Knowing that Tim wished to avoid a head on confrontation with his former teammates, his current ones jumped into action to prevent that from happening.
Vala, eager to please her one time lover, was the first to slip past Tim. Her target was the youngest male of the waiting group. Like an octopus with too many arms, she wrapped herself around a very surprised Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo and skillfully moved him away from the elevator and towards the assembled desks.
Cameron patted Tim on the shoulder as he headed for whom he assumed was the team leader. "Hiya, you must be Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs." He drawled and stuck his hand out to be shook. "I'm Colonel Mitchell, Tim's commanding officer. It's an honor to finally meet someone Tim speaks so highly of." He paused for a moment then continued before the other man could say anything. "Don't suppose you could show me to Director Shepards office, could you?" He asked once the polite handshakes were out of the way. "The sooner I speak to her, the sooner we get out of your hair." Just as he had hoped, Gibbs moved away from the group and headed towards a pair of stairs. Cameron followed him but not before throwing a wink over his shoulder at his remaining teammates.
McGee breathed a sigh of relief when he, Teal'c, Daniel, and Ziva were the only ones remaining. Abby must have slipped away as soon as they exited the elevator. There was no doubt in his mind that she was off to tell Ducky about his visit. "I'm going to owe them, aren't I?" He asked his brother and Teal'c.
"Vala Mal Doran has spoken several times about needing a new summer wardrobe. I suggest you buy it for her as compensation." Teal'c told him then moved off to inspect his new surroundings.
"He's right." Daniel gave his brother a synthetic pat on the arm. "If she isn't happy with that, then expect an outrageous credit card bill. I speak from experience." He said, dryly. "Shalom Ziva." He greeted the only member of Tim's original team still there.
"Shalom Daniel. It has been a long time." Ziva smiled slightly at the sight of her childhood friend. Who would have thought that he'd end up being McGee's foster brother? "I am sorry for your loss. I only found out recently about your parents."
Daniel bowed his head in thanks. "I still miss them but I've learned to move on." He took a moment to look around and quash the emotions that always rose to the surface when he spoke about his parents. "I never thought I'd see the day that a David would be working on American soil and for the American Government. The Ziva I knew didn't like American's, excluding me, of course." He gave her a teasing smile. "Who died to that happen?" He inquired, curiously.
Ziva looked away and studied McGee, who was standing quietly off to the side, glad that he appeared no worse for wear. She'd inquire about the scars, bruises, and cast later. "You remember Ari, don't you?" At his nod, she continued. "He came to America and clashed with Gibbs and his team on several occasions. I was his handler so I was sent here to try and stop Gibbs from killing him after he killed a member of his team, Kate Todd. I failed and Gibbs ended up killing him in self defense." She looked back to Daniel. "I didn't believe Ari did the things they said he did but I was present when he confessed his sins to Gibbs. After that I could not, in good conscience, return home. The Director pulled some strings and got be assigned here as Mossad liaison." She had told the lie about how Ari died so many times that she was beginning to believe it herself. Wanting to change the subject, she lead the two guys over to her desk where she turned her attention to McGee. "Did you fall off your computer, McGee?" She asked, seriously, referring to the cast covering his left wrist.
"Ah, no." McGee looked down at his wrist and wished they had had more time to clean up. He felt dirty even though they did rise off some of the grime and dirt. "I actually don't spend much time on a computer these days." He said with a shrug. "I help out sometimes when I'm not busy but our team is on active duty so..." Their cover story was that SG-1 was an active special ops team so what they did and where they did was classified. Nobody outside of the SGC needed to know any different, Ziva included. "I broke it two weeks ago and Doctor Lam tells me that it's healing nicely."
"He is on a front line team?" Ziva inquired with surprise in her voice. Again she took a moment to look McGee over. Upon closer inspection, she could see the difference in the young man. He still had his baby face but the loose muscles that made him look slightly out of shape before was gone, replaced with bulk that could only come from a rigorous exercise routine. He also had the look in his eyes that all men got once they'd seen real combat. She found it strange thinking of McGee as a soldier.
"Tim is apart of a front line combat team, yes." Daniel acknowledged. "We all got hurt on that mission." He motioned towards Tim's wrist with his head. "It was bad." He didn't say anymore knowing that he didn't have to. Ziva was Mossad, she'd understand.
Ziva moved her eyes back to her childhood friend. If she looked closely, she could see fading bruises and more recent ones. She also noticed the dirt smears and yellow stains on Daniel's shirt and Tim's pants. "You just return from a mission?"
McGee cleared his throat. "Training, actually. We lost track of time and had to change on the flight." He looked up towards the Directors office when he heard a door slam which was later followed by heavy footfalls on the stairs as a very angry Gibbs descended into the squad room.
"Ziva go help Ducky and Abby pack up the evidence we collected in the McGee case!" Gibbs growled as he sat down in his chair behind his desk.
Hurrying to comply, Ziva headed for the elevators that lead to the labs.
Daniel tilted his head when Cameron joined them a few seconds later. "Everything set?"
"Yup, The Director got the assurances from the President himself that we're better suited to investigate this case now that NCIS has hit a dead end." Cameron looked around for his teammates. "Murray, you, Vala, and Daniel come with me to give Ms. Sciuto a hand with the evidence. Wouldn't want something to get left behind." He smiled and followed Ziva.
Teal'c moved away from the Most Wanted wall and towards the elevators that Colonel Mitchell and Daniel Jackson was currently standing in front.
"I'm sorry but it wouldn't work out. We're from two different worlds, really." Vala moved out from behind the stairs followed by a very disheveled Tony. She made it to the elevators just before the door closed. Slipping inside, she grinned and rolled her eyes at something Cameron said to her.
Tony practically fell into his chair once the intruders were on their way to bother Abby and Ducky. "Wha..." He couldn't believe how alive he felt at this very moment. It was like every nerve ending was tingling.
"It'll wear off in an hour or two." McGee said seeing the stupidly confused look plastered on Tony's face. "Once it does wear off, I suggest you have a ginormous cup of coffee waiting because you're going to feel horrible." This he said with a chuckle.
Gibbs looked up when he realized that McGee was alone with them. He stood and walked over to Tony. "What's wrong with him?" He asked once he got done visually assessing his condition. He was still fiercely protective of his Agents.
McGee moved away from Ziva's desk and sat down in his chair, or what used to be his chair. "Vala happened." He said as if that explained it. "Actually, if you made out with any of us you'd feel like that."
"Explain, McGee!" Gibbs ordered from his place by Tony's side.
"We're still slightly...radioactive..." McGee began to explain. "We're not dangerous." He held up his hands at the look Gibbs was sending him. "We were exposed to an exotic form of radiation a couple weeks ago. It's harmless to us but prolonged contact to any of our skin will make a person feel...high. I am assure you, we're perfectly safe to be around. And in all actuality, I had forgotten about the exposure until I saw Tony's face. Doctor Lam and her nurses looked the same after they treated us. We didn't even know we had been exposed to anything until that point and then tests confirmed it."
Gibbs eyed the younger man. "Where were you exposed?" He asked, suspiciously. He still couldn't believe that computer geek McGee was working special ops now. It blew his mind but now that he saw him, maybe it wasn't so hard to believe because this McGee wasn't the McGee that had left grieving his father's death, that much he was sure of.
McGee looked away from Gibbs and surveyed his desk. A small smile tugged at his lips seeing that his personal belongings were still there. "You kept my stuff."
"It's still your desk, Probie." Tony said as he spun around in his chair until he felt sick. "So when you coming back?" He asked, turning glazed over eyes to his friend.
Clearing his throat, McGee pulled open his desk drawer and removed his iPod which he then tucked into his BDU's pocket.
"Tony asked you a question, Agent McGee." Gibbs' voice was quiet but threatening, typical Gibbs.
McGee sighed, he had been hoping to avoid this question since he really didn't have an answer. Sure he missed NCIS and his teammates but he fit in better at the SGC and his new team seemed to accept him, all of him. "I'm not really sure when I'll be back. Sam isn't due back for a while and I'm the only person on base that knows the system besides her. They need me." Which was a lie. There was a handful of techs assigned to monitor the SGC's computer system. But he couldn't exactly tell them that.
Tony sat up straighter in his chair trying to focus. "Don't you like us anymore, McGoo?" He asked.
"Of course I still like you guys, Tony. But what I'm doing now is...amazing." McGee smiled. "I'm happy."
Gibbs' eyes narrowed. "And you weren't happy here? I thought you wanted to be a field Agent, McGee. Or have you gotten too good to work with us?"
McGee frowned. "Too good? What? No, of course not. I just like what I'm doing now. I didn't ask for the temporary reassignment. It was given to me and I couldn't exactly say no. So I'm making the best of it."
"You're lying, McGeek." Tony stood, a little unsteady, and walked over to McGee. "Wanna try for the truth this time?"
Gritting his teeth, McGee stood up to his full height. "My name is Timothy McGee not McGeek, McGoo, McMuffin, McDonalds, or anything else for that matter! For Godsake, try using my name once in a while and maybe I'd want to come back! Why would I want to come back to this when I have teammates that actually respect me?" He honestly wanted to know.
Now more than ever, Gibbs was aware that this wasn't the young man that left them a number of weeks ago. This Timothy McGee was confident and sure of his himself unlike the old McGee that stammered and second guessed his own actions. This was a McGee that had found his nitch in the world and wanted everyone to know it. He felt a little disheartened by this realization. Because even if Tim came back, McGee was long gone. "You think we don't respect you?"
McGee looked over at Gibbs when he heard the quiet question. "I think you respect me boss. But I also think you don't understand me and that's okay. It's just nice being apart of a team that gets me and I get them, you know?"
Tony stood opened mouthed as McGee stood up to him. "Wow, didn't know you had it in you, Probie." He clamped a hand on McGee's shoulder and leaned closer to him so that Gibbs couldn't hear him. "You're a hellava wizz on the computer and I do respect you for it even if I've never said so. You're my friend, Mc...Tim, and I gotta admit that it's kinda boring with just Gibbs and Ziva to talk to. So you gotta come back, okay? My sanity is on the line." He joked.
"Can't stand the quiet, can you?" McGee felt his earlier anger disappear.
Gibbs felt the tension drop away and he almost smiled. Almost. Maybe there was hope, after all.
"How about joining us for lunch?" Tony asked as he moved back towards his desk. Their case load had been light these last couple of days and they could afford to go out for a slightly longer than usual lunch.
McGee shook his head. "Sorry Tony, can't. Once we get everything pertaining to my Dad's case, we got to put it on a plane and send it directly to Groom Lake for it to be looked over before being shipped to the mountain."
Tony stopped and turned. "Well, what about after that? Dinner?"
"After that we've been invited to a barbecue at General O'Neill's." McGee paused. "That reminds me, I need to pick up a box of dog biscuits." He mumbled to himself.
"General O'Neill? You mean Director of Homeland Security O'Neill?" Gibbs asked, interested in the circles McGee now hung around in. "You know him?"
"He's buying dog biscuits for him so he must know him, Gibbs." Tony joked as he sat back down in his chair a little disheartened that they couldn't have lunch together.
McGee rolled his eyes at Tony. "I'm buying dog biscuits for Atlantis, Jack's dog. And I do know him. Not as well as the rest of the team but we get along." He said with a shrug. "He likes fishing and Dad used to take me and Danny fishing so we have something to talk about. It's actually kinda a briefing. We have the clearance level to get the low down on what's happen in Homeland Security so he makes it into a barbecue. Kinda his way of sticking it to the man even thought he is the man." He shook his head and raised his eyebrows when he heard his team returning. "Ready to go?"
Cameron nodded his head and shifted the box he was carrying. Daniel was carrying a similar box while Teal'c was carrying four piled on top of each other. And not surprising, Vala only carried an armful of manila folders. "Let's move out people, I'm starvin!"
"How about drinks later tonight?" McGee turned his attention back to Tony. "We're staying at the General's and taking the first flight to Nellis in the morning." He moved towards SG-1 who was climbing into the elevator.
Tony grinned. "Really? Alright! Eight o'clock at Mogies?"
McGee gave him the thumbs up just before the doors closed and he was whisked away back to his new life.
"He ain't ever coming back, is he boss?" Tony asked and his smile faded to a frown.
Gibbs moved back to his desk and sat down. "I couldn't tell you, Tony." He didn't even look up when he heard someone approaching. "You just missed him, Duck."
"Drat." Doctor Donald Ducky Mallard frowned. "I had hoped to see him before he returned to his new life of adventure and intrigue. I had some questions regarding a colleague of his, a Doctor Carolyn Lam. Hm, pity." He had wanted to see Tim but he had been otherwise detained until now. Ziva had said something about a broken wrist and bruises, he wanted to make sure the young man was being treated properly.
"We're having drinks tonight at Mogies. Everyones invited." Tony informed the Medical Examiner. He wanted to have a get together that Tim would never forget.