending two weeks at Penny's home in Virginia, following a major falling out with his father. A month ago he realized that he was attracted to his long time friend John Parker. He had spent many nights trying to deny it because don't ask/don't tell ran his home as well as the Navy. Growing up he was regularly exposed to his father's close minded views on homosexuality and he knew his father would not be happy with his latest crush. The straw that broke the camel's back came the night before he left for Virginia, John had come over to see him off and before long the two boys were in Tim's room confessing the feelings that were developing between the two teenagers. They both wanted to see where it would go and vowed to stay in touch, John had just pulled Tim into his arms and was about to give him his first kiss when the Admiral burst into the room. John was thrown out of the house and Tim was sent off to Penny's that very night well warned that the only reason his education was still going to be paid for was for appearance sake.

Penny had been much more opened minded than her son, but still warned him of the stigmas associated with being gay and warned him to show caution before opening up. They had also discussed at length his father's reaction and possible response if he openly came out of the closet and they decided that discretion would be his best course of action to maintain peace within the family.

As he walked into Warwick Hall he was almost overcome with the general chaos going on around him, then a tall, blond, blue eyed man in his mid twenties approached him, "Hi, I'm Victor Karson, faculty adviser here at Warwick Hall."
Tim had been lost in thoughts of John and was caught off guard, "Tim...Timothy McGee."

"Well Tim, it looks like I have been assigned to look out for you this year."
That statement worried Tim wondering if his father had paid someone to follow him around and report back on his activities and behavior.

"Look out for me?" he answered with some hesitation.

"Yeah, well you are a minor and we would not want you to be overly influenced by some of the activities of the older students here. Just think of me as an older brother, it my job to keep you out of trouble and help with any issues that might arise due to your age."
This comment troubled Tim even more and he decided to make a phone call to Penny when he got settled in to make sure this was normal policy and not a ruse by his father to try to control him.

He looked down to verify his dorm assignment and softly groaned when he discovered he was on the third floor and there was no elevator in sight.

"Are you hurt Tim?"

Tim was drawn out of his memories by the handle rattling on his door and he quickly situated the Raven under the sheet pointed at the door.

He let out a sigh a relief when he saw it was Gibbs entering the room pushing a cart of get-well gifts in front of him.

Gibbs immediately noticed the tension in the young man, "Everything okay McGee?" he asked doing a visual inspection of the room.

"Yeah Boss.", but it became clear that both men were on edge as the door knob rattled again and they both aimed their weapons at the door as it opened.

Tony and Ziva went on high alert when they opened the door to find both men in the room armed and ready for a conflict so they also pulled out their weapons and began scanning the area for a threat to their brother/friend.

The two agents at the door on guard duty were only seconds behind Tony and Ziva when it came to the change in aura in the room and quickly pulled out their weapons as well.

It was to this scene that a preoccupied Ducky turned the corner overlooking the paperwork in his hands and not really noticing anything until he was right upon the door to Tim's room. He looked into the room at his old friend and exaggerating his motions raised his hands in the air, "I surrender, Jethro. Here is his release paperwork, after care instruction and prescriptions."

There were several shaky laughs from the agents and a smirk from the team leader at his old friend.

The agents assigned to the door gathered up the get well gifts and started bringing them to the the sedan they had driven to the hospital. Tim grabbed the bag out of Tony's hand and went to the bathroom to change and the remaining three agents went over the room to make sure nothing was being left behind.

Just as Tim exited the bathroom Ziva reached down and picked up an envelope that had apparently fallen off the cart of gifts, "We almost missed this one." she said holding it up in the air.

Tony's gut once again cinched up tight as he saw the back of the envelope and the bright red lips that were on it where the flap sealing it met the rest of the paper. It was a SWAK.

Before Tony could say a word Tim had the envelope open and was reading the front of a card with a beautiful vase of flowers on it, when he opened the card he paled and started to shake, a picture fell out of the card.

Gibbs and Tony had to move quickly to catch Tim as his legs started to give out from underneath him. Ziva picked up the photograph and began to curse in a language that none of the men understood.

Once Tim was seated on the edge of the bed the two men went to look at the photo, it showed a young Tim in what was obviously in a dorm room wearing an MIT t-shirt and sweatpants seated at a desk studying. In the back ground sitting on the bed was Karson and the look in his eyes was that of a predator and they were focused on Tim.

The inscription on the card was "Let the games begin."

Gibbs took several deep breaths to calm himself down before he went to Tim still sitting on the hospital bed tremors running through his body.
"Tim...Tim look at me. Do you trust me?"

Tim just continued to look blankly at the wall.

"Do you trust us?" Gibbs repeated motioning to Tony and Ziva as well.

Tim finally looked into his eyes and nodded.

"He will never touch you again. We will never abandon you . I will kill him first."

The fear started to recede from his eyes as Gibbs repeated "You're safe. You're safe."

AN: I know I promised a showdown between Gibbs and the Admiral but I wasn't satisfied with it so I had to push it off for the moment. I'm very sorry(sign of weakness). I also felt the need to repeat the scene between Tim and Karson to show the differences in points of view, I don't plan on doing it again so please remember Karson flashbacks will represent his state of mind. Please leave your thought and comments. Reviews keep me going. :)stray