I apologize for the long wait guys! I hope the wait was worth it(:
The car ride was silent. Not awkward, just silent. Evan watched out the window when he saw the NCIS building come into view. He sat up in his seat, suddenly getting attacked with feelings he just got rid of. But he didn't cry, he promised himself he wouldn't cry. Evan drew in a deep breath as Gibbs parked, and they both headed towards the front doors.
Evan never was one to have second thoughts, until now. Sure, he came here yesterday but yesterday was yesterday. And today was today. Today, Evan felt butterflies swell up in his stomach when him and his guardian stepped into the elevator and headed up to the office. Evan didn't want to see their desks again, he didn't want to see McGee anymore, and he sure didn't want to see Abby the way he saw her yesterday. But it was already too late. The doors were opening and Gibbs was pushing him forward, knowing if he didn't, Evan would've never budged.
He wished he wouldn't have moved, he should've stayed in that elevator. Better yet, he should've stayed home, in bed. Where the only memories of his mom and dad was the family portrait sitting peacefully on his bed side table. Instead, he was here, standing between their desks. He didn't move, but he listened. Evan listened to the whole office live on like nothing. He listened to the quiet chatter and random bursts of laughter from some one laughing at another's joke. His dad used to joke. His mom used to laugh.
"Evan." Gibbs spoke calmly, afraid he might startle the boy. But still, he didn't move. In a way, Gibbs was a bit spooked out by him. Evan was just standing there, eyes glued to the back wall. He wasn't moving a muscle; his eyes didn't even blink. The only thing that moved was his tiny chest, up and down, in and out. At least it was a sign he was still breathing.
God, Tony would've had a field day with movie references at the sight of his son.
"Evan." Gibbs said, a little louder now.
Evan jerked back into reality, forgetting the jokes and laughs him and his mom and dad used to have. Well, he never really forgot, just pushed the memories to the back of his head for another time. "What?"
"Son, why don't you go and talk with Abby." It wasn't odd for Gibbs to call him son. He always called him that. It was something you would expect a grandfather to say to his grandson, so no one never really thought twice about it. But Evan thought of it now. It was the first time he had heard son come out of Gibbs' mouth in the past few days when they…left.
Evan nodded in agreement. It was hard to move his legs at first, but managed to get himself walking. But not before he stopped to take one last look at the first two desks sitting there, still full of life. It looked like Tony and Ziva still worked there the way they had pictures lined up at the edge of their desks and papers stacked in organized piles. If any outsider were to walk in now, they would've casually thought the rest of the 'Gibbs' team was just taking a bathroom break.
After that thought, Evan forced himself to leave.
He took the stairs down to Abby's lab, but not before passing McGee on the way down. At first, their conversation was casual. Just a simple smile, a wave and a small hello from each of them satisfied Evan for the moment. But it was obvious McGee wanted more.
"How are you feeling?" McGee asked, knowing it was a stupid question for the time. It made the atmosphere around them so much more awkward than it already was. Everyone expected that out of Palmer, not Tim.
All Evan could do was nod. McGee tried to smile at him before talking again.
"Well, we have a case. I'll see you around bud." He ended the too awkward conversation after tussling Evan's hair and continuing up the stairs. Evan headed down the opposite way, wondering if McGee was taking the stairs for the same reason he was.
He sighed in relief when he saw Abby in her lab coat, short skirt, high stockings, boots, and her pigtails. She looked normal, but he could tell right away she sure wasn't acting like it. The first clue was the music; none was playing.
"Hey Abby." Evan greeted. She jumped in surprise and turned around to see their child smiling up at her, or at least trying to smile. It was obvious it was hard for him to do; it was hard for them to all smile like they meant it.
"Evan!" She yelled, and embraced him with a strong hug. He noticed that her voice wasn't so low and scratchy today. Her voice was more normal, more Abby.
"Here, you can sit down right here." She pulled out her stool and patted the seat. She waited until he was sitting until she started again. "We are working on a case right now, we got it last night and the night crew already cleaned up the scene and everything, but everything is just so un-organized." Abby stood in front of her table with three boxes filled with evidence.
Evan stared at those boxes. They reminded him of the ones at Gibbs' house, waiting for him to unpack them. Just like these boxes were waiting for Abby, only she seemed like she was missing something.
"And I've been so busy, kid. I can't find my evidence bags. And since we're short handed…" And then her happy voice was gone. Evan watched as she quickly wiped her eyes before the tears could even start to pour down. She coughed a little and then looked back at up him. Evan just smiled at her understandingly. But she just turned back around and shook her head. She didn't talk anymore.
Abby fumbled around her lab, searching for the evidence bags. It was odd to Evan, Abby always kept those handy; she never lost anything, especially in her lab. She turned to him who was sitting on her stool watching her stumble around like an idiot. She tried to smile to tell him she was fine, nothing was wrong, everything was good. But Evan knew better. Abby was stressed, emotional, and confused out of her mind. And she couldn't take back the way her voice had just cracked when she accidently brought them up.
He wanted to offer her some help to speed up the looking process, but decided against it. Abby would've been embarrassed to know that Evan knew she wasn't well, wasn't good, and was missing evidence bags; an important piece to their investigation. If he offered her help, she would've yelled, or cried, or declined. Yeah, Evan knew better.
After a short time, Evan saw Tim again, walking into the lab. He stopped, listened and waiting for the music. When it never came, McGee turned to Evan and smiled again, hoping to make up for their confrontation on the stair case.
He found Evan watching Abby intently while she wandered around her lab. It almost looked like she was looking for something, which was strange because she never lost anything. "Hey Abby, Gibbs' needs the murder weapon." He said, but Abby kept her back turned. She bent down and began rummaging through her filing cabinets. McGee sighed, and looked around the lab. He noticed the gun sitting in one of the boxes. Tim grabbed some latex gloves and picked the weapon up. "Where are your evidence bags?" He asked, not realizing that Abby was already searching. She stood up and turned towards her friend, giving him the most evil, rudest, meanest stare she could.
Evan wanted to shout out, to warn Tim about how Abby was acting. But he couldn't get himself to say anything. And this time it wasn't because it was too awkward for him.
"I don't know Tim! I don't know! Didn't it occur to you that maybe I was already looking for them?" Abby snapped. Everything went silent, and Evan had to bite his lip from whimpering. He had never seen Abby like this, and it was obvious McGee hadn't either. But today, he wasn't in one of his sympathetic moods. Abby wasn't the only one who had lost two good friends a few days ago.
"I didn't know Abby; you have never lost anything before." McGee snapped back. Evan didn't really think they were irritated with each mostly because they never got irritated with each other. He guessed they both were just running on a few hours of sleep and just tired. He guessed they were both dealing with a lot of emotions they never had to deal with before, just like him. Evan guessed they were pretty mad with the world for taking away their two best friends away from them.
"Before?" Her voice cracked, but her words remained steady. "Before I didn't have to run around this lab trying to catch a killer without Tony and Ziva. Before I wasn't constantly asking myself why them. Before I didn't have tears swell up in my eyes every second I tried to work. Before is a lot different than now McGee." She was now yelling, and her make up was running. Evan looked over towards McGee, whose cheeks were covered by water as well. Seeing his Uncle Tim like that, made Evan want to cry. But Evan had already promised himself this morning that he would be strong. That he could make at least one day without crying.
"You don't think it's different for me too? It's not just different for you, Abby. You didn't go out in the field with them; you never experienced them having your back when your life is in danger. You didn't know them like I did!"
McGee felt a hard slap across his cheek. Evan gasped in shock and tried to hold back the tears. When McGee finally came back into his right mind, Abby was standing in front of him, screaming.
"You take that back!" She was yelling, tears now pouring fearlessly out of her eyes and her hand pounding from the hard slap she had just delivered to Timmy's face.
Evan looked from McGee to Abby and let the water slip silently out from his eyes. They were supposed to be friends. They weren't supposed to fight, especially not in front of him. Evan didn't deserve this, he knew.
"You just, slapped me." McGee blindly stated, rubbing his check.
"Take it back, Tim."
"God Abby, you just slapped me!"
"They were my best friends!" She screamed again, falling to her feet and crying into her knees. Evan couldn't handle this, not now.
"Just stop!" He cried, louder than their screams that over powered the lab. "Stop it!" He hated to wine, but he hated them like this. Abby and McGee weren't supposed to fight.
For a moment, everything went quiet and for once, not even music played in the background. The lab was dead silent. Abby and Tim turned back to Evan as if seeing him there for the first time. Their cheeks were filled with tears and pink with anger. Two pairs of eyes laid themselves onto him, and Evan took a deep breath to clam himself down.
"Guys, just stop." He said, again. It was all he could say; all he knew to say. Evan opened his mouth to explain himself, but he had waited too long.
"Look what you did Tim." Abby snapped and rushed over to Evan, hugging him with all she had. He touched her shoulders, astounded how she easily threw her best friend under the bus. He kept his eyes locked on McGee as he started at them, just as dumbfounded as Evan was.
"I wasn't the only one yelling, Abby." He finally said, after Evan gently pushed the scientist off of him when he began to feel tears soak in through his shirt on his shoulder. She turned towards him in such a dramatic fashion; Evan caught wind of her lab coat swirling by.
"I wasn't the only one either." She snapped back. And their arguments started up all over again.
"Do you ever think before you talk McGee?" It was the first time in a while she didn't call him Tim.
"Do you? Evan is sitting right there and you're trying to fight with me?"
"I'm not trying to fight with anyone. Excuse me if I'm stressed, and sad, and…Angry!" Abby's hands formed fists and she was back on her knees in a broken heap. Only this time, McGee didn't push her anymore. Especially since her cries were loud enough to echo off her lab walls. The junior agent crawled over to her, and as if they did this everyday, grabbed her. The Goth took him, and held on to him for a long time. That made Evan sigh in relief. He was glad they could fight, and in the end, come out closer than ever. It reminded him so much of how Tony and Ziva acted.
"What the hell is going on down here?" The loud, powerful voice came from the hallway and after a few more brief moments, there was Gibbs standing in the doorway. Abby looked up from McGee's shoulder and quickly got to her feet, brushing off her skirt. She slowly helped her Timmy up to his feet after.
"Why is Evan crying?" Gibbs asked. Evan managed to roll his eyes without anyone noticing. He hated how they kept talking about him like he wasn't even there. But still, he wiped his face to rid them of heavy tears. Truthfully, he hadn't known he was crying that much.
"It's my fault, boss." McGee spoke up, taking the blame for everything. His voice was hard, yet softer than usual.
"No Gibbs, me and Tim just got into a…little fight." Her scratchy voice was back. It was obvious they had both been crying like Evan.
"A fight." Gibbs spoke. It wasn't a question or a statement. Everyone just assumed he was thinking out loud for a moment. He stole a glance back at Evan, who was violently trying to hold back the tears as well as he could. Gibbs noticed.
"They were fighting, Gibbs." Evan mumbled, as if he were just joining the conversation now. "But I'm…I'm okay." He watched the tear fall directly from his eye and hit his jeans with a silent splash. It soaked into the denim just as Abby's had soaked into the cotton of his shirt.
Gibbs looked back to the remainder of his team. The pair shyly came closer to them, even though they both would've rather backed into a corner.
"Evan, we didn't mean to make you sad." Abby whispered making a slight 'shh' sound with her lips. She bent down in front of him and caressed the boy's face, brushing away all the tears with her thumb. Evan's lip quivered slightly. His mom had only ever held his face like this; Ziva was the only one who could ever calm him down with a simple sound like 'shh.'
"We're sorry bud." McGee whispered, leaning down to tussle Evan's hair and plant a small kiss on his nephew's head. They were acting just like them. Doing everything they would've done if it were them. But McGee and Abby, they weren't his mom and dad. No one could ever be his mom or dad again, but for now, his unspoken Uncle Tim and Aunt Abby were the second best. Just for now, until he clamed down.
"When people fight, it's usually a sign that they care about each other." Abby explained. "And they're only fighting because they love each other very much."
"But…our family isn't supposed to fight." Evan whispered. Abby's hand fell to her side and her lips began to quiver while she blinked her eyes fearlessly until she couldn't hold the water works back any longer.
"Oh God." She choked, and walked towards Gibbs who greeted her in his arms. Even with his 'Favorite' crying into his arms, Gibbs kept his eyes locked on McGee, who was now saying something to Evan.
"Families fight bud, a lot sometimes, because families love each other." He tried to further explain.
"So mom and dad, they loved each other a lot." Evan mumbled, "But they didn't fight. Not like you and Abby just did." He didn't mean to make them feel any worse, but he wanted so badly to understand how people who love each other so much, people who are family, could fight the way Abby and McGee had. And it shocked Evan even more how it took two deaths in their lives to bring out that behavior from either of them.
"Oh they fought plenty." McGee sighed, rolling his eyes slightly. Gibbs and Abby got a small laugh out of that one. Evan just stared at him blankly. "They were never really mad at each other, though."
"So that means they didn't love each other?" Evan questioned. McGee looked back at Gibbs who stepped forward after handed the crying scientist over to his newest Senior Agent.
"Evan. When two people fight really badly, it only means that they care about each other. They fight because they care and want the best for one another. It doesn't mean they love each other any less." Gibbs explained in a rather lengthily speech than the 'man of few words' would have cared for. He had been talking a lot more than usual in the past few days.
"Evan, I have a story about Ziva and Tony…your mom and dad." Abby suddenly spoke up, lifting her head from McGee's shoulder. "I mean, if you're up for it."
Evan nodded his head slowly to tell her he was okay, and that he would like to hear.
"Abby, they did fight a lot. And bicker a lot. I don't think he wants…" McGee whispered into her ear but she cut him off.
"No, this was different…"
Okay guys, here it is(: Please Review, I love reading them and hearing from all of you! Thanks SmellyThePirate (who I will be emailing as soon as I finish up with this studying and I thank you for helping me with this chapter!) and danielle007 (thought I would tell you 007 reminds me of James Bond! lol). You guys are great. As always, thanks for reading!
-Sam